My life as a reborn monster

I stood there with blood and gore still dripping from my body. I wiped some off my face before speaking.

"Hey guys so listen I can explain, See I tried to activate my new Vampirism skill but nothing worked.... That is until Sondar speared the ant with his earth spike. The blood that came out looked so good to me so I tried it, but then my hunger started taking over and I went on a bit of a hunger spree. I am still in control so there is no need to worry or be scared ok?"

I looked at them while silently pleading in my head for them to believe me. I didn't want a repeat of what happened last time I lost control to the hunger.

"Its fine we know man, we are all getting used to your shall we say 'quirks'. We know you don't really have a say in the matter when your hunger gets to a certain level so we all agreed to do our best to make sure you don't get that far. Well that was until this happened.... So your a vampire now? Does that mean you need blood all the time or can you still eat like a regular person?"

Sondar said as he took a step forward. I could feel that he had his guard up but was trying to play it off while still making sure to be the one in front of me. I got why he did it but it still hurt to see my friends act like that.

"I don't know Sondar, I really don't this is all new to me so I am still hammering out the kinks. But what I do know is that right now I am not what's important." I said before quickly walking over to Shorunt and looking down at Kitsoma's body.

"She is what's important right now. Shorunt how is she? Have you healed her? Why isn't she awake?"

"Master, I'm sorry but even after I made sure that her body was healed back to normal, it seems that her mind is gone. I tried all the healing magic I knew but for some reason I can feel an emptiness in her. It's like something was ripped out of her." He said as he looked down away from me.

Sylvania came over and asked Shorunt to open up her eyes. After he did she looked at them for a few seconds before gasping.

'Gasp' "We need to go to the queen ant right away." She said in haste as she got back up.

"In my tribe the shamans often spoke of when a person's soul would leave their body prematurely it would leave the physical body intact and 'alive' but without the soul to guide the body it would die in a few days. After coming and integrating into Human society, we discovered that the soul can also be manipulated by beings with high level psychic abilities. I don't know the details, but only what I had heard in passing from some of the humans I had worked for."

She filled us in on how a few monsters were known to possess such skills but to her limited knowledge she didn't think those kinds of monsters were present around here. This had to be a new breed of ant because of what the description said when I analyzed the Relay ant. It said that it was grown in a cave filled with mana crystals. That right there could easily cause a mutation by being overloaded with mana as a developing embryo.

I picked up one of the Relay ants heads and cracked it open to reveal that in the center of its frontal lobe was a small purple crystal that was losing its glow. I ripped it out with a sickening squelch as it came off like a suction cup with veins and juice still latched onto it.

I had a crazy idea but didn't think it would work as I brought it up to my mouth and ate it. It was crunchy almost like a crouton but was covered in the brain goo so it felt like somebody had put a cracker in some thick soup that tasted like dog food.

[User has consumed a mana crystal [Psionic], grade: F]

[User's mind will experience a small increase in capacity]

[+10 Int, +50 Mana]

Ah well this wasn't what I wanted to happen but it was nice either way. I had originally wanted to gain some sort of telepathy aswell to get a read on where the queen was, even if I had to open myself up to her. I need to get Kitsoma's soul back anyway I could.

"Ok every one that didn't pan out like I wanted. But lets go we have a soul to save." I said before quickly picking up her body and jogging down the tunnel.

We traveled for atleast a good half hour or longer, We encountered varying groups of ants. Some were composed of warriors while some were just a mix of warriors and workers, but I noticed that every group had a Relay ant leading them from behind. So I knew that the queen was behind this and was trying to stall for time for whatever plan she had cooked up.

We passed through each group with ease now that we were all together. Me and Sondar had a passive buff that was active at all times aslong as we were together so after handing off Kitsoma's body to Konna who was the next strongest in our group me and him took to the vanguard and led the way.

I decided to level up my Spatial bullets as much as I could because I discovered that the more I train one skill, any skill that branched off from it would also passively get stronger. Take my Spatial mines for example. After the 5th or 6th group of ants my Spatial bullets leveled up, and when I used my mines for the next one I could clearly feel a increase in damage aswell as having an easier time casting the spell.

I was happy to have found that out as it meant I had another way of growing stronger than just eating and experimentation with my skills. Anybody would be happy to find out another way of gaining power. But I digress, and back to the ants we had just killed a larger group of warriors who were led by 4 Relay ants this time. We had stopped to rest for a bit but were ambushed when they came crashing through a wall behind us and then came another group from in front of us.

"Vexsus is it just me or are they getting smarter? I feel like we have ran into a few more traps than one would expect traveling down an ant tunnel." Sylvania said as she swiped her wing and sent a blade of pure wind to slice the head off of an incoming warrior.

"Yea I think your right. It might have something to do with the number of Relay ants present. That, or this generation of ants along with their queen was born with a higher intellect. But when we came through here did anybody notice anything strange?" I asked while shooting out a bullet to implode a warrior who thought he could sneak up on me. Oh by the way found out I could cause my bullets to implode just like my mines. Nifty trick but to add that feature it requires about as much as double 1 standard bullet. But man the power that results from that is just incredible.

"We need to get out of here and get to the queen. Remember people we still need to fight her and her bodyguards aswell. These are just small fry compared to them." Howy who was in the middle of riding one of the Relay ants like a bull said.

I didn't say anything else and just quickly killed the remaining ants and proceeded to rest like we planned. I only needed a few minutes to top up my MP enough to use Regen and get back to full health. After a half hour we were back to the hunt when we heard a shrill voice.

"You finally made it about time."

We entered into a large cavern area and in the back of it was a huge ant that had the upper body of a woman but the lower half of an ant. She was completely covered in a brown carapace with black spots covering her aswell. Besides her were 4 warrior ants that were almost as big as her but they didn't have any humanoid appearances but instead had a more dangerous look.

Their mandibles were as big as their heads and looked very sharp. They had bulky shield like growths on their forelimbs while at the same time they were drooling some kind of liquid that hisses as it landed on the ground.

"Shit guys those big ones look very dangerous." I said as I took a quick peek with Analyze.

[Cavernous Royal guard ant] - Warrior ants that have been selectively bred for a bigger size and offensive abilities. They were hatched in large batches were the young would fight until only 4 remained standing.

[Cavernous Psychic Queen Ant] - Variant Queen ant that was hatched in a cave filled with mana cores. Due to outside interference it has grown a vast mental capacity that ended with it developing dangerous powers over minds.

'Shit, I knew it, but what does it mean by outside interference? Does that mean that somebody had come in here and specifically made the queen like this?' These were answers that weren't important at the moment as the queen got up from her stone makeshift throne.

"You, Dragon, I know you were the one who killed the last queen. My creator had told me you were the one who destroyed her. I will take my vengeance upon you and your companions and then grow stronger by feasting on your cores."

After she spoke I felt a weird energy spread out like a wave throughout the cave, and then like a swarm countless of ants with weird mutations came from a tunnel that was off to the side.

"These are the Creators failed experiments. I look after them like my own children but now I will use them to kill you. MY CHILDREN KILL THIS DRAGON AND BRING ME HIS CORE. WHOEVER KILLS HIM WILL BE REWARDED." She yells and with a loud cacophony of screeches and squeals the ant like monsters began to charge at us.

I had my Dual mind use Analyze as I prepared my buffs.

[Mutated Cavernous Warrior Ant (Super Strength)] - Warrior ant that Due to outside interference had developed overgrown musculature that enhances its strength. But its carapace did not grow with it and so now its weak flesh is unprotected.

This ant was massive, Almost as big as the Royal guards but like the description its shell was broken and cracked, showing the pulsating flesh beneath.

[Mutated Cavernous Warrior Ant (Acid spit)] - Warrior ant that due to outside interference has developed an organ within its jaws that can produce highly corrosive acid. But its body did not properly grow, resulting in the acid being poorly contained.

This one was just horrendous. It looked like a super creepy and nasty looking zombie that spit acid at you. Its jaws were melted and it was constantly dripping the acid onto the floor. Thankfully it was in the lead of the others and the acid was actually hurting the ones behind it.

[Mutated Cavernous Warrior Ant (Enhanced Carapace)] - Warrior ant that due to outside interference has grown an incredibly durable and thick carapace, easily deflecting most weaponry. But its body had not developed enough supporting muscle as it now is burdened by its own weight.

This one looked like a moving shell that barely looked like an ant at all. It had huge forelimbs that resembled shields but the rest of its carapace was so bulky that it walked lower to the ground than the others.

"Guys this is horrible these guys are experiments. I'm assuming from what I can see it looks like someone used these as experiments and then used that to created the Royal guards." I said as we all prepared to fight. But just then a boulder fell from the ceiling and everything stopped as a humanoid stood up on top of it.

"Ah man looks like you figured it out. But can you guess whose behind it?" said the person as he jumped down and walked up to the queen and the queen actually bowed down so they could pat its head. It was being overshadowed by the ants around it so we couldn't get a good look at who or what it was.

"You see, I needed new material to experiment with. I was given the leftovers from the slave auctions but before anymore could be held you just had to up and screw it all up. But now my experiment was completed thanks to you figuring out how to refine the magic crystals for me."

The person leaned in so the light flashed over his face to reveal a mole like appearance.

"Thanks Vexsus, I owe you one."

--------Vex-------------

[Spatial Bullet] Level up! Lvl 3, 0/40 - Additional effect gained - Can generate implosion at the cost of double the MP.

[Spatial Mines] Level up! Lvl 1, 0/20

[Regen] - 3 - 4

[Analyze] Level up! Lvl 1, 1/20