54 虫の恐怖1




"What the hell is this?

There was a mountain of corpses... no matter how you counted, it wasn't a hundred or two hundred, it was a giant black ant over 60cm long, commonly known as the "Kuro Devil". The material is quite popular among infantry and adventurers due to its hardness and lightness, and is mainly used for light armor.

"They're still coming out, so be careful around them. Watch your back.

The one wielding it is the Morning Star of old. At first, he swung his sword blade down between the head, chest and stomach to avoid damaging the material, but when he saw that the insects were still moving even with their heads and stomachs torn to shreds due to their unique vitality, he shifted to brute force since there were so many of them anyway.
In the first place, swords are difficult to penetrate the hard shell and there are an inordinate number of them, so in general, they are very dangerous monsters.

"Yeah! That's right!

In front of the Morning Star that was swung with such a call, the light body of the ant was blown away while shattering the place where it was hit. Without knowing that it attracts ants, ....

I'm not sure how many ants there are in the world, but no matter how many I kill, I can't seem to get rid of them.

That's probably true... since the pheromones that they secrete in large quantities when they enter a fight due to their excessive attacks are spread throughout the air.
Depending on the species, there are generally several thousand to several tens of thousands of ants living in a single nest. These ants are not so many because of their size, but still there are about 600 of them building an empire underground.

Let's run! Let's run!

Adelina is already pale and out of breath as she carefully kills the ants one by one, almost in tears.

I'm not sure what to say, but I'm going to try to be patient. I'll be back.

As soon as the foothold became uncomfortable, he collected a few ants in the item box, but there were still enough dead ants lying around to make a small pile. Masaru decided to aim at one of the piles and jumped headfirst into it, and at the same time, the dead ants he touched disappeared one by one into the item box. He repeated the process several times, collecting about half of the ants, and then carried Adelina, who was fighting, as if to kidnap her from the side.

You just dropped your mace! You dropped your mace!

"I'll get you another one, just give up! You want to go back to the ants?

"I don't want to... get the hell out of here. ....

Fifteen minutes of running later, we were a long way from the place where we had fought the ants, so we decided to take a break. I'm not sure what to do.

I'm sure you'll be able to find something to help you out. What the hell?

"What the hell? Why are you fighting and running so hard and not even breathing? ....

You need to rest... your legs are shaking. Your legs are shaking.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

"Why are you dismantling me now, I don't want to see you now. "No...

"No, I just thought it had a lot of life in it. I was just wondering how these guys were doing it... look at the thickness of their armor, it's over an inch thick! No wonder they're so tough to kill with a sword! They didn't throw up any formic acid or anything like that... and I don't see any organs like that... hmm? It smells sweet I didn't notice it when we were fighting but...

What's wrong with you?

What's wrong? - Look over there. Look over there.

The one who was fighting the ants pointed his finger at something black in the distance, wriggling and gradually getting bigger.

What the hell is that? I'm not sure why they're chasing me.

It's probably this sweet smell... a special pheromone that's been chasing us since the fight. I'm sure there are bees that chase their prey like that. You're not making a clear analysis.

What are you going to do if you don't do a calm analysis?

There are just as many as we saw before... and since we only see the workers, there are still soldiers and queens in the hive. Soldiers?

"Soldiers? You mean they're stronger than that?

I'm not sure what kind of ants they are, because they vary from species to species. I don't know.

The world of insects has a strong individuality, but they evolve in a really rational and less wasteful way. I don't know what in the world's environment influenced their evolution.

"If we fight here, we'll be surrounded by people and we'll be in trouble, so we'll run again!

Run where?

We'll go through the neighborhood and deal with them from the den! I'm gonna find the den, I'm gonna set the entrance on fire, and I'm gonna crush the reinforcements with fire and brimstone!

It's the same guy who said he was afraid to point a weapon at people in the morning. .... This is it.

The same person who said he was afraid to point a weapon at people in the morning. I'm not so stupid as to have compassion for ants that are ready to kill you.

"Come on, let's run! Hold on tight!

On your left! If they're following us by scent, run downwind on the left!

It's not wrong, but you can probably already see it, even if you think you can't. Masaru will brace himself and go back to the place where he encountered the ants.