"Come out, come out, wherever you are."
His voice was quiet but the royal guard hiding within the mountain heard him.
It came marching out. Its figure appeared to reveal a colossal ant more than 40 meters tall. It stood taller than Helios. The ground shook as it appeared.
Everything about it is big. It has giant horns for efficient impaling on an equally giant head and sharp giant mandibles capable of beheading Helios. Its diamond exoskeleton which it uses to defend itself shown brightly under the light of the sun. It has a majesty about it that strikes fear in the heart. It could be that or the fear that rises when something much taller than you is approaching to kill you. It certainly doesn't help that the threat is a giant bug. It's like a scene out of a nightmare.
A divine sense reached out from the goliath royal guard to Helios. "I am number 11, a royal guard of the honorable queen Anselhamtep. You are not welcome here intruder."
A royal guard is the prime warrior of Goliath ants. They are the main protectors of the colony. They are intelligent, have a size that can compare to adult giants of order, and have enough strength to tussle with adult giants of order. Soldier ants can defend against giants but royal guards are predators made to hunt giants. They are rare in a colony because of the difficulty of creating one. Helios is sure that this colony has less than 20 of them.
Apart from the prohibitive cost of feeding one, most of the reason why they are rare is that they are mutants gotten from feeding the flesh of giants to ant grubs. The flesh of giants is rare to find. It doesn't grow on trees and even if it does, trees don't grow in the Zargoth plane.
The flesh of giants can only be acquired from giants but they are not generous enough to donate body parts. The chance of successful mutation is also very low. So royal guards are rare and very valuable. Helios also knows that none of the royal guards died in that strike with the annihilator.
It is not that they are strong enough to shrug off the explosion, they just weren't at the site of the detonation. In fact, they weren't even outside of the ant mound. Royal guards are so valuable that if information that the annihilator is targeting them is made available to the colony, the ant queen will surely make them hide within the ant mound to be protected by the incredibly defensive structure.
Helios ignored the hostile ant. He looked up at the ant mound and nodded appreciatively.
"Your ant mound looks ancient and large. This is a large colony. Your queen must be very strong."
"Yes, she is. She will be stronger soon when she completes her transformation. That's why we aren't taking any visitors. Leave now. This is your last warning." Number 11 warned again.
The ant queen is within the mound but it wasn't targeted by the annihilator because it will be useless to attack it. The ant mound is durable enough to withstand the attack of a transcendent. It is also the Queen's body and it gets stronger the older and stronger the queen is.
The ant mound is attached to the queen like an exoskeleton. It can't grow by itself, so it needs to be reinforced by the ants of the colony. This makes the size of the ant mountain to be directly proportional to the size of the colony.
Helios smirked unconcerned about the threat. "You're so intelligent. You're not like your mindless siblings. Do you feel emotions? Tell me, how does it feel to know that your existence is the reason why we can kill your queen?"
Number 11 bristled at his statement. The ant mound is like a tortoise shell. The ant Queen's real body is vulnerable and soft while the exoskeleton is tough. It offers protection to the queen but it has a lot of disadvantages. The queen can't run away in times of danger. A young queen might be able to move, but an old one won't be able to move because of the weight of the ant mound.
The most important weakness is the entrances. A queen without royal guards will have small entrances fit for the small soldiers and ants. The entrances will be too small for giants of order to enter. Giants won't be able to do anything to the queen then. But the creation of larger entrances for royal guards makes the queen vulnerable to giants. It is an irony that the creation of royal guards to kill giants also exposes the queen to the danger of being killed.
Helios continued talking while the royal guard began to tremble in anger. "You know, Goliath ants survived against the giants of order because of their strong, protective shell. But you guys got full of yourself and began to prey on your oppressors. Now you're being besieged with a real threat of having your colony wiped out."
The ant said for the last time. "Leave."
Helios eyes became cold. He spoke to the angry ant. "Make me."
Number 11 moved its giant blade-like limbs and rushed toward Helios. Helios's white eyes turned red and two red energized beams of light came out of them. They struck the diamond carapace and dug two deep furrows into its carapace.
The ant didn't feel any pain because its thick carapace protected it from having its internal organs damaged. So Helios turned his eyes and directed the lasers to the appendages.
The two lasers found a joint and cut through it. One of Number 11's six limbs fell off. It adjusted its weight pretty quickly and continued to rush toward Helios. It used everything it could use including its large head, horns, and mandibles to try and block the lasers. It is intelligent enough to know that it can't allow the beam to do more damage to its legs.
Helios flashed brightly for a brief moment. By the time the flash of light ended, his body had appeared 10 meters to his right. Number 11 couldn't block the beam because of the quick shift in position so another one of its limbs on the same side was cut off. It couldn't adjust its weight and retain its balance as easily as last time so it stopped running. It chose to defend itself from further damage by tucking in its legs and staying low while approaching Helios slowly.
"What happened to your previous fervor?" Helios asked as he rose into the air.
He put his hands together and when he pulled them apart, a physical structure of light began to form in between them.
"You better come and stop me." He taunted the cowardly ant.
Number 11 chose to stay still. It lowered itself even more and used its carapace to protect its limbs. It recognized the threat but decided to have faith in its strong carapace. The other option to rush and try to stop Helios is not feasible. But that faith in its carapace began to dwindle as it watched the construct of light getting bigger and the pings from its energy sensors increased.
It asked with a shaky voice. "What are you?"
That's the one thing that has been bordering it since it saw Helios. It is also why it chose to warn Helios off. Number 11 wasn't sure what Helios was. Helios looks like a transcendent demigod but has the energy readings of a mana entity. For all of Number 11's intelligence, it couldn't figure out what Helios is.
So it asked Helios to leave. It was a test. It never intended to let Helios go. If Helios chose to leave, it will mean he is weak, then Number 11 will be confident of killing him. If Helios decided to stay, number 11 will still fight but it will be hoping for the best. Still, it will be enough information for him to call for reinforcement since he isn't confident. It just didn't think that Helios will kill it so soon into the fight.
The structure of light grew into a large hammer more than 50 meters long. Helios answered when his attack became ready.
"I am the child of the sun."
He swung his arm down. The hammer of light fell toward the royal guard. It was slow so it could dodge but it didn't. Standing will make its legs vulnerable to Helios. So it chose to withstand the attack while reinforcements come.
The hammer struck Number 11 with a loud clang like a hammer striking metal. Then the hammer exploded into light and heat.
Helios saw the outcome after the explosion cleared up.
He grumbled, "You're one tough nut."
He doesn't like what he is seeing. Number 11 survived the attack. It was pushed into the ground but it wasn't crushed like the bug that Helios thought it is. In fact, it came out of the clash and its subsequent explosion without any injury. Number 11 will not be easy to put down.
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