Re: Butterfly (Reincarnated as a Butterfly)

The second movement of the ants into the crevasse was more aggressive than the first.

It quickly became clear that the initial, cautious movement had been more scouts checking out what the previous returning group had indicated with their scent trail.

Two dozen ants marched into the opening as if they owned the place, and they advanced until they were around seven or eight feet away from Rosslyn's feet. The Princess did not rise from her seated position, did not move much at all, simply stared at the approaching enemy and waited.

The ants seemed to perceive the danger that she represented, on some level. They did not try to cross the invisible stopping point line they had found—not yet, at least.

But unlike the first group, the second did not leave. They stood in place, as if they planned on setting up camp in the crevasse alongside the human and the butterfly.

Then reinforcements began entering.

The floor of the space had become crowded, so once they were through the entrance, these new arrivals crawled up the walls, advancing quickly to fill in empty spaces in the fissure—and adding a three-dimensional element to the insects' advance. More of their comrades entered after them, finding additional space on the walls, almost to the ceiling of the space, and encroaching closer and closer to Rosslyn and Adon.

Now, if Rosslyn wanted to deal with them, she would have to attack monsters across a twenty foot elevation range, or fight them one at a time, or in small bursts. The situation was ideal for the creatures, in Adon's mind.

But the Princess was unmoved.

They are trying to crush us with numbers, she thought. I was worried they might have a more clever plan. Adon, these monsters I see on the walls and floor are real, right?

Telepathy confirms they're actually there, Adon replied.

Good. I cannot afford to waste energy fighting illusions. What share of the ants are inside with us versus waiting outside?

More than half inside.

Rosslyn smiled, though the expression was so warlike that it seemed improper to use the word "smile" when thinking of it.

They have really taken the bait, she thought.

More are coming in, Adon sent.

Thank you. I will still prepare to deal with the group that is here.

The Princess began charging a magical attack. Adon could not sense exactly what sort of magic she was getting ready to use. He could feel that it was light magic—it was familiar in that way—but he could not identify the form of it just from observing her. It might not be one of the varieties he had seen used before.

As she charged the attack, and while additional ants were entering the space, the group of monsters nearest to Adon and the Princess finally made their move.

They lunged from multiple angles at Rosslyn, mandibles snapping, legs wheeling as they leaped through the air, keen to stop her mid-preparation.

Adon used Transformation and pushed mana throughout his body as he moved to intercept them. From butterfly form standing on Rosslyn's shoulder, it was easy to reposition his elongated human form to standing behind her. He batted the monsters away, knocking them off of their trajectory toward Rosslyn—and, most importantly, throwing them forward, in front of her, where their flailing bodies would block the advancement of more of their kind. And where he hoped they would be in the field affected by Rosslyn's attack.

Keep behind me, Rosslyn thought urgently.

Adon stepped back to ensure no part of him would be in front of the Princess. Her entire body glowed with a white light now, more intense than he had ever seen before—more like the sun than any magic he had witnessed.

Divine Sword, Fifth Form, Scorching Ray!

Energy exploded outward from the Princess, in a blast that blinded Adon's humanoid eyes but that seemed to him, in the last frozen image ingrained on his retinas, to have swept up every surface in front of Rosslyn, from floor to ceiling, in its light.

From Adon's perspective, being temporarily blind, the only sensory hint as to what had happened was a slight metallic odor in the air. But he no longer felt the presence of any of the nearby ants with Telepathy. There was only Rosslyn, himself, and some remaining insects out in the cavern—a fraction of the number that had wedged themselves inside the crevasse with the Princess and the butterfly.

Adon released the Transformation, and his body snapped back to its usual self, wings flapping as he found himself midair again. His vision instantly returned—his butterfly form had multiple times the number of eyes of his human form, and only two of them had been damaged by the blast—and he could finally see what had happened.

The walls and floors were smeared in molten gold. Occasionally, there was a scattered antenna or leg remaining intact. The only other hint that ants had been there rather than a vein of gold ore was the occasional smear of ash in the midst of the gold.

The area had been dimmed slightly, as the gold painted the walls in many places, covering up the violet crystals that lit the crevasse. It cast a dim, spooky lighting over the place where Adon and Rosslyn had made their stand—befitting all the death that Rosslyn had just unleashed.

You incinerated them, Adon sent excitedly.

Yes, Rosslyn thought. She was grinning, but as Adon settled back onto her shoulder, he recognized that she was not in good fighting condition anymore. He could see the sweat that had broken out all over her face and neck, and her body temperature felt much higher than it should be.

That cost you something, he transmitted after a moment.

"Always does," Rosslyn said, panting as she pronounced the words. "But the results should be worth it, I think."

You need to rest, Adon sent.

Do I have time to? Rosslyn thought. Do you feel you can take the remainder? He heard the exhaustion even in her inner voice—and an almost pleading note.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

At the entrance, more ants began filing in. It was a much smaller group this time, the remnants—the survivors who had been lucky enough to have been waiting outside.

Adon quickly counted the presences he could sense with Telepathy, and he felt a sense of relief.

Perhaps two dozen ants remained alive, after those he had killed in the pursuit earlier and the majority that Rosslyn had roasted with her light show.

We're all right, Adon sent. Almost all of them are dead, I can take the rest…

Then he felt another presence, and his mood changed.

That damned spider, he thought.

The walls of the crevasse began to blur and shift slightly, and the marching ants vanished from view.

Shit, I can't aim attacks like this, Adon sent.

Illusion magic again? Rosslyn thought.

That's right, Adon shot back, trying to come up with a solution on the fly.

I can just blast the survivors again, as soon as you sense they are all inside this little cave with us, Rosslyn thought. He could hear her heavy breathing over the sound of ants marching closer, which was loudly audible on both the floor and the walls now, as the creatures walked through the molten gold that drenched every surface. I do not need to see them.

That's not ideal, Adon thought. She has to be near her limit.

Do you actually have the mana left for that? he asked.

If I do not, I will find it somewhere. Her inner voice was set in grim resolve.

Below the surface, Adon could feel that she was resisting the urge to say something dramatic, like, Take care of the Dungeon Core if I don't make it out of here.

Don't tell me, when people run out of mana, do they cast magic using their life force or something like that? he wondered.

Let me try dealing with them, Adon sent. Don't do anything craz—er, rash, all right?

All right, Rosslyn thought. With a slightly challenging edge to her inner voice, she added, Show me what you can do.

Adon infused mana throughout his body, into the Venomous Spines that still grew along most of his thorax and abdomen. The spines stood on end, and then he loosed a barrage of them forward, scattershot, aiming everywhere and nowhere. With mana reinforcement, and with molten gold lining the walls and slowing down the ants' movements, he hoped he would hit some.

A few seconds later, he heard a sound like dozens of pins striking targets. His spines had struck some enemies, though out of the two dozen or so remaining, he only sensed the mental activity in three of them cease immediately. Perhaps others had been fatally wounded, or the venom would get them eventually, but that wasn't good enough.

Adon began charging fire magic. He knew it wasn't as effective as light magic or blunt force for killing these things, but he recalled that prolonged exposure to fire would be as fatal as anything else for the ants. The room was already practically an oven, from the molten gold that lined the walls and floor where Rosslyn had destroyed the other ants. Adon could tell without getting close to it that the gold was still hot enough to scald with a touch.

He quickly created a blaze all around his body, and with Telekinesis, he whipped his flames back and forth, then spun them around, molding and manipulating the fire until he got the exact result he wanted: a wheel of flames almost as wide as the crevasse that randomly snapped tongues of fire out in all directions.

Then Adon held in place, his flame wheel walling out the ants that tried to press in. He could feel it as a physical force pushing against him when the giant insects edged in closer, but all he needed to do was pour in slightly more mana. Like miniature explosions, the little surges of fire had a physical force to them that kept the monsters from drawing nearer.

He sensed a few ants getting killed by this in the first minutes, as they stubbornly attempted to get around the fiery defense and failed. A handful more died in the minute after that, pressed in closer to Adon's flame shield by those behind them that were clamoring for their own chance to attack.

But most of the ants unfortunately made a much more prudent decision.

They backed just out of range of the spinning tongues of flame, and they stood there. Waiting.

Uh oh.

Adon sensed the spider's guidance in this, though he could not tell its mind apart from any of these others. The spider was closed off to him now, just as the ants were. It was just that the decision was intelligent, to the point of being out of character for the ants, which had willingly run through walls of fire before to pursue Rosslyn.

And the simple strategy would work.

They could outlast Adon's magic just by holding still. He couldn't go on the offensive, because their physical locations were hidden by illusion magic. Striking out blindly would just burn through his pool of mana more quickly.

Get behind me again, Adon, Rosslyn thought. Thank you for giving me a breather. I will finish this.

To his back, the Princess stood, emanating white light again. Her body moved oddly, and he realized a moment after he noticed it that she was shaking.

Rosslyn was giving this everything she had. And it seemed there was no going back.

He hadn't even sensed her charging mana, but he recognized that she was fully energized now.

Do not worry, she thought. I know I do not appear to be at my best, but I can do this twice more if need be.

Adon could sense that she was not telling him the full truth. Either she was lying outright, or she was simply hoping that she could dig up some extra power from deep inside—or she knew that there would be some terrible longer term cost if she had to use her power again for a third time.

In the heat of the moment, he did not take the time to dig deeper and investigate which one was true. He flitted up, moving back and above so as to drop behind her.

And as he floated up, he felt the wind from an invisible projectile as it shot past the flaming shield that had just moved, with him, away from protecting the Princess.

"Ahh!" Rosslyn cried out and clutched at her remaining eye.

Adon saw a greenish fluid trickling from around her fingers, mixed with blood. From seeing Goldie do something similar, he knew exactly what had happened.

The spider had shot some venom at Rosslyn, right into her good eye, and the Princess was blind.

Are they still here? Rosslyn thought.

What? Adon sent.

The damned ants! Rosslyn exclaimed in her head, in obvious pain and frustration. Tears streamed down her face. I can still do it. I did not lose control. I—I can still complete the mission. This part of it, at least…

He reached out with Telepathy and located every one of the creatures that had entered the crevasse. They were eagerly inching forward, preparing to take advantage of an anticipated gap in Adon and Rosslyn's defenses—all but one mind had moved closer.

That last one hovered near the entrance. Adon could guess which one it was. He would deal with it himself if he had to. The cowardly spider had probably only stuck around to be within venom-spitting distance at the critical moment.

All here, Adon sent. He dismissed the flames and landed behind Rosslyn, on her back. Fire away!

The air hummed with a terrible, white hot energy, and Adon went blind for a second time as Rosslyn blasted the area once more with her Scorching Ray.