Assassinating Ants

Leap, capture, leap, leap—within less than a breath, System successfully caught a dark brown ant, then sprang away with effortless grace.

Whether in speed, strength, or size, System held an absolute advantage over ants. So long as he was not brain-dead enough to face an army of ants head-on, catching individual ants was easy. After all, while ants possessed some vigilance, they rarely fled.

When ants encountered something unusual, their first thought was not to run, but to try biting it first.

System's process of catching ants went smoothly, but he was clumsy when it came to handling them afterward.

His four limbs easily seized the smaller ant, but the ant did not fail to resist. It directly clamped its mandibles tightly around the base of one of System's legs.

In fact, even if System released the limb holding the ant, it would not fall from his body. Rather than System catching the ant, it was more accurate to say that they had caught each other.

His exoskeleton cracked slightly, and a burning sensation from Ant Acid spread through System's leg.

After metamorphosing into an adult, System's exoskeleton had become considerably sturdier. Combined with the derived abilities [Limb Regeneration] and [Acid Resistance], his injury was not actually serious.

With a swing of his enormous mandibles, as large as the ant's head, the dark brown ant was decapitated.

But an ant was still an ant. Even with only its head left, its mandibles remained locked tightly around System's foreleg.

To avoid further damage to his limb, System could only use [Corrosive Mucus] to melt away the ant's head and mandibles before successfully separating its head from his foreleg.

After chewing a few times on the ant's head, crisp like chocolate, System continued hopping toward the ants fighting tadpoles in the mud.

Unlike ordinary insect hunters, who ate their prey immediately after catching it, System acted more efficiently. He intended to kill more ants first, then eat them all together.

Ants had low intelligence and terrible eyesight. Although System's sudden appearance threw the dozen or so ants into confusion for a moment, they found nothing unusual and continued slaughtering the tadpoles in the mud.

System repeated the same method and caught a second ant.

This time, the dozen or so ants were clearly more alert than before. Two of them even chased after him for over half a meter.

But half a meter was merely an easy hop for System. He effortlessly shook off the ants' pursuit.

System quickly figured out why the ants had pursued him the second time. It was likely the lingering sharp acidic scent on his forelegs. Ants had poor vision, but their sense of smell was exceptionally keen.

System was much more careful when catching the second ant. Using his two forelegs, he held the ant's head far away. Although his forelegs were grazed many times by the ant's mandibles, the ant kept its mandibles aimed at System's body.

In the end, System bit off the second ant's head without suffering a single injury.

As System ate the grasshopper's head, he began considering how to remove the acidic scent the ants had left on him.

There was still quite a bit of standing water in the forest. Using it would certainly wash away some of the acidic smell from his body. But compared to rinsing with water, System had another special method: his [Corrosive Mucus].

System's [Corrosive Mucus] had evolved from [Foul-Smelling Mucus] and still retained its foul stench. System felt that this odor would be enough to cover up the acidic scent secreted by the ants.

After secreting several drops of foul-smelling corrosive fluid onto his wounds, System launched another attack on those dozen or so ants.

Just as System had expected, the foul-smelling fluid he secreted successfully covered the scent of the ants' Ant Acid. This time, the remaining ants did not pursue System very far.

They merely searched vigilantly around the tadpole's corpse for a while before once again tangling with the dying tadpoles in the mud.

Compared with the success of [Corrosive Mucus] in concealing his scent, System's hunt for the third ant went wrong again. He carelessly let the third ant break free, and his foreleg was once more clamped tightly between its mandibles.

But starting with the third ant, System's movements gradually became more practiced.

By noon, several dozen more ants had arrived and finished dismembering and carrying away the tadpole's corpse. System had successfully hunted nine ants.

After the third ant, System was never injured again. He gradually grasped the pattern behind the ants' attacks.

They attacked purely on instinct, making them easy to predict, and once they bit their prey, they would not let go.

Based on this trait of ants never releasing whatever they bit, System invented a tactic for hunting ants. When hunting the fifth ant, System held a blade of grass in his mandibles, and after catching the ant, he deliberately fed the grass stalk into its mouth.

The ant, which clamped down tightly on the grass stalk, lost any ability to threaten System.

System hunted the sixth and seventh ants using the same method. But by the eighth, he no longer used the grass stalk, because he had become thoroughly familiar with these ants. Even without it, he could easily hunt them down.

System carried the ants' corpses and gathered them onto the branch of a short tree, then began eating.

System could feel his talent Metamorphic Growth absorbing some kind of nutrient from the ant corpses. So long as he continued hunting different kinds of insects like this, System estimated that by the time his level reached 10 at the latest, his Metamorphic Growth would reach its maximum level of 13.

It was not only Metamorphic Growth. As he ate the glands that secreted Ant Acid from the ants, System felt that the corrosiveness of his [Corrosive Mucus] had grown somewhat stronger. He estimated that when his level reached 9, this ability would advance.

Looking at the experience bar on [Self-Information Generation], System estimated that after eating all these ant corpses, his experience bar would reach one-quarter.

These nine ants, together with the cricket from before, provided nutrients equivalent to one insect pupa.

Calculated carefully, it took fifteen ants to equal one insect egg.

It had to be said that if System were not so eager to raise the level of Metamorphic Growth, guarding those insect pupae would undoubtedly have been the best choice.

System crunched through the ants' corpses as he began considering his next plan. He could continue hunting these ants, but eating too many would diminish their effect on his Metamorphic Growth. He had to consume a greater variety of creatures.

Regarding these ants, System thought of many plans, such as making the tiger devour the wolf.

He could use a stick to collect the ants' acidic fluid, then use that acid to lure the ant colony into attacking enemies he could not handle—such as spiders.

But doing so would be very difficult. Leaving aside the fact that spider nests were generally high up, making it hard for an ant colony to launch an all-out assault, even if he knocked a spider to the ground, the spider might not necessarily be killed by the ants.

Not every kind of ant was an army ant capable of dispatching millions upon millions of soldiers at any time.

If several hundred ants and a spider were placed in a bottle, the spider would certainly be torn to pieces by the ants. But if ants and a spider were put out in the wild, the spider would have fled the moment it saw things going south.

About two hours before sunset, System finished eating all the remaining ant corpses.

As System continued onward, he once again encountered a large number of ants...