She was very happy with this result. The ant didn't give much experience toward level five, but the extra level of Crush would be immensely helpful. Realizing she still had a hand submerged in ant brains, she quickly jerked her fist out of the ant's head. Muttering a quick curse under her breath, she pulled out a cloth and used it to wipe down her glove.

The rest of the group joined her and looked at the even bigger ant. "Level four?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, they're tougher and quicker than level threes. Takes me a couple hits using a good skill to kill them," Beth replied, nodding to Zack as she finished cleaning her glove.

"Alright, we'll head back for a rest and some chow. Let's move," Zack ordered.

The group followed Beth back through the little wood, across the field, and through the woodlot. They emerged near the Bells' backyard and headed through to the street. The ditch digging crews were nowhere in sight as they had moved on from the area to other parts of the development. The group walked the streets to the meeting hall, where they found several people gathered, all readying food and drink. Zack stepped away to get reports on what was happening and assess the situation.

The rest of the group disbursed through the area, with Sabs joining Beth and Rachel at one of several picnic tables set out around the building. They had some lunch, sitting side-by-side while they quickly ate.

Beth stretched as they finished eating, leaning back slightly, feeling Sabs bump against her shoulder slightly, brushing their upper arms together. She smiled at the girl, really taking a good look at her. Sabs was short and petite, with a heart-shaped, pretty face containing bright blue eyes, a button nose, and small, plump lips. Her hair was a platinum blonde color and styled in a slightly long pixie cut, not falling past her jawline at the longest, and Beth could see that, at least in the ear closer to her, Sabs had a piercing in the upper part of the ear.

Holy hell, she's super cute, thought Beth, blushing a little and looking away. She saw her mom was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk, which certainly wasn't helping any. She continued looking around, noticing that Zack was surrounded by a small group of people, all gesturing and talking at various times as he listened and made notes.

"I guess it might be a little while," Beth said while nodding at Zack, before mimicking Sabs' shoulder brush move with one of her own while both other women were distracted. Sabs blushed a little herself, quickly glancing at Beth before looking away again.

"You should just take some time to rest," said Rachel, nodding at the two of them. She then got up and walked over to see what the meeting was about under the large pavilion.

"Hey, sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Sabs said shyly.

"It's fine. My mom's always on my case anyway. Also, I'll deal with my mom any time to hang out with someone so cute," Beth answered firmly, giving Sabs another shoulder brush. Sabs giggled at that, a light, mercurial sound that made Beth's heart beat a little faster.

"So, what's up with the knives?" Beth asked, trying to steer the interaction in a little less embarrassing direction for a moment.

"Oh, these?" Sabs asked, pulling them out and putting them on the table. "They're my dad's. He collects a lot of strange stuff from all over. His job has him travel one week a month, sometimes two, and he finds odd stuff in all kinds of places and brings it back. I sometimes really wonder how he gets some of this stuff back. Apparently, he found these at a market in India and brought them back in his luggage. Don't know how he got them by security."

Beth picked up one of the daggers and weighed it in her hands, looking closely at the blade. "These are pretty neat. What are they called, kukri, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're a type of traditional knife from, uh, Nepal, I think? They're used by a type of really respected soldier from there called…what was it…oh, uh, Gurkha. They're used as a general-purpose knife by them for all kinds of stuff, but a lot of people in the area use them, even using them as machetes," Sabs explained.

"Get all that from your dad, huh?" asked Beth, brushing her shoulder again.

"Well, uh, some of it. And, uh, I know it's weird, but I like history. So, I, ya know, read about some of the stuff he has, and he brings back," Sabs answered, looking down as she reddened again.

"Hey, I'm not poking fun. I think it's neat. Also, neat that you can use them so well. It's cool," Beth hastily answered, patting the smaller girl on the back.

"Thanks. How'd you get so strong? Is it just because you're a lot older?" Sabs asked.

"Uh, not really. I just kinda like fighting, and I have some training by going to the boxing gym. I'm not much older, I don't even turn eighteen until December," Beth answered.

"Oh! Uh…" Sabs responded, looking down and reddening further.

"What?" Beth asked.

"Uh, I just turned nineteen…" Sabs muttered quietly, still staring at her lap.

"Oh…well…huh. I guess I just got, uhm, my growth spurt early," Beth stammered, suddenly embarrassed that she had assumed the smaller girl was younger.

"It's fine, I think it just makes you cooler," Sabs said, glancing at her quickly before looking off to the side.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"What, being a dope is cool now?" Beth retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant!" Sabs exclaimed, holding up her hands.

"Don't get so flustered," Beth chuckled, wrapping her right arm around the girl and giving her a squeeze. Sabs was quite a deep shade of red by this point and stared determinedly at her hands.

"Nice that you two are getting along so well," said Rachel, standing directly across from the two of them.

"Eep!" they both exclaimed with a jump, Beth quickly letting go of Sabs in a flailing motion.

"As long as you're not bullying the younger kids," Rachel continued.

"She's nineteen,", "I'm nineteen," Beth shot back and Sabs mumbled at the same time.

"Right. As long as you're not bullying the older kids," Rachel said, giving Beth a look.

"It's not bullying! She's…well, uh…" Sabs immediately stuck up for Beth before embarrassedly fumbling.

"See nosy, there's no bullying here," Beth declared, wrapping her arm back around Sabs' shoulders.

"Right, well, if you two are done bullying each other, we're heading out again," Rachel replied, eyes narrowing for a moment, before turning and heading back to the large tent.

"Thanks," said Sabs, briefly grabbing Beth's hand before standing up from the picnic table.

"No problem. Like I told you, she's always on my case," Beth answered assuredly.

The two of them moved over to the tent as well, Sabs sticking close to Beth's side. They had regathered the initial morning group. There were several other people around, but they were either the grocery group reporting back or runners moving back and forth from the digging/wall groups. Beth did a quick Identify on the morning group. They all read as level one now excepting, of course, her.

"Alright, listen up. This is how we're going to do this," Zack said, getting the hunting group's attention. "For now, other than Beth and me, everyone gets one day at this. Then you have to spend at least part of the day helping other groups. So, it's just before twelve hundred hours right now. We're heading out and will aim to be back by no later than eighteen hundred hours. We'll move as a group but keep the time frame in mind. The goal is to safely get more experience while culling ants. Any questions?" Zack finished his explanation and looked around at the group.

"No questions? Then fall in," he continued.

"Fall what?" asked Sabs.

"Never mind, just follow," Beth replied.

The group followed behind Zack, returning to the woodlot north of the Bell household. Once there, they followed behind Beth as she led them to near the ant nest. After arriving, they formed up around Zack to listen to the plan.

"Okay, here's our rules. We're going to split into a few groups. I want you to stay at least within yelling distance of the other groups. We're going to try to begin getting a handle on the ants outside of the nest. I will lead one group, Rachel will lead one group, and Beth will lead one group. Distribute yourselves among the three of us."

As the remaining five people split among the three team leads, Beth turned to her mother and asked, "Leading a group? Are you going to be alright?"

"Despite what you may think, I know a thing or two about taking care of myself, daughter of mine. I'm more worried about you. No reckless antics out here, understand me, young lady?" her mother responded.

"Yeah, yeah. I understand," Beth said with a roll of her eyes. She had fought more and grown more than anyone else, but her mom was still nagging her.

Seemingly to no one's surprise, Andy and Chris grouped with Zack while Jessica and John grouped with Rachel. This left Sabs with Beth, a situation clearly not at all manufactured by the newly smitten girl.

The groups split up, with Zack and Rachel's groups heading east toward the road and a few adjoining houses, while Beth and Sabs first went north. The other two groups were heading to clear out level two and one ants in the zone east of the nest and would likely be occupied in that area hunting and killing the rest of the afternoon. Sabs and Beth went after the two level three ants first before they would head into the level two area.

"Let's split the work. The faster we go through each group, the better," Beth said.

"You're the boss," Sabs replied.

Beth led off in attacking the level three ants, drawing her sword and walking a couple steps in front of Sabs. When the ants charged the two, they did so in the typical single file. When the first ant reached Beth, she began fighting it with sweeping cuts of her sword. Sabs darted around her and slashed the second ant as it came into range, splitting one of its eyes immediately.

Beth stepped forward into the first ant, swinging downward with a heavy force. The end of her sword tore through the front of the ant's face, and it scuttled back. Continuing her momentum as the first ant retreated, Beth turned and stepped to her left, bringing her sword up and across the second ant's face. The swing didn't do very much damage, but Sabs took advantage of the distraction to jam both her knives into the neck of the beast, ending its life with a twist.

The two then tag-teamed the final ant, Beth holding its attention for a moment while Sabs found an opening to dart in and sink her daggers into its body. She twisted the knives before withdrawing them with a flourish, chopping the ant in half. Flicking her blades free of gore, she looked up at Beth.

"Feel like you got much experience from that?" Beth asked.

"It's hard to tell. It's just like this small, vague feeling. I'm sure you know. It felt like doing a good bit to kill both those definitely got me some progress," Sabs replied, running her hand through her hair.

"Let's go work through some level twos. You fight; I'll help if you need it."

"Sounds good."

The two set out northeast so as not to stray too far from the rest of the hunting group. They followed Beth's plan, finding groups of level two ants at the edge of the seeming divide between level threes and level twos. Sabs was strong enough to take these groups out without Beth stepping in, though she did take a cut the left forearm from a poorly aimed slice that let the ant get its mandible into her.

After a little under two hours, Sabs had hit level two and gained at least one skill level in the process. Beth had also gained a skill level in Identify, which apparently took some time to level. Happy with their progress, Beth led them westward.

"Should we go so far from the group?" Sabs asked.

"It should be fine. I explored this area, including part of the dungeon, alone. We're still not too far away," Beth replied.

Sabs nodded and followed Beth. Her goal was the remaining level three ant grouping, but this time with Sabs tackling it. It might not be enough to get her to level three, but it would be close. She also wanted to stick close to the nest in case any higher-level ants wandered out.

As they approached the last group of level threes, Beth gestured at them and said, "They're all yours."

"Alone?" Sabs asked, eyes widening slightly.

"I'll play support here. The experience will be good. Plus, I believe you can do this. Easy," Beth replied, stepping forward and bumping her shoulder against Sabs'.

"Alright. I've got this," she replied, nodding and taking a deep breath. She returned the shoulder bump with a bright smile, then focused in on the ants. She strode forward with her daggers out, slowing as she came within range of the ants.

The ants charged in single file, as always, and Sabs readied herself, bending her knees slightly and holding her daggers in front of herself, elbows bent, in a guard position. When the first ant was right in front of her, Sabs made a series of quick slashes with both of her daggers. The ant ignored these slashes as it attempted to get under her guard and grab her leg, but Sabs' Dexterity was now too high to be outmaneuvered by a level three ant. Her slashes landed at or very close to where she aimed, cutting both the ant's eyes to ribbons.

She danced back as the ant began flailing around, able to easily avoid the now blind creature. The second ant had some difficulty rounding the first, but as soon as it managed the feat, it was greeted by the cold glint of steel. The blade sliced through a section of the left side of the ant's head, lopping off the left mandible along with a chunk of chitin. Ichor spewed out of the wound, but before it even hit the ground, the second dagger was chopping off a section of the ant's head. As soon as the second cut was complete the third strike landed, and the fourth, and the fifth. Within a few seconds, the ant's head had been reduced to a ruined mess, and it fell dead.

With two quick steps and a well-timed double stab, Sabs closed on the second ant and sliced into its neck, nearly decapitating it with the two cuts. She staggered back a step, panting, and bent forward slightly, hands on her knees. Beth walked up beside her and patted her on the back with her left hand before giving Sabs' back a gentle rub.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.