Aenon hid in the shadow of the massive structure the ants had constructed. It looked like a blown-up version of Earth's anthill, with glossy ceramic white walls, and multiple streams of gigantic ants entering and leaving from the numerous entrances. He melded into the Shadow Realm whenever an ant passed him but remained outside most of the time. The ant's weak eyesight, and his cloak's ability to hide his scent, meant he didn't need to stay within the Realm all the time. Just out of sight. It reminded him of the rogue-style games he used to play with his sister as a kid. Sneaking about while trying to stay in the blind spots of the enemies. The only difference was the ants didn't have a particular pattern like the games. Thankfully, his Soul Sense gave him 360 degrees of vision around him, allowing him to stay one step ahead.

Now that he was in position, he waited. He had eroded one of the dam's walls till it was barely holding back the water and set up a trap that was rigged to collapse the weakened structure. The spot he had chosen would send water gushing towards the anthill, which he hoped would make the bugs head over in a panic to seal. He had left a few false scent trails leading up to the trap from different directions, and now he just needed one of the ants to pick up on it. And soon enough…

BOOM

A loud explosion sent shockwaves along the ground, followed by a low rumbling, as a tsunami started pouring out of the dam. The initial wave washed away all the Fire Ants in the vicinity, and the water flowed towards Aenon's location unabated. For a moment Aenon wondered if he had miscalculated, but then he had to duck into the shadows as another wave started heading his way from the opposite direction. Hundreds of Workers, Soldiers, and even Juvenile Fire Ants started filing out from the anthill and rushed towards the oncoming water. The two colossal waves met at the exact location Aenon was at, and the entire area was engulfed in steam the next moment.

Aenon watched in fascination as the ants made an impromptu dam with their own bodies and diverted the flow away from their home. The water sizzled and boiled, as their bodies superheated to keep the water at bay. Finding his chance, he quickly navigated through the Shadow Realm all the way to one of the entrances. His Soul Sense showed the area was clear of any enemies, so he emerged to conserve his mana. Before any of the ants could turn around and see the interloper in their midst, he ran into the tunnels.

The insides were more impressive than he expected. There was a soft light that permeated the entire region, even casting some faint shadows. Smooth walls broke into multiple tunnels as the pathways bifurcated and converged to form a seemingly random patterned maze. He realized this was their second line of defense. Any intruder that used his diversion tactic would be hard pressed to navigate without getting lost. At least till the distraction ended and the ants poured back in from all sides. It was a good strategy and would work against most parties. But unfortunately, it had a major flaw. The ants obviously needed to navigate this maze themselves, which meant they had some way of reading the layout. The answer, Aenon realized was Mana Sense. More specifically, the ability to read the faint trails left by fire wisps.

There were some tunnels that had more of the stuff, while some had less or none. To test his theory, he went down a trail with no fire wisps, only to meet a dead end. He backtracked and started following the tunnel with the densest fire wisp trail. It went on and on, deeper into the ground. Aenon did come across several patrols of Soldiers but was able to go around them quite easily. He considered giving up and backing off since it was going in too deep, when he finally detected some activity at the edges of his Soul Sense. But what he observed made him stop in his tracks.

There were thousands of soul signatures somewhere down the tunnel. They were all stationary except a group of five that were huddled close together and were moving like one. Aenon melded into the shadows, and creeped closer to the opening at the end of the tunnel. And the view was breathtaking. Eggs, too many to count, were scattered all over a large cavern. Each one was about 2 feet in diameter and was completely transparent. He could clearly see the baby Fire Ant wriggling within its confines.

Amidst the sea of neatly laid eggs, the queen was treading along while laying down more. She was white in color and was dragging a bulging sack behind. Four massive guards had her boxed in and were walking in step with her. Aenon cast identify to check the levels of the group, while also pulling up their descriptions.

<Fire Ant Queen | Level 45>

<Fire Ant Queen's Guard | Level 50>

<Fire Ant Queen's Guard | Level 52>

<Fire Ant Queen's Guard | Level 49>

<Fire Ant Queen's Guard | Level 55>

Fire Ant Queen's Guard – Far surpassing the standard Soldier variant, the Queen's Guard embody unmatched ferocity and unwavering loyalty. Armed with a formidable array of offensive and defensive abilities, they stand as the hive's final bulwark—an elite line of defense that few intruders live to breach.

Fire Ant Queen – The matriarch of the colony, the Queen has but one purpose: Raise as many new followers as possible. They have very limited offensive capability, and weak defenses in general. But they make up for it with the sheer number of bodies they can throw between themselves and their foes.

The Queen's Guards were of a higher level than the other Fire Ants, and were vicious powerhouses. Things could get dicey real fast if Aenon was not careful. This raid of his was more of a covert assassination than a full-frontal assault. He couldn't afford to get trapped on his way out, so he had to avoid a prolonged confrontation. The goblins were an exception, since they were generally weak, but the same tactic against a cohesive unit like the Fire Ants would be a disaster.

He kept a close eye on the five ants, hoping to get a glimpse of what their abilities were. But unfortunately, they didn't use any as they went about their business. He could detect a faint ground vibration from above, meaning the dam was not fixed yet, but he was running out of time. He needed to move fast, and get away faster before reinforcement came in. He moved into the cavern cautiously, keeping as far away from the eggs as he could. He had learned his lesson with the Juveniles and didn't want the possibility of an exploding egg to ruin his assassination attempt.

Aenon could probably sneak closer using Shadow Meld, but there was hardly any cover within the open cavern. A dark shadow creeping along would be too eye catching and probably aggravate the Queen's Guard. Using Light Manipulation to go invisible, Aenon started gathering mana in his twin daggers as he crept closer at a snail's pace.

He needed to make the first blow count and ideally finish it in one shot. If he failed at that, he would be up against 4 over-leveled opponents of unknown abilities to contend against. He made sure to keep his hands tucked inside his cloak to hide the mana signature. The entire cavern was filled with fire wisps, with only trace amounts of other types. Sadly, there were no water wisps at all, meaning he couldn't create any ice here. But if his plan worked, he didn't need any other wisp type. Since he knew fire was good at one thing: Explosions.

He started stuffing as much fire, air, and space wisps into his daggers as possible. He wasn't particularly focused on the ratio, since all he wanted was a gigantic boom. But he didn't want to be anywhere near the place when the thing went off. As he got within 5 feet of the group, one of the Guards sensed something was off. It started chittering angrily, making the other Queen's Guard make a defensive wall around the Queen. The reaction time was truly impressive, and Aenon was glad he didn't try a longer ranged attack. Their formation was airtight and had no openings, their bodies growing armored membrane like structure to seal off their leader from external harm.

Too bad for them, Aenon was much closer than they expected. Aenon cast Kingdom of Darkness and released his Aura simultaneously. The Guards saw their opponent for a mere fraction of a second, before darkness engulfed them, along with a feeling of utter dread. The feeling didn't send them running away in fear, but it did disorient them massively. Which made them move a fraction of an inch out of sync, thus giving a minute gap in their formation. A gap that Aenon used to devastating effect.

Two daggers flew into the small opening before the Guards could close it. They did manage to seal the gap, but after the daggers went in. Aenon didn't wait to see how effective the attack was, as he hightailed out of the area like his life depended on it. And he was so glad he did.

BOOM

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A truly massive explosion occurred behind him, but he didn't feel any shockwave, making him turn back in confusion. His eyes went wide at what he saw. The sealed enclosure the Guards had created had completely contained the blast, and none of the Queen's Guard had moved an inch despite the force behind it. But that also meant the Queen was subjected to the entire concussive force within a very small space. He got a kill notification, along with a series of Title prompts which he absolutely ignored.

The Guards moved away to check what was left of their Queen. All they found was a pile of viscous goo and some shattered carapace parts. They stared blankly for a second before letting out a massive shriek.

Skrreeeeeeeeeek

"Uh oh," Aenon said in a worried tone as the guards turned in his direction with red in their eyes. They looked exactly like Ignar's eyes when he went berserk. And in their maddened state one of the guards stepped on an egg. What followed was why Aenon was glad he had retreated right after the attack, and that he had stayed away from the eggs.

BOOM

The egg exploded into a shower of bright red sparks and a liquid, which Aenon was pretty sure would have burned through his bone if he was anywhere close by. The liquid splashed over the guards but had no effect on them as they continued charging at him. The rampaging ants stomped through the room, setting off a chain reaction of minor blasts that slowly radiated outwards.

Aenon was already down to a quarter of his mana pool, but he still decided to dive into the nearest shadow quickly. In the nick of time too, since the guards crashed into the wall a second later. They were severely disoriented, but their gazes followed his real-world shadow like a hawk. They charged in his direction again.

His mission complete, Aenon made a mad dash for the exit. The furious Queen's Guard didn't let him rest for a moment as they followed his shadow down the winding tunnels. It took Aenon almost half an hour to give them the slip. He cleverly used one of the scarce shadows to blend into before backtracking a few tunnels.

Having lost their quarry, the enraged Queen's Guard started pounding into the walls, sending shockwaves along the entire anthill structure.

Aenon didn't have enough mana to move all the way to the top while being melded into the Shadow Realm, so once he was out of sight, he emerged and started running at max speed. Thankfully his INT stat was high enough that he remembered the way he came from. After several twists and turns, he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He sensed an avalanche of soul signatures heading his way, which meant his window to escape was shrinking fast. He ran ahead with new vigor and dove into a shadow as the first of the Fire Ants entered the tunnel he was in.

He moved through the Shadow Realm and finally exited the anthill. What lay ahead was absolute chaos. The water from the dam was still not plugged and there was a wall of ants trying to keep the water out. Only a few of the ants had retreated into the tunnels, perhaps due to the vibrations from the Queen's Guard's attacks that even Aenon could sense.

Aenon was confused. He hadn't anticipated the damage to the dam to be this massive. And he had expected them to close it by now. Shaking his head, he decided to retreat to a safer location first. He was running low on mana, and this wasn't the place to figure out what was going on. He started running in a wide arc around the dam. He needed to get to the other side and hide somewhere to recover his mana.

But he skidded to a halt when he reached close to the broken structure. It finally made sense what was keeping the leak from being plugged, and why the ants had not retreated earlier. There was a party of adventurers who were keeping them occupied, ensuring the water kept flowing out and flooding the area around the anthill. Aenon detected at least 9 people of varying strengths, with the strongest one who felt far above Ignar's level.

Aenon snuck closer to get a better look, and cast identify on the massive man who was singlehandedly keeping the ants at bay using his tower shield. He wasn't as big as Ignar, but his ferocity as he wielded that shield, and a massive hammer spoke volumes about his expertise.

<Human | Warrior | Level ???>

None of the ants could get around him towards his party members, who were dishing out massive amounts of damage using ranged spells and attacks. Aenon found a hiding spot and kept observing the fight from as close as he dared, without giving away his location. He was so focused on the fight that he jumped back in alarm when a female voice spoke from behind him.

"Your looting mission was a success, I assume?" said the green haired woman who had snuck up on him without a sound. She looked to be in her forties and didn't wield any weapons he could see. But her ability to completely bypass his Soul Sense worried him.

Aenon drew his daggers from his inventory, where they had returned after he left the anthill. But he was aghast at what he saw. They were horribly twisted and warped. He immediately switched them out for a much cheaper quality set he had salvaged from the village. He would worry about fixing his daggers later, he had a much bigger threat in front of him.

"A cautious one. I like that," the woman said with an amused smile. She looked him over, studying him. So Aenon did the same.

<Human | Mage | Level 99>

Aenon tightened his grip on the daggers. Even though he could see her level, the fact that she could hide from his Soul Sense made her a bigger threat than the warrior. Her eyes went wide as she seemed to have realized something, a spark lighting up within them.

"A fledgling soul mage, huh? Now isn't that a rare treat. But why can't I see your level or Class details? A rare artifact perhaps?" she said, her smile widening.

Aenon didn't like where this was going. He needed to get away from her. In desperation, he unleashed his full Aura, trying to disorient her so he could make his escape. The area of effect was much larger than he wanted, affecting even the ants and the adventurers who were fighting. The sounds of battle ceased, as every fighter on the field froze in their tracks. Everyone, including the mage and the warrior, were paralyzed.

The mage's smile vanished as a deep frown formed on her face, along with a look of realization. She did…something that allowed her to move again.

"Do you mind pulling back your Aura? You are immobilizing my team, and making it impossible for them to fight," she asked with a deep thoughtful look.

Aenon didn't sense any hostile actions from her, but without his Soul Sense, he couldn't read her emotions either. He did retract his Aura though, as the ants were starting to recover. The moment he leashed his Aura, the adventurers collapsed to the ground in relief. But soon they stood back up and continued supporting the tank.

"Thank you," the female mage said with a bow.

But Aenon could see the tension from her body language. He didn't need his Soul Sense to tell that she was on guard. Any person capable of incapacitating her entire team couldn't be taken lightly.

The woman assessed the battlefield but kept a close eye on Aenon. He considered making a run for it, but doubted he could go far with his mana almost depleted. Not to mention, now that the shock had worn off, he was starting to piece together who the person opposite him might be.

She conjured some kind of wooden staff in her hands which she used to cast healing spells to support her team. And each time she cast a Spell, Aenon got a glimpse of her soul. Thankfully, unlike the elf healer, she didn't use any foreign souls to boost her Spells. Instead, they seemed to originate from her own soul. But there was something off about it. Aenon didn't know why, but her cloaked soul made him uncomfortable. She was obviously hiding something, but it didn't feel malevolent.

Aenon relaxed considerably and sat cross legged on the ground, entering a meditative state to recover his mana faster. He didn't know what direction the upcoming conversation would go in, but he needed to be at his best in case he needed to run. Or fight.

After about thirty minutes, the Fire Ants finally started pulling back towards their nest. The adventurers standing behind the tank started cheering. Within minutes, the bugs filed away and went down their tunnel, before collapsing them. There was no way into the anthill anymore. Aenon sensed the tank approach, so he ended his meditation and stood up. His mana wasn't back to full, but it would have to do.

"What do we have here, Thalindra?" the man asked in a loud voice as he stopped before Aenon. He gave Aenon a cursory glance, making eye contact for a brief second. He flinched back but had no other outward response. Even the mage, Thalindra, had minimal reaction to his mask's passive. Although she did avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"Ashryn Fenrast," Aenon said in a polite but firm tone while extending a hand. He used the same fake name he gave the others.

Aenon had deduced who these people were and wanted to approach cautiously. He didn't want to create more enemies, especially from the leaders of his neighboring city.

The tank looked at his hand before shaking it vigorously. He had a very firm grip, and if not for Aenon's STR stat, it would have left a bruise. The man raised an eyebrow in appreciation, probably not expecting Aenon to shake his hand without flinching.

"Guild Leader Gorin Brimwall," he responded before adding, "Mind taking off that mask. It's annoying not making eye contact. Gives me an itch every time I try looking at you."

"No," Aenon replied simply. There was no way he was giving away his identity. He could make it invisible but didn't want them figuring out his age either.

Aenon could clearly feel the anger and indignance from the man's soul, probably not used to people disobeying his command so callously.

"Sigh. He will not remove it till I uncloak my soul," the mage said with an eyeroll. "We have a soul mage on our hands Gorin."

The tank took a step back and clutched his hammer in a battle stance. Aenon sensed fear and caution added to the mix of hostile emotions within the tank's soul.

"Identify yourself," he barked in a commanding tone.

"I already did," Aenon responded with narrowed eyes. He too stood at the ready with his daggers.

"Lower your weapon, Gorin. You don't want to provoke him," the woman warned.

"What? You don't think I can take this guy on?" the tank replied furiously.

"Oh, you absolutely can, you big buffoon. But not without taking heavy losses," she said while pointing at the other party members who had come over to see what the commotion was about.

"Its 10 against 1, Thalindra," the tank replied defiantly. "What can he even do?"

The woman, Thalindra Sylvathorn, if Aenon was right, was about to speak up but suddenly froze. Aenon couldn't read her emotions, but he didn't need to. The terror was quite clear in her eyes. Aenon turned to the tank, his eyes giving him a chilling stare.

"Wrong. It is 8 against 10," he said in a cold tone.

A roiling black mass converged towards them from the horizon at blistering speeds. The next moment, seven hulking figures with cold grey eyes stood behind Aenon. The biggest of them took a step forward, and barked once making the entire adventuring party, including the tank and the mage take a step back.

"But numbers mean nothing when fighting shadows", Aenon added while unleashing his Aura again.

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