Aran’s antennae twitched; the damp air inside the grand nest is stifling today. The first force had been dispatched with observer ants to see how the humans fared against their attack.

  For the first day, it's meant to be testing only, which is why none of the five kings dispatched by the queen. Or at least that is the plan.

  The commotion of buzzing workers made him wince. This was not good. The queen will notice this, even some supermajor crawled with a side glance at him. Each of them has a question in their eyes, yet manners came first. It always does.

  “My king,” A supermajor bowed. The ant was bigger than Aran. But their height matches each other, and Aran's stout limbs enabled him movement the supermajor could only afford in a dream.

  “My king,” Repeated a worker beside him. The greeting echoed through the tunnel. Until he met the last mutation, his most trusted soldiers. Needles Ant, flew with loud and their obnoxious butterfly-like wings.

  The Courier antennae vibrate, and Aran receives her message.

  The queen is calling.

  Of course.

  Aran walked the narrow passageway into a grand door. Two Ant Knights bowed; they opened the door, revealing a grand chamber. The chamber was filled with larvae, and sprawled in the middle was the queen; she towered over the biggest supermajor—her stomach bloated with a new batch of workers that would soon be born.

  “Aran, you’re late. Yet… I wish there was another late king,” The queen spoke, eyes zeroed on him as she couldn’t move. The other kings were there, each held the obsidian body befitting of a king, limbs ended with claws that would cleave any who would dare threaten them. Standing on two legs and with white wings, they, without a doubt, were the strongest of all—and existed to protect the queen, to be her sword and shield.

  “My Queen!” Ezek spoke up, his bulging muscles flexed, and his arm went wide. “It was real, the quest! The system has granted us a quest! The same thing our ancestors got thousands of years ago! Now we’re chosen! You were very wise to accept. Ezek’s heart moved.” He fell to his knees with wide eyes that looked like they were about to pop over.

  “Your compliment has taken into consideration Ezek,” The queen said. “But, make no mistake. A quest is not a gift. It’s a trial. And the system intended for us to be a catalyst for the humans.”

  “The humans,” muttered another king, Ruzi. Ruzi has always been calculating; his antenna twitched repeatedly, making a grating, steely screech through the closed chamber. “Humans are curious. Why are they so separated throughout the multiverse? The system even gave quests to different planets of theirs one by one. Our Ancestor—all fifty-nine planets–undergoes one tutorial together. But why? Why do humans get treated like this?”

  “Dear Ruzi,” The queen addressed the scholarly king.

  Ruzi's head snapped up from his mussing.

  “It's not just the human. The Elves also went through a similar phase.”

  “Truly? How? How do you know that, my queen?”

  “A Entram briefed me. I managed to draw some information.”

  “An Entram,” Ruzi's voice full of amazement. “I wish I could find one. Maybe if we captured one…”

  “Let's not be ridiculous, Ruzi,” Loy, the bronze king, said. “I don’t think we want to pick a fight with a race chosen by the system.”

  “Enslaved, you mean.” Ruzi clarify.

  “Still, my point stood.”

  “My queen,” Aran knelt, bowing deep. “You have tasked me to keep an eye on Bodwen, yet I fail to do so. By your order, I shall drag him back here and not interrupt our first probing forces.”

  The queen stared through her multilayered red eyes. And Aran shivered as he made out anger behind those eyes. “Aran, it's also my fault for assuming one is enough to cage his foolishness. The fault also lies with me, but I still held you responsible. Go and bring him back.”

  “As you wish, My queen,” Aran said. He stood and turned. The gate slowly closed behind him.

  “Don’t let him die, Aran” The queen said, just the moment before the gates slammed into each other.

  “I shall not fail you.”

  ------

  Edge of winter blossomed through his Frostbite Sword. Rue gorged deep inside the supermajor thick insectoid skin. Black armor parted, and he rends his sword sideways, splaying the insect head open. Green cell sprayed, and the inside of this creature's head is a maze of light green veins that stick to each other like a cobweb.

  (You Have Slain Supermajor Ant. Lvl 38)

  (Level Up! General 35→36.)

  (Level up! Frost Swordman 32→33.)

  Two other Supermajors whose bodies blocked the quarter of the stairs angling up with their bony legs that had already pierced through countless warriors, making the stairs littered with corpses and wet with blood. They intended to crush them with their giant bodies. Romero bashed his shield in, the knight entered the Supermajor invitation, and shoulder slammed the giant ant. He screamed, and with a great display of power, the ant's body toppled down, with another Rue just killed.

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  Romero spun, and in his hand was a knife similar to Bondred’s. Red energy swirled around the knife. An unseen energy punched through the last Supermajor, its black clad armor gaping with a sudden hole.

  The ant cries. And Rue saw the chance.

  “Now!” Rue screamed. Spearman, behind them, charge forward. Mana swirled around those spears, and five spears pinned the Supermajor against the dark wall. Rue cleaved through the ant's head. But no kill notification appeared. The creature already died.

  “Careful of the blood,” Rue warned. His Plague Doctor Mask has protected him from this green explosion, which the ant sometimes caused. Those substances would sear normal armor and leave a nasty burn mark. It would be fatal if they got into your eyes. Three warriors have been brutally blinded because of it.

  Romero climbed the stairs. He ignored the ants crawling all over inside the tower they were currently in. They had agreed that securing the wall took priority. The knight bashed an ant, sending it down. Rue followed close behind him. And his sight opened to observant stars watching the black stone wall marred with green and red blood.

  As they reached the wall, Romero immediately charged at what must be a hundred ants, each was waiting for something, some had noticed Romero and Rue—Their antenna twitched. The information relayed, and the collective insectoid eyes settled on them.

  Romero waded in, shield bashing and knife cleaving through blood of green. Rue had reminded the knight to protect his eyes, green blood could still reach him even through those narrow slit of his.

  The plan is for both of them to clear the wall and buy enough space for others to trickle in, then they hold until the forces inside the tower clear all remaining ants, which should be fast considering Seila was there.

  Rue fired an ice cube high up he threw it up without bothering to aim. Clenching his hand, the frozen needle crushed through the ant's hide. Rue made out two ice sprouts, and he had killed three of them.

  There’s no Supermajor in sight, but beyond the hundred ant is the sound of fighting. Rue saw lightning shooting up to the sky in a snapping clap. Rafael was there, and he was fighting something. A buzzing sound wiggles through the air. And a slick, almost humanoid ant hangs in the air. Translucent wings flap, making an incessant buzz. Its hand was lithe and muscular in a small way; each limb ended with a long claw that more resembled a thin, curved blade. That ant dove down, and a clash of steel sloshed across the sky.

  He will let Rafael handle that monster, for now, to secure the wall.

  Rue peeked at his armor, and it finally recovered. Deciding not to waste any more time, he shouted at Romero.

  He parried an ant jaw and struck across, replacing its head with a block of ice.

  “Romero, I won’t be able to speak now!”

  Romero slammed his shield against an ant. Its body exploded against the stone parapet. “What are you talking about?”

  Obsidian crept around Rue's skin; he accepted the familiar stillness eagerly. His sword glimmered black, catching the thousand stars high above. Wind of winter cried inside of him, the spell edged into jagged black ice around his black sword. Rue brought his sword back in two hands, and he swiped across in a crescent strike, cleaving through three ants like they were butter.

  You Have Slain Worker Ant. Lvl 23

  You Have Slain Worker Ant. Lvl 25

  You Have Slain Worker Ant. Lvl 26

  Rue kept drawing blood and exploding ants' bodies into a smear of green. Or he replaced part of the ant's body with black astral ice that would kill them given time. He no longer minded any kill notification; he hardly recognized his Plague Mask. His pale Frost Tunic had taken on the color of the night; the tunic had always extended to his thigh, now he got a double layer of extra protection. Added to his Lion Mane Cloak, Rue felt he could keep going all night.

  So he did.

  Just like Romero, he waded in, sword flowed like it's his own limb. Head flew, and an explosion of green blood smeared his red cloak. Romero kept up the whole time; the knight hardly glanced at Rue. The methodical slaughter they had done was thrilling; a surge of energy rushed through him. Rue cleaved through two ant, black ice blossomed, letting out a cold vapor above into the watching star.

  Rue threw another dice, and five black needles crashed down. This time, five crystal black ice blooms pierce nearby ants with their sudden appearance.

  “Kept going!” Romero shouted. The man had to duck under Rue’s black crystal. His knife carving through the ant, that red swirl of energy of him can blast through five ants at once.

  Then, passing by Rue, was another human; he wielded a sword of bright light. Lars finally joined, his sword extended, and they bent around like a razor. The highest level human cut through a line of six ants. In his other hand, a spear of light manifested in the air, and he let it fly, zooming through three ants.

  “Rafael is just beyond, we almost reach him!” Romero shouted.

  Rue spared a glance behind, more and more ants about to close in on them. They had killed so much… how many more do they need to kill?

  Rue slashed through a Supermajor who suddenly was there behind a line of ants he had just killed. The Supermajor bull head split into two. In a last dying act, it tried to pinch Rue with its mandibles.

  But he saw this coming. His sword flowed, cutting the ant's weak leg. Its mandible shot down, completely missing him. Rue jabbed his sword into its head, and an explosion of green blasted through.

  He was completely fine, and Romero probably was too. But what about Lars?

  Lars turned out to be able to handle burn well. The green blood was all over him, but he was still fighting with a non-stop swing of the sword, killing more and more. Rue had noticed by now, Lars’ ant kill probably had surpassed both Romero and Rue in the short amount of time he had joined.

  Now, why were there Supermajors here suddenly? Romero and Lars had killed the other two. It turns out that, beyond the dead body of the huge ant, there is a duel.

  The stone entryway, which he and Mey had used, was there with its gate open. Humans crowded it, mages and archers ready with their spells and weapons. Warrior in front of them, hiding behind their shield—maces, axes, and swords in their hand. The warrior's eye flitted nervously. They do not even notice the three of them yet.

  They focused on the duel. Rafael swung the ridiculous double-edged glaive, parrying a long claw that would surely split his body in half. The sound of steel rang, and the outworldly echo of the clash continued as Rafael, with lightning speed, brought his glaive back, blocking another claw and even attempting to counterattack. But the flying ant is clearly a master of air combat; it flew just enough to use its claw and retreat when it was about to overextend.

  (Ant King. Lvl 45)

  The King might look intimidating, but compared to Bondred and Alfred? They’re probably much weaker.

  “We can do this,” Romero muttered beside him. “But it’s a duel…”

  Rue looked around, and the ant did not attack them; they gave them space. A strange behavior, but Rue quickly notices why. More and more ants climb the wall. He watched as easily five ants climbed above the stone parapet.

  Why did Rafael let this be a duel? Did the King promise to withdraw his forces or something?

  He wanted to chastise Romero and Lars both for stopping just because it’s a duel. If they kill the ant king, surely it will make the wall secure…

  Rue turned in a hurry, drawing a sudden jerk of reaction from Lars and Romero. Dread filled him; this was stupid.

  “What is it?” Romero asked.

  Behind them is crawling with ants…

  They were supposed to hold the ant so those in the tower could charge into the wall! And to buy time to clear the ants that are already inside the tower…

  Did they really just fight all the way here? Forgetting the fate of those behind them?

  “Oh, Fuck,” Romero cursed, he bang his shield to his helmet.

  “What? What is it?” Lars asked, grabbing Rue's shoulder before wincing from the cold.

  Romero briefly explained the plan, and Lars nodded, his mouth quirked in amusement.

  “This is Rue? The Eur?” He hummed before laughing. “Yes, you guys are bloody stupid.”