Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Locust (1)
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Limited to certain arthropods.
The queen evolved her ability once more, and I couldn't believe my eyes at the power she'd gained.
'Arthropods?'
A flood of creatures raced through my mind in that instant.
From everyday spiders and centipedes to crustaceans like crabs and crayfish. In one fell swoop, the range of prey my ants could devour had expanded dramatically.
"No way..."
But the qualifier "certain" in front of it tempered my excitement.
Even at face value, arthropods encompassed far too much. That limitation—limited to certain arthropods—wasn't there for nothing.
'Well, I can just test them one by one.'
Restrictions or not, it didn't matter.
A new avenue had opened up for me regardless, and the ants that consumed those creatures would keep awakening fresh abilities, growing stronger with each one.
[Subordinates retreat for now, satisfied with the battle]
The ants hadn't breached the barrier in the end, pulling back from the brutal clash at its base—but the aftermath was devastation incarnate.
Countless corpses littered the ground.
The shattered sections of the wall needed repairs, and their depleted supplies and stamina demanded urgent replenishment.
It was a grueling war of attrition. And just as the ants intended, these assaults would keep hammering that barrier relentlessly.
Of course, someone might argue that the ants suffered losses too, with swarms of their combat units dying in the fray.
But that's exactly what they'd wanted from the start: trading lives in the heat of battle.
With their signature precision and speed, the ants had dragged their secured prey and mutant corpses back to the nest—even during the war itself and their retreat.
They devoured without discrimination, absorbing the special powers of those they consumed. Just like the hunter Jason, famed for devouring monsters to steal their abilities.
This even applied to their own dead, so they'd desperately gathered and recycled the mutants' bodies during their withdrawal.
The ants' foes couldn't do the same. What could they possibly gain from the ant corpses left behind?
Occasionally, some would scavenge sharp stingers or mandibles, but that was it.
"Terrifying..."
My face hardened as I muttered under my breath.
To the colony, each individual ant was just a tool. Nails, claws, teeth—expendable for the greater good of the hive.
Humans were different. I knew that firsthand, being one myself.
No matter how mentally tough, the human heart left cracks. No one's immune.
So when up against ants who threw themselves into death purely on instinct for the colony, humans would suffer ever-greater losses with every life-for-life exchange.
And this likely held true for all intelligent beings, orcs included.
It stemmed from a fundamental clash in their very natures.
"You're doing it yourself?"
"It's not that hard."
As the ants assaulted the barrier and the Golden Mandate Society—subordinates of Goddess Henes—desperately defended it in a vicious slog...
My move was finally complete.
The movers I'd hired had dropped off my stuff at my request and left my new place.
Living solo meant I didn't have much anyway, so unpacking solo would take just a day.
[Subordinates feel confusion at the sudden upheaval in their world]
The most crucial part: the ant enclosure. I'd hoisted it up myself, set it in my car, and transported it.
Into a prepped Styrofoam box with a blackout cover—driven extra carefully to my new home.
[Subordinates question the unfamiliar ground and sun's path]
[The queen believes it is the power of the 'being' watching over them]
The alerts popping up weren't trivial.
To the ants inside, me picking up and moving the enclosure was like the heavens quaking and the sun rising and setting at whim.
Honestly, it was kinda funny picturing it.
The monstrous horde terrorizing that world, trembling at my mere actions.
'Not a bad reaction.'
Thanks to the queen's heightened intelligence, the chaos seemed contained—her reasoning pinned it all on me, which was spot-on.
Natural disasters spooked you because they were random; divine intervention implied intent.
"Phew."
Before even unpacking my stuff, I'd converted the smallest room into a dedicated ant enclosure.
Knowing my ants weren't ordinary, I'd hustled online, made calls, sourced materials, and learned builds.
Ditched flimsy sheet metal for thick acrylic, crafting a much larger habitat.
Placed the old enclosure inside the new one, piled dirt all around for a fresh setup.
The lid got the most TLC.
No more slapdash cover—it now had a thick, transparent lid I had to muscle hard to crack open even partway, suspended overhead.
[Subordinates tense up, sensing changes around them]
They seemed aware I was buzzing around, building something.
Soon enough, they'd realize it was for them.
'Last step.'
With prep done, I grabbed the drill. Time to bore a hole in the old enclosure's wall, giving them a gateway to the new territory.
[New land. There, subordinates recall familiar memories—the primordial recollections of the colony]
All set.
I hadn't unpacked a single personal item yet, just staring at the enclosure.
Worker ants, under colony orders, were swiftly scouting.
Antennae twitching furiously, they approached the hole in the transparent wall that hadn't existed before, poking their heads through.
The first worker ant stepped through the breach I'd drilled, awakening the entire colony to yet another world.
[The great being who commands sky and sun has created new land and heavens. Such is the might of the one who tends to us]
Even if an individual perished, its experiences lived on in the colony. That's their power.
No need for writing or words.
Thus, a new chapter etched itself into the ant colony's history.
I couldn't help but smirk at the queen's assessment—the colony's core, perfectly pitched at ant-level perception.
Makes sense. Even an ordinary human looks godlike to tiny enclosure-dwellers.
Monstrous mutant ants dubbed Heralds of Doom over there? Still just pinhead-sized to me.
The more they misconstrued me, the better.
They'd heed my words even more down the line.
My top priority was their growth, and without clear communication yet, aiding their desires was key.
Figuring out what they wanted came first.
'The ants don't seem hell-bent on breaching the Golden Mandate Society's barrier. They've got plenty of land to develop already, and they know farming.'
To me, what they craved most was obvious: a steady supply of those special meals.
The only way they gained those powers was devouring prey. No wonder they obsessed.
'Using the barrier as a constant fishing hole works, but ignoring other spots could get risky.'
I pulled up a rough map of that world on my phone, based on intel I'd gathered.
South: the human kingdom, Goddess Henes' turf. West: orcs and more factions aplenty.
The Divine Community showed other deities expanding unchecked right now.
Henes' fresh golem horde? Courtesy of some big-shot from the 'Empire' across the sea, bulking up their subordinates.
Ants were all-in on the south, but knowing about deities, I figured we needed to check them now.
Once deities mobilized in earnest, us—already public enemy number one—would face tougher fights.
This meshed with the ants' thrive-in-battle trait too.
"Army ants?"
"From what I know, they're super aggressive, specialized in nomadic swarms without fixed nests."
"Yeah. Rumors exaggerate, but they're scary bastards for sure."
A few months, and I'd become a regular at this breeder's.
He called himself a breeder, but he smuggled illicit critters without batting an eye. Now with solid trust built, he nodded at my pitch.
"But those can't be bred or kept. Why bring ones you can't raise?"
"Like before, one or two's enough. Can't money buy it?"
"...No?"
Money solved everything. This world ran on it, bottom line.
My offer widened his eyes; he flipped, swearing he could snag live army ants.
"Anything else catch your eye?"
Greed gleaming, he grinned, ushering me into his workshop disguised as a legit shop.
I wanted army ants to nudge my locust-munching ants toward nomadism and combat prowess, pushing them beyond south.
Unlike deities directly commanding or empowering theirs, my toolkit was stuff like this.
Too much before when nest expansion strained them, but now? They had the muscle.
"Let's see."
Here anyway, might as well grab more.
Prey options had ballooned, after all.
'Stag beetles are still off-menu; tarantulas or giant centipedes might be too much.'
Even in legal bounds, all sorts festered in the underground trade.
Plenty of vicious feeds here, but they needed stages.
'Time'll come quick.'
I was certain their growth wouldn't take long—proven track record.
Off in my periphery, unseen by others, a screen hovered.
Ants never paused, even now.
Swelled to hundreds of thousands, yet elevated hive mind ensured no waste, no jams—pure efficiency. No slackers, no corner-cutters. Built-in productivity and activity as core strengths.