Ch.50Middle Layer (2)

While our group took a moment to catch their breath, I pulled some clothes from my subspace and handed them to Kitsune.

“Kitsune, could you send these flying far away? We need to make the ants chase after something else.”

“Yes, understood.”

After taking the clothes from me, Kitsune loaded them onto her shikigami and made them move as far and as long as possible through the ant colony.

This would keep the ants engaged in a meaningless game of tag in their own nest for a while.

After confirming the clothes had flown far away, I took out additional sprays. They were similar to the canisters I’d taken out before, but there were different ones too.

“This is deodorizing spray. Whether they’re strong or weak, ants send scouts whenever they detect something. It’s best if we just don’t get caught.”

With those words, I sprayed the deodorizer on myself, then on Lilly, Kitsune, and Kirara.

If we were discovered by ants in this state, it would all be for nothing, but until then, they had no way to track us.

“When there’s no interference from ants, we need to cover as much ground as possible, so let’s move right away. Kirara, please take care of Kitsune.”

“Kerung!”

If the High Giant Ants hadn’t appeared, there wouldn’t have been any rush, but now that they were active, speed was essential.

Our current position was about 65% through the middle layer.

Originally we would have been at around 35%, but using the death hall to avoid the ants had actually helped our progress.

‘I’d like to use it more, but… the risk is too high, so it can’t be helped.’

Considering the falling speed, if we fell from here, the timing would put us not in the middle layer but the lower layer.

That meant gravity and acceleration would be stronger than before. There was even a possibility we might not be able to time it right and plummet straight down to the deep layer.

I had only one coin left.

I didn’t have the luxury of regretting death and starting the next round, so I needed to be careful. Of course, I was prepared to take a gamble when necessary.

But I had no intention of taking unnecessary risks. Although I had the fox bead as a safety measure, it wasn’t something to waste in a place like this.

‘The fox bead’s ability only applies to me, not the whole party.’

As I was moving forward, lamenting that we couldn’t use the high-pass route, I spotted several scout ants in the distance.

They didn’t seem to have discovered us yet, but they appeared to be widening their search range.

“Charge through… or avoid…”

If we broke through now, we could maintain our speed. But it was clear that afterward, the ants would follow us and we’d end up in the same situation as before.

If we sneaked past, we wouldn’t have ants following us immediately. However, it was uncertain when we might be discovered and pursued.

The safest option was to take a detour. But…

“I think quietly detouring would be—”

“Are the shikigami moving well right now?”

“Yes, they’re all passing through the ant colony without being destroyed.”

Something felt off. Why were scout ants already here? They should have been busy chasing the shikigami.

If they hadn’t caught any, there should be almost no reason to send scouts to this area.

“Could you stop the shikigami’s movement for a moment? And check if they’re being destroyed?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

Following my request, Kitsune closed her eyes to check the status of her shikigami.

After a moment with no change, her eyebrows moved, and she opened her eyes with a puzzled expression.

“Strangely… none of the shikigami have been caught or destroyed.”

“We’ll break through. We’re not far from the lower layer, so we should be fine if we push ourselves.”

After hearing Kitsune’s answer, I immediately took the lead and cut down the scout ants ahead. Though it was a sudden action, the party quickly followed.

But since the current situation was still confusing, Lilly demanded an explanation.

“Why the sudden rush? What’s going on?”

“Ants may seem clever, but they’re actually following a manual. That’s why I had the clothes loaded onto the shikigami to move around. The ants would target the owner of the scent whether they set up an encirclement or tracked us.”

They might determine it was a decoy after catching it, but ants didn’t have the intelligence to realize it was a decoy before catching it.

Normal ants didn’t, anyway.

“Only the queen can recognize a decoy before catching it. And if the queen is moving, it means all the ants in the middle layer are rushing toward us.”

“But why would the queen suddenly move?”

“That’s what I don’t understand either.”

The probability of the queen moving was extremely low. Even I, who had visited this place multiple times, had rarely seen the queen move.

Was it simply bad luck? That seemed too simplistic, as the queen’s movement was unusually quick.

We hadn’t been here long, and it hadn’t been long since the High Giant Ants started moving, so why would she move directly?

‘Does she want something…?’

One, two. As I cut down the increasing number of Giant Ants, I searched my memories.

There had been a few instances when the queen responded almost immediately after entering the middle layer. And there was a common factor in those cases.

The World Tree sap. Just below the level of elixir, it was a recovery item that could heal anyone as long as they weren’t dead.

And the queen had responded when I was carrying this tree sap.

‘The effect of the tree sap wasn’t the issue.’

The ant queen had simply been drawn to the sweet scent emitted by the tree sap.

So what could be drawing the queen’s attention now, as much as the fragrance of that tree sap?

None of the items I was carrying seemed relevant. Most were in my subspace and wouldn’t be detectable anyway.

Then what…

“Could it be… me…?”

“Suddenly, what’s you?”

“No… I think the queen is responding to me…”

I’d never played a character with such high charm stats before, so I had no data. But my charm stat had been increasing almost daily, which concerned me.

It seemed unlikely that a stat that hadn’t even reached its first breakthrough could have such power, but with the right combination of race, talent, and characteristics, it was entirely possible.

If it was already this effective, I worried about what would happen when I broke through the stat cap and removed the pendant.

“I’m worried about my ever-increasing charm…”

“I’m… more worried about these ants right now!”

“Kerrrung!!”

“Okay, I’ll focus!”

I looked at the High Giant Ants that had accumulated. One was creepy enough, but dozens blocking our path sent chills down my spine.

Taking down just one required swinging my sword at least twice, so I couldn’t imagine how long a direct confrontation would take.

Of course, I had no intention of defeating them head-on this time either. I was planning to get Lilly’s help.

“Could you enchant my sword, please?”

“Sure thing~”

The aura surrounding my sword transformed into wind attribute in response to Lilly’s enchantment.

I could feel a gentle breeze around me as I held the sword.

“When wind is refined to its extreme… cutting power is maximized.”

Slash—

The sword swung cleanly without any resistance, and the ants blocking our path were split in half.

“It’s frustrating that this is all I can do.”

“We should be grateful to receive help even in this form.”

Direct attacks consumed a lot of Lilly’s cost, but this workaround method could be used about three times a day without issue.

The sword’s high magical conductivity made the enchantment more efficient than with other weapons.

The end of the middle layer wasn’t far, but Kitsune also looked quite exhausted.

Maintaining a barrier around herself constantly and continuously using shikigami—it was fortunate she hadn’t collapsed yet.

“Haa… haa… I think I’m reaching my limit…”

“We’re almost at the lower layer. There are places to rest once we get there, so hang in there.”

If the upper layer was a field map with various monsters, and the middle layer was a dungeon with the ant kingdom, then the lower layer was a boss room.

A boss room where five different boss monsters maintained balance by keeping to their own territories.

‘Not only the bosses, but even the monsters below them are strong enough that ants don’t dare approach.’

One might think the lower layer would be more dangerous, but as long as we were careful not to intrude on their territories, it was actually the safest place to stay.

“Once we pass through that hole, we’re good!”

“Ugh…! Let’s go, Kirara!”

At my words, Kitsune and Kirara summoned their last reserves of strength and threw themselves into the hole. Lilly and I cut down the pursuing ants once more before following them in.

What unfolded before our eyes was none other than a lava zone. And swimming through that lava was a dragon.

“Isn’t this hell too?!”

“As long as we’re careful, there won’t be any problems!”