Kapitel 30: First Encounter
19th November 2018
"Do you find pain anywhere else on your body?" Questioned Myra.
"Nope, I feel perfectly fine. Thanks for the help" Replied Li Qiu as he checked his physical state.
"This is the least we could do after you risked your life to fight for us"Replied Myra in a grateful tone.
"Still, he is called Aurella right. That's one hell of a healing ability. I don't even have any leftover scars" Uttered Li Qiu as he clenched his fists rhythmically.
"But he is too shy to even look at others and moreover, he wouldn't even play with me" Complained Enbi Arin.
"That's because you always chase after him for a hug" Retorted Prakash in a rather envious tone.
"He's too cute. I just couldn't help it" Exclaimed Enbi Arin.
The reason was due to just a simple fact.
After a day had passed, the four newly hatched ants had grown to be about half as tall as Myra's ant form.
It was then that they displayed a shocking phenomenon. They could also assume a humanoid form just like Myra. And in their humanoid form, they looked just like 8-year-old kids, but they couldn't communicate like Myra as of yet due to them being just a day old.
Stella had a hyperactive personality and she had already begun to challenge Myra for a duel. Stella had really sharp instincts in the art of fighting as she displayed significant progress in her stances and fighting power as soon as they began to spar.
Bella looked more like a 10-year-old kid with her relatively bulkier frame as all she did was eat and make some random structures using the soil around her.
Gabriella was the smallest of the lot and all he ever did was eat and sleep. It made the others wonder if he really was an ant due to the aura of laziness he always emitted around him.
Among the four newly hatched ants, Aurella was the only exception. Unlike his 3 siblings, he could already make use of his innate ability.
The innate ability Aurella was born with was called as 'Blood Healer'.
This innate ability allows him to heal either someone or himself by increasing the nutrients, components, and energy in the blood.
The healing process is slow, but it could even regenerate damaged organs and lost limbs.
Its only downside is the huge requirement of Aria and monster meat required to generate the required healing factors.
In order to heal both Li Qiu and Prakash, Aurella had to eat more than half of the fireball lizard meat because the higher the quality of meat he consumed, the greater the effectiveness and efficiency of the innate ability while healing.
Since Aurella was too shy to even look at someone in the eye and adding on to his cute face, Enbi Arin couldn't resist trying to tease him.
Prakash was a bit jealous of how Aurella was being treated by Enbi Arin but just shook his head thinking "Don't be jealous of a kid, you'll have your time to shine"
Suddenly Prakash felt a light tug on his pants. As he looked down, Prakash noticed an innocent-faced Stella gazing at him with both curiosity and an intent to battle in her spirited eyes.
"Hehe, sure" Said Prakash as he patted with his hand on Stella's head.
Stella's eyes immediately widened in joy as she clapped her tiny hands and jumped around in joy as if she had obtained some delicious candy.
"Boom!!"
"Crash"
Suddenly everyone present in the ant nest felt a huge tremor pass over their tunnel walls as they heard a loud crashing sound.
"W-What was that?" Prakash exclaimed as he instinctively hugged Stella in a protective manner.
"The sound is coming from our base" Li Qiu exclaimed.
"Then let's hurry up" shouted Enbi Arin.
"Wait, judging by the sounds and vibrations, it may be a huge creature. Can't we just wait it out? In the worst-case scenario, we can just hunt for new resources and search for a new base" Suggested Prakash.
"Are you an idiot? Two of our artifacts are still there" Yelled Enbi Arin.
"Why did we leave them there" Questioned a flustered Prakash.
"I didn't have time to bring them with us here due to the urgency of the situation then and moreover they were buried and covered with many of Li Qiu's Spirit Flame Dome and Thermal Flame Domes over it, so I couldn't even touch them" Complained Enbi Arin.
"Let us at least observe the situation first before coming to a conclusion. If it is just a single strong foe, we can take it down by combining our powers" Suggested Li Qiu.
"Fine, let's do it as you say" Prakash finally relented.
"Myra, you stay here with the others. I'll constantly keep you updated with our mental link, so you can reinforce us if necessary" Suggested Enbi Arin.
"Take care" Nodded Myra as she gathered all of her brethren in one place.
"And make sure you keep an eye on Stella so that she doesn't end up joining the battle" Warned Prakash.
"Got it, now get going" Replied Myra as she firmly took hold of Stella who was already itching for a fight.
The trio composed of Li Qiu, Prakash and Enbi Arin raced towards the entrance of the Ant nest where they stood spell-bounded due to shock.
"T-The entire supermarket" Stuttered Li Qiu.
"It's been flattened" Remarked Prakash with a tinge of fear.
"There's someone standing there in the place of our base" Exclaimed Enbi Arin as she pointed to a certain spot among the flowing dust.
They spotted the vague shadow of a humanoid silhouette standing in an overbearing manner as it repeatedly poked around the pile of rubble.
"W-What is it doing" Muttered a confused Prakash.
"Hey, shit!!, that spot is" Enbi Arin suddenly shouted as she pointed towards the place where that silhouette currently stood.
"That's where I had buried our Artifacts" Exclaimed Li Qiu.
"Let's proceed with caution, we just have to make sure that we don't lose sight of that silhouette" Said Prakash as he tried to find some potential cover.
"There nothing to use as a cover here. That thing flattened an entire building. The left-over rubble wouldn't do us any good as a cover, it might even hinder our vision and movements" Retorted Li Qiu as he began to slowly walk towards to the silhouette.
"Big bro, that's dangerous" Prakash called out as he tried to stop Li Qiu.
"This is the only way. He'll be our cover while we ambush from different directions" Said Enbi Arin as she stealthily walked in another direction trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
"Sigh... that's too reckless" Lamented Prakash as he began to approach the silhouette from another direction.
"Damn, I couldn't find any proper weapon in this rubble. These pieces of concrete would only serve as a mere distraction" Lamented Prakash.
"Ugh…Well, there goes my ambush" Shrugged Prakash with a sigh as he began to directly and boldly walk towards the silhouette.
On seeing Prakash's actions, Enbi Arin almost went raged in irritation.
"What the hell is he doing walking like that. Didn't we plan to ambush that silhouette? Ugh…Damn…" Enbi Arin bellowed in her mind.
"Did something happen?" Inquired Myra in worry through their mental link.
"Ugh… Nothing much. Just that Prakash decided to directly approach our foe without staying behind to ambush as we had initially planned" Complained Enbi Arin as she glared at the walking Prakash.
On noticing her glare, Prakash just showcased his empty hands implying that he didn't have any weapons to use his innate ability with.
Enbi Arin just sighed in resignation as she prepared her abilities to go into action on cue.
"I'll have to depend on you guys to aid me" Prakash thought as he gazed at the various spider webs attached to his body.
"Eh… Prakash" Muttered Li Qiu in shock as he saw Prakash walk sideways from a couple of metres alongside him.
Just when Prakash was about to answer Li Qiu, he was interrupted by an excited shout.
"Hoho, there were two artifacts here and they both are of the variant types. This sure is my lucky day" Uttered the silhouette as it cackled in laughter.
"T-This voice…" Li Qiu muttered in a spell bounded voice.
It was at this time that the silhouette too noticed the approaching duo.
"Eh? It seems we have some company. Initiate system scan" Shouted the silhouette as it snapped its fingers.
At the next moment, a shockwave burst out from the silhouette as it traveled radially outward, and cleared away all the dust and smoke hovering in and around their area.
"D-David!!" Exclaimed Li Qiu as he stood, rooted to his spot in shock and surprise.
"You know him, bro?" Questioned Prakash as he looked at Li Qiu with an inquiring gaze.
It was at this time that the silhouette too noticed Li Qiu. The silhouette David was a bit surprised when he laid his eyes on Li Qiu as he never expected to run into him here.
"Hahaha… I searched in various locations for you but never would I have guessed for you to be here, just next to our demolished office" Cackled David as he casually walked towards Li Qiu.
"I somehow ended up here. I didn't know where to look for you when I found zero traces of either you or our colleagues in our office area. I'm sorry" Apologized Li Qiu as he bowed his head.
"Naah, just leave it at that. Anyways, dumbass…" David was speaking when Prakash suddenly hollered towards the still bowed Li Qiu.
"Bro, watch out!!"
"Huh?" Just when Li Qiu raised his head on account of Prakash's warning, he came face to face with David who stood just a foot before him.
"Die" Bellowed David as he sent a fist raging towards Li Qiu's gut.
Caught unaware by the sudden unexpected attack, Li Qiu took the attack directly to his gut without even putting up the least of his guard as he was sent flying off to a distance of about 20 metres.
"Bro, Nooooooo" Roared Prakash and activated his innate ability on his clothes as his fist collided squarely onto David's face producing a loud boom from the resulting impact.
"I felt an itch" Sneered David with a cruel and taunting grin as he countered with another punch towards Prakash's face with his left fist.
"Eh…" David stared in astonishment as his unleashed fist was stopped a couple of inches before Prakash's face by some spider webs that have mysteriously coiled around his left fist and successfully blocked his punch.
"Take this" Prakash screamed as he sent a kick raging towards David's face. But before his kick could land on David, David raised his right hand and caught hold of Prakash's leg.
"Heh… now fly" Mocked David with a cruel sneer as his left fist which was blocked by the spider webs instantly released shockwaves that produced sonic booms in the air.
"Aargh..." Prakash screamed as he was sent flying to about 80 metres in length with various amounts of blood dripping on his path and crashed into a pile of concrete rubble.
"Eew, gross" Exclaimed a disgusted David as he shook his left hand on which the spider webs had coiled around at the end of which, pieces of skin that belonged to Prakash were still attached that was currently dripping with blood.
"Bastard!" Hollered Enbi Arin.
"...." Li Qiu didn't utter a single shout but immediately started to radiate with an intense amount of bloodlust towards David.
"hehe, Bring it on" Bellowed David as he taunted Li Qiu with a motion of his palms.
At the next moment, David was bombarded with dozens of butcher beams unleashed by Enbi Arin and a Thermal Sphere thrown over by Li Qiu which squarely landed on David's body and gave rise to a huge cloud of smoke and fumes.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Overlord_Venus
Overlord_Venus Monday's chappie.
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Yours newly recruited
-Trainee Chef Antarctica