*The Last Male Ant*

“The Queen is finally born?”

“That’s right, you should’ve been there to see her. She shines more than all the shinies down in the treasury.”

“Mhmm! If I were a male I’d be jaw over legs for her and have her take me on the spot!”

“I second that thought!”

“SAAAMMME HERRREE!!”

“O-oh I see, I just hope that I… I can fulfill my last Queen’s wish and… Do what I was born to do.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. I heard she’s quite kind, she already named our top four.”

“Hmmm… I wonder if she’ll name me? I want something cute but then… Something cool would be nice too.”

“I second those thoughts too!”

“Saaaameee Heerreee!!”

“A name huh… I wonder too...”

Turning from the group of ants, I look towards the pathway leading back to my chambers.

“I-I’m gonna head back now... There’s things I need to do, thanks again for letting me know..!”

I scuttle off, waving my legs goodbye as the group calls out to me.

“Don’t stay in your chambers too long! You should meet with the Queen at least! Come visit us more too!”

“Mhmmm! Visit us alright! Don’t be such a shut-in! We’re here for you always!”

“I second that statement!”

“Meeeeeee Toooooo!!”

Finally, alone again. I dropped my share of food in the corner of the chamber by the rest of my belongings. I only occupied a small portion of the chamber since it was originally shared with all the other male ants.

“I guess the time has come huh…”

Picking up a crytike from my pile of stuff, I inspected it. It had no glow since the energy from it was used a long time ago, reminiscing of the time I first received this.

“My Queen… I hope I have the strength to do this… I’m not even sure if I’m... No I have to be for her and for this colony… I have to be”

Looking up at the rest of the empty room I could still remember how lively it was as if it were yesterday. Setting the crytike down, I sit on the ground covering my face with my front legs. This used to be a bad habit of mine, but now this just helps whenever I need to think things through.

“I really wonder what our new queen is like… many others are already entranced by her… Even saying she’s the most beautiful queen yet. Which… makes me even more stressed to meet her. Should I speak to her normally? Or maybe try that… ‘tough’ act my Queen had taught me before… Ah… Maybe I shouldn’t. I know the Queen’s guard promised to be with her, so it’ll be a little easier than just meeting the new queen alone. Hmmm… What if she doesn’t accept me…? No, I have to make her accept me... I have to.”

When it came to being a male ant required to breed with the queen I was always a coward. Many of my male comrades would scoff and bully me, because I would refuse to mate. I just didn’t want to die yet. I wanted to see the world outside our home. I had first thought my Queen took pity on me when she started having me by her side, but she never once looked at me that way. She had always told me that it was okay that I was afraid, it was okay that I wanted to chase a dream instead of fulfilling a duty. After a while my Queen granted my wishes and we had gone outside plenty of times, but never too far from home. Till one day, we left for the Black Lands. Finally experiencing the journey that no other ant in our colony had experienced before. The world outside is beautiful, yet... I never knew how terrifying it can be too.

“If only I had mated with her… Maybe she would have had enough soldiers and she… She wouldn’t have to…”

Staring at the crytike I set down, I pick it up and throw it across the chamber. The sound of it clinking against the floor ringed throughout the chambers.

“Dammit!...”

“Hello…? Sorry if I’m intruding in on something important.”

“Gwah! Ah... Oh no no no… I was um… Well.”

Realizing that there is an ant way larger than me standing at the entrance of the hall I pop up and quickly bow my head.

“My.. my.. my.. my... My Queen! I didn’t realize you were there, forgive my rudeness and… Show of attitude, I was just thinking of things. Again I beg for your forgiveness!”

Keeping my head glued to the floor and eyes down, I tried my best not to shiver, looking even more pitiful than I already looked.

So much for trying the ‘tough’ act… I failed you my Queen, but I will not fail you no more!... Hopefully…

I watched as the new queen came close to me, keeping my eyes from wandering up. Just then I felt a gentle pat on my head and her lifting my chin to have me face her.

“Apology accepted, and… I understand if you’re afraid. That’s okay, it’s what keeps us alive in this world.”

“I…”

Choking on my words I couldn’t help but cry. I bet I looked real pathetic then, but she pulled me close and held me as I cried. After a bit of time passed I bowed again.

“I apol… Thank you my Queen, I needed to hear that. Are you here… Because you wanted to mate with me now? I will do my best! To insure the future of our colony and supply you with many prominent seeds for off.. Offspring!”

“A-ahem, Y-yes… Well actually... I wanted to know you a little better first before any sort of... Mating. Please call me Ariki, and for my sake and yours… I wanted to name you too.”

“You... You want to name me…? That would be… A great honor my Queen, Ariki”

“You can raise your head, I don’t mind if you look at me. In fact it’d be easier than speaking to your head hehe.”

“Oh… yeah that would be easier.”

I look up slowly only to be entranced, the same way if not more than the other ants have been. The slenderness of her jaws, her crimson red coat, the plumpness of her butt, even her legs are beautiful. Realizing how close I was to a goddess incarnate, I back up a couple feet. She giggled at my shocked face and reaction to seeing her up close and came closer to me again.

“Honestly, It’s okay I guess seeing me this close... Is quite much isn’t it? Don’t worry. I actually find you quite cute too.”

C-cute?! I’m cute?! No way... No… She actually does! Those eyes she’s just... Oh my Queen... Please give me strength. Wait... Isn’t the guard supposed to be with her?! She promised she’d make it easier for me and introduce me to her... I mean... We are supposed to be alone but... I already feel my body melting from how… Gorgeous Ariki is...

“May I call you… umm… Rei?”

“Yes! Y-you may call me Rei…”

“But do you like the name?”

“Yes I do…”

“Hmm… do you??”

“Y-yes, I’m sorry my Queen, Ariki... The way I talk makes it seem like I don’t... But I really do… Being named by a really gorgeous queen such as yourself… I’m more than happy to be Rei.”

She smiles and giggles again using her front leg to cover her laugh. Her posh mannerisms really did her title ‘Queen’ justice.

“I was told by my guard, Tsuwo. That you are shy. Women do like a man who’s confident. While I for one… Do find it charming seeing a shy side to a man too. Making you attractive, as well as... cute.”

Seductively moving her jaws, she gently touched my antler and face as she stood close. I can feel myself gulp while shivers shoot down my small insect body.

Is this what my Queen meant by ‘setting the mood’?! Gah! My legs… They’re not shaking are they??

My head spinning now from the pure sexual appeal Ariki exudes. Stamming over my words she guides me over to my spot and sits down with me.

“Hehe... Listen, there’s no rush. Like I said I wanna get to know you better, Rei.”

“T-thank you for your kindness my Queen, Ariki.”

“Just Ariki is fine.”

“O-okay, well… I guess Tsuwo told you a lot about me already?”

“Yes quite a bit, but please… Don’t think I’m not being genuine with you.”

“It’s okay I believe you, I’m… Really glad you wanted to learn all about me before we mate.”

“Most of the time us males never really have a dream… Only a duty to fulfill. I’m not the strongest by any means, in fact I’m a small born. And I wasn’t anything special nor smart like our healer ant who is also a small born. Casted aside by my brethren, they only sought to give the best matings, while I... Dreamed of seeing the world. The world beyond our home. ”

“Well I heard you did achieve those dreams… But thats when…”

“When we were attacked. The shiny two-legs, they are sworn enemies of us sects. Most of the time we encounter small forces with not much power behind them… But the world is cruel. We… Were outnumbered and overpowered by them, almost instantly. Despite our force of 2,000 including Tsuwo and our former queen… at the time we were bringing back a Balkanite plant from the Black Lands. Prioritizing it while under attack the Queen tasked me, Tsuwo and a few others to make sure the plant made it home safe. And she… she... stayed behind to make sure we could escape safely...”

Retelling the events slowly overwhelmed me with the emotions I had felt on that day. I hadn’t noticed my shivering till Ariki placed her leg on me as assurance.

“She saw beauty in that plant… our farmer ant inspected it, discovering that it’s an extremely rare and powerful plant… That is why our Queen prioritized it, since it would improve the lives of our weak colony.”

“Weak colony…? Why is our colony weak?”

“Normally sects, especially us ants, stayed close to the Black Lands for easier access to the abundant supplies and food. But many queens before ours chose to live far from it… closer to the Big Blue.”

“I guess she had a dream similar to yours too.”

“I… never really thought of it like that.”

Ariki softly caresses my leg as she speaks.

“Dreams… Duties… It’s hard to do one or the other if they collide. I too… had a duty to fulfill with dreams I wanted to achieve, but now that things have changed… I’m thinking I’ll just dream again and maybe find a different duty to fulfill...”

“I don’t quite understand?”

“What I’m saying is… dreams and duties aren’t always gonna be the same as what you believe it to be. Things happen, and you adapt to it. From the way I see it, Rei… You fulfilled your duties to your queen and achieved your dreams then. Now… you’re fulfilling your duties you never thought you’d fulfill. You’ve done so much, that many can only dream of. You’re special in your own right.”

“… A-Ariki… I...”

While I only saw pain… she saw something beyond that… my Queen I… won’t regret what happened anymore... and with this final duty, I’ll give it my all! For our colony’s future! For my Queen!

“I’ll give my all for you Ariki!”

The color around her face seemed to darken a little after I blurted out my statement. She smiles and puts her legs on me.

“Hehe getting confident now are you?…Well... I’ll lead… Then you can take it from there.”

I simply nod, as we slowly embrace each other.

One Week Later

Year 30XX, Celestial Era

In the world of Celestia, there are four enormously thriving islands. The island home to Humanity held three large kingdoms. The First kingdom to the southwest, the Second southeast, and the Third kingdom furthest north, beyond the Black Lands. The Black Lands is an ever growing jungle spanning from one end of the island to the other, separating the northern portion of the island. Since it’s overrun by powerful Sects, the jungle served as a natural wall for the Third kingdom. Because of that only the first two kingdoms are in the midst of a war. A war to eliminate one another once and for all. With neither side giving an inch, the surrounding villages and smaller kingdoms were always in turmoil. A small village between the borders of the two kingdoms, and about a ways north from the ant hill Ariki had reincarnated in, stood untouched. A boy, who looked to be the same age as Ariki’s previous self, ran down through the village’s large pathway. His blonde hair glistened under the sun. Dark brown eyes shone a light hazel, as he looked up at the sky.

“Father! Father! Smoke far ahead!”

He wore leather armor with a short sword at his hilt and a hard leather buckler on his right arm. The chainmail underneath his chest piece rattled as he ran towards his home at the edge of the village. His father, the village chief, and a group of villagers had already gathered by the entrance just down from the home. The village chief and his father towered over the others, also wearing full leather armor, chainmail underneath and equipped with longswords. The rest of the bunch had crudely-made wood and cloth armor brandishing pitchforks and wooden clubs as their weapons.

“Ho ho! My boy! Spotted the smoke a little too late there. Next time wipe the dirt out yer’ eyes when patrolling the village!”

“Now is not the time to joke, the smoke must be coming from the Elire kingdom not too far east. If that’s been taken over by the Second kingdom we’re next in the path.”

“S-should we retreat? We heard rumors of the Second kingdom raising elite killers as their frontal forces...”

“Y-yeah!”

“Our children are in danger!”

“What about our crops?!”

“We’re gonna be killed if we encounter them!”

“Village chief, Arnel! What should we do??”

“Ho ho! Calm down everyone! As a former High knight of the First kingdom, I swear to protect you all! Besides, it’s a day's travel by horse. Not to mention moving a large army requires time, money, and resources when traveling.”

“Leon is right. As the First kingdom High knights, we will protect you. Take everyone and evacuate to the northwest kingdom, Fenir. It should take a half a day, sundown if you leave now. We’ll stall them here and meet up once everyone escapes.”

“Father… I shall stay and fight with you and old man, Arnel!”

“Least call me village chief…”

“Ho ho. You’ve trained harder than I’ve seen any of my comrades train… but now is not your time. Come, boy. Go grab your mother and your sisters. Protect them while I’m gone okay? Your old man is still the hero of Lindell!”

“With my help of course.”

With a hearty laugh Leon grabs Arnel and raises his sword high in the sky.

“Bwahahahahaha! Like old times eh? Two of us against an army. We're the only ones stopping them from taking innocent lives! I’m sure our old bones still got that heroic strength in us.”

“You speak as if we aged quite an amount. Hahaha... But I agree. I haven’t lost my touch since then.”

“Huzzah for Leon! Huzzah for Arnel!”

“Hurray! Hurrah! Hurray!”

Once the roaring cheers from the villagers finish, they run off to gather their belongings and family to escape. After watching my father and old man Arnel raise the villagers’ morale, I bite my lip with my hand clenching the handle of my sword.

Even after all that training I did to become a High knight like you Father? I’ll have to make you acknowledge me then!

Taking my stance I charge at my father without warning.

“Ho ho.”

Even with his back to me, he catches my ambush dodging to the side, counter attacking with a downward slash from his longsword. Knowing his experience wouldn’t let him be easily attacked from behind, I swat aside his counter with my buckler. Taking that small opening, I throw a cutting swing at his exposed left side. Continuing his forward momentum from his initial swing, he instantly steps in ramming me and throwing me backwards with his large body. Not letting my back hit the ground for more than a second, I roll to my feet immediately getting up. But by the time I stood up to stand against my father, the tip of his sword was already an inch away from my face.

“You got the same fire as I do, boy. I’ll give you that. But hard earned experience always beats talent.”

“Not only that, you’ll be facing more than one man as tough or even tougher than me or your father. There’s no mercy on the battlefield. But there is a time and place to experience it, as we have… but now is not one of those times. Please, Lupin. Do understand what we are doing here, even if you don’t. Your mother and your little sisters need you more than we need you.”

“Ho ho! We won’t go down easy, so don’t worry.”

Leon lowers his sword and puts his hand on my shoulder taking a good look into my eyes. Then hugs me.

“Protect them, Lupin. Remember the code of the First High knights?”

“The life of our own, shall protect the lives of our own.”

“It means to protect our family, our brethren, our kingdom. We High knights are the wall of this kingdom.”

“I… I understand, Father.”

Arnel clasps his hands and closes his eyes.

“May the Celestials heed our call.”

“Ho ho! Never knew you would be a man of prayer, now of all times.”

“Every bit of help counts.”

“Thank you Father, Village chief Arnel. I shall see to it, that my duty is done!”

With a hug from Arnel, I took one last look at them before heading back to my home. My mother and sisters had already been packed and were waiting for me to come along with them.

“Brother brother! Is father coming with us?”

“Yes, is father coming along or...?”

“Cooo~”

“Now now, father is staying behind to give us time to escape okay? We’ll meet up with him at Fenir.”

“Brother brother! Carry me!”

“Lina calm down, here I’ll carry you. Big brother needs his hands to protect us.”

“Cooo! Coooo~ Ahh haah~ pffffffbbll!”

“Don’t worry about your stuff, Lupin. We left them with one of the carriages. We should follow before they get too ahead of us. Come now.”

“Thank you Mother, Don’t worry Lina, Laie, Leo, Mother. I shall guard you with my life! As this a promise from a High knight apprentice!”

Mother smiles and gives me a kiss on my cheek before moving out the back door of the home. Following Laie while she carried Lina, I glanced at our home. Beyond it, the smoke from the kingdom had grown into a dark mountain rising in the skies. We were about halfway through the small village when a massive explosion blew at the east entrance of the village. All the villagers gasp and yelp from the sound of the explosion. They stopped and turned to see the aftermath, including me and my family.

“Oh dear…”

“B-brother b-brother… I’m s-scared!”

“Here Lina hold onto me tight. Me and big brother will protect you.”

“Waaaah! Waaaahhh!”

Father… Village chief… I know a little explosion won’t take you two down.

A barrage of smaller explosions started raining down all over the village. Faintly sensing an oncoming explosion with my [Danger Sense LV 2], I instinctively put up my buckler and used [High Shield LV 4].

Boooom!

Right as my magic flowed into my buckler and channeled a large ethereal shield almost bigger than the carriage behind me; an explosion shatters the thin magic protection blowing me and everyone nearby to the ground.

“Gaahhh!”

“Waaah!”

“Nghh!”

Picking myself up, dazed from the near-death explosion, I yell out to everyone.

“Is everyone okay?!”

“My husband! My husband has been hurt!”

“Aghh! It burns! Aahhh!”

“Mother! Lina! Laie! Leo!!”

“Cough cough, don’t worry dear we’re fine… thank you for saving us cough... We need to escape now!”

“Cough Brother cough... Owiee!”

“Lin- cough Lina hold my hand don’t let go!”

“Waaaah! Cough! Waaahhh!”

Following behind my family as they pushed forward, the barrage of explosions seemed to have stopped. Screams erupted from the front of the crowd of villagers.

“What’s going on?!”

“T-the! The! The Second knights! They’re here! Ruuuun!”

“Huh?!”

But father and Arnel are guarding the entrance of the village! How?!

Villagers were scattering and pushing over each other escaping backwards towards the east end of the village. My mother decided to take us around the corner through the sides of the houses to avoid the commotion.

“Quick now children this way! We’ll cut behind the houses to avoid being seen!”

Following our mother’s orders, we make our way between a thin opening of two houses.

“There’s some runners, kill them!”

A group of soldiers were already waiting beyond the houses, catching any stragglers trying to escape the slaughterfest happening on the village’s main road. Just seeing them armed and ready to kill my family set fire to my blood. [Burning Spirit LV 5] activates.

“Hrraaaaah!”

Stepping ahead I briskly [Shield Bash LV 5] a few of them at their legs to knock them over. With precise sword thrusts I finish them off on the ground with my short sword. More of them try to surround me and I swifty maneuver my way out of their encasement. Using that opportunity to cut them down from behind. With the last few charging me with spears, I weave my way around, slicing them down one by one.

“Haaah... Haahh…”

“Brother brother defeated the bad people!”

“Quickly now more will come, let’s go Lupin!”

“I’ll lead, Mother!”

Taking the lead, we go around the destroyed homes. Screams echo throughout the village as most of it still aflame. Running out to the open field of crops in the northside, we come to find ourselves stopped by a wall of troops. Leading them is a man wearing full black armor, holding a lance while riding on an armored horse. Despite my danger sense being at a low level, I can feel every fiber of my being screaming at me. Telling me to run.

“Mother! I’ll stand guard here, you escape back and go around the west side. I see an opening through there!”

“L-Lupin!”

“Mother! Please!”

I turn around giving my mother and little sisters a big hug as we cry together.

“Sniffles… I love you Lina, I love you Laie, I love you Leo, and I love you Mother. The life of our own, shall protect the lives of our own.”

“Lupin… my dear son...”

“B-brother! Sniffles… Brother! Waaah! Please don’t go!”

“Sniffle.. L-Lina I told you not to let go... Big brother is gonna stop the bad people from h-hurting us… sniffle.”

“Wahhhh! Waaahh!”

Giving me one last hug, mother kisses my cheek, her eyes red tears still flowing.

“Let’s go, we’ll be safe now. Lupin is gonna protect us.”

I watch them leave, putting on a smile as I hold my buckler to my heart to show my mother my resolve. Reciprocating the same resolve she puts on a smile for me before retreating back into the burning down village. I turn to face the wall of men.

“Chaaaaarrrggge!”

The first row of grunts wore chainmail armor carrying short swords and small metal shields. They ran at full speed, like a herd looking to run me down. Taking a deep breath, I used [War Cry LV 2] to boost my strength and confidence then I charged at them. Right before colliding, I use one last [High Shield LV 4] to stop most of their thundering charge. Men flew backwards after slamming against the thin magic shield, shattering it. Continuing my momentum I cut some of them down in a quick session. The ones that haven’t been slammed, tried coming around to attack my rear and sides. Ignoring their advancement I rush towards the lone knight on the horse. Despite seeing me aiming for him, he stood unfazed by my intent to assassinate him. Pushing against all my senses to retreat, with my [Burning spirit LV 5], every step I took towards him became heavier and heavier.

He’s the commander of these soldiers. So if I take him down maybe I can stop their advancement of the village even if a little!

“Hrrrraaaaahhh! …Gahh!”

Taking a hard hit from my left side I get blown over a couple feet. Feeling intense pain in my abdomen I throw up blood, staggering to my feet.

“Cough! Ngh! I- Cough! Won’t go down that easy!”

I froze, what knocked me over wasn't human. Four humanoid feral insects stood between me and the black knight. Their bodies dyed a tar-ish crimson, even broad sunlight didn’t seem to illuminate the dark creatures. Standing two times larger than a full grown bear, their beetle-like arms and legs thumping the ground. Protruding from their jawless human faces, large hornet-like pincers. They stood growling, drooling weird substances, snapping at me. The Black knight raises his hand, pointing towards the village.

“Hunt.”

The four monsters ran right past me towards the village. Their roars drowning out the screams of the villagers.

MOTHER! LINA! LAIE! LEO!!

“NOOOOO!!”

Feeling the fire of my blood burning hotter than ever before, I ignored the excruciating pain and rushed to attack the black knight. Skill level-up! [Burning Spirit LV 5] now [Burning Spirit LV 6]. In a single motion the knight swung his metal lance, knocking me out.

“Ngh!…”

Some time passes.

“Please don’t k- gh!”

“Marthaaa! You basta- gh!”

“GET UP!”

A man with a booming voice kicks me aside. I feel the excruciating pain return, waking me up from unconsciousness. Sluggishly rising from the dirt, I hazily look around to see what is going on. The appearance of the man was fitting of his thunderous voice, since his bulging body and muscles couldn’t be contained; he only wore bits of black armor . He didn’t hold any weapons, but his gauntlets looked specifically made for crushing buildings.

“YOU THERE. QUITE PROMISING. MIND JOINING OUR RANKS?”

“You intend to recruit him?”

Coming from behind him is the same knight who had knocked me senseless. Even standing together, the bulging black knight almost towered over the other knight riding on the horse.

“HE SINGLE HANDEDLY TOOK ON OUR GRUNTS. THEY’RE WEAK. BUT HE TOOK A HIT FROM THE HUVILS AND YOUR LANCE. ALSO MY KICK.”

“I see, some potential.”

It’s already hard to breathe let alone talk, I looked around frantically to see if my family had escaped. The dead littered the grounds, flesh and blood scattered like an abstract painting. Soldiers were walking around finishing off anyone still moving.

No… NOOO!!

Using the last of my energy, I limp towards a pile of bodies laying in front of the village’s small store.

“Cough… Ngh!... M-mot.. ngh... Laie cough… Lin- Lina... Le- Cough Cough!”

“Ngh… Cough! B-big brother…?”

“Laie…! I’m cough… I’m here!”

I fall to my knees by Laie laying on the ground motionless surrounded by a tar-ish pool of red. With her face losing its color, I felt barely any warmth as I held her in my arms. Blood trickling from the corner of her lips she coaks as she looks up at me.

“Cough cough... please live…”

“Laie… I will! We can get through ngh… We can get through this together!... Laie?”

Her eyes still, she doesn’t utter a word in response. I cry out to her, holding her in a tighter embrace. Laying besides her; Mother, Lina, and Leo.

“HEY. WHAT DO YOU SAY KID? FAMILY’S DEAD, YOU CAN TAKE REVENGE IF YOU JOIN US.”

“...”

“Wha’s the damn hold up? Found another tough fighter? The other two weren’t really much. Aaaaall talk and no bite. Pitiful. Trash. Shit.”

A third black knight appears wearing a tattered cloak. In one hand he held a large rusted serrated machete in the other, two heads.

“COULD OF JOINED US. BUT I AGREE TWO OLD FARTS WEREN’T MUCH. I THOUGHT THE FIRST KINGDOM’S HIGH KNIGHTS WERE STUFF OF LEGENDS.”

“Disappointed.”

“High… knights?”

Looking up I see a third black knight carrying two heads. [Burning Spirit LV 6] activates. [War Cry LV 2] activates.

“HRAAAHHHH!!!”

“Damn Brat. Scum. Dirt.”

Picking up a sword from the ground, I rush the tattered-cloak knight. New skill acquired [Enraged LV 1], [Enraged LV 1] activates. I switch from my usual style to hold my sword with the blade pointing down and running along my arm. Focusing on speed I run through the knight side-slicing at his legs. Our blades clash as he nonchalantly blocks my running cut. Fumbling over myself, I hastily turn over to slash at his back. Still facing forward, he swings his machete backwards brushing aside my slash. I feel my gut swell noticing he hasn’t taken a step since I started attacking him. Gritting my teeth and planting my foot on the ground, I bet all my strength and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Cling Cling Cling Clang! Clang! Clang! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

With each attack I put more power into the slashes, but with each slash it was met with an unbreakable guard. Even then he hasn’t bothered to look at me as I kept on the offensive.

“Pathetic. Loser. Dumb. You got some kicks, but it ain’t more than a breeze!”

Finally, turning around he swings the massive machete upwards. Sparks fly as my sword is cut in half. In the next second he knocks me down with a kick.

“HE TRIED AND FAILED, WEAK. ALSO LOOKS LIKE HE DOESN’T WANT TO JOIN US. I’LL LOOK FOR SOMEONE ELSE THEN.”

“Waste of time, let’s go.”

“Right behind ya, this Punk. Lowlife. Degenerate. Ain’t even worth staining my blade with. Die on the ground.”

Walking over, He spits on my face then impactfully plants his foot on my head slamming my face into the dirt.

Meanwhile at the Ariki’s Anthill

It’s only been a week since I mated with Rei. It was something way different than I had imagined. But I didn’t mind giving my first, as an ant queen, with him. I was pretty relieved to find out that he wasn’t an ant hyperfocused on mating. After doing the deed, I spent time with him in the last few of his days. In his passing, I had some of the worker ants draw an image of Rei next to the previous queen’s drawing. In other news, birthing thousands of eggs was something I never thought in a million lives I would experience. Skipping over the fine details, it surprisingly took a short time for them to fully grow. Usually, ants in my world would take more than a few weeks to fully mature. Even then, the process of nurturing all the eggs as they grow was... exhausting.

I feel for all the mothers out there… ugh.

Also, turns out all of them became soldier ants, to which I assigned Tsuwo to train and watch over. Not even a few days later she had them up to speed in being excellent soldiers of our colony.

My gosh Tsuwo is a beast, she even learned and leveled up Train to LV 6 in such a short time. Looks like she leveled up her Command to LV 5 too.

Watching over Tsuwo’s training camp for the newborns, I was able to learn more about skills and it’s leveling system. Apparently, you can learn a skill by doing a certain action a set amount of times, but the easiest way of gaining skills is learning from someone with a skill specified for teaching (Tsuwo’s [Train LV 6]). Although, the student won’t gain the same skill level as the teacher, there are very rare instances where they gain the skill and level of the teacher’s. When it comes to leveling one’s skill, you’d have to be performing the skill on something that it is used for. For example, if you use Bite on nothing but air it’ll level immensely slower than someone using Bite on an opponent. I asked more about the skill system from Gyoma, and according to her; skills level way faster in use of what they’re specified for. So using the skill Bite on a tree would progress it as much as using Bite on nothing, since it’s not the appropriate skill for the job (Cut would benefit more when used on a tree). There’s also Three categories when it comes to all the skills, Active, Passive, and Reactive. Active skills only gain a lot experience and level when used, and used appropriately, whereas Passive skills are always gaining experience but at a snail’s pace and cannot be sped up (unless by certain rare skills). The third category, Reactive, would only gain experience when reacting to an action; like Hard-skin activating to react to an attack. I decided to join in on some of the training, since I wanted to fully grasp how my skills would work and learn how to defend myself. Tsuwo was stiff every time she tried commanding me in my training, which was adorable to see, but after some hashing-out we got through her cute awkwardness together. Thanks to that, it gave me much more understanding on how to fight as an ant queen in this world. I shuddered watching the rest of the ants train, since she pitted them to train on each other with their skills. They would use their Strength, Bite, and Fire-breath on each other (to an extent) to keep from killing one another. In exchange they’d also learn and level up their defensive skills like Fire-resistance and Hard-skin. It was easy to train them in such a short time, because they were all born with the base skills needed to be a standard soldier ant. This is what their stats generally looked like by the time we finished training them:

Name:

Race: Fire ant

Class: Soldier

LV 1

HP: 600 / 600 (green)

MP: 100 / 100 (blue)

SP: 500 / 500 (orange)

Offense: 500 Defense: 500 Magic: 100

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 3] [Strength LV 3] [Life LV 2] [Accuracy LV 2] [Touch Sensory LV 2] [Smell Sensory LV 2] [Vision LV 3] [Movement LV 4] [Intelligence LV 2] [Fire-Breath LV 2] [Resistance: Fire LV 3] [Bite LV 3]

Since they were all born their level stayed at LV 1. It seems the only way to gain experience and level up was to defeat enemies. But thanks to Rei’s strong passing of offspring, I was able to birth 4 promising ants out of the thousand. Tsuwo took those four for her specialized camp and I decided to name them after their hellish training; Suki, Mina, Mai and Suzu. Luckily, this generation of ants had their own upcoming ‘top’ ant, Suki. She constantly sparred with Tsuwo. At first she couldn’t hold a candle to my top guard, but after plenty of matches she was barely able to stand her ground against Tsuwo. Whenever she wasn't sharpening her combat skills with Tsuwo, her other sisters always asked for some help with their training. It was the third day of training camp, Suki was watching over her three sister's sparring sessions. I came by and sat next to her, looking over her stats:

Name: Suki

Race: Fire ant

Class: Soldier

LV 1

HP: 900 / 900 (green)

MP: 150 / 150 (blue)

SP: 700 / 700 (orange)

Offense: 800 Defense: 700 Magic: 200

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 5] [Strength LV 4] [Life LV 3] [Accuracy LV 4] [Touch Sensory LV 3] [Smell Sensory LV 3] [Vision LV 3] [Movement LV 6] [Intelligence LV 4] [Fire-Breath LV 6] [Resistance: Fire LV 5] [Bite LV 4] [Speed-Burst LV 3] [Split-Dodge LV 3] [Wound-Heal LV 2]

“Is everything going well Suki?”

“Why yes, My Queen. Suzu and Mai are always competing to see who's better aaand Mina seems to soak up everything I teach her. I wouldn't be surprised if she's our batch's second 'top' ant.”

“Hmmm… maybe in time you four can become the next top four in our colony.”

“My Queen… Thank you so much for your generous praise.” She turns to bow to me and I smile and nod in response. I gently touch her head.

“Suki, despite being blessed with great power and talent you continue to strive for more. You’re always helping your sister-in-arms to greater heights. But… if there’s anything you need please don’t be afraid to seek me for aid. I may be your queen but first and foremost I am your mother after all.”

I guess this is what you call ‘looking into a mirror’. My mother always knew that behind all my hard work and uplifting spirits is the exhaustion I had almost everyday. She had a knack for coming to my rescue at the right time. She was my net and driving force to push through my overbearing high school life. Guess it’s my turn now to return the favor to my own daughters.

“M-my… my queen…” She doesn't hesitate to hug me, wrapping her front four legs around my upper body. I return the same hug. Strangely enough, my insect body felt wrapped in a certain kind of warmth. Like the stress of the world seemed to fade away as we hug.

“Nooooo faaaaiiir!! I want a hug tooooooo!!”

“Wait Suzu!”

“...hug me too…”

“Not you too, Mina!”

“Hehehe… well I don’t mind, come over here Mai.”

“I-if you insist, my queen, I’ll gladly accept a h-hug too.”

The three others wiggled their way into our hug. It was nice to know that even if my world is completely changed, these kinds of moments still exist. I hugged them all for as long as I could. It wasn’t long till the rest of my children took notice. What was once a small group hug turned into an ant pile hug-fest. Tsuwo finally returned from the hill, she was able to handle training every ant for days, but even she needed rest. Azuwei came along in preparation for a test set today in the afternoon.

“Suki, are you ready?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Okay, no holding back. Give it your all, if you can damage me enough I’ll consider your spot as ‘top’ ant among your sisters.”

“Understood, I’ll show you everything that I got.” Suki salutes as she takes her position 20 meters apart from Tsuwo. While I watched from a good length away, every other ant stood behind me as they watched.

“Goooooo! Go! Go! Go! Goooooo! Sukiiiii!”

“You got this Sister Suki!”

“...win Suki…”

“S-suki! S- oh e-excuse me sorry! S-suki!”

“Suuuki! Suuuki! Suki! Suki! Suki!” Already cheering on the growing talented ant, the open grasslands tremble. Even I found myself cheering along with every ant. The battle had already started, but for a good minute the two hadn't made a single move. In a flash, Tsuwo suddenly takes a hit. In place where Suki was, is a dust cloud and a bit of the ground dugged out. A few more dust clouds appear as the sound of whistling reverbs throughout the field. Suki started off by using her [Speed-Burst LV 3] which allowed her to catapult herself at high speeds once per use. It takes up a small amount of SP, so it became her way of movement in fights. Tsuwo stood her ground guarding every hit, and after a few more hits she shot off a few of her [Fire-Breath LV 5] seemingly into thin air. The first two breaths hit nothing, but the third connects with Suki. Getting blasted back, she quickly recovers and envelops herself with a light, [Wound-Heal LV 2]. Reacting to her recovery Tsuwo spitfires 3 more breaths. Using her [Strength LV 3] to slam the ground, Suki creates a makeshift earth barrier stopping the first two fire-breaths and dodging the last instantaneously. Along with her speed-burst skill she learned [Split-Dodge LV 3] which allowed for instant short ground dodges. It works well for whenever she attacks with straight shots with her speed-bursts, it also takes a small amount of SP. These skills became her bread and butter when it came to close-quarter combat. Taking off from cover, she shoots out a few of her own breaths at Tsuwo. Her breaths collide, exploding bigger and brighter than Tsuwo’s breaths.

Bwooosh! Bwoooosh!

As Gyoma stated, “There are rare instances where a student acquires the teacher’s skill and their skill’s level”. Smoke had enveloped Tsuwo, but out of the smoke a flurry of breaths flew towards Suki. She nimbly dodged each attack as she kept her distance. Then she took her stance and rushed into the smoke, like two swords clashing the sounds of battle continued in the smoke as it dissipated.

“Good try, but… Not enough!”

“Ngh! Aaaaahhhh!” Suki gets flung out of the clearing smoke a meter away, smacking hard onto the ground. Finally moving from her spot, Tsuwo charges her. Suki manages to get up beforehand, but is seemingly stuck. Changing plans, she puts her all into striking against Tsuwo’s charge. In this final clash, Suki struck first using the might of her jaws and head to smack down onto Tsuwo. With the power of the attack she just took, Tsuwo activates [Retaliate LV 7] flinging Suki backwards into the ground harder than ever.

“This battle is over.” Tsuwo walks up to Suki helping her from the ground. She carries her over to us for Azuwei to tend to her wounds.

“D-don’t worry Suki, y-you did a great j-job! I b-believe in you!.” [Heal LV 6] activates.

“Ngh… thank you Azuwei…”

“Suki! Suki! Suki! You were sooooo awesome! I couldn’t even see what happened! What happened?!”

“Don’t worry, I still think you’re amazing for standing up to our commander.”

“...sister suki is the best…”

“You are still very naive. I give praise for the use of your skills and your bravery, but once you use up all your SP you’re as good as dead. Always be mindful of your SP, Suki!”

“Ngh... Yes commander…”

“But… I can’t say I’m impressed, you’ve improved so much since your first day. Maybe next time you’ll finally pass. So keep training.” Tsuwo gives Suki a soft pat on her head.

“You hear that Suuukiiii!~ Commander praised youuu!~ Hurraaaay!~” She jumps onto Suki in a hyper-loving embrace.

“Oww… Suzu… hehehe.”

The rest of the day was final touches in training.

The next day

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Queen Ariki! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”

“Calm down, Suzu. Don’t bother our queen like that!”

“Come ooooon Maaaaiiiii! I’m borreeeed I thought we were gonna go noooowww!”

“Hehehehe... Suzu behave, Mai be nice. We are leaving real soon, we just have to wait till our top four are ready to go.”

“Sukiiiiiii, it’s been forever since we were born! I wanna see the world noooowwww! Mina say something pleeeasee!”

“...something…”

“Not what I meeeaaaan!”

Seeing them all gathered like this… I wonder how my mom and dad would react to knowing that they now have a thousand grandchildren… knowing dad he’d probably be devastated hehe...

We were waiting at the base of the huge anthill, which could pass off as a decent castle on its own. Blotting out the land in front of us, a thousand of my soldier children stood silently at attention in an organized formation. While me and the other four were leading the sea of red. Tsuwo went to gather Azuwei, Gyoma, and Saku. I requested them, because they had the most experience when it came to traveling this world. Not to mention that their level and skills would prove useful whenever I encounter a difficult situation. The corners of my mouth perk up as I make my way towards Suzu to gently pet her head. She’s a depiction of an alarm clock, but that’s what makes her more endearing.

“Mmm… hehehe… Queen Ariki’s headpats… mmmm…”

“My apologies, my Queen, for Suzu and her noisiness.”

“It’s quite alright, Mai. Thank you for keeping her under control.”

I pet her along with Suzu. Polar opposite of Suzu’s behavior, Mai is more elegant in her actions. But I know well enough that she does what she does, mostly because of the affection I tend to reward her with. Suki’s and Mina’s eyes were glued on the two as they got head pats. Suki is more of the watchful older sister type, which is helpful since she keeps these two bashful forces underwraps. As for Mina, she has a surprisingly sharp tongue underneath her quiet and calm personality.

“My Queen, I may be a bit selfish and out of line to ask, but may we also have a little reward too?”

I guess it’s the same across all species, we can still be kids at heart even if we’ve matured. Then again they grow in a few weeks soooo…

Obliging her selfish request, I walked over to Mina and Suki and gave their ‘little’ reward. Here are the stats of the three others:

Name: Mina

Race: Fire ant

Class: Soldier

LV 1

HP: 900 / 900 (green)

MP: 150 / 150 (blue)

SP: 700 / 700 (orange)

Offense: 800 Defense: 600 Magic: 150

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 3] [Strength LV 3] [Life LV 3] [Accuracy LV 4] [Touch Sensory LV 4] [Smell Sensory LV 5] [Vision LV 5] [Movement LV 4] [Intelligence LV 4] [Fire-Breath LV 5] [Resistance: Fire LV 3] [Bite LV 4] [Keen Senses LV 3] [Intel LV 3] [Smokescreen LV 2]

Name: Mai

Race: Fire ant

Class: Soldier

LV 1

HP: 600 / 600 (green)

MP: 150 / 150 (blue)

SP: 600 / 600 (orange)

Offense: 800 Defense: 700 Magic: 100

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 4] [Strength LV 4] [Life LV 2] [Accuracy LV 2] [Touch Sensory LV 3] [Smell Sensory LV 3] [Vision LV 3] [Movement LV 5] [Intelligence LV 3] [Fire-Breath LV 5] [Resistance: Fire LV 4] [Bite LV 5] [Burning-Touch LV 4] [Acid-Breath LV 2] [Venom-Bite LV 2]

Name: Suzu

Race: Fire ant

Class: Soldier

LV 1

HP: 600 / 600 (green)

MP: 300 / 300 (blue)

SP: 500 / 500 (orange)

Offense: 450 Defense: 400 Magic: 300

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 3] [Strength LV 3] [Life LV 2] [Accuracy LV 2] [Touch Sensory LV 2] [Smell Sensory LV 2] [Vision LV 3] [Movement LV 4] [Intelligence LV 2] [Fire-Breath LV 4] [Resistance: Fire LV 3] [Bite LV 3] [Summon: Wind LV 1] [Air-Bullets LV1] [Summon: Fire LV 1]

Surprisingly, all four of them have 3 different skills unique to themselves, but are all the same soldier class. Suki is geared for a Monk type class. Mina is more of a Scout. Mai and her status inflicting skills matches a Druid class… and she’s one skill away from being a part of the Spider’s race. Suzu is straight up an Elementalist… although she isn’t the greatest at using her skills, she has the highest potential just from her magical skills alone! I’m jealous that I don’t have those skills… and I don’t think I’d learn anything from a ditzy ant like her… guess I’d have to find some ancient and powerful lady or guy in the woods who’s a decade old and willing to teach magic to an ant queen.

After a bit of time, the top four finally made their way down the hill. As they do an applause erupts out of the ocean of ants, shaking the very ground in their appearance.

“My! My! What an audience, I reckon this’ll be quite a party to be rockin’ and movin’ across the lands.”

“T-there’s… so… so many of t-them… I still c-can’t stand a huge c-crowd…!”

“It appears Rei’s efforts had major success. Pleased to see quite a sizable army for our colony.”

“My Queen, Ariki and Rei are outstanding for producing this many promising sister-in-arms.” Tsuwo added to Gyoma’s statement.

With everyone together we set out into the world beyond our anthill. When it came to learning about the world and the general logic of things here, I mostly asked Gyoma for that knowledge. Thanks to that I now owe her close to 5,000 shinies. Which I’m not sure how I’ll payback, but I’ll figure it out… Somehow.

She’s even more ruthless than my homeroom teacher when it comes to expenses and costs… sheesh, I’m surprised there isn’t a [Loan-Shark LV 7] skill on her.

I tried asking for a way to travel to another world or universe through some sort of magic item or skill and she hasn’t had a faintest clue. What she did have was a clue to a hint, she salvaged a scroll from one of the dead in her treasury room. It spoke of how ancient secrets were hidden away by the highest orders in the three kingdoms. With that miniscule amount of hope, I decided to go explore the world for answers. We were fairly fast in traveling together as an army, thanks to our great coordination and Tsuwo’s training. I assume since we are larger than humans we may be as big as a full grown horse, making our movement speed similar if not faster. There was smoke erupting way east from our location, it's so enormous that it looked like it could be mistaken for a brewing storm. Closer to and north of us, more smoke emitted at a smaller scale. Curious of what the cause of the northern smoke is, I order everyone to head towards the northward smoke.

It could either be some sort of natural fire, or like a town or village on fire… I am conflicted as to what I hope to see… Is it gonna be like a ‘world event quest’ where I find a situation and solve it and get the rewards of the ‘world event quest’? How much of this world is like a video game compared to real life? I’ve explored more into the menu screen, but nothing new has come of it since I got here. There weren’t any indications of ‘Quests’ either…

Not long till we reached our first destination. It was a village and it wasn’t big by any means. It’s surrounded by open fields and crops similar to a small farming town in my world. Most of the fire has gone out leaving the village smouldering. There weren’t any bodies or traces of blood on the outside. The crops were obliterated by hundreds of thousands of footprints littering over the soil and plants.

“Oooohhh, my Queen! My Queen! Let’s go check it out!”

“Shush, Suzu it’s not your call to make.”

“Now now, don’t be too hasty, you two. We just got here.”

“...A recent attack…”

“Hmm... I am curious about what’s going on, let’s go explore it. Saku and Azuwei take command for now, secure the area around the village and make sure to engage only if necessary.”

“No worries, we’ll ‘ave the place securer than libanut!”

“M-my queen, I suggest we have the bulk of o-our forces to the e-east.”

“Hm? Sure, but why do you suggest that, Azuwei?”

“W-well… um judging f-from the footprint’s direction… t-they came from the east so… I assume there’ll be more forces coming from that direction!” Azuwei squeaked as she pointed out the human footprints.

I wonder if that’s her [Reasoning LV 5] at work? I guess it counts as a part of her smartness and sharp intuition.

I nod accepting her deduction and turn to face Gyoma.

“Gyoma could you scout the far outskirts of the village if there’s any danger nearby?”

“Yes, Your highness.”

With that, Gyoma disappears.

“Tsuwo, Suzu, Mina, Mai, and Suki with me.”

“As you wish, my queen.”

“Oookieeee doookieee! I got your back Queen Arikiiiii!”

“I shall guard you with all I have, please be at ease my queen.”

“...I’ll keep you safe…”

“Please keep close girls, remember my healing has a certain range. And as promised I shall always provide sufficient support to you my Queen.”

With my five elite guards following me, we make our way into the village from the south side. The bulk of our forces spread out east and the rest headed west, making a bubble to keep invaders out. Stepping over the destroyed and burned down buildings we enter what's left of a once peaceful village. At first glance, I feel my insect gut churn instantly from the traumatizing sight. Corpses were in piles, some were scattered about, and blood was everywhere with enough to fill a 5ft deep public pool with. From the looks of it all, the smell must have been unbearably vile.

Ugh… ngh… if I had my human functions of vomiting I would do it right now… I’ve seen the treasury full of human bones but… this… this is… real life… this is… my reality now.

Slowly making my way, shivers shoot through my body. The intensity and emotion of the air felt like I was trudging through a swamp.

“Oooohh! Are these two-legs? Are they deaaad? Woah! They’re so squishyyyy!”

“I agree, these things… are quite mushy. Maybe that explains why they were so easily decimated.”

“Be careful girls from what I heard, they are surprisingly strong despite their... soft bodies.”

“...Poke…”

“Two-legs and their selfishness knows no bounds. Better this than alive.”

I forget that my former species is now my enemy. I… understand that they are bad and good people… so I don’t want to fight them if I don’t have to. I wonder if they’ll listen to me if I try to save any human left alive here…

While my guards looked around at everything in the area, I came across another gruesome scene in front of some building that held various assortment of everyday items.

“H-how… horrible…”

Can I puke spiritually? Maybe in my mind? Bleeeehhh... ughh….

Looking away, I dry heave from seeing a young family bloodied, cold, and motionless on the ground.

“...Ngh… ugh… L-... bleeeehhhgg!”

Few feet away, a man starts puking blood on the ground as he gets up on all fours. Sluggishly staggering to his feet and unable to hold his own weight. Covered in wounds, blood, and dirt he groans as he limps his way towards me.

Oh my god! A zombieeee?! It’s an undead! An actual undead! I know I made a joke about it a while ago but I don’t actually wanna be eaten alive!

I plant my legs with my jaw open prepared to take down my first undead enemy, usually in the beginning stages they’re ‘fodder’ in most MMORPG video games. I won’t be gaining much experience from this, but EXP is EXP in beginner levels, I can’t be too picky.

“L-... Laie… we’re… cough ngh… I’m… gonna live…”

He stops, slowly realizing that I’m in front of him.

“G-get… Get away cough! Get away from Laie!!”

He unsteadily runs at me, his arm raised high up in the air. [Aura Detect LV 8] activates.

“My Queen!”

“Stooooooop!”

Tsuwo abruptly stopped a few inches away from him with her jaws outstretched. Activating my skill Aura Detect allows me to sense the ‘goodness’ in a living being and their intentions being good or bad, sort of like an advanced lie detector. Had I not done that, I wouldn’t have realized that he is still alive and that he had good intentions to protect something from me.

I know for sure he would see me as a monster, but he didn’t charge at me with the last of his strength just to kill me. I sensed a strong urge to protect something from a ‘monster’ like me… but what… hmmm…

Like an engine running out of steam, he trips over himself stumbling onto the floor. His arm reaching out to something underneath me. I moved aside to see what he was going for. A young girl, her eyes gazing upon the shimmering teal sky, but the color within her eyes has long since left. My eyes quiver, realizing what this young girl must mean to him.

“Big sis! Big sis! Big sis! Up-up! Up-up! Pweasee!”

“No fair, it's my turn with Ari!

“C-can I have a turn t-too?”

“Here Big sis, I can help you, do you need help?”

“Oooooh Arikkiiiiii! My sweet little Arikiiiiiii! Daad needs healing!!”

“Ari? Could you be a dear and come help me and your dad? He managed to burn the chicken again…”

My… family I… I really hope they’re doing okay…

Standing guard, Tsuwo turns her attention from the man to me. Gently I use one of my front legs to close the young girl's eyes.

“Please, wherever you all are… may it be a better and peaceful place.”

“My Queen…?”

I look at Tsuwo, who is bewildered by my gentle actions towards an enemy species, then walk over to the man laying facedown on the ground.

“Tsuwo, this is an order from your queen. We are taking in this man.”

“But. But my Queen! They’re…!”

“Tsuwo! I understand that you have a bad history with two-legs. I understand the pain you and our colony have faced. But to continue this cycle of hate, would only breed more hate. Not only in them, but in everyone including us. Therefore… I order you Tsuwo, we must protect this man and take him into our colony.” Standing tall and enunciating each of my words to her, I put my all into giving a Queenly sense of command.

“I-... Understand, I shall follow your orders. My Queen.”

Without skipping a beat I place a leg on her as I look her in the eyes.

“This time it’ll be different okay? Let’s all make it home. Together”

“M-my Queen…” She stands back, giving a quick and solid salute. “I, Tsuwo, will make sure we all make it safely home!”

Not too far from us the four sisters were exploring the western end of the village. Mina had [Keen Senses LV 3] which helped her detect anything unusual in a 10 meter radius. With nothing setting off her alarms the sisters explored freely, still keeping guard.

“...Poke...Poke...Poke...Poke...Tiny two-leg...Poke…”

“Mina please be careful when touching things okay? I don’t want something bad to happen that you can’t handle alone.”

“...Okay Suki… … … … … … Poke…”

“Ohhhhhh! What is thiiiiis?! It’s shiny and pointy!! And kinda small… but it’s shinyyy! Ow! Ow ow! That’s sharp!”

“Suzu, are you alright? Here let me just…” [Wound Heal LV 2] activates.

“Oh wow!! Thank you, Big Siiiiiiiis!! Sorry, I’ll be careful next time! Ohh Ohh!! what’s this???”

“Sometimes… I wonder how you don’t go crazy over taking care of them, Sister Suki.”

“Oh it’s nothing really… besides I’m taking care of you too, my little Mai.” She smiles and nudges her.

“W-whatever do you mean?...” Fidgeting from Suki’s nudge, her face reddens.

“Hehe… oh weeeell… I sense a little something behind your butt… that maybe you should be careful with okay? Too much and you’ll gain weight.”

“S-sister Suki! I… I… okay I’m only taking one barrel okay? Two-legs and their sweet soil are… ahem- are delicious”

“Hehe… Oh my… Well save some for me okay?”

“Anything for you, Sister Suki.”

They soon catch up to us after finding nothing else of note within the village. With Tsuwo’s help, I got the unconscious man onto my big butt and with a bit of ingenuity I created a way to keep him on even if things get a little rough. I just tied him onto my butt tightly with rope.

I swear I’m not into this stuff, I just know how to tie a good knot from my summer camp!

Clasping my two front legs I offer my condolences for the fallen then we made our way towards the east of the village. At the open entrance, Gyoma greeted us.

“Your highness, hm? Oh, I see.”

“Is something the matter Gyoma?”

“As for the two-leg on your butt, I’ll save for another time. But we do have a situation brewing.”

“Enemies nearby and heading straight for the village?”

“Precisely, the carnage left by whomever came recently has attracted vast amounts of sects to come feed on this place.”

“How many are there?”

“In total, upwards to 5,000. But their forces are split in half and the closest group is coming from the east side, if we leave now we’ll barely miss them. Although these particular sects aren’t too strong individually, in a large army they prove quite a force to be reckoned with. They are also being led by a few different elder sects.”

“Assuming the title of those ‘elder’ sects that would mean they would be many times stronger than a regular sect… in short we are outnumbered and outmatched.”

“Precisely, I suggest we retreat. No need to fight a battle we’ll lose.”

Rumble! Rumble! Crackle! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The ground beneath us sprung to life, quickly pulling itself apart and changing shapes. Slowly a deep canyon began to split open between the entire middle of the village’s large road. Mouth-like holes opened around the crevice, swallowing anything unlucky enough to stand above it. Turning almost the consistency of water, the earth shook and warped into each other, further breaking down what’s left of the village and its buildings. Thanks to the suddenness of the earth cracking open we were split into two groups 20 meters apart. Suki, Mina, Mai, and Suzu on one end while me, Gyoma, and Tsuwo were on the other end.

“Everyone!!! Retreat to the east!!! ” I yell out. In quick response, we all use the full extent of our legs to flee eastwards away from the oncoming holes. Giant pink worm-like creatures sprout from the cracks hissing and snapping at anything it could get it’s mouth on.

“Grivels! Everyone pay attention to the opening cracks on the ground!!” Warned Gyoma.

Since I took the time to learn a bit of the world, I wanted to know our natural enemies and the dangers we face. Grivels were basically giant earthworms with razor sharp tooth mouths at the very tip of their bodies. Usually about the size of several small cars put together in a row. They’re pretty fast when it comes to burrowing through ground even through hard rock. Their bodies weren’t something to joke at too, most attacks would bounce off them since they usually have [Hard-Skin LV 6] or [Hard-Skin LV 7]. Naturally they are the two-leg’s decomposers, since they’re favorite food is fresh corpses. They aren’t necessarily picker either, anything near their feeding grounds is fair game. Now we’re in the middle of one. Here’s the stats of a regular Grivel, courtesy of Gyoma’s documents (priced at 1,000 shinies each):

Name:

Race: Worm

Class: Grunt

LV 7

HP: 300 / 300 (green)

MP: 50 / 50 (blue)

SP: 2,000 / 2,000 (orange)

Offense: 1,000 Defense: 2,000 Magic: 50

Skills: [Hard Skin LV 7] [Strength LV 3] [Life LV 1] [Touch Sensory LV 6] [Smell Sensory LV 7] [Movement LV 6] [Bite LV 6] [Burrow LV 6] [Shred LV 5] [Digestion LV 5]

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Grivels?! Ewww! They’re so aahhhh!-”

“Suzu!! You slimy cretins let go of her!! Hyaaaa!!”

“Wait!! Mai dooon’t!!”

“...Mai! Suzu!... Let go!... of them!.... n-noo!...”

“Eeeeeyyyyhhh!!”

Grivels were coming out rapidly one by one, almost all in one motion a group of them captured Suzu as she tried to dodge a large opening in the ground. Mai and Mina tried to retaliate and free her, but more appeared and captured them in an instance. [Fire-breath LV 5] activates. [Fire-Breath LV 4] activates. [Fire-breath LV 5] activates. Propelling a laser of flames they cut and burn a few of the Grivels down. In a hydra-like behavior more and more replaced the ones burnt down to keep the three suspended in the air. Not too far north from them a hole, the size of a baseball field, opens up. Rumbling followed by a gurgling roar explodes out the hole and from it emergis a skyscraper-size Grivel.

“An Elder Grivel?!” Suki shrieks.

Elder sects are a whole other league of their own. True to their ‘Elder’ title they had lived a long life and fought many battles to become as powerful as they are now. All sects have their own elder sects. In this world there is a level limit and that is LV 50. It’s pretty strange that it isn’t LV 100, but considering how hard it is to actually level up it makes sense. Elder Grivels tend to be around LV 30 making it certain death to face it head on at our current LVs. Realizing the grave situation unfolding, Gyoma made a b-line straight for Suzu and Mai. Unfortunately, even with her strong advantages against sects the regular Grivels proved to be an never-ending wall of organisms. Spamming her fast assault of death-blowing skills, the worm-like wall only seemed to grow. More and more burrowed their way towards us, creating larger crevices and holes in hopes of bringing us under. Forcing Gyoma to go on the defensive, protecting our backs as we retreated.

Dammit! If I still had my wings I’d be able to fly over and save them! Grrrr!

In an attempt to help, I fire [Fire-Breath LV 7] at the Grivels keeping the three ant’s hostage. Most of them missed their mark, but even with the few that hit it didn’t do enough to free them.

Zzzzzrrrr! Bwwoooosh! Zzzzrrrr! Whirrr! Bwooosh!

With the growing wall and sprouting holes, we were continuously pushed further away east from the four sisters.

Those fucking bastards!! They’re fucking separating us!!

“Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Help! Maaaaiiii! Sukiiiiiii!! Minaaaaa!! Heellpp!”

“Ngh! Eeeeyy! Let go!! Damn Grivels!! Eeeeyy!!”

“...Brainless flesh!!... Let go!!...”

All three struggled as they slowly suffocated from the Grivels wrapping around their bodies. The head of the skyscraper Grivel reared its head to face the three struggling ants. It’s jaw opens like a zipper revealing it’s hundreds of rows of ground-tearing teeth.

GROOOOOOOOOOOOGUUGUUGUU!!!

“Mina… M-mai…?”

“Suzu! Don’t give up, Mina and I are here! Don-”

“...Suzu! Mai!...”

Above the trio, the shadow of the giant encased them and with it, their hopes of seeing the light of day ever again. The rush of wind blew deafeningly as its head fell, aiming to finish them and a part of the village in one gulp. Swallowing their screams with its mouth of impending doom. [Fire-breath LV 6] activates.

“LET GO OF MY LITTLE SISTERS!!!”

bzzzzzzZZZZZZRRRRRRR!

More powerful than Tsuwo’s LV 5 Fire-breath, Suki’s breath completely scorches everything in its path, melting away anything within 5 meters. Her breath melts away most of the Grivels holding Suzu, Mina, and Mai captive. Skill level-up! [Fire-breath LV 6] now [Fire-breath LV 7].

“BEGONE!!!” [Fire-breath LV 7] activates. The scalding red laser smacks into the mouth of the giant setting ablaze a part of its fleshy insides.

KABOOOM!!

GRRROOOOOOGUGUGUGUUUU!!

With little knockback, it fell at an increasing speed irritated from the pain of Suki’s attack. [Speed Burst LV 3] activates. Shooting out like a bullet effortlessly shredding through the crumbling ground, Suki propelled herself towards the falling trio. More Grivels erupt from the ground creating earthen obstacles in Suki’s way. [Split-dodge LV 3] multiple activations. Zipping through the ground, in every second she cuts corners and maneuvers through the crudely put together maze. Taking a strong grip on her sisters as she catches them from hitting the ground. [Speed Burst LV 3] activates, warning SP low. Reunited at last, they put their mind, body, and soul into escaping the giant’s feeding zone.

“Hold on tight girls! I got you!” [Split-dodge LV 3] activates.

“Sukiiiiiii!! Oh my gosh! I loooove you!! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!”

“...I’m gonna kiss you, Suki!…”

“Thank you, Suki!! I’m sorry for causing you trouble!!”

“Well, that’s what I’m always here for!! Now shoot at that damn Grivel I’ll focus on getting us to safety!!” [Speed-burst LV 3] activates.

“Roger-Roger!! Big Sis!!” [Fire-breath LV 4] activates.

“Understood, Sister Suki!!” [Fire-breath LV 5] activates.

“...for Sister Suki!!...” [Fire-breath LV 5] activates.

Zrrrr! Zrrrr! Zrrrr! Zrrrrr! Zrrrr! Bwooosh! Booom! Kaaaboooom!

Suzu, Mina, and Mai fired breath after breath in hopes to slow the advancement of Elder Grivel's mouth.

GRRROOOGUGUGUUU-

“Take that!! And That!! Hyaaa!! That!! Aaaaand!! Thaaaat!”

“Hyaaa!! Payback you eyeless cretin!! Hyyaaa!!’

“...Turn to goop, you fat sack of nerves!...”

“We’re… Almost… there!!!...” [Strength LV 4] activates, SP Depleted.

THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!! CRUUUUUUUUMBLE!!

“Waaaahhh oof!! Omphf!! Ow! My Buuuutt!”

“Wooooaah! Woah! Eeeeyy! Ow! Ngh!”

“...Ahhhhhh… ow…”

Creating a massive arc of its body coming out from one hole into the new hole it made, it burrows deep into the canyon. The thunderous rumbling of the ground gradually dissipated.

“Wheeeeewww Weeeee! Suki! Mai! Mina! We’re saved! That was soooo close! Oh my gosh I was sooooo scared! I didn’t know what I’d d-”

“Suzu! You had me worried! Next time you should stay closer to us and not run off ahead! Think of what Suki had to go through for us! Are you listening Su-”

“...We’re all sav-...”

Not too far from the hole the Elder Grizel had gorged, a head was left.

“S-... Su… S... Suu… Suki…? Sukkiiiiiiiii!!!! SUUUKIIIII!!!”

“No… S-suki…? Suzu!! W-we we need to go!!”

“S- su-... Suki…?”

Suzu scrambled over to the head, picking it up and cradling it. Her cries rang throughout as the ground began to crackle and morph again. Mina and Mai followed close by, unable to keep their usual composed nature. Wiping away her tears, Mai quickly drags Suzu away from the oncoming Grivels. Staying on guard, Mina shoots down any that came close with her fire-breaths.

“S-SUUUKIIIII!! NOOOO!! S- S- SUUUKKIII!!!”

“Mina! Come on! The path is clear!”

“...Coming!...”

Avoiding the rest of the worming sects they narrowly weave their way out. Arriving at east outskirts the trio regroups with Queen Ariki, Tsuwo, and Gyoma. Most of the village had been turned into a deep valley riddled with holes.

“Mai, Mina, Suzu! I’m so very glad you are all safe.” I hug them with a huge sigh of relief.

“I was unable to come to your aid, but I am in agreement. I’m glad you've safely escaped.”

“I praise you three for making out together.”

“Speaking of… Suki is with you right?”

“My queen… Suki is…”

“S-... Suukkiiii! S- s-...!”

“...S-she’s gone my queen…”

My heart sank. Whenever there is a point I’d face a harrowing situation, I’d usually find a way through. My family wasn’t in the greatest of living situations, but we always got by even if by the skin of our teeth. I was raised to handle things as they came, and yet.

“M-... my child...is…Suki… is...?”

I was afraid that if I looked it would solidify the reality of what happened, but my legs drove me forward. Suzu continued to pour out her emotions curled up around the head. Slowly losing and cracking her shrill voice as she calls out to Suki.

“My… Suki? She’s gone…?!”

“I’m… afraid so, your highness.” Gyoma softly placed her front leg on my back.

Clenching my jaws, I take a deep breath closing my eyes before holding Suzu in my arms. Doing this many times before didn’t make it any easier than doing it now. I know I can’t physically cry, but I still go through the motions of it. I still vividly remember how it feels.

“Q-queen Ari- Ariki we!... We can bring her back r-right… right?”

“Suzu…” Looking into her eyes, I knew that she knew, but she desperately wished for a different reality.

“No! Suki… Suki would never...! She… She was better than all t-three of us combined! Su- Suki was the next top ant of our..! I’ll never run out ahead ever again! I’m s-so sorry! I’ll listen this time so… s-... so... suki...” Refusing to listen, she screamed out for the only answer she wanted to hear, but it never came.

“Suzu, Suki has passed… I’m sorry… there’s... nothing we can do.”

Mina and Mai join in, hugging Suzu tightly sharing the tears they held for Suki.

“…sniffle…” Suzu softly weeps.

“Mina, Mai watch over her. We are not out of the bind just yet. As queen I shall make sure no more shall falter under my command. And… as your mother I can’t afford to lose another one of you.” My voice resounded with certainty and clearness.

“Y-yes, m-mother...”

“...u-understood, mother…”

Waiting for us not too far away Azuwei, Saku and a handful of the troops. We soon joined up with them explaining what had occurred back at the small village.

“O-oh! Mai, Mina, Suzu you’re hurt!” [Heal LV 6] activates.

“Darn Grivels! I’d give them payback twenty times over if I had a go at ‘em. Must ‘ave been real rough.” Walking over, Saku gives Suzu the biggest warm hug she could.

“Saku, Azuwei. How is the situation here?”

“Well… about that, Gyoma was right about the bad news. And to add to that, extra bad news…”

“My queen. We-We’re already surrounded by Sviens and E-elder sects!”

SSSSSSS! GRRROOUU! KIKIKIKIKIKI!! WHIIIIIRRRRR! SSSSSSS! SZZZSZZZSZZ! GRRROOOUUU!! KIIKKIIKKII! WHIIIIIRIRIRIRII!! SSSSSSSSS!!

An orchestra of sects opened the stage, spanning across the hills ahead of us. Their roars and cries reverberated throughout the expansiveness of the open green fields.

“Your highness, I humbly apologize for my lack of accuracy in information. Had I not caught wind of the Grivels burrowing underground, we wouldn’t have been put in this situation.”

“It’s alright… it’s what Tsuwo has taught me during training… You’ll never know what’ll happen in a battlefield…”

“My queen, as promised.” Standing as tall as she could she saluted to me, raising her voice and calling out to every ant around us. New Skill acquired [Raise-Spirits LV 1]. [Raise-Spirits LV 1] activates.

“My sister-in-arms and I will stand and fight so that each and everyone of us makes it home! HOME, TOGETHER!!!”

A moment of silence followed by the deafening roars of our army, thumping and crying out Tsuwo’s words.

“HOME!! TOGETHER!! RAH!! HOME!! TOGETHER!! RAH!! HOME!! TOGETHER!!”

Looking over everybody, they give me a nod including Suzu.With her eyes foggy she still held Suki, but something had sparked a now-growing fire within her.

“S-suki didn’t give up! So..! Soo!... Sooooo! I’LL NEVER GIVE UP TOO!!”

“I’m with Suzu! I will never give up like our Big Sis!”

“...For Sister Suki!!...”

“For Suki…” I turn, puffing out my chest, stepping onto the stage of the battlefield. Every ant stood with bated breath, their gazes on me. I take a deep breath and close my eyes before raising myself up on my four legs. With my unyielding support I take command, [Command LV 7] activates.

“ALL TROOPS!! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!”