"Here we go," I remarked, as I drew out Desecrator and stepped forward, one of the Monsters zipping in towards me.

Soldier Ants, the High Level evolved form of Giant Ants.

They're significantly smaller than Giant Ants and Giant Flying Ants, and have a more humanoid appearance, with four limbs instead of six.

They were each around six to seven feet in height, they've got a lot more speed and strength than their Low and Mid Level forms, and much tougher exoskeletons too.

As the Soldier Ant closed in on me, I swiftly shuffled across to my right as it drove its claws towards my head, evading it before my left hand shot out and grabbed the side of its head.

A sharp, chittering screech of pain rang out as I unleashed Mana Pulse, its body convulsing in agony as its eyes exploded.

As it stumbled, I swiftly turned across towards it and slashed at its neck with my blade, slicing through and decapitating it.

As it collapsed and hit the ground with a thud, I glanced across as a loud crunch rang out, as Aria caved in the chest of another one with a powerful, fiery strike, fatally wounding it.

The Monster stumbled back and collapsed onto its knees, shakily and frantically starting to spread out its wings as Aria lunged towards it, swinging her left fist across and striking the side of its head, a fiery burst erupting upon impact, the force of her strike tearing its head clean off its shoulders.

Hm, the last one is staying airborne, keeping its distance.

These ant Monsters are supposed to be relatively low in intelligence, but I guess they're smart enough to know when they're outmatched.

Of course, it won't make much of a difference...

"<Command: Get Over Here>."

The Monster let out an agitated screech as I began flying towards me, while I raised my left index finger and took aim, charging up a concentrated mass of Negative Energy and firing it out in the form of a rapid, piercing beam.

My beam struck the middle of the Monster's head, drilling through before bursting out the back of its head, its body going limp as its wings slumped down.

Streaks of green liquid sprayed out of its head as it plummeted, its body thudding against the ground and bouncing away as it crashed down.

"Alright, guys, let's keep going," I called out, as I used Ravage to eat up the remains of the Soldier Ants, having extracted the Cores.

"I'm pretty sure I could've taken those things myself, I didn't have any trouble following their movements," Remarked Brid, as he walked over with the others.

I decided to have them focus on defense instead of backing up Aria and me, since we don't really need any back up.

"Well, yeah, you're a lot stronger than they are. But for now, your role is to observe, learn and only take action if necessary.

Which is a very real possibility, if we run into an especially large group of Soldier Ants, a few are likely to slip past us and target the mid and back lines.

If that happens, be ready to respond accordingly. But as for fighting on the front line, I can't let you do that anymore on this raid," I stated firmly.

"Yeah, I get it, I know it's risky and dangerous. And I suppose getting impatient could very well be detrimental, so alright," He responded with a sigh.

"No need to be so down, you've done a great job so far, and once you're more experienced, we'll definitely be relying on you in more active roles during raids," Chimed in Aria encouragingly.

"Thanks, I'll keep at it."

We then continued heading up the Dungeon, making our way through to tunnel to the next floor.

We're about two-thirds of the way through at this point, having just entered the sixty-second floor, with another thirty-one to go, including the Boss Room.

Once the number of High Levels on each floor start going above ten, I should summon Acedia and have him hang back over the mid and back lines, just as an extra precaution.

No harm in playing it safe, after all.

For now, this raid has been progressing unusually easily, and in all likelihood, that's unlikely to change until the Boss Room, or maybe over the last two or three floors before the Boss Room.

We'll continue progressing at a relatively cautious pace, but if this keeps up, we should be able to make our way through the next couple dozen or so floors without a problem.

"Okay, I can sense the next group of Monsters, four High Levels," Spoke up the Detector, as we headed through the floor.

"Alright, thanks. Let's deal with them and keep going," I remarked, as I cracked my neck with a tilt of my head.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Grinned Aria, as she slammed her right fist against her left palm.

As we continued making our way through the floor, it didn't take long before the Monsters came into sight, four Soldier Ants.

Aria and I swiftly shot forward as the Monsters took notice of us, two of them rushing in towards me as the other two targeted Aria.

I fired out a couple of Pulse Bullets as I took aim, the pair targeting letting out screeches of pain as they lost control of their flight and fell down, hitting the ground.

I raced towards them rapidly, getting low and swinging my blade as I closed in on one of them, slicing its head open before it could react.

I swiftly leapt forward as the other one began to fly up frantically, grabbing its leg before it could get out of my reach, unleashing Mana Pulse as I tightened my grip before swinging it down as it chittered sharply in pain, slamming it against the ground with a loud crash.

As it shakily began to try and get back up, I blasted it straight through the middle of the head with a rapid, piercing burst of Negative Energy, killing it instantly...

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