Blood stained with the supernatural was unfriendly to the native plants of Earth. However, to plants that have similar properties to these anomalies, their blood is a powerful fertilizer.

The vivarium looked withered, its soil covered by a thin layer of bluish mist. The soil itself is damp after soaking up the blood of thousands of insects. The bonsai tree in the far east was rotting, finally showing signs of its death. The rocks and hard stones of the west were cracked and showing signs of erosion. The wetlands in the south looked nearly the same as before, though it lacked life.

In all areas of the vivarium, the colorful and strategic mix of diverse plants was no more, and all that's left was a strange plant with heart-shaped leaves with red hearts in the middle.

From above, this change was too sudden. There was no trace of what had happened, and no insect bodies could be seen anywhere. It was as if the vivarium had been abandoned.

+++-+++-+++

On the other hand, the undergrowth was as lively as always.

‘The ants and the Spawns are identical in terms of strength. That was the key to my victory,’ Helzar thought. Currently, he was watching five Motherbugs laying eggs one after another.

He lowered their rates of laying eggs, increasing the lifespans of the four-legged Spawns.

‘Three days have passed since the war began, and since then, the war has been dull.’

After the first day, the stalemate that Helzar wanted was achieved. His Spawns would injure the ants, while the Spawnlings would suck the injured ant's blood. At the same time, if a Spawn dies, they would also become prey for the Spawnlings.

Afterward, Helzar would collect the dried up bodies and feed them to the Motherbugs, Zhar, and himself.

The Motherbugs would lay more eggs, which would suck the blood on the soil, before turning into Spawnlings. If there wasn't enough blood on the soil, the Spawns would carry the eggs in their mouth.

‘The cycle continued, and because of how fast the Spawns matured, our small number didn't matter much so long as I was careful.’

Helzar kept an eye on the total number of Spawns, and during the first day, it fluctuated between 200 and 400.

On the second day, the Swarm had a consistent total of 600 Spawns, while today, the Swarm was on its way to having a thousand Spawns!

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‘If none of the Spawns died, I'd be sitting on ten thousand Spawns by now,’ Helzar lamented. However, he didn't linger on that feeling, knowing that sacrifices had to be made.

‘Nothing is perfect, and if something seems perfect, it's likely an illusion born from ignorance.’

Helzar shook his head. Currently, the Swarm was on its way to invading the Lava Ant's nest. They'd already entered the main tunnel and conquered numerous chambers inside the nest.

‘Inside the nest, we finally saw a different kind of ant. It had a big head, and it could vomit its venom without dying. As usual, its venom is highly corrosive,’ Helzar sighed.

The “Major Ants” of the Lava Ant colony were powerful. They possess extreme defense, and disgusting vitality. After sacrificing dozens of Spawns to finally decapitate it, it was still moving and killing off Spawns!

In the end, every time a Major Ant appears, Helzar would say goodbye to at least a hundred Spawns.

‘Luckily, we've only met three Major Ants in total. They must be costly to produce,’ Helzar smirked. He had the Motherbugs, and even they weren't as ridiculous as the “One Man Army, Major Ants.”

‘I can only produce one Motherbug each day, but despite having lived for so long inside the vivarium, we only saw three Major Ants. Are they extremely expensive, or is the Queen Ant hiding all of them?’

If it was the latter, then Helzar would take his spoils of war and sign a peace treaty with the Queen Ant.

‘There’s no way in hell I'd throw my Swarm into a lava pit!’

Although powerful, the Major Ants have one weakness that the Spawns exploited to its fullest. They were slow, nearly as slow as the Motherbugs.

While Helzar was calculating the possibilities inside his head, a report reached his ears. Zhar was beside him, communicating with him through their telepathic link.

‘Lord, we reached the end of the nest,’ Zhar said.

Helzar shook his head. He long expected this result. If he was in the Queen Ant's shoes, he'd also block off the tunnels and dig out another tunnel to the surface.

‘The ants have not given up yet, and they have no reason to. As long as they play their cards properly, they should be able to resist the Swarm even if they are as outnumbered as we were before.’

Helzar guessed wrong about the Lava Ant's size. The ant colony only had a little more than ten thousand worker force.

‘How anticlimactic. Unfortunately, after the war, all the prey insects in the garden have been exterminated aside from the ones hiding deep underground. This garden is no longer suitable for growth.’

With the war over, Helzar planned his grand escape.

At the same time, on the deepest part of the vivarium, the Lava Queen Ant was sitting alone on her dirt throne. There were a couple dozen of Major Ants surrounding the outside of her chamber, ready to defend her with their life.

‘The foreign bugs killed the worker ants…’

The Queen Ant waved her long antennae, calling out one of the Major Ants. She was unfazed by the demise of the “entire” colony.

‘Break the barrier. I want to leave this suffocating place. Those giants put me to damn sleep whenever I wake up, but they didn't do so this time. I'll make them regret that!’

The Queen Ant showed her rage by stomping on the soil. When her feet touched the soft ground, it directly melted!

In reality, the Queen Ant never gave birth to the worker ants. She only gave birth to the Major Ants, but after a few experiments and the Queen mysteriously falling asleep, the Major Ants began laying eggs.

The eggs would then hatch into the worker ants, who didn't obey the Queen Ant.

+++-+++-+++

Meanwhile, a few humans were stuck underground. They were surrounded by bees, giant bees.

Their bodies were covered in a sticky substance, and they reeked of burnt sugar.

“Abandon… the mission. Retreat,” with great struggle, Chief gave an order to the remaining Moonlight agents. Alex was one of them, and he didn't hesitate to use his ability, directly vanishing from the underground basement.

The remaining three Moonlight agents used their abilities to flee, leaving Chief behind.

‘Your children left you, how disgraceful,’ a voice spoke in Chief's head.

“Hah, they're not my children,” Chief spat out red blood. “They're merely pawns,” he said, taking out a worn out pistol from his pocket. The pistol kept on screeching, but only Chief could hear it.

“If only this shit obeyed me from the start,” Chief laughed, throwing the pistol to the biggest bee in the room. The bee was four feet tall at minimum.

“Blue Pistol, fuck you and the rest of your fucking family,” Chief cackled, grabbing his blue mechanical eyes.

SPLURT—

Blood splattered on the floor, gushing out of Chief's hollow eye sockets. With the blue eyes in his hand, Chief crushed them without restraint.

BOOOOOM!!!!!

Not long after, bright flames engulfed the entire room in less than a split moment.