Chapter 21: Chapter 20 – Fire

Running back into the tunnel he shouldered aside hundreds of dead ants at its entrance and walked in, the tunnel was completely clean of the ant army so he moved on unimpeded, turning right he started to see the corpses again.

 

His <consume spirit> skill would last an entire hour but he had already spent 12 minutes fighting, he had no time to waste, when he trampled over fallen ants and ran towards Fairmount Park he saw a few of the mutilated ants were still alive and twitching and made sure to step on them while running

[You have slain dwarf soldier ant level 1 X4 + 4XP]

Continuing through the bend in the tunnel he stopped seeing ants altogether but didn’t slow down in the least, 3 more points of <SPD> increased his speed by a tremendous amount and the big increase in endurance meant he wouldn’t get tired for a long while, worry made him run so fast he probably broke every human record by a large margin for about 9 more minutes before he heard a loud roaring coming from his front.

 

Increasing his speed to the point it actually left him panting for air he soon saw the reason for so much noise when he reached the end of the tunnel, a huge pit opened up ahead of him, looking up he could see the open sky, the hole was very deep and there were thousands upon thousands of dead or stunned ants around signs of explosions the noise was coming from a huge fire that had spread over various parts of the pit.

 

“Siegfried do you hear me!” nearly jumping out of his skin from the unexpected voice he answered “I am here control” “Good, we noticed your signal coming from where Loki asked for an air strike do you see him?” Looking around the huge opening all he saw were the corpses of countless queens and normal ants of all races “No sign of Loki control!” “Ok Siegfried, we are sending the last location we have for him good luck”

 

Over his visor a red line started to trace a path coming from one of the lower tunnels, standing in the middle of the hole without support and then going towards a new tunnel on the other side and continuing inside, it was one of the tunnels completely filled with fire, taking some distance to create momentum he jumped towards it.

 

His boots hit the ground with great strength crushing a burnt titan ant as he struggled not to fall back, regaining his equilibrium he glanced inside the tunnel, it looked like the entrance to hell as the ant goop burned from floor to ceiling with strong orange flames as far as his eyes could see, “Control how fire resistant is my armor?” “Very, as long as it is not damaged it can withstand temperatures higher than 1350 ºF for extended periods of time”

 

Looking down at his damaged chest and leg he cursed “Crap… I hope my endurance can make up for it” entering the tunnel he saw the flames lick at his armor with each step but didn’t feel anything on his body, the fire covered everything around him as he ran crushing ants everywhere and barely able to see.

 

After running for a little over a kilometer he started to feel the heat over his leg and upper chest it was barely noticeable over his great endurance and the acquired skill from the ant queen, when the tunnel branched ahead of him he chose the left entrance and dashed through, slowly the tunnel started to become smaller and the number of dead ants diminished until he had to crouch to move on.

 

He tried to slid into a stop as soon as he saw it but the range of vision inside the fire was just too short making him slam into the wall at a fast speed and fall on his back, the flames covered his whole body and the head on his chest started to build up, a red light started blinking announcing dangerous levels of heat on the two damaged areas and he started to sweat.

 

With no time to lose he turned around and ran back the way he came, he turned right this time and ran for another two kilometers before facing an intersection again, looking at the two sides he chose the one with burned ants piled up to the ceiling, pushing them all aside he made way as fast as he could but there were so many his progress was severely impaired.

 

After nearly thirty minutes he came upon a cave in where the ants had already labored to open a small passage among the rocks, knowing he had made the right decision Eric crawled through the small passage, the damaged parts of his armor started to hurt as his flesh burned slowly from the incredibly high heat, even his impressive body and skill couldn’t completely stop it.

 

Moving on he nearly stumbled over the fallen body hidden among the flames “Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” crouching down he turned the body over spreading the ashes of dead ants all around it, the armor couldn’t actually catch on fire so he used his arm to wipe the burning ant goop from it and saw the two damaged areas over Aaron’s chest, neck and upper back.

 

“Loki, fuck LOKI!” shaking his body desperately to try and wake Aaron he tried screaming at him “Damn it Aaron answer me… fuck!” without wasting any more time he lifted his friend over his shoulder and ran back ramming into the cave in with all his power he burst right through it.

[Effects of <Consume Spirit> have ended]

The damaged areas of his armor immediately started to hurt and he felt the heat all over his body, the flames licked at his and Aaron’s armors hungrily but his speed had been considerably slowed after losing the skill.

 

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He still had 50 mana stolen from the ant queen plus another 48 he recovered with time so he activated <overcharge> on his legs and tried to make the most over the short time it was activated, each of his steps become like long jumps as he tried as much as he could not to shake his cargo “Almost there man hang on.”

 

His mana ran out the moment he saw the end of the tunnel but there were already soldiers with fire extinguishers working on the tunnel entrance so as to not let the fire spread further, running towards them he screamed “Medic, I need a medic here!” three of the soldiers ran towards and thinking to take Aaron from his shoulders “Careful!”

 

His armor was still so hot no one could even come close “Get us an extinguisher quickly!” the army had been using a new cooling fluid in their extinguishers and five of them were turned his way covering his body in white, both of their armors let off steams noisily before he finally laid Aaron’s body on a stretcher inside a makeshift elevator suspended over the ant pit and grabbed one of the support ropes starting to be pulled up.

 

When they finally got above ground once again he couldn’t hold back, releasing the rope he got as far away as he could from the hole and took off his helmet throwing it away and breathing hard “Oh thank god, fresh air” grabbing at his collar he used all his power to pry the chest armor open breaking the locks on its sides and throwing it away as well, a sharp pain on his chest made him scream as a part of his burnt skin stayed glued to the armor

 

One of the doctors from the army came to help him and lead him into a field hospital besides some trees starting to examine his burns “Don’t worry It’s just a second degree burn, with the government special treatment and the way this world has changed it should be perfect in two to three days, do you have another wound?” “Yeah in my leg, how is Loki?”

 

“Hard to know for certain, his chest and neck have at least third degree burns, the skin is probably glued to the armor so we can’t pull it out in the field we have to move him back as fast as we can” Looking back at Aaron getting strapped on a stretcher he waved the doctor away and walked closer.

 

“Is he conscious?” “No, we gave him some sedatives for the pain he won’t be waking up anytime soon” one of the Einherjar’s transport helicopters landed close by and the army personnel ran over carrying the stretcher, lifting his arm he scratched at the painful burn until blood flowed out “Shit, hang in there buddy.”

 

Sitting back down he let the medics take his boot off with a unique magnetic key and treat his leg burn

[Congratulations, as you have withstood heavy pain as well as extended physical exercise +1 Endurance]

Immediately noticing his wounds no longer bothering him as much, not like they hurt less but as if he just endured them better he decided to spend his free attribute in endurance to break the human limit.

[Congratulations, you’re the sixth person to break mankind’s limit with <END> through the system as a reward you gain the skill <Enhanced vitality>]

[PAIN RESISTANCE

Pain is essential to life but there is no reason to feel it so much, pain resistance dulls all pain be it mental or physical]

 [Congratulations, by breaking through your race’s limit in <END> you gain <Pain resistance>]

[ENHANCED VITALITY

The way to win a fight is simple, don’t die. With enhanced vitality you lose stamina 10% slower and recover health 10% faster]

[You’re the seventy third person to break through human limit!]

“Well that should speed up things a little” with his leg and chest bandaged he left the army medics, the rest of the Einherjar were just now climbing out of the ant pit together with a huge sack of loot, seeing him walking their way Beta 2 gave a greeting.

 

The Einherjar threw him his rifle and took off his helmet, he was a young man in his thirties with black hair parted in the middle, taking off his handgun as well he said “I hate those damn things” “What? But you’re the second best shot in Beta team” “Just because I am good at something doesn’t mean I have to like it… damn I need a drink, and a vocation” sitting side by side they both let the army deals with the remaining work while making small talk, an hour and a half later.

[Congratulations, The U.S. army guild has fully conquered the city of Philadelphia, as you participated in this conquest and its population was higher than 1 million + 5000XP]