There was no more time to stand around. The soldier ants were throwing themselves at the golems as if possessed. The queen had taken full control of their minds with a strange scented pheromone. The ants were forced in to a battle ready state whether they were nurturers or not. Some attempted to carry away the eggs to another chamber based on their instincts. But Midnight had used her shadows wrapping skill to easily move around and defeat those ants.
"Midnight, keep up the good work. I will freeze this ce!" Walker knew that there was still a small water flow through this room making it easier to freeze it the same way as the previous egg chamber. On top of that, he remembered the frost ring skill he had used. "Su, Remey. Keep me protected while I prepare this. I am going to increase the frost ring spell to a pretty high mana usage."
As soon as he said it, Su and Remey knew that Walker needed as much focus as possible to do this. Usingrger amounts of mana to create a skill beyond what it should be would be taxing. They trusted him not to harm himself due to his training, but knew that if he was attacked by an ant while this happened then it would spell serious trouble.
"Keep your eyes open!" The king of the deep cave jumped forward and smashed away three soldier ants. He had keen hearing and knew exactly what Walker was doing. "I want those guardians dealt with!Use your shield and bait one here for me to crush." Su felt that it was not wise but with the strength that the king of the deep caves had she would not be arguing.
"Get over here you weak littlervae! You are just bird food!" Su''s shouting was enough to vibrate the air. The strange part was that it seemed to lock on to only one target; the nearest giant ant guardian. It was a slight change to the way she normally used her taunting skills. If Walker wasn''t so distracted he would have noticed the tone that seemed to match the growl of a dragon.
Being singled out was a very strange thing for an ant. Normally they worked together to better the colony and grow. The feeling that the ant had was foreign but the hate for something that was invading and destroying its home was even greater. The ensuing charge or rage that came would have easily knocked Su to the wall.
"Come right to me!" The king of the deep cave wound up an underhanded swing of hisrge pickaxe. The resounding blow that shattered and pierced the guardian ant caused the entire chamber to hesitate. Every single ant, every single golem, and every single dwarf nced over at the same moment before the battle resumed. It was not a moment that came from any call to stop but a moment of pure respect and awe. The attack was brutal and efficient. Every single ant felt its instincts explode with danger.
A massive screech came from the queen as a red aura pulsed off of her. Every single ant around became aggravated and started to attack with more vigor. Their defenses seemed to toughen while their attacks were hitting harder. Even the nurturer ants became faster in their soft attacks.
"We have a real fight now! How''s that freezing skill going?" The king of the deep caves knew this moment would happen. It was the point of no return for the ants. They knew they were in danger of being exterminated so the queen would burn all her mana in the deadliest buffs she could. This was a once in a lifetime skill of a queen giant earth ant. The queen''s protection buff would add to every stat of every ant from that colony. On top of that, it would push the ants in to a frenzy where they might even attack each other if they had no enemy in front of them. This was theirst ditch effort as a monster species.
"I''m ready! Everyone brace!" Midnight dashed over to Walker and took arge breath. She had been slowly gathering mana within her to release a frost breath attack toward the queen when Walker used his frost ring skill with additional mana.<sub> </sub>
Every golem retreated back causing many ants to fall and lose bnce in their attacks. Su moved to cover Walker as well while Remey fell back behind them. The burst of water elemental mana that spread from around Walker was spectacr. He had not been able to fight but this was the fair payoff of remaining still. His extreme focus had properly forced the frost ring skill higher than it had been used by him before along with the way he used his ability to manipte the mana earlier in the egg chamber. Midnight''s addition created an additional effect that seemed to freeze the very air.
Ice crystals fell from the air and a white steam gathered around Walker drifting toward the queen ant. Midnight had directed Walker''s frost ring without even realizing it causing the additional effects everyone saw in front of them. The chilling feeling around them was colder than the mountains the party had climbed before. The very air burned their lungs with ice. The dwarves with beards found ice on them.
Nurturer ants froze in a blink of an eye and crumbled. The soldier ants tried to force themselves to move but failed, causing their legs to shatter in extreme cole. Those that were unfortunate enough to fall in to the white icy mist were frozen through and through. The queen screeched louder trying to avoid the intense cold but was partially hit by the mist while the entire chamber froze more and more.
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