Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 122: Water Curtain

Sunlight refracted through the Rift’s sheet, turning each droplet into a lens. Moving closer was like walking toward a stained-glass window alive.

Kai first prodded water temperature, cold but not glacial. He crushed a stalactite chunk to test acidity, neutral. He tossed in a shard of rope fibre, it vanished behind spray and re-emerged unsigned.

He tied a lifeline to a boulder, and led Shadeclaw through. Water pounded his body but parted easily. On the far side they emerged into twilight lit by soft cobalt glow. The clap of water muted behind as if thick drapes fell across a theatre door.

Here the tunnel sloped upward and widened. Walls pulsed with bioluminescent star-fungus, veins of lime quartz wove like ghost-rivers.

"Everything I hoped," Kai murmured. The air was warm, geothermal venting. And the faintly musical hum of that subsonic ore vein seemed to vibrate Session runes inside his own plates, promising endless reserves of rich material.

He placed Miryam the egg on the basalt floor briefly, it glowed brighter, confirming viability. Then he advanced.

Fifty metres of winding brought them to the open caldera chamber.

Even prepared, Kai stopped dead at the sheer magnitude of it.

The cavern ceiling soared maybe three hundred metres, they’d stepped inside the volcano’s ancient magma chamber, long since chilled and eroded into a domed cathedral.

But this was not a tomb. High overhead yawned a ragged aperture, jagged like cattle-teeth, revealing a circle of flawless blue daytime sky. Shafts of sunlight striped the interior in golden pillars. White birds, sky-gulls never seen so far inland, circled lazily, riding thermals then slanting back out through the distant mouth.

Pure water poured in narrow ribbons down from unseen snow channels. It splashed into crystalline pools that overflowed into braided rivulets crossing a central plateau of dark loam. Grasses grew, violet star-lilies, even sapling ironwoods rooted sideways from cliff ledges.

Around the walls, ancient hexagonal basalt columns, leftover from lava contraction, rose like ranks of organ pipes, forming natural balconies. One could build homes, arsenals, entire barracks among them.

Kai slowly turned a circle, chest aching with awe. "A hidden cradle carved by something powerful... something ancient," he thought. "Or by something with time beyond counting."

Shadeclaw chuffed uncertainty. Kai patted its neck. "We will check every corner before declaring it’s ours."

Kai divided the chamber into twelve pie-slices, using pigmented sand to mark wedges on the floor. He split his four beasts into patrol cells,

Shadeclaw, northern perimeters among pillars.

Owl, ceiling vents and sky aperture.

Boar One, eastern pools, sniff for toxins.

Boar Two, western loam plateau, burrow threats.

He then scouted south wedge personally, spear level, Predator Instinct humming.

Findings of Day One: Western plateau hosted colonies of harmless Glow-Caterpillars; good protein. No apex lair smell, only faint ammonia of rodent-size critters. Water is perfect for farming.

Old tool-marks on certain basalt columns, parallel grooves as if chiselled, though eroded smooth. The age is impossible to say. Maybe the earliest beast civilization or unknown race.

Encounter: One Shimmer-Mantis (three-star), rainbow carapace. Kai subdued, considered marking but decided to conserve slots. He did kill and harvest wings (luminescent scale helpful for runes) gaining <+30 EXP and 3 stats point>.

That night he camped on a column balcony lit by fungus lanterns, turning the sky-circle into his ceiling window. "If there is a hidden owner," he mused, "they left centuries ago or maybe thousands of years."

Day Two sweep focused on tunnels branching off four vents. All proved shallow dead-ends except south-east vent, dropping into deeper labyrinth, temperature rising. It likely leads to star-ore root. Good for forge but risk for intruders. Marked amber for further lockdown.

By dusk he’d found no sign of predator occupancy or territorial marks fresher than a century old. Everything smelled wild yet peaceful.

Kai whistled his beasts back to the central plateau. The owl confirmed zero apex, the boars snorted content, they had wallowed happily.

He slid down the slope, kneeling by Miryam the egg in scarf. "What do you think?" The shell thrummed like purr.

Decision formed. Tomorrow he will claim it.

Morning sun speared the caldera roof, beams drifted to chase dew off grass. Kai stood at the centre with his subordinates arrayed outward, forming a protective star.

He opened the System, selected the Lair Claim option. (It came with human monarch form or title) Cost steep, 2,000 Aura, but vital.

[Confirm Expenditure?]

"Confirmed." Kai pressed.

His aura drained like a floodgate was open, numbers fell 3300 to 1300 in a blink. Crimson fractals climbed basalt columns, spiralled across the ceiling and around vent mouths. They met at apex, flared, then sank invisibly into stone.

[Ding system notifications: Pentaspire Heart now registered to Monarch Kai.

Defence Level: 1 established.

Aura-regen +30 % inside bounds.

Heart-Cavern attuned: Egg Incubation rate +25 %.]

The thunder rumbled soft, as if the mountain accepted the pact. Shadeclaw roared again, boars rolled joyfully, Owl wheeled, screech echo doubling in late acoustics.

Kai exhaled a shaky laugh. "Ha Ha Ha." At that moment he felt bigger than any queen.

With lair sealed Kai set an immediate garrison plan. He placed Miryam the egg inside a shallow onyx bowl at the plateau centre, filled with star-milk from his system storage. Runes glued themselves to rim, forming protective shells that would hard-lock if hostile aura breached.

He assembled his four vassals. "Shadeclaw, primary sentinel. Patrol ceiling ledges, respond to Owl warnings."

The panther-ant hybrid bowed, new chitin plates clicking.

"Owl, constant sky aperture watch. Drop a triple screech if anything larger than a hawk descends from the mountain sealing."

Owl’s moon stone eyes flared in understanding.

"Hauler One, you guard east pools, maintain supply of fresh water."

"Grunt."

"Hauler Two, west plateau defence and star-milk refill."

He carved star-ruby plates into simple totem markers at each path entrance, six tunnels out of the chamber. He tethered venom-flower roots at five, the sixth, Veil-Fall corridor remained the main exit for now.

"Now I need to find some new subordinates. Four it’s enough to handle the security." Kai murmured by himself.

(Check the image, Kai new look.)