A nest of Legion ants, in the backcountry.

　There is the Ant Core, guarded by a large number of black legion ants.

　The Ant Core, a sphere with four supports, looks like a sphere with four supports.
　There are two holes at the bottom of the sphere.
　One hole is for feeding and the other is for laying ants.

　The ant core is white in nature, but this one is black.
　This one was black. A blackness that was almost deceiving.

　It could only take nutrients and give birth to ants, but this ants' core had a mind of its own.

(Kukukuuku...... we've come this far...... if we continue to increase the number of ants, my ambitions will be fulfilled.

　Its intention was to be a demon, a demon called Hererdyne.

　It was a unique monster, a demon that no two demons in the world were alike.
　The characteristic of a hererdyne is that it has no substance.
　Therefore, to interfere in this world, the Hereldyne needed to be possessed and controlled by others.

　The Legionnaire Ant that Hereldyne had taken over this time was also a special kind of monster. That's why it's in a slightly unusual state.

　Its body is the Ant Core, but the Queen Ant has a mind of its own.
　So, with the Ant Core's newfound will, it was a toss-up as to who would be in control, the Hereldyne or the Queen Ant.
　But in the end, since the Ant Core is the main body, more than 90% of the Legion ants are now under the control of the Hereldyne side.

　Hereldyne is intent on taking over the Legion ants and killing the others anyway.

　Hereldyne evolves like other monsters.
　But because they are unique monsters, they evolve in different ways.

　By killing a certain number of creatures, you can evolve.
　Incidentally, between strong and weak creatures, killing the strong ones evolves faster.

　To explain it in simple terms, points are set for each organism and the stronger organisms you kill, the more points you can get.
　Once it reaches a certain number of points, the heraldine will be able to evolve.

　As the Hereldyne evolves, it will be able to take on more powerful beings.

　Ultimately, he believes that he can take over the will of the world itself and become a rival to the gods, and that is exactly what Hereldyne's ambition is.

(Last time he was sealed by a human. But that was hundreds of years ago. The human is probably dead now. There will be no one to stop me now. ......)

　Hereldyne cannot die. It's a non-corporeal entity. Killing the possessed did not kill Hereldyne.

　Because of this, humankind, once troubled by the Hereldyne's carnage, devised a way to seal the Hereldyne and seal it away.
　That seal was broken by accident this time.

Huh? The total number of soldier ants in the nest is decreasing rapidly. (Looks like someone is running amok in the nest.)




　bull's-eye



　Bellamus had descended the hole that Delarosa and Medero had fallen into and had broken into the Legion Ant's lair.

　There was one problem.
　The ground in this nest was made of a hard material that made it difficult to leave footprints.
　That made it difficult to find Delarosa and the others from the footprints.

　There was only one path for now, so it was fine, but Bellamus wondered what to do if there was a separate path.

'Hmm? That's .......

　There's a dead legion ant. That's the one Delarosa and Medero took down.

(This is ...... Legion Ant, why is it black? (Legion Ant was supposed to be white, but was there a black variety ......?

　Legion Ant was a rare demon, so it hadn't been studied as much as it should have been .
　Because of that, I didn't know much about Bellamus either.

　However, when I saw that black, I felt a sense of discomfort or a sense of déjà vu when I saw it, Vellums.

　But I didn't think too much about it because I didn't have much time right now, so I moved on.

　I found a few Legion of Ant corpses, but they were all black.

　There's a place where many legion ant corpses are lying.

This is the General Ant. Is this guy a General Ant? ...... No, this is not.

　I look at the wound, and it's not quite right.
　A clean stab with a razor blade, a clean cut.
　I have not taught you a spell that would leave a wound like this at this time.

　This would have happened with a light arrow or something like that, but I hadn't taught it yet.

　I didn't know why, but Vellums went on anyway.

　There's a long straight road ahead, but it's not easy to see Delarosa and Medeiro.

　There's no more of Ari's body on the ground.
　I walked on with some trepidation.

"M

　You can hear the sound of ants walking in.

　And then, within range of the lights, the Legion Ant will come in.

　Beramus expects to see the General Ant in the front, and perhaps a large number of Legion Ant's behind them.

　The General Ant is armed with a one-handed sword and a large shield.

"A defensive General Ant.

　General ants are mainly divided into four types: defensive, magical, offensive, and throwing.

　Defensive general ants are hard and are often in charge of defending the nest.

　Defensive general ants, as defensive types, do not attack rashly, but instead hold their shields and wait for the vellum to come out.

(Now, if we use too much flashy magic, there's a chance the ceiling will collapse, so what should we do?

　Bellamus thought for a moment about the magic he was going to use.

Okay, here we go.

　Decide what magic to use.



"Ice Smoke.

　At the moment Bellamus said this, a white wisp of smoke flew toward the ants. Then the smoke envelops all the Legionnaires and they disappear.

　A few seconds later, the smoke disappears and the Legion ants appear.

　The Legion ants freeze to death and turn into ice sculptures.

　Bellamus kicks the ice sculptures and breaks them as he moves forward.

There must have been fifty of them. But there was no fork in the road, so how could Delarosa and Medeiro be safe?

　The enemy is easily defeated, but Bellamus' fears are growing.

　Nevertheless, he continued on, believing that he was safe.

　I came across a few Legion ants along the way, but I used my Ice Smoke magic to take them all down.

　Ice Smoke is inherently slow and easily avoidable, but it was quite good for this environment, where there was no escape route on a single road.

　Then there was a fork in the road.

　Go to the left.

　After a while, you'll come to a large room.
　It's too big to see everything, so Vellums creates a strong light and sends it flying down the middle of the room.

　It lights up the whole room.

　It's a pretty big space, with a slightly higher ceiling.

　The trouble is that there are about seven separate ways to get there.

　As you're trying to decide which path to take, you hear loud footsteps.

　I looked down the road where I heard the footsteps and saw a legion carrying food.

　They must have gone out hunting and now they're back.

　Belamus wasn't sure whether to take them out or not, but he came up with a plan.

　First, he quickly turns off the light's magic.

　Then I'll use my dark vision magic to make it visible in the dark. The reason I use light is that it consumes much less magic.

　Then move to a corner to avoid being seen by the Legionnaires.

　By the way, Legionnaires have night vision.
　Their vision isn't that great, so they can't be seen if they stay in a corner.

　Then follow the legion ants to the Ant Core for food.

　This is how we'll get to the Ant Core.

　Since Delarosa and the others are unlikely to be easy to find, Bellamus decides to crush the Ant Core first.

　When the Ant Core is destroyed, the Legion ants will disappear.
　That way, Delarosa and Medeiro would be safe for now, so Bellamus decided to prioritize the destruction of the Ant Core.

　Even if he followed them, they didn't seem to know they were there.
　Bellamus continues to follow them to Ant Core's location.