Chapter 45
After five days, Big Pineapple and his fifty Asura warriors finally reached the ant nest.
They hid inside ant shells, using steel found in the ruins as supports to control the ants' husks.
Just as the people in the livestream had said, the other ants did not stop them.
They entered the ant nest without a hitch.
The nest was much, much, much bigger than they had imagined.
And its densely packed, twisting passages were beyond counting. They wandered lost inside for over half a month without finding the right path.
According to the experts in the livestream, the queen was generally at the very bottom of an ant nest, so they could not go wrong as long as they kept heading down.
But there were passages everywhere, and every one led downward. They had no idea which way to go.
They also had to avoid the other ants.
Normally, the ants ignored them, treating them as though they had not seen them, but some ants would approach to communicate with them.
Whenever that happened, they could only dodge them.
Although this was merely an ant nest, its actual size was nearly that of a province.
And a province with a three-dimensional layout like a mountain city, at that.
The livestream viewers were astonished by what they saw.
[Holy shit, this is the first time anyone's taken me inside an ant nest.]
[So this is what an ant nest looks like. Amazing!]
[Well, brothers from the mountain city, speak up. If we dropped you in there, could you find your own way out?]
[You'll have to be more specific. Do these ants bite? If they do, I probably wouldn't be walking out.]
[Holy shit, so many mosquito corpses! Is this their food storeroom?!]
[And they've even got so many plants. It's completely barren outside, yet they've stockpiled this much food.]
[That, that crystal-clear stuff-could it be honey?]
[Have you got a hole in your brain? This is an ant nest. How could there be honey?]
[You could call it ant honey. It's food for ants that have just hatched from their eggs.]
[Brother Pineapple, haul this food away and your food crisis will be over!]
[This is the food storeroom. Big Pineapple, have a look around. There might be an incubation chamber nearby specifically for hatching ant eggs.]
Following their instructions, Big Pineapple searched for quite some time before finally finding an enormous cavern.
Ant eggs covered its floor in tightly packed rows.
The sight made some viewers with trypophobia feel rather uncomfortable.
[Th-this, this many ant eggs? If they all hatch, wouldn't that...]
[Uh, Brother Pineapple, why don't you go smash all of these things?]
[Don't cause trouble. That'll send the ants into a frenzy. You can leave a pile of gunpowder here and light it when the time comes.]
[With the incubation chamber here, the queen's chamber shouldn't be far away. Be careful. The queen's guards won't let any unfamiliar ants approach her.
If you get close, they'll very likely attack you themselves, so watch your surroundings carefully.]
Finally, after another three days, they saw the queen.
The ant that had once measured less than two hundred meters was now almost as large as the giant outside.
His abdomen alone was nearly two thousand meters long.
And the queen was still constantly eating and laying eggs, producing ant eggs every moment.
Big Pineapple and the others, ants lingering at the entrance to the queen's palace without leaving, immediately drew the surrounding guards' attention.
Big Pineapple's eyes narrowed, and he roared. The next instant, he smashed the ant shell around him, grabbed the gunpowder and oil stored in its abdomen, and hurled them straight over.
The other fifty ants did the same, hurling over forty enormous barrels of gunpowder and oil.
The queen jolted in alarm, and a transparent protective barrier rose around his body.
Big Pineapple slashed through the air, and dozens of blades came cleaving down.
One enormous ant guard after another fearlessly threw themselves in front of the queen.
Fire flared, and explosions thundered without end.
The terrifying blasts made the entire ant nest quake violently, then collapse.
Amid the explosions, Big Pineapple's expression changed dramatically as he watched a fiery-red protective barrier light up around the queen.
This ant's ability was actually fire!
Although the force of the explosions still blasted numerous holes in the queen's body, with all kinds of slime pouring out of him, the flames did him no harm!
The original plan had been to detonate the explosives and flee in the chaos.
They would face countless attacking ants, but as long as they made it back, everything would be a success.
But if the queen survived, it would all be in vain!
Big Pineapple's heart sank. Clenching both fists, he bellowed, "Kill!!!"
At his roar, fifty members of the Asura Clan charged straight at the queen, enduring the flames and explosions head-on.
Big Pineapple controlled a hundred-meter blade, severing the head of every ant in its path.
The giant blade stirred up fierce winds, sweeping flames through the queen's chamber, which spanned thousands of meters.
The ants, previously heedless of their lives and utterly fearless, were overwhelmed by the smell of oil and gunpowder and instantly began scurrying about like headless flies.
When the aftermath of the explosions subsided, over half the ant guards were dead or wounded.
The queen's protective barrier vanished. Opening his mouth, he sucked in all the flames, then spat them back toward Big Pineapple and the others.
An Asura clansman stepped in front of Big Pineapple, crossed his four arms, and let out an earth-shaking roar. "Protect our king! Defense!"
[Boom!]
A great shield appeared, blocking all the flames, but extensive scorch marks also appeared across the Asura warrior's body.
Big Pineapple's telekinetic attacks constantly shifted between the intangible and the tangible.
At times, he attacked the queen's mind; at others, he gave them physical form to attack the queen's enormous body.
He had completely abandoned defense. All he wanted now was to kill this queen.
The other Asura warriors fought desperately, staking their lives solely on protecting their king and holding back the queen's guards.
Vast numbers of ants swiftly swarmed toward the queen's chamber.
Yet once they reached the entrance, they all stopped.
They had rushed over because they sensed something had happened in the queen's chamber.
They did not enter because the information coming from inside was too confused, leaving them unsure whether to go in.
[Screee~~~]
The queen let out a shriek. The man shielding Big Pineapple spat blood, and the protective barrier shattered instantly.
The mass of ants also seemed to receive the queen's command and charged inside.
[Holy shit, these ants can even scream!!!]
[Brother Pineapple, run! The ants are coming in!]
[Brother Pineapple, hurry and run! Any later and it'll be too late!]
[Son, run!!]
[Son, get out of there! Mom's begging you! (sobbing emoji)]
Big Pineapple hardened his heart. The moment he had realized they had failed to kill the queen, he had known he no longer had any way back.
This time seemed just like before. He had no choice at all, and no path of retreat!
Everything, every single thing, was forcing him down a road from which there was no return.
Since there's no way back, let the fish die and the net break!
In all my life, I've never had a path of retreat!
Ignoring the comments, Big Pineapple stepped high into the air. Flames surged toward him. With a furious roar, he manifested a thousand-meter saber, cleaving through the flames and straight down at the queen.
That day, fire from the ant nest blazed into the sky!
Flames rising from a hundred thousand hilltops scorched the air until it warped.
The terrifying fire burned for three full days and more.
Thick smoke soared into the sky, and countless ants perished in the sea of flames.
Inside the ruined ant nest, the queen dragged his half-severed body laboriously toward a thoroughly charred ant corpse and struggled to swallow it.
Then he moved toward the next...
That day, fire lit the sky, and all the ants outside fell into chaos.
After that day, Big Pineapple never returned to the Asura Clan's camp.
Like a stone wife waiting for her husband, Yu Ji gazed at the distant, gradually dying blaze, his heart praying ceaselessly.
Praying that the king would return safely soon.
Every time Big Pineapple went to war, she came here to pray. Only when she saw his troops returning from afar would she go home to wait.
The great fire died out. The ants, previously organized and disciplined, often venturing out in groups, fell into disorder and no longer posed a threat.
And as time passed, Yu Ji's heart slowly sank into the depths.
One day, two days, three days, a month, half a year...
The Asuras' faith, their king, still had not returned.
At that moment, Yu Ji seemed to guess something, but she refused to believe it.
He was the king of the Asuras, the strongest and wisest being in the entire Asura Clan!
He had led the Asura Clan's growth and rise, invented language and writing, made weapons, developed supernatural powers, breeding, animal husbandry...
He was an omnipotent being, so how could he possibly die?!
Although the Asura Clan had known long ago that battle inevitably meant death.
Although they had long understood the meaning of death.
Although the Asura Clan did not fear death and even regarded dying in battle as an honor.
But he was different!
Because he was the king of the Asuras!
He was the Asuras' faith!
He was Yu Ji's everything!
Yu Ji gazed into the distance with hollow eyes. He still remembered how the king had stood right here and told her to take good care of Aimin.
But, my king, do you know that if Yu Ji loses you, what meaning would Yu Ji's life still hold?
My king, when will you return?
"Mother, it's getting cold. Put on something warmer."
Yu Ji's hollow eyes turned toward the child beside her, already nearly as tall as she was. In that moment, he seemed to see his king.
Tears spilled from her eyes, impossible to hold back any longer.
Inside the ruined ant nest, an illusory human figure floated in midair with an exceedingly grim expression.
[Holy shit, Brother Pineapple, you're not dead!]
[Brother Pineapple, are you dead or not?!]
[Brother Pineapple, don't tell me you've become a ghost!]
[Be more confident. Brother Pineapple's already floating.]
[Brother Pineapple, what exactly happened to you?]