Chapter 403: [Bonus chapter]Two Queens?
With Ebony and Ivory in his right hand, and the Master seal in his left, Blake was about to engage the ants, but that was when the legendary tier sword began vibrating and periodically glowing.
“What the hell is going on?” Blake was shocked because this was the first time something like this was happening.
[I think Ebony and Ivory are reacting to the Master seal.] The system said.
“Yeah, I think it wants me to move it closer to the master seal. What should I do?” Blake asked.
[My guess is that it wants to absorb it.] The system said.
“If you are correct then that means there is meant to be a type of upgrade, but this is not the perfect time for that.” Blake cursed the timing. This was the first time both he and the system had heard of a weapon absorbing an artifact so they had no clue of how long it would take.
Without his sword it wasn’t as if he couldn’t handle the queen ant and the soldier ants without Ebony and Ivory, it was just that it would be way more difficult.
.....
“This isn’t the best time, can we do this some other time.” Blake said to the sword with a wry smile, but surprisingly it stopped vibrating.
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“What the?!” Blake was so shocked by what happened that he had to turn to Brian and Castiel to make sure he wasn’t only the one that saw it.
[I guess we still have a lot to learn about.] The system said in a shocked tone.
The trio soon snapped out of their reverie as Brian and Castiel dashed forward firing spells at the knight rank soldier ants that were positioned at the entrance of the queen’s chamber.
Clack! Clack!
The knight-rank ants snapped their large mandibles together, alerting the rest about the presence of the intruders as they dodged the spells.
Night mist!
Just as both groups were about to clash, a black mist began filling the tunnel and before the soldier ants inside could come out, Blake had snuck past the 2 knight rank ants and was inside the queen’s chamber.
The ants continued charging toward him, but that was when Blake activated the Master seal causing the ants to halt.
“I thought the presence of the queen would save them from the effects of the master seal.” Blake was once again impressed by the epic-tier artifacts, but he was soon forced to focus because the ant queen just stood up from its egg-laying position.
The queen ant was more than double the size of the soldier ants, standing at a height of 3.5 meters with a body length of over 10 meters. Its brown exoskeleton was twice as thick, while its speed was greater than those of the knight rank soldier ants despite its greater size.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
The queen was furious that its subjects were not obeying its commands.
“Why so angry?” Blake was freaked out when he saw the queen ant tearing apart all the soldier ants in it came closer to him.
Out of nowhere, the queen ant lunged at him at astonishing speed, but Blake was more than ready.
“I expected you to be faster than this but still not bad.” Blake said as he easily dodge the mandibles that would have snapped his body in half.
“Would have loved to play with you and test some things, but your forces are already on their way.” Blake said as he dodged an acid spray before appearing beside the ant queen and chopping off its head.
“That was too easy.” Blake said in a pondering tone.
[Obviously, because you are above it in realm.] The system said.
Ever since he had advanced to the Hero realm, Blake hadn’t encountered anything challenging from both school and adventurer missions.
“I am not only talking about the ant queen, I mean everything in general. 2 knight rank and 10 elite rank protecting the queen?” Blake said.
“What’s wrong? Castiel and Brian asked as they entered the queen’s chamber and saw Blake with his hand on his chin.
“I am not sure, but I feel there is something more to...”
At that very moment, they heard a high pitch screech coming from the tunnels as more than 15 soldier ants marched past the queen’s chamber and moved deeper into the colony.
“What the fuck?!” Brian and Castiel were both shocked and confused by what was going on, but this just confirmed Blake’s suspicion.
“So I was correct, it was really too easy.” Blake said. “The reason the queen was only protected by only 12 ants was that it was a secondary queen ant.”
“Are you saying there are 2 queen ants?” Castiel asked with a raised brow.
“During the early stages of a colony, there can be 2 or more queens to produce a larger initial workforce that increases their chances of surviving the 1st year.” Blake answered.
“How do you know so many ant facts?” Brian couldn’t help but ask.
“I think the most important question at this moment is what we should do.” Castiel face palmed as this was the 2nd time they were distracted by ant facts.
“Kill the main queen of course.” Blake replied.
“Are you sure? You are aware that not only are more ants returning to the colony but just like those that just passed some came from the other entrances.” Brian said.
“That is the reason I will be the only one to go, besides Bradly’s team would be the center of focus making it easy for me to steal the queen and leave the area.” Blake said as he handed Castiel a void dagger.
“Is it really necessary to put yourself in so much danger? We already go this ant queen.” Castiel asked.
“Dangerous situations bring out the best in us.” Blake said as he began walking out of the queen’s chamber. “Besides I don’t have plans of dying anytime soon. So I would warp back when things get out of hand.”
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