Chapter 106: Empress of Lunar Ant
So with multiple ques, it is possible for a colony to get so large, but that did put the question of how did a colony could manage with multiple ques, though Alros had an idea of the reason.
"The others only get one ants while this one have two, so this is likely the ruler of the colony, with the other ques being subordinate or something similar," he guessed, though to confirm it, he need to check it. Oh joy.
-x-
As the incubus get deeper, he could feel his stomach coiling, nervousness and slight fear beginning to appear at the deepest part of his mind. He tried to calm himself down, knowing such emotions would make things worst.
Wh they get into a certain depth, the tunnels no longer inclined, instead, looking like it would be horizontal, though it did brought new troubles, namely, the numbers of Guant Ants in the area.
He had suspected that the Guard Ant, the protector of the que would be prest but he just did not expect such a large number. Ev the feedback from his wasps showed that the number of guards of the other ques did not compare to the number of the guards in the depth.
"This should be the ultimate ruler," Alros said nervously. After all, who knew how powerful que is, to be able to command such a large number of force, it likely more powerful than he is, which make it more worrying the deeper they get.
Se, an oping to a chamber can be se with the worker ants stopped by the guards who began to inspect them. It took quite sometime but after the thorough inspection, which have the Guard Ants getting close to him, to close in fact, the workers were let through.
"So, this is the ruler's chamber," Alros mused. Inside, he could see more guards and workers attding the true ruler, a very large ques's ants, which make him consider if it is the ability to lead with a large force or if it combat abiltiy is just that good.
'Maybe combination of both,' the demon thought.
As he tered, Alros felt a powerful aura, unlike any other he had felt before. The closest thing would be one of the B-rankers in Zell City, and ev th, it could not be compared to such terrifying aura.
As he laid his eyes on the source, there is only one words that can be used to describe the monsters in his gaze.
'Majestic,'
The que, no, the empress ant is a large creature but unlike the bloated ques, it is slimmer, but at the same time bigger. While the bloated ques would make it look bigger than the empress, in terms of heads, the empress would be bigger.
If he had to guess, if the empress have the same figure as the que, the former would be a lot bigger.
That is not all. The empress possessed several crystals protruding out of it's body, with all of it glowing brightly. The empress also has wings, looking more like the wings of a fairy than the wings of a bug.
From the look of it, the empress would be the stronger being in the ants, likely stronger than ev some of the monsters at the core, but is merely an assumption.
However, there is no doubt the monster in front of him is the in disputed ruler of the colony.
-x-
He could bolt ad any momt but because of his curiosity, Alros stayed, wanting to observe the powerful monsters. Truthfully, he wanted to subdue her but with how powerful she is and the fact he had the space to keep all the ants of the colony, the plan did not take off.
So, he hope to gain more information through observation, so wh he returned wh he was stronger and the system space could contain more monsters, th he could grab all of them for himself.
"There should be reason why they hide themselves. It could be for survival reason, namely so they would not be attacked by other insects. From the look of it, during full moon, they become stronger. Maybe during the other time, especially during the day, they would be weaked," he hypothesize.
It make sse to him, by sealing themselves until full moon, they would sure their survival. And with their strgth increased by who knew how much, they would be invincible to the other bugs at the West Section, and maybe ev the other sections as well.
It could also be the reason why the storage chambers are so large. Considering they would be staying for a month or so, they would need a lot of food to sustain themselves.
As he put everything together, he began to think it is logical. The only question left is that those this colony of Lunar Ants that does it or if it is the specialty of Full Moon Colony? He think it is likely the latter, and the reason for it to happ like it is because of the monster in front of him.
As more worker ants tered the room, bringing more foods, the empress ant began to devour the food, before laying more and more eggs. Comparing it to the one laid by the ques make him realize it is bigger than the que's.
"The empress either mutated or it get blessed or find and eat a magical herb," he mused, before deciding he had spt too much time inside the nest. He began to make his way out, though he do have another idea.
Namely, he would capture a Lunar Ant and see how differt the strgth during full moon and whever there is no full moon.
He make his way out, though as his back was facing the empress, he did not notice the large ant looking at him with it's eyes, before returning back to her meal.
-x-
"This should be ough," the demon mused. He had captured workers, and soldiers, to see if there is any differce. This experimt would be the used to determine if the Lunar Ants would be useful to him in the long run or not.
He began to head towards the trance, his wasps already released and trying to find the way out. With him sding a lot of his wasps, it did not take long for him to find it.
Wh he did so, he quickly walk there, only to realize the ant beginning to cover the trance, in their mandibles several bugs as they used it to make another near unbreakable barricade.
Realizing the danger he could be in, Alros ran, dropping his Illusion and dashing out of the best, to the surprise of the ants. They could barely react as he flew towards the nearby Forested Hills, slightly out of breath.