Heavy Metal: Chapter 15 – Ants. (Patreon)

‘That’s better… Now what should I do?’

Rusty had expended a large amount of bronze to restore the rest of his body to its original shape. After crawling through the initial hole, it gradually expanded enough for him to walk on both his metallic legs. The entire place felt somewhat peculiar as if still under the lingering influence of the dungeon but not entirely so.

While he was falling down the large hole, he also heard the voice screaming at him before suddenly going silent. It was as if something had severed or blocked the connection he previously had. However, this was still similar to him going down to the second floor where the connection was lessened as well. Once here he also noticed a new peculiarity.

‘If that thing tried to eat me, I should probably assume that those aren’t friends either…’

Classification: Minuscule Myrm Ant Drone L4 G+

Type: Insectoid

There were other monsters down here, ones that differed from the ones on the first and second floors. They didn’t have the usual humanoid shape but were more similar to the smaller insects he dispatched for one experience point each. The area here had become dimly lit thanks to strange glowing insects sticking to the walls. This let him examine the insectoid monster in more detail.

The first thing that caught his metallic eyes was the creature's head. It had two large antennae that were constantly twitching. It had a set of mandibles that opened up the moment he was spotted. Its size wasn’t that large as it reached up to about his knee but it was also somewhat lengthy. The monster had two other main parts besides its head and was somewhat similar to the monstrosity that had almost eaten him. However, it has one less set of shorter legs, not as many eyes and its coloring was dark brownish.

‘Is it charging?’

Rusty had been able to reform his body and blade with the help of his leftover bronze. His resources were running low and he was down to two more bronze ingots. To his knowledge, there was no bronze to be gained here so he couldn’t let himself be damaged anymore. This large ant monster didn’t seem to be a friend like the skeletons or zombies, he needed to protect himself.

The ant monster hurled itself at him as soon as he made himself known. Preliminary analysis indicated that this was a G+ rank monster and not something Rusty had encountered before. Rusty, classified as an F-rank monster with some F+ stats, found himself unsure whether this made him stronger or weaker than the creature. However, judging by its movements, he was inclined to believe that it was actually much weaker than him or any of the monsters he had encountered before.

Its attack pattern was quite rudimentary as it came at him in a straight line. The only weapon it possessed was a pair of mandibles that could potentially chew through his armor, a theory Rusty was unwilling to test. Instead, he sidestepped the attack and instinctively activated his power slash move. His sword executed a swift downward strike, effortlessly cutting the creature in two.

You have gained +10 experience points.

‘It’s kind of weak?’

The monster ant proved unable to withstand more than one hit from his sword. In comparison to all his previous experiences with adventurers, this monster felt like a joke. It moved slowly and approached him without any strategic or intricate thought. Then to make things even better the experience gained from defeating it was much higher than from any other insect or rodent he had faced. While it didn't come close to the experience received from killing an adventurer, the risk factor associated with this creature was rather low.

‘Isn’t this rather good? Maybe I shouldn’t return to the upper layers…’

Rusty thought to himself, as his main reason for existing, was still the pursuit of power and further evolution. He was able to attack the monsters here and gain much more experience than when he was on the upper levels. The adventurers he had previously hunted proved to be too much for his current capabilities but these G-rank ant monsters could be just the thing that he needed.

‘Oh… there is a lot of them…’

While he had dispatched the first Minuscule Myrm Ant Drone, more of them appeared afterward. He assumed that these creatures functioned similarly to the monsters he was acquainted with. If they were any more close by they would be drawn in by the sounds or some other commanding voice. Soon instead of just one ant there were five and the battle started again.

They started coming at him from the front as there was no other way to approach him. At first, he imagined that this would allow him to take them on one by one. However, some of the ants started to crawl on the sides of the tunnel and one moved onto the ceiling. They attacked him from all directions and the battle got quite hectic.

After thrusting his sword into one of the monster's abdomen another one bit his left leg. Soon after, another descended from the ceiling and met a swift end as he cut it in half. Its green innards sprayed onto his armor but it didn't bother him too much. It appeared that this time around, his armor was sufficient enough to prevent any substantial damage. The monster's mandibles were bending the bronze but they couldn't rip through it. Finally, his armored form was coming in handy and he quickly dispatched the five other dog-sized insects.

‘All this experience! This is great!’

Rusty began to cheer as he gained sixty experience points in a matter of minutes. Previously, it would take him multiple hours of trying to find small rodents or other creatures to achieve the same result. It was not something he was accustomed to and he craved more and to his surprise, this was not quite over.

‘Oh? They are still approaching? This is becoming a bit… troublesome… perhaps?’

While he loved the continuous experience grind the monsters kept appearing, and he was forced to endure more gnawing attacks. His armor managed to withstand the assaults but the more ants bit the same spots, the sooner he would start losing body parts. He utilized his swordsmanship as best as he could but he felt that he couldn't sustain something like this forever.

After another five minutes, there were now more than fifteen corpses in the corridor where Rusty had appeared. He had managed to push through and finally arrived at a fork in the road. The chamber he entered had multiple entrances and from several of them, he could hear some suspicious echoes. It was evident that these monsters were being attracted from a greater distance. His skeletal friends and other living armors weren’t capable of such feats and he was realizing that this place probably held some other secrets he didn’t know.

‘I need to leave, even though they are easy to kill, I can’t handle hundreds of them at a time.’

He was aware of his limitations and unwilling to allow himself to die. Many things have changed and he now didn’t expect to be rebuilt as the previous two times. He would also be unable to return to this place at which he arrived through sheer luck. It was best to find a safe corner in this new part of the dungeon, where he could take a moment to reassess the entire situation and formulate a proper plan.

‘That one seems safe, I can’t sense any sounds or movement.’

Rusty did not have ears either but he was somehow able to perceive sound waves in some way that he didn’t fully understand. Soon he ventured into this path which was scarcely illuminated by the strange insects on the ceiling. Normally he expected to make a clean getaway but to his surprise, the monsters were following after him.

‘It’s similar to those humans, they somehow know where I am going.’

Finally, he realized that these monsters might never let up and that he needed to do something. Rusty didn’t really have a clue as to how all of this was happening as the monsters from his dungeon level had no such capabilities. While running he tried to strain his metallic brain for answers. The memories from the demon lord and hero had become quite faint since he visited the soul forge but he was somehow able to decide something.

‘The monster blood, perhaps?’

After confronting the first few monster ants, he became covered in their insides. The armor he was wearing was now coated in green goop and various liquids from the monsters. However, even if this was the cause what was he supposed to do about it? The mess was all over his body and covered all the main parts. Even if he took himself apart there would still be remnants of the ant remains left on his armor. He would only be making himself weaker for the next confrontation.

‘Hm… is fighting the only way? Maybe eventually they will give up?’

This was a possibility but he didn’t truly have enough information about these new creatures or the layout of this new part of the dungeon. His only weapon that was his sword wasn’t looking too great either. He would probably need to spend another bronze ingot to repair it as it was already chipped in a few places. With this thing in mind he continued on his way and perhaps along the way, he would find something that would allow him to survive this.

‘Hm… should I follow these glowing bugs?’

He could hear the clicking and clacking of the monster ants behind him and after a while, he arrived at more forks that led to more tunnels. These passages he was traveling through were starting to become wider and also brighter. Rusty noticed that some tunnels were more illuminated than others as if the glowing bugs were attracted to something there. He wasn't sure why but he felt like he should follow the well-lit passages.

After increasing his pace something caught his metallic ears, a sound that he had not heard before. At first, he was apprehensive about moving forward but the sounds of angry ants behind him forced him to move forward. Eventually, he arrived at a larger chamber with a strange new thing he had previously not seen before.

‘Is this water? Where is it all going?’

This might have been a mistake as he arrived at a well-illuminated area but there was nowhere else to go. Below him, he could see a large stream of water that was flowing at a rapid pace in one direction. The only problem was, that there were no other tunnels that he could now go to but the ants were still chasing him.

‘Should I go back?’

Rusty turned around and considered his options. He could either push back into the corridor and face the approaching ants or turn around to face the tides. It was not a bottomless pit and it seemed that the water should at least be able to wash off the smelly insect bits from his body. He wasn't sure if his metallic body would be able to float but it could be the only way to get away.

After looking back and forth, he decided to give it a go. The monster ants were easy enough to beat so perhaps finding a safer route would be better. However, the moment he took a few steps towards the passage he came from, he noticed a huge problem. There weren't just a few ants but they had turned into a massive surge of multiple insect bodies coming his way. He managed to dispatch a few before quickly retreating to the area with the water. Now, diving in didn't seem like such a bad idea.

‘Well… I survived last time…’

There was no other way out as countless monster ants were pouring out of the corridor and crawling up the walls. If he tried to go back in, they would quickly surround him and bite him to death. Even if he could defeat multiple tens of them, eventually, he would probably succumb to the horde he was facing. The decision was made for him and he found himself jumping off the ledge into the rapids below.

The last thing he saw was the many ants on the ledge looking down at him. Luckily, it didn’t seem like they liked this river too much as none of them decided to jump down after him. He was quickly carried away while bumping into some rocks and his body, at first, remained on the surface but eventually started to fill up with water. With more weight, he started going under but before he was fully submerged, a large log came flying in.

Rusty identified this log as something that could keep itself above the currents so he clung to it with all his might. The lone log carried him downstream and he had no idea what was happening around him. Light kept expanding the more he traveled through this rapid river and other sources that he couldn’t fully identify yet showed themselves.

The current started to pick up speed and the surroundings began to change. He soon found himself in a wider area where he spotted some other monsters on the side. It were some other ant-type monsters but some of them were larger than the drones he had seen before. They stood on the sides while he continued to cling to the log and go downstream to eventually, fall down another hole.

It was a waterfall that he arrived at, and during the fall his grip became loose. His helmet had started to fall off and he had to grab it to not lose his head. Thus, he found himself free-falling and made quite the splash down below. Once underwater, he collided with some other debris brought down by the water and continued to flow further down but eventually, he reached an end.

Rusty clung to some branches that allowed him to float forward, and eventually, he could feel some ground under his feet. His body was filled up with water, which made it hard to move forward, but luckily, the area he came up in wasn't that deep. The waterfall made a lot of noise in the distance, but besides it, there was no one here. No monster ants or other creatures but instead a well-lit area greeted him.

As he was slowly lumbering out of the large body of water he raised his helmet up. Quickly from his neck cavity, a large amount of water started to spray out along with a fish jumping out that used his body as a submarine. It flopped around in the air and then plunged back down into the small lake that had formed down here. Rusty continued to move forward while parts of his body continued to leak and only after getting out did he start looking around.

This area was quite shiny, with many crystals producing bright lights. They were in the walls, on the ceiling, and all around the area. Other minerals were also sticking out that he couldn't identify, but this was not what he was focusing on. The lights here felt a bit similar to something and that something was the light attack that he could produce with his sword. Perhaps, just like with the spider, this light could be the reason why there were no monsters here and why the ants did not follow him.

‘Should I use this area? It doesn’t seem like it’s used by anything or anyone?’

Rusty pondered his options as he stood in the illuminated chamber, dripping water and surrounded by sparkling crystals. The absence of any immediate threats gave him a moment to think and plan his next move. The water that still clung to his metallic frame dripped onto the rocky ground and created small puddles that reflected the ambient light from the crystals.

While he wasn't sure about the connection these glowing crystals had with his sword skill, they seemed to be repelling the monsters and keeping them away. It was perhaps possible to use this chamber as a safe haven, something that he could turn into a base…