Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Help others to pass a test part 2 (11)

From out of the gate a giant armored ant the size of a grizzly bear stomped its way into the arena with a pair of flame ants clinging to each side of its head.

Both Lucia and Xantos stared wide eyed at this monster and said, "Crap."

"How durable is your skeletal soldier again?" Xantos asked while still staring at the ant like tank before them.

"I'm not sure of its limits yet..." Lucia answered absentmindedly. As the pair were talking, the tank of an ant started to paw the ground like it's going to charge. In the giant ant's eyes, the group before it are a set of bowling pins to be knocked over.

"Looks like it's going to charge." Xantos kindly pointed out the obvious.

"I don't think my skeletal soldier can block its charge." Lucia stated. As she finished speaking the giant ant started its charge at them in a straight line.

"Dodge!" Xantos shouted as he dodged to the right, while Lucia and her skeletal soldier dodged left. The ant rushed past leaving a strong gust of wind as it crashed against the wall. The flame ant rotated around to face Xantos who was approaching rapidly. Although Xantos was swift, the flame ant still managed to bathe him in flames as he struck the ant with his swords. The fire started to melt the skin on his upper body as he managed to cut the ant to pieces. Xantos fell to the ground rolling as he tried to put out the feeling of burning while groaning in pain.

Lucia ran around the giant ant to see him covered in flames rolling in agony on the ground. She quickly cast "[Healing Spring]." Then she started to cast a different healing spell that takes three seconds to charge with mana. "[Healing Gust]" with that spell all of Xantos pain and wounds healed instantly. Xantos patted his upper body and let out a sigh of relief before recollecting himself.

"Are you okay?" Lucia ran over worriedly to help him up, but awkwardly stays a couple feet away instead, paranoid that he might hurt her if she got close with her guard down.

"Thanks to your healing, yeah." Xantos replied in a semi panicked yet relieved voice followed by nervous laughter. Lucia watched him get up with concern in her eyes. At this time, the giant ant had recovered from its headache. It turned around to spot the lone skeletal soldier running towards. The giant ant captured the skeletal soldier in its mandibles and started to try and crush it. The crushing of metal and cracking of bones resounded throughout the room. 

Lucia moved forward in a hurry as she cast "[Greater Healing Spring]" on her skeletal soldier to buy time to charge up for her next healing spell. Xantos took this chance to move forward as he grabbed a new throwing knife from his belt. He threw the knife with deadly precision at the last flame ant clinging to the side of the giant ant. The knife pierced the ant's head completely, killing it on the spot. Xantos used this chance to use [Piercing Strike] on the giant ant's mandibles in an attempt to break free the skeletal soldier. For once though, the attack that easily pierced through armor before, only left a few centimeter deep scratch.

"[Healing Gust]" Lucia casted her burst healing spell to recover all the injuries her skeletal soldier suffered and buying them more time. Xantos who saw how despairingly tough the armor of the ant was, moved to stab at the less armored neck. The attack managed to leave a gash that caused the ant to release its grip on the skeletal soldier. It attempted to spin around to deal with its new attacker. Xantos jumped back to avoid the ant's counter attack and the skeletal soldier moved forward to attack the neck on the opposite side. Another gash was created, angering the giant ant further, but it still continued to chase Xantos who's attack hurt more. Initially Xantos was backpedaling, however the giant ant was steadily gaining speed so Xantos spun around and broke into a proper run. The skeletal soldier did its best to chase from behind, but it was not able to keep up.

"When the rogue pulls too much aggro..." Lucia grumbled as she shot a [Magic Missile] at the ant's legs. Unfortunately, her attack wasn't enough to stop it alone.

"Get it to crash into a wall again, then we aim for its legs!" Lucia suggested. Xantos quickly gained speed to increase the distance. This caused the ant to break into its charge attack. Xantos waited till the proper time before rolling out of the way as the ant barreled into the wall again, shaking the whole arena briefly. They launched successive attacks on the ant's back leg and manage to break it off. The giant ant let out a hiss of agony as it turned to chase Xantos again. So they repeated this strategy until they remove all three legs on the ant's left side. The giant ant could no longer walk let alone run as it hissed in frustration. Using its remaining legs, it pushed itself into a roll in an attempt to squish Xantos. Ever wary, Xantos noticed its movements and dodged out of the way as the ant rolled like a log. Lucia had to move out of the way as well. All the ant corpses on the ground had been thoroughly trampled and crushed throughout the battle. As the ant reached the other end of the arena, it could no longer move and was slowly tortured to death by the group. By now Xantos was physically exhausted from all the running, jumping, and stabbing as they had been here for close to an hour already. Sweat poured from Lucia as she leaned against her staff. Alas, still one gate remained.

"How much harder is this going to get?" Xantos asked dispiritedly.

"I don't know. The difficulty of this arena already exceeds that on my first floor..." Lucia responded dejectedly.

"Oh great..." Xantos sighed while catching his breath and refusing to sit down to rest. Only the skeletal soldier still remained ever spirited as a member of the undead who does not feel exhaustion. This time the break lasted half an hour. When the last gate finally rose, they did not see enemies, but instead, a strange portal to what looked like a forest that rippled occasionally. "Uh, do you have any idea what this is?" Xantos asked hesitantly.

"I can guess that it might be a portal to a different testing location or to the outside." Lucia frowned in thought.

"Should we go through it?" Xantos asked, which seemed to cause the arena to start shaking and the ground started to rise up like a wave that pushed them towards the portal whether they wanted to or not. Lucia clung tightly to her staff and skeletal soldier's arm while Xantos yelled in surprise all the way through the portal.