Chapter 16: RELEASING THE MITHRIUM ANTS
RELEASING THE MITHRIUM ANTS
There was an ancient system of tunnels inside this unexplored mine which was strange. This wasn't like the usual mine in Starri city.
Strange and mysterious patterns and drawings surrounded the corridors in this tunnel, and these patterns illuminated themselves as we neared them.
"What does these drawings or writings say?" I asked Ratatouille.
"I don't know. You may have better luck if you ask your Succubus", he replied to me.
Among all my Golems, Meera was the most well versed in ancient languages. But she didn't come with me today. Only the greedy rat was remotely interested in treasure hunting inside an abandoned mine.
"Well, then I must depend on you, GPT", I told my wristband and asked it to scan the walls of the tunnels and translate the language to me.
"Language unknown, Predictive indicator 12%", GPT replied to me.
"What the hell does your bracelet say?" Ratatouille asked me.
"It says it can recognize only one in ten words", I replied to him in simplification.
"Damn, that is as good as not knowing anything", he replied to me.
We went deeper into the ancient mine, while my wristband mapped the area.
"Runnnn", Alpha shouted to me as he rushed back to me all of a sudden as Beta followed closely, limping behind him.
"What the hell can scare the Malevolent like that?" Ratatouille asked me.
"Something worse than the Dark Vortex", I replied to him.
Soon, the presence of danger was approaching, and we took Alpha's advice to run.
All prudence and care quickly escaped our minds as we ran for cover and in the absence of care, we walked into something that we shouldn't.
The ground broke before us and we dropped down.
Ratatouille transformed into a flying book while I activated the magic of my bones.
In the caverns of the Skull Dungeon in Byorgvin, I killed many powerful wyrms that could turn invisible and fly.
My bone magic sometimes would grant me the abilities of the bones of powerful magical creatures that I killed and absorbed into my bones. Flying and turning invisible was one of those magics that I evolved in my bones, from the bones of flying and invisible wyrms.
Suddenly, several creatures fell toward us from the top. These were the creatures that Alpha and Beta were running away from and they slammed onto us, sending us down with them.
"Rawwrrrrrrr"
Once we reached the floor, it became apparent what the creatures we were running away from.
-----
Before us materialized enchanting serpentine beings, colossal in size like the largest pythons, their forms veiled in a mysterious, murky cloud.
These magical worms gracefully traversed the subterranean passages of the ancient mine, deftly winding through a labyrinth of tunnels and corridors.
Abruptly, the gargantuan worm's jaws parted, expanding to five times their original size. A multitude of glistening, razor-sharp teeth emerged from its now cavernous mouth, casting a silvery glow that starkly contrasted with the surrounding darkness.
As we peered into the abyss of this monstrous creature's maw, a disconcerting realization dawned upon us – there seemed to be no end in sight.
Within the gaping mouth of this Vortex Beast, a genuine vortex of darkness churned ominously, dragging unfortunate souls caught in its grip into a realm of shadows and annihilation.
-----
"Damnit, how did Vortex Beasts appear inside this bloody mine?" I asked.
"Vortex Beasts? Are you sure?" Ratatouille asked me to confirm.
Vortex Beasts were once humans like me, and they were somehow connected to my fate as the Dark Angel incarnate or soul bearer.
The worshippers of the Dark Angels would randomly assign magical curses to individuals who have rare and superior magic affinities, with the hope of awakening the Dark Angel incarnate.
While I succeeded in awakening the soul of the Dark Angel, there were countless others who failed. These failed candidates had their mind and soul consumed by their Dark Angel curse, transforming into Vortex Beasts.
"No wonder Alpha and Beta are so afraid of this creature, it can devour souls", I said to Ratatouille.
"Damnit, I thought I was facing a powerful dragon with all the fuss that those two Malevolent made, this is just a bloody Vortex Beast", Ratatouille said to me as he conjured his magic.
Suddenly, golden magical chains dropped on the Vortex Beast that captured it within its snare. The chains pulled the beast into the air, capturing and restraining it.
"Rumble…Rumble"
Suddenly, the cavern rumbled. The abyss that we fell into collapsed from above, covering the hole with rocks and stones, to our shock and horror.
"Damnit, we got trapped in this bloody abyss", I said to Ratatouille.
"It's all because of those coward Malevolent", Ratatouille said to me blaming our misfortune on my Malevolent Slaves.
"It is not their fault, they should be afraid of this Vortex Beast", I said to him.
"What do we do now?" Ratatouille asked me.
"Summon Alpha and Beta"
I summoned my Alpha and Beta Malevolent again. They saw the Vortex Beast before them and were initially afraid. But soon they realized the beast was captured by us and were relieved. The Vortex Beast's maws could eat and devour magical souls like them.
I quickly sent them out into the darkness to look for a way out of this bloody mine.
-----
Eventually, we managed to crawl into another part of the ancient tunnel.
"Where the hell are we?" Ratatouille asked me.
I quickly checked my wristband and realigned my map.
"We are quite deep inside the mountains unfortunately", I replied to him.
As we walked further, the grounds were illuminated by glowing metals of some kind. Ratatouille quickly went to inspect these luminescent materials.
"What did you find?" I asked Ratatouille.
"You won't believe me if I told you, these are bloody Mithriums", he told me.
"Are we inside a Mithrium mine?" I asked.
Suddenly, we were spotted by something that kept this territory to themselves. We were intruders and they came to shoo us away.
-----
Out of the shadows emerged an onslaught of radiant stars, numbering in the thousands, hurtling towards us with malevolence and rage.
As these celestial entities closed in, any attempt at defense proved futile.
We found ourselves besieged by a multitude, an army of ant-like creatures resembling hounds or wolves in size. These metallic ants bore silvery limbs and sharp antennae crafted from the formidable material known as Mithrium—the same substance that composed the holy apostles' weaponry, the mightiest metal in the realm.
The sudden appearance of these ants caught us off guard. We failed to register their presence until it was too late. Unbeknownst to us, these metallic insects had surrounded us upon entering this sector of the mine, camouflaging themselves as the silvery metals scattered across the area.
Upon closer inspection of these metallic fragments, the ants stirred to life.
Through a mysterious telepathic link, they summoned their brethren from the depths of the mine, orchestrating a gathering with a singular purpose—to launch a coordinated assault against us.
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"Damnit, why did you wake these metal creatures up?", I asked Ratatouille.
"You wanted me to check those bloody metals, don't blame me now when something goes wrong, what should we do now?", he replied to me and asked.
Suddenly, magical shields were projected in front of us to block the onslaught of the silvery ants.
"Shields of Quiescent"
I conjured the shield magic that I learned from Thornheart College, one of the magic colleges in the Kalydon College Confederation. This was one of the strongest shield conjurations that college students could learn there.
"What shall we do now?" Ratatouille asked me.
"Leave, we go back", I told him.
"Where the hell can we go. We came from a dead end", Ratatouille reminded me.
Soon, more ants rushed toward us from another direction.
"Golden Chains of Greed"
Ratatouille flung the Vortex Beast that he captured toward those ants, deflecting their assault.
To our shock and horror, those Mithrium ants bit the Vortex Beast, eating the beast's flesh part by part before carrying the meat away. Once the ant did that, they were replaced by another ant, biting into another piece of flesh.
Soon, the ant would finish eating the Vortex Beast and come after our meat.
"Damnit, we are sitting ducks inside here", I told the greedy rat.
"Why don't you fire your damn beam", Ratatouille reminded me.
I conjured my magic.
A beam of light shaped in the appearance of a sword shot forth toward the onslaught of ants before me, consuming them in their brilliance.
"Sword of Nyx"
"That will deal with those bloody ants", Ratatouille said to me.
When the dust settled, we were shocked to see what happened before us.
Indeed, the Mithrium ants were killed by my sword beam projection. Their bodies melted into liquid Mithrium, flowing in the ground.
But more Mithrium ants appeared from behind these dissolved ants, some of them to recover the liquid Mithrium from their fallen brethens and others to charge toward us again.
"This way", Alpha said to me suddenly.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone