Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Lair

The Death Canyon was a massive carved path in the center of Red Island. When viewed from above, the rock walls of the deeply excavated path and the scenery were both colored red. The massive parade of Peasants passing through under the light of the sun, carrying their catches, was crowding in the area, on their way inside the massive anthill at the end of the path.

Passers-by moved slowly due to the large number of peasants attempting to enter at the same time. One of them was Eon, who was assisting the other Peasants in carrying one of the slain Slugs. To avoid being drowned by the massive sea of red knights crowding together, Eon clutched the corpse of Slug they were carrying; at this point, he was hanging on to it rather than carrying it. His dot-like black eyes were darting around, taking in the overwhelming scene of countless red armies encircling him.

All he could see was red, with various colored corpses above the formations. The majority of the catches were Slugs, the Red Island's second most common inhabitants, followed by Diviar wolves, Gerolak Tadpoles, and their more powerful evolutions, which consisted of monsters that resembled frogs but were much, much, larger and red, and were caught by the other more powerful ranking members of the Peasants evolution line. Eon couldn't appraise the monsters to see their former level or stats because they were already long dead; it was impossible at this point.

After passing through the waves of Peasants for a few minutes, they arrived at the anthill's entrance. The massive hole that would lead to the lair of the Peasant evolution line was located at the end of Death Canyon, inside a cave. The entrance was a hole at the bottom of a towering anthill-like mountain, piercing through the stone floor, with a ramp-like path downward through which all the Peasants from the canyon passed. This path was used by those entering and leaving the lair, which was why it was so crowded.

As Eon entered the cave, the entire scene darkened as the cave's walls and ceiling blocked the sun. The warmth outside was quickly replaced by coldness. As he went deeper into the cave, he noticed guards stationed right at the hole's entrance.

***

Race: Peasant [Level: 9/10].

***

HP: 90/90

MP: 86/90

Top Speed: 18 km/h

Defense: 0

***

Stats:

Strength: 9

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 9

***

The most powerful Peasants were stationed at the entrance and the anthill. Peasants from levels 6 to 9 were scattered throughout the cave. They were not patrolling or hunting for food the majority of the time. They were the colony's second line of defense, with lower-leveled peasants serving as vanguards or disposable guards. These Peasants were expected to evolve in the near future and were held in high regard in their colony, not as high as the higher evolution lines, but they were no longer treated as disposable pawns, but as almost elite soldiers.

Peasants could sense the unit's level to determine a Peasant's strength and rank in the hierarchy, thanks to their versatile racial exclusive skill, Sensory Antennae.

Hundreds of level 6 to 9 peasants were dispersed throughout the cave, alerted to any signs of danger to the colony. But that didn't mean they weren't going outside; they were. When a sighting of a monster so powerful that an army of Peasants was insufficient to defeat it reached their radars, they would all rush out and swarm that monster or monsters. They could also be seen leading a much larger army on occasion, and when they did, they swept everything in their path.

While hanging on the Slug's corpse they were carrying, Eon passed through the Peasant guards' barricades, his antennae moving repeatedly as he watched the strongest Peasants very closely. At the time, these Peasants were the most powerful monsters he had ever faced. They were all the same size as Eon, but size was no longer a good indicator of strength. Each of the guards watching him as he passed by had the ability to kill him in the blink of an eye. He was about to enter the most dangerous place he had ever been.

The already dark scenery became even darker as Eon's group finally entered the lair. As the benefit of Peasants' nearsighted eyes was revealed to Eon, his dot-like eyes wandered around. Eon's vision did not change when the darkness fell; he could still see through the cave system they entered and in the pitch-black surroundings. It wasn't as bright as daylight, but it was bright enough to see inside a dark cave. 

From the countless tunnels in the stony walls, thousands of peasants passing through the massive dome in the center of all routes, to the stone ceiling. Everything was visible to Eon's eyes.

There were hundreds of tunnels leading to various locations throughout the massive lair. Although many of them were bound to intersect, there was no such thing as a tunnel that led nowhere; each tunnel had a specific destination. Some tunnels would lead to the food storage on the upper surface of the lair, others to the barracks where Peasants lived, and still others to the queen's chamber at the very bottom of the lair.

There were several barracks located in the middle of the Peasant evolution line lair, each with a set of soldiers based on their capabilities and status in their colony hierarchy. There was only one way to determine which tier of the hierarchy a unit would belong to, and that was what evolution line they were in, with Peasant levels 1 to 5 being the lowest of them all.

After a few minutes, their group arrived at the food storage, where mountain-like piles of monster corpses were stored. Despite their lack of intelligence, the peasants had their own method of sorting their storage. All the monsters from the same evolution line were in the same pile of corpses, and meat was stored differently than plant food, which was on the opposite side of the lair's storage region.

The Peasants that Eon accompanied moved once more and rushed out of the storage after placing the six corpses of Slugs on the pile of Slug's evolution line. They were going hunting again, with no time to rest.

Eon's dot-like eyes watched as the other Peasants walked away without looking back. He was just left alone inside the massive dome, staring at the mountains of corpses. Every second, more and more groups of peasants entered and exited the storage. They were like machines with no desire to stop working; their entire lives revolved around hunting, killing, returning their catch to storage, and then repeating. They were doing this all day and night and would only stop when they reached a certain level in the colony hierarchy or died trying, the latter being the most likely outcome.

Eon tilted his head and began to march toward the storage exit, but was stopped by a massive silhouette in front of him. Four times his size, a 64-centimeter-long colossus with massive mandibles and a blood-red abdomen. With each step, its massive legs covered a large area. Every Peasant on its path fled as quickly as they could, including Eon, who dashed to the side of its path where its long, thick, red legs couldn't reach him.

Eon's mandibles slowly opened as he stared at the massive and glorious specimen in front of him.

***

Race: Militant [Level: 10/20].

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***

HP: 190/190

MP: 100/100

Top Speed: 20 km/h

Defense: 1

***

Stats:

Strength: 19

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

***

Damaging Active Skills: 

Savage Bite [MP Cost: 20] [Level: 20/20].

Violent Charge [MP Cost: 2] [Level: 2/20].

**

Non-damaging Active Skills:

Sensory Antennae [MP Cost: 1] 

**

Passive Skills:

[Lesser] MP Regeneration.

***

The Militant was one of the Peasant evolution line's level 10 evolution variants. No other Peasant could compete with their physical abilities. The massive image of the Militant cast an overpowering aura around the massive place, making anyone in its path flee due to the great intimidation the Militant had been exuding as it walked toward the pile of Diviar wolf corpses. It started feeding on the corpses as soon as it got to the pile.

Eon's antennae moved uncontrollably as he stared at the massive ant in front of him. He stood motionless for a few moments, marveling at the Militant, before beginning to move again.

When he saw the Militant, he was filled with an irresistible desire to become stronger, to reach that certain level, and to go much, much beyond it.

As he approached the storage's hole entrance, he encountered another group of Peasants on their way to another round of hunting. They were a group of ten peasants who were rushing through Eon. Eon followed them with his dot-like eyes, analyzing the Peasant in charge.

***

Race: Peasant [Level: 5/10].

***

HP: 50/50

MP: 47/50

Top Speed: 10 km/h

Defense: 0

***

That was the ideal Peasant to accompany him. Eon marched alongside the group. He crept into the middle of their formation to ensure that they never vanished from his sight.

He set out once more to begin another hunt.

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