Ronan wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead. The first wave hadn't been too difficult, but he hadn't been able to stop moving for a single breath from the moment the first ant reached the top of the hill.

The others were in far worse condition than him. Even with the ants being weak enough that the worst of their party of nine could kill them in one or two strikes, the sheer quantity had meant they suffered plenty of wounds.

Having not used his stronger skills yet, like surging strikes or arcane piercing strike, as he wished to conserve his mana and stamina for the harder waves down the line, Ronan had only used regular, unempowered blows. He'd started out with a conjured shortsword, slicing the ants apart two or three at a time.

Eventually he'd taken a longsword from his inventory, using it until it broke and then replacing it with another. The extra reach meant the ants couldn't get close enough to bite him before they were sliced to pieces.

If he had managed to figure out how to use minor heal with sorcery he might be able to help a few of his allies out, but as it was he had only developed a minor proficiency with suture wound. None of the cuts they had suffered were bleeding enough to make it worth spending the mana.

Anyone who got badly wounded he would rush to help, but for now there was no need. They had managed to clear the first wave in decent time and had earned themselves three minutes to rest before the second wave began. He was glad there was no stupid mechanic like the next wave beginning the moment they cleared the previous.

During the downtime, Ronan decided it would be a great idea to start using the shards he'd acquired from defeating Rockmore's goons. He could have used the shards from the boss, but it would take too long to efficiently cultivate with them and he only had a few minutes in between waves.

He only needed 1 more push in mind cultivation to go beyond the threshold, so he started there. Unfortunately he didn't have many mind-aspected shards, but dao child's class skills combined with conversion cultivation let him ignore that for the most part. By the time the next wave began, he had gained another fifteen or so percent towards the next realm.

Wave 2 has started!

Wave 3 will spawn in 12 Minutes!

11:59…

As before, another carpet of ants swarmed from the horizon until it reached the base of the hill. Unlike before, every single ant in this wave was level 8. Ronan didn't learn that until he killed his first one, because he still had the tags removed from display by his command to the system.

For him, the difference between the first and second waves was negligible. The ants still fell apart like wet paper as he cut through them, no matter what weapon he held in his hand. Longsword, spear, axe; all produced the same end result.

As he fought, he cycled his mana and tried to form a rainbow bomb in his offhand. That wasn't the actual name of the spell, but vibrancy bomb sounded lame. His understanding of the spell was much better to start with than other spells he had tried to replicate, thanks to his inhaling it during the battle with the siege mage. Even so, his first few attempts ended in failure and a slightly charred hand.

That wasn't a problem for him. Ronan could happily lose the whole hand if it allowed him to master a new spell. Well, not happily, but he would accept it as a worthwhile price, knowing that on his next level up it would be restored.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He heard a yell from behind. Glancing back, he saw one of the others had stumbled and was being set upon by a dozen ants. He took a step towards them to help, but the closest person to them cut through two ants and hauled them out of the vicious melee. The injured person was Aaron, and he had blood dripping from two dozen bite wounds.

By working together, the others patched up the gap his mistake had left, allowing Ronan to keep things clear on his side of the hill. About five minutes later they cut down the last of the second wave, earning themselves a minute's reprieve. Because of the mistake, they had needed longer to kill the entire swarm.

Ronan approached Aaron, who was lying on the ground and being attended to by Nigel. They were using bits of cloth torn from clothes as bandages, trying their best to clean the wounds.

"Move over, I can do a better job," Ronan said, gently pushing Nigel to the side. The man complied. Reaching out, Ronan used suture wound on the worst of Aaron's cuts, sealing them in an instant. "I can't heal the damage, but you should be fine until your next level up. Do you think you're close?"

Aaron narrowed his eyes and looked up. "Maybe… I levelled up about half a day ago when we fought some of the foxes. I feel a little better now that I'm not about to bleed out, though, cheers."

Ronan reached out a hand and helped Aaron to his feet. "Take this," he said, passing him a fresh spear to replace the one he'd lost when he fell into the ants. They had chewed up the weapon with ease.

This is only going to get harder from here on out. A few of these people are definitely going to die, Ronan thought to himself. Looking around at the eight who'd put their lives on the line alongside him, he vowed to do his best to keep them alive. He wouldn't do so at the risk of his own, but he would spend his resources a little more liberally from now on.

Wave 3 has started!

Wave 4 will spawn in 15 Minutes!

14:59…

In the third wave, all of the ants were level 11. Ronan saw the pattern that was developing and he really didn't like where it was going. By the time they reached the fifth wave, the ants would be out-leveling the rest of his party members. Not to mention the numbers would be even greater.

With another five waves to go after that, he would be left to do all the heavy lifting. He'd known a few of them might die, but at this rate every single one of them might fall to the monsters, leaving him to a solitary victory. Hell, if he was attacked by thousands of level 50 or 60 ants during the final wave, Ronan wasn't even sure he could win.

Clearly, the gate was meant to be attempted with a larger party, or one that was more accomplished than the ragtag bunch he'd assembled. Still, he would do his utmost to get as many of them through it as possible.

This wave he didn't only use weapons. He started throwing out mana bolts whenever he noticed someone struggling against the ants, applied magic strike and surging strikes to his blows to cut down huge swathes of ants at a time, and even continued to experiment with the rainbow bomb.

If he could figure out the wide-area attack spell it would be a gamechanger against swarming enemies like this. Thanks to him putting in a lot more work, the third wave finished without any major incidents like Aaron's fall in the second.

Unfortunately he still hadn't gained another level or managed to figure out rainbow bomb. The others were luckier, the increased level of the ants meaning that most of them had leveled up and were close to full health once more.

With a longer break, he resumed his cultivation once he'd given out a few suture wounds to those who did need them. Ronan was able to consume two more shards before the next wave began, bringing himself up to almost 70 percent of the way to the next realm of mind cultivation.

He would break the first threshold before the gate trial was over. He hoped that would be enough to help him keep more of his allies alive. It wouldn't happen until after this next wave, however, so he raised the spear in his hands and prepared to take on the next swarm of ants.

Wave 4 has started!

Wave 5 will spawn in 20 Minutes!

19:59…

He grimaced when he saw that the ants in this wave were level 15. That was a bigger jump than the previous time, which meant the difficulty curve was exponential. Even more danger.

That meant even more rewards waiting for him at the end. Whatever happened along the way, he was excited to see what those were.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.