Limitless Path

"We're in level two ant territory now, so pay attention," Beth warned the group. "In fact, we shouldn't go any farther until everyone is at least level one, if not level two."

"Seems sound advice for now. Let's stay frosty, people," Zack said.

It didn't take long for the group to come upon another ant. Beth motioned everyone to stop and used Identify on the lone ant.

Common Ant Level 2

"Someone tell me what you see before using Identify," she requested of the group.

"Well, it's an ant," replied John.

"Clever. Anyone else?" she asked.

The group looked at the ant closer for a minute until Sabrina answered in a calm voice, "It's bigger than the first one. Not much, but it is definitely bigger."

"Yeah, she got it," Beth nodded. "You can use Identify now. You'll see it is a level two ant. The ants here are plenty slow and spread out. They also alert only when you get close. But other monsters might not be so forgiving. It's important to be able to recognize differences in them. I'll ask again if we get to a level three. You should all use Identify now."

After everyone had used Identify and either nodded or murmured their acknowledgement, Beth turned to Zack. He nodded to her and asked, "OK, who wants the honors?"

"I'll do it. It's just an ant, how hard can this be," John answered.

Beth shook her head and Zack made to facepalm again before forcibly stopping himself. Beth simply gestured ahead toward the ant and watched as John drew his knife and walked forward. Beth sighed and looked down at her right glove, shaking it a little to try to dispel the small amount of ichor on it. She looked back up to see John getting close to the ant.

The ant orientated on John and charged. "They have a pretty simple SOP, don't they?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. Feel you approach. Face you. Charge you. Haven't seen anything different yet," Beth replied, watching John prepare to receive the ant.

As the ant got to John, he seemed a little steadier than Andy. He stabbed down with his knife trying for the ant's eye. The level two ant was a little too quick for John to just do as he pleased, however, and swayed its head to the side. This caused John's stab to glance off to the side, only nicking the side of the ant's head. This clearly caused the ant further displeasure, as it resumed its charge. John held steady and tried for another stab, which was not a good strategy. The ant was too close, and John was not skilled with a weapon, causing him to swing awkwardly to try to avoid stabbing himself.

Beth sighed and trotted forward, the ant latching onto John's right leg in the meantime. John panicked and began screaming, cursing the ant and firing off random expletives. Beth drew her blade as she approached the struggling John and with two quick steps forward and a simple slicing motion, removed the ant's head from its body. Ichor spurted out of the stump of the ant's neck as its head remained firmly gripped onto John's leg.

Common Ant Level 2 slain.

"Oops," Beth said, planting her sword point first in the ground. She grabbed hold of the ant's mandibles and, with a loud *Snap*, broke them both off. John collapsed backwards on the ground, panting and whining about his injured leg, as the rest of the group moved up.

"Let me see," Jessica commanded, having brought a medical kit with her. She and Zack crouched down and Zack rolled John's pantleg up to above the knee. The ant had grabbed John near the middle of his shin, and he had two bloody cuts on his leg where Beth had tugged the mandibles out. Zack examined the wounds for a moment while Jessica got ready to clean and bandage them before he stood back up.

"Not really that bad, those mandibles must be more like knives than I thought," he commented, looking down at the mandibles Beth had dropped.

The group waited for Jessica to finish bandaging John's leg before getting ready to move again. After John was back on his feet, the group looked to Beth to see what to do next. She gestured to the side and started leading the group west instead of north, looking for more level one or two ants. It didn't take very long to find another ant, with Beth quickly using Identify.

Common Ant Level 2

"Who's up?" Beth asked the group. After a second, the quiet Chris raised his hand. He took a firm grip on the handle of his knife, not yet drawing it, and walked toward the ant. Beth watched him go and turned to the group briefly, asking, "Everyone is using Identify on all of these, right?"

Everyone nodded or muttered their assent, and Beth turned back to watch Chris's attempt at ant slaying. He approached the ant the same as the rest, but stopped shortly after it noticed him. He drew his knife and planted his feet, waiting for the ant to close on him. As the ant rushed to right in front of where he was standing, Chris stepped forward and gave it a swift kick in the side of the head.

The ant reeled back slightly, recovering fairly quickly, but Chris took advantage of this moment of distraction. Having learned from John's earlier fight, he didn't go for the eyes but instead stabbed downward into the neck. The knife sunk deep in the ant's neck, and Chris immediately jerked it to the side, partially decapitating the ant.

"First one that didn't need help," Beth said, relieved that she didn't have to step into every single fight of the day.

The group gave Chris a moment to go over his level up and class selection, then set out again following Beth. She dipped back towards the neighborhood somewhat, traveling into the wooded area closer to the houses. After a minute or so, she spotted an ant and confirmed it with Identify.

Common Ant Level 1

"Level one. We have two people left," she said.

"I'll go," Jessica stepped forward, medical kit secured in the small backpack she was wearing.

Jessica approached the ant and drew her knife, looking somewhat nervous. The ant charged her, and she began taking deep breaths as it approached. When it got close, she slashed horizontally, going for a deep cut across the head. The ant responded by coming to a halt, but as a level one was not able to get very far out of the way. Jessica took advantage of this and slashed the knife back across the ant's head, this time digging into the chitin.

The ant was wounded but not dead, backing up with a hiss. Beth was ready to move forward and finish it off, but before she could do so, Jessica lunged forward with a quick movement and slashed the ant again. The cut across its head widened and it attempted to back pedal away from the threat in front of it, but Jessica gave it no chance, slashing a fourth and final time, cutting the ant's head very deeply. It was apparently enough for a fatal blow, as the ant collapsed.

Jessica was panting a little more than the exertion would have called for and seemed a little pale, but she had done it. The group waited for her to regain her composure, and then for her to go through her level up and class selection. Once this was done, they resumed following Beth westward. She led them through the woods, looking for a last ant to get the group a level. She quickly found one and used Identify.

Common Ant Level 1

She turned to Sabrina, "Your turn."

Sabrina nodded and stepped up beside her. "Any other advice?" she asked.

"Watch your feet and try to keep away from the sharp parts," Beth replied.

Sabrina nodded and walked forward, drawing her wicked-looking dual knives from their hip sheaths. As she approached the ant, it turned and charged her, but she didn't stop. She glided towards it and stepped forward and to the side of the ant. With a quick, snapping motion, she sliced clean through the top joint of the ant's front left leg. She continued on with a quick step, followed by another quick slice to the next leg. The ant tottered and collapsed, trying to turn to face Sabrina but unable to balance while missing a third of its legs.

Sabrina remained cool and collected as she removed the third leg with a quick slice. She seemed to almost effortlessly glide around the beast, and she stepped up to the head of the ant. With a quick jerk, she stabbed one of her daggers into the neck of the ant. With another quick movement, she twisted her wrist and pulled, the head of the ant seeming to pop off almost of its own volition. Sabrina was standing to the side, but still stepped back to avoid the spurt of ichor before seeming to check her screens.

"Damn," Beth muttered, mouth open and eyes slightly wide.

"Well, that's everyone. Let's go back to your original route Beth. Now that we all have levels and classes, we should be able to follow along without being in too much danger," Zack spoke up, motioning for Beth to return to the original path.

The group followed her back eastward and out of the woodlot. They were again in the field behind the woodlot, almost directly behind the Bell's house again. Beth led them northward through the field and into the copse of trees. The first section of the little wood was empty, as they didn't encounter any ants until they came to where the group of level threes was the day before. There was a single one of the darker ants here.

Beth assumed that the ants in the area all came from the nest. If that were true, it seemed like the nest was a little slow to repopulate the ants. This meant they might be able to effectively cull the ants. She mentioned the supposition to Zack.

"Right, you think they come from the same place and they are only produced so fast, it makes some sense. If that really is true, we might even be able to get a good handle on this," Zack responded.

"Observe the ant," Beth commanded, turning to the rest of the group. "What do you notice?"

"It looks the same as the last one, right?" Andy asked a little hesitantly.

"Look closer," Beth replied.

The group looked for a few more moments before Beth's mother spoke up, "It looks a little different. I think the coloring is different than the others."

Beth nodded in response. "That's right. Go ahead and use Identify now." Beth did so as well.

Common Ant Level 3

"What's the difference now?" Zack asked, getting to the heart of the matter.

"They aren't really much faster, but these ones are tougher. So, you have an ant that moves at the level two speed, but it can take a lot more of a beating," Beth explained to the group.

"Alright. Do you want the honors here?" Zack asked her.

"Wait. Let me try," Sabrina spoke up.

"I don't really mind either way, a level three isn't going to do a huge amount for me now," Beth responded.

"Oh, why's that?" Her mother asked.

"Just use Identify," Beth replied, a little exasperated.

"Tone young lady," her mother responded before her eyes slightly unfocused for moment. She then exclaimed, "Level four!"

"What?", "No way!", "Really?!" The rest of the group chimed in before also using Identify on Beth.

"You really have been taking the fight to the enemy. Good work on that. Oorah!" Zack nodded with approval.

"Alright, now that we've all been amazed, Sabrina can go ahead and try it. I will move up right behind you for this one. If you have any trouble, just step back right away. I can take this guy out without too much trouble, no sense in getting hurt if you don't have to," Beth turned to face the other girl, looking right into her light blue eyes.

"Thanks. And call me Sabs," The girl replied before walking forward. Beth wasn't sure, but she thought the other girl had blushed faintly.

Beth followed her forward, staying a few steps behind her. Sabrina, or Sabs now, strode forward until she got within range of the ant noticing her. She drew her kukri and waited as the ant charged. Beth watched closely to make sure that nothing would go wrong with her new…friend?

The ant closed on Sabs and barreled toward her right leg. She waited for it to get closer and then attempted the same strategy as last time, stepping forward at an angle and swinging at the front leg. This time, however, her knife slammed into the joint and stuck. She was almost pulled off her feet as the ant lurched back, but held on, managing to pull the knife out and regain her balance. The wound had been enough to draw blood, but it didn't seem to greatly hamper the ant.

Beth watched on, having taken a step forward when Sabs' initial attack went wrong, but stepping back when she righted herself. Sabs watched the ant carefully, but it was not a creature of any great intellect. It simply went back to what it knew: charge. Sabs was more careful this time, attacking the same joint but with even greater strength. This time, the already weakened spot couldn't hold, and the lower part of the leg flopped to the ground in a spurt of ichor.

She capitalized on this opportunity by moving in a step and stabbing down with her right hand now. The knife pierced into the ant's left eye, ichor shooting out around the blade. With a swift tug, Sabs pulled out the wickedly sharp dagger and took a step to the side, sticking to the ant's now blind side. She went for the joint of the second leg on the left side, slamming her left knife in. Again, the blade stuck, but this time she twisted the blade and struck with her other hand. Her right dagger entered the wound in the joint and finished shearing through it, the second leg plopping to the ground in another spurt of ichor.

The ant, now unable to balance properly, staggered about. Unlike the lower-level ants, it seemed it could at least retain its footing, though it was having great trouble due to the missing legs. Sabs didn’t give it any more chances, stepping forward and to her left to close on its head. She thrust her left dagger forward, slamming it into the wounded eye socket. She then pushed to the left with her left arm and slammed her right dagger into the exposed neck of the beasts. With a sharp tug she partially severed the neck.

The combined damage was enough to kill the beast, and the body of the ant flopped down as soon as Sabs removed her left dagger. She got a faraway look for only a second, likely seeing the kill confirm message, but she turned and walked up to Beth.