After killing many more monsters, Theo finally arrived at the entrance of the Blazing Ant Nest. The nest seemed to be located under a hill filled with trees.
Although it was hardly visible, he could see several holes on the hills with several ants crawling around those holes.
"…" Theo furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the entrance, which was a ten feet radius hole. Compared to other holes, he didn't see any ant's activity from this hole which shouldn't be possible.
The ant itself had a five feet long body and three feet in height. It could be compared to that of a human. The ant had a red color and marks all over their body and according to the information, the ants could release fire from their bodies.
This ant became deadly because they could literally smoke their entire nest to repel the humans. Luckily, Theo had Telekinesis that could repel the air around him to make sure he didn't get poisoned or had enough time to escape.
"Ava, can you hear something?" Theo asked while observing the hole.
"Kyu!" Ava shook her head and pointed at the entrance and her ears. She then expanded her feet.
"Ehm, I don't understand…" Theo shook his head in confusion.
Ava then jumped off his shoulder and shouted, "Kyu!"
She moved one foot forward and shouted again, but in a lower voice. "Kyu!"
She repeated it a few times, showing something to Theo.
"Ah! Echo." Theo understood after a while. "You can't listen very well inside the nest because of the echoes produced?"
"Kyu!" Ava nodded furiously.
"I see. It's not your fault." Theo smiled and put her on his shoulder again. "Well, I guess your hearing ability is so strong that the echo is confusing you."
"Kyu." Ava wanted to apologize, but Theo brushed it off with a laugh.
"Anyway, we should destroy this nest. According to the information, there are around five hundred ants of that size." Theo pointed at the ants on top of the hill. "It should be able to bring me seven to ten levels. I hope I can find something better in this nest.
"Well, we won't fight for too long inside the hole because we need to hunt for other monsters. I don't think we can eat ant meat. We also need to set up a camp, so yeah." Theo paused for a moment, summoned his clone, and walked forward. "Are you ready Ava?"
"Kyu."
They then entered the nest. The cave was made of blue-colored rocks. Still, as one would expect from an ant nest buried under a hill, the light barely reached the inside. Theo couldn't see anything after walking thirty feet from the entrance.
That was why Theo activated his Night Vision glasses without enhancing the light of the moon. In other words, it was just an ordinary night vision, allowing him to see through this darkness.
Ava didn't have this problem and kept looking around.
Upon entering, they found two paths immediately, leading to unknown places. Theo didn't know where to go, so he usually let Ava handle it.
"Ava, choose," said Theo as his voice echoed through the two tunnels.
Ava looked at both tunnels for a moment before randomly pointing at the tunnel.
In the end, they chose the left path.
Theo observed the wall's condition.
There was no crack or whatsoever and the humidity was quite low, considering the rock was dry.
"Hmm, see anything Ava?" Theo asked while walking carefully. "The scariest thing fighting under a hill like this is getting buried alive. We can repel a few boulders, but if all those boulders hit us simultaneously, we will die."
"Kyu." Ava pointed to the front.
When he heard Ava's voice, Theo stopped and raised his spear, proceeding even more carefully.
Suddenly, he saw two pairs of eyes glowing in the dark.
Clone Theo hurriedly charged forward while Theo summoned his Magic Bullets, shooting them. At the same time, he gave an instruction to Ava. "Immobilize the left one. You can eat him after that."
Ava didn't respond to him because she seemed to hate the echo and simply made her move together with the clone.
The Magic Bullets arrived first. To his surprise, the ants released their fire. The Magic Bullets that came closer were melted in an instant.
Theo's expression became serious as he never thought a B Rank Skill could be melted like that. Although Magic Bullets weren't that strong compared to other skills, it was still a B Rank Skill.
'Is Blazing Ant's fire extraordinary?' Theo thought as his clone tried to check the ant's power.
Clone Theo waved his spear to the side of the ant, combining his Cannon Blast and Telekinesis.
The moment his spear hit, the Cannon Blast dispersed in all directions, blowing off the fire covering the ant's body as if blowing a candle.
After that, the Telekinesis boosted the spear, launching the ant to the other ant.
Bam.
The ant surprisingly remained on the ground and withstood the full amount of Theo's brute force. Only his body swayed to the left for a second before returning to normal.
Clone Theo took a few steps back to regain the distance, observing the ants.
The real Theo, on the other hand, looked down, contemplating something. He had seen the ant's fire which turned out to be a skill.
Skill: Fire Body (C)
Effect: Innate Skill of Blazing Fire Ant. Covering the body with a special fire that can melt skills that touch them.
'The ant can melt skills?' Theo gulped down, taken aback by the skill's description. The thought, 'Still, there is Cannon Blast and Telekinesis. No, the two skills indeed disappeared upon contact, but there is a certain limit to how fast it can burn the skills. In other words, as long as I am fast and strong enough, I should be able to break the ant's defense.'
Theo had formulated his plan according to this newfound information.
"Ava. Speed."
Ava narrowed her eyes and released the lightning around her body. After that, she disappeared, hitting the ant from above.
The ant's body dropped to the ground and Ava still maintained her Lightning.
"As expected… In that case, I should use a new approach…" Theo smiled, seeing the crushed ant.