Chapter 20: Ethan Vs Blood Ant Queen (2)
Since the start, Ethan has only been aiming for one thing—to infect and tame the blood ant queen.
’But to do that, I need to assert dominance over her.’ Due to the restrictions of skill, he had no choice but to act accordingly.
The blood ant queen was, just like him, an E-rank monster. Until now, Ethan had only been fighting F-rank monsters.
’While I really am forcing her to reveal her cards to achieve my goal, it’s a double-edged sword through and through. If the queen is forced beyond her limit, she will attack me regardless of her condition.’ He cautiously observed all of the queen’s movements.
"Surround the cave and kill the blood ants. Do not touch the queen." Ethan’s voice coldly echoed through the cave.
The blood ant queen felt a formless sword hanging above her head, her mind actively growing anxious.
Her worst nightmare was slowly taking shape before her eyes.
The ambush had failed.
Her own children were now aiming for her neck.
As for Ethan? Even as a few remaining ants constantly devoured small chunks of his flesh, he smiled eerily.
Unknowingly, his bright, confident emerald eyes had been etched deep in the queen’s mind.
Gritting her teeth, she concluded. "Clearly, he’s still hiding his strength."
Hundreds of zombie blood ants moved at once, slowly crawling towards the wall and ceiling. In just a few breaths, countless pairs of jade-green eyes stared down at their sovereign.
Several zombie ants attacked the blood ants near the queen. The blood ant queen furiously stomped on the incoming ants, protecting her children.
"I won’t let you kill them!" Screaming desperately, she moved her legs rapidly.
However, her efforts proved to be useless, as her legs could not keep up with the number of enemies attacking.
One after another, the remaining blood ants were killed before her.
*Tap*
Tears welled in the blood ant queen’s eyes, flowing down her face before reaching the ground.
Faint gasps escaped her throat as her breathing gradually grew uneven. Despite knowing her children were dead, she kept trying.
"Pull back," Ethan’s voice echoed through the cave.
Immediately, his subordinate ants pulled back. The queen’s eyes darted towards him—seemingly void of all emotion.
The blood ants that were biting at Ethan’s legs moments ago lay dead beneath his feet. Fresh jade green flesh rapidly formed near his injuries, completely healing him within seconds.
---
———————————————————
[#/System Notification/#]
———————————————————
[Updating Undead Registry...]
[...]
[Undead Loss Detected.]
└ ■ Zombie Blood Ant (F) ×65
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Current Registered Undead:]
└ ■ Zombie Blood Ant (F) ×840
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Total Undead Under Authority:]
└ ■ 840
---
The system screen hovered before Ethan, displaying a considerable loss.
Batting an eye, Ethan decided to ignore it for now. At this moment, diverting his attention anywhere else from the queen was akin to inviting death.
’Her stamina is the worst. I guess that’s to be expected from someone whose only job is to keep laying eggs. But I don’t believe that’s the extent of her strength.’
Suddenly, he noticed a peculiar change in the queen’s appearance. A strange red smoke began to emerge from her skin, rising into the sky like thick fumes.
A dark, ink-like hue slowly infiltrated her eyes, painting her irises pitch black in no time.
Beneath her breath, the queen was chanting words that could not be understood.
*Ding!*
Just as Ethan was trying to understand her condition, a new system window materialized before his eyes.
---
[Warning!]
[The Blood Ant Queen has activated her final contingency.]
[Using her own blood as a sacrifice, the target is attempting to summon her guardians.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Threat Detected.]
└ ■ Multiple E-rank presences are emerging within the surrounding area.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Danger Level:]
└ ■ Extremely High
[Immediate action is advised.]
---
"...Multiple what?" Reading through the screen, Ethan froze awkwardly.
No matter how much he had grown in a short time, he wasn’t confident in facing multiple E-rank monsters at once.
Even more so, since he was unaware of the strength an E-rank possessed.
Tens of eggs scattered across the cave floor began to tremble.
From the blood ant queen’s feet, several streams of crimson stretched in all directions, reaching all the eggs.
At the same time, the queen’s body began to shrink. In a few breaths, her physique became almost skeletal.
Despite losing most of her strength, her gaze remained stuck on the zombie.
On the other hand, Ethan decided to act before she could finish her preparation.
"You’d be a fool to think I’ll simply wait around and do nothing." Muttering to himself, he looked towards the ceiling and ordered. "Jump down and destroy all the eggs as soon as possible!"
***
Several years ago.
As the previous blood ant queen neared her death, she chose the most intelligent of her children to be the next queen.
Despite counting her last breaths, she mustered enough strength to act normal and command the colony one last time.
"My children, I apologize for whatever wrongdoings I have accumulated to my name over my life. If I ever scolded you, I hope you’ll understand that it was to teach you and not because I hated you. You are all splendid in your own ways; however, the queen must be the most intelligent one." Coughing roughly, the queen’s expression worsened.
Mustering her strength, she weakly raised her hand and patted the ant standing the closest to her.
"As the 5th Blood Ant Queen of our family, I, Eris, pass on my title, my name, my knowledge, and my duties to this little one. From now on, she will be your queen and lead our family to a brighter future."
The chosen blood ant, unlike the other ants, wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, the blood ant queen had chosen her long ago.
For months, she had received the queen’s teachings in private. However, in that moment, the blood ant queen’s body suddenly fell to the ground.
She had passed away.
On the other hand, a bright light enveloped the chosen blood ant, rapidly forming fine silken threads around her body.
The other ants quickly stepped aside, a sense of happiness reflecting over their faces.
To them, nature was cruel. While the death of their previous leader was saddening. The birth of a new leader was twice as auspicious.
Right in front of their eyes, a giant cocoon was formed. Inside, the blood ant was unknowingly breaking through her limits.
In the process, a new skill manifested within her mind.
Crimson Guardian Rite (E)