15. Bug Fight

"Shit!” Rowan slashed at the millipede with his rake. The millipede darted its head back, dodging the blow. He leaped the bug’s body and chased after Kaidu, flipflops slapping over the leaves and roots.

The millipede surged after him, thousands of tiny legs churning the leaves. It lunged for his ankles. Rowan kicked his leg out of its reach and smashed at its head with the rake. The tines glanced off its thick shell, but the millipede still halted a moment. It squealed and twisted, throwing its whole body at him.

Blindly, Rowan grabbed a tool from his bag. He came up with the hand trowel. Better than nothing! “Prune!”

Time slowed. The millipede slowed, suddenly moving at a more reasonable pace. He slashed the trowel at its antennae. The antenna fell free.

The legs, the legs!  He drew his eyes downward. The skill drew glowing lights through the joints in the millipede’s legs. Rowan followed the System’s prompt and slashed downward. His spade met resistance. The leg resisted its semi-sharp edge.

Something guided his hand. He turned his grip, and the spade sliced through the millipede’s joint, then another, then another. Green ichor spewed from the severed limbs, flying in slow motion. Ten, twenty, thirty limbs went flying. Prune guided his strike, nudging his hand into corrections as he swung. He obeyed, twisting his hand as it suggested.

The light flickered. Rowan’s strength fled, his knees weak, arms heavy. Time leaped back into motion. MP low, the System warned him.

No, dammit! I haven’t started the other side!

“Rowan!” Kaidu shouted.

He snapped his head up. Behind the millipedes, the fire ants rushed at him, already almost on top of them. Rowan cancelled the skill and retreated, chasing after Kaidu.

The millipede began to run after him, only to topple to the side toward its missing limbs. It screeched, waving the stumps of its severed limbs, and started to climb back up.

The fire ants reached it. One reared its head back and bit into the millipede. The millipede thrashed and toppled a fire ant. Unharmed, the ant rolled over and jumped back up, chasing at the millipede again. The larger fire ant clamped down on the millipede’s midriff, and the littler fire ants scurried to chew at its severed limbs. Screeching and fighting, the millipede went down in a pile of red ants.

“Holy shit,” Rowan muttered as he caught up with Kaidu.

Kaidu glanced back. Fire spurted from behind them. “Fire ants are nasty pieces of work.”

“Can we jump in water to get away from them?” Rowan suggested.

“That’s bees. And it doesn't work for them, either,” Kaidu replied.

Rowan's breath came short. He wiped his mouth. “Then what? Keep running until we find the exit?”

Kaidu twisted his lips, then nodded. “It might be our only option.”

Still running, Rowan pulled up the map. Their green dots had moved half an inch toward the boss dot. He raised his eyebrows. “That’s so far away!”

“You’re a Gardener. Don’t you have pesticide?”

“I’m only level nine. Most of my skills are garbage. You know that,” Rowan complained.

Kaidu clicked his tongue.

Overhead, a hawk screamed. Giant wings snapped on the wind, and a shadow fell over them. Rowan glanced up. A hawk twice his height and with a wingspan at least four times as long as he was large swooped low over them. Intelligent eyes glinted in the sunlight. It beat its wings, and the downdraft nearly flattened Rowan against the ground. He staggered back and dug his heels in, and only just managed to hold himself upright.

“Why is everything so big?” he shouted against the blasting wind.

“The first floor is also known as Megafauna Forest. All the animals are larger than their normal size,” Kaidu said.

Rowan rounded on him. “What else do you know? Anything useful that you’re holding back over there?”

“I’m not holding anything back deliberately. You're the one who doesn't know anything," Kaidu snapped, frustrated.

“Stupid rich kids,” Rowan muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing.”