SHAA!!!

The trap-jaw worker ant screamed in agony, trying to bend its body to give the red jade worker ant a dose of venom. Sadly, the red jade ant was too smart and released the trap-jaw ant, biting its gaster instead.

The other ant saw it as an opportunity to bite the red jade worker ant’s gaster. As soon as the "trigger hairs" touched the red jade ant's gaster—SNAP!

But instead of cutting through the red jade ant’s gaster, its mandibles were like a dull pair of scissors in the face of the red jade ant's tough exoskeleton.

Krrr! KRR!

The red jade ant wiggled her antennae as if to laugh. To her, the trap-jaw worker's bite was like a tickle. As to why? — It was thanks to mana.

The trap-jaw ant used mana to escape decapitation, why can’t she do the same? Fortunately for the red jade ant, the trap-jaw ant had no idea she could sting and didn’t guard against her stinger.

SNAP! SNAP! The trap-jaw ant tried, again and again, to chop up the red jade ant to no avail. When the red jade ant ran dry of mana, she freed the trap-jaw ant and backed off. By then, the trap-jaw ant was too weak to move.

When it was paralyzed, she moved closer to pick it up. While carrying the loot, she turned to head back home when she stopped.

She waved her antennae as an idea popped into her mind.

Trap-jaw ants are weak. Can’t it bring a few more back home?

Thinking of this, she traveled a bit further away and dug a small hole. She buried the dead trap-jaw ant inside after biting its head off. Now headless, the venom would spill out together with its blood. That way, it wouldn’t turn into a puddle of goop.

Satisfied, she scurried to where she found the trap-jaw ant.

ChrkTrkRkRkk…

Stepping over the dried leaves along its path, she bolted across the forest floor while waving her antennae. Soon, she found a faint outline through her senses. She recognized it and opened her mandibles excitedly, dashing toward the faint outline.

When she saw another trap-jaw worker ant, she didn’t bother slowing down and kept dashing.

SNAP! ChrrkkShhrr...

When she reached the trap-jaw ant, she snapped her mandibles shut. The trap-jaw ant was unaware of the attack and couldn’t use mana at all. Hence, one bite was enough to take its head off.

Against a mana-infused pair of mandibles, the trap-jaw ant’s tough exoskeleton was too fragile.

After decapitating the second trap-jaw ant, the she rolled on the ground thanks to her momentum. When she stopped, she scrambled to her feet and devoured the decapitated head, filling up her social stomach.

Then, it carried the dead body to the other one it buried before returning.

She was greedy for more, that's certain.

She can sense her queen’s hunger, and she can feel it to some extent.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

That’s why, she'd do everything to satiate its starving queen.

‘For... my queen!’

In a dark area of the forest, an ant lay in wait. It had a body like a red jade and currently, it was spying on the colony of trap-jaw ants not far away.

After killing four straggler trap-jaw ants, she realized a key point.

Trap jaw ants can’t sense mana through their antennae. At least, not the worker ants.

That’s why even though she was salivating to rush into the colony’s entrance nest, she resisted the urge. She was smart enough to know the idea was stupid. Though the trap-jaw queen ant was a tasty reward, it was too risky and she wasn’t sure if she could defeat the queen. In a magic beast ant colony, the queen is usually the strongest ant.

Krrr….KR! KR!

Snapping its mandibles twice, her antennae twitched in excitement. It saw and sensed a worker ant leaving the colony to forage.

Chrr… shrr…

Slowly crawling toward the lone trap-jaw ant, she paused when she saw the trap-jaw worker ant doing the same. The trap-jaw worker ant stopped to clean its antennae when suddenly, its head turned sharply toward her.

She, who just found a new piece of info, was startled. She swiftly charged at the trap-jaw ant, but the ant had already spread its pheromones around. She could sense it, so she knew she didn’t have much time before she was surrounded.

KRRR!

Annoyed, she placed all her mana into her mandibles and repeatedly chomped at the trap-jaw worker ant’s head. The trap-jaw worker ant tried to protect its body with mana, but it had very little mana to start with.

A moment later, it ran out of mana and its head was turned into mush.

KRRR! KRAKRAKRA…

She roared in victory and picked up the dead worker ant’s body when she sensed a couple more trap-jaw ants crawling toward her.

She paused, hesitating whether to leave or to stay.

‘They… are weak... Two prey... Easy to kill.’

Making up her mind, she devoured as much of her recent prey as possible. This time, she didn’t put it on her social stomach, instead using it to recover mana.

KRR!

Shha! SHHA!

Two trap-jaw worker ants showed up and upon seeing a foreign magic beast ant, they opened up their mandibles as if there were bear traps on their faces.

She was undeterred and bravely accepted the challenge. After recovering a few mana points, she circled around the two trap-jaw ants. The two trap-jaw ants tried to surround her, but they failed. Every time she was about to get surrounded, she would pounce.

Having had enough, the two trap-jaw ants waved their antennae and agreed on a plan. She wasn’t stupid and realized what was up, readying her body for a swift exchange.

SHAA!

KRRR!

The two trap-jaw ants charged at her as one, but the shem nimbly dodged them and bit one of them. The bitten trap-jaw ant tried to struggle when it felt a stinger piercing its gaster.

Immediately after stinging the trap-jaw ant, she lets go of it and focused on the other trap-jaw ant. The trap-jaw ant saw the fate of its sister and guarded against her stinger.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as cunning as her.

She dashed toward the trap-jaw ant and bent her gaster. The trap-jaw ant saw it and channeled all its mana toward its gaster. After deflecting her stinger, the trap-jaw ant regained its vigor and opened its mandibles, trying to bite her.

She dodged, opened her mandibles, and bit the trap-jaw ant’s head. It took one bite to crush the trap-jaw ant’s head.

She didn’t use any mana on her stinger.

Instead, she poured her mana into her mandibles.

Surrounded by three dead ant bodies, she buried them randomly and hurriedly. She didn’t forget to decapitate the ant she stung and mask all three dead ant’s pheromones with her own.

Just after burying all three dead ant bodies, three more trap-jaw ants appeared.

Two of them were the familiar trap-jaw worker ant, while the one in the middle was a different variant.

In a magic beast ant colony, there were many variants of ants.

The common variants were the worker and soldier ants, also known as major ants. Then, there were the wild ones like the winged ants and the spear ants. Winged ants are different from ant alates, whose purpose is procreation. Winged ants are like normal worker ants but with wings. Meanwhile, spear ants are ants that can dash like lightning and their heads would be pointed like a spear without a pair of mandibles. With the help of mana, they can stab their enemies and even pierce through them.

These were the wonders of a magic beast ant colony, and the sky is the limit.

The ant variant in front of her had a massive head and an even bigger pair of mandibles. It looked like a trap-jaw ant major or supermajor to her.

SHAAA!

Seeing her defiantly standing against them, the trap-jaw major roared in anger. It released a nauseating amount of pheromones to try and drive her away, but she stubbornly stay.

So what if her enemy was many times bigger than her?

'All for the queen!'

Adam, who has no idea that his only worker ant was becoming a veteran of war: That ant is taking a while to come home… Damn. What am I? A worried mother… or father?