Looking left and right, a chubby ant waved its antennae to see if there was danger nearby. It wasn't exactly at the top of the food chain and many things could eat it as a snack.
Sensing that it was safe around, the ant scurried to another rock, hiding in its crevices, and waited.
The ant waited and waited. Until it waited long enough for any prying eyes to avert their gaze.
Once again, it scanned the area before running once more to another place. This time, it hid under a lush plant that had leaves touching the forest floor.
If you looked closely, the ant was not a normal ant. It was a queen ant, evident by its bulky thorax and ballooning gaster. Its exoskeleton is unique. It gleamed under the sun like red jades and was filled with thick, spiky appendages that were sharp enough to poke a hole through the leaves it was hiding under.
!!!
Suddenly, when it looked out to scan the area, it saw a worm crawling about.
‘Nice. An easy prey.’
Its eyes locking on the worm that revealed itself, the ant crawled to a better spot, planning to ambush its next meal.
When the ant was one foot away from the worm, it paused. Like turning into a frozen statue, it silently watched and observed. Seeing the row of teeth peeking out of the worm’s head, its eyes dimmed. A frown would be etched on its face if it were human.
‘A magic beast…? Do I have enough mana?’
The ant thought and felt around its body. Feeling warm "strings" floating around its body, the ant felt satisfied.
Now sure that it had enough mana, the ant paid more attention to the worm who was inching away from him.
‘Hmph. You’re not getting away!’
CHRCHRCHR!
The ant sprinted above the worm and opened its menacing mandibles, revealing the ferocious mouth beneath them as it clamped down!
SHRKKK—!
In anguish, the worm twisted its body! Its slimy skin pulsed in pain as it curled and wrapped around the ant's body, blood oozed out as the spikes on the ant's thorax pierced its soft skin.
‘Agh—! Bastard!’
Now suddenly beneath the worm and wrapped by its slippery body, the ant was wrathful and poured strength into its body, breaking free from the worm’s entanglement. When the ant bent its body, it poked the worm with its long and sharp stinger.
SHRAA!!
Feeling something even more painful than the ant’s bite, the worm struggled fiercely and threw the ant away from its body. This time, the ant wasn't impatient and watched as the worm rolled away.
Of course, it wasn’t idle.
The ant crawled, following the worm’s trail while hiding under the shade of objects.
Chrr… Chrr…
After ten minutes, the worm stopped struggling. It lay motionlessly on the ground, twitching every so often. Seeing this, the ant crawled out of the darkness and decapitated the worm, throwing away its head that bore a row of menacing teeth.
Then, the ant dragged the worm’s body away into its founding nest.
Inside the nest, the ant chopped the worm’s body into bite-sized pieces before chewing on its body. Unlike normal ants, it can eat solid foods as well as liquids. That’s why, after a few minutes, none of the worm’s body remained.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It all went into the ant’s belly.
‘I’m… bloated!’
Feeling as if it had ingested a few balloons of water, the ant moved around its nest to loosen up. It didn’t help, but at least it could move slightly better now.
‘Thank you, worm! I’ve saved up enough mana for another egg. Status window.’
[[SS — Queen Ant]: (20 mana) Worker Ant: 3 eggs]
‘So goddamn expensive.’
He had a maximum of 5 mana. Each time he eats a "magic beast," he gains around 1 to 10 mana. Throughout the day, he naturally recovers 10 mana, but he spends all that mana when he hunts. He can't forego hunting, either. His appetite was far from small, you see.
The worst part, he didn't have a lucky star. He didn't catch prey every day.
‘It’s been a month since I got here.’
He wasn’t an ant originally. He was human, hence his human intelligence. But after an accident, he had to let go of his human vessel to become an ant.
‘Maybe the so-called gods hate me or something.’
Shaking his head, he lets go of the thought. It wouldn’t help him anyway.
Shrkk… Shhk?
Suddenly, he felt his founding nest vibrate. Snapping his head toward the nest entrance, the ant was horrified to see a massive spider crawling into his nest.
‘Fuck! Of all things, why did it have to be a magic beast?!’
If it was a normal spider, he wouldn’t have been worried. He would’ve been happy, instead. He wouldn’t gain a lot of mana from eating regular insects, but it was better than nothing.
But in front of him was a magic beast spider. Magic beasts are much stronger than regular insects. Furthermore, magic beasts have access to mana.
He was a good example of one, and another would be the worm from earlier and the spider in front of him.
SHRRRKK!!!
When the spider saw him, it cried out and glared at him. It had good eyesight, but it could barely see anything in the dark tunnels. Though, that restriction didn’t stop it from dashing toward the ant.
The ant wasn’t idle, and it instantly opened its mandibles and aimed its stinger at the spider.
KRAKRAKRA!!!
SHRIIKKK!!!
Both mandibles and chelicerae met. The spider was advantageous as it weaved its tough silk around the ant, quickly wrapping it in a tough web casing. It took the spider only one second to imprison the ant.
SHRKKK!!!
Assured of its victory, the spider crawled away from the captured ant when suddenly, it felt a burning sensation on its abdomen. The pain was far from subtle, and it felt like it was dipped in magma, making it scramble around.
SHRRK! SHRRK!
The spider trashed left and right until it was dizzy enough to see the world spin. After ten minutes, its movements slowed down as it watched the encased ant slowly cut through the web casing with its strong mandibles.
When it saw the ant’s head emerge, it opened and closed its mouth to show its anger.
‘Ha! What a fucking idiot to mess with me.’
Just before he was wrapped in silk, he made sure to flex his gaster as much as possible. After feeling the spider’s abdomen through his stingers, he extended his stinger to inject a lethal dose of venom into the spider’s body.
Shrrk…
‘Though I had to sacrifice one egg to get enough enhanced venom...’
He just stored all his mana to "create" another egg to lay later. Now, he was lacking another 5 mana for an egg.
‘No worries. With you as my feast, I’ll get those 5 mana points instantly!’
Laughing to himself, the ant crawled out of the web casing and approached the spider. The spider watched helplessly as the ant opened its mandibles and brought it close to its pedicel.
CLIP—With an audible sound, the spider’s body was split into two parts.
KRAA—CRUNCH! The ant was vengeful and it wouldn't let go of someone who wronged him, let alone someone who tried to kill him.
CRUNCH. CRUNCH…
While munching on the crispy spider head, the ant grinned after feeling warm currents flowing inside its body.
‘Great. This spider is much bigger and stronger than the worm. It also has more mana than the worm, perfect for my skill.’
Just the spider head filled up the used 5 mana points.
‘Nice. Now, I once again have 3 eggs ready to lay.’
The ant then looked at the spider’s remaining body. The spider’s abdomen was a little small.
‘It must’ve been starving.’
KRK! KRK!
A little annoyed but not one to waste food, the ant munched on the spider until only the legs remained.
Now that he was full again, the ant planned to rest. Before doing so, the ant crawled to the nest entrance and closed it shut. He didn't want another magic beast to pass through that hole.
When he found a comfortable place to lie on, he sighed. He looked more like a replete ant rather than a queen after devouring two magic beasts at once. His body felt lethargic and after lying down, he suddenly felt lazy to move.
‘What a bountiful day.’
It would've been better if my cat was here. At the very least, there wouldn't be any leftovers.
The ant looked at the spider legs that were taunting him.
[Status Window opening…]
‘My name is Adam…’
[Red Jade Queen Ant | Adam | Mana: 0/5]
‘…and I have one goal.’
[Skills: [SS — Queen Ant], [Lowest — Mana Control], [Lowest —Enhanced Venom]]
‘My goal is to one day rule the world with my ant army!’
Suns rise and moons fall, but nothing is forever steady as even the sun reaches its peak, and the moon covers the mighty sun. Inside a damp and dark tunnel, an ant lay in wait as he schemed his next moves. Nobody knows it yet, but this ant would change the world, for better or worse.
[Welcome to the world of Foirleshan.]