"Rumble."
Accompanied by earthquaking footsteps, the ant swarm advanced in formation along the path leading to the surface.
All kinds of obstacles in their way were brutally shoved aside and crushed by the Killer Ants.
Countless rocks scattered, and great clouds of dust billowed up.
The dust spread in every direction, blanketing the surroundings.
Liber and Lefiya stared blankly at the scene, unable to react for a long while.
The advancing swarm was like an ocean made up of monsters.
It drowned everything in its path, leaving behind only the traces of its rampage.
The Killer Ant crawling at the very front seemed to sense Liber and Lefiya's presence.
Its antennae swayed ceaselessly. It opened and closed its sharp, deformed mandibles several times, letting out a strange hiss.
The Killer Ant beside it seemed to receive some kind of message. It began swaying its antennae just like the first, and then the ants at the very front all let out strange noises together.
The two, still dazed, heard the strange hissing of the monsters ahead.
Seeing the monsters staring at them with murderous intent, their sickle-like mandibles opening and closing, they immediately snapped to their senses.
They both turned and ran toward the path leading to the surface.
After they had run only a few steps, Liber saw that Lefiya had already slowed down.
He reached out, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Excuse me."
Liber slowed his pace and came up behind Lefiya.
He reached for her thigh and suddenly lifted her with a burst of strength.
"Ah~!"
Lefiya cried out in alarm, then realized that Liber had scooped her into his arms.
Earlier, he had carried her over his shoulder, and the constant jostling had made her uncomfortable for ages.
Now that Liber had lifted her in a princess carry, the intimate contact with a member of the opposite sex sent her heart racing.
Her tense, frightened body stiffened at once.
In just a few seconds, her face turned bright red.
After lifting Lefiya, Liber paid her no further attention.
As he ran forward, he cast the Levitation spell on himself and Lefiya.
He broke into a long-strided sprint, each step carrying him more than ten meters. Before long, both his feet had left the ground, and he was flying just above it.
"Liber, you... you can fly?"
Lefiya was leaning against him, listening to the heartbeat beside her ear and growing more nervous and embarrassed by the moment.
When she saw Liber leave the ground and fly forward at speed, her face filled with shock and confusion.
"I can," Liber told her calmly. "It just takes quite a lot of magic.
"Before, I thought we should save some magic in the Dungeon in case of an emergency, so I didn't fly with magic.
"But given the situation, there's no way we can take them on. We can just run, so I'm not going to conserve my magic anymore."
Liber explained as he flew with Lefiya in his arms.
The two of them picked up speed, opening a considerable distance between themselves and the swarm behind them.
Liber began to relax a little, thinking they could leave the monsters behind and then walk back to the surface.
Then he heard another sharp insect cry from behind.
He kept flying forward and looked back at the pursuing swarm.
In the middle of the ants behind him was an enormous abnormal specimen, seemingly an enlarged and enhanced version of the others. It watched its prey escape farther and farther away.
It seemed displeased. Its body shifted, its thick antennae swayed, and it let out another hoarse roar.
Several monsters resembling mutated Killer Ants were flying around it.
They suddenly stopped in midair. The airborne monsters waved their forelimbs, tracing orderly patterns through the air, and tapped their antennae together.
After they paused as a group for a moment, one of them abruptly broke away from the formation and flew straight past the swarm, rapidly closing in on Liber and Lefiya.
Liber saw this and immediately adjusted his posture, increasing his magic use to fly faster.
He cursed himself for jinxing it.
He watched the strangely shaped Killer Ant beat its transparent, delicate wings at tremendous speed.
The high-pitched buzz of its wings drew closer and closer. Lefiya put her embarrassment aside, pressed her lips together, and tried to think of a way to deal with it.
Seeing that Lefiya wasn't panicking and calling out like before, but was instead thinking seriously, Liber felt a sudden sense of relief in the midst of the crisis.
A gust of wind suddenly swept past the back of his head. He shot upward, increasing the distance between himself and the ground.
"Fizz, fizz."
After he dodged the attack from behind, a pool of dark red liquid splashed onto the ground.
It made a series of bubbling sounds as it corroded the ground, while thick red fumes rose from it.
Liber glanced back at the monster that had attacked.
It was a long-bodied abnormal specimen with wings, resembling a Killer Ant, but it lacked the large mandibles of a normal one.
Dark red liquid dripped from its mandibles, which were much smaller than those of a normal Killer Ant, and sizzled as it fell to the ground.
After attacking, the abnormal specimen paused in midair as if resting, then began flying forward again, pursuing Liber and Lefiya.
The people and the monster chased each other as if in a race.
As it flew after them, the monster gradually pulled away from the swarm behind it.
As Liber kept flying, the swarm behind him grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared from sight. Only the abnormal specimen was still close behind.
Once the swarm was completely out of view, a multitude of ripples suddenly appeared behind Liber.
He launched the arrows he had collected from his space.
Some, with only their wooden shafts left, spun through the air toward the monster. Before they could get close, they broke apart into wood splinters.
Most of the arrows he launched were broken or damaged. Some had only their metal arrowheads left, while others were nothing but wooden shafts.
The monster dodged whatever it could.
When it couldn't avoid a few of the intact arrows, it blocked them with the sharp hooked claws on its forelimbs.
Liber poured every last piece of junk from his space at the monster, disrupting its movements.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he slowed down and landed. He lowered his arms and watched Lefiya get to her feet, then nodded to her.
"I'll see if I can take care of the one behind us. It'll be a pain if it keeps following us. Get your magic ready, and strike as soon as you get a good opening."
Liber spoke with a serious expression. "We have to be quick. The Killer Ant swarm behind us will catch up soon."
Lefiya's face was equally solemn. She nodded and began preparing.
Liber turned to look at the abnormal specimen, still dodging the flying objects.
He took his two swords out of his space, but didn't hold them as he had before. After he cast his magic, the large and small swords floated on either side of him.
He saw that the now-sparse barrage was no longer having any effect on the monster.
The monster was rapidly closing in.
Liber remained still. The large sword beside him slowly turned horizontal in midair, its point aimed at the monster.
It shot forward at once, thrusting toward the oncoming monster.
Before you continue