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Chapter 1123 - Reflection on Strength
🕑 Added 2023-03-05 12:21:40 +0000 UTCProtectant, Guardiant, Shieldant, Defendant, Armourant and the others stood silently as the Eldest collected itself and settled to watch the three guardian’s fight. The purple sphere of mana had extended once again, crushing any weak monsters into the ground before they even had a chance to attack.
They felt… useless.
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” Guardiant asked, her pheromones unusually hushed. “I can’t even imagine being able to tip the balance in a fight like that.”
She spoke what each of them felt, deep in their hearts. Protectant had been speechless as the Eldest had battled against the titanic demon. The creature had been like something from a nightmare. Over thirty metres tall, it towered over them, wreathed in flame and ash, any one of its strikes would have ripped all twenty of them to pieces.
Even now the aftershocks of that battle rattled the land around them. Stone continued to burn, or shatter. A significant area had been destabilised by the spells the Eldest had cast and parts crumbled down into the lava below, taking thousands of smaller demons into the fire.
The Eldest had warned them, many times, that they needed to evolve lest they would become unable to perform their task. As a group, they had acknowledged the reality of this, but they hadn’t understood it fully.
Against a foe of that magnitude, they were worse than helpless. Even had they sacrificed themselves, all of them, it would not have swayed the battle in the slightest.
Shortly after their birth, the Council had tasked them with an important mission, critical to the future of the Colony. They had to ensure that the Eldest was kept safe, from all threats, even the Eldest themself.
As they were, it was impossible for them to complete their mission. Resolve hardened within each of them.
“Tier six is not going to be enough,” Protectant said. “Not even close. Tier seven may not be enough. We have to level, mutate and evolve, as fast as possible.”
“Isn’t that what the Eldest told us we were supposed to do?” Guardiant asked, scratching at her carapace with a foreleg.
Nineteen others shifted awkwardly. Protectant sighed.
“This is simply another instance where their wisdom far exceeds that of the rest of us. Even the Council did not predict things would come to this.”
How could anyone have predicted that things would come to this?
“We will operate in reduced shifts. Our primary responsibility will be to level and move toward perfect evolutions. When all of us are tier six, the work will have only begun.”
The others nodded. This was necessary for them to perform their role. The Eldest must survive.
~~~~~~~~
Odin was shaking. Such power! Such unbridled, raw, power! When the two monsters had clashed, the ground shook, stone shattered, even the rock he had clung to had trembled, as if intimidated by the ferocity of the combatants.
What he had witnessed resembled the wildest fever dreams of a film director than something actually possible in physical reality.
Torrifex had loomed large in his mind as an unbeatable existence. The monstrous demon was overbearing in every possible way. Even standing close to the beast had singed him, despite his heat resistant demon skin. Of course, nothing matched up to Arconidem, but the Demon God was far away, whereas Torrifex had been right next to him.
Yet the ant had won. Anthony had won. That mighty, seemingly invincible demon had retreated, actually retreated, after being fought off by an opponent he couldn’t outmatch in strength, guile or speed.
After a life lived on the edge of life and death, the former assassin had thought he had seen everything, done everything, but now, an all new world of possibility had opened up before him. If Anthony was able to defeat the three demons who still haunted his dreams, then he would be free. Free! What could stop him then? What could get in his way?
If he progressed far enough, fought long enough, then he too would wield the strength necessary to stand alone. Unlimited power was there, all he had to do was persevere, then reach out and take it!
All he needed was time. He needed a shield that could protect him from the enemies that sought to control him.
Anthony could become that shield. The Colony could become that shield. He would throw all of his support behind the ants, do whatever it took for them to triumph over the demon uprising. That would buy him the time he needed to grow.
Once the Colony had succeeded, he would be able to strike out and make his own way, rising to the top.
Who knows? If he were successful enough, perhaps even the mighty Arconidem himself would fall. Odin the Demon God had a rather nice ring to it. Better than the nickname he had been given in his past life. Whoever had thought to call him “Odin the Black Wind of Shadow Who Reaps in the Night” had been trying way too hard. Odin the Demon God. Simple, clean, powerful.
Below, Anthony continued to rest, his six legs folded beneath him as he rested his carapace on the stone floor. The powerful gravity field he generated was so strong the newly spawned larvae beneath him couldn’t even show their faces.
For now, you are the mighty one and I will hide in your shadow. But it won’t always be that way. I, Odin Malum, swear it!
Comments
Gonvas
I agree and disagree. As a squad of 20, I think they have enough members to distribute some specialisations besides the stealth focus all of them have. The hyper focus U mentioned, I don't think it's a good decision to try such build at T6 + it's too limited outside their focus. E.g., Instead of focusing on dealing with X affinitiy one or more ants should focus on dealing with magic in general. There are dozens of magic affinities, hyper focusing will leave their defense with clear flaws.
elkress
Making them super specialized in offense doesn't make sense as anthony's already got that part down, doubt they'll be able to compare against the blackhole. Also he no longer has a weakness to swarm tactics with the gravity field and whatnot. They are already punching well above their weight in stealth as even anthony finds it difficult to spot them and he has lots of detection capabilities esp regarding ants. So support is their only option left and it fits thematically with them being 'defenders' of the eldest. Anthony's main way of dealing with higher threats is slow 1HKOs rather then being an endurance fighter, a strategy which has worked well so far, so the goal should be to improve on that aspect. They could either debuff/distract enemies at opportune moments to let him get that one hit in, or they could increase his recovery between big attacks by either healing,mana recovery or helping with the constructs since I doubt they'll be able to improve on his defence. I think help with construct formation or distractions are the most viable method as compared to a slight overall buff/debuff since the game changers are always going to be the big attacks. I'm sure they'll get a specific evolution regarding being the guardians of the colony paragon to help them.
Desmond Cheong
i feel that stealth shouldnt be the way going forward. If taken assassin class then mc won’t have anything to fight if they are strong enough. If they are weak then any aoe spell will wipe the entire group out. It will be super hard to write future chapters for them. Utilities based support ants seems more viable.
CentaureHeart
I think they should double down on stealth and become some type of assassin, or maybe some kind of healer. But they are always going to stand in his shadow
Shaitan
A fair point, but at this point, they are incapable of doing their goal which is keeping the mc alive. Being harder to detect doesn’t help him in any fights. Currently they are useless. They need something that will change the battlefield in the mcs favor. Possible solutions in my opinion: 1. Become some kind of assassin which would require some hyper focus on offense 2. Become some kind of support that either buffs mc or debuffs enemies 3. Become some kind of battery. Aka gravity mana makers 4. Become some kind of transport/utility. Aka able to teleport group away. Honestly this might be the most in character for them. The group learning how to mass teleport the mc and pets away from danger. A get out jail free card if you will. 4. Become highly specific shields like I mentioned before. Or maybe become something like anti magic specialists? One focus is to unravel enemy magic.
Pastor Joubert
They are already specialized in being undetectable. Their path to power must leverage their stealth.
Pastor Joubert
Don’t see why. Odin was an Assassin, not a selfish gas lighting worm. He may have done wet work in the past, but that was a life of service to power. As long as Anthony does not limit or hold back Odin, their relationship should remain neutral. Odin knows their place and they know the place of others, otherwise they would have been very dead very early on in as a career assassin.
Shaitan
That’s fair but unless they can rapidly pass the mc (which I would think to be extremely difficult) then they will never really be useful. Specializing would at least make them useful in certain situations
CentaureHeart
This is a good idea but the draw back is that if one of them dies they have a huge hole in their defense. Whereas having a specific set just for the defense of the Eldest means that any ant can be recruited for the job. It doesn't help that they are all already tier 5 and such a specialization should started before to be optimal
Shaitan
May I make a suggestion for the protector ants? Rather than have them become higher tiers of what they are now, maybe have each choose a field to hyper focus. Ex: one becoming super focused at destroying fire, water, etc. minimize their general power in exchange for maximized defense in their chosen field.
Colin Fortin-Ballay
I hope for his sake he doesn’t turn into the next jim
Jac Onue
Odin is what tier 6? Or did he get to 7? He never maxed out his core, and it's not even clear if he had a core on his first evolution. While demons have a higher starting point than ants, it's probably not enough to make up for non-maxed out cores. Also, since ants past tier 3-4 are supposed to be rare, they gain better evolution options, compared to demons that make it ti tier 6-7 regularly. Plus, Anthony has 2 cheats - gravity mana and his altar.
Marter
Anyone want to take any wagers to see how long it takes for Oden’s spirit to break and realize he will never catch up to Anthony
Rahsheem Reid
I can easily see Anthony gaining all kind of Returners too join with him for whatever reason. The only reason Jim the grub killer first and last of his name betrayer of the colony destined to be forever food betrayed Anthony and company was bc he thought they weren’t strong enough too win out.
Rahsheem Reid
You would know wouldn’t you lolol
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
Thunderhoof
Anthony is not some protagonist of a street racing- turned Jason Bourne movie. Or is he?
Sarah Stillman
Yeah, the people who reincarnate are definitely "out there". I'm just hoping that Odin gets won over by the idea of family and becomes a disgruntled Dad towards reincarators as they seem to usually be teenagers; it would be a pretty funny looking back. Maybe he could become a high-ranking, or leading, member of the sleep police or information gathering units? It would suck if it was another betrayl thing as they just got rid of the worm!!! Also, I hope Sarah and him became friends; they seem pretty polar opposites and may help eachother out.
Thunderhoof
Armourant, sounds like some twitch thot. Lol
Athena Alexandria
Odin the Chuuni
ShadyDemoness
the almighty Riniz has heard our prayers and delivered a chapter in odin/protectant pov. You are awesome Rinoz
Isiah Debarros
Thanks for the chapter
