"So what you're saying is that a termite colony was discovered somewhere near one of the training routes?" asked Queen Celeste, shocked.
"Yes, one of our groups of recruits was almost completely wiped out due to an assault made by three termites. Luckily, it just so happened that Ari was there with them. He and another ant recruit managed to each defeat one of the termites and badly injure another, saving their own lives," said Anastasia.
"I see. In any case, we should be grateful that some of them came back alive, and now we know that there is a termite colony hidden somewhere close by. Termites are highly dangerous enemies to almost every insect with their toxic acid substance. If they are left to do as they please, our colony might be in grave danger in the near future," said Queen Celeste.
"My queen, that's preposterous. Termites take months or even years to establish their colony, so there is no way a termite colony could have just appeared out of the blue or even gone unnoticed for so long, not with the scouting team checking the terrains beyond our colony every day," said one of the elder ants.
"Then that must mean that the scouting troops are not doing their jobs properly or effectively. How can something that has the power to annihilate our entire colony be missed?" said one of the elders, enraged.
"That's not the case. I can't deny that prior to when I had the new recruits start their training, the scouts did their checks and confirmed that it was safe. However, they were not at fault. I myself should have made sure all the areas were thoroughly checked. If I had done so, we wouldn't have had so many casualties," said Anastasia.
"There is no use blaming yourself for what happened, Anastasia. Let's direct our focus on handling this issue at hand before they threaten our very existence," said Queen Celeste.
"That's right, which is why I brought Ari with me to break down our strategy for eliminating them."
"That outsider again? Why should we allow him to be the one to take the lead on a matter that doesn't concern him?" asked one of the elders.
"You still think of Ari as just an outsider, after all he's done for this colony? While he created a foolproof strategy against the invasion of Queen Helena's army, he was on the battlefield helping all of us win the war, while all of you just sat here all high and mighty. Show him some respect."
"I made him in charge of this mission. Is that alright, Queen Celeste?" asked Anastasia.
"I don't disagree with you on the matter, Anastasia. Ari has proven himself to be quite useful to the colony, so I'll allow him to command for me on how to deal with this threat," said Queen Celeste.
"I'm glad to hear that. Ari, new recruits, you can come on in," said Anastasia.
"Commander Anastasia is cruel... she didn't even remember my name, that's so unfair" said Isla to herself pouting.
Rory looked around at the chamber in awe.
"So this is the room of the great elders. It's the first time I've ever set foot in here, and it's all thanks to Ari," said Rory to himself, impressed.
"Thanks for sticking up for me," whispered Ari into the commander's ear, which made her flustered.
"Shut up," she said, punching him in the rib.
"Man, she still packs a punch," said Ari, in pain.
"Okay, so here's how we are planning on taking down their colony...
"After planning a strategy to raid the ant colony and with the approval from the elders and Queen Celeste, a dispatch of four hundred ants was led by Ari and Anastasia to purge the termites.
After traveling for over seven days, the soldiers of the ant colony finally reached the far edge of the training route—the place where the ambush had occurred.
The journey had been long and punishing.
They moved through the underbrush like a living current, boots sinking into damp moss and leaf litter with each disciplined step. Towering blades of grass loomed like trees, casting shifting shadows across their path. Thorny vines crisscrossed the terrain, some as thick as their arms, forcing them to slice through or detour around.
"This is where we were attacked by them," said Ari.
The clearing bore the scars of violence. A wide, blackened scorch mark marred the once-green grass, its edges curling inward as if the earth itself had recoiled from the heat. The soil beneath was still cracked and brittle, despite the passing days. Scattered along the perimeter were remnants of the fallen—shattered mandibles glinting faintly in the filtered sunlight, half-buried in dirt or tangled in the roots of nearby weeds.
"There's nothing left of them, just their mandibles, not even bones," said Isla as she averted her eyes.
"Judging by the way it ran… their colony should be that way," he said quietly, rising to his feet.
He moved forward without waiting for confirmation. The soldiers fell in behind him, their armored boots thudding in rhythm over the forest floor. The air grew heavier the farther they marched—thick with the scent of wet bark, decay, and something acrid lingering just beneath it.
Eventually, the forest thinned, and a grim silhouette rose ahead.
At the center of a hollowed glade stood a massive, rotting tree stump, its surface warped and hollowed by generations of termite burrowing. Its sides riddled with tunnels and gnawed-out vents that hissed with faint vapor. Faint lines of moisture traced down its bark like dried veins, and the ground surrounding it was littered with the corpses of dead vegetation—stripped clean and forgotten.
Ari stepped closer and pressed a hand to the damp, brittle bark. It crumbled under his touch—dry, fragile, and layered with resin that caught the light.
"Just as I thought," he muttered. "Their colony is huge… and luckily—it's flammable."
"Yeah, you were right. Attacking them recklessly and head-on would have resulted in our deaths. What do you have in mind, Ari?" asked Anastasia.
"Alright, gather up every stick, branch, and even log that you can find because we will need them."
"Um, Ari, what are we going to do with the wood?" Asked Isla for clarity.
"Well, that's simple. We will be starting a fire."
A shocked expression engulfed the military ants who heard him.
"What do you mean by creating fire? That's not possible; the only ones who are capable of producing fire are the fire ants," said Anastasia.
"It doesn't surprise me that you don't know how to start a fire. Well, let me show you," said Ari as he rubbed two sticks together until it caught fire.
Everyone of the ants was shocked and staggered back at the sight of Ari who had managed to produce fire.
"Who the hell is this ant?" Anastasia asked herself, impressed.
"As I said earlier, we are going to flush them out of their colony, and whoever tries to avoid the flames, we slay," said Ari as he threw the flames on the branches and wood stacked around the colony.
The first scream came muffled—from deep within the tree stump. Then another. Then dozens.
Ari stepped back from the blaze, watching as the smoke thickened and the flames began to crawl up the resin-veined bark. The fire hissed and popped, devouring the dry wood with relentless hunger.
From within the hollow trunk, frantic scratching grew louder. Then the termites burst out.
Dozens at first, pouring from the tunnels in a panicked flood. Their eyes were wild with pain, their chitin scorched and peeling. Some still smoldered as they fell into the open, clawing at the ground in confusion.
"Take them out! Don't let them escape!" Beatrice's voice rang sharp through the smoke.
Lines of fire lit the battlefield, casting flickering shadows across the charging ants and the stumbling termites. Screams tore from the colony's interior as more termites emerged—blackened, disoriented, but still dangerous.
Acid hissed through the air.
Streams of corrosive fluid shot out from termite claws, splashing against the dirt and melting it into bubbling muck. But the ants kept moving—dodging, weaving, diving behind rocks and exposed roots.
"The kid wasn't lying!" barked a soldier. "They can only shoot in straight lines or tight angles—they're wide open if we scatter!"
Anastasia needed no such reminder.
She was already in motion—blurring across the battlefield with lethal purpose.
Gripped in each of her hands were two massive mandibles—curved and serrated. She spun them effortlessly, like extensions of her own limbs, slicing the air as she sprinted straight into the chaos.
The first termite turned too late.
Shunk. The left blade cleaved through its wrist before it could raise its arm. She pivoted on her heel and followed through with the right—an upward arc that cut through thorax and spine. It dropped without a sound.
Another charged her from the flank, hissing acid pooling at the edge of its palm.
She dropped to one knee and slid beneath the attack, the acid sailing overhead—then exploded upward with a crossed slash, both mandibles flashing as they split the termite from hip to shoulder. A spray of ichor painted the ground behind her.
Her footwork was surgical—sidestepping a lunge, leaping over a splash of acid, twisting mid-air to land a clean strike that opened an enemy's abdomen. She didn't waste movement. Every dodge was tight. Every kill, clean.
From the left flank, Rory stumbled into the chaos, his eyes wide with adrenaline. Unlike the veterans, his stance was tense, reactive—but still, he pushed forward with courage that hadn't yet hardened into instinct.
A termite hissed and raised its palm.
Too close.
Rory dove forward on instinct—just as a bolt of acid blasted over his back, sizzling into the bark behind him. The heat scalded the air.
He rolled once, then sprang to his feet and swung his jagged lance upward with a wild cry. He slashed through the termite killing it in the process.
"I… I got one," he breathed, stunned. "I actually got one…"
But just a few steps away, Isla stood frozen.
Her mandibles shook in her hand.
She stared at the battlefield—a burning tree stump surrounded by corpses, acid melting soil, screams of death and the clash of mandibles. It was too much.
The noise. The smell. The heat.
A termite ran past her without noticing—drawn to another target—and she didn't even raise her weapon.
Her knees buckled slightly.
"I… I can't…"
She gritted her teeth, but her limbs wouldn't move.
"Damn it," she whispered. "Why now?"
Smoke curled past her legs. Another scream echoed. And Isla just stood there, trembling, lost in the storm.
Then—a growl.
Her heart plummeted.
Slowly, her head turned toward the sound.
A hulking termite had locked eyes on her. Its arm was raised, acid already gathering in its palm, sizzling and spitting as it prepared to fire.
Her antennae jolted, panic rattling every nerve in her body.
What… What do I do? I've never—I've never fought—
Her mandibles rattled uselessly in her hands. Her heart slammed against her ribs, but her body refused to move.
No—move, damn it! Move!
But her feet wouldn't obey.
Her breathing quickened. Her eyes darted frantically, searching for someone—anyone—to save her.
Please… someone… help me—
The termite aimed its acid-coated hand, its growl deepening as it launched the deadly shot.
A silver blur slashed across Isla's vision.
Beatrice.
With a clean, practiced sweep of her mandibles, she severed the termite's arm and followed through with a brutal finishing strike. The termite crumpled at Isla's feet.
Beatrice's voice rang sharp and firm.
"Look alive, recruit! If you want to survive out here, you have to face your fears or perish."
Isla's chest heaved, wide-eyed, the echo of her heartbeat louder than the battle around her.
Ari's legs pounded against the scorched earth as he darted through the smoke-choked air. All around him, the battlefield crackled with fire and chaos. Ants shouted, acid hissed as it hit the dirt, and the termite colony's decaying tree stump loomed like a dying giant in the flames.
He didn't have a plan—just adrenaline and a stubborn refusal to freeze up. His heart hammered in his chest as he charged past a wounded comrade, gripping the two mandibles he'd been given for weapons. They felt too light in his hands. He hadn't trained long enough to use them with precision, but they were all he had.
Then—
A sharp hiss cut through the air.
A termite burst through a split in the bark, tall and gaunt with twitching limbs. Its compound eyes glowed faintly, and from the palms of its hands, a stream of sizzling green acid shot toward Ari.
"Shit!"
He dove to the side, barely dodging the jet of corrosive liquid. It struck a rock behind him, immediately eating into the surface with a violent sizzle.
The termite hissed again, raising its arm for another shot.
But Ari was already moving.
He surged forward, eyes locked on the attacker, legs pumping on pure instinct. He zigzagged to throw off its aim, and as the second stream of acid missed him by inches, he leapt—body twisting mid-air.
He slashed with both mandibles.
The blades connected with a soft, wet crack—slicing into the termite's chest. It staggered, eyes bulging as it fell backward into the dirt, limbs spasming.
Ari landed in a crouch, panting, wide-eyed, hands shaking.
And then—
A soft digital *ding* echoed in his ears. Not from around him—but *inside* him.
"What...?"
A thin line of light traced itself into existence just above his field of vision, shimmering as if the air had cracked open. Then, in a blink, a glowing rectangular screen snapped into view—hovering just ahead of him.
He froze, eyes wide.
[New Quest Detected]
Objective:Slay 50 Termites
Progress:1/50
Reward: ???
Status:Auto-Accepted
"What the hell?" he whispered, backing away slightly. The screen moved with him—anchored to his vision.
It looked like something out of a game—sleek, blue-hued text with crisp lines and pulsing borders. Just like the RPGs he used to play when he was human. But this wasn't a screen. There was no controller. No menu to open. No pause button.
"This doesn't make sense, what is a screen like this doing in this world… I didn't agree to anything."
He reached out toward it, hesitated, then swiped a hand through the screen.
It offered no resistance. His fingers passed through like mist.
"Involuntary quest," he muttered, reading the line again. "So… it's just happening? Whether I want it to or not?"
Then he noticed the counter jump—2/50—as a nearby termite was consumed by the fire.
His chest tightened.
"What is this place?" he murmured, watching as another number ticked up.
He didn't understand what was going on. But deep down—beneath the confusion and fear—something stirred. Not courage exactly… but a pull. A strange compulsion. As if something unseen was *watching*, waiting for him to respond.
"I don't know what this is," Ari said, tightening his grip on his mandibles, "but something compels me to complete this quest, and I will
With a burst of speed, he sprinted toward the burning heart of the termite colony, the quest screen glowing faintly above him—like a silent, impossible witness.
"Ari, what the hell are you doing? Do you have a death wish?" shouted Anastasia, her voice echoing from outside the blazing stump.
But Ari didn't turn back.
He darted deeper into the burning termite colony, the smoke curling through the broken tunnels, the scent of acid and charred bark thick in the air. The corridors glowed orange from the firelight, flickering shadows cast across the curved walls. He ran like a phantom—too fast for the termites to track, too erratic for their acid streams to land.
He moved on instinct, slicing with both mandibles as he passed.
One termite lunged from a crack in the wall—slashed down.
Another aimed acid from the corner—Ari sidestepped, kicked off the wall, and cut it down mid-charge.
They weren't built to fight at close range. Their acid was their only real weapon. Once Ari closed the distance, they were helpless.
"That's forty... forty-one..." he murmured, eyes scanning for the next target.
Behind him, he heard a subtle pop—the hiss of acid charging in a termite's palm.
Without thinking, he twisted on the balls of his feet and lunged to the side. A thin stream of acid sizzled past his shoulder.
He landed in a crouch and lunged forward in one clean movement, slicing the termite cleanly down the middle.
"Forty-two," he exhaled.
The quest screen flickered into view above him, and just as he finished the next kill, the words glowed:
> Quest Complete
Reward Processing...
Ari stopped moving, chest rising and falling with each breath. The flames licked closer to the core of the colony, and the termite screams faded into the distance as the rest of the swarm was pushed back.
He stared at the quest screen, eyes wide and uncertain.
"That's it… I finished it."
He lowered his mandibles slightly, his grip loosening. Somewhere in the chaos, the thought slipped into his mind—gentle and aching.
> Keiko...
"I wonder if I'll be given a reward," he muttered. "Something that can get me back to my world. So I can be human again… So I can see her…"
But the fantasy shattered in an instant.
A sudden shift in the air—like the pressure of the room changing. An ominous presence flared behind him like a dark wave crashing through the tunnel.
Ari's eyes widened.
Crap. I let my guard down.
He spun around—but too late.
A sharp, wet crack—a mandible laced with seething green acid pierced through his back and out his chest.
Ari gasped as his vision blurred, hemolymph pouring from the wound. He staggered, coughing violently before spitting up a thick glob of it. His legs buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright, trembling.
Behind him stood a termite unlike any he had seen before.
She wasn't gaunt and monstrous like the others. No—this one was different. She looked human just like the ants from his colony.
Her face bore the sharp elegance of a woman—eyes cold and golden, lips twisted into a smirk. Her body was humanoid in shape, yet her skin was replaced with dark yellow exoskeletal plating that glimmered like armor in the firelight. Elegant and terrifying all at once.
"I finally caught you," she said with a chuckle, her voice rich and venomous. "You're a quick one, aren't you?"
""To think you lowly ants had the nerve to attack my colony," the termite woman sneered. "How dare you?"
His vision wavered. The heat of the fire, the searing pain in his chest, and the toxin spreading through his body all crashed into him at once.
"Oh, I like you. You're strong—fast. Must be important to those pests outside. That makes you perfect."
Her smile widened.
"I think I'll use you as my one-way ticket out of here. Sadly, you won't survive the trip. That acid flowing through your body? It's already eating you alive from the inside."
Ari grit his teeth, every breath ragged. His arms trembled as he still had a grip on his mandibles, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Outside the burning tree stump, the termite resistance had begun to falter. Their numbers dwindled by the minute, and the few that still emerged did so in panic, their movements erratic and directionless. Ant soldiers cut them down one after another, their mandibles slick with termite blood, the scorched earth steaming beneath their feet.
"The situation seems to be under control now, Commander. Fewer termites are coming out of the colony," reported Beatrice, her mandibles dripping with termite blood, acid hissing against the blackened earth beneath her feet.
Anastasia stood at the frontline, her breathing heavy but steady, sword-like mandibles gripped tight in each hand. She scanned the field, assessing the chaos.
"That's good news," she said. "But don't let up. Not until every last one of them is dead."
Just as she turned to relay more orders, a terrible silence rippled across the battlefield.
From the heart of the burning tree stump, a figure emerged—half-draped in smoke, bathed in firelight.
And in her grasp was Ari.
Blood and hemolymph dripped from his limp form, staining the ground in his wake.
"A-Ari..." Isla gasped, hands trembling, her voice cracking with disbelief.
"They got him…" Rory muttered, paralyzed. "No… He can't survive termite acid. No one can…"
The termite holding Ari stepped forward, regal and predatory, standing tall with an eerie calm. She was unlike any termite they'd seen—shapely and humanlike, with a gleaming dark yellow exoskeleton wrapped around a feminine, commanding frame. Her golden eyes radiated fury and malice.
"I am Queen Andromeda," she announced, voice sharp as a blade. "You ants have destroyed my colony and slaughtered my people."
She paused, lifting her chin with disdain.
"One day, we will have our revenge."
A surge of rage erupted from the soldiers.
"Let's kill her!" an ant shouted, already starting forward.
"No! Stop!" Anastasia shouted, raising her arm. "She has Ari! Do not engage!"
Queen Andromeda's lips curled into a wicked smile. She looked down at Ari, his barely conscious face contorted in pain.
"I knew you were special," she cooed. "Thanks for your help, handsome."
With a sickening noise, she yanked her acid-coated mandible from Ari's chest. His body spasmed and sagged in her arms.
Then she bolted.
"After her! Don't let her escape!" roared Beatrice.
The soldier ants charged—but it was a trap.
With a sudden, feral screech, Queen Andromeda spun mid-stride and expelled a massive torrent of sizzling green acid in every direction. It erupted like a shockwave, coating the battlefield in a deadly mist. Where it touched, ants screamed—and then disintegrated, their bodies reduced to bubbling sludge within seconds.
Those too slow to dodge were lost in an instant.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Beatrice yelled, her voice cracking over the dying screams.
Smoke and acid swirled in the air, and amidst the chaos, Anastasia knelt by a fading trail of blood that Ari had left behind.
Her hands trembled.
"Ari… Say something to me…"
Silence.
"I told you not to run into the colony alone, you reckless idiot!" Her voice broke.
But the anger couldn't hide the terror on her face.
He was gone. The Queen had him. And worse—he was dying.
Anastasia clenched her fists, her mandibles scraping against the earth.
"Damn you..."