Five ants stood in front of the queen.
“They’re well equipped,” Datil noted. From right to left, each ant held a weapon: a spear, an axe, a sword, another spear, and another sword. Judging from the small size of those weapons, the ants must’ve stolen them from humans they’d killed.
“How dare you! How dare small, weak creatures like yourselves treat my beautiful children so horribly!” cried the queen.
“Furutsu, is it trying to communicate right now?” Grida asked.
They just sound like squeaking noises to you? Yeah, she’s talking, and she seems really angry.
“Now go forth, my strongest soldiers. Avenge your fallen siblings!”
Strongest soldiers? That doesn’t sound good.
“Night of the storm. Forever-closed box. The beast that lives deep in the forest,” the queen chanted, brandishing her staff. “Eyes will rot, ears shall be severed, noses from under the earth.”
Again, these chants sound really weird. Monster magic sounds so much more sinister.
“Masterless castle, the rotten gates will close.” The red jewel on the queen’s staff started to slowly turn purple. “Dark magic, demon.” A black fog emanated from the queen and poured into the five soldier ants. “Now, my children, you are invincible. Show them your true power!”
The ants squeaked loudly in reply.
Did she buff them? That’s not good.
“Furutsu, should I fire my magic?” Grida asked.
Good idea. These soldiers don’t seem too smart, so magic might work on them. All right, light ’em up!
“Okay! Remove the shackles of fire, traveler, at three percent!” Grida said.
Ding! “Spell confirmed. Firing spell at multiple targets at three percent strength.” Five powerful balls of fire zoomed towards the ants.
Nice shot! Wait, huh?!
Ring! Ring! “Warning! [5] monsters have resisted this spell.”
“The apple magic isn’t working?!” Datil said.
“But it was at three percent strength! Why didn’t it wooork?” Fresa cried.
My magic and Grida’s look completely different. How did you get the percentage right, Fresa?
“My magic isn’t working,” Grida said glumly.
“Oh ho? That wasn’t half bad,” said the queen.
Did you hear that, Grida? The queen said your magic “wasn’t half bad.”
“Huh, really? Heh heh, hooray!” she cheered.
I’m not really sure if being happy is the right response here.
“Heh heh heh. However, my magic makes us invulnerable to all kinds of spells! Your sorcery shall not affect us!” the queen gloated.
I see, so they’re invulnerable to magic because of her spell. That sounds so good! I want to learn it, but I doubt she’ll use it on me.
“I’m not sure why the apple magic isn’t working, but guess I should use my sword!” Datil said. He stepped forward, drawing his blade. “Five might be a bit too many for me though.”
Datil’s strong. He might be able to go toe-to-toe against five normal ants, but these ants are clearly not normal. So...
“Huh? Apple-san?” Fresa said.
I left her hands and rolled alongside Datil.
It might look like I just rolled by his feet though.
“Will you fight with me?” Datil said, looking down at me.
Of course. Physical attacks are my specialty anyways, not magic.
“Furutsu, be careful!” Grida warned.
Of course! Leave it to me!
“Apple-san, we’ll start outwards and work our way in. I’ll begin with the right side!” Datil said.
Then I’ll take the left. Grida, when things start looking dangerous, please cast your water magic on Datil.
“Okay, I’ve got it!” Grida said.
All right. Here we go. Roll! Roll! Roll!
“Raaaaagh!” Datil yelled, lunging forward at an amazing speed.
Oh? I didn’t think you could catch up to my rolling!
The ants squeaked loudly. All five of them headed towards Datil.
No one’s on me.
“Uh, it’s because you’re so small!” Grida answered hastily.
Thanks for making me feel a little better. Between a guy who’s roaring and an apple who’s rolling, I definitely look the weaker of the two.
“Th-That’s not true! You’re just small! You’re a lot smaller than a normal person!”
Huh, that’s weird. I feel like someone’s smacking my ego around like a punching bag.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
I’m fine, I’m fine. I think. Now’s not the time to be mentally weak.
The first ant had parried Datil’s strike, and another was preparing to attack him.
“Be careful, Datil! Behind youuu!” Fresa cried.
“The ants aren’t coming for you, Furutsu!” Grida said.
That’s fine by me. They notice me, but they’re more scared of him. It’s an opportunity for me to strike! I’ll aim for the far left ant’s head. Take this!
Bam!
I hit it! The ant’s head...is still attached?! Did it guard?!
The ant had instantaneously protected its head. Its left leg was blown off and on the floor.
It’s still got two other left legs though.
“Furutsu! Watch out!”
Damn! Is there another one?! An attack from the side with a sword! It’ll slice me in half!
I focused where I thought it was aiming, and increased the area with as many cells as possible to protect myself.
Slash!
Owwww! Damn, they’re strong! That whole chunk of me was scooped out.
“Furutsu, I can heal you!”
No, I’ll be fine. I have the blessing card on my side.
The scooped-out part started bubbling, and in an instant, the damaged section regenerated.
See? Back to normal in no time.
“Hasty child. Dry well. Long legs. Exhausted shells. Exhausted flesh. Live long. Eternity. Prison of the soul.”
Was that the queen’s voice?! She’s chanting another spell!
“Dark magic, healing.”
The ant with a lost limb was surrounded by a dark fog, and reappeared completely healed, as though it took no damage at all.
A healing spell?! And it even got its leg back!
“That’s more powerful than the water spell!” Grida said.
Yeah, though I’d rather not get healed by something so nasty-sounding. At any rate, now’s not the time to be impressed.
“Datil! Let’s retreat for now!” Fresa called.
“Damn! These ants wield their weapons better than humans do!” Datil said.
I guess they aren’t called the strongest for nothing. Even if we do manage to get a shot in, they get healed immediately! What’s more... I lunged forward. Aaaaagh! Hit!
Bam!
See, even if I aim for their heads, they guard it well. If I’m not careful, they’ll follow that up with a counterattack.
“Furutsu, don’t push yourself,” Grida said.
Right. Sorry, Grida.
“Oh ho ho ho! How foolish! Now, slice them into pieces!” the queen ordered.
We have no way out if this keeps up. The queen’s healing magic negates our attacks, and Grida’s magic has no effect! Should I increase the power? If our magic could affect them, then maybe...!
“Wait, Furutsu, something’s off,” Grida said.
Hm?
“The queen ant’s magic makes it so that my magic doesn’t work.”
Right.
“It also heals any wounds from your attacks.”
Right. Wait, huh? You’re right, that’s a little weird. If magic doesn’t work on them, how is the queen healing them?
“It’s weird. We’re both using magic.”
I got it! I know now! The queen said they were invulnerable to magic attacks. Good job, Grida! Clever girl!
“Heh heh heh! I don’t really get what you mean, but those comments make me happy!”
All right then. Let’s test this out. We don’t have much time.
“Test?”
Yup. I’ll go first, so watch closely.
“Okaaay!”
If we’re hitting them at full strength, Grida, we can’t afford to mess this up or get our spells reflected or anything. We should experiment carefully. First, I’ll test out my max strength. If this works, we wouldn’t need to cross any dangerous bridges. Remove the shackles of fire, traveler. Strength at one hundred percent!
Ding! “Spell confirmed. Activating at one hundred percent strength.”
This is just a test, so I’ll only fire one. My target is the ant closest to Datil.
“J-Just what is that magic?!” the queen shrieked.
Whew, that flame is huge. It’s the strongest magic I can cast currently. It’s overwhelmingly hot, but this is still only ten percent of Grida’s max power.
“Whoa! Apple-san’s casting something incredible!” Datil said, sounding slightly giddy.
I feel you. Seeing this spell at my full strength gets me a bit excited too.
The large flame headed straight for the ant and made contact.
How’s this?
Ring! Ring! “Warning! Target has resisted this spell.”
I see, so even at full strength it’s not good enough.
“Oh ho ho ho! Not a scratch! That spell won’t affect us at all!” the queen said triumphantly.
All right. Fire magic experiment’s over.
“That wasn’t good enough?! Furutsu, I should attack next!” Grida said.
Wait, that’s dangerous right now. If we go above my max strength, above your ten percent power, we might be able to defeat them. But...
Datil looked shocked. “Damn! Even that didn’t have any effect?”
The ceiling started crumbling. I probably damaged it with that full-power blast.
If the aftershock of Grida’s magic destroys this colony, we’d get buried alive. Our only hope, Turn Reversal, wouldn’t have any effect on her spells.
“What should we do?” Grida asked.
We’ll be fine. I just wanted to confirm something. All right, then let’s test this out! Strength at fifty percent, break the water’s seal, thieves!
Ding! “Spell confirmed. Activating at fifty percent strength.”
We felt something was off before because they were able to just shrug off any and all spells, but they could still get healed.
“Wait, Furutsu, that spell is...?!” Grida cried.
The glowing blue healing magic hit the sword-wielding ant closest to Datil.
All right! It’s a hit!
“A-Apple-san?! Why did you just heal the enemy?” Fresa yelled.
Ah, Fresa, don’t worry. That’s not the point of the spell.
“Wait, look at that! Why was this magic not repelled?!” Datil said.
Oh, you noticed?
“Why? Why did it work? What’s going on?” Grida asked.