Making fire is easy for him. Making weak but virulent fire is very difficult. This fire needs to be weak so as to not damage the ant too much but be capable of spreading even with its low power. It requires very precise control of his divine power.
He took a handful of the specially made ball of fire and threw it to a slumbering royal guard. The fungi on the body of the ant caught fire. The fire spread quickly to cover the entire ant. It burned the fungi away and freed the nerves beneath the carapace.
A divine sense reached out from the slumbering ant as its mind awakened, "What is going on? Am I free?"
"Yes, you are. I freed you. Get up quickly and escape." He said to the ant while he threw more balls to the other ants.
His main aim in this heroic quest is to free these royal guards. He is not after the ant queen at all.
"Is the colony under attack?" It asked in concern.
"Sort of. But it's none of your concern, right? You're free from the colony from today onwards."
The ant turned silent and considered his words. "Yes, I am free. And that's all that matters."
It might be willful and craving for independence buts its first instinct is to protect the colony and fight giants. That what's it was raised for after all. It took a while to reorganize itself and ascertain its identity as an entity separate from the colony.
Then it struggled to rise up. It was feeble and shaking at first but it quickly regained control of its limb. It stood up and towered above Soverick. This royal ant is even taller than number 1. It is almost 80 meters tall.
"Who are you?" It asked after getting a good look at Soverick.
"I am Helios, the son of the sun."
It bent its limbs and bowed to Helios.
"Thank you, son of the sun. You have my eternal gratitude. If you are ever in need of help, I Doofus will not turn you away."
"Your name is doofus?" Helios asked with a straight face while he continued to free the other giant ants. One ball of specially made fire is their get-out-of-jail card.
"Yes, what about it?"
"It's a very fine name."
The ant became happy. "It fills me with joy that you, my benefactor appreciate my name. I picked it myself on the day that I gained independence."
"You have a good taste for names. We'll talk more about it when we have time. We have to escape the ant mound as quickly as possible."
The others began to wake up. He and Doofus explained the situation to them as they woke up. A friendly face helped to ease the tension of seeing a giant as soon as they woke up. They all thanked him profusely after their situation has been explained to them. All of them thanked him except one.
This one is very old and has been under the influence of the rampaging fungus too much. It attacked Helios as soon as it recognized him to be a giant. Its mind has grown fuzzy but one thing is still clear and that is its life's aim to kill giants. Its age makes it the biggest, strongest, and most experienced when it comes to killing giants and now it wants to kill Helios.
Helios narrowed his eyes at the charging giant ant. This close to it means dodging is nearly impossible. But that is for others. He flashed to the side as the giant ant barreled by. The horns and mandibles missed him. Then he grabbed the ant's head with his two real arms, activated his domain, and rolled over the ant to the other side of it.
His flip pulled the head of the royal guard unnaturally to the side exposing its neck. The neck is a soft tissue unprotected by the diamond carapace. Another thing that he figured out from fighting number 11 is that the jointed parts of the ants are vulnerable. His target is this spot of weakness between the head and the thorax.
He has grappled the royal guard to the ground. If it wants to stand up, it needs to escape Helios's chokehold. The giant ant can't focus because of the heat of the domain. It was stunned by it. His domain also blinded the royal guard while his four artificial arms fused into one and morphed into a sharp blade.
The sharp blade fell on the exposed neck and severed it. The royal guard didn't know what hit. One moment, it had a head and the next, it is headless. Helios recalled his domain and stood up from the ground with the giant head in his hands.
"That's how to kill a royal guard." He said as he tossed the head up and down with his hands.
The other royal guards stood frozen with their eyes gawking. They had wanted to rush and help but the fight ended quickly. The royal guard that he fought doesn't know that yet. Its body is still flailing about on the ground while the mandibles on its head are still snapping.
The divine sense from the royal guard continued to transmit its incomprehensible feelings and emotions. Even being headless has not affected its state of madness. That all ended when Helios poured heat into the head. The soft tissues within it turned to ashes.
"Now that all issues have been fixed, it is time to go."
His words cut short anything they wanted to say. They remembered that they are supposed to be escaping so they all started running. They passed Number 1 on the way out.
"Is that you, chubby grubby?" Doofus asked with their language. It clicked its mandibles to make the sounds of its language.
It used to know Number 1 as a very hungry grub that has an unusual hankering for giant flesh. Chubby grubby is all grown now.
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