Sotis, I truly wondered if perhaps this queen ant had her head kicked in by a donkey when she was still a larva. A simple question ended up requiring quite a bit of explaining on my part before she understood what I was trying to ask. By then, my patience had basically been worn thin.
As I looked at that look of epiphany on her face, I celebrated quietly. At the sa ti, I questioned whether it was in part because my explaining skills were lacking
The Elderssaidlonglonglong agopeoplecollectedprotectionfeeoften
Protection fee, huhso its not just the triads who do that now
Her answer didnt surprise all that much; it was perfectly understandable that soone would do such a thing given how many blasted golems there were littered about. Clearly, there was soone collecting poop to create golems.
With that in mind, it wouldnt be a stretch to say that golems were a part of the capitals defensive system. Having gained such an interesting piece of news, I continued pressing her for more information, which she did without holding anything back. At the end of that, I decided to let her go but just as I was about to tell her that, a thought occurred to : If those golems were made from excrent, or poop, would those golems try and attack the Black Blood Queen Ants?
As for why I suddenly had such a stroke of inspiration, I couldnt say for sure but in hindsight, I sure had a ton of reasons I could co up with to justify it.
First, Black Blood Ants were a vital part of the production process for golems so the people of Sable Radiance probably wouldnt want to hurt them. Second, the ants themselves arent really interested in their poop so theres no reason for them to attack the golems either. Given that neither side threatened the other, the golems really had no reason to attack the Black Blood Ants.
Lastly, and also most importantly, from the way that queen ant talked, I could tell that the Black Blood Ants had so degree of intelligence, perhaps not as much as the other races, but enough to definitely create a society. In that sense, it implied that the people of Sable Radiance had engaged in so kind of unique relation with the ants for ant poop. While I wasnt entirely sure how close this relation was, it was most likely that of a master and a servants.
The weak served the strong. That was the law of nature, whether in this world or Earth.
If these ants were really slaves of the kingdom, then they probably wouldnt trigger the external defense system as well! If the golems really wont attack them I think theres sothing we can exploit herewhat if I were to bring along a queen ant and walk unopposed throughout the capitalof course, thats just the best case scenario.
Still, I knew that this was sothing I had to act on in order to prove.
Nola, are you about done with eating? As I said that, I glared at the queen ant to warn her not to move. I then turned to look at the feasting Nola: If we end up eting more golems later on, you should be fine, right?
Mhm. She turned towards and nodded: If I were to et one, Ill show you the results you want.
Good, then go prepare yourself first, I have no doubt the next battle will co soon.
Having answered my question, she returned to her feasting. Looks like those three days were really hard on her belly
Big 4, go have a look around, if you see a golem, try to lure it back here.
Understood, Master. Big 4 sped off into the distance without any hesitation whatsoever, randomly picking a direction in the process. Because the golems were all roughly scattered about with no regularity at all, finding one was entirely a matter of luck and Big 4 had no choice but to search around aimlessly. If he was lucky, he should be able to find one soon enough, if notwell, who could say
If my theory is correct, that golem should ignore the Black Blood Queen Ant, otherwisewell I just have to say sorry thenand who told you to be born so ugly, am I right?
The search for golem proceeded very smoothly, requiring less than 40 minutes of waiting before I saw Big 4 barrelling towards us with a fully-limbed golem chasing after him. While this golem had all its limbs intact, it had a gaping wound, over 10 cm deep, raked across its body as if sothing had clawed at it. With how ghastly the wound was, it was hard to imagine how any one single creature could accomplish such a feat.
Master! Were back! Theres a golem behind too
At the sa ti as his return, Big 4 yelled out a warning to us.
No.3 imdiately tried to rush out to help but I promptly stopped him with my voice: Steady there, No.3. I need you to carry this queen ant towards it first. I want to see if it will attack her.
Understood Master. No.3 imdiately caught one of the outer limbs of the queen ant and started dragging her forward. By now, no matter how dim the queen ant was, she could roughly tell what was going on. She imdiately tried to fight back but unfortunately, she was no match for No.3 at all.
Nono Unable to resist, all she could do was beg for rcy. The way she was moaning almost reminded of a scene where a bad man was slowly dragging a frail lady into a dark alley cornerwell, except that this particular lady was unforgivably uglyat least that was how she seed to .
Sensing the golem, Nola paused her feasting for now, turned towards the distant golem and howled. Having done that, she raked at the earth a couple of tis as if warming up for a fight.
Let the queen ant have a go first. Worried that Nola might just charge in right away, I anxiously reminded her to wait patiently. I want to test if those golems would actually attack her. Of course, all this is just an assumption on my part so if anything goes wrong, I still need you to join in.
Mhm, got it. Nola nodded her head and took up a wary stance. Should anything happen, she would imdiately charge off into battle.
Body hovering barely off the ground, No.3 crossed shoulders with Big 4 as he swiftly dragged in the queen ant. Shoulders tightening, he made sure to restrain the queen ant after tossing her onto the ground. From her position, squished against the floor by a power she couldnt resist, all she could do was wriggle her abdon about in what to be the most pitiful sight I had ever seen in a long while.
Deathly afraid of the golem trampling on her, she desperately clawed her way forward but was summarily stopped by a cruel kick to the face by No.3. She stumbled backwards uncontrollably and just as she tried to climb up to her feet, she found herself face to face with a fierce looking No.3. Finally, she understood her position and quietened down, like so kind of wife who was a victim of abuse.
If she was lucky, that golem would simply pass over her harmlessly, otherwisefrom the looks of things, that golem would most likely step all over her in its path towards us.
In order to avoid getting attacked by the golem, No.3 took to the air while still maintaining a vigilant watch over the Black Blood Queen Ant. The mont she tried anything funny, he was prepared to swoop in and give her the beating of her life.
As she sat there helplessly on the ground, the queen ant gazed forlornly at the airborne No.3. She wanted to escape but didnt dare to try. She knew very well what would happen to her after failing so many tis already. No.3 was faster and more powerful than she was so even if she managed to avoid the golem, No.3 would imdiately take her out
Still, even though she knew that she was just a poor test subject of mine, her will to live refused to die down. She waved her limbs about frantically while calling out to that golem using so kind of strange chittering sound. Even though I couldnt understand what she was trying to say, I could tell from her actions that she was trying to tell the golem not to attack her
With regards to that wishful thinking of hers, all I could say was: fat chance!
The queen ant had only one thought right now: run. Because she couldnt, she was terrified. She wanted to beg for rcy but who knew if that would even workwhat then?
The golem continued its thunderous march towards her and us. Honestly, there was just no way that golem could understand herright?
Right when I was expecting to see an ant patty however, sothing amazing happened that left us all stunned. The golem suddenly slowed down and even ca to a stop right in front of the Black Blood Queen Ant
With that, the Black Blood Queen Ant was temporarily spared a horrific death. She weakly laid on the ground and gasped, deeply and greedily. The golem quietly stared at the Black Blood Queen Ant, neither attacking nor moving away. It was then that the Black Blood Queen Ant knew that she wasnt out of the fire yet. It tried to crawl backwards but as it did so, her eyes ca face to face with the golems own.
The golems eyes were red like a ruby. Because it was a magical construct, it had no emotions whatsoever. Being stared at like that must have been really stressful for the queen ant. Thus, rely seconds after escaping the fate of being stomped on, she fell to her knees and started begging for rcy once more.
What happened next truly exceeded our expectations. Just as the queen ant was about to wet herself, figuratively speaking of course, the golem suddenly turned around and left
Thats right, it left, inexplicably and without any warning at all. It didnt even look at us before leavingeven though we were supposed to be kill on sight targets. Because of that lone queen ant, it abandoned attacking us entirely.
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