Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 166: Remnant Tempest

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Still walking. Still breathing. Still focused. And then... a whisper. Not a voice. Not a thought. Just a pressure, like something watching him from below.

Kai stopped. One brow twitched toward the north.

There. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

The thunder rolled heavier in that direction. Fainter cracks of lightning danced between the clouds like serpents searching for prey.

That’s where it was. The mission.

The system’s words echoed in his memory: "Find the star meteoroid iron before the rift closes."

And now he felt it. A pull in that direction. Like gravity. Like purpose. He didn’t need to ask the system again. He stepped forward, gaze sharp, his stride lengthening but not speeding.

Behind him, Azhara hesitated. Her claws clenched, scraping faintly against her thighs. Her ears twitched violently, and for a moment, her knees bent as though preparing to leap.

But she didn’t. She followed him from behind. And as she walked behind him, a flicker of something dark passed through her face. She remembered the fear he made her feel.

She remembered hiding underground like a worm while Kai destroyed a six star rank guardian and her team members with monstrous power. That fear had opened something in her, her face became full of lust. She wanted to taste that fear again.

Now it pulsed like a cursed heartbeat inside her chest. Her breathing quickened. She wasn’t just curious about Kai anymore.

She was fixated. Obsessed. The fear had changed her. No, it had awakened her dark side. She wants to get beaten by Kai.

Not only did she want to understand his power... she wanted to feel it again. To tremble beneath it. To bask in that helplessness and the wild thrill that came with it. Shame flickered across her face but only for a moment.

She was a predator, but now... now she was also a masochist. And she was beginning to enjoy that feeling.

Toward midday rift time, the storm tightened. What had been scattered lightning now converged into five vast pillars of current. Each one a twisting helix the thickness of city spires. They did not move randomly; they orbited a sinkhole nearly two hundred paces wide.

Kai perched on an outcrop, squinting through swirling dust. In the sinkhole’s center lay a pool of mercury bright liquid, as reflective as a still lake.

He consulted the System.

[Local Scan: High Flux Convergence

Essence Load: 240 % (critical)

Star Meteoroid Iron probability: 68 % within the crater walls.

Warning: Translational lightning can manifest proto elemental lifeforms.

Note: Proto elementals are Small storm born creatures made of charge and liquid ore. Single ones are harmless to host, but deadly in swarms.]

Kai blinked once. "240%. Critical." That wasn’t just a number, it was a death sentence for anything unprepared. Aura at that density didn’t flow around the body but it invaded, pressed into bone, warped muscle, and tried to shape things into what they shouldn’t be. Beasts could go feral. Metal could breathe. Minds could snap.

His brow twitching as if trying to shake off the unseen pressure already prickling at his skin.

"Of course it’s a crater," he muttered under his breath. "If it didn’t have thunder essence then I can eat these."

He read the next lines again, Star Meteoroid Iron. 68% chance. Not a guarantee, but enough to follow through.

Then came the real problem.

Translational lightning. Proto elementals.

Kai exhaled slowly, teeth baring in a silent grimace. "Great. Living lightning slugs made of molten metal. That’s exactly what I needed today."

He wasn’t afraid, but there was a definite tightness in his jaw. Proto elementals were rare, unstable, and hard to predict. On their own? Nuisance. A few flicks of his claws, a blast of aura, and done.

"But in swarms?"

They weren’t just sparks, they were hive minded lightning. Collective instincts. Fast, frenzied, and driven by heat and aura like moths to fire. Worse, their bodies were part metal, part liquid, meaning they could slip through gaps in armor and conduct their damage from inside if they got close enough.

Kai’s fingers twitched at his side. Not fear but with calculation.

"I’ll need full armor density and heat redirection," he muttered. His voice was low and precise, like a craftsman examining blueprints. "And maybe... if I can shape my aura to mimic a false storm signature, I can mask my presence when the first wave hits."

He looked up at the distant thunderclouds stretching across the horizon like a god’s dark lung.

This wasn’t just terrain anymore. This was a birthing chamber for stormspawn. And somewhere inside that electric hell lay the thing he came for—Star Meteoroid Iron.

He cracked his neck once. "All right then," he said to no one. "Let’s see who gets forged in this storm. Me or them."

And with that, he walked on, the glow of the system text fading into the hum of static around him. Lightning shivered across the horizon.

Kai had barely taken five steps past the system warning message when the ground began to move. Not shaking... it’s pulse, like a living vein beneath his boots, as though something within the fused glass was reacting to his presence.

He tensed. And then they came.

The first appeared as a glint of silver blue light streaking across the ridge. It was no larger than his fist, its form erratic, crackling with an unstable aura. It didn’t walk. It skated. It flowed across the glass like liquid fire, leaving scorch trials behind.

Then came the others. Dozens of them... no it’s hundreds.

[Ding! System Message:

Alert: Proto Elemental Swarm Detected

Count: 111 and increasing.

Threat Level: Moderate to Severe (based on proximity).

Aura Composition: Liquid ore + charge saturation.

Weakness: Blunt trauma + Aura disruption.

Experience per kill: 1 EXP.]

Kai didn’t wait. "Free exp. Great, it’s like a bonus stage of a game."

The first elemental launched like a bullet, its body crackling, spearheading straight toward his throat. Kai twisted sideways, swatting it from the air with his spear. The creature burst into bright powder.