Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 182: Monarch Descends

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Smoke drifted through like funeral incense, curling around shattered pillars of bark and stone. The crater punched by Kai’s arrival still glowed at its edges, molten droplets of earth hissing where they met cold subterranean air. All sound had paused, suspended in the stunned wake of a living meteor crashing through the roof of the Crimson Nest.

Kai stood motionless for a few seconds in the middle of the crater he had created, faint steam rising from his armored limbs. All around him, half a dozen bloated frogkin froze mid-step, stunned by his sudden appearance.

Frogs, once jeering, crouched in silence. Assassin-ants, bruised and blood-slick, froze mid-lunge. Only two figures dared move.

The first was the Frog-Man—lumbering, swollen with half-regenerated muscle, patches of blistered skin clinging to him like leprous rags. His new eyes, milky green and bulbous, swam in their sockets as he studied the intruder. He wiped a string of viscous drool from his slit mouth, flicking it aside where it sizzled on the floor.

The second was Kai, standing upon the cracked lip of his own impact crater. Dust settled on the shoulders of his obsidian cuirass, each mote flashing crimson when it touched the living runes pulsing across his armor. His silver hair lifted in unseen currents; ember-red eyes burned through the haze. He looked carved from the very fault lines of the world, an obsidian sovereign crowned by falling ash.

One heartbeat. Two heartbeat.... Later

From his perch atop the battlefield, Kai looked around slowly.

His gaze swept across the broken tunnels, the collapsed burrow walls soaked in acid and blood. He saw twitching limbs. Crushed thoraxes. Five female assassin ants are barely standing. Their bodies were cracked and smoking, their pheromones weak, yet they stood between their queen and death.

Then he saw her.

Akayoroi.

Pinned. Bleeding. Armour shattered, half-torn and neck caught in the slime-coated grip of a monster.

Kai’s jaw tightened.

The Frog-Man sneered, slurping saliva from the corner of his warped lips. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?" He took a step forward, mucus hissing where it hit the broken floor. "Another heroic fool falling from the sky? I didn’t order dessert."

Kai’s voice rang out at last, low and sharp like a blade unsheathed in moonlight.

"Hey, you fat frog. What are you doing bullying these beautiful girls?"

The Frog Man blinked. "What—?"

Kai continued, stepping forward without urgency, but each stride carried force that cracked the crust of the earth. "Don’t you think you’ve done enough? Let them go. Especially her." He tilted his chin toward Akayoroi. "She looks like royalty, not a chew toy."

The Frog-Man snarled. "You dare to order me!"

One of the remaining assassin ants cried out. "Stranger! Help us! Save our queen! That bastard wants to defile her! He wants to r*pe her!"

Another limped forward. "We’ll reward you! Please, don’t let him take her!"

Kai’s expression darkened. He vanished in a flash.

The Frog-Man’s eyes widened. "What—?!"

Akayoroi felt the grip around her throat loosen. Before she could fall, strong arms swept her into a firm embrace. Heat flooded her broken body, not from pain, but from something warm, solid, protective.

She blinked. Her vision blurred, until it cleared to silver hair, crimson eyes, and an obsidian chestplate pressed against her face. The man who stood like a god.

"You’re safe now," Kai murmured.

Akayoroi’s cheeks flushed with instinctive awe. She felt her claws twitching against his chest, her antennae brushing his chin. His heartbeat thundered in her ears. It wasn’t fast, but steady. Commanding. Her breath hitched.

"You... smell like a king," she whispered before passing out.

He gently laid her against the tunnel wall, far from the reach of the enemy.

The Frog-Man stumbled back two steps. "How? No one’s that fast!"

Kai returned to the center, he opened his soul cube and pulled out a spear in hand. His gaze level. "Fatty, I warned you," he said calmly. "Let them go."

The Frog-Man snarled, mucus spraying from his lips. "You dare call me fat? You ruin my fun? Tell me who you are, insect!"

Kai tilted his head. "Doesn’t matter who I am."

He took one more step forward, the ground cracking underfoot. "What matters," he said, "is that you don’t bully girls in front of me."

"You... You arrogant trash!" the Frog-Man roared. "I’ve eaten warriors! Burned hives! Queens have begged beneath my tongue!"

"Do you always talk this much before getting squashed?" Kai said. "Or are you trying to convince yourself you still matter?"

The Frog-Man’s swollen tongue flicked the air. "I will snap your spine!"

"You’ll slip on your own slime before that happens, fatso."

The Frog-Man snarled again, voice wobbling between rage and disbelief. "Mock me all you want. When I’ve ripped your legs off and fed them to my spawn—"

Kai yawned. Actually yawned. "Are you done yet?"

The Frog-Man twitched.

"Because I don’t fight bloated frogs unless they’re at least a little dangerous."

"You dare—!"

Kai raised one finger. "Correction. I already dared. You’re the one who still hasn’t croaked."

The Frog-Man screamed, voice shaking the tunnel as acid gathered in his throat sac. "YOU’LL DIE FOR THAT!"

Kai’s spear spun once, then stopped midair. The smile vanished from his lips. His next words were ice cold: "Come and try."

Six of the bloated frogkin slithered forward from the shadows of the ruined nest. Their steps squelched against the blood drenched earth, eyes bulging with cruel delight. Warped bodies waddled, each one grotesque in a unique way—some carried bulging sacs of venom across their backs, others had jaws wider than their torsos. All of them had jagged bone weapons, rusted iron, or dripping whips made of parasitic tendrils.

One of them croaked with mockery, bowing low and licking the dirt. "Oooooh, look at the mighty metal man! What a hero! So shiny! So tall!"

The largest among them, with boils crusting both cheeks and a curved bone blade strapped to his tail, took a step forward and puffed out his throat sac. "Master, let us have him. We’ll skin the shiny bastard alive and polish our boots with his face."