Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 90: A Gate!

Night twelve, they camped in basalt ruins of some forgotten scorpion clan. The stone pillars were half-buried. Fires hid behind rock to mask glow from raiders. There is a legend that the scorpion clan was wiped out by a powerful human.

Few hundred years ago they were one of the strongest clans of the desert. But they were destroyed in a single night. No one believes that a human would dare to come into zoology territory. It became a legend and with time the scorpion clan became a joke and forgotten.

Kai sat on a ledge, rolling a Shade core between claws. He considered devouring but aura toxin from these beasts known to cause hallucinations if unpurified. He pocketed it for later distillation.

Footsteps came, Shale lowered himself beside Kai. The big ant gazed at constellations. "Good call today."

Kai shrugged. "Lucky dune."

"Luck is a flower that blooms where warriors bleed," Shale rumbled, quoting old ant poem. He added softer, "I was among those doubters who almost followed Thea. Won’t doubt Mia again."

Kai met his gaze and he saw earnest respect. He nodded. They shared a canteen sip in silence.

Pre-dawn briefing, Needle (now patched) revealed updated maps. Thea’s Coatl had detoured north, likely seeking another crack into Ruler trenches. Mia aimed to reach the canyon ring first via a secret basalt underpass given by Oasis nomads.

Kai’s spear unit would scout choke points; Shale’s heavies hold the rear. Mender Lylac to triage on move, no full stops until noon.

They broke camp as the east sky glowed blue-purple. Sand felt colder, almost wet. Mia whispered to Kai while mount checking: "Desert listens. Today decides which banner stands tallest mine, or Thea’s."

Kai tightened straps. "Then we speak truth in blood."

They rode into swirling dawn, footprints swallowed behind, a world of shifting sorrows ahead.

Sunrise on the thirteenth day painted the Shifting Labyrinth gold and then tore the color away, leaving only blinding white. In that merciless glare Princess Mia’s Cerastis Banner trudged south-southwest toward a landmark few living scouts had ever reached.

The Needle-Gate, a natural underpass bored through a plateau of black basalt. Legends said the tunnel ran beneath sixty yards of solid stone, opening at last into the inner rings of the Desert Ruler’s territory. It was a shortcut, a razor stroke across a week of killer dunes.

This information came from Mia’s own research: scraps of nomad songs, half-charred maps, and one amber tablet stolen from a smuggler priest. If they could reach the Gate before Thea’s Coatl Banner, Cerastis would arrive at the Ruler’s burial storm first and find out the overall situation of the desert ruler.

Yet the desert rarely surrendered secrets free of charge.

Kai marched near the vanguard, others transformed ants’ sand-shoes hissing. Shale plodded behind like a walking fortress, hammer-axe balanced on one shoulder. Needle limped at left flank, his once-quiet eyes now permanently squinted from glass storms. Ash had given up jokes; he saved breath for survival.

The terrain changed fast: smooth slopes hardened beneath, and dunes thinned until raw basalt jutted like black dragon bones. Heat shimmer fled, replaced by an eerie coolness leaking from cracks. Kai felt the shift in pressure, something vast underground breathing chilled air up vents.

Mia raised a fist. The column halted amid serrated pillars. Ahead, two rocks leaned to form a crooked arch big enough for three ants abreast. Wind moaned through it like a buried flute.

"That is Needle-Gate," Mia whispered. Awe and unease colored her voice. "Scouts, check entry. Kai, you lead."

He nodded, licking cracked mandibles. A single sound, chk, from his spear signaled Shale and Axe to cover angles. They advanced.

The arch’s interior swallowed light; Kai’s dark-vision adjusted, mapping edges in ghost-glow. Basalt walls showed ancient claw marks, some twice his height. Loose glass pellets crunched underfoot. It was evidence of past battles.

Forty paces in, the tunnel widened into a cathedral-like chamber lit by bioluminescent moss: green glows painting columns. And on the stone floor, as if waiting for them, lay five carapace husks. It was black, glossy, and man-sized. Split open down the belly. Empty.

Kai crouched, studying one. The shell’s edges melted outward, as though something hot had burst free rather than predation from outside.

Needle swallowed. "Molted... whatever they were, they grew bigger."

Ash touched another husk then cursed his finger smoked. "Fresh. Still losing heat."

Kai straightened, antennae quivering. Mia came behind them, eyes narrowing at the husks. "Crawler Wraiths?" she guessed. "No... wrong shell pattern."

Shale nudged a wall scratch with his axe butt. "They went deeper, bigger now. They will not like visitors."

Mia exhaled. "We move in two files, shields high, no torches, use moss light. If these creatures sense heat or vibration, quiet pace. Kai, take point."

Kai breathed once, steadying. "Understood Princess."

The march through Needle-Gate felt like trekking inside a monster’s gullet. Moist air condensed on armour. Every step echoed, then was swallowed by thick walls. Once, a faraway boom trembled dust from ceilings, maybe dunes collapsing above, maybe something else.

Kai’s Predator Instinct painted risk zones: side vents where tunnels intersected, pockets of unstable stalactites, and odd patches of moss smothered in black residue, as if scorched by some kind of acid.

"One mile," Needle (the ant) whispered, clutching compass beads. "Another chamber ahead. Opens to sunlight."

Mia signaled halt. Warriors rested in crouches, water rations sipped through reeds. Kai used the lull to glance at system metrics:

[HP 73 % (heat exhaustion)

Aura reserve 80 % ]

Even the interface seemed to brace for storms.

Suddenly, "Movement," Ash hissed. Everyone froze.

A skittering cascade patterned overhead. Kai’s gaze tracked upward, stalactites shifting? No shadows on the ceiling detached, sliding along rock like living tar. One dropped silently behind the last warrior...

Shale saw first to react. He flung his hammer axe backward without looking. Metal slammed into the creature’s side, sparks flew in the air, but the beast only staggered. It stood revealed in mosslight: a chitinous panther-shape, pitch black, limbs too slender, each foot ending in suction pads. Its head bore no eyes, only a split mandible that dripped glowing green gel.