Chapter 48

Ah… Finally, it's done… I sighed while dragging away the last of the ant working outside of the nest.

It’s been truly a lot of work. After all, I needed to attack those creatures and make sure that I wasn’t detected. Luckily, it's times like those that my new skill Stealth came into play. Though I still needed to avoid being spotted since Stealth only hid my presence and mask my odor but didn’t make my body invisible. Because of that, I always made a point to attack the isolated ones and annihilated them instantly so that they wouldn’t be able to call for a backup. Then, at the very end of it, I launched a surprise attack to those that were left and killed them all before they could even react.

Well, it will not hurt to be a little bit cautious. I thought while looking at the small single nest.

Of course, even though the ants that were working outside the nest were gone, there were probably still some ants left inside that nest. That was the reason why I decided to drag away the bodies of the ants I have killed in order to avoid tipping off the left-over ants inside the nest by accident. And well, the bodies of the dead ants could also be used to recover some of the stamina that I had lost. Though fortunately, I hadn’t received any physical damage so I was still technically at peak condition.

For now, I had piled up the ants’ carcasses a little distance away from the nest just to be sure. Okay, here we go. With that, I threw the last of the ant carcass that I had personally killed, and from what I knew, there were at least thirty-two ant carcasses piled up in here. Time to eat!!

Naturally, I couldn’t afford to use Devour on all of that. After all, I had no idea how many more ants were left inside that nest. And if it just so happened that there were only less than five remaining inside, then my plan to finally start my evolution would be completely ruined and I would have to postpone it once again. Obviously, I wouldn’t want that, so I only ate about ten of the ant’s carcasses.

This is enough for now.

After I was done replenishing my stamina, I once again activated stealth and began walking towards the nest. And while moving as cautious as I could possibly be, I entered the little ant’s nest.

Mostly because there weren’t any shiny crystals inside the nest, the whole interior part was covered in darkness. But thanks to my Night Vision skill, I had no problem navigating inside that dark nest. Though for some reason, it seemed like the maximum range of my vision had still decreased even though my skill had already reached Rank S.

Well, there’s still clearly a limit to it, but at very least there is some clear improvement.

While thinking things like that, I was thoroughly scanning my surroundings in order to lessen the possibility of being caught in a surprise attack. Hmm… Detect Life really came in handy in times like this.

Honestly though, it seemed to me that my skill set was slowly leaning towards the assassin or scout type skills. I mean, there was the obvious Stealth. Then, I also had a lot of Detection type skills on top of my senses enhancing skills. And let’s also not forget about Accelerate that could technically be used as both a way to escape and to perform a swift and fast ambush.

Though I guess considering that I am a part of the wolf species, then that should not be surprising. But man, I also like to experience using magic like my father wolf and that other alpha…

In the midst of all of that, my Detect Life caught the presence of three ants in the nearby room probably at the very center of the nest. But just to make sure, I didn’t move directly towards that room and I instead checked every single nook and cranny of the small nest first. And once I was confident that there weren’t any other ants inside the nest, I proceeded towards the room at the center where I detected the presence of the three living ants.

But as I moved closer and closer towards that place, I detected the presences of multiple lives scattered all around the room. And if I wasn’t mistaken, it seemed as if the three ants that I detected first were standing on guard outside in a separate room.

Wait… huh?

At first, I honestly found it confusing especially because the presences inside the separate room were all weak and small. But then, I realized. Oh! I see. Those are probably the eggs. Specifically, some ant’s eggs. As for those three ants standing in the room upfront, they are probably the guards tasked to protect those eggs. But given their job description, I am pretty sure that those guards aren’t simple workers. Most likely, they must at least be an Anties Soldier or even an Anties Captain.

With that in mind, I proceeded with a lot more caution than before. After all, an Anties Worker is incomparable to an Anties Soldier when it comes to battle. If I had to describe it, I would say that it was just simply the difference in their job designation. Of course, it wasn’t as if an Anties Worker couldn’t fight at all, it’s just that the Anties Soldiers were more suitable into combat compared to the Anties Workers. Given that fact, it was only natural that the Anties Captains would be stronger. And if my guess was right, those Anties Captains were probably the next step of evolution for the Anties Soldiers.

Truth to be told, I could still win even if I fought three Anties Soldiers headon all at once. But doing that would not be as easy as before and there was a chance that I would get injured in the process. More than that, if there was an Anties Captain among them, it would be a hard-fought battle. Though even with that, I still think that I wouldn’t lose. And it wasn’t simply overconfidence on my part, it was just that the ants were incredibly inferior in terms of speed. Adding that fact that my fangs were also highly effective on them, then I could confidently say that I wouldn’t lose to just three ants.

Even though that is the case, it will still be a lot easier for me to just launch an ambush and kill those three in one fell swoop. I mean, it is pretty meaningless to risk being injured if I could just annihilate them efficiently…

It was then that I finally reached the entrance of the room at the center. Then with swift and sneaky movements, I peeked inside the room.

Standing there at the center of the cave-like room were the three ants I detected earlier. But contrary to my expectations, all three monsters inside the room were all just Anties Soldiers. Which was honestly really surprising given the importance of the room that they were tasked to protect.

I suppose it is just normal given the size of this nest… I concluded. Well, that works for me.

And with that, I activated Accelerate and dash towards the nearest ant. For the three ants, it probably seemed like it all happened in a flash. But for me, the three monsters were just too slow to the point that I even saw my unfortunate target stiffening up before I sank my fangs in its head.

A crunching sound echoed on the room as I crushed the head of the ant using my fangs. Then before the other two managed properly processed what just happened, I quickly ran towards the next nearest ant. And using that momentum, I slammed my claws in-between the ants’ head and body which in turn killed the second ant in an instant.

As the loud boom reverberates inside the room, I felt the presence of the last ant rapidly approaching me in the back. But before the third and last ant reached my position, I gracefully dodge its attack by leaping vertically into the air.

Up above, I watched as the third ant crashed into the corpse of its comrade. And before the third ant managed to get away, I activated the first additional effect of my skill Accelerate. But this time, I didn’t accelerate to perform a double jump and instead use that effect to propel myself downward. Then while pointing my right claws towards the head of the third ant, I let the combination my skill and gravity push my body down.

In the next instant, some green liquid spurted out of the last ant’s head as about a fourth of my right leg sank in its head. And without even being able to let out a dying screech, the last ant collapsed on the spot and died.

***

Immediately after making sure that all three ants were dead, I proceeded to check the room they were guarding. And just like what I had expected, the room was full of ant’s unhatched eggs.

Okay, this should work. I thought while looking at the numerous eggs inside the room. Then after dragging the three guards’ carcasses inside that room, I proceeded to make sure that there were no left-over threats on the nest. And once I made sure of that, I began dragging all the Anties Workers carcasses I left outside to that very same room. Though naturally, since I could only drag those bodies one by one using my mouth, the process took some time. But even though it was a little bit tiring, when I was finally done with all of that labor, I still couldn’t help but feel excited about what was about to come.

At long last!! I can now begin my evolution!! I rejoiced inside. Now, time to fill my belly with the meat of these ants!! And with that thought in mind, I began the buffet.

First, I started with the eggs inside the room. And though it was a little bit disgusting and slimy, I endured it and swallowed it down. But surprisingly, the ant eggs seemed to be light in the stomach so I easily made work of all of them. Once they were all gone, I proceeded to eat some of the actual ant’s corpse because I still wasn’t feeling full. In the end, about twenty ants' carcasses were left including the bodies of the three ant guards.

Hmmm…That was surprising. I really didn’t expect that I could eat this much. Though maybe using Devour on the first bunch of eggs is probably the reason for that. I concluded while checking my Status Screen. Well, no use in wasting time, let’s begin.

[Level cap reached]

[Individual (Unnamed) can now evolve]

[Would you like to begin the evolution now?]

[Yes/No]

And with that, I finally chose Yes.