[Author’s Note] Thank you! Recommendations and comments really make me smile. 31st entry.
10. Ant Cave030 – Ant Cave #3
━ Is that the queen’s chamber over there?
The raccoon helped to support me.
‘Who knows what kind of mess we’re walking into? Better gather my energy.’
I started munching on the body of the warrior that was sprawled across the floor.
Leaf watched my actions, tongue out in disbelief.
━ Good appetite, huh? In a situation like this, I would’ve had a stomach ache by now.
I munched with barely enough time to taste anything before my belly started feeling full, and the classic “you gained experience points!” message appeared in front of me. I wiped the bl**d off my face with my front paw.
━ You gotta eat while you can.
I walked the path made by the ants. But suddenly, the ants that had just cleared the way waved their antennae wildly and blocked our path again.
━ Geez.
━ What are they saying? Why can’t we move forward?
I turned to Leaf and asked for a translation.
Leaf darted his eyes around nervously and stuttered.
━ Um, uh… It seems only you, the winner of the duel, can go through here. I have to wait here…
━ Guess there’s no helping it. I’m going alone.
I pushed through the ants and squeezed my way into a small hole.
A small, damp room appeared before me.
Since my eyes weren’t quite adjusted to the darkness, I fished out the blue crystal I had stashed in my vine bag.
━ A bug-chasing blue light, huh? How rude.
I turned at the sudden gentle voice and saw someone curled up in the corner of the room.
━ What is this?
I was considerably taken aback.
I expected to find a somewhat large ant if they called her the queen ant, but instead, what appeared was a figure resembling a person.
It looked about the same height as I did while standing on two legs.
It had antennae, and several segmented arms sprouted from its chest, but it looked more human-like than ant.
The curves of its body resembled a human female, and were quite striking.
━ Why are you so surprised? Warrior, come closer and let me receive you.
She spoke as if she were indeed the queen of a nation. I stepped closer as instructed.
━ Are you the queen ant?
━ Yes. I am Queen Shalom of the rock cave warrior ants. I have greatly appreciated your bravery and courage on the battlefield.
━ You appreciated it? In this room?
━ I can share sight with all the ants. It is a noble gift bestowed upon me by Mother Tree.
Queen Ant Shalom blinked her eyes with those strange compound eyes of an insect, looking rather eerie.
If they were to put together a bizarre chimera of a human and an ant, it might look like this.
Her face was closer to human and could even be considered beautiful, but inherently, she was still an ant.
━ Warrior, I want to welcome you as the top warrior of this kingdom. How about it? Would you like to work under me?
Shalom made a recruitment pitch.
Not something I wanted to consider too deeply, but it wouldn’t hurt to hear about my potential reward.
━ What’s in it for me if I become your subordinate?
━ I am related to Emperor Selma in the North. Soon, he will conquer all the forests and become the master of the World Tree, at which time you will hold a significant position.
Talk of emperors, Selma, and the master of the World Tree—such grand and complex matters.
I had no clue what being the master of the World Tree meant, but it felt like getting a blank check, “Work for free now, and we’ll give you something later when we go public.”
‘You’re promising me a significant position?’
What could possibly be of importance in the ant kingdom?
More importantly, I knew full well that I wasn’t the type to be put in charge and have others manipulate me from above.
━ I’m gonna have to refuse, thanks. I’m here to k*ll you on Yan-Mite’s request. I promised to receive Cordyceps as a reward. If you wanna entice me, you’ll need to offer something better than that bizarre mushroom.
I preferred getting something to eat right now over vague promises of a high position.
Thinking back, I had always enjoyed receiving food gifts when I was human as well.
Countless times I tore open what I thought was a spam or tuna set, only to be disappointed to find soap and shampoo instead.
━ C-Cordyceps? Wait just a moment.
Queen Ant Shalom began rummaging around the room.
Curious about what she was up to, I observed closely as her slender arms extended with a small stone in hand.
━ This is a precious stone. It’s not something I just give to anyone.
━ I can see it’s a stone. So what’s so special about it?
A stone wasn’t something I could eat. Even if it were gold or silver right now, it wouldn’t mean much to me.
━ This stone is edible. It’s an extremely rare ingredient. Depending on the beast, its effects might even surpass that of Cordyceps. I don’t know what type of beast you are, but as a four-legged beast, you should be able to consume this stone.
━ I can eat a stone?
━ Yes, try holding it. You’ll understand once you touch it.
I took the stone from Queen Ant Shalom’s hands. The strange texture felt peculiar to my fingers.
It seemed hard yet strangely squishy, like touching a firm rice cake.
It emitted a soft white glow whose principle I couldn’t quite grasp, but it was quite a pretty light.
The surface felt rough, but as I kept touching it, a smooth liquid began to seep out.
‘A stone that’s hard yet soft, rough yet smooth. Is this really the stone?’
I realized I had witnessed the mysterious stone that Belger had wanted.
The stone that Belger wanted to exchange for the license stone was definitely this one.
What I thought was nonsense turned out to be something that actually existed.
━ What is this stone? What effects does it have?
━ It’s a Moon Stone. They say it raises the standings of beasts by one level. It is said to be the incarnation of the honorable Wildling that has existed since ancient times. A small incarnation that was buried in the ground and turned into stone, or so they say. I’m not sure if that’s true.
I tilted my head at the queen’s explanation.
━ This is the Wildling?
I pressed the little stone in my hand. It made a soft ‘queeeing’ sound as if responding.
A hardened Wildling that looked like this little stone.
‘It must taste delicious.’
━ So, what do you think? This should suffice as a reward that exceeds Cordyceps. Don’t listen to that scaly Yan-Mite’s words. Join me, and with your prowess alongside mine, we’ll have the Southern Forest in no time.
━ Alright, I’ll do it. Can I eat this now?
━ If you eat that, then you’ll become my subordinate. Swear your honor on it.
━ Alright, I will swear on my honor.
I swallowed the small, squishy stone in one bite.
A startlingly refreshing flavor burst forth in my mouth, like a concentrated juice.
‘Incredible. What kind of stone is this?’
The flavor kept changing, transforming from a tangy taste to an overwhelmingly sweet one that made my tongue feel like it might melt.
【You have earned experience points.】
【You have earned experience points.】
Not only was there flavor, but the words that stated I had gained experience points started popping up. My battered body was rapidly healing.
I could feel the sound of my previously broken bones snapping back together almost instantly.
【You have leveled up.】
A strange light shrouded my body. Queen Ant Shalom watching me exclaimed, ━ Oh!
━ Amazing. Such an incredible effect. The Moon Stone is so effective for a four-legged beast like you!
━ I feel invigorated. My broken arm is healed!
I moved my arm that had been twisted at an odd angle. My fist closed without any issue, as if I had never been injured.
━ Splendid. Truly wonderful. I didn’t think it would heal so perfectly.
Queen Ant Shalom elegantly smiled with her lips curled up.
Though I was the one who gained strength, for some reason, she appeared even more delighted.
━ That tasted fantastic. What do I do to repay you?
━ I’m glad you’re satisfied. Let’s get along well from now on.
Queen Ant Shalom struggled to rise from the ground.
She reached out with one of her many arms to me, perhaps for a handshake.
I also extended my hand.
And then, I grabbed the back of the queen ant’s neck.
━ Grrk, what are you doing?! Are you betraying your honor?!
━ Honor to a beast? The Moon Stone was appreciated.
━ No, you can’t—
Before she could finish her shout, I twisted her neck.
Queen Ant Shalom succumbed to d*ath without even a dying scream.
After pulling out her colorful antennae, I exited the queen’s chamber.
━ Huh? What happened?
Leaf and the ants were waiting a bit away from the queen’s chamber.
I walked back nonchalantly as if nothing had happened and whispered to Leaf.
━ On the count of three, we bolt back the way we came.
━ Aah…
━ Three!
I immediately took off running. A flustered Leaf rushed after me from behind.
━ Zzzzzt!
━ Gezzzz!
Not sure if they realized the situation had changed or if they discovered the queen’s corpse, the ants began to give chase.
━ Zzz!
Some ants showed up in my path, but I swung my front paw without hesitation, sending them flying.
*
━ Quickly, shut the door!
I dashed out from the hole above Yan-Mite’s cave.
I got a little confused on the way out and spun around a bit, but I still managed to escape the Ant Cave without any injuries.
━ S-Save me!
Raccoon Leaf poked his upper body out of the cave.
From under him, I could hear the ants’ zipping sounds as they swarmed around his feet.
━ They’re holding onto my legs!
Leaf looked like he was about to cry.
But there didn’t seem to be much I could do for him.
I tried to pull him free, but with so many ants clinging to Leaf’s body, he showed no intention of crossing over to the outside.
━ Grrrgh! I think my legs are gonna pop off!
Instead, he was slowly being dragged back inside the cave.
Yan-Mite, who had been watching the chaos unfold, stretched out her long tail toward Leaf.
━ No choice. Grab on!
━ S-Save me!
Without hesitation, Leaf latched onto Yan-Mite’s tail.
━ Hold on tight! She warned.
Then, Yan-Mite hoisted her tail high into the air.
As soon as Leaf’s body lifted off the ground, countless ants burst out of the cave.
━ Ssssss.
━ Ssss.
Lizards seemed to be waiting and began to catch the ants, swallowing them whole.
━ Did you take care of the queen?
At Yan-Mite’s question, I nodded repeatedly. Then I showed the colorful antennae of Queen Shalom that I had tightly held in my hands.
━ A rainbow-colored antenna. This is definitely from the queen ant. Good job! Then we can seal this hole up now.
After finishing her sentence, Yan-Mite smashed her tail down into the hole. The tunnel collapsed violently, and the entrance to the Ant Cave disappeared without a trace.
━ With the queen dead, they’ll probably eat each other and disappear within. Warrior ants are that kind of creature, you know. Understand?
Yan-Mite lowered her head, peering into my body with her big eyes. Her green eyes blinked as if they could see through me entirely.
━ You seem different from before. What happened? You’ve gotten more muscular.
Yan-Mite circled around me, inspecting my physical state.
From her demeanor, it was clear she had realized I had leveled up.
‘The other creatures had acted as if they did not know about leveling up or experience points.’
While they had mentioned evolution and being of a higher standing as a beast, the concepts of experience points and leveling up didn’t seem to exist for them.
I had no idea why, but the letters that popped up were only visible and usable by me.
I suspected that this was one of the traits of the magical beast Behemoth.
If I wanted to figure out why, I might need to ask a witch.
━ Anyway, as you said, I took care of the queen, so let’s have the promised reward.
━ Ah, that’s right! The master of the Southern Forest knows how to uphold their honor, after all. It’s only fitting to give a suitable reward to someone who helped.
With a nod from Yan-Mite, a lizard appeared carrying a long mushroom, Cordyceps, on its back.
━ Awesome, what a fine mushroom!
I accepted it and purred with joy.
━ You really make a big deal about the tiniest bit of accomplishment. Is that your talent?
Yan-Mite playfully tapped me on my forehead.
Maybe it was an affectionate gesture, but given her bulk, it just felt like she was teasing me.
━ Ahem! So I can eat this, right?
I turned my head to look at Leaf. He was busy trying to shake off the ants that had latched onto him like pincers.
━ Hrrmm, do as you wish. You did all the work, after all. Why won’t these guys let go?!
━ Okay, then I won’t hold back.
I took a giant bite of the mushroom.
Crunch.
Since I had ripped into a raw mushroom, the scent of grass wafted heavily in my mouth.
━ You’re really chowing down! That must taste pretty awful and bitter.
Watching me chew on the mushroom, Yan-Mite shook her head.
I had to agree that it didn’t taste good. But to someone like me who had only eaten rotten meat, it was just like eating spices.
I had been known for my tough tongue even back when I was human, after all.
Countless letters floated before my eyes. Among them, this one was the most welcoming.
【You have reached the maximum level, and experience points can no longer be gained.】
【Conditions met. You can now evolve.】
