The Newborn Ant King

"King!!" *3 The Royal Guards reacted with voices of surprise and joy.

The transmigrator—or rather, the reborn Ant King—waved a hand at the three Royal Guards, signaling them not to interrupt.

"Good afternoon, esteemed Hunter Association Chairman Netero." The Ant King addressed Netero, who stood across from him, with perfect gentlemanly poise. Of course, the scene would have been more harmonious if his hand weren't holding the severed right half of the other man's arm. "First, allow me to introduce myself. I am the King of the Chimera Ant race, hailing from the Dark Continent. My name is Meruem Li." This reborn Ant King was completely different from the original—not just in appearance, but in soul and thought process as well. After all, he was also a transmigrator.

As a transmigrator, Meruem Li was deeply dissatisfied with the original Ant King's design: a massive, green mushroom head, earlobes like a Buddha's, a syringe-like tail of unclear purpose, and peculiar grasshopper-like tattoos. Worst of all, there was no lower body. As a man who loved life and had ideals, he could never accept such a form. So during his rebirth, he altered his appearance. He now looked human—not all Chimera Ant offspring were monstrous; many Brigade Leaders and Division Leaders had human forms. For instance, the Brigade Leader Fina beside Lion Division Leader Haga was entirely human in shape. Meruem had originally planned to change his skin color too, but he couldn't manage that. So now, Meruem was essentially an optimized version of the original, stripped of the mushroom head and syringe tail, with his body leaning toward human proportions. The key difference from the original Ant King's premature, imperfect birth and arrogant mindset was that this Ant King had fully completed the race's ultimate evolution.

His strength might even surpass the reborn Ant King from his past life after the Rose Bomb. And because he was a transmigrator, he already had a fully formed set of values and thought processes. This basically eliminated any chance of him becoming the philosophical Ant King of the original story. Most importantly, this guy knew that in the Hunter World, he wasn't the strongest yet. Even in his current, most perfect evolved state, if he were hit by a Rose Bomb, whether he could withstand its radiation was still unknown. Moreover, the Chimera Ants were rated B-class in the Hunter World. Not to mention the countless terrifying things in the Dark Continent—even just among the Nen Users of the Hunter World, he wasn't unmatched. After all, someone from the Freecss Family had traveled through the Dark Continent. Humans in the Hunter World were far from simple. Though he could easily defeat an aged Netero at only 50% of his prime, going up against the top three strongest Nen Users in the world was another matter. The Hunter World was beyond ordinary imagination. Hints from the Demon King's song in the Phantom Troupe arc suggested that a Demon King might exist in this world, not to mention the even more terrifying Dark Continent.

Netero watched him silently, waiting for Meruem's next words. Life or death. Mutual destruction or a narrow escape.

"First, I have no intention of being an enemy to humanity." Sure enough, the next sentence caught Netero off guard. Facing such a powerful opponent, Netero had no confidence at all. If it came to a fight, he might have no choice but to detonate the bomb inside his body.

"I am the King of the Chimera Ant race. First, I seek a space for my race to survive. Don't laugh, but we Chimera Ants are a weak race that fled from the Dark Continent. I hope humanity will accept us and allow us to live on this continent. As repayment, I can provide you humans with some intelligence about the Dark Continent. If you humans ever need help, you can come to us. We only need a small area to sustain our entire race." Yes, as a transmigrator, Meruem knew that Netero had a bomb inside him that could take Meruem's life. He didn't want to be killed shortly after being born. These words were made up on the spot. Whether Netero believed them or not was none of his concern. He just wanted Netero to leave quickly so he could plan his next move. Of course, he didn't mention the humans the previous Queen's ants had eaten or killed.

But his plan was fine, except he wasn't the only ant here. "Oh, King, this guy almost killed—no, offended you just now. We can't let him off so easily. Humans are such weak creatures, we can—" Before he could finish, the somewhat neurotic Pouf started rambling. Among the three Royal Guards, all were utterly loyal to the Ant King, but Pouf was loyal to the title of King. In other words, whoever became the Ant King, Pouf would be loyal to them. Everything he did was for the sake of the one bearing that title, even if it meant doing things he thought were good for the King. Among the three Royal Guards, Meruem preferred Neferpitou. Not just because the cat girl was cute, but because Neferpitou was loyal to the person Meruem Li, the Ant King. She would do her utmost to carry out any of the Ant King's orders. In the original story, even after death, Neferpitou carried out the King's order to heal Komugi. But that wasn't the point. The point was that Meruem currently had no confidence in facing the poison—or radiation—of the Rose Bomb. He didn't know if Netero had a Rose Bomb planted inside him at this point. Logically, he shouldn't. But Meruem didn't want to take the risk. What if Netero had a death wish and planted a bomb in his body for fun?

"Shut up." A surge of immense power struck Pouf instantly, cutting off his unfinished words.

"Am I the King, or are you?" In an instant, a suffocating aura of Nen erupted from Meruem, locking onto Pouf, who had disrupted his plan. His expression was no longer as amiable as before. Cold sweat poured down Pouf's forehead.

"You are..." Pouf forced out two words.

"King, please calm down. Pouf was just—" Rabbit and Neferpitou quickly tried to explain for Pouf. Though they didn't necessarily agree with his words, the three of them were still the Ant King's Royal Guards.

"No need to explain. There won't be a next time." Meruem said coldly. But the moment he turned to face Netero, his tone shifted back to its previous amiability. "Apologies. My subordinate was out of line. Don't mind him."

"Uhoohohoho, no problem. But let me ask you this—what if I refuse your request?" Netero was well-traveled and knowledgeable. He couldn't understand why the Ant King, with absolute superiority, was being so polite and negotiating from a weaker position. In his impression, Chimera Ants were all bloodthirsty, cruel creatures. Unless he knows about the bomb inside me? The thought flashed through Netero's mind, but he quickly dismissed it as absurd. Not only had the Ant King just been born, but even if he did know, with the strength he'd just displayed, the bomb might not even hit him if he was prepared.

"Refuse? Then we go to war." Meruem knew Netero would ask that. Though humanity's hidden strength was formidable, he couldn't just yield endlessly. Yielding only made the other side think you were easy to bully. If the Chimera Ants truly went on a killing spree in the prosperous cities, humanity would suffer significant losses too. "Chairman, with my strength and my subordinates' abilities, even if humanity wants to eliminate us, it will come at a cost." The threat in his words was unmistakable.

"Three months, Chairman. I hope you'll bring me good news in three months. Let me and my race coexist with humanity on this land." As he spoke, Meruem's tone grew even more genial.

"Ohohohohoho, fine. I'll relay your intentions. But personally, I will never agree. You damn man-eating bastards." Netero deliberately provoked him. Intuitively, the higher-ups might actually agree to the ants' request. First, they had long coveted the Dark Continent. Second, the ants themselves had considerable value. Some big shot might even turn the ants into their private army. They might not take the ants' danger seriously—after all, the ants' birth had only killed some ordinary civilians. The deaths of commoners meant nothing to them, or they simply didn't care. A loyal, biting dog was far more valuable to them. After all, the Beast race also ate humans, and many among them were intelligent. Yet certain big shots still kept dangerous beasts as pets. But there was nothing he could do about it. The Ant King could easily bypass him and strike a deal with some human higher-ups. In the end, he was just the Hunter Association Chairman, not the president of the World Federation.

"Hmph, old man, don't try to provoke me." Meruem stared at Netero. "That matter's settled. Now let's talk about you."

"Old thing, in three months, I will kill you. To avenge the Queen." As he said this, Meruem's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

Yes, in this life, the Queen had died just like in the original. But unlike the original, the Queen's death wasn't directly tied to the Ant King's birth. It was, however, inseparable from Netero's surprise attack.

Whether in the original or this life, the Ant King and Netero had an irreconcilable conflict. In the original, Netero was determined to sacrifice himself to kill the Ant King. In this life, whether Netero was determined to kill him or not no longer mattered. What mattered was the Queen. Unlike the cold-hearted Ant King of the original, Meruem held great affection for the Queen who had given birth to him. At the very least, before his birth, he had felt her deep maternal love.