Chapter 277

From the entrance of the nest of the queen ant—Armare—and the worker ants—Armar—Tatsuro, Ai, and Cardina in her [Child Form] inside Ai’s pocket, along with Jeanne and Athena in their [Child Form], and Aarenfrit, split into three groups, each entering through a different tunnel.

“This wall doesn’t seem to be at risk of collapsing for now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They must be using some kind of special skill to harden the tunnel walls like concrete. It’d be dangerous if heavy structures like a town were built on top, but in a plain like this, it should be fine unless there’s an earthquake.”

“Then that’s reassuring. But even if it did collapse, your magic or my brute strength could just blast a hole upward, right?”

“Jeanne and Athena could handle it too. As for Aarenfrit… who knows. Well, he insisted on coming along, so it’s his responsibility to deal with it.”

“I don’t exactly have any attachment to that guy either, so if he seems alive, we’ll rescue him. That’s good enough, right?”

“Exactly. He’s the one who wanted to tag along. We don’t need to worry about him too.”

If he were an opponent who could be easily subdued, Tatsuro might lower his guard a bit, but Aarenfrit is the kind of entity that could be dangerous if turned hostile.

That’s why Tatsuro wants to avoid getting involved as much as possible and treats him coldly.

Thus, they proceed through the nest’s tunnels, relying on the light of Tatsuro’s light magic.

Since they had already exterminated a large number of the combat-oriented Armar, there’s no sign of them.

So, without any trouble, they calmly advance until they come across a large, square chamber.

“Found one.”

“Yeah. But it’s already laid that many eggs.”

Peeking cautiously into the chamber from outside, they see a creature slightly smaller than the Armar worker ants, with a red face and an ovipositor protruding from its rear, curled up as if hiding in a corner of the room.

As Tatsuro noted, the chamber is filled with jelly-like eggs, a mix of white and gray, plastered not only on the floor but also on the walls and ceiling.

“It looks like it’s using some kind of skill.”

“That’s creepy…”

Armare has already stopped laying eggs and is emitting glowing particles from its body, attaching them to the eggs.

{I don’t know what skill it’s using, but let’s crush it along with the eggs now.}

{How?}

{Fire Magic would be the fastest way to burn them, but I’m hesitant to use it here. I think I’ll go with Ice Magic.}

{Got it.}

Communicating through telepathy, Ai wraps herself around Tatsuro’s arm to activate her title effect.

Tatsuro retrieves the Rifle Staff from his [Infinite Item Field], which he had kept activated with time stopped.

With one core already active in the Rifle Staff, Tatsuro channels magical energy to cast a mixed spell of ice and wind.

A stream of air flows from the staff’s tip, and cold wind fills the chamber.

“ZEEEEEEEEEE!”

As the temperature plummets, Armare senses that some kind of magic is being used, cuts off its skill, and lets out a loud cry.

—Then, the eggs hatch all at once, and small Armar emerge, quickly growing to the size of adults.

“Too late.”

Realizing they’ve been noticed, Tatsuro significantly increases the output, mixing in Water Magic to unleash a blizzard.

The Armar, doused in slushy ice and battered by the wind, lose body heat rapidly due to evaporative cooling.

In no time, the newly hatched Armar are completely wiped out.

However, Armare, their mother, is barely alive.

Tatsuro intentionally reduced the magic’s intensity in that specific area.

“ZEE—ZEEE—”

Trembling violently, Armare desperately clings to life.

Tatsuro and his group, unaffected by the freezing cold thanks to the title effect of Endeniente, casually enter the sub-zero chamber.

Only then does Armare notice them, but it can no longer move properly and can only let out faint cries to intimidate.

“Well then, I’ll take your SP.”

Confirming Armare’s weakened state with Dispel Magic, Tatsuro approaches and uses [Level Eater].

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Level: 11

Skills: [Oviposition], [Egg Enhancement Lv. 2], [Magic Detection Lv. 1]

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(So, it noticed the magic right away because of Magic Detection. And the skill it was using earlier was Egg Enhancement… Probably a skill that strengthens the eggs in some way while they’re still in that state.)

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Level: 11

Skills: [Oviposition], [Egg Enhancement Lv. 0], [Magic Detection Lv. 0]

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“All right, Cardina, finish it off quickly.”

“Peewee!”

Jumping out of Ai’s pocket and activating [True Form], Cardina creates a slender earthen spear with her right leg and pierces Armare’s head, ending its life.

Once done, Cardina reverts to [Child Form] and slips back into Ai’s pocket to resume guarding.

“Let’s move on.”

“Okay.”

Using the same method, Tatsuro and his group systematically exterminate the creatures in each chamber they find.

Jeanne and Athena overpower their enemies with brute force, relentlessly destroying their bases.

Aarenfrit, using Curse Magic, manipulates the thoughts of the hatched Armar, making them devour their own mother, Armare, and then each other.

Finally, he weakens the last remaining one and finishes it off himself, progressing through the tunnels more slowly than the others but with certainty.

As they advance deeper, they begin encountering individuals that haven’t emerged outside and newly spawned Armar.

The sight of them scuttling in narrow passages is quite unsettling, but they’re no match for Tatsuro’s group and are easily scattered.

“Each one isn’t that strong, so a normal adventurer could probably handle a few attacks.”

“But there are just so many of them. If you don’t have enough stamina or magic, you’d get exhausted and eaten.”

“Yeah. Ai and I can recover instantly just by sticking together no matter how much we use, and Jeanne and Athena can manage with just the increased Dragon Force without using their own magic. Without some kind of recovery method, you can’t conquer this place.”

While eliminating the monotonous stream of creatures in the endless dark tunnels, something unusual appears.

“It’s carrying something like an egg.”

“Yeah. But the color seems a bit different from the ones Armar come from.”

“Yeah, that one’s pure white.”

Among nearly ten Armar, one is carrying a pure white jelly-like egg on its back, while the others form a protective ring around it, moving orderly without breaking formation.

The eggs they’ve seen so far were white mixed with gray, always with the mother Armare nearby.

But this time, there’s no mother, and the child Armar are carefully carrying the pure white egg, seemingly transporting it somewhere.

There’s no way this is insignificant.

“Let’s take them out first and then examine the egg.”

“Okay.”

Ai activates Stealth Camouflage, a derivative skill of Scythe Arts, on herself, weaving in Air Walk to circle around to the opposite side of Tatsuro, behind the Armar.

Tatsuro, confirming her position, deploys a thin film of ice to cover the tunnel ahead.

The Armar, noticing something unusual, immediately start retreating, but a shield made of black ki blocks their path, and ice quickly creeps up to their feet.

The ice firmly grips their four legs, immobilizing them, at which point Tatsuro releases the shield and Ai deactivates Stealth Camouflage.

From the eight palms of the Military King, ki spears shoot out, precisely piercing the Armar’s heads, while Ai, wielding a sword and spear in her two hands, delivers thrusts.

In a flash, so swift the creatures likely didn’t even realize they were dead, the Armar are defeated.

“Good work.”

“Nah, this is nothing tiring.”

Meeting at the spot with the fallen corpses, they exchange light banter while Tatsuro analyzes the unusual egg.

“It’s not an Armar egg… Here goes!”

“Whoa, what are you doing?”

“Just thought I’d take a look inside.”

“Ugh, that sweet smell… Blegh—”

Intrigued by the egg’s different reaction, Tatsuro uses a fine Laser Cutter from his fingertip to slice open the surface.

A sticky, sweet odor spreads, and an incomplete creature slithers out.

At first glance, it resembles an Armar, but the part that seems to be its face is faintly red.

“So it’s an Armare egg. They’re probably redistributing these to restore the nest. That means they’ve already noticed the intruders.”

“Even if they’ve noticed, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Ai says, pinching her nose, showing confidence born of their overwhelming strength.

Having penetrated deep into the nest, they’re likely close to the deepest layer.

Tatsuro doesn’t think the enemy can do anything more at this point.

Disposing of the egg’s remains, they hurry onward to cut off the root of the problem.

Along the way, they take out Armar carrying mother eggs, eventually reaching the deepest layer—the final large chamber connected to all the tunnels.

Peeking cautiously from near the entrance, they see an Armare nearly three meters tall, surrounded protectively by Armar nearly two meters tall, sturdier than the others.

“Must be the queen Armare and her royal guard Armar.”

“They do look a bit stronger than the others. But only compared to the others.”

“Don’t get too cocky and get hurt, okay?”

“I know. Even if I can heal, pain still sucks.”

“Good.”

The nest, having suffered devastating damage, seems to be trying to recover, with the queen Armare laying eggs through her ovipositor and having regular-sized Armar transport them into the countless tunnels.

“Probably only that one can produce mother Armare.”

“Then taking it down should make things easier.”

“Yeah, Jeanne, Athena, and Aarenfrit aren’t here yet, so let’s finish this ourselves before they arrive.”

“Got it!”

As Ai strikes a fighting pose to show her enthusiasm, Tatsuro strokes her head, retrieving a staff from his Infinite Item Field to prepare his magic.