Chapter 37: I hate ants
*slash* * pierce* *thud*
And with a thrust of my spear the frog shooter falls.
"Oh a drop item."
Currently I am on the sixth floor of the dungeon. It's been a little over two weeks since I started using my talismans and let me say it's been great. Being able to up my speed and strength lets me hit harder and dodge easier. The dragon and pig let me attack from range and vary my attacks while the horse and dog turn me into a perpetual motion machine.
I'm not kidding! It seems the dog talisman with it's 'rejuvenation' recovers my stamina for a slight amount of mind power. Sure I still need to rest my head every now and again but give it some more magic stones and it will be true.
Of course one must be thinking if that's so why am I still on the sixth floor? Ants. More precisely killer ants. Those things are armored and fast which makes it hard for me to hit their weak points. Even worse when I hit them with fire or lasers they don't take enough damage to put them down! That plus their swarm tactics makes it a tall wall to get past.
If you don't believe me let me explain.
Flashback ----- a couple days ago ----
"Okay so these are killer ants."
Currently I can see two ants in the next room. Their pretty spaced out and I'm confidant in my speed so it should be pretty easy. I jump in and dash toward the one on the left. You would think being ants they wouldn't notice me that quickly but of course they do.
Seeing it turn toward me I go to get around it and cut off its head but it turns faster. Thinking fast I go for its eyes but it just blocks with its shell. Seeing the normal approach failing and it's buddy getting close I blast it with fire and laser. Then I jump away to get some distance from both and check my handiwork.
The smoke settles and out comes a perfectly fine ant! No it's got some burn and and cut marks from the explosion. Looks like the power isn't enough to pierce through yet.
My musings are rudely interrupted by the ants charging me. Seeing if I can take one down I try to hit one with a laser blast in the mouth. It works! The ant tries to block with its pincers but is too slow. It's charge gets halted from the impact and it collapses on the ground.
Since the other ant is almost on me I go for a quicker approach. Jumping away from the charge I go for its antennae and manage to get half of one with a quick swipe.
Disoriented and in pain the ant goes nuts like a bull at the rodeo. Its wild swinging around with its head and back don't leave me much room to strike so I decide to ride the thing. Jumping up with some assistance from chicken little I land on the back of the ant and go for the head. Luckily the middle part wasn't moving too much so I was able to get a clean decapitation.
I jump off and survey my handiwork.
"Looks like it's not too hard to take these down. Just got to be careful and get them quick. Now let's see anything else trying to sneak up on me. Wait what's that?"
As I look over at the ant I shot in the mouth I notice it's antennae are twitching. A sense of dread washes over me
"Shit! Is that thing still alive! That blast should have roasted its hole head! I better .." Before I can start running for the hills I see a pile of ants coming down the hall.
"Well crap! I don't like my chances of trying to out run the whole swarm, but I bet I could take them out with some strategy and conservative talisman use. Here goes nothing. Custer give me strength!" Backing up against a wall to guard my back I face the swarm.
--- End of Flashback ----
To make a long and repetitive story short I won. Sure it's obvious or else I wouldn't be here but it was a close thing. I basically just went after their antennae trying to blind them and let them get in each others way. Worked pretty well for the most part. They thrash pretty bad when you hit their antennae so they made decent blockers. I alternated between letting them run into each other and taking them out to use their bodies as a make shift barricade. That nearly backfired when some of them started climbing over it and nearly falling on top of me.
By the time it was all over I needed new pants as well as new armor and was fighting a mind down. I would already be down and out if I hadn't tried eating a magic stone midway. After the ants nearly dropped on top of me I had to leave my position and jump into the middle of the swarm. So as you can guess my talisman use shot up. I could feel the onset of mind down and still had ants to kill so I took a risk. Figuring I was screwed anyway I jumped away and reached into my backpack for some magic stones and ate them right there. Luckily I found out that eating magic stones not only strengthened Shendu but it also alleviated mind down! Emergency rations for the win!
So yeah I hate ants. The main problem I found is that against well armored opponents I need either the skill to hit their weak points or a better weapon to pierce through them. Also I suck at the spear right now. You try hitting the bulls eye with basically a knife on a stick! My plan now is to either get a much tougher spear or switch to something I can abuse my strength with. I've got the bull talisman after all. I need something that can leverage that power and this spear is just to technical for me right now. Of course finding something that could fit me perfectly and work for every occasion is probably a pipe dream.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone