Florence and Ryan shared a bemused look as the crazy man rushed down the hill towards the encroaching swarm of deadly ants. "As if we wanted to even fight that monstrosity," Ryan muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You know we're probably going to die in this wave. There's way too many ants," Florence sighed, raising her sword and shield as the first line of insects neared.

"Maybe. Maybe not. All we can do is fight our hardest and try not to die. Remember, we don't need to beat the ants, just last longer than the queen. Ronan will carve them all to pieces if we can do that." Ryan hefted his spear in both hands, testing the ground beneath him as he settled into a combat stance.

"True. See you on the other side, then. If I don't–"

Ryan held up a hand to silence her. "Don't even say that. We'll both make it out. If you want to confess your love, save it for then."

"Arsehole."

With that, the first ant crested the peak of the hill. The tenth wave had well and truly begun, their lives on the line in the toughest challenge of their entire existence to date.

Ronan had a sword in hand. It felt right. It wasn't the best one he had in his inventory, but it was close. Mana coated the blade's edge as it carved through ant after ant. Each time he swung the blade, a dozen ants were filleted.

He didn't even bother to check if they were soldiers or workers at this point. It didn't matter. His regeneration stat was absurd, regenerating most of the mana he used in each magic strike in a matter of seconds.

As one of his earliest skills it was one he was intimate with, to the point that he never used a point more than necessary to slice and dice his foes. He was carving a path through the swarm of ants towards the queen. His target loomed large, having barely moved since she arrived in the plains.

He confirmed that it actually was an ant queen by turning on her tag. Not only was she the queen, but also a mini-boss. That only made him more excited. A tougher challenge, and greater rewards awaited when he claimed victory.

[Queen Ant Lv.50 - MINI BOSS]

Unfortunately she wasn't named, which meant she wasn't as strong as she could have been. Ronan even expected the queen might be weaker than vulparis, though she was clearly geared more for direct offense than the Trickster had been. The two protrusions on her back functioned as turrets, something he discovered when she fired two globules of green-ish liquid towards the hill his allies stood on. The liquid was a powerful acid, burning through the dirt mound. A few more shots like that and the hill might come tumbling down.

That wasn't his problem to worry about right now. He could help his allies by taking on the queen and redirecting her attention to himself. Up close, he doubted the turrets would be as effective. Her sword-like mandibles, however, would be deadly. Possibly.

The fourty-nine level gap and his absurd stat gain meant Ronan wasn't sure that the mini-boss could even kill him if he gave her a free strike. He had a faint hope that at the end of the wave he might have earned enough experience to gain the final level he needed to hit 100. He was curious to know what awaited him at that milestone.

He continued to slice ants apart. About halfway towards the queen, he felt a sudden shift in his stance. The sword settled a little more into his hand, each swing carving through the air more smoothly. He noticed his grip on the handle was off and corrected it by shifting a few of his fingers around.

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It was distracting to pull his status up while fighting, but he was still a decent distance away from the queen and could afford to do so. He realised why he'd suddenly gained enlightenment in the middle of battle.

His sword mastery increased to tier III.

It wasn't the only mastery of his that had increased in tier during the wave trials. Plenty of his weapon masteries and even pain mastery had gone up a tier. Stamina and mana were close to reaching the fourth tier, and health was approaching the third tier as well.

Every single time he faced a new challenge Ronan continued to grow. Nothing would hold him back. This world was the grindstone which he would sharpen himself into a lethal blade to cut down any enemies in his way.

Redoubling his efforts, Ronan began to almost sprint through the ants. Each step was accompanied by a devastating swing of his blade, carving through hundreds of ants for every few metres he crossed.

It didn't take him long to finally get within mana bolt distance of the queen. He didn't hesitate to launch a few as his opening salvo. When the first one exploded against her exoskeleton, leaving small cracks, it got her attention.

Emitting a screeching whine, the enormous ant turned towards him, mandibles clacking. However, the queen was the least of his worries.

Her screech had been some sort of signal to the other ants. As soon as they heard the sound every single soldier and worker ant in range pivoted towards him. Ants' eyes were bulbous and dark, without much variation, but he swore he saw visceral hatred in them as they charged.

A tidal wave of ants surged forth. Well, at least I've taken some of the heat off Ryan and Florence, he inwardly joked. Gripping his sword, Ronan lowered his centre of gravity a little and held out his left hand.

This was the perfect situation to test out the latest spell he'd learned through sorcery. It had taken him nine full waves—almost six hours—but he had finally done it. A swirling, chaotic mass of mana gathered in his hand, compressing itself as more and more strands were added.

Compared to the cheap mana bolt, rainbow bomb was a mana hog. That was a choice, as he could have limited how much went into the spell, but why would he do that when he had thousands of enemies right in front of him? Not a single point would be wasted, even if he used a thousand mana to cast it.

That wasn't actually possible. The limit was around 106 mana. By the time he reached it, his hand was struggling to hold the spell up, the raw power of the magic creating a physical weight.

While fending off the closest ants with his sword, he had prepared his first use of rainbow bomb. An excited grin on his face, Ronan reared back his arm, pointing himself roughly in the direction of the queen.

With a grunt of exertion, he whipped his arm forward, releasing the rainbow bomb into the swarm. It whined as it sailed through the air. A few nearby ants shied away from it. Those in its path tried to retreat, but it was impossible.

The ants were so tightly packed that those who tried to retreat ended up being pierced on the mandibles of the bloodthirsty ants behind them. Then the bomb struck the carpet of insects.

For an instant, the world seemed to freeze. The swirling mass of mana suddenly unravelled. All the colour drained from the world as an eclectic kaleidoscope tore into the fabric of space around the impact zone.

Shattered fragments of colour rippled outwards, tearing through ants as though they were tofu. That lasted a second, and then the bomb truly exploded.

A thousand ants were sent flying, blown to pieces. Dismembered legs, exploded abdomens, torn mandibles, and burst eyes sprayed in every direction. Ronan was knocked to the ground by the blast, his skeleton trembling under the immense force.

When he raised his head and was able to clamber to his feet, he found his vision was blurry and clouded. Rubbing his eyes and shaking his head, he restored normalcy.

Except, the world itself seemed dulled. The bomb had drained a little colour from the trial space in its devastating explosion. Even the queen hadn't been spared, though the thick wall of ants between her and the initial blast zone meant she'd only lost half a leg and suffered a single wound to her abdomen.

The rainbow bomb was well worth the huge mana cost. 106 points seemed like a lot, but when he considered the fact that it had killed at least five hundred ants and critically wounded another five hundred, it almost felt like a bargain.

The queen screeched again. Every single ant remaining in the trial locked onto Ronan and charged. This time, their leader didn't sit back and let them do her dirty work. With lumbering yet deceptively agile steps, the queen moved towards him, her abdomen pulsing and her mandibles clacking.

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