Chapter 21: Queen’s Last Resort
Crimson Guardian Rite (E)
A special last-resort skill that grows stronger alongside its user. Using it, the queen could summon her powerful guardians at times of emergency in exchange for her blood.
As the name suggested, using the skill rendered its user temporarily paralyzed and weak.
’It’s a skill only meant to be used at last, but I’ll lead the colony to be so powerful that I’ll never need it!’ The newly appointed queen’s resolve was impeccably ambitious.
However, fate often likes to toy with others’ lives. While the queen was able to expand and strengthen the colony successfully, everything proved to be useless against a single zombie.
Now agonizing over the loss of her children, the blood ant queen began summoning the guardians.
At first, she expected it to be an instantaneous skill. But only as she began the summoning did she realize that it needed time!
Using her blood as fertilizer, the unborn blood ants were mutating into the "Queen’s Guardians."
The process was slow and fragile. Even a single disturbance could cause the unborn ant to die, causing a backlash to the summoner.
’I’ll kill you now.’
’You won’t leave alive.’
’I’ll make sure to rip you bit by bit.’
The queen’s mind was filled with raw hostility towards Ethan. But she could only stay in her place helplessly and hope the summoning went well.
"You’d be a fool to think I’ll simply wait around and do nothing." Suddenly, Ethan’s voice entered her ears, jolting her awake.
"Jump down and destroy all the eggs as soon as possible!"
Listening to his words, the queen’s mind went completely blank.
’How?!’ A sharp pain pierced through her head, coiling down her spine.
If she could move, the queen would’ve rolled over the ground thrice just from the intensity of the pain. Unable to move, blood slowly seeped out of her eyes, nose, and mouth.
*Crack!*
In no time, several loud sounds thundered in her mind, shaking her completely.
Despite not being able to see with her own eyes, the queen could guess the situation easily. The pain in her body was rapidly growing, reaching a life-threatening threshold.
Her eyes rolled back, her body shivering in pain.
"How’s it?" The voice appeared closer, yet it felt colder than ever.
"How does it feel to be outsmarted by a mutt?"
Since the beginning, Ethan had been following a designated plan. To disturb, anger, and humiliate the queen before revealing his card.
It was to make her adopt a sense of ’fear’ against him.
’Till now, I didn’t carelessly infect ants before her, so she doesn’t get wary of attacking me mindlessly. I didn’t fight seriously, so she could underestimate me. And I didn’t use the zombies; otherwise, she would fear the number of my subordinates, not me. But this is ridiculous,’ Ethan squinted in frustration.
’Even the fact that I was able to notice her plan was nothing more than a coincidence.’
A few moments ago, Ethan was shocked to see the queen’s condition. However, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a small amount of dirt suddenly falling off an egg.
Normally, Ethan would’ve ignored it completely.
’E-rank monsters... Summoning... Ant queen...’ Recalling the details, Ethan widened his eyes as he focused his gaze on the egg closest to him.
It was the size of his leg, covered in dirt. But upon close observation, he found out that the egg was trembling strangely.
’I was able to move swiftly thanks to that, but I didn’t expect to gain this much.’ Before Ethan’s eyes, system windows kept materializing one after another.
---
———————————————————
[#/System Notification/#]
———————————————————
[You have successfully slain an F rank monster.]
└ ■ Incomplete Crimson Guardian
[Experience Gained.]
└ ■ +250 EXP
[You have successfully slain an F rank monster.]
└ ■ Incomplete Crimson Guardian
[Experience Gained.]
└ ■ +250 EXP
[...]
[You have successfully slain an F rank monster.]
└ ■ Incomplete Crimson Guardian
[Experience Gained.]
└ ■ +250 EXP
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Total Confirmed Kills:]
└ ■ Incomplete Crimson Guardian ×43
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Total Experience Gained:]
└ ■ +10,750 EXP
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Level Up!]
---
Grabbing onto the leg of the queen, Ethan pulled himself up. His heavy body could not compare to his strength, as within a few movements, he stood at the back of the queen.
Moving his hand close to his mouth, he bit one of his fingers just enough to make it bleed. Then, aiming for her arm, he tore a slit in her flesh using his sharp nails.
Smearing his blood on her wound, Ethan jumped down from her back and started walking towards the egg ahead.
"Do not harm that egg." Seeing that a zombie ant was about to destroy the last egg, he commanded.
"Surround the queen."
Hearing his orders, the ants quickly moved out.
Reaching the egg, Ethan touched it gently.
’As expected, the vibrations are getting stronger.’
The egg was still alive. If left to be, a new E-rank monster—one that is adept at fighting—would be born.
Knowing this, Ethan remained expressionless.
At last, he could have a proper fight.
*Crack!*
Not long after, deep cracks appeared over the hard shell of the egg. Slowly, they widened as its top half split open, letting the creature inside crawl out.
Unlike Ethan’s expectations, it looked like any regular blood ant, its size that of an adult’s palm.
But as soon as the ant was completely out of its egg, its body started to change. With each breath, its body grew larger while thick crimson crystals formed all over its back.
Its mandibles were long and arched inwards, coated with sharp crystals that formed teeth-like shapes.
Its body was several times larger than that of a blood ant, though still smaller than the queen herself.
Crystals kept forming all over its body, solidifying as its exoskeleton. The guardian’s strong legs pushed against the ground, letting it control its strength right after its birth.
"My queen... In danger... I must... kill the enemy...!" Despite having only been born now, the guardian’s instincts were able to judge the situation accurately.