(Arin's POV)
The Northern Sector Forest was no ordinary forest for an afternoon picnic with a lover. If the Southern Academy Forest was a playground for student exams, then the Northern Sector was an unmarked grave for the reckless.
The deeper we stepped, the denser the darkness enveloped us. Moonlight struggled to penetrate the thick canopy of leaves intertwined like a giant spider web. The air here was stagnant, heavy, and smelled sickeningly sweet.
"Disgusting," complained Doctor Edna. She lifted the hem of her robe high, stepping over a bubbling green mud puddle. "This place is the definition of a natural septic tank. I can see at least three types of parasitic fungi that could grow in your lungs with just one breath."
"Then do not breathe too deeply, Doctor," I replied without turning, hand ready on the hilt of my new Adamantium sword. "Save your oxygen for running later."
Beside me, Ghislain Bassil walked with a limp but enthusiastic stride. The eye tentacle on his back writhed wildly, its vertical pupil dilating and contracting, processing visual information invisible to normal human eyes.
"Arin, do you see that moss?" Ghislain pointed to a tree trunk covered in pulsating red moss. "That is Blood Moss. It sucks the blood of passing animals. How beautiful, isn't it? Its cell structure is similar to a leech, but in flora form."
He reached out his thin hand, about to touch the moss lovingly.
"Don't, Professor!" snapped Karim from behind, pulling Ghislain's robe collar roughly. "My duty is to protect you, but if you intentionally commit suicide, I will not help."
Ghislain clicked his tongue in annoyance, swatting Karim's hand away. "You knights are always rigid. No artistic soul."
We continued moving through the shallow swamps. Karim, walking at the front, slashed through thorny vines with his sword. He still carried the sack of Goblin carcasses on his left back, making him look like a lost grave robber.
After twenty minutes of walking in tension, the sweet scent grew stronger. So strong it felt like it stuck to the roof of the mouth like stale chewing gum.
"We arrived," I whispered, raising a hand to signal a stop.
In front of us, the giant trees parted, forming an open area resembling a natural amphitheater. The ground in this area was muddy, covered by a layer of shallow water and black sludge.
And in the middle of it, stood the object of our obsession.
A cluster of Giant Pitcher Plants. Titan Pitcher Plants.
Their size was far more massive than the illustrations in library books. They reached three meters in height, towering like towers of vegetable flesh. Their lid leaves were blood red with glowing neon green veins. Their swollen belly pouches looked transparent, revealing thick fluid inside churning slowly.
There were about twenty plants growing close together, their roots intertwining on the mud surface like mating snakes.
"By God..." muttered Edna, her voice trembling between amazement and horror. "They... are moving."
Correct. The plants were not still. They swayed gently even though there was no wind. Their pouch mouths opened and closed rhythmically, emitting a terrifying wet sucking sound.
Slurp... Hah... Slurp...
"Mana-reinforced cellulose structure..." Ghislain took a step forward, his eyes gleaming crazily, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. He ignored the danger, hypnotized by the specimen before him. "Thick cell walls... perfect for withstanding fermentation pressure. Look at the acid fluid inside! The pH must be below one. Could melt dragon bones overnight!"
"Back off, Professor," I warned, holding his chest back with my hand. "They are aggressive. Look at their roots."
The roots protruding from the mud vibrated subtly every time we stepped, detecting ground vibrations like radar.
"Karim," I ordered softly. "Place the bait in the middle. We need them to open their mouths wide so we can see the internal structure before dissecting."
Karim grumbled at length, but he obeyed. He lowered the smelly burlap sack, took a piece of rotting Goblin thigh, and threw it with all his might toward the plant cluster.
THUD.
The piece of meat landed in the mud, right in front of one of the largest plants.
SWISH!
A leaf tentacle from that plant snatched the rotten meat with the speed of a whip. In the blink of an eye, the meat was stuffed into its wide-open mouth pouch. A loud hissing sound was heard, thin smoke escaping from the plant's mouth as its stomach acid began to work digesting the prey.
"Food accepted," I mumbled. "Now!"
Ghislain and I stepped forward slowly. Ghislain raised his magic staff, its tip glowing emerald green. He prepared to perform a magical scan to locate the plant's motor nerves.
However, when our feet stepped on the wet mud within a ten-meter radius of the plant...
RUSTLE... RUSTLE...
The plant that ate the meat suddenly stopped digesting. Its lid leaf vibrated violently. And not just one, but the entire colony of plants vibrated in unison.
"Something is wrong," whispered Karim, his hand gripping his sword hilt tightly. "I have a bad feeling."
Suddenly, an ear-splitting ultrasonic scream exploded from the mouths of the plants.
SCREEEEECH!
The sound was so high and sharp it felt like hot needles piercing the eardrums.
"ARGH! My ears!" Edna screamed, falling to her knees in the mud while covering her ears tightly.
"Danger signal!" I shouted, trying to overcome the noise. "Back off! They are calling something!"
The ground around the plant roots began to bubble. Black mud spurted into the air as if boiling.
From holes between the roots, thousands of black dots began to emerge. At first, I thought they were beetles, but the size... was wrong.
They were the size of adult cats.
Hard, shiny black segmented bodies, with enlarged rear abdomens filled with glowing green fluid. Six thorny legs gripped the mud firmly. And on their heads, a pair of giant mandibles clashed hard, creating a terrifying click-click-click sound like hundreds of scissors clashing.
Acid Ants. First-level monsters, weaker than goblins, but the trouble was they lived in large colonies.
Thousands of ants poured out of their nests hidden beneath the plant roots. They flooded the open area like a living black carpet.
"Mutualistic Symbiosis!" exclaimed Ghislain in delight instead of fear. He laughed hysterically amidst the chaos. "Amazing! The plants provide sugar and shelter in their roots, the ants provide military protection! A perfect ecosystem! I must record this!"
"Record later, Old Man! Run now!" shouted Karim in panic.
A lead ant raised its abdomen, aiming it at Karim.
PSSSH!
A spray of green liquid shot out rapidly. Karim reflexively raised his steel shoulder guard. The liquid struck Karim's alloy metal.
The steel hissed, smoked, and melted like wax touched by fire.
"Damn it!" cursed Karim, seeing his armor perforated in seconds. "High-level corrosive acid! My armor is useless! This is not even cheap armor!"
"Karim, slash them!" I shouted.
I drew my new sword. The Adamantium Alloy sword given by Selena. Its dark gray blade shone coldly in the forest darkness.
An ant jumped toward me, its jaws wide open.
SLAASH!
I swung the sword. No resistance. At all.
The sword cut through the ant's rock-hard exoskeleton like cutting tofu. Green fluid spurted, hitting the sword blade.
I observed my sword blade for a moment. The acid fluid capable of melting Karim's armor dripped off the Adamantium metal without leaving the slightest stain.
"Sharp and acid-resistant," I muttered in awe. "Good gift."
I stepped forward, slashing two more ants with a cross-cut motion. Their body parts fell neatly.
However, for every one ant that died, five other ants emerged from the holes. Their numbers were in the hundreds, maybe thousands.
My sword was indeed great, but I did not have the stamina to kill a colony.
"Gyaaah! My clothes!" Edna screamed hysterically from behind. Acid splashes hit the hem of her expensive silk lab coat, burning the fabric instantly. "Arin! Do something! This is a limited edition coat from Parisia! It cost fifty gold!"
The situation turned into hell. The ants had no fear. They attacked in suicide waves.
"Mage! Do something!" shouted Karim while kicking an ant trying to bite his leg. "You are a Sixth Circle Mage, right?! Blast them! Burn this area!"
Ghislain raised his staff. A giant red fireball began to form at its tip. Instantly, heat spread.
"NO!" I shouted in panic, beheading an ant trying to bite my leg.
I jumped back, snatching Ghislain's hand and forcing him to lower the staff. The fireball extinguished before it could be launched.
"What are you doing, Kid?!" snapped Karim, his eyes bulging in disbelief.
"Do not use fire!" I shouted at Karim, then turned to stare at Ghislain. "Professor, you know right?! The structure of these Pitcher Plants is based on water and turgor pressure! If you detonate a fireball here, the mana resonance and heatwave will make the plant pouches explode!"
Ghislain blinked, then grinned widely amidst the danger. "Ah! That is right! The cell walls will rupture due to sudden thermal expansion! We will lose the fermentation vessels!"
"Screw fermentation vessels!" roared Karim, slashing another ant's head with his sword now severely pitted by corrosion. "Our lives are more important than your damn mushrooms!"
"This project fails if the plants are damaged!" I retorted stubbornly while stabbing an ant jumping toward Edna. "Ghislain, use wind magic! Or ice! Not explosive ones!"
"Cannot be done!" Ghislain shook his head in frustration, but his eyes looked like they were enjoying this situation. "Any AOE (Area of Effect) magic will damage the sensitive plant structures! I have to aim one by one with needle precision!"
He fired a thin green beam from his index finger.
Pew.
One ant died, head pierced.
Pew.
A second ant died.
But five hundred more ants came charging while spraying acid.
"You are kidding..." hissed Edna, her face deathly pale. "Killing one by one? We will melt first before you kill ten!"
My Adamantium sword kept dancing, cutting legs and heads of approaching ants. But my right arm began to feel heavy. Their numbers were too many. This was like trying to drain the sea with a spoon.
"We are outnumbered! Retreat!" shouted Karim, making a tactical decision. "Arin, run to the river! Ants cannot swim!"
"Retreat! Pull back!" I exclaimed.
We turned and ran helter-skelter. Not a heroic run, but a scrambling run to save lives.
Karim was at the very back, becoming a human shield, swinging his sword wildly to hold back the wave of ants. His armor hissed and smoked from repeated acid sprays. Edna ran at the very front with surprising speed for someone wearing high heels; fear of ruined clothes turned out to be a great motivator.
I dragged Ghislain who was still trying to stop to take live ant samples.
"Let me go! I need the glands! Look at the color! That is pure formic acid!" struggled Ghislain like a child dragged by his mother from a toy store.
"Later, Old Man! Or you will become their sample!"
We jumped over tree roots, broke through thorny bushes, chased by the click-click-click sound of thousands of hungry jaws.
Ahead, the sound of trickling water was heard. The river.
"Jump!" shouted Edna.
The four of us jumped into the shallow river. Waist-high cold water welcomed us, washing away the mud and acid clinging to our clothes.
At the riverbank, the ant army stopped abruptly. They swarmed at the edge, their antennae moving wildly, but they dared not touch the water. Water would dissolve the waxy layer on their bodies and neutralize their weapon acid.
We crossed panting, then collapsed on the safe rocks across the river.
"Hah... hah..."
Karim threw his sword to the ground. The steel blade was now full of holes like Swiss cheese. His shoulder armor was totally destroyed.
"Crazy..." Karim wiped his dirty face. "I am a former Cavalry Commander. I have fought Orcs. But defeated by ants? This is embarrassing."
I looked at the Adamantium sword in my hand. Still whole, sharp, and shining. A great weapon, but useless if the enemy was a battalion.
Edna sat leaning against a rock, examining the scorched and holey hem of her lab coat. Her eyes were glassy. "This coat cost fifty gold... Arin, you owe me."
The team atmosphere fell to nadir. Our first mission failed completely. We didn't even manage to touch the target plant.
"Impossible," muttered Karim, staring desperately across the river where the ant army began to return into the ground, guarding their master plants. "We cannot get close. Without area magic, we will be mobbed. But if we use area magic, the plants are destroyed. This is a dead end."
I sat silently, wringing water from my cloak. My brain spun fast.
Brute force would not work. Sixth Circle magic could not be used effectively here.
We were fighting nature. And nature was not defeated with a sword, but with understanding.
Mutualistic Symbiosis.
Plants provided sugar. Ants provided protection. This relationship was based on chemical signals. The ants were blind; they moved based on vibrations and... smell.
"Communication," I mumbled softly.
"What?" asked Edna curtly.
"They communicate via pheromones," I said, looking at Ghislain who was busy wringing his soaked robe. "Professor, those ants... they are a hive mind. They do not have individual brains. They move based on the Queen's orders, right?"
Ghislain looked up. His human eyes and tentacle eye blinked simultaneously. A crazy smile slowly returned to his face.
"Of course. Complex chemical signals. The Queen emits a specific scent for commands 'attack', 'eat', or 'protect'. Why?"
I grinned thinly, though my lips tasted salty from sweat.
"We cannot fight the army. Their numbers are too great and the risk of plant damage too high," I explained, pointing toward the dark forest. "So, we have to hack the communication system."
"Hack?" Karim frowned. "You want to talk to ants?"
"Not talk. But deceive them," I corrected. "What if we make perfume? Perfume that mimics the danger pheromone scent of an enemy colony? Or 'abundant food' pheromone in the opposite direction?"
Ghislain's eyes widened. He understood my meaning instantly.
"Distraction..." whispered Ghislain, his voice trembling enthusiastically. "Hijacking their biological signals! We make them think their nest is attacked from another direction, or there is a sugar feast elsewhere! The entire army will leave the plant unguarded!"
"And when the nest is empty..." I clenched my fist. "We dissect the plant."
Ghislain laughed. His laugh was shrill and terrifying, making an owl in a tree fly away in fear.
"Kee hee hee! Genius! So evil! Manipulating their basic instincts to drive them out of their own home!"
Ghislain reached into his deep robe pocket full of mysterious slime. He took out a small tightly sealed jar, containing a deep purple gland floating in yellow liquid.
"What a coincidence!" exclaimed Ghislain shaking the jar. "I have an Acid Ant Queen gland I preserved ten years ago when I burned their nest in the South."
Edna covered her nose, backing away. "Don't tell me you carry an ant carcass in your pocket all this time?"
"This is not a carcass, this is treasure!" Ghislain opened the jar lid slightly.
The smell that came out was truly indescribable. Like rotten vinegar mixed with sulfur and ammonia.
"Urgh!" Karim immediately vomited to the side. His eyes watered instantly. The smell was very sharp, piercing straight to the brain.
"The smell... interesting," said Ghislain inhaling deeply as if it were expensive perfume. "This is high-level aggression pheromone. If we mix it with a little sulfur and Moon-Flower extract... we can create a fake 'Enemy Colony Invasion' signal."
I wiped tears due to the stench, then smiled widely at my suffering team.
"We are going to make ant repellent perfume," I said. "We return to the lab, concoct this stink bomb, and come back tomorrow night. This time, we won't fight. We will drive them out."
Karim wiped his mouth, his face green. "So we have to go back to that smelly lab again?"
"For the future of antibiotics, Karim," I answered while standing and sheathing my sword. That sword might have failed to kill the ant army, but it gave me time to think. "And you carry the carcass sack again. We still need it for bait."
"Damn it!"
That night, by the cold forest river, under the pale moonlight, our crazy plan evolved. No longer about muscle strength or explosion magic, but about cunning biological manipulation.
Their deadly symbiosis would become their greatest weakness.