‘Is the ground shaking?’ Helzar couldn't help but wonder. He had his spawns scout what was going on, but he found nothing unusual.

‘The spawns are able to hunt ants very efficiently, are ants easy to kill?’

Every time the spawns would emerge from the chamber, they'd quickly return with an ant's body in tow.

‘Maybe there's an ant colony nearby,’ Helzar was displeased. He was weak, and his “colony” consisted of merely three members.

Himself, and his two spawns. Even brand new ant colonies would have more than three members after the nanitics (first batch of ants) hatch.

‘I need to move places. While spawns can hunt ants efficiently, a swarm of ants is not a good enemy right now,’ Helzar sighed, spending up his remaining energy to recall his spawns.

‘Damn, where's the other one?’ Helzar clacked his mandibles. He waited, but only one of his spawns returned.

‘Did it die? No, I still feel a connection to it… but it's not returning, where is it?’ Helzar felt a heartache, but soon consoled himself by eating the remaining spawn.

‘No matter, I can produce three more spawns anyway. Those ants that the two brought home gave me a lot of energy,’ Helzar clacked his mandibles, dropping the nest on the soil and watching as it produced three more spawns.

‘Go and dig onwards! One of you block the tunnel behind us, make sure we don't get swarmed by bloody ants!’

+++-+++-+++

“Woah, look at it go,” Rex chuckled, watching a tiny bug run around a test tube frantically. It tried to bite the glass once, but it was to weak to do anything.

“It's sensitive to its surroundings,” Dexter muttered to himself, watching the bug for a while before giving it to Rex. Then, he took out a set of digging tools.

“Time to…”

“Huh? Oi Dex, look at this,” Rex called out from behind, making Dexter look at his partner.

“What happened?” Dexter asked, prompting Rex to show him the test tube.

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“It stopped moving? Did it die?” Dexter frowned. One moment, the bug was energetic, and then the next it was dead.

“Truly an anomaly,” Dexter shook his head and resumed his digging.

+++-+++-+++

‘Are we far enough?’ Helzar wondered, but he never stopped digging.

The tunnel was tiny, barely enough to fit his 1 centimeter body and the spawn's .5 centimeter body when they stood side by side.

‘The spawns can dig quickly using their powerful mandibles, two of their three legs, and their mouths.’

Helzar watched as a spawn took a grain of dirt using its mandibles, biting it with its mouth, before taking another piece of dirt with its mandibles. Then, two of its legs held the grains of dirt firmly, before using its third leg to drag it back. At the back, one spawn was constantly blocking the tunnel behind them.

‘Such fascinating creatures, I wonder how they're even able to function.’

Helzar had many questions, but the answers would have to wait for now. The spawns had very short lifespans, and their lifespan would shorten even more whenever they do anything.

‘It’s time to eat them,’ Helzar sighed and clacked his mandibles. Hearing the sound, all three spawns crawled toward his mandibles, letting their liege eat their bodies.

Soon, three spawns hatched from the nest.

‘I’m just a bit short to produce one more spawn egg, what a shame,’ Helzar sighed, deciding to help his spawns by taking the role of blocking the tunnel behind them.

This continued for a few more minutes, before Helzar told his spawns to stop and begin digging upwards. He didn't know that just behind him, a handful of dirt was dug out.

+++-+++-+++

‘This should be far enough,’ Helzar crouched, ordering his spawns to hunt for food. With three spawns hunting together, they have more chances to survive.

‘Spawns are too small and resemble dust in a way, so most creatures don't target them. At the same time, they can only hunt small insects like lice or ants.’

However, for the current Helzar, those were enough.

‘It’ll take a lot of time, but when the swarm grows to dozens, the swarm should be able to hunt faster and prey on bigger creatures.’

With a thought, Helzar reigned on his temper and patiently waited for his spawns to return.

+++-+++-+++

On top of a leaf, a three legged bug stood still. It was one of Helzar's spawn, and two more were under the leaf.

After a few minutes, a small fly hovered above the leaf, landing on top of it a few moments later. The spawn slowly turned its body, opening its mandibles wide when suddenly…

JUMP!

The leaf shook madly, as though someone was swinging it from side to side!

However, on the spawn's vision, it could clearly see the predator that stole its prey. It was a creature with eight legs, a pair of mandibles holding down the fly, and a set of multiple round eyes.

Looking at the baby jumping spider, the spawn felt no fear. Instead, it was thankful. After all, the kind spider killed the fly for them, and now it offered itself on their plate.

Without wasting another second, the spawn rushed toward the jumping spider. The jumping spider couldn't even react as the spawn's mighty mandibles bit on its leg, forcing it to drop the fly and struggle madly.

After biting the jumping spider, the spawn pierced the leaf with all three of its legs, clutching on the underside of the leaf and clinging on. The two spawns were already on top of the leaf by this point, and only half a second had passed.

The next moment, the jumping spider was cut in half, being carried to the swarm’s nest by two spawns. The third was looking for the dropped fly on the ground, and when it found the fly, it went home.

That day, Helzar produced seven spawns after eating the three spawns.

+++-+++-+++

“So? What's wrong?” Rex asked Dexter, who was frowning while observing the handful of soil inside a glass container.

“It's not here… damn it, did it die? No, it shouldn't have…” Dexter sighed, while Rex just shrugged. He couldn't care less about the strange bug. After Rex went inside the truck they rode in to get here, Dexter pulled out a communicator and spoke.

“Can you locate the anomaly bug? I lost it,” asked Dexter.

A rough voice replied to him, “No. Return now, the ‘Book of Supreme Spells’ is acting up.”

“Understood,” Dexter replied and went inside the truck. Just as he was about to enter the side seat, he remembered something and called the person again.

“I forgot, I managed to seize one of the bugs. What is it, anyway?” Dexter asked.

“Got it,” the rough voice simply replied. Dexter waited for an answer, and clicked his tongue in irritation.

‘What a bastard,’ Dexter thought before entering the truck.