Chapter 198: A Mysterious Ant Colony...

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"Crimson Flash! Slashing Scarlet Blade!"

Slash! Slash!

A beautiful, slim, yet petite woman with pale white skin and scarlet hair jumped around the stretch floors of the dungeon, her blades danced alongside her graceful body covered in tight and provocative clothes as they released countless crimson slashes towards large groups of metallic creatures.

"Groowl!"

"Grryaa!"

The creatures were easily sliced into pieces as they fell into the ground, death within seconds.

"Good work, Lilith, you've improved quite a lot," said Ervas at the woman's side.

"I am glad to please Ervas-sama expectations~! …Though this dungeon is quite boring, the blood of these monsters is not tasty for us…" said Lilith while cleaning the green and oozy blood of her blades, as her sisters behind her battled against another small group of armored fiends.

"Blood… is equal to all…" muttered a floating red skull covered in crimson blood at Lilith's side, it was her Water Attribute Spirit, Undine… which she named as Red Skull.

"Maybe Red Skull doesn't agree with your statement," said Veronica at Ervas side while crossing her arms.

"Well, Red Skull has always been a voracious spirit, Veronica-sama… By the way, how long is left before the Boss monster?" asked Lilith.

"We don't know yet, this dungeon is pretty big, we are at floor number twenty and it keeps going down," said Ervas.

"Oh my, perhaps this dungeon should be renamed as a labyrinth instead…" muttered Lilith as she walked back with her sisters and began to slay more monsters to clean up the floor and advance through the path of corpses and greenish blood.

As Ervas and Veronica's team explored the dungeon where Veronica was born, a small family of tiny creatures walked around the labyrinth looking for nourishment.

A few months ago, a large commotion in the dungeon happened, which ended in the death of the former ruler of the dungeon and shacking the food chain of this labyrinth.

Due to the top dog being killed, many monsters battled for supremacy once again, creating large bloodshed that lasted for weeks. The battle between the ferocious monsters of the dungeon shacked what was left after the mysterious living armor that defeated the former ruler of the dungeon disappeared.

Amidst this chaos, this small family of creatures had stuck together as a single colony, surviving up until this point through effort and by doing man sacrifices for the colony itself.

However, although they had worked very hard to do so, it was not simply through effort alone that they did it all, as one of them amongst their colony was mysterious and different from the rest.

Since it was born from within the eggs laid by the queen that it was different, its mind, thoughts, and actions were simply odd. And it often acted independently from the colony, although it was clumsy at first, it learned from its mistakes, and with the help of the colony, it became stronger and acquired abilities that seemed to not match the race that it was born as…

And despite its oddity, this oddball amongst the colony was the one that enlightened it.

With its strange actions and high intelligence, it helped the colony survive, while fighting against monsters perhaps even stronger than them, surviving, growing stronger, and continuing through such daily life.

However, due to the constant battles for the supremacy of the food chain in the dungeon, the colony could not take a break, nor could this odd one, leading the colony alongside the queen with its strength and powers, it slowly granted them victory after victory… but even by growing strong from it, it was simply not enough, growing strong didn't mean that they could simply recover their loses nor heal back their wounds, and even the odd one became injured, without a proper healer within the colony, it was meant to die.

However, the colony and the queen, seeing how precious it was due to its special abilities, decided to sacrifice themselves for it and its safety… It was a strange activity coming from senseless monsters, but it seemed that something deep down within them had changed when this odd one had taught them how to fight, how to use skills, and even magic to an extent.

The unfortunate case that none amongst the colony had any healing spell was simply it being out of luck…

The colony moved as one mass, hiding beneath the shadows of the labyrinth while waiting for prey, leaping over it and killing the prey through hundreds of small poisonous fangs and corrosive acidic saliva bites… although the monsters had become aware of such predator, and had begun to evade the place where they often wondered, searching for food to feed over such an enormous colony harder and harder.

Even the odd one seemed to have lost much hope, as its wound didn't regenerate in time and it was slowly losing more health and energy, due to the fragility of its race, it was bound to simply die, but the colony and queen did not want to give up on it, not yet.

"You guys are already doing too much for me… I am a dead weight, dispose of me…" it muttered while being carried by many of its siblings.

Its siblings did not know how to talk but communicated their simple thoughts through the movements of their antennas, none of them agreed with him.

"What the queen said, it is done,"

"We shall protect you,"

"The odd one, you're not bound to die today,"

"You guys… are really something else… Sigh… I wonder if being reincarnated as an ant was my punishment for having committed so many mistakes in my previous life… To think that I would be killed by that idiot just at that moment… I really lowered my guard… I am barely a few months old, but this life had already felt like an eternity down here…"

"Cheer up, my son," said the queen, the one who had acquired a greater consciousness after having interacted with the 'odd one' since it was born.

"Mother, it is enough of this. I cannot let myself be a weight for all of you any longer… Please, dispose of me and go on. Prioritize your survival" said the odd one, talking to the queen. Although it possessed the mind of a former human, it was still an ant within the colony, and it also shared the instinct of wanting to protect the queen like its siblings.

"No… You are special, more special than all of us… We cannot let you die," said the queen, as firm as she had always has been, the 'odd one' couldn't help but wonder if the queen was already a better mother than the one it had on its first life on Earth.

"Brother, you're bound for greatness…"

"The colony does what the colony think it's the best…"

"Your safety shall be prioritized, our lives are meaningless in comparison with your talent…"

"If we can secure our race, you must survive…"

"But… this is wrong! You should not simply think like that! There is more at life than… sacrificing yourselves for a greater cause! I know it very well… I know it very well, you know?" said the odd one as it lamented its powerlessness at the moment, even after having stopped being useful, the whole colony unified itself to protect him, even the queen.

The odd one used to be someone filled with convictions and strength, someone that walked through a path that is believed to be the correct one for the future of the world it lived on its second life… but after getting to know the truth of its actions by the words of its best friend, it could not help but lament that walking through that path that it believed correct and righteous was in fact, the wrong path.

"From the start that I never deserved the third life… I died by that one bastard, but it didn't mean that by getting killed I get to live again… Where can I amend for this guilt I feel? …I would have preferred to simply disappear… But all of you now… all of you doing this for me… I cannot help but… I cannot help but think that there might be something more that I am destined to do now" said the odd one, finally accepting the efforts of its kind.

"That is right… My child" said the queen with warm words.

As the colony wondered the dungeon, the odd one recalled its past and the hazardous last days of its second life… 

The odd one, formerly known in Earth and Kritias as Daniel Harold, was one of the reincarnated souls that came with Veronica towards Kritias, one of the many coworkers that died on that fateful day on Earth.

Time rewinds itself for a bit more than two months…

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[Name: Lilith.

[Race: Blood Human (Half-Dwarf)

[Age: 21

[Titles: Igni Kingdom's Prince Royal Guard. 

[Type: Demon/Human/Dwarf

[Job: Scarlet Blade Knightess.

[Job History: Apprentice Warrior, Swordsman, Apprentice Mage, Magic Swordsman, Magic Knightess. 

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 2123/2123

[Mana Points: 820/820

[Strength: 2323

[Defense: 1230

[Magic: 957

[Resistance: 1140

[Agility: 2205

[Passive Skills]

[Night Vision; Level 5]

[Mental Corruption; Level 7]

[Detect Presence; Level 5]

[Pain Resistance; Level 4]

[Superhuman Strength; Level 4]

[Self-Enhancement; Following (Ervas); Level 7]

[Self-Enhancement; Following (Veronica): Level 6]

[Increased Defense while Equipped with Metal Armor; Small; Level 4]

[Increased Strength while Armed with Swords; Small; Level 6]

[Self-Enhancement: Creator (Ervas): Level 5]

[Physical Damage Resistance: Level 4]

[Magic Damage Resistance: Level 3]

[Rapid Healing: Level 4]

[Active Skills]

[Bloodsucking: Level 5]

[Silent Steps; Level 4]

[Hardworking; Level 3]

[Butcher; Level 3]

[Housework; Level 4]

[Cooking; Level 3]

[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 3]

[Sword Technique; Level 6] 

[Armor Technique; Level 5]

[Shield Technique; Level 4]

[Throwing Technique; Level 2]

[Magic Fighting Technique: Level 4]

[Archery; Level 3]

[Coordination; Level 5]

[Surpass Limits; Level 5]

[Mana Control: Level 3]

[No-Attribute Magic: Level 2]

[Light Attribute Magic: Level 3]

[Water Attribute Magic: Level 2]

[Spirit Magic: Level 1]

<Bonded Spirits>

[Red Skull, Red Skul Spirit of Blood (Undine, Water Attribute Spirit)]