Having made his decision, Mohg acted immediately. He combined the Aspects of the Crucible: Tail with the Aspects of the Crucible: Wings.
With a thunderous boom, his silhouette streaked like a cannonball into the tunnels where the subterranean ants had emerged. This bizarre, terrifying sight left the surrounding Carian soldiers frozen in place.
Mohg did not linger. Fueled by the immense momentum and shielding himself with hands transformed by the Aspects of the Crucible: Horns, he became a living armored vehicle. He tore through the passage, crushing every common ant in his path into a fine paste under the weight of his charge.
Boom!
Suddenly, a violent resistance pushed back against Mohg, causing him to narrow his eyes as his speed ground to a halt. He looked up to survey the situation. He had originally intended to use a cavern wall to break his momentum; it seemed something else had caught him first.
In a sense, this was a stroke of luck. A direct collision with a solid stone wall might have resulted in serious injury, even for him. However, when he saw what had actually stopped him, he was momentarily stunned.
Standing before him were several Greatshield Ants. The horns on his arms were buried deep into the shield-like head of one particularly large specimen. The creature appeared to have already breathed its last, but behind it stood several more of its kind, acting as a living barricade to halt his progress.
The cost of stopping him was high; their limbs had been ground away to nothing, leaving a long, gruesome trail of ant ichor smeared across the cavern floor.
Whoosh—
Realizing his charge had been fully spent, Mohg allowed the Crucible incantations to fade. He drew the Death's Poker from his back, his eyes scanning the surroundings with wary intensity.
It seemed his momentum had carried him into a small, secluded nest. The area was draped in silk-like structures; had he not known they were the work of ants, he would have thought he had stumbled into a spider's den.
Soon, a frenzied scuttling sound echoed from the numerous surrounding tunnels.
"SCREE—!"
At the sound of the piercing shriek, the surrounding ants went into a frenzy, launching suicidal charges toward his position. Even above him, winged ants began to dive from the ceiling.
Just as the swarm was about to close in and swallow him whole, a deafening roar erupted.
A terrifying explosion of black-and-white Ghostflame flared out. In a split second, every ant that had dared to approach Mohg was encased in a thick layer of frost.
Crack! Shatter!
Mohg swung the Death's Poker, shattering the frozen ants like ice sculptures. Simultaneously, he raised his right hand, and a gout of blood-red fire surged within his palm. In the next instant, he splashed the liquid flame outward. Upon hitting the ground, the Bloodflame began to spread like a predatory fungus, growing more voracious as it touched the spilled ichor of the ants.
This was an incantation only he, the Lord of Blood, could currently wield: Bloodboon!
Several ants caught in the bloodfire let out agonizing screeches. It didn't take long for the red flames to consume them, forcing their internal fluids to erupt from their carapaces like crimson fountains. This grotesque display was so unsettling that even the surrounding swarm recoiled in primitive fear.
Mohg glanced at the Death's Poker in his hand with satisfaction. He was beginning to truly appreciate the weapon, though it lacked a perfect resonance with his nature—perhaps that would change once he mastered sorcery.
However, the crisis was far from over. These ants were merely hesitant because they had never encountered such a bizarre form of attack. Once the initial shock wore off and they realized how many of their kin they had lost, the swarm would likely attack with even greater ferocity. He needed to find an exit—and fast.
Mohg scanned the surrounding tunnels. As he looked, he noticed some ants tentatively testing the lingering Bloodflame on the floor. He couldn't afford to wait.
He raised his hand sharply.
Aspects of the Crucible: Horns!
BOOM!
An explosion-like roar shook the small nest, causing the ceiling to tremble. The ground shattered as stone fragments flew in every direction, and a thick cloud of dust masked Mohg's silhouette.
In the next heartbeat, a thick Blood Mist billowed outward. The overwhelming, metallic scent of blood drove the nearby ants into a blind, mindless rage, while simultaneously stripping them of their sense of smell.
A crimson blade-light flashed, decapitating a Greatshield Ant. Its blood sprayed over its nearby kin. The bloodlust triggered by the mist completely submerged the swarm's collective will; in an instant, the ants turned on each other, tearing into their own nest-mates in a cannibalistic frenzy.
Under the cover of the chaos, Mohg gripped the severed head of the Greatshield Ant and stepped into a passage that looked like it had been previously explored. He estimated the ants would keep slaughtering each other long enough for him to clear the area.
He looked down and followed the trickle of water on the floor, heading downstream. The path here was dotted with strange subterranean flora and occasional clusters of Formic Rock.
Judging by the environment, these tunnels had been established by the ants for quite some time. Mohg paused briefly to pick up a few pieces of the Formic Rock. He wasn't sure what he'd use them for—he could hardly throw stones at his enemies—but they were essentially solidified ant acid, highly corrosive. Though currently covered in a protective layer, he imagined breaking one open would reveal their true, destructive potential.
As he continued his descent, the sound of water grew louder and more rhythmic. Mohg allowed a small smile to cross his face.
He had finally reached the main flow of the Ainsel River!
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Elden Ring: As the Consort, I Reject Miquella (328 Chapters – Ongoing)
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