Chef in the Apocalypse

Due to their positioning, they were not in the line of fire thankfully. However, the same could not be said for the rotting cottage, which had been toppled to the ground by a medium sized boulder.

Tony, who had been wearing a gloating smile earlier, looked as if his jaw had been dislocated, almost hanging at the height of his nipples.

Once everything had settled, Jayce nonchalantly walked forward in order to inspect the damage. He could tell from a look that his Critical strike was at least 3 times that strength of the one he executed in the forest.

This meant that it was likely in the vicinity of 30x multiplier. A small grin formed on his face, along with the feeling of accomplishment that came with success. His mind suddenly began thinking of ways to best utilize this Qi and his newfound control.

In theory, he would be able to enhance his body for defensive purposes, perhaps even speed if he could practice enough.

Jayce wasn’t so cocky that he expected to be able to do these things right away, after all the only reason he was so confident with the critical strike was because of the two long weeks of practice.

He decided to push all these thoughts to the side for now and focus on the deposit that he had just unearthed. Yet in the next moment his smile got even wider, already seeing some luminescent stones in the pit that he had just unearthed.

"We’re in luck. I can already see some mid-tier mana sto—" Jayce was abruptly cut off by something of an earthquake, almost causing him to fall into the pit.

It felt as if the walls of the tree were shaking, like someone was shaking it from outside, or perhaps from within.

"Shit." Jayce cursed under his breath, quickly heading towards the others. Could his attack have struck at the foundations of the tree? That didn’t make sense, the roots of this huge tree were gigantic, such an attack would not be able to do that much damage.

Unfortunately they were not in a great position. If the tree was to crumble inwardly, they would surely be crushed to death, no matter how hardy their bodies were. With no exits in sight, they were currently sitting ducks.

It was then that Jayce suddenly felt numerous energy signatures coming close, causing him to frown even further. "Be on alert, we’ve got company." He said to the others, retrieving his Dagger once more.

The others who just felt like they were experiencing another Apocalypse, suddenly relaxed a little, getting out their respective weapons. It was much less scarier when there was an actual enemy that they could fight against, rather than an earthquake that they could only endure.

Lianna began to cast buffs on the party members, not forgetting her role as a support. Funnily enough, her abilities still seemed to work on Jayce, despite his system being haywire in the last couple of days.

While she was still in the middle of her casting, Jayce suddenly saw something that made his stomach turn. In the distance illuminated by the vines, he saw some creatures begin to exit the wall of the tree one after another.

They were a bit far away, but Jayce could make out that they had white bodies and 6 legs with a mandible and antennae. He could still not fully gauge the size of these beings, but the fact that he could see them from so far away meant that they were not small.

"Termites..." He muttered, feeling a wave of revulsion.

Jayce heard some more scuttering and instinctively turned his head, only to see waves and waves of termites coming out of the walls of the tree in all directions.

"Don’t panic and stay together." Jayce said aloud, trying to keep calm. However, inwardly he was feeling anxious. Just by sheer numbers, there was more monsters here than the ten thousand they had faced during the Beast Tide.

The termites began to get closer, coming from all angles and creating a white tide. As they approached, Jayce could now accurately judge their size. Much like the tree they were feeding off, their sizes were way too damn big.

Standing 5 feet tall, the termites looked more like a herd of wild buffalo than they did ants.

"Tony, Leah, protect Lianna. I’ll focus on this side, and you two deal with your side." Jayce said in a serious tone, "Lianna. Focus on healing us when you can, and restore our buffs when they run out. If you can spare the mana, send out some attacks also."

"Y-Yes Chef!"

"Mmm"

"Yes Leader."

Lianna seemed to be the most composed, having fought alongside Jayce for almost a year now, she was confident in his strength and battle abilities. The other’s however, seemed to be quite intimidated by the approaching enemies. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

As the seconds passed by, the ground began to shake as the stampede of termites got closer. The party merely stood their ground, not wanting to get caught up and separated within the white tide of exoskeletons.

Jayce switched his dagger to his left hand and willed his Qi to form on his right hand. He ignored the approaching enemies and began to explore the Law of Fire that he had comprehended.

He closed his eyes, feeling his surroundings melt away.

Fire is cleansing. It consumes, yet it also transforms. There is no fire without fuel, no flame without cause. What is needed to start a fire?

A Spark.

"Ignite"

As Jayce muttered those words, the Qi within his hands suddenly roared to life, sending billowing flames 10 meters into the air.

"Become my fuel."

Jayce uttered these words, sweeping his hand out in an arc. The flame upon his hand flew out, latching onto everything in the vicinity with the intent to consume.

Painful screeches rang out, along with the sound of sizzling flesh, causing a symphony of death to be played out in front of him. Once the flames had used up their fuel, they looked for more, spreading fast and consuming everything in sight.