Chapter 122
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Precious Thing (3)
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Asmora, having met Jin-hyuk outside the nest, returned to her own lair.
The sole spot bathed in light filtering through a hole in the ceiling—that was the place Asmora had chosen for herself.
"My god..."
Seira, upon her return, let out a soft gasp of admiration at the sight of numerous worker ants swarming over the work, carrying it out with seamless efficiency.
First, the remnants of the pupa—nothing but shell and viscous fluids—had been meticulously cleared away.
In its place, a massive brain was rapidly growing and taking root.
Even closer to a human brain than before, it was large enough to occupy half this vast chamber.
That colossal brain, dozens of times bigger than Seira's body, connected via tentacles sprouting from Asmora's cervical vertebrae, now doubling as her primary brain.
A few worker ants hurried over, weaving their bodies beneath Asmora into a chair-like structure. She plopped down casually, gazing down at Seira with haughty eyes.
Her icy, expressionless face bore no resemblance to the one that had clung to Jin-hyuk's finger, nuzzling it playfully.
"Are you imitating the kings of humanity?"
"All... rulers."
As Seira asked in a trembling voice, the reply emanated from Asmora's mouth, her arm draped over an armrest formed by a worker ant's forelegs.
While battling enemies, Asmora had observed how rulers carried themselves.
The ostentatious displays setting them apart from underlings, the aura of intimidation, the lavish adornments, and so on.
This wasn't unique to humans.
Most intelligent beings forming societies—orcs, elves, you name it—tended to adopt similar airs as their status and rank rose.
Though the Hive Queen despised inefficiency, now that she had learned her true position, displaying such traits was all but inevitable.
'So, what's the key here?'
Seira swallowed dryly, glancing between Asmora's main body staring her down and the enormous brain connected behind it by tentacles.
The brain was the vital organ defining a person.
Essentially everything stemmed from it, so was Asmora's true form the human-like shell mimicking one, or that brain extruded from her body?
In truth, the massive brain Asmora was cultivating served as an auxiliary organ, a computational device of sorts.
What she had learned mostly resided in the brain attached to her head.
Operating both simultaneously was no longer a challenge for her.
[A new rank of soldiers has been born]
Having successfully evolved, Asmora poured her newfound power into strengthening the hive without restraint.
The biggest change: she could now mass-produce magical firepower properly.
The magitech civilization of the Lukadia Empire—technology Asmora had seized and mastered—was tailored strictly to human physiology.
Unable to craft human flesh directly, she had relied on indirect methods like infecting consumables with cordyceps to generate magical power.
Though imperfect, she had perfectly replicated human form and its compatible magic system. Now, she aimed to forge a new force unique to the ant hive.
"What should we call these?"
New soldier types surpassing the limits of chimeras—mere apex predators powered by mana hearts—and rivaling upper-tier Tyrants.
While Jin-hyuk pondered a name, Seira—who had named ant breeds multiple times before—spoke first.
"Proof that the hive's predation encompasses not just flesh, but civilization's knowledge too. Arcaron."
Confirming cells dividing across multiple nests per Asmora's blueprint, Seira was convinced these would reshape the war.
[Asmora is pleased with that name]
"Not bad."
Jin-hyuk was spared the trouble, and now even Asmora—better versed in the name's meaning—approved. Thus, Arcaron became their designation.
"..."
And amid this scene, one entity's consciousness began to shift ever so slightly.
Bellona's mind, still dormant within the cocoon alongside her severed head.
'Why?'
Why had she lost?
Bellona had pondered this since the moment orc hero Scrumm beheaded her.
Physically, she overwhelmed him. Having relentlessly modified her body with the hive's stockpiled strengths from devoured creatures, she was a monstrous war machine.
No ordinary person could overpower an elephant in raw strength—and her physical prowess dwarfed his by an even greater margin.
The one equalizer, inner power output, wasn't decisively superior either.
Scrumm was a veteran warrior who had honed his mana over nearly a century, reborn via divine blessing. Yet Bellona's implanted mana heart was top-quality, massive.
Pure power contest? He couldn't overwhelm her.
'Power efficiency, maximization, technique.'
Scrumm's realm, Pulverizing Extreme Nothingness, twisted that simple equation.
When strength fused with skill, the synergy transcended arithmetic.
His greatsword deflected or shattered her might in an instant, toppling her colossal frame with pure explosive force.
'I want that.'
By the time she grasped its true meaning, her head was already flying from Scrumm's blade.
Ants barely grasped death as a concept, yet regret blazed fiercely in Bellona's heart.
Her obsession with combat, pursuit of martial nothingness, rage at humiliating defeat—it rivaled Asmora's iron will that finally yielded human form.
'I can do it too.'
The instant Asmora devoured human genes, Bellona resolved herself.
Abandon all prior pursuits. Perfectly mimic the enemy. Seize what she truly craved.
"Foolish... little sister."
Asmora appeared before Bellona, who had finally steeled herself within the vast hive mind, smirking mockingly.
At once, influxes of knowledge via the hive mind began reconstructing Bellona's form.
Intense will for evolution from Bellona, aid from Asmora—the second queen's new body was remade.
[Bellona awakens in a new body]
"This one too?"
Jin-hyuk chuckled at the hand bursting from the splitting cocoon with a pop.
Tiny compared to the massive cocoon filling the pit.
Bellona's original body never had such a hand.
Next came her upper body, dripping fluids—coarse and rigid exoskeleton like a knight's gauntlet.
Overall humanoid like Asmora's, but sensual curves draped only in thin "skin-like" plating? No—Bellona was heavily armored like a knight in full plate, bulky and unyielding.
Her face mask resembled a helmet with visor.
Raptor-like talons defied human feet.
While Asmora pursued beauty to win Jin-hyuk's favor, Bellona mimicked humans solely for slaying foes, optimizing purely for combat and slaughter.
"Revenge."
Her chest's mana heart thrummed with a growl, launching her skyward in an instant.
Control over the nomadic swarm—locked in grueling delaying actions—reverted to her.
The orc kingdom and dwarf alliance pushing into the plains had just regrouped for renewed assault.
"Their cocoons!"
"Destroy them all!"
Amid this, orc kingdom scouts stumbled on hidden cocoons, eyes bulging in fury.
To them, ant cocoons were prime targets for destruction.
Who knew what monsters would emerge to threaten them? Eliminate while vulnerable.
'Orc warriors, human warriors.'
Bellona's rage-filled eyes locked on orc officers and human slave-soldiers.
Her arch-nemesis Scrumm was absent, but irrelevant.
Slaughter everything in sight, and she'd cross paths eventually.
"This is still enemy territory. Destroy their cocoons ASAP and withdraw. Hurry!"
Elite warrior Nagar, commanding the unit, ordered his troops to torch them fast.
The nomadic swarm built no proper nests save Narkundum, the orc holy site.
Razing these hidden masses meant massive merit.
'Hundreds at least. The war god will surely notice.'
Grinning as slaves ignited them, Nagar dreamed.
Merit brought rewards—perhaps beyond breeding rights, even divine blessing to become a great warrior.
"Lord Nagar! Something's coming!"
His subordinate's frantic shout hit then.
Killing intent prickling his skin, Nagar dove aside.
Something slammed from the sky in a dust cloud.
"What in the...!"
Leaping up, sword drawn, Nagar gaped at the dust.
Within, eyes gleaming with pure murder intent from a head helm.
"Enemy!"
Unlike his confused troops at her atypical ant guise, Nagar knew: she was their nemesis.
But the real shock followed.
Other ants charged with jaws and fangs to rip and pierce.
Bellona drew something else.
"This monster... no way...?"
Nagar muttered in disbelief.
Hand to her glowing mana heart, she rapidly divided cells into a razor exoskeleton blade—a massive sword, leveled at them.
Intent clear.
His orc pride stung, Nagar's face twisted viciously.
"You dare challenge me to single combat?! You freak!"
Ignoring his men's pleas, he charged.
No need against ants before—they were honorless monster hordes.
"Fine! Mimic a warrior, and I'll slay you like one!"
"..."
Thus, Nagar failed to properly gauge the monster he rushed.
Bellona's sword whipped out swift as his own slashed down.