67. The Great Wave (1)
‘What? So that’s what it was?’
As the princess ant’s memories and experiences flooded directly into his mind, Wayne felt a surge of urgency instead of relief. But he couldn’t pull his hand away from her antennae yet—he hadn’t absorbed all of her Odd.
Down by the riverbank, the ants were milling about in confusion.
‘Damn it, just a little more! Just a bit... got it!’
The moment he took in the princess ant’s Odd, Wayne spun around and leaped into the Predator. Eleven, now recovered from the electric shock, watched the scene intently.
“Grr?”
But as a bizarre energy emanated from Wayne atop the Gigant, the wolf took a wary step back.
The Predator charged forward. It leaped toward the riverbank, then scaled the opposite side where ants swarmed thickly. Eleven tilted its head at the sight. It was clearly its master’s Gigant, but the aura it gave off was that of the princess ant he’d just killed—utterly strange.
‘There it is!’
The Predator drew its iron mace and barreled straight into the worker ants toward a 6-meter soldier ant. Whoosh! Crash!
One strike shattered and tore off one of the soldier ant’s antennae. Stunned by the sudden blow, the soldier ant raised its remaining antenna high. As it quivered violently, the Predator extended its left arm. Clang!
A 2-meter blade shot out from the wrist—the one Jamie had made. It sliced clean through the antenna.
“Kieeeek!”
The B-rank monster writhed in agony. It charged at the Predator that had crippled both its antennae, jaws gaping wide. Wayne calmly extended the Predator’s right arm as well, deploying both blades. He blocked the soldier ant’s jaws with them.
Ka-clang! Ka-ka-clang!
The soldier ant repeatedly snapped its jaws, trying to crush the blades. Thud!
“Ku-ek!”
The hefty Predator’s kick sent the soldier ant tumbling sideways. Wayne didn’t miss the opening. He stabbed repeatedly at the soft spot connecting its head and thorax with the short blades. Soon, the soldier ant’s head came clean off, and it went still.
“Whew!”
Wayne let out a sigh of relief. That B-rank beast had taken too much out of him. The reason? He’d been using the princess ant’s yellow Odd. He wasn’t used to it yet, and crucially, it was far less suited to piloting a Gigant than his red Odd.
But if he hadn’t used this ant’s Odd, he’d have had to fight those 2,700-odd ant monsters nearby first.
‘Still, success for now!’
The worker ants weren’t panicking aimlessly anymore—they were gathering around Wayne. He’d learned one crucial fact while killing the princess ant and absorbing her memories and experience: when a princess ant died, the soldier ants reported it to the queen ant.
That triggered the queen to send an Odd signal to other princess ants in the area, tasking them with leading the remaining forces. And the soldier ants’ role didn’t end there. The queen’s signal wasn’t instantly receivable by princess ants over long distances. Soldier ants acted as the long-range receivers, relaying the signal to nearby princess ants, who then commanded the workers with their own Odd. It was a unique chain-of-command system: soldier ants as antennas, princess ants as amplifiers.
That’s why every ant unit always traveled with both princess and soldier ants.
‘Alright, now what to do with these guys...?’
Wayne eyed the 2,700 ants. He’d at least stopped this princess ant’s unit from going rogue. Until the next signal came in, they were his loyal minions. He just didn’t know how to command them yet.
As he released the princess ant’s Odd around him, the ants’ antennae reacted, feeding him their real-time positions. It was in her memories, but trying it himself felt incredible. It was practically two-way communication with the ants. He even got a sense of the terrain around them.
While Python’s red Odd detected lifeforms via heat signatures, this yellow Odd gave him the ants’ positions plus the environmental data from their antennae—terrain and troop locations in real time.
‘No wonder they move like a single organism!’
The more he learned, the more impressive the ant legion’s capabilities seemed. He recalled the orders the princess ant had received.
‘At least this is good news.’
The queen ant’s commands had no concept of detours. They judged enemies by strength alone: advance or retreat. They bulldozed straight through obstacles—no flanking, no tunneling, no tactical maneuvers.
So his decision to concentrate forces at Westline Fortress had been spot-on. Otherwise, the ants would’ve picked off the forts one by one.
‘Who knew even the ant legion had weaknesses...’
And he’d uncovered one fatal flaw in these seemingly perfect foes.
Screeech! Thud! Thud!
Eight Gigants marched in single file through the Great Forest. Four 2nd-class and four 3rd-class—a force equivalent to two armored battalions.
Leading them was Travis, brigade commander of Grint Territory.
> [Halt!]
Travis cautiously scanned ahead.
> [This the place?]
Felix Baron, Magic Knight from the Imperial Dragon Knight Order, asked.
> [The red ant nest is just ahead, for sure.]
> [But no sign of ants anywhere?]
> [That’s what’s suspicious.]
> [What do you mean?]
> [Red ants defend their territory fiercely. That’s why we only hunt the outskirts. Reaching the nest with no reaction means something’s happened.]
The other Magic Knights nodded at Travis’s words. They were representatives from the Imperial side and major territories, dispatched to investigate the Great Forest.
> [They must’ve migrated. Let’s head back to the fort. No ants, no other monsters—not a peep!]
> [That’s the problem.]
Purlong, brigade commander from Ronsstock Territory, chimed in.
> [Even after the monster wave a few days ago, the Great Forest can’t be this empty. It’s a bad sign. We need to go deeper.]
> [Agreed. I hear Young Lord Wayne of Dresden is scouting the forest alone right now. We need to find traces of the ant legion too.]
With Magic Knights from other territories weighing in, Felix Baron had no choice.
> [Tch! Fine! Push west deeper.]
Travis, scouting ahead, spotted odd traces around the red ant nest.
> [Look at this!]
The Magic Knights rushed over.
> [What the hell? Was there a war here?]
> [Let’s go deeper inside.]
Hundreds of red and black ant legs littered the nest outskirts, along with severed heads and torsos everywhere. Deeper in, even more ant corpses lay tangled.
‘The red ants got wiped out?’
Travis was stunned. The red ant nest outskirts had long been Grint Territory’s hunting grounds. Even during the Great Wave ten years ago, the red ants had held their ground as the absolute apex predators here.
> [Here! The ant queen’s dead!]
A massive 20-meter red queen ant lay torn to shreds. Not S-rank herself, but commanding over a thousand elite ants, she’d been as terrifying as one. Her death—and the annihilation of her entire legion—was dire.
And the culprits? 2-meter black worker ants. Far more of their corpses littered the area.
> [Gasp! Big trouble!]
Travis suddenly shouted.
> [We need to get out—now!]
> [Sir Travis, what’s that mean?]
> [Ants don’t leave dead kin—they eat them! More will swarm for the bodies soon!]
> [What?]
That’s when it hit.
> [Ant monsters!]
Urgent reports came from the Magic Knights guarding the nest entrance.
> [Everyone out!]
> [Hurry!]
Fortunately, Felix Baron was brigade commander of the Imperial Dragon Knights—top-notch gear and battle-hardened. No hesitation.
> [Break through the entrance!]
Screeech! Boom!
The 2nd-class Gigants punched through the swarming ants at the entrance first. Ants were already closing in from all sides.
> [Oh god!]
> [It’s a black sea!]
Felix Baron’s Odd Eye flared as he scanned around.
> [East! Head there!]
East was still open. The Gigants accelerated. Hundreds of ants charged fearlessly. Getting surrounded would doom even 2nd-class Gigants.
Crunch! An ant lunging at a Gigant sword was bisected. E-rank fodder, they cleaved easily under 3rd-class blades. But!
> [Krak!]
Thud!
Dozens changed everything. At the rear, a 3rd-class Gigant from Schwerin Territory fell under a swarm.
> [Ugh! Save me!]
> [Baron, I’ll rescue him!]
As Travis turned,
> [No! Keep running! Don’t look back!]
Felix Baron forbade it. The area was already overrun. Travis gritted his teeth and fled.
“Kieeeek!”
A massive World Tree trunk loomed, and an A-rank princess ant emerged from behind it.
> [Don’t dodge! Purlong, Rakins—we punch through it!]
Screeech! Thud thud thud!
Three 2nd-class Gigants leveled their swords and charged the princess ant. Even an A-rank couldn’t survive brigade commanders’ combined assault unscathed.
But.
Whirr! Whirrr!
> [Damn! It flew!]
> [Don’t stop—pass through!]
World Trees packed the path ahead; entering would shake the princess ant.
“Kieeeek!”
The princess ant pounced on the rearmost 3rd-class Gigant. Crunch!
> [Aaaagh!]
It seized the bulky Gigant, soared 30 meters up, then dropped it.
Thud! Boom!
> [Urk!]
The pilot took massive shock on impact. As he forced the Gigant’s upper body up,
Worker ants swarmed it black in seconds.
Leading the pack, Felix Baron shouted,
> [Rear! How many left?]
> [All 3rd-class down. Just us four.]
> [Damn it! To ant scum...!]
> [Ants on left and right flanks too!]
> [Damn, so many! Punch through no matter what!]
Then, a blue object stood ahead.
> [A Gigant?]
> [It’s Young Lord Wayne of Dresden’s Gigant!]
Travis recognized the Predator instantly.
> [Don’t just stand there—run!]
Felix Baron yelled!
> [Run!]
> [Ant monsters incoming!]
Other Magic Knights shouted too, but the Predator stood firm.
Wayne yelled,
“I’ve got this! Keep heading east!”
Felix Baron’s group soon streaked past the Predator.
> [Thanks! We won’t stop!]
Felix didn’t look back. At least one had to survive and warn Westline!
Once the 2nd-class Gigants passed, the Predator gripped a princess ant antenna in each hand.
‘Time to test my legion’s power.’