Chương 60: The Ant King

[Worker Status] Name: Gere Designation: Butcher Specialist: Butchery Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 1000 Credits Contract Payment: 150 Alpha Standard Core [Worker Status] Name: Sheba Designation: Butcher Specialist: Flawless Cut Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 1000 Credits Contract Payment: 150 Alpha Standard Core [Worker Status] Name: Wolf Designation: Butcher Specialist: Debone Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 1000 Credits Contract Payment: 150 Alpha Standard Core Arthur hit the jackpot on the Butcher workers.

A total of three Skeletons that he could offer for, existed. As for the contract payment, it was very affordable by him at this place. Currently, the battle was still happening. The corpses of the monsters increased by many folds. Due to this, the Skeletons had to move from one pile to another, starting their massacre. The Ants attacked their enemy without mercy, unbothered by the slaughter of their brethren.

They seemed to lack the intelligence to retreat, even when at a severe disadvantage in battle. This worked perfectly for Arthur; the more monsters his Skeletons killed, the stronger he became. He already needed a total of 2, 500 cores for the Master Debuffer, and now an extra 450 cores were required for the three Butcher Skeletons. More enemies simply meant more gains. Without hesitation, Arthur signed the worker named [Gere]. Similar to Antrae, Gere was a Butchery specialist.

Instantly, 150 cores disappeared, and a slim-looking Skeleton materialized, equipped with the same abilities and tools as Antrae. Next, he made a contract with [Sheba] and [Wolf], who had a different skill set and specialization. Instantly, the huge amount of cores the Skeletons had earned all night vanished. Only a few cores remained on him; he had also stopped absorbing the cores so he could hire workers. However, it didn't matter.

Once the current battle ended, he would gain a massive amount of cores and other materials that would solve every other issue. But while Arthur was finalizing the Skeleton contracts, the tide of battle shifted. Suddenly, the Ants began to retreat. Arthur was shocked by this unexpected behavior; they had already suffered massive losses, and an organized retreat seemed entirely out of character for them. He knew he had to chase them down and wipe them out eventually.

He had planned too much around the projected core and material gains to let them escape, and this sudden retreat was about to cause a massive headache for his grand plans. However, before he could command the Skeletons to chase the Ants down, something caught his eye in the quarry. It glittered like a diamond in the morning sun, automatically drawing his gaze. A look of shock appeared on his face, and he instinctively stood up to get a clearer view of what it was. Click! Click!

The clicking sound echoed through the quarry as all the other Ants parted to create a path, lowering their heads whenever the sound moved past them. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Ant King?" That was Arthur's first thought upon seeing the crystal Ant. It was literally made of crystal; every time it moved, the reflections illuminated every part of the quarry. Seeing the behavior of the other Ants, even the Leader Ants with their iron bodies lowered themselves whenever it passed, made it seem certain that this was the King of the colony. But why did it look so different from the others? The worker Ants had normal bodies, and the Leader Ants had partial or full iron bodies.

Going by that logic, shouldn't the King of the colony also be made of iron? Just by looking at it, Arthur could tell it wasn't a normal Ant. It gave off an overwhelming presence, a strong vibe that his Skeletons would struggle to fight and kill it. He needed to warn them before it was too late.

"Be careful." The voice echoed through the silent quarry. Arthur, who was in a daze, had spoken aloud instead of giving the instruction internally as he usually did. It was the same mistake he had made a few days earlier, and sooner or later, it would get him killed. Once his voice rang out, the Ant King that was walking toward the Skeletons halted its steps. Its crystal head snapped toward Arthur's location.

Arthur clamped both hands over his mouth, realizing he had made a massive mistake, and prayed the monster wouldn't target him. However, if prayers always came true, the world would be a peaceful place. In the next second, the Ant King locked onto Arthur and darted directly toward him. It scaled the perpendicular cliff with terrifying ease. Arthur scrambled to his feet, his mind racing as he struggled to figure out what to do. In a panic, he simply dismissed every Skeleton that was standing around him.

Down in the quarry, the trio standing atop the pile of dead Ants realized the Ant King was targeting their master. Dalph took a firm step forward, pulled its arm back, and with incredible effort, hurled its spear at the crystal Ant King. Ding! The iron tip collided with the crystal head of the Ant King, but instead of piercing its skull, the spear effortlessly deflected off the crystal and crashed into the cliffside. The attack had failed completely.

While this was happening, Arthur had already turned and started sprinting away from the quarry. The Ant King didn't even bother acknowledging the spear strike. It just continued to scramble up the cliff face, chasing Arthur as if it perfectly understood that he was the core link, and the Skeletons were nothing more than puppets. The Skeletons didn't react to the failed attack; instead, they moved in unison toward the Ant King. Cuburn ran in long strides, with Maan following closely behind.

When the two reached the bottom of the cliff, Maan knelt and braced his shield against his shoulder. Cuburn took a few steps back, sprinted toward Maan, and jumped, landing directly on the shield. Shield Charge. Maan used his ability to launch Cuburn high into the air, sending him flying until he landed squarely on top of the cliff. Meanwhile, Dalph collected his spear and sprinted toward Maan, who had already reset his stance.

With another Shield Charge, Dalph was also successfully launched to the top of the cliff. While the Skeletons made their way to the surface, the Ant King had already closed half the distance to Arthur. Arthur sprinted without looking back, his mind scrambling to understand why the Ant King was chasing him instead of the Skeletons that had slaughtered its brethren. Arthur shot a quick glance over his shoulder, and his eyes widened in terror. The monster was only a few feet away from him.

How could it run without making any noise? Arthur wondered in a panic. He hadn't heard a single sound of pursuit behind him. Snap! Arthur dove face-first into the dirt the moment he felt a sudden crawling sensation on the back of his neck. Narrowly escaping immediate death, he scrambled frantically on all fours. Right beside him, a circle of mysterious symbols manifested in the air, and from it stepped a Skeleton holding a heavy hammer.

"Bathory, attack!" Arthur commanded the Blacksmith, hoping it would use its hammer to smash the Ant King's head and buy him some time to escape this predicament. As his command echoed, Bathory charged, raising the heavy hammer to smash through the Ant's head. Arthur used this distraction to finally get back on his feet and start sprinting again. But he had only taken two steps forward when something flew ahead of him. Darting his eyes toward the object, Arthur's heart sank.

It was a white, shattered skeletal figure. It had clearly been broken in two and lay there completely motionless.

"Bathory!" Arthur cried out. The Skeleton Bathory had been destroyed by the Ant King in a single attack. As his mind went numb with shock, a translucent screen appeared before his face with a message.