-Chwk!
A strand of silk shot out from Yo-hwa’s abdomen, latching onto the cliff near the second entrance of the bottleneck where the people were gathered.
A bridge of spider silk now connected the jagged central rock to the cliffside.
The moment the web was secured, Yo-hwa wrapped her arms around me and immediately began scaling across the thread.
-Ksss! Kshhh! Ksshhit!
Even while climbing, she wouldn’t stop chattering—probably nagging me about something.
If I could translate Yo-hwa’s language, it was likely something along the lines of:
"I’m really upset! I’m telling big sister to scold you properly!"
She was acting like a nagging wife.
And given that she was currently in my senior sister’s form, it really felt like I was getting an earful from my actual wife.
-Chrrrrr!
Even Cho, perched on Yo-hwa’s shoulder, was nodding along as if she understood everything.
Ever since that bite incident, they had been distant, but now it seemed like they were best friends.
‘Yeah, go ahead. Bond over roasting me. If it keeps the peace at home, I’ll gladly take the fall.’
-Ssssshhhh.
With all the nagging in the background, Yo-hwa skillfully crossed the massive, swirling sea of ants below us.
As soon as we descended from the thread, my senior sister was the first to rush over.
"So-ryong! Are you alright? Did the demon ants’ fangs have any venom? I told you not to get hurt and—wait, blood!?"
I wasn’t even that injured, but seeing my wounds made her panic.
Even though my Iron Turtle Technique was still in the early stages, as long as I circulated my internal energy properly, I could prevent serious muscle damage.
My injuries were just minor scrapes, but judging by her reaction, you’d think I had been mortally wounded.
And just as she was fussing over me, I realized that the area around us was growing darker.
I turned my head—
The warriors of the Beast Palace had quietly gathered around us.
At some point, they had completely surrounded us, watching in silent awe.
Just as my senior sister was about to roll up my pant leg to check my injuries, the deep voice of the Beast Palace Lord rang out.
"The Beast Palace has received a great blessing!"
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"A great blessing!"
Behind me, the massive vortex of demon ants continued to swirl.
Before me, the people of the Beast Palace knelt in gratitude, their eyes filled with respect and admiration.
‘Senior sister, can you not pull my pants up in the middle of my grand moment...?’
For the first time in my life, I was having an epic moment—
But instead of looking like a hero, I looked like a farmer getting ready to wade into a rice paddy.
***
-Ssssshhhh.
-Sssshhh...
At first, the sound of the ant vortex had been like a bamboo forest swaying in a strong storm.
But now, it was more like a light breeze.
And even that breeze was slowly fading away.
By the second day, ants had begun collapsing at the edges of the swirling mass.
And by the third day, the circular field was littered with dead ants.
Demon ants could survive for up to two weeks without food.
But without water, their limit was about five days.
And since they had been running without rest, food, or water—
One by one, they had begun to fall.
By the first day, no more ants had entered the bottleneck.
And now, once the ones inside had perished, the entire colony would be extinct.
Only the faint scent of their pheromones would remain in the valley.
-Crunch.
One last ant, staggering toward my feet, curled up in exhaustion before I stepped on it.
And then, Meng Hu spoke.
"It looks like it’s finally ending."
"Yes. Probably..."
Then, with a somewhat displeased tone, he muttered:
"But still... We are leaving because of your request..."
I understood his reluctance.
The reason we were heading toward the very center of the dying ant colony—
Was entirely because of me.
Technically, we could have waited until every last ant was dead before moving.
But instead, we were venturing inside while some were still alive.
Why?
Because we were here to collect something.
Not just any collection.
We were here for the queen ant.
By now, most of the workers had died, which meant there would be nothing left to protect or tend to the queen.
In other words, this was the perfect chance to snatch her up.
Whether or not I could actually raise her...
Well, I’d decide after catching her.
Ants were creatures that existed to protect their queen.
If she hadn’t died yet, she had to be in there.
I specialized in venomous creatures, so ants were a slightly different field—
But let’s be real.
Ants were foundational in the world of insect pets.
Any kid who had ever been curious about bugs had tried raising ants at some point.
'Every child has a dream of keeping ants.'
-Crunch.
Scattered around us were ant heads that had been crushed underfoot.
Everywhere I looked, abandoned pupae lay dying, neglected by the workers who had collapsed before them.
Finally, we reached the jagged rock at the center of the circular field.
A massive pile of dead ants lay beneath it.
I turned to the warriors following me and shouted:
"Look for one that has a much larger abdomen than the others!"
"Understood, benefactor! Everyone, you heard him!"
"Yes!"
Meng Hu, Snow Leopard, and the Beast Palace warriors spread out, confirming that the ants they found were truly dead and searching for the queen.
And then—
A voice called out from the other side of the rock.
"Benefactor! You need to see this!"
'Did they find it?'
I rushed to the other side of the jagged rock—
And what I saw was...
A massive ant, roughly the size of a six-year-old child, tearing into the bodies of its own kind, shoving the dead into its mouth.
-Crunch. Crack.
The giant ant was so engrossed in eating its fallen kin that it hadn’t even noticed us approaching.
-Drip.
And from its swollen abdomen, a mass of stark white eggs oozed out.
The eggs, neglected and uncared for, were mostly blackened and rotting, yet the queen ant did not stop. She continued eating. She continued laying eggs.
'This... is definitely not normal.'
Except for the rare parasitic species that infiltrate other ant colonies, every queen ant starts out alone.
After a nuptial flight, she mates, descends to the ground, digs a nest by herself, and begins laying eggs to establish her colony.
And in the beginning, all ant queens are cannibals.
With no worker ants to bring her food, she eats her own eggs to survive while slowly building her colony.
If she lays five eggs, she eats one to sustain herself, raises the other four, and as they grow, she consumes one more to nourish the remaining young.
It is a process of sacrifice, ensuring that the strongest survive.
But that is only at the very start of a colony’s life cycle.
Once the colony is large, a queen never eats her own kind.
Yet here she was, devouring her offspring—her own dead.
This was not normal.
And worse still, although she was eating corpses... to her, they weren’t actually dead.
Ants don’t immediately recognize their fallen as dead.
It takes three days for an ant’s body to begin producing oleic acid, which signals to the rest of the colony that it is a corpse.
Until then, living ants treat their fallen comrades as if they were still alive.
So, to this queen, she wasn’t eating corpses.
She was eating her own children while they were still alive.
She was devouring them in madness.
Everyone stood frozen, staring at the grotesque sight.
And then—
"So-ryong, look over there."
My senior sister pointed at the queen’s forehead.
At first, I thought it was just part of her shell or a compound eye.
But no.
There was something gleaming in the middle of her head, between her antennae.
A streak of gold.
"What is that?"
"It looks like... a gold needle."
A golden needle.
The Tang Clan sometimes used gold needles for acupuncture and medicine.
Cautiously, my senior sister reached toward the queen’s head.
"Be careful," I warned.
She nodded and carefully pulled at the golden needle embedded in the queen’s head.
The moment she removed it—
The queen, still in the midst of eating, suddenly went limp.
Her grotesque feast was interrupted.
The ruler of the massive ant army, a queen capable of leading a swarm that could topple elephants, died in the most pitiful, undignified manner.
"Why... was there a gold needle in the queen’s forehead?"
"Lady of the Tang Clan, do you recognize it?"
Meng Hu, the Beast Palace Lord, questioned my senior sister.
She wiped the needle on her sleeve, examining it carefully.
"Well... the Tang Clan does use gold needles, but... this length, this shape... it's strange. Hm?"
"What is it?"
She tilted her head, frowning.
"This needle is hollow in the middle. It must have contained some kind of drug or poison."
At those words, the Beast Palace Lord erupted in fury.
A roar like that of a raging tiger thundered across the battlefield.
"Does this mean... someone caused this catastrophe!? WHO DARED BRING THIS DISASTER UPON MY BEAST PALACE!?"
The unnatural behavior of the queen.
The rapid expansion of the ant colony.
The sudden outbreak that led them to abandon the valley and pour out into the world.
If this was engineered, then someone had manipulated these ants from the shadows.
"If someone is behind this... I will hunt them down and tear them apart!"
Just as his roar echoed through the valley—
Figures descended from the sky.
The Heavenly Poison Deity, my grandfather, along with warriors of the Tang Clan, arrived on the battlefield.
"Hwa-eun! So-ryong!"
"So-ryong-nim!"
My grandfather and Gu Pae, the leader of the Venom Blood Squad, rushed over, checking my body in alarm.
I had already sent a message ahead via the Beast Palace’s owls, but it seemed they had still been worried.
Now that the ants were gone, they had come running without delay.
"Grandfather."
"I apologize for worrying you, Grandfather."
"Hmph. It looks like you’ve been hurt. Nothing serious?"
"Nothing major, thanks to my Iron Turtle Technique."
After our brief reunion, Meng Hu stepped forward and bowed deeply.
"The Beast Palace owes a great debt to the Tang Clan’s son-in-law. I, Meng Hu, express my deepest gratitude."
"Oh, you don’t have to—"
My grandfather, who normally maintained his composure, looked genuinely flustered.
My senior sister quickly sent him a telepathic message, explaining the situation.
[Grandfather, while your standing in the martial world is higher, the Beast Palace is from the Outer Lands. For the Palace Lord to show this much respect is highly unusual.]
"My name is Heavenly Poison Deity. I am honored by your gracious hospitality, Palace Lord Meng Hu."
"It is only right. We will treat you with the highest courtesy. Please, come inside."
"Then, we humbly accept."
After wandering through the jungle for days, the Tang warriors were in desperate need of rest.
Of course, we accepted the invitation.
As we began moving inside, my grandfather chuckled and remarked:
"So-ryong, you certainly attract trouble wherever you go. Haha. I have many questions for you—you will have to explain everything in detail. But first, tell me... what exactly were you doing here?"
It sounded like he was calling me a walking disaster magnet.
I scratched my head awkwardly.
And then, my senior sister held up the golden needle in her hand.
"So-ryong insisted we track down the queen demon ant. And we found this lodged in her forehead. Grandfather... does this resemble the Tang Clan’s gold needles?"
She handed it over.
My grandfather held it up, scrutinizing it.
And then—
His eyes widened in shock.
"Where... where did you find this!?"
"In the queen demon ant’s head," my senior sister answered.
Without another word, my grandfather rushed over to the queen’s corpse.
Carefully inspecting her face, he pried into her mandibles and antennae—
And then, his expression darkened.
There were two more golden needles, hidden deep in her skull.
They had been buried so well that we hadn’t noticed them at first.
"Great Elder, do you recognize them?"
Meng Hu’s voice was sharp.
His fury had not abated.
"If these needles were used to control the ants, then we have a mastermind behind this."
My grandfather's voice dropped to a low, ominous growl.
"It seems... an old enemy of both the Tang Clan and the Beast Palace is still alive."
"The Tang Clan and the Beast Palace...?"
I frowned.
Who the hell would hold a grudge against both?
As I stared at my grandfather in confusion—
He spoke a name that made even Meng Hu’s eyes widen in shock.
"The Five Poison Clan (O-dok-mun)."
At that moment—
A chilling silence fell over the valley.