I barely spotted the Jaguar as it was trying to get away, recognising it from the fur pattern I'd memorized. But I don’t waste time sending my army after them. The Rhinos and Colossal anteaters that were now their match in size were having a hard time going through the woods. Having to break the tropical trees down like the Amazon forest before they could traverse, still doing it at a startling pace.
But my flight capable minions didn’t have to deal with such things; my Nimbus and Storm Raven, along with Guppy, pursuing it with glee. The Storm Raven was quicker and a more ferocious melee focused fighter that used a wide variety of weather related magic to enhance its capabilities.
While the Nimbus Raven was a colossus of a bird, almost as big as Guppy, and exclusively used water magic. Preferring to powerful, decisive strikes from afar, pulling MP from its Murder to supply their fuel. And Guppy tastefully complimenting them by immobilizing and controlling where the Jaguar could go.
The three fighting styles working beautifully in tandem to stall the Jaguar to allow the greater force of my army to kill it. But there was still one issue, I couldn’t see it.
Sure, I was getting better at working with Bug Jacob, but it was still a sporadic mess of a relationship. And every time I lost track of the Jaguar, it was a hundred feet ahead the next time I found it.
But something about it was nagging at the back of my head that I couldn’t place till a hill was in view above the usually flat terrain of the Jungle. No… not a natural hill, it was an ant hill, the main mound I had theorized about what felt like so long ago, but was just a week.
A swarm of at least a dozen Senior Princes coming towards me, and I felt a twinge of panic at the sight of them. But I pushed it down and looked towards the Jaguar, a suspicion creeping up in my mind.
The suspicion was confirmed when, after half a minute of searching, I found the Jaguar slinking away under the cover of the Ant attack.
Nope, not this time!
I allowed my Anteaters and Rhinos to fight the princes, but I kept my birds dead set on the Jaguar. Distracting it as my other army fought against the Senior Princes, winning the fight surprisingly fast. A couple system messages popping up.
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. My army had more quality, more quantity, their enemies' primary weaknesses (Fire and lightning), and more intelligence on their side. So they cut through the dozen ants like warm butter, the few remaining returning to the hive.
So when they were finished, I had the army split into two, each with one Colossus, and flank the Jaguar, still dealing with my Birds. The two forces trying to crush it between them like a hydraulic press. And while the Jaguar was dealing with that, I used Complex Pheromone Production to leave a mark on them.
I wasn’t good enough with it yet to create bombs and stuff, but it could leave me with one extra footprint for me to track it by. Since Bug Jacob and I were in the same body, using the same senses, he just used them better, so leaving a unique mark like that would go a long way to helping me. Then I used appraisal, hoping with my increased level, it would actually do something this time, and my hopes were answered.
Shadow Jaguar
HP: Green
MP: Yellow
EP Yellow
There wasn’t much information; the thing that blocked it all together last time probably limited what I got now, and for some reason, it was red? But I couldn’t waste time thinking about that. I turned my attention back to the battle, and the Jaguar was gone.
Of course it is, nothing can ever be easy!
I went searching for it again, and it wasn’t far away; it must’ve just left when I looked back. I sent my army after it, trying to prevent it from leaving, but it got away again.
Then I searched for it again, mentally cursing under my breath, this time the searching taking longer. To the point that I was suspecting it had gotten away entirely. But half a dozen false alarms from Bug Jacob later, I was able to catch onto it, and it was…
Oh come on!
At the Ant hill, I found it crawling into one of the few tunnels that could fit it, the ants nearby seeming not to mind or notice. I contemplated just dropping this right here and finding some other big monster to kill, but I looked at what seemed to always be my deciding factor these days.
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (1/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: First of the Sea
6: Jacob Davidson
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
Only one day left… You know I’ve always hated deadlines; the only enjoyable part was the sound of them wooshing by. But I suppose my mentality these days was ‘fuck it, we ball’.
I had my army surround the anthill as Senior and Junior Princes alike started to flood out, probably getting told about us from the last batch of Princes that survived. Guppy doing surprisingly little, just flying around a hitting the occasional ant with sticky spit. It seemed they were more built for one on one combat, better at concentrating force into one spot than spreading it out.
But what did do damage was the wall of flame and electricity incinerating the bugs by the dump truck full. Any that did get by doing little damage to the thick skin of the Rhinos and the iron like fur of the Anteaters.
And even the few times they did get damaged, I just had my Butterflies heal them; some of the Ants got smart and tried to kill them. But I just had them hide in the wall of flame and electricity, the little heat sinks just sucking up the energy from both of them and reusing it while being perfectly safe.
The seemingly endless swarm of ants finally starting to thin out, five dings coming from the System as the massacre slowed down.
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
But my Army was starting to run out of MP. The Anteaters were able to make up for it in size as they kept on growing at an unnatural pace as they devoured the ants. But my Rhinos were growing tired.
Then I noticed the ground rumbling.
That an earthquake?
But that thought was quickly dismissed as the top of the Anthill started to push upwards, an ant half the size of the mound and four times the size of my Anteaters emerged. Then it screeched, a wave of force coinciding with it, a message popping up before me.
“Kneel!”
And that’s what me and my Army did, then it shrieked again, another message popping up.
“Die!”
And that’s wh-
HEY!
I snapped out of whatever control this creature had over me. I looked around and noticed my army was starting to find ways to commit suicide. I ordered them not to, but they just kept on going, heedless of my word.
I tried again, but it felt like there was a blockage somewhere, so I kept on pushing; eventually, the clog falling away. Feeling the connection to my army again, a system message popping up.
“Level up, +1 to Royal Will Skill.”
Then I yelled out, “What the hell was that!”
The kaiju of an ant looked taken aback, then, to my surprise, replied, “I will not concede to the demands of a god's Slaver!”
It took a moment for me to reply, “Well, uh… hey, wait a moment! I’m not a slaver!”
“Then what is this army, a legion of willing subjects?” it said mockingly.
I scoff, “S-s-skrew you!”
I sent my army to what must’ve been the Queen of the colony, based on her size and enlarged abdomen. She was able to easily brush off the Rhinos, their flames not seeming to hurt her, so I kept them away to deal with the small fry.
But the others seemed to be rather effective. The Anteaters were able to contest her strength, despite being a quarter of her size. The two of them keeping her preoccupied on the ground while Guppy and the Ravens attacked from above.
The Ravens scratching her, not being able to deal any real damage, but Guppy was able to throw hardening mud. Immobilizing her and sticking her to the ground, forcing her to take time to deal with it, leaving openings.
She tried to hit me and the flying Minions with giant blades of gray energy that cut ten feet into the tree line, but didn’t harm a hair on any of us. But I quickly noticed a problem when I used Appraisal on her.
Queen Giant Cutter Ant:
HP: Green
Lv: 75
MP: Green
Lv: 43
EP: Green
Lv: 106
Those numbers were absolutely massive, but I was sure I could get through them with time. So I waited a while as my minion battered her with attack upon attack, checking her status again around five minutes later.
Queen Giant Cutter Ant:
HP: Green
Lv: 75
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MP: Green
Lv: 43
EP: Green
Lv: 106
Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. Should I just run?
I then remembered the deadline and threw that plan into the trash faster than I could say ‘Kobe’.
If I was able to somehow deal with this creature, I should move up the Leaderboard. Right! RIGHT!
I flew over the Queen, spreading my wings and using Lunar Scale Dust on it, getting the expected message from the system.
“Warning, unable to use Skill, subject's level exceeds limits.”
Then I heard a screech from below, “You dare use that filthy power!”
But I continued anyway, forcing my will into the skill, decreeing it to be so, seeing a new line in the Queen's status.
Queen Giant Cutter Ant:
HP: Green
Lv: 75
MP: Green
Lv: 43
EP: Green
Lv: 106
Subjugation: Red
The Queen sent a barrage of unavoidable energy blades towards me, but I had the Storm Raven carry me in its claws. The swift bird flitting around while I kept using Lunar Scale Dust, my other Minions distracting it.
I had the Nimbus Raven preoccupy the Queen while the Anteaters grabbed onto them, then Guppy spewed a stream of concrete. Sticking the queen in place, unable to even try and break it from the Anteaters immobilising her.
I was then let go by the Storm Raven, and I landed on the Queen's back in a blind spot, using the full force of my skill. Then she let out another shriek with a wave of force behind it.
“I will not have this!”
I felt it push back against my subjugation, but I just pushed back even harder.
And I decreed, “You will kneel!”
My will breaking through hers in a watershed moment, a ding from the system indicating I got another level in Royal Will. But I could still feel the last wall of will stopping me from subjugating her, a system message popping up while I felt her break through her physical restraints.
“Warning, MP is in the Red.”
I cursed, then called up my flying minions, having them land near me. Then connected a Moon Silk to each of them, the action not taking any MP due to me storing it earlier, thanks to the Silk Storage mutation.
Then I pulled MP into me from my minions, using it to power my subjugation, chipping away at the Queen's will as she finally broke free of her restraints. Throwing the Anteaters off of her, me and my minions desperately grasping onto her back as she moved, as I punched through her last lines of mental defense.
She started to roll over, planning to crush us, but then she stopped. Three dings from the system sounding the next moment.
“Level up, +1 to Royal Will Skill. Max Level reached.”
“Level up, +1 to Moon Silk Skill. Max Level reached.”
“Subjugation of Queen Giant Cutter Ant, successful.”
I let out a mental breath, relaxing, my minions following my example. After taking a moment for myself, I checked the leader board.
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (1/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: First of the Sea
6: Jacob Davidson
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
I hadn’t even moved up a single spot.
God, damn you, Leader Board, I’ll smash you to tiny little pieces!
I threw a fit on top of the Kaiju sized ant, rolling around, screaming. And trying to break anything I could, but my little moth body was just too weak to do anything. And it just didn’t feel the same when I ordered one of my minions to do it.
Fuck you, Leader Board, I’m going to die because of you! I am going to die, do you even understand what that means!
I tried to lift a rock and throw it, but I couldn’t. I tried again, and again I failed, then I went slack, all energy leaving my body, feeling a void in my gut form. I looked over the horizon, the sun setting, just a few hours away from the next day, till the countdown ends.
Do you even understand what that means?
My mind flashes back to my life on earth, which wasn’t much. No, that was an exaggeration; it was nothing. My mind lands on my Brother Boe, and for some reason, my Dad. My Great Uncle a distant third.
I didn’t even get the chance to talk to them again…
Then I felt Bug Jacob go wild, by instinct, I put him into the back of my mind. But I remembered my practice and took him back out again.
Why was I even doing this? There was nothing-
I picked up on the Jaguar again, somehow having survived the carnage and sneaking away. I felt something fill the void in my gut that had formed earlier; from what I could tell, it was venom, vinegar, and piss.
I started attacking it. I knew that killing it would do nothing; if subjugating the Queen didn’t shoot me up the Leader Board, then this certainly wouldn’t.
But I couldn’t bring myself to care about that.
The jaguar vanished again, but I just let Bug Jacob lead me; it was much easier than usual. We both wanted the same thing, and so we were effectively one unit, the Pheromone mark I had left earlier helping as well.
It tried to run away, but I surrounded it with my Army and the Ant army as well since I had gained control of the Queen. And it surrounded the bastard, stinging, biting, tearing, gouging at the flesh and bones of the creature till I couldn’t even recognise that it as a once living thing.
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP.”
“Level up, +1 to Evolution Level, +8 MuP. Max Level reached, Evolutions available.”
Then I had my army get off of it and leave a 50 foot circle around the pile of gore. The Queen charging up an energy blade and releasing it into the thing, over and over and over and over again. Till the Jaguar was just a scattered pile of giblets and blood stains, the rage having left me a while ago, leaving me with only an empty feeling.
Then a system message popped up.
“Contestant First of the Sea has been eliminated.”
“Announcement: Due to the minimum number of contestants having been reached, the Third Phase shall start prematurely."
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (1/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: Jacob Davidson
6: First of the Sea
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
After the announcement, I felt a kindling of hope in my stomach that was then drenched with the dread of a realization.
The Jaguar that I just killed had a red status, and the contestant that was just eliminated was red. They were fucking color coded. I just killed what was probably another human stuck inside a monster's body.
I start to feel a twinge in my stomach.
Oh my god…
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just no! Fuck no, I. I, I, I…. I didn’t; it had to be wrong. It has to be… RIght?
I feel like I have to throw up, but I just don’t have the right parts for it. I look at the Status again, hoping to see something different.
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (1/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: Jacob Davidson
6: First of the Sea
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
But nothing does. Then another message from the system appears.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
Oh, shut up, just shut up!.
It appears again, ignoring my pleas.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
How could I have known that it was a human? I mean, there were no clues.
But I remember at the edge of the world, they had waited and only left when the message of one of the Participants, Julian Seawright, had appeared.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
That can’t be a coincidence, and… Oh, god, did it know I was a human? Then that makes it worse than me, it knew I was human and still tried to kill me. But it was just trying to survive by getting into the top five.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
I would not have killed them if I had known they were human, though. I would never. I mean, yeah, I have killed and enslaved a bunch of animals, and that’s not even mentioning the Conga line of Death. And I did enslave the Queen Giant Cutter Ant, knowing that it had some intelligence and sapience.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
But that was different, I would never kill another human being… Would I? It was just trying to survive, and I was just trying to survive.
“The third Phase shall start shortly. Be prepared to teleport.”
Then I made a realization, I would have killed it even if I had known it was a human. It was survival, nothing else to it, no need to feel so guilty. So I shoved the useless thoughts in the back of my head, a system message popping up.
“Warning, teleportion will be initiated now.”
Hey, what? Wait a minute, give me some warning aaaaahahhhhhhhhhhh!
I mentally screamed as it felt like I had fallen and gone into free fall, the point where gravity was supposed to return, constantly changing, pushing and pulling. Making me feel like I was a ball in a game of catch.
Then it stopped abruptly without any whiplash, the absence of the whiplash making what ever primal part of myself that knew physics freak out. Especially bug Jacob, but both of us calmed down after vomiting a few times.
Oh, so that’s how that works.
But I didn’t get much time to figure out my new bodily mechanism, as another system message popped up, this time with a feminine monotone voice occupying it.
“Congrats on passing the second phase of The Great Debate, my contestant.”
I looked up, finding a statue of a green Angel, made from broken glass and all sorts of yummy looking Flora. And I was in a black room, no stadium, made of the same stuff I had found at the bottom of the world. Seeing two other groups with a Red and Yellow angel of their own, each containing two monsters.
I looked around my side, but besides my minions, there was no one else, not even the Murder that followed around my Nimbus Raven.
As I looked around, I muttered, “What the fuck is this?”
Then I got an unexpected answer, “Language, please. But to answer your question, Jacob, this is the place where the third phase of The Great Debate shall take place. And I am your god, Terra.”
