Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 168: Whispers Beneath Bark

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The mirrored lake bulged outward like a membrane stretched from below. A serpentine skeletal head surfaced. It has teeth of raw ore, and twin globes of swirling plasma eyes. Lightning flickered inside its translucent neck, illuminating a segmented body that shifted between solid metal and liquid quicksilver.

The creature hissed with a sound like solid hitting water. Kai’s spear slid to his hand.

Predator’s Instinct mapped weak points: joint seams where metal plates overlapped; a pulsing core of molten ore behind the skull.

The Tesseral Seraphim lunged at him.

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Meanwhile, deep beneath the sun drenched canopy of the southern forest, far below the chatter of birds and the scent of blooming fungi, a nest breathed.

It was not large. It was not grand. It was hidden by design.

Burrowed into the heart of a hollowed Camphor tree, where roots tangled like sleeping serpents and the soil pulsed with the quiet rhythm of ancient mana, the Crimson Nest slumbered beneath layers of bark, moss, and silence. Dew clung to the edges of curled ferns like glassy tears. The air held a tension, humid and heavy, as if the forest itself knew what lay below.

Only those who knew how to feel for the faint vibrations of life might sense its presence. A flicker beneath the earth. A heartbeat where there should be none.

And even then—they would be dead before they could speak of it.

For inside this forgotten tunnel system, carved through damp clay and petrified wood, there lived fifty plus silent blades. Fifty plus sisters in form, forged by instinct, honed by necessity, and trained in the ancient ways of their shattered caste. Their bodies were lean, matte black and red with glints of carmine along their segmented limbs. Each step they took was measured. Each breath, purposeful. Their antennae twitched with every pulse of movement, drawing in signals only they understood.

They spoke in clicks. In pheromone trails. In glances sharp enough to slice bark.

And at the very center, in the deepest chamber where no light reached and no noise dared echo, lay her.

Their princes and future queen. Their sovereign. Akayoroi, the orphan princess of the Crimson Nest.

Her body was red and segmented like polished obsidian which coiled gently around the base, her abdomen twitching in subtle rhythms. Above the waist, she was regal and inhumanly graceful. Her humanoid torso, though carved from chitin and muscle, retained the softness of femininity—smooth curves hidden beneath flexible black plating, her arms jointed and sinewy like a dancer’s.

Long golden-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders in a tangle of forest-scented strands, framing a face that belonged more to a goddess than an insect. Her eyes were twin crimson orbs without whites, glowed faintly in the dark. Not with anger. Not with hunger.

With purpose.

She lay upon a bed of wax-thread and fungal silk, her eyes closed but mind alert, every thought tethered to her subordinates. Her pheromonal aura pulsed in waves, keeping order, commanding silence, projecting a dream of control. In her presence, even the youngest blade dared not twitch without permission.

Outside, a tremor stirred in the soil. She opened her eyes. Not with fear. Not with surprise. But with the calm precision of a matron predator who has survived a thousand threats.

She had felt it first. A ripple of foreign desire. A scent that didn’t belong here. And the soil itself shivered with what followed.

She had been chosen by extinction to survive.

Character profile:

Name: Akayoroi

Title: Queen of the Crimson Nest

Rank: ★★★

Race: Royal Camponotus – Assassin Brood

Trait: Linked Broodmother (Shared skill link with direct spawn)

Skills:

Silent Movement – Passive

Night Scout Vision – Passive

Brood Burst – Active

Shadow-Scent Trail – Passive – She can follow scents invisible to others for assassination trail stacking.

Rootstep – Active – Blink-moves through wood or root-structured terrain with short-range teleportation. Cooldown: 15 seconds.]

She exhaled slowly. A faint vibration passed through her antennae—coded clicks carried through root-thread signals. One of her scouts had returned.

From the carved tunnel arch, a sleek female ant-warrior emerged. Slender, chitin-plated in black and gray streaks, she knelt wordlessly and placed a silk wrapped object at Akayoroi’s feet: a star crystal, drained nearly to dust.

Akayoroi picked it up and pressed it to her chest. "The beasts are evolving faster," she murmured. "Another nest has fallen?"

The scout nodded. "North Hollow. Burned by Riftworms. Three nests gone. No survivors."

Akayoroi’s face showed no fear, but her thorax tensed.

"Gather the Shroud Fifty," she ordered. "I want a new kill map of the surrounding territory. Mark all foreign scents. Especially two legged ones."

"As you command, Hive leader."

The scout vanished into the tunnels like mist.

Akayoroi rose from her nest. Her limbs shifted silently as she walked barefoot, her form gliding over the damp moss floors like a stalking shadow. Around her, faint red glow lanterns of biofungus lit her path. It was dim enough for her own kind to see, but no more than a flicker to others.

Along the corridor walls were old relics of egg-shell fragments, severed pincers, bone rings made from fallen kin. They reminded her of the colony that she and the others had lost.

The one that burned. "They called us weak... too small. Too stealthy to matter. But the big tribes fell loud, and we remained."

In the training chamber ahead, twenty of her assassins stood perfectly still in formation. Their antennae flicked only once in acknowledgment as she entered.

Akayoroi scanned them with clinical grace.."No vibrations outside pattern?"

"None, Hive leader."

"I felt something. Listen, you will practice by doing my work. I want five of you to scout the entire area before the night bell ends."

None flinched. Her ants were not trained to be normal. They were trained to outlast war.

Later, in her rest Chamber, she lay on her bed. Her abdomen pulsed gently as she adjusted her chest plate. Two female warriors stood silently nearby to guard her.

Akayoroi’s eyes dimmed as she watched the hatchery glow with some old eggs. They carried some eggs before their entire colony was destroyed. They were hoping to hatch some and make her ant colony bigger. But all the egg are damaged. They can’t be hated without a male ant essence and chromosome.

"They are our future," one said softly. "But we can’t do anything."

"Exactly," Akayoroi whispered. "And I will not let them die nameless like the rest. Don’t lose hope."

She turned her gaze to the root wall and closed her eyes. A faint tremor passed through the base of the tunnel. Was it not hostile? Or non hostile it’s unknown. But something... felt similar.

A new scent. A powerful pheromone. "Foreign aura she detected earlier this morning."

She opened her eyes slowly. "Something just entered our colony area."

"A predator?" her escort asked. Akayoroi shook her head. "No. Not a predator. Something else, something fat and ugly."

She licked her lips. "It got many helpers."