Chapter 84 Strange, But Mysterious

The soldier ant retreated a little, staring at its brethren that seemed no different to food source in its mind now. The pure energy healed its wounds, strengthening it a little as it suddenly leaped onto its brethren, clamping its mandibles over their heads, ripping them apart violently.

Carnage ensued as the soldier ant killed and rapidly consumed at least ten ants before more ants rushed into the tunnel, alerted by the pheromone signals left by the ants before death.

Upon seeing the influx of ants, the soldier ant felt threatened, quickly taking its leave as it left the tunnel and headed to the surface. An ant head peaked out of the hole as its antennae flickered around for a few seconds before it retreated.

The tunnel entrance was swiftly closed up as the ants worked to block a section of the tunnel, at least to a depth of three metres. This way, it wasn't possible to detect their existence unless someone decided to dig beyond a depth of three metres, the likelihood of which happening was low neat to an existing building.

Their primary means of travel was at least at a depth between five to eight metres depending upon the area.

Now cut off from its colony, the soldier ant made its way through the village, travelling alone the edges formed by the building and the ground.

Grrr!

It was alerted by the low growl of a dog, alerted as it turned around, watching a dog leap at it from afar. It was a hunting dog reared by the Village Head who had lost his family and was now gaining in on age.

So, it was his sole company. It was also this dog that had alerted the village of the arrival of the Hoil Bee well in advance before the watch tower could detect them. So, it was taken care off pretty well.

Currently, the solider had stumbled into the area near the dog's kennel, jumped on by the large predator.

The soldier ant scurried back in response, quivering in pain as one of the dog's legs slammed on its antennae, snapping it off before its maw clamped upon its abdomen.

The soldier ant's newly obtained power wasn't of use here as it could only be aimed forward. And with the dog at its side, it was helpless, unable to attack its opponent as its body was lifted from the ground.

Bam!

The dog slammed the ant onto the ground, spraining the joints between its head and body from the impact. It then wriggled its head, crushing the ant's carapace further until it began to crack before spitting it on the ground.

Twitch!

The ant's legs failed to move, with a majority of them damaged beyond repair. The mysterious energy swerved into its legs, beginning to regenerate the clipped-out legs. But before they grew back, the dog's teeth sunk into its body, breaking it apart little by little, first pulling apart the aperture on its back that it used to shoot the water bullet at the ants before.

The dog that brought the ant to its kennel and sat at the entrance, beginning to gnaw at it little by little, peeling off its hard exterior piece by broken piece before eventually reaching the soft flesh underneath.

The ant lost its life in the process when suddenly, the dog yelped in response as its figure vanished. There were no further sounds in the place beyond that.

The village hadn't slept that night, huddled as a group as they looked vigilant until the sun was up. Only then did they have the guts to sleep. Part of the villagers were already ready to vacant the village.

Those that didn't had to stay behind because they couldn't afford to move out of the village. They didn't have enough money to survive in another place.

"Haah!" The Village Head sighed in response, returning to his house, frowning as he failed to see his dog. It was usually asleep in its kennel and would have been barking by now upon sensing him.

But now, there were no signs of it in the front yard of the Village Head's house, causing him to look at the kennel in concern, feeling his heartrate accelerate in response to notice tiny shells on the ground.

They seemed to be the carapace of some creature that had shattered under robust pressure. The Village Chief stared at the place before shouting, "Have anyone seen my dog?"

"Did something happen?" A villager arrived, holding a shove in his hand, alert. His eyes were red, having not had a wink of sleep throughout the night. He looked at the front yard, spotting the carapace pieces, focusing on one spot where the mandibles of the ant lay, "What the heck's that?"

"I'm not…sure." The Village Head said as he entered the front yard, walking steadily as he poked the mandibles with a stick, failing to see any response before picking them up, "They look like an ant's."

"Strange, I've never heard about an ant that could grow this big." He said in part confusion part alarm, unable to reign in the sense of fear budding in his heart.

He then stared at the empty kennel, surprised to notice the harness of his dog still attached to the kennel. And, the collar that should have been wound around his dog was now free, still maintaining the same shape that it would have when wrapped around it.

But now, the only thing missing from the picture was the dog.

"Just…what is happening?" The Village Head muttered, approaching the kennel.

"The world went to shit with the appearance of those blasted Blight Humans." The villager with the shove spit in irritation, "Too many dangerous things have cropped up one after another in the past few months."

"The lives of us commonfolk have only become more treacherous."

"It's the same, no matter the era." The Village Head said in resignation, lifting his head as his eyes twinkled, "But, there's a better chance for us to change our fate in this world. All we need is one fruit."

Beast Fruit!

Even though the Village Head didn't mouth the words, the villager could hear them, understanding that if they consumed a Beast Fruit, their lives would turn around for the best.

"Is there…a way?" The villager asked, feeling hopeful for a moment.

"Getting a fruit?" The Village Head shook his head, "That's impossible. We'll only be sending ourselves to the grave. But, there's an easier option, even though this might take decades to show result."

"You mean…" The villager's eyes widened; his expression turned sour as if he had eaten a handful of mosquitoes, "Stealing the seeds of a Horned Human…"

He sighed, "It would result in the deaths of us all if word of it ever comes to light."

"But, with our current state, that seems the only possibility." The Village Head nodded, "Some of the villagers have already expressed support to this. We only need to select the right target for this."

The plan was simple. Since the dispatched Horned Human was dead, they would plead the Cattle Lord until another Horned Human was dispatched. And this time, they planned to drug the Horned Human so that one of the youthful girls of their village would force herself on him to conceive with his child.

The child of a Horned Human had a higher chance of being born a Horned Human. It was guaranteed if both the parents were Horned Humans, but even if one was a Horned Human, the chance was still high.

It was a high-risk operation. But with the survival of their village at stake, this was their only option. Though, they would only drug the Horned Human if the natural advances of the women in their village failed in the first place.

"But, what is they never send a Horned Human?" The villager frowned, "There's only three under our Castle Lord. And with one of them dead, that coward would never send another."

"Yeah, that's a problem, which is why we have to hope Lord Balkan is still alive." Sighing, the Village Head inched to pick up the collar of his dog. But, just when his hand approached it, his eyes widened in confusion, "Eh?"

It felt like his hands had touched a bubble when immediately, his figure vanished, sucked into the mysterious bubble.

The villager with the shovel stared at the scene, aghast, screaming in fright as he scurried away, "Ghost!"

"There's a ghost here! It got the Village Head!"

"Ghost?"

"Is that what took Lord Balkan too?"

The villagers clamoured at his shouts, surrounding the pale-faced villager that had dropped his shovel in fear, now on the ground as tears streamed out of his eyes, his voice quivering as he said, "H-H-He was about to t-touch his dog's c-collar when the Village H-Head vanished."

"Dammit! What the heck is happening?" One of the villagers, a rather rash brute groaned in anger as he picked up the shovel on the ground and threw it at the dog kennel, watching it slam into the kennel to result in a loud thud.

Nothing happened though as the shovel was just there.

He then hurried to a nearby house and arrived with a chicken that was alive, throwing it at the kennel.

Kukook!

The chicken slapped its wings in a hurry as it fell towards the kennel, the sounds of its wings resounding in the silence as all the villagers watched with bated breath.

And suddenly, as it neared the kennel, its figure vanished.