---
Falling to his side, Kai's consciousness wavered. The tunnel spun in a vortex of agony and defeat. The zombie ant loomed over him, its fungal head swaying as it prepared for a final, decisive blow. That attack directly landed on Kai's body. At that moment, everything seemed lost. Kai's body lay motionless and broken, his tiny form at the mercy of a creature built for destruction.
Deep down in near-death, as his vital force began to fade away, something inside him ignited—a desperate resistance to dying into nothing. With whatever remnant of will remained in him, he knew that if he were to live, he would have to tap into the one energy that could provide him with temporary strength to struggle through himself: Worker's Resilience.
His focus condensed, save the pound of his heart and the war yell of the foe charge lost. The zombie ant Bite Kent's leg and the bite of its assaults receded to a shrieking pain. Growling thunderously as splintering stone walls happened to fall upon him and doubled his pain, Kai forced his shivering form to focus. At that instant of bare, unadorned perception, he called upon [Worker's Resilience].
"I am not dying. Not today. I will live…"
An outburst of vitality, as though pulled from a distant wellspring of life itself, inundated his system. Muscles coiled in response, battered flesh tightening in the short time frame for a moment into lasting potential against crippling wear thundering to break it down. The cost was evident—where capability permitted him to build and increase power, it suggested destroying weakness afterwards—it was a cost there was no room to bargain. Solitude was an option.
"No. not yet."
Kai snarled, his low tone almost like a scrape as he rolled himself onto his side. His broken and trembling limbs, however, at last, began to respond with fresh ferocity. The zombie ant, surprised by the brief burst of fresh determination, hesitated for a moment in its assault. Its fungal eyes flashed as if it was surprised by the short burst of vigour from the tiny ant previously.
Seizing the opportunity, Kai appealed to all of the power his body was able to produce. The pain was fiery—a burning recollection of every attack and bite he had received—but it spurred him to retaliate. Blundering in on a burst of speed through the courtesy of his temporarily superhuman stamina, his movement a blur within the close confines of the tunnel space.
The zombie ant growled, twisting its enormous legs wildly in a final desperate attempt to pin him once more. But Kai, his strength boosted by the skill Worker's Resilience, sprang out of the way quickly, the speed and accuracy one would not have been able to guess he had from his previous test. Each jump was an act of pure survival instinct. His antennae quivered with increased sensitivity, more finely tuned than ever to the infinitesimal changes of the enemy's position, guiding every step he took.
The battle raged in a chaotic symphony of strikes and counterattacks. Kai's enhanced stamina allowed him to match the zombie ant's brutal rhythm. He delivered a series of quick, desperate strikes—small but precise blows aimed at the vulnerable joints and crevices of the creature's decayed exoskeleton. Each hit was accompanied by the dull thud of impact, and though they seemed insignificant against the behemoth's overwhelming strength, they began to chip away at the enemy's defence.
The zombie ant roared a guttural sound that reverberated through the ant tunnel like a death knell. Its aura pulsed in irregular bursts, and it retaliated with a savage swipe charged with corrupt energy. The impact sent shockwaves through Kai's body, and for a moment, darkness threatened to claim him again. But he clung to the fleeting vitality granted by Worker's Resilience skill, pushing his fatigued muscles beyond what he thought possible.
"Come on, a bit." He snarled through clenched mandibles, his mind a howl that refused to die. All his physiology was howling in protest at the relentless pain, but he held on. The zombie ant's attacks became more frantic as the insect realized that it too was faltering, and its motion became frantic. The air within the tunnel was thick with slapping crash upon crash of heavy blows, and scrape and shatter of shattered exoskeleton, as gasping unconcerned breaths of a recalcitrant monster.
Kai's eyes locked onto the enemy's fungal head—a grotesque, pulsing mass of decay. In a burst of calculated desperation, he directed a final, fierce strike aimed at the base of the head where the parasite's hold might be weakest. His body surged forward with the full force of his temporary stamina, and with a precise, well-timed blow, his mandibles clamped down on the tender, vulnerable spot.
The zombie ant reeled drunkenly, titanic from collapsing under the shock impact. The creature's howl rose to hysterical pitch, a cry of shock and agony that reverberated from tunnel walls. A fleeting glimpse of victory struck Kai, observing the foe stumbling—a fleeting glimpse of hope amidst his total despair.
But even as the beast fought, its strength still raging with a fading, desperate vigour, Kai realized that the victory would not come without a final try. With the final vestiges of Worker's Resilience power coursing through him—a blessing that would render him utterly depleted soon—he braced himself for one final shot.
Calling upon all the energy he possessed, Kai launched himself at the reeling body of the zombie ant. His lean body became a whirl of determination, his arms pumping in time with the crazed will to live. The force of his final strike, fueled by desperation and the raw brute power of his skill, struck a sound effect. The strike penetrated deep into the creature's frame, shattering its corrupted aura and sending waves of shock energy crashing through its body.
Frozen in a paralyzing moment, the tunnel is suspended. The zombie ant's trajectory faltered, then shook in mid-air. Its heinous, fungal-hung head lolled listlessly to the side, and a final, agonized whimper ripped from its decaying form before it fell hard, unyieldingly onto the solid ground.