Desolate World

[Adrian]

Species: Human

Level: 12

[Derek]

Species: Human

Level: 7

[Nara]

Species: Human

Level: 3

[Mia]

Species: Human

Level: 1

'It seems they are family,' Ace said in his heart. He saw a man in his 40th, a teenage boy in his 15th to 17th, a woman in her 30th, and a little girl in her 7th or 8th were running desperately.

After inspecting them, he knew that the man in his 40th's name was Adrian. He held a sword and a round shield on his back, Ace thought he was a warrior. The teenage boy Derek also held a sword and shield. 

As for the woman's name, Nara held a bow and a quiver with around a dozen arrows in it. And the last one, the little girl Mia seemed to not yet have a job.

He thought they were family because he could see some similarities between Adrian and Derek, as well as Nara and Mia.

Ace then made sure no other ants except the five ants inside the perimeter of the area that he could observe, 'Okay, it is safe.'

Ace, who knew the terror of ants' army. If he could, he wanted to avoid fighting a large number of ants. Although they had a weak attack, their attack could make their opponent's body stiff. 

Sampson had experienced it. After everyone in his family leveled up to level 8, they tried to challenge 10 ants at the same time. As a result, he almost died. If not for Jumpy who had a thicker HP and defense came to help him tanking, he should have already died. After that, they only picked up 5 to 7 ants for each fight.

Ace also never again fought the major ants, since he 'harvested' some of the disabled ants, after the battle of dragons and ants. So he was really careful to not take anything he couldn't solve. 

However, the situation forced him this time. As a human being, it was impossible for him to close his eyes when some human NPCs were chased by ants. 

He then took some cards and put them on his belt. He took two joker cards from it and exchanged them with a king of hearts and a queen of spades. As he put the Ace of hearts, he breathed a sigh of relief. 

*Ding*

[For making a royal flush combination, you get these effects:

Magic x 2

Magic defense x 2

Strength x 2]

Because the affected stats were random, he usually only used the belt to keep his favorite cards like jokers and jacks. However, this time was different. He needed firepower to end the fight fast, so they wouldn't be surrounded. The bonus in his magic stat was a timely rain for him.

'Let's start the show!' Ace said in his heart.

***

The four people were running desperately. The darkness of the night prevented them from seeing their pursuers. They only knew that many large insects were chasing them.

"Mother, I can't run anymore," an about 7 years old girl said to the woman who pulled her small hand. 

The woman bit her lips. The bow in her left hand disappeared. she then lifted the little girl and continued to run while carrying the girl.

"Father, we must fight them! Sooner or later we will lose our stamina, and then we will become their food. It's better if we fight," The teenage boy said to the man who was running at his side. 

Just as the man wanted to answer, he saw a shadow jump from a tree, "Watch out! An ambush."

"Don't worry! I'm human," The shadow said.

The shadow then threw something into space behind them.

*bam* *bam*

Two small explosions occurred behind them. It made them stop. When they looked behind, only darkness was seen, however, they could hear some messy footsteps.

The shadow then ran towards the darkness while throwing something again. 

*Bam* *Bam*

"I will appreciate it if you can help me. The faster the fight ends, the faster we can leave this place," The shadow said.

The middle-aged man seemed to think for a while, he then said, "Derek let's help him. He came to help us. We must help him."

"Yes, father!" The teenage boy, whose name was Derek said. He then equipped his shield and sword. He seemed to be waiting for his father's next instructions.

"Adrian, I will cover you," The woman said.

The middle-aged man, Adrian nodded, "No, Nara! What can an archer do in the night? You will only endanger us. What you can do right now is climb a tree and protect Mia.

"Okay, I will do that," The woman, Mia said.

Adrian then strode into the darkness, Derek followed him.

***

When the two arrived at the fighting spot, they were dumbfounded. What they saw was a man who moved so fast while throwing some cards at five ants that tried to catch him. The man didn't stop even for a second and went around the five ants. The five ants could only be led around by their noses.

"Oh, you come. Concentrate on defending and hitting them if you find chances!" The shadow said.

Looking at the shadow, who was playing the ants, the two felt the ants weren't too intimidating anymore. Adrian then ran and said to his son, "Let's go!"

The two then lifted their shield and ran to the ants. The two shouted, "Kill!"

Their shouts made the ants alarmed, their attentions were shifted to the direction of the shouts for a second. It made the father and son sweat. However, the shadow didn't disappoint them. A series of attacks barraged one of the ants. It seemed the attacked ant was whose HP the least. The attacks killed it.

Knowing their friend was killed made the other ants angry. They rushed to the shadow crazily.

Adrian and Derek didn't waste the chance and attacked an ant that was in the back of the group.

The two made slash movements to its abdomen. However, instead of doing an attack, the sword glowed and their hands moved so fast doing several slash attacks in less than two seconds. It was 'rapid strikes'. A common skill that a warrior or other close combat jobs could learn at level 5. It had two minutes cooldown, so it must be done at a perfect moment.

-64 -114

-60 -105

-59 -109

-104

-110

The ant that had lost more than 700 HP turned its body, only to get more damages from the two as the father and son slashed it two times. After that, the two retreated a few steps.

The angry and recognized its attackers and then rushed to them. Adrian then stepped up and lifted his shield. His body glowed a blood-red light. He took a stand and waited for the ant's attack.

The ant with its slow movement came to Adrian and tried to bite him. However, Adrian blocked its attack with his shield, and then it was pushed by an invisible power backward. The ant was stunned. It was a skill that a shield user could learn at level 10 'Reflect'. Like its name, it could reflect some damage that was received by the shield to a creature in front of it and had a possibility to make the target stunned for 3 to 7 seconds.

-84

The amount of the damage that was reflected made Adrian frown. He didn't expect the ant's attack was so weak. Fortunately, It was stunned by the effect of the skill. Adrian and Derek then attacked it for a few times. 

The ant's HP became lower and lower. They attacked it continuously until its HP was lower than 5%. Adrian saw the ant start to move, he then retreated but he realized that his son was still striking it. 

Before Adrian could ask him to retreat, the ant attacked Derek. With his strong mandibles, it bit him and swung him a few times to the ground.

-126

-123

-120

-124

The ant's sudden attacks gave no time for Derek to respond. He could only see his HP decreased at a quick time.

"Derek!" Adrian shouted in panic.

***