{Haste has risen to lv 18}

{Perception has risen to lv 23}

{Clarity has risen to lv 18}

The constant ringing notifications told me that what I was seeing was real.

Though the sensation and smell of fear mixed with death and decay didn’t feel real at all. They felt more like my own imagination on how the place would have turned into, but the sound, that constant ting, that reminder which didn’t let me indulge into my own delusion, cried out to me that whatever I was seeing…

It was real.

In front of me was the future of our colony, the kids who were still just new born the future pillars, crawling toward me with broken appearances.

They weren’t the novices from the nursery. Some real smart soldiers had taken them out of the colony right after the apocalypse had started and saved them from all that followed after it.

The ones I was looking at were the larvae who their caretakers had turned into vicious, meat seeking machines.

There weren’t a lot of them around either. Turns out only five from the whole vault had turned into zombies, not including the caretakers.

The bits and pieces of half eaten larvae, the awful stench, the fluid drenched floor and the fat worms crawling toward me told the whole story.

Turns out the five worms who had tuned had eaten all the other larvae and grown up to become ranked undead worms of some kind.

Well, the appraisal didn’t call them ant larvae anymore and instead named them glutton worms. A ranked worm which had no consumption limit; and whatever they consumed could be used as Hp or Stamina or Mp.

They had a nice ability, but considering their low attacking ability, followed by simple attacks like, acidic breath or suction; they weren’t worth much.

There were only five of those worms around because they had eaten four or five nursery rooms full of larvae on their own.

Thankfully the food vault was sealed otherwise they could have taken our whole supply out too.

I felt pity for them, which was an absurd emotion, considering they had turned into something so… disgusting.

But the pain was real and so was their wailing.

Their voices had a hint of pain and fear to them. Stating that maybe there was a bit of ant left behind all that evilness which those parasites had injected into them. But what did I knew. I was just a novice ant on a mission to save the colony.

I wanted to help them, but seeing the situation their bodies were in, I knew that it was better for me, for them, if I just killed and brought them out of their misery.

I looked one last time at their pus leaking eyes, which I accounted to them crying and closed my eyes.

I moved relying on my sense, moved as fast as I could with my legs turned to spikes, and the next moment I opened my eyes, all of them had their heads cut off and black stanching blood leaking from the holes in their skulls.

{Spike has risen to lv 15}

{Inter. Sharp weapon mastery has risen to lv 2}

{Surprise attack has risen to lv 7}

{Cross slash has risen to lv 3}

Five Worms came wriggling out from their skulls. I let them move around to let them feel pain. At least I thought that hectic movement of their defined was pain and killed them with five air bullets when they tried to get near me.

[Killed Gluttonous worm lv 4/ 18Exp gained.]

[Killed Gluttonous worm lv 3/ 16Exp gained.]

[Killed Gluttonous worm lv14/ 38Exp gained.]

[Killed Gluttonous worm lv 1/ 12Exp gained.]

[Killed Gluttonous worm lv10/ 30Exp gained.]

Seeing the empty, lifeless room, an uncanny stillness stunned my mind into calmness. But knowing that the end was near, and that there was only one more ant left to deal with, I moved behind the baby room and entered the queen’s quarters.

Queen’s quarter wasn’t what I had thought it to be. Instead of a room showing the royal and leisure full life of a queen the room was instead filled with the hub a hub of worker ants moving to and fro. It was a very large room though.

The queen was laying in the middle of the room, while three workers on the food duty were bringing and feeding her food. More workers were taking the eggs which she was laying every second or so and transporting it to egg room, just to the left.

I looked around and nodded my head to the workers, but from their attitude I understood that they dint like my presence in the room much, but the queen stopped them from acting out with a simple command.

Otherwise I would have had to deal with over fifty workers on my own; which wouldn’t have been a difficult job at all.

Though there was this feeling of bond that I had with them, but my life mattered more to me than the blood that I shared with them. But I still didn’t want to hurt them, so it was better this way.

My queen then finally looked at me with a fresh and sweet smile, truly fitting her motherly nature and asked me with an excitement befitting a child who hadn’t been out of the room much.

“Oh! What do we have here! Aren’t you the recent hero, who declined my offer to become the vice commander?”

I bowed to the queen who was staring at me with her big, powerful eyes and respectfully replied.

“Your highness…” I said, as the royal workers growled in anger at my acting.

But my queen sushed them before they could act.

“So what are you here for? Don’t tell me you want to take on my offer now?”

I didn’t let my inner thoughts which were laughing at her to come out and maintaining my demeanor befitting someone who was standing in the presence of the one with the highest authority in my colony spoke,

“I’m sorry your highness, but I am not here for that. Actually I have a question to ask, if you allow my impudent self to…”

“Now, now, no need to act so humble. Heroes after all have a special something to them, a special charm and attitude which can’t be bound with positions and authority. You are the pride of my colony. You can ask me anything?”

I thanked her for her generosity, shying from the compliment that she gave with such an excited face, and asked her, “So my queen, do you know what is happening in the colony right now?”

“Huh?” She tilted her neck in confusion, and I could clearly see form her expressions that she knew nothing about anything.

“I am talking about the zombies and the undead who have taken over half of our colony.”

“What? My colony is in danger? Bu why wasn’t I told? Wait, why can’t I feel anything?”

But after a second of what looked to me like her trying to check on the colony, her expressions turned fearful, her face paled and her hands started trembling.

“Why can’t I feel…” She repeated the same line like a broken record and I had to tell her what was happening in the colony.

“I understand that you probably can’t feel the state our colony is in right now. So let me inform you. Right now the commander and five other captains are fighting against the whole colony hoping that I would reach you. And considering that I was able to reach you without much obstruction, I think they have done their jobs quite nicely.”

Hearing me she finally bellowed out.

“They are doing what? But why is the colony against them? On whose orders!?” Her voice was trembling and so was her body. Her hands were haphazardly moving up and down trying to blow away the illusion that had brought her the bad news, but I was no illusion.

“On your orders my queen.” I answered her. “Who else can tell the whole colony to go fight against the enemies. In this case, the commander and the others?”

A tear drop the size of my head rolled down from her left eye as she slowly mumbled, “But I didn’t tell anyone…”

“I know my queen that you didn’t tell anyone to kill the commander and the others?”

“Huh…” My answer surprised her.

I knew it was hard on her, but I was told to only act after confirming the acts straight and that was what I was doing.

“I know it wasn’t you. The commander knows it isn’t you. That is why they send me to disable you.”

I mixed in a hard and sharp word to see how she would react, but she still reacted like herself. So, I tried to bait her a little more.

“Disable me…? You mean to kill me?”

“Oh, no you are the one I need to kill!”

“Then whom…”

“I think you already know the answer to this question.”

But my bait failed and instead of answering my question, she instead tilted her head in confusion, as if asking me ‘what are you talking about?’

“Oh come on… don’t you get it. We already know that you are still alive and are controlling the queen.”

But she still didn’t bate her eyes or show any change in her temperament and I sighed. Making someone confess was too difficult a job for a simple minded individual like me. It needed some as cunning as a fox not a rough and tough ant like me. Moreover the mind read also wasn’t working against her. So I lost my cool for a second.

“Come on man! We already know what is happening here. Do you think the commander and the others are fools who would fail to notice your existence in all of these years? They are not kids rolling around in the sand, making love castles! The commander is a war veteran you know, and he has connections.”

“What are you talking about?”

But her indifferent response irked me more and I cracked out like a firecracker in full blossom.

*Bang*Bang*Bang*

I spoke my thoughts out.

“You think we are idiots? Do you still think hiding behind her would let you live? You better get fucking ready because after putting her to sleep, all the ants that you are controlling will get released and those zombies will be handled by the captains. You better oil yourself real well, because I, the commander and others will be coming to fuck you so hard that you will feel the pain in your next life! You fucking vermin!”

“Ha, Ha, Ha…” I felt at peace. Taking deep breaths I looked at her face once again and noticed that what all those politely and humbly asked questions had failed in accomplishing, my anger had accomplished it.

My anger had made her change her expressions. No, she wasn’t shocked or anything after my little episode, but she was instead trying very hard to hide that grin that was forming on her face. Her checks were ready to burst and proving my assumptions right, the once poised and determined queen broke out in evil laughter unbecoming of her.

“Haahaa… You, you, you…”

And while I stared at her big body squirm around, she finally cleared those tears hanging around the bottom of her eyes and took deep breath in succession to calm herself.

“Hohhoo… I haven’t laughed like that in a long while. Actually I haven’t laughed at all. So thank you.”

I noticed the change in voice. The way she spoke became more rugged and different from her sweet and humble way. The little actions that defined the queen got replaced by rude and challenging expressions, which came with a complete change in her personality.

“So, that hillbilly murderer and his goons are not trying to get this whore… but me?”

“Haaha… that’s so fucking funny. Do you even fucking know who I am boy?”

The queen asked me showing a grin so big that it was disturbing, but then she started mumbling to herself tapping her forehead with her antennas in quick succession.

“Someone must have leaked out the news. Who was it…”

But before I could respond, she quickly denied my interference,

“No, no… let me guess. Was it the butler?”

And seeing that she wasn’t being a nuisance, I replied to the ‘him’ who right then had queens body under his control.

“Yes… my king. It was him.”