Chapter 5: Endless Expansion (2)
I barely came to an understanding.
Right. That place is another world, in other words, an alien realm.
It’s not strange for anything to happen here.
After all, even the ants on Earth shoot poison and mountains.
“No way, how can shooting hydrochloric acid even make sense?!”
Having given up on finding white ants, I returned home with bites from mosquitoes.
Since we can already make bloodsucking attacks, mosquitoes, or rather, those little nuisances were utterly useless.
[You should remember this. That cave is a labyrinth that should never be taken lightly.]
“I know that as well.”
Giant spiders the size of king crabs, massive scorpions with six tails, and more.
I was aware that the place where monsters akin to Earth’s Paleozoic Era resided was one where it wouldn’t be strange for any creature to emerge.
[Today’s events will be recorded in the history of our species. The day our species encountered a worthy opponent for the first time.]
“…Can we win?”
[No one knows that. But one thing is certain: our legion will not stop. If there are obstacles, we will crush them; if there are enemies, we will devour them. That is the only option.]
“If we keep expanding like this… what happens later? If we devour the entire world.”
[Then we will devour another world.]
Madness peeked through the words.
I didn’t specifically comment on it.
I merely searched online for a site that sold white ants for breeding.
I thought about what was most important in this game.
And the conclusion I arrived at was luck in drawing lots and the player’s wealth… no, ability.
“…”
That was the reason I took the train to the shop on this bloody weekend after quitting my part-time job.
It was faster for me to go than for delivery.
[I don’t understand. Just take it. Didn’t you say it’s a waste of money?]
“That’s stealing.”
[Just over one ant?]
“…Honestly, I’m a little tempted.”
Wouldn’t it be fine to sneak away with just one ant?
If need be, I could always obtain a corpse that recently died.
However, the conclusion I reached upon arriving was simply to refrain from suspicious activities.
What if I ended up getting caught for saving a few thousand won?
At this moment, I had no way to explain the phenomenon of pictures disappearing when taken.
“I’m saving my strength to prepare for war.”
I sent the purchased white ants directly to the nest.
The legion, which had broken down the white ants to the level of the microorganisms living within them, had now acquired the ability to digest wood.
I searched for the back mountain again.
In fact, stealing wood is illegal.
I don’t know about anything else, but this one couldn’t be helped.
In a mountain devoid of CCTV, I snapped a photo of a log rolling on the ground.
Due to the 20kg limit, not all of it could be transmitted; only part of it was abruptly cut off.
“What’s wrong with just some wood?”
[We will maximize the efficiency of the newly acquired abilities by combining them with existing ones.]
Threads began to extend from the log that had fallen in the middle of the nest.
Supplies arrived safely before the war.
Now, all that was left was to wage war based on these supplies.
[The legion, having received nutrients, began preparing for war. The dormant nests awoke and started producing soldiers.]
The legion is intelligent.
The various genes they absorbed were not merely physical.
They mimicked and combined the combat methods of each species inscribed in the obtained genes, creating a strategic tactic.
In particular, group tactics were already obtained from the genes of bees and ants.
[The legion dispatched reconnaissance units. The plan was to engage in localized warfare with those creatures and extract everything about them. Soldiers with wings were dispatched. The enemy once again deployed forces that spewed saliva to the frontlines.]
Compared to Earth’s ants, they were incredibly strong creatures.
But we were well-prepared as well.
And even if it were a war between legions, we had another weapon.
[The legion will not fall for the same trick twice.]
The reconnaissance soldiers evaded the anti-air fire shot by the enemy with precise movements.
When forces of similar scales clashed, could we really lose?
We are one. We move like a single body.
There is no fear, no inefficiency.
The reconnaissance soldiers dove down, grasping the enemies with their strong jaws and legs.
Then, they curled their tails and stabbed with their stingers.
This was the beginning of a full-blown war.
[The legion has made a decision. We can win.]
As the screen shifted, the main forces that had been waiting all surged forth.
With large heads, powerful jaws, and robust exoskeletons.
Knowing that the enemy resides underground, they had been modified to be optimized against them.
[The enemy, focused on the reconnaissance soldiers in the sky, spotted our main forces. But it was already too late. We advanced forward, enduring the powerful acidic attacks they released.]
I held my breath and watched the scene unfold.
In terms of organization, there was no contest.
Our goal in this war was solely the annihilation of the enemy, while their goal was survival.
It’s common sense throughout human history that those who prioritize survival will fall against attacks that disregard death.
The otherworldly ants, struggling to survive, could not withstand the forces of the legion that moved only to kill.
The entirety of the large pupil became a battlefield.
Innocent lifeforms that had wandered in were inadvertently caught up and devoured.
[We won in the field. The enemy hastily began to block the entrance of their burrow with their bodies.]
In the war that unfolded over the entire pupil, we emerged victorious.
And the enemy retreated to their fortress.
However, this was all anticipated.
Our secret weapon appeared.
A snake clad in thick armor around its head.
Though it was a small snake, it was capable of burrowing through the enemy’s burrow.
Even if they spewed out mountains, there would be plenty of time to push through with its thick armor.
Thus, the remaining forces began to enter the newly breached burrow one by one.
What was this nervous tension for, just for raiding a mere ant nest?
But in truth, the tide of battle had already tilted significantly.
The opponent that had initiated the struggle had already been annihilated, and the resistance that had become meaningless had failed to defend, now facing nothing but slaughter.
[You should think broadly.]
“…To prepare for when this tiny war escalates?”
It was an undeniable statement.
The legion would not be satisfied here.
They would grow stronger and fight against even greater foes.
[We will dismember the enemy queen and subsist on her larvae and eggs. We have emerged victorious in the war of the legion. This event will be recorded in history.]
I casually glanced at my watch.
Only 4 hours.
In just 4 hours, the colony of white cave ants that once dominated the fourth level had fallen to us.
That was not the entirety of it.
The obliterated enemy left behind a legacy for us.
Their weapons could now become our weapons.
Weapons capable of capturing those above.
“Are they really not resting?”
[Even in the moments of rest, our nutrients are being consumed.]
The legion does not stop.
*
“…”
The peaceful expanse of the cave’s large pupil.
This particularly spacious area centered around a lake was quite rich in vegetation.
This meant there was an abundance of nutrients.
In reality, the fungi that had grown there had formed a colony with giant mushrooms as big as children.
A toad living here snapped up something that was crawling on the ground.
This toad, roughly the size of a small dog, delighted in the texture that popped in its mouth.
Unlike the great army body of the white cave ants ruling the lower levels, which were armed with strong acids, here, they were a small-scale, barely surviving low-level life form.
The toad yawned widely and soon moved on to another area.
The outer outskirts of the commune.
The toad, lazily moving its sensory organs, suddenly looked down at its feet.
[It is now time to hunt higher forms of life to enlarge our legion.]
Countless ants, or rather, monsters who could hardly be called ants, began to swarm around the toad’s body.
The toad jumped up, shaking its body off.
But another creature, buzzing in the air, rushed towards the toad.
[A new poison, combining strong acidity. A powerful venom that completely dissolves the target’s nerves and blood vessels.]
The stinger tail injected venom that was no longer just ordinary bee venom.
Even the thick skin immune to acid couldn’t withstand the injection directly into its body.
The enormous body of the toad, struggling under this relentless attack, gradually began to collapse.
[The predator’s predator is also our prey.]
Something fast approached through the air, having discovered the toad’s corpse.
It was a large bat flapping two pairs of wings, clad in a protective membrane.
However, the moment it grasped the toad with its claws.
The legion, which had covered the toad’s body, rushed at the bat as well.
Startled, the bat took off into the air.
Though the bat was covered in fur, its skin was much thinner than the toad’s tough hide.
Legion soldiers climbed desperately over the bat’s body, starting to gnaw at the thin membranous wings.
[…Now it begins.]
The bat, with its wings torn to shreds, finally stumbled and plummeted to the ground.
It was the moment when a black wave that had crawled from the lowest level of the labyrinth began to truly overturn the ecosystem of this maze.
