Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 114: Escape or Die

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Kai coughed grit. "If you’re after snacks, rib roast enough. Let me go. One day I will repay your favour."

It chuckled. "Bold. Though your taste may improve the meal." It tapped his breastplate where the Ruler-Core stigma glowed faint through shell. "What is this?"

"Birthmark," Kai lied.

The Mantira hissed suspicion, but before it probed further, heavy footfalls echoed. From a side tunnel lumbered a hulk twice Mantira’s size, a Granite Gallog, four star rank turtle titan dragging the stolen rib slab across a shell like sled. Mantira clicked greedy, waving it deeper.

Kai seized window: interrogator away, aura leash momentarily eased. Internal voice of the System chimed inside his mind.

A thin ribbon of emerald code flickered across Kai’s vision, bathing the stone walls of the Mantira’s lair in sickly light.

[Ding! SYSTEM UPDATE: Threshold for Third-Star evolution reached. A catalytic deed is required.

QUEST: AVENGE BETRAYAL, CLAIM THE THREE STAR RANK.

Target : Captain Darius (FOUR STAR RANK)

Objective : Kill the traitor who buried you beneath the mine. Take your revenge for losing your friend’s life.

Time limit of the mission: 10 days

Progress : 0 %

Reward : Monarch Human Form (full bipedal evolution, refined speech, aura-weave glands, accelerated stat growth.)

Failure : Humanoid evolution locked until Six Star rank. (If you can’t kill him within 10 days) A different evolution path.

System Note: Monarch Human Form is RECOMMENDED by the system. Don’t lose this chance. ]

Kai’s mandibles clicked, the echo sharp in the hush of the tunnel. "So that’s the price," he whispered, talons scraping rock. "Only 10 days to carve his (Darius) name into the dirt."

He closed his eyes, letting the words burn into memory. Kai’s eyes narrowed. "Humanoid form?"

"Monarch Human Form... Opposable thumbs, a real voice, no more antenna stutters. My manly man body will come back. And all I have to do is erase one back-stabbing coward."

A slow grin spread across his chitinous face.

"Darius," he hissed, voice low and hungry, "I’m going to enjoy this, every last, screaming heartbeat of it. I can’t wait to taste your essence."

The quest banner faded. Only the silence of the cavern remained, silence, and the steady ticking of a countdown Darius would never hear until it was far too late.

Curiosity stabbed, but first: freedom. He examined the shackles. Runes slender; a four point ward keyed to Mantira aura. Break ward, they’d crack.

Although he reached level thirty, yet he was still a two star rank. Stats high for rank yet not enough to snap quartz. "Unless... I use one of the ruler roars. Nah. I won’t waste the ruler’s roar. I will use it when I have no choice."

He glanced at the rib being hauled off generations of condensed ruler energy oozed in black-gold marbling. If he consumed part... But chain radius limited reach.

An idea sparked. He whispered, "Miryam, can you hear me?" The egg in inner pouch pulsed faint reply. "Need a distraction. Can you emit... anything?"

Warmth flared; a thin keening note, beyond hearing range, tremored the walls. Mantira jerked, eyes darting. Crystals high above cracked; shards rained. Mantira chittered furious commands at Gallog. A fissure zig-zagged across Kai’s ceiling, dropping pebble sized rock.

He stretched bound foot, caught shard between claws, wedged it into rune groove. Arc lightning spat; ward flickered.

"Once more." Miryam pulsed harder; a real crack thundered. Mantira screeched, scuttled to prop wall with limbs. Rune flickered out entirely, quartz cuffs dimming. Kai yanked. They held but the aura siphon stopped. His reserves surged back to full 2 700.

He flexed with demon-like energy around stigma, but held the activation, Ruler Roar would kill the egg too. Instead he inhaled, triggered Tiny Tank. His exoskeleton hardened, muscles swelled.

Cuffs fractured, but not broken.

Mantira spun. "What the Hell!" It pounced. Kai head butted mask, glass shards flew. In the same motion, he bit the forearm joint with Devourer’s Bite and gulped a mouthful of five-star essence. [Stats +4]. Pain made Mantira shriek, stumble. Kai twisted, used partial freedom to swing chained wrists as mace. Spikes crunched through mandibles. Blood sprayed.

He cascaded his skill Reflex Mode.The world slowed around him. The chain links glimmered visible stress points. He smashed them against a sharp ledge. On the third whack they shivered, snapped free.

Aura dropped to 2 200. He had minutes.

Kai seized severed cuffs as knuckle dusters, drove them into Mantira’s face once, twice, thrice until violet eyes popped. Beast reeled, but tail stabbed; barbs sliced flank. Pain lanced, [HP 1 700]. He wove, grabbed tail mid-strike, bit again with essence eater Devouring bite [Stats +2].

"I can’t defeat him. I need to run away." He kneed the thorax, rolled over a stunned Gallog’s shell, scampered down exit tunnel clutching the egg, leaving Mantira thrashing.

Ahead, the catacomb branched like a spider web. He chose a narrow crawl space scented with cold airflow, likely leading upward.

Mission step one escapes completely.

Back at the ant kingdom.

That night, in her tower chamber, Mia sat at a mahogany desk strewn with cartographic scrolls. Candlelight painted weary hollows under eyes. She’d spent hours in archives collating Mantira migrations: most dens trailed east to the Razor Spine Range. Queen’s spies flagged them as barren.

"He could be beyond my reach by now." Fear stabbed her heart again.

A knock. Lieutenant Jun entered, carrying a plain wooden box banded with Dawn-Blade sigil. "Highness, Fenn found this among Kai’s lodgings. He thought..."

Mia’s fingers trembled as she flipped lid. Inside lay a tied bundle of field reports, Kai’s neat, slanted script annotating beast behaviour. Atop rested a diary lock with aura. Tape read: My thoughts on princess Mia.

Mia’s composure shattered anew. She clutched the dairy to her chest, shoulders shaking. Jun instinctively reached her but Mia waved off. "Leave me alone." tears spilling but voice steel. Jun didn’t see her crying.

After the lieutenant withdrew, Mia curled on the chaise, the dairy pressed like a heartbeat. Wet lashes brushed the cover. "Hold on, Kai. I will come to save. I know you are alive."