The Abyssal World, the 76th Plane.
On this plane ruled by the Abyssal Ant Emperor, an endless plain stretched beneath a sky that never saw daylight. Yet the plane's true face lay beneath that plain: a hollowed-out subterranean labyrinth, its crisscrossing tunnels extending in every direction across a vast area, inhabited by all manner of abyssal creatures.
An abyssal lizard clung to a rock wall. Medium-sized, with powerful, sinewy limbs, it looked like a clay sculpture when motionless. Its appearance blended perfectly with its surroundings, making it impossible to spot with the naked eye in the dim cavern.
Like a seasoned hunter, the abyssal lizard held its breath, its bulging eyes swiveling as it watched three abyssal giant ants creeping furtively along the tunnel ahead. It waited quietly for them to enter its striking range.
Closer!
Closer still!
When the three abyssal giant ants came within two hundred meters, the abyssal lizard abruptly opened its mouth. A long, scarlet tongue shot from its slick maw like an arrow loosed from a bow, streaking toward the head of the ant in front.
Whoosh!
An almost inaudible hiss cut through the air.
Most abyssal creatures were savage by nature, raised in brutally harsh environments. From birth, every one of them fought through struggles great and small. Weak abyssal races had largely vanished into the long river of history, leaving behind creatures that were almost all powerful predators.
The abyssal lizard's attack was nothing if not vicious. With its unsuspecting prey caught in a calculated ambush, a fist-sized hole burst through the giant ant's forehead as though a bullet had pierced it. Blood and brain matter oozed steadily from the wound, and its corpse collapsed limply to the ground.
Yet, to the abyssal lizard's surprise, the counterattack it expected never came. The other