Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 102: Unplanned Desert

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General Pearl saw; with a single syllable she launched a crescent of azure light that bisected the Naga. Shards rained, sizzling where they hit sand. Cheers rippled through lines but quick palsy shivered the ground again, something worse is coming.

High above, the Queen’s voice thundered, "Steady, children. The Ruler is near."

She and the generals shot forward, cutting a path toward an immense sinkhole opening six kilometres east where heat shimmered. Their auras left spirals of light as they vanished into swirling dust, off to confront A’zhorath directly.

That left the army to pin the Ruler’s horde. Chaos thickened. Mia’s squad pressed on forward. Thea’s army raced to outpace them, trying to be first through the outer ranks. Rivalry smouldered even amid slaughter.

By noon, Kai had killed sixteen drakes (EXP +320) and two scarabs (EXP +80), pushing him over the brink.

[Ding! System notifications: Level Up!

Level 27 → 28 Aura +100]

He grinned grimly, the battlefield was a poor place to celebrate, but it’s a progress nonetheless. Sweat stung his compound eyes. Dawn Blade had carved halfway through the enemy wave, nearing a ridge of standing crimson pillars, fossilised dunes turned to stone by cruel heat.

Mia signalled halt, soldiers exchanged water flasks with each other. The wounded shuffled rear. Thea’s unit, to the south, had pushed further, establishing a bulge that threatened to envelop Mia’s wing.

A sudden hush fell across the front line. A tremor built, not like earlier. This one rolled slow, rhythmic, it felt alive. Pillars vibrated, sand dancing in frantic spirals. Ants on both sides paused, senses prickling.

"Back!" Mia yelled just as the world gave way.

The ridge cracked open, splitting into a giant crater of two hundred metres wide. Pillars toppled, screams cut in the air. Kai’s heart lurched; ground slid like grains in an hourglass. He stabbed his spear butt into a fissure, hooked with another hand to Mia’s elbow, pulling her from edge as sand waterfalled into darkness.

They teetered. A scarab slammed Mia’s flank; she slipped, very nearly vanishing. Kai hauled with all his might, his strength paid off. He pushed her back to solid ground. In that instant an unknown beast streaked toward them, claws flashing. He wasn’t aiming for Mia but for Kai’s exposed arm.

Kai saw it but his reaction was too slow until the quake jostled again. Spear wrenched sideways. The unknown beast strike missed the heart but slashed greave. Kai lost footing; sand beneath collapsed fully. He and the unknown beast both plummeted into the yawning maw.

"Kai!" Mia’s scream faded as dust swallowed him.

Down he fell, buffeted by sliding rubble, through a throat of sand then into open void. He glimpsed the unknown beast tumbling opposite side, expression half‑snarl half‑terror before shadows consumed them both. Its body was covered with black aura. As if it was some kind of shadow monster with half human and half beast form. Kai couldn’t recognise it,

"What the hell is this? What type of ugly beast is this?" he murdered.

On impact the sand cushioned enough to not kill, but drove breath away. Kai rolled, coughing, tasting iron. Darkness reigned, broken by faint turquoise glow from patches of crystal on distant walls. He spat grit, scanned no sign of the unknown beast, it was gone. Tunnel branched in several jagged throats; echoes of distant crashes faded.

Above, far overhead, sunlight a coin before closing; pillars collapsed, sealing crater mouth. Silence followed.

Kai pressed his ear to the ground. Some faint vibrations receding, the armies above could not come and save him. It’s a war going on. No one had time to look for him. Mia’s voice is gone. He rose, inventory check: spear intact, he tossed it inside his storage while falling. He also got some food and one water flask half full.

"Great," he muttered. "Underground again. This time I am alone."

Following the weakest air current, Kai moved deeper. There was only one path in front of him. He needed to find his way out. The walls here were smooth turquoise quartz, throbbing with inner light. Curious runes etched by heat veins glimmered when his aura brushed them.

As he ventured three hundred metres deep, the corridor widened into a vaulted chamber twenty metres across. It has arches sculpted by natural furnaces centuries prior.

At the centre stood a dais of white marble. It is impossible to find one in the desert. Its surface is cut like a lotus. Around the base lay piles of relics, crystal orbs, gold‑leaf scroll tubes, and petrified eggs as large as pumpkins.

"Treasure room?" He asked himself.

But something felt different... something is alive. His Predator Instinct pinged nothing, yet his skin crawled. There is definitely something wrong.

He stepped onto the dais. Immediately the chamber’s glow brightened. The path which he came in closed with a thud. As if it was never there. Suddenly, a gentle voice slid into his mind. It was rich, feminine, resonating like a cello inside his skull.

"Young wanderer... you step lightly for one who carries so heavy a shadow."

Kai froze, spear ready. "Who’s there? Show yourself."

"I am A’zhorath... though not the raging beast your Queen now wounds above. That shell is dying; my soul... rests here for some unfinished wish."

He scanned the entire chamber and found no body. Just relics. "Is it Telepathy?"

"Yes. Only in this sanctum where the noise of death cannot drown thought."

Kai’s mandibles clicked. He thinks, "I must keep my guard up. Who knows what she is planning. I am no match for her." Then he said out loud, "If you’re the Ruler, why are you chatting with your enemy? I am a warrior of the ant kingdom."

A chuckle like wind through desert canyons. "Because your soul sings a different song. You are ant, yet not. Born of devouring hunger, yet you leash it with iron intent. I taste two worlds in you."

Kai’s gut lurched. Did she sense his reincarnate nature? He masked unease with huff. "Flattery won’t earn mercy. Both armies killed thousands of each other. What do you want?" freēwēbηovel.c૦m