Lava Ants ants entered the underground tunnel. Crawling deeper, they found many chambers, though they were all too cramped for the ants. Furthermore…

Chhk… Tak! Tak!

The ants spread their pheromones, signaling that the tunnels are safe. The news traveled fast, and as it reached the nest entrance, the hundreds of ants waiting outside poured in!

Looking as though lava seeping into the soil, the swarm of Lava Ants scoured the entire nest, and they even reached the deepest chamber, as well as the last.

Chhh!

Alas, they found no traces of Helzar and his Spawns. They scouted the last underground tunnel where Helzar last fought the Lava Ants, and that tunnel led to this nest.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though their prey had slipped through their grasps.

+++-+++-+++

While the Lava ants wasted time searching a ghosted nest, Helzar and his Spawns were living on a bonsai tree. Some Spawns were hanging on the underside of the leaves, while the rest of the Swarm was living in a hole on the tree trunk.

Helzar watched as a Motherbug laid dozens of eggs before stopping. Helzar ordered a Spawn to bring a Bloodworm and puncture its thin skin.

The Bloodworms were the products of the Eaters’ explosive birth.

When the eggs felt blood pouring into their bodies, tiny proboscis came out of their mouths and started sucking on the blood.

‘The eggs from the Motherbug have three stages. The egg needs to be fed blood for it to turn into a Spawnling,’ Helzar thought.

The Spawnlings look identical to the Spawns, who look similar to ants that have no abdomen. However, they have four legs, unlike the Spawns. They also keep their proboscis, and their mandibles have yet to grow.

‘The Spawnlings can eat solid food, but letting them latch on a live prey or anything that has blood is more efficient. After sucking enough blood, the Spawnlings will grow into adult Spawns.’

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The seven Spawnlings from before had long turned into adult Spawns after drinking cockroach blood. They lost their proboscis, but they gained mandibles in return. They grew to 1 centimeter in length, but their bodies were more fragile than the three legged Spawns. They are also slower than the three legged Spawns, and their mandibles are a little inferior.

Despite their flaws, Helzar was happy with them because they're easy to mass-produce.

‘After leaving behind a decoy nest, the Swarm headed north east and located the bonsai tree.’

After calling the bonsai tree home, Helzar had his Spawns go on a hunting spree. However, on each hunting trip, he required the Spawns to carry eggs from the Motherbug. After killing or wounding a prey insect, the eggs attach on its wound, sucking its blood, and growing into Spawnlings before sucing even more blood.

If the prey insect is big enough, it can directly grow into an adult Spawn. However, for every prey insect, a few dozen eggs would be sucking on its blood. In just a few seconds, a sizable cockroach can be sucked dry!

‘On the way here, we saw a lot of cockroaches. After that, our food mainly consists of cockroaches… is there an infestation of cockroaches?’

Helzar didn't mind it at all. More cockroaches meant more food, and after just a day of hard work, the Swarm was back in the hundreds!

‘It's been more than a day since our close encounter with the red ants, and they're finally scouting the north. I suspect that it won't take long for them to find us,’ Helzar told the Spawns protecting the “nest” to hide, while he had the hunting Spawns to be stealthy.

He felt lethargic afterward, but the Bloodworms were there for him to eat. All the excess food was eaten by the Eaters, which in turn would explode and produce Bloodworms.

‘I was wrong. The Motherbug has a limit on how many eggs it can lay, but it's still a ridiculous amount. The Motherbug can lay eggs continuously throughout the day, but most eggs would die.’

The survival rate of the eggs are 20% and even Spawnlings would often randomly die for no reason. At that, Helzar had no choice but to sigh.

To minimize his losses, he would limit the Motherbugs to only lay a few dozen eggs at a time. Through that, he found that nearly all the eggs were healthy.

‘I suppose everything has a flaw, no matter how good things may seem.’

He then turned his attention below him.

From above, Helzar could see the ants scouting the vivarium. He had excellent vision, and after climbing on the highest point of the bonsai tree, he could watch the entire vivarium like a hawk.

‘The ants have blanketed the south and the west,’ Helzar's heart tightened. Just from a glance, the red ants easily had tens of thousands of members. Helzar even suspected that the colony of red ants had millions of members.

‘Even though I can see everything, I can't pinpoint the location of the ant nest. It seems like they emerge everywhere…’ After having such thoughts, Helzar halted.

‘Does the red ants have nest entrances throughout the entire garden?’

Helzar's mind froze at the thought.

When they took over the bonsai tree, Helzar and the Spawns found that although the bonsai tree was completely hollow inside, it wasn't dead. Helzar had the Swarm live inside that hollow space, but the bottom was a dead end.

‘I wonder if that was always a dead end, or something blocked it off?’ Helzar could help but get anxious.

‘I better play it safe. I need to save as much time as possible and gather enough numbers to tank the entire ant colony.’

Helzar had a plan, and that plan was simple.

‘As long as I can kill the Queen Ant, everything would be child's play.’

Helzar gathered the remaining Spawns to dig dirt from below the tree, and stuff the insides of the tree with soil. He even ordered them to compact the soil as much as possible.

He didn't care if he was being paranoid. He would've ordered the Spawns to create a wall around the tree if he could.

Meanwhile, a commotion was happening below when Helzar was not paying attention.

CHAA!!

Clack! Clack!

Hiding underneath a floor of dead leaves, a behemoth stood up. Next to it, the Spawns looked like splashes of ink, but the Spawns held no fear.

The “behemoth” opened its mandibles, showing its mouth as it let out a scream!

‘Hmm?’ Helzar finally noticed what was happening and urgently rushed toward the edge of the tree. Looking down…

‘The heck is that thing? It's at least eight inches!’

Just as Helzar saw it, the giant cockroach saw him too. Unfolding its wings, a buzz cut through the air.