"Madeline, go away for a while and hide. Do not come out from your hiding spot until I tell you to. Do you understand?" He couldn't afford to let Madeline die; he had already invested too much into her.
"Okay Michael. Just don't eat all of them without me!" Even now, she didn't realize that Mitch was trying to keep her safe.
She skipped away, thinking that he was going to prepare the food and deliver it to her.
"Now that she is gone I can feel at ease. I still have one and a half Mynt remaining. Although I would prefer not to make another body, if the choice is between having to spend one Mynt and having to spend two and a half Mynt, I know which one I'm picking."
Mitch could have run away and abandoned Madeline, but he doubted he would be able to find another female Legio without any mutations, at least without the TV helping him search.
He would much rather his body was destroyed and remade, as that would be cheaper.
"Mitch… I think you have misunderstood something. Your Khad self doesn't get transported back to your personal dimension if your body dies; if your body is destroyed, you die with it. At the moment, you are no different from any other creature that lives here."
Mitch felt his heart speed up even more than it already was, but he didn't understand if it was because of fear or excitement.
He was starting to question if this was really the right thing for him to do. Nothing had gone according to his plans so far. Everything from the ants' size to his contingency plan was falling through.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any time to think—the ants were rushing towards him at a very fast pace.
Mitch started backpedaling, trying to keep as much distance from them as he could. He had forgotten a very important thing however.
He still had his wings spread behind his back!
They got caught on the tree trunks and prevented Mitch from building up momentum, leading to the ants closing the distance faster.
Quickly realizing his mistake, he swiftly folded his wings and kept backing off.
"Rule number one in a fight: do not let your opponents surround you."
Although he managed to prevent the ants from surrounding him, they were still faster than he was. One of them had already caught up to him and tried to go in for a bite.
Kieeekh
Mitch sidestepped the ant's mandibles, making it bite a tree instead of him. The bite made it halfway through the tree, but inevitably got stuck there instead.
"Rule number two in a fight: make sure to always be aware of your surroundings. I very much doubt that there are only four ants in an entire ant nest. I have to pick up the pace."
The force of the bite did nothing to reassure him. Just one mistake, and he would be split in half.
"Rule number three in a fight: locate anything that can be used as a weapon. The best option would be to either target their joints, or their inner organs through blunt force."
As Mitch kept retreating, he finally spotted something. He saw a large boulder in the middle of a clearing, and then he had an idea.
He changed the direction he was running towards glade, but not without sacrifice.
One of the ants took advantage of his shift in momentum, and lunged forwards.
Mitch rolled out of the way in the last second, but it still tore his side up. The wound hurt, and the pain kept ramping up in the next few seconds.
He applied pressure to the wound with one of his hands, hoping that it would stop the bleeding just enough for him to make it through the fight.
As he reached the boulder, he rolled behind it and tried to make the ants lose sight. He then circled around the boulder crouched just out of sight for the ants.
He paid very close attention to the sounds, waiting for two of the three ants to have run past.
When the time came, he tackled the third ant to the ground, mounted himself onto its back, and quickly grasped its two front feet. He then put a foot on the ant and pulled its feet with him as he stood up.
Krack!
Kiiiiiii
The ant's joints broke and the it let out a shriek of pain. It tried to turn around and bite its aggressor, but Mitch had jumped away from it.
The last two ants realized they had been fooled and quickly turned around. Vengeance blazing in their black eyes, they rushed towards Mitch.
But this time, instead of running Mitch held his ground.
"Rule number four in a fight: always keep your wits. The moment you act out of frustration is the moment you've lost."
Indeed, the ants had stopped coordinating with each other. All they wanted to do now was rip the bastard that hurt their comrade to pieces.
One of them pulled ahead and reared its head to take a chomp out of Mitch, but it didn't expect what happened next.
Chick
Chitin was broken and blood fell to the ground. The ant kept flailing its legs around, trying to find some solid footing to fight back.
"Kugh, not so tough now, are you?" Mitch whispered with a pained voice through grit teeth. He had caught the ant's fangs before it could exert any force in its jaw, and then he lifted it up into the air.
The second ant hadn't even noticed what happened to its friend. It just kept rushing in the hopes of lethally wounding Mitch, it too wanting a piece of savory meat.
That's when the reversal happened.
Mitch torqued his body and slammed the ant he held into the mouth of its friend. By instinct, it bit down, leaving Mitch holding a severed head.
"Now it's just you and me left!"