Chapter 59: The Massacre

"W-What happened over there!?" Kelvin yelled, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"I’m pretty sure that’s big brother Chris," Aelonen suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him for a moment.

"Are you serious? You think he would be crazy enough to attack those ants by himself and cause that much damage? That’s a damn mountain right there!" Kelvin pointed towards the burning mountain in the distance.

"If anyone’s crazy enough to do that, it would definitely be him." Aelonen nodded. "Also, don’t you think those crimson flames look familiar?"

Kelvin and the others looked at the burning mountain again.

"Now that you mention it, they do look like his flames," Kelvin said in disbelief.

After a moment of silence, Kelvin asked, "Do you think we should go back there?"

"No way! Are you crazy? Those ants must be furious by now. If we go there, we might actually end up dying before we even get to see him," Aelonen replied with a serious expression. "Let’s just leave big brother to do his own thing. We’ll definitely have another opportunity to find him later."

...

A few minutes earlier.

"Fucking finally. I’ve been following these stupid ants for so damn long. My hands have been itching for a while now." Chris muttered as he looked at the small mountain in the distance, which had turned out to be an actual anthill.

He had looked in that direction several times before, but he had never imagined it would actually be the colony’s home.

Previously, he had followed the ants from a distance, hoping to find their home, but it soon turned out to be harder than he had thought. The stupid ants wandered through the forest for a long, long time without showing any intention of returning home.

Just when he started losing his patience, something unexpected happened.

One of the ants began circling a spot on the ground before starting to dig at great speed. Soon after, it emerged from the ground carrying what looked like a huge gray stone.

He wondered why in the world the ant would need a stone, but then he saw it turn around and leave the group, heading into the distance while carrying it.

Realizing that the ant was taking it somewhere, he figured it must be heading back to their home. And he wasn’t disappointed. After following it for a short while, he finally spotted their nest.

"Azreon, my buddy, what do you think? How should we attack them?"

*ROAR!*

"I totally agree! We should burn the whole place to the ground!"

*ROAR!*

"Just in time to practice my fire control."

Chris stood straight on Azreon’s back and raised both hands towards the sky.

A fireball began forming above his palms, and soon it started growing larger and larger.

He pushed his mana to its limit, making the fireball grow until it was twice the size of Azreon.

"TAKE THIS, STUPID ANTS!"

He threw the fireball with all his strength towards the top of the small mountain.

*WOOSH!*

The fireball descended at great speed, making even the air around it twist from the heat.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The moment the fireball struck the outer walls of the mountain, it exploded, sending blinding light in all directions.

Chris had to squint against the intense light, but soon it faded.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He was delighted by what he saw. A crater had formed in the mountain wall, opening it up.

Inside the crater, he could see numerous tunnels and pathways that the ants must have dug to move around.

Numerous ants were screeching as they burned inside the crater.

"Come on, buddy! Let’s see what you can do!"

*ROOOAR!*

Azreon dived down at great speed and opened his mouth, releasing a concentrated stream of crimson fire towards the mountain walls.

*BOOOOOM!*

Wherever the stream of fire passed, it carved deep into the mountain, causing the walls to crumble and deform from the heat.

He circled the mountain, wreaking havoc all around it.

Chris raised both hands again and conjured numerous fireballs before throwing them all around the mountain.

*BOOOOOM!* *BOOOOOM!* *BOOOOOM!*

The mountain walls started crumbling from every side.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BURN!"

He laughed like a maniac while throwing spells everywhere.

It had been a long, long time since he had felt so free and invigorated.

He had a lot of pent-up frustration and anger that had been building up recently, though he hadn’t even noticed it.

He was so focused on the feeling that he even ignored the system notifications that kept popping up.

*SCREEECH!* *SCREEECH!* *SCREEECH!*

The gigantic armored ants started screeching as they burned beneath the attacks. Soon, the air was filled with their cries.

One ant after another began emerging from the anthill, looking around to see what was happening.

They seemed to have noticed Chris and Azreon flying through the air. As more and more ants emerged, they climbed onto their own anthill and began covering it.

"Good, good, stupid ants! Make it easier for me to burn you all!"

Chris and Azreon continued attacking the mountain from every side, completely going on a rampage.

Soon, his mana reserves were completely exhausted. He pulled out one of the mana potions Aura had given him and drank it in one gulp.

"Here, buddy, drink this!"

He crouched down and extended his hand, pouring a potion into Azreon’s mouth.

Within seconds, both of their mana reserves were completely replenished.

The crimson fire continued raining down upon the mountain, sending rubble and screeches in every direction.

Just when Chris started thinking that everything was too easy, something unexpected happened.

A new batch of ants began emerging from the colony’s base, and they were considerably larger than the others.

But what made them different wasn’t their size. It was the pair of wings on their backs.

"So there are flying ants as well?"

Chris wasn’t worried at all. On the contrary, his fighting spirit burned even brighter.

"COME, COME! LET’S SEE WHAT YOU’VE GOT!" he yelled, continuing to rain fireballs down on the ants below.

The flying ants spread their wings and shot into the air at great speed.

Their numbers were astonishing. More and more kept emerging from the colony, flying into the sky and heading straight towards Azreon.

"Let’s see if my control has improved!"

He conjured dozens of new fireballs before hurling them at the approaching flying ants.

The targeted ants quickly changed direction, attempting to avoid the fireballs, but Chris’s control was getting better and better.

He focused on the fireballs and changed their direction as well, making them follow the ants trying to evade them.

*BOOOM!* *BOOOM!* *BOOOM!* *BOOOM!* *BOOOM!*

One after another, the flying ants were hit by the fireballs. Although he couldn’t perfectly control each one to ensure every shot hit its mark, most of them managed to land a hit.

*SCREEECH!* *SCREEECH!* *SCREEECH!*

The flying ants that were hit began screeching. While most of them managed to survive the initial attacks, their wings were heavily damaged.

They started falling towards the ground at great speed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?"

Chris laughed like a maniac while conjuring even more fireballs and continuing to throw them endlessly.

Soon, fireballs rained down from above like actual rain.

The ants that managed to avoid the fireballs continued chasing Azreon through the sky, but his speed was greater than theirs, making it impossible for them to catch up.

Azreon kept bombarding the mountain and the ants below, while Chris dealt with the flying ants.

The ants that couldn’t fly were completely helpless, unable to fight back from the ground.

They started grabbing stones and boulders, throwing them high into the air in an attempt to hit their attackers.

But Azreon’s speed was far too great, and none of their attacks even came close to landing a hit. On the contrary, some of the flying boulders managed to hit their own comrades, the flying ants, even helping Chris for a moment.

"HAHAHAHA! STUPID ANTS!"

By now, the entire top of the mountain had crumbled. The anthill started falling apart at an incredible speed, sending even more ant beasts outside.

They tried to protect their home with their bodies, but it seemed they had grown accustomed to relying on their thick defenses.

It was all in vain, as the crimson fire melted through their defenses in seconds, killing dozens of ants wherever it passed.

If one hit wasn’t enough to kill them, it still managed to severely injure them, only for another hit to land shortly afterward.

Not even ten minutes into the attack, the anthill’s height had been reduced by half.

They didn’t stop attacking for even a second. Whenever they ran out of mana, Chris would pull out mana potions to replenish their reserves.

"Hey, madman! Those are my potions! I didn’t give them to you just so you could waste them like that!" Chris heard a voice in his head.

It was Aura, speaking from inside the beast pouch.

"You already gave them to me, so they’re mine now! What can you do about it? AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Aura began to feel that Chris was starting to lose his mind completely.

"Don’t worry, though. I’m quite rich myself. I’ll give you back your potions in due time," Chris reassured her.

"Hmph... Fine!" she grumbled, no longer trying to argue.

From inside the pouch, Aura attentively watched the whole spectacle.

At first, she thought Chris had lost his mind while trying to find the colony. She had repeatedly advised him not to do that and to simply hunt the ants throughout the forest, fearing he might endanger himself by fighting an entire colony. But, of course, Chris had never listened to her.

However, she was soon completely stunned by what she witnessed. She had never expected Chris and Azreon’s firepower to be great enough to wreak so much havoc.

Chris never stopped attacking the flying ants, and by now, he had completely exhausted his mana reserves several times, replenishing them with potions each time.

His control over the fireballs visibly kept improving at an astonishing rate.

Not long after the attack began, he was already able to cut his mana consumption in half while causing the same amount of destruction.

His control over the flying fireballs increased by a great margin, and he started missing fewer shots.

After each barrage, only a few lucky ants managed to escape the fireballs, but even that number began decreasing over time.

Chris felt unbelievably invigorated. He felt that today was his happiest day in a long time. Nothing fired him up as much as hunting monsters and getting stronger.

He didn’t know why he felt that way. Maybe he had been bullied by monsters in the Wilds for so many years that he had grown tired of hunting them.

Maybe he had been too weak for so long that he now felt an unimaginable thrill every time he grew stronger.

He didn’t know, but he didn’t care either.

*SCREEECH!*

He suddenly heard a screech from below that sounded much stronger and louder than the others.

Looking down, he saw an ant that was dozens of times larger than any other ant he had encountered.

’That must be their queen.’

He naturally knew about ant colonies, as he had seen many in his life.

Even though those colonies had contained only normal, tiny ants, he didn’t expect this one to be any different. He knew they must have a queen.

And just as he had expected, the queen didn’t have any wings. He knew that ant queens had wings when they were young, but once they established a territory where they would build their colony, they lost them and began producing eggs.

It seemed her level was much higher than his, but that didn’t discourage him. She couldn’t fly, and that was more than enough to keep her at a distance.

However, just at that moment, something happened that made his eyes widen.

[Level Increased.]

[Requirements for evolution met.]

[All attributes increased: x1.5.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

[Requirements for evolution met.]

[All attributes increased: x1.5.]