The moment I heard the queen ant was alive, I was flooded with joy like it was my birthday. But just in case, I decided to have Hyang check on the ants' condition.
We had just learned that they were alive, but with so many of them dead outside, the worry crept in—what if they had some kind of disease?
Earlier, when I examined their exteriors, I could tell they weren’t infected with surface-exposing illnesses like mold or yeast—things that typically affect underground ants. Such infections would leave visible signs: holes in the body, discolored or corroded areas on the exoskeleton. But there were none.
Still, the fact that so many ants had died suddenly and left their dead unattended suggested that it might be an illness I didn’t recognize. So I had to make sure.
‘Hyang, are the ants sick or anything like that?’
While still holding Hwa-eun, I asked Hyang through our link.
– Tsrr. 『No, Dad. They all seem to be sleeping?』
“All of them? Wait—there’s more than one?”
– Tsrrrr. 『Yeah! There are three of them!』
“Three?!”
‘Could it be one queen ant, and maybe two caretaker ants or workers?’
At first, I assumed it was a single queen ant and perhaps two attendants or workers who had survived.
But then came Hyang’s shocking response.
– Tsrut! 『Yup! There are three ants with big round bellies!』
“Really?!”
Three ants with bulging abdomens—so excited by the answer, I reflexively tightened my arms around Hwa-eun without realizing it.
“S-So-ryong? But the others... Ah... I-I don’t even know anymore... I mean, we are engaged anyway...”
Hwa-eun was mumbling something, but my mind was already overflowing with thoughts of the Azure Steel Immortal Ants Hyang just described.
If Hyang could recognize that their abdomens were swollen, then they were most likely all queen ants.
Three queens had survived.
Apparently, Azure Steel Immortal Ants were like termites—they produced multiple queens.
Though I didn’t know exactly what caused it, it seemed all the regular ants had died and only three queens survived. That was actually good news—rebuilding the colony would be far easier.
Normally, a queen ant completes her nuptial flight in spring and then begins founding her colony.
She lands somewhere beneath a rock, on a patch of grass, or in a wall’s crack—anywhere suitable to start her kingdom. From there, she creates something from nothing.
What that means is: she lays eggs and raises her first workers entirely alone, with no support from any other ants.
The process might seem grotesque to humans. She lays about four eggs, raises them until they grow a bit, then eats one, feeds another to her offspring, and sacrifices one to raise the remaining one into an adult worker. It’s a zero-to-one miracle of survival.
Step by step, she builds toward a true kingdom—but it takes a long time.
Once the population grows, the colony expands exponentially. But in the beginning, it’s a dangerous, time-consuming process.
If she miscalculates even once while raising that first worker, the entire kingdom dies before it begins.
That’s why, rebuilding a colony as large as the one that had died here—starting from just one queen—would take ages. But three queens? That changed everything.
‘It’s a shame about the worker ants, but rebuilding won’t be a problem at all.’
Just as I was smiling with relief at Hyang’s answer, I felt something.
A gaze.
I assumed it was Hwa-eun looking up at me, so I glanced down—but no, her eyes were closed, and she was snugly clinging to me.
Then where...?
I turned my head and spotted the Dragon Fangs, Hu-gae, and Jaheo right next to us, stealing awkward glances my way.
The lighting in the chamber wasn’t as bright as outside, but even so, their faces were clearly red.
“S-So-ryong...”
Brother Gwiseong gave me an awkward smile as soon as our eyes met.
And then from behind me, I heard Sister Seol’s half-dumbfounded voice.
“Honestly... you two. What are you even doing? So-ryong, Hwa-eun?”
Startled, Hwa-eun pulled away from my arms and mumbled shyly,
“N-No, it’s just... So-ryong suddenly...”
“Me?!”
I looked at her in disbelief, and she gave a slow, guilty nod.
Right... I had grabbed her suddenly when I heard the queens were alive.
It was a bit of a misunderstanding.
‘Well... damn.’
“So-ryong really is a man, huh? This isn’t the first time either, is it?”
“To hold a woman in his arms without caring about who’s watching—after looking so gentle, too. A true man indeed. Hah! To think we’d ever see the expression of flustered Poison Flower herself... We’ve got a lot to learn from you, So-ryong.”
The voices of Authority Dragon and Sword Dragon hyungs teasing me carried on, but since Hwa-eun looked so embarrassed, I decided to shift the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) topic.
“Haha... A-Anyway, uh—did you guys check over there?”
I pointed toward the collapsed pillar where everyone had gathered earlier.
Brother immediately responded as though he’d been waiting for me to ask.
“Ah! That’s right. So-ryong, we were waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me? Since when?”
“Since the moment you gripped Poison Flower’s waist, and she melted into your embrace like her pressure points had been struck.”
“The legendary Point of Female Submission! Wahaha! How do you even do that, So-ryong?”
“Hey, now. Don’t ask for martial techniques like that.”
“Oops. My curiosity got the best of me...”
Once again, the teasing from Authority Dragon and Sword Dragon resumed.
I glanced at Hwa-eun. Her face was beet red as she sent me a voice transmission.
[I—I don’t regret it.]
If she said she didn’t regret it, then that was good enough for me.
I decided to finally get to the reason they’d said they were waiting.
Even if it had happened on impulse... I didn’t regret it either.
“So, Brother. Why were you waiting for me?”
“Ah, right. We found a technique on the column. To pass this gate, you have to learn the form and perform it at the stone door over there.”
“Ah. I heard about it—the final trial tests all three aspects with a single technique?”
“Exactly.”
I had indeed heard him mention it earlier.
One technique. Three trials tested simultaneously.
“Master Hwamu-jin’s first form of the Flame Martial Blade Art consists of a vertical slash, a horizontal cut, and a thrust. If you execute them perfectly at the door, it will open.”
“In that case, Brother, you should hurry and learn it and open the door.”
“You—you’re saying I can!?”
He asked with an excited voice.
So that’s why he’d been holding back—he wanted to ask if he could learn the technique engraved on the pillar.
It all made sense now.
Before entering here, we had agreed that all rewards from this place would go to me.
But if opening the door depended on that particular sword form, then Big Brother was the only one among us who could perform it.
After all, he was the only one among us who had learned blade techniques.
To get to the ants as quickly as possible, we needed him to open this place without delay. So I smiled and nodded.
“You’re the only one who can open that door, Brother. Of course, you should learn it.”
He lit up with joy at my approval.
“Got it! The sword art doesn’t usually use thrusts, so I’ll need to practice that, but as for vertical and horizontal slashes, I’ve never skipped a day! I’ll open that door in no time!”
“Understood, Brother.”
With full enthusiasm, Big Brother ran straight to the pillar, examined it briefly, and began swinging his blade.
Watching him, I turned and asked Sword Dragon:
“But doesn’t it take time to truly master a form? Won’t this take a while?”
As passionate as Big Brother was, martial techniques didn’t just fall into place instantly.
“Ah, don’t worry about that. According to what was written on the pillar, this isn’t a test of how perfect your form is, but of how much you’ve honed your blade up until now. That’s probably why the first form is based on basic fundamentals.”
“Ahh, I see.”
“You know how Blade Dragon is. He never skips training, ever. Wait—can I even call him a ‘training junkie’ in front of you, So-ryong?”
“No problem. If it’s a compliment, I welcome it.”
It was true. Big Brother Do-ryong never rested from his martial arts training. The man was a full-fledged training maniac.
Before long, the sound of his sword swings echoed through the chamber.
– Bwoong! Bwoooong.
***
After a solid two hours of practice, Big Brother stood before the door.
– Gulp.
I heard him swallow hard.
It was the moment of truth: whether the vertical slash, horizontal cut, and thrust he’d practiced his whole life would be acknowledged by Master Hwamu-jin.
Everyone held their breath, watching him intently.
Big Brother closed his eyes, exhaled deeply, and drew his sword.
– Srrrng.
Standing before the stone door, he took his stance and summoned his energy.
His voice rang out clearly as he called the name of the first form:
“Flame Martial Blade Art, First Form! Threefold Heaven-Piercing Blade!”
Starting from his side, his large blade swept horizontally across the stone door with a sharp whoosh, then dropped from above in a vertical slash.
– Sshhk. Sshhk. CRACK.
And finally, he thrust it forward in a clean, direct stab.
It was his first time attempting this technique, but perhaps because it was built on the fundamental forms he’d honed for so long, it looked impressively complete.
I couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘Ohhh...’
But even after he finished the final movement, nothing happened for a while.
If he had passed, the door should’ve opened—but there was no response.
With a bitter expression, Big Brother spoke.
“Did I fail...?”
His face clearly showed disappointment.
“Come now, no one gets it right the first time. It’s a 300-year-old tomb—we should try again.”
“Yes, Gwiseong. The form was flawless. It’s likely the mechanism was just sluggish.”
“Yes, please try again, Brother.”
Everyone tried to comfort him, worried he’d be discouraged—when suddenly...
The stone door trembled slightly... and then began to move.
– Drrrrrrr...
It slowly creaked open.
“Ohh! As expected of you, Blade Dragon. Looks like the mechanism was just slow to respond due to age.”
“I knew it! Even Master Hwamu-jin acknowledges you.”
“Heh...”
As everyone offered their congratulations, Big Brother stood beaming with joy—until suddenly, from the bottom-right edge of the door, Hyang popped her head out and spoke gleefully.
– Tsrrrrr. 『Ahaha! Dad, I figured out how to open the door. I pressed this thing on the wall here and it opened! Hyang did good, right?』
Fortunately, she said it through our mental link, so no one else heard.
***
“Come on! Let’s go, So-ryong!”
“Right behind you, Brother!”
The door opened, and we stepped inside, following a trail of Azure Steel Immortal Ant corpses like a guiding path.
Even deeper inside, there were more dead ants.
Following them led us to a sitting corpse in a meditative pose—and just beyond that, a low ceiling, from which ants hung like jewels.
I rushed past the corpse and ran toward the ants.
But as soon as I caught a glimpse of their silhouettes, I couldn’t help but scream—and then, seeing them clearly, blurted out something entirely different.
‘Gyaaaaaah! Wait—huh!?’
Because yes, their bellies were swollen—but not in the way queen ants typically looked.
And then came the startled voices from behind me.
“This—what is this...? The blade is broken, and the Azure Steel slab inscribed with martial arts... the ants chewed it all up...”
“And this shallow depression here—it looks like it once held Air-Crystal Stone Milk. But where... where did it go?”
Hearing that, I was pretty sure I knew exactly where that Air-Crystal Stone Milk had gone.
-Azure Steel Immortal Ants-
