Genetic Awakening: My Genes Evolve Infinitely!

"Screee!" The Solder Ant entered an enraged state the moment Noa’s arrow lodged itself into its eye.

"Nice shot!" Rudith exclaimed. "Now get to cover, you five! Joe, Sarah and I will lead the Elite further towards the entrance! We need you guys to intercept any Worker Ants that try to follow behind."

Everyone followed Rudith’s words to a tee. By this point both Rohan and Elane could tell that she knew what she was doing. They could tell that she and everyone else in her team had likely done the same thing before to other beast nests.

’I wonder if she has any Elite Genes or Genetic Armaments...’ Rohan thought as he stepped behind a wall with Elane for cover.

They were positioned on one side, while Niko, Noa and Aron stood to the other side.

Thud! Thud!

The stomping footsteps of the Soldier Ant echoed past their ears the next second, growing rapidly in volume until it felt as if they were right next to it!

Niko lifted a finger to his mouth while Rudith and the other two made as much noise as possible to occupy the attention of the enraged Soldier Ant.

"We’ll see you guys in a few minutes!" Sarah shouted back to Rohan and the others before disappearing from their sight, along with Rudith and Joe to follow.

The Soldier Ant came crashing around the corner, flying past the silent group to the sides, until the heavy stomping eventually faded into the distance.

Then, just for a brief moment, silence ensued.

Not complete silence, of course.

Sticky substances still dripped down from the walls around them, which sometimes gave off crackling sounds from the orange-red veins running through them. And then a distant scraping noise echoed throughout the passages.

But compared to the chaos of the Soldier Ant charging past, it felt much more tame.

Niko slowly lowered his finger from his lips.

His face, which up until that point looked unnaturally serious, shifted to something more playful.

"Now comes the fun part." He broke the silence between them.

The next instant, a harsh chittering sound erupted from deeper within the nest.

Then another.

And then several more.

Rohan’s grip tightened around the shaft of his spear.

’Here they come!’

Aron glanced over at the duo.

"Don’t advance, don’t get greedy, and most importantly, don’t get in our way!"

His expression was stern.

"They’ll come fast and hard, but they’re still just Worker Ants. Don’t panic just because there are a lot of them."

However, neither of the duo’s gaze shifted from the excitement they showed. Rohan almost wanted to laugh at Aron’s timely warning, but he had bigger fish to fry.

Then they came.

Three Worker Ants burst into view first, scrambling around the bend in a spray of dirt and shattered twigs.

Their bodies were as small as Rohan remembered, and exoskeletons looked just as fragile as always.

Behind them, more movement churned.

Noa loosened his first arrow, followed by Elane.

Thrum!

Noa’s shot struck the lead and cleanly in between the eyes and continued drilling straight through until the arrow exited on the other side, not even giving it the chance to shriek in pain before it crashed into the crevasse wall.

"Now!" Niko barked.

The first clash happened instantly.

Niko surged forward at a frightening speed, choosing to equip a pair of daggers from thin air, far faster than Rohan had expected from the otherwise mundane looking man. One moment he was beside Aron and Noa; the next he was already in the middle of the passage, slicing apart a beast.

He moved with such efficiency that Rohan felt clumsy just watching him.

His daggers stabbed into one ant and didn’t even linger before moving onto the foreleg of the second.

Aron joined the fray this time with a hefty shield bash that staggered the charging ant backward before his other arm holding a cleaver came slicing down onto its mandible with brute force.

’Do they even need us here...?’ Both Rohan and Elane were stupefied.

The trio moved with such grace and ease that it made it seem as if their presence in this ant nest was just an excuse to drag two newbies along for the ride.

However, the next few movements proved why they were invited along.

That last bout was essentially a three on three, so it was the least expected that they won the fight so easily.

Things weren’t so easy anymore, though.

A huge group of ants appeared in their view, numbering at least a dozen or two. "Retreat to a wider section!" Niko ordered.

Their current position was quite narrow, making trying to fight effectively as a team quite the challenge.

Everyone obliged and turned tail until the walls started to widen.

"Okay, do your thing and run wild!" Niko looked as if he were in his natural element once he turned around to face the approaching horde of ants.

Staring down the dozens of beasts rapidly approaching his position, there wasn’t an ounce of fear in his eyes. Only a blooming smile. ’Yeah, this is definitely his natural calling...’

Rohan was impressed by the guy’s tenacity and moved with Elane to finally enter the fray themselves.

Aron looked over from his position with a grimace, noticing the two charging confidently towards the ants.

’Fools. These newbie’s overconfidence will lead themselves straight to a quick return back to the outside universe, and us too if they aren’t careful! I still don’t get why Rudith let them into our team.’

He would come to eat his words in the following moments.

"Back me up Elane!" Rohan shouted, no longer limited to just whispers now that the battle had begun.

"Right behind you!"

She tapped his shoulder to let him know of her position, shooting out a barrage of rapid-fire arrows a moment later.

"Screeee!!"

The arrows struck multiple of the incoming Worker Ants all over, sending them tumbling over each other into a chaotic mess of beasts, giving Rohan the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Nice shots!" Over on the side, Noa’s brows rose, having borne witness to Elane’s archery skills. He could tell instantly that she had a knack for the talent. If only her weapon were a genetic armament rather than an ordinary bow, her contribution to the battle would skyrocket.

"Hup! Hup!"

Rohan performed a series of rapid thrusts with his spear, sending an ant to the afterlife with every strike that landed. With Elane behind him, providing ranged support and crippling any ant that came close, killing the beasts became as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

In the passage of just a few seconds, the duo had already dispatched five ants!

Niko, Noa and Aron weren’t slacking off either. With Rohan and Elane there to take some of the slack off their shoulders, they were able to utilise their own abilities much more effectively.

In barely 30 seconds since the horde of ants came into view, over half of them were dead already.

"You guys deserve some credit for looking so fresh-faced but fighting so ruthlessly! I can imagine any greedy Awakened might find themselves in for a nasty surprise if they encountered you two in the wilderness..."

The fight was so lax; the group even found time to converse with each other.

"SCREEEECHHH!"

But the calm and boisterous atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by a thunderous shout echoing from deeper within the nest.

"What the fuck was that!?"