"Well, guess it's ti for a little experint..." Ethan muttered, feeling like so twisted scientist.
He took out the transparent jar and noticed the tiny flying ant inside had sensed human presence, frantically banging its head against the glass wall, desperate to escape.
This little guy was just like the human-faced spider—no interest in rotten flesh, only craving fresh human at.
Seeing how eager it was, Ethan casually opened the jar.
The tiny ant imdiately zipped out, heading straight toward the battlefield ahead.
Ethan narrowed his eyes, carefully tracking its movents. Despite its tiny size, his sharp vision allowed him to follow it clearly.
The ant swiftly bypassed the horde of zombies, making a beeline straight for Daigo.
Its size was so minuscule that neither zombies nor humans noticed it at all.
The ant landed quietly on Daigo's belly, quickly crawling toward his belly button.
Daigo was busy slaughtering zombies, laughing cheerfully as if it were just a fun ga, completely oblivious to the tiny intruder.
Besides, with his massive belly, even if he looked down, he wouldn't have been able to see his own belly button anyway...
So the ant slipped inside without any trouble.
But after a mont passed...
Nothing happened.
"That's it?" Ethan watched from afar, puzzled. "Did that tiny thing just get digested or sothing?"
But just then—
Daigo's cheerful expression froze. His brows knitted together, and he clutched his stomach with one hand, his face twisting in pain.
"Ugh...my stomach hurts..."
"Daigo, what did you eat earlier? Did you get food poisoning or sothing?" an Awakener behind him asked.
Daigo shook his head, unable to speak as the pain intensified. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead, and soon an unbearable itching sensation spread through his abdon.
He stopped fighting zombies altogether, desperately scratching at his belly, harder and harder, leaving bloody scratches across his skin.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?"
The Awakeners nearby noticed his strange behavior.
But Daigo didn't respond, gritting his teeth and clawing at himself like he had a personal vendetta against his own flesh.
Finally, the scratches turned into deep gashes, fat and blood oozing out, yet he still didn't stop.
The Awakeners around him stared in horror, shouting, "What the hell are you doing? Stop it!"
But Daigo seed deaf to their cries, digging deeper and deeper until, horrifyingly, he tore open his own stomach.
What was even more terrifying was that his insides were no longer organs—instead, a massive swarm of black flying insects burst out, buzzing furiously.
"Ahhh—!"
Daigo collapsed to the ground, writhing and screaming in agony.
Then, from his mouth, nostrils, and ears, countless flying insects poured out in thick clouds.
His eyeballs exploded monts later, replaced by swarms of ants crawling out of the empty sockets.
"What the hell..."
Witnessing this grueso scene, a wave of intense fear swept through the crowd. So weaker Awakeners stood frozen, completely paralyzed by shock.
"Those are Devourer Ants!" shouted a few experienced Awakeners, recognizing the insects imdiately.
These tiny flying ants, once inside a living host, would rapidly devour flesh and blood, reproducing asexually and multiplying into a massive swarm within re minutes.
Scientists back at the shelter had once kept these ants, hoping to weaponize them against large mutated beasts.
But no one had expected them to escape from the lab!
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Panic surged through the crowd as they turned and fled. They'd rather be bitten to death by zombies than face the agony of those ants.
The swarm of Devourer Ants burst from Daigo's corpse like a black storm, imdiately chasing after the fleeing humans.
Those who ran slower were quickly engulfed by the swarm. The tiny ants burrowed into their bodies, devouring flesh and blood, multiplying rapidly.
Victims collapsed to the ground, writhing and screaming in unbearable agony. The pain was excruciating, accompanied by an intense, maddening itch that drove them to claw desperately at their own skin.
It was literally death by a thousand bites—pure torture.
Their hysterical screams drowned out even the zombies' growls, showing just how horrific their suffering was.
At this mont, Ethan slowly erged from the shadows, calmly observing the chaos from above.
"Tsk, tsk... that's pretty brutal."
He finally understood how these ants attacked—by burrowing into their victims' bodies. It was nearly impossible to defend against. Even powerful Awakeners could easily fall victim to such a sneaky attack.
These Devourer Ants could inflict unimaginable pain.
Ethan thought to himself, maybe he should bring a few back for Mia. She might appreciate them. After all, friends should share good things, right?
Sharing is the highest form of romance, after all...
But then again, these creatures could easily destroy the entire shelter. Sure, elental Awakeners could counter them—fire or ice could burn or freeze large swarms—but humans had to sleep eventually.
If just one tiny ant crawled into your ear while you slept...
That would be ga over.
"This is even more straightforward than Nightmare's special ability, 'Dream Invasion'," Ethan mused.
He decided he'd better "share" this wonderful discovery with Sophia. Consider it a thank-you gift for the "mosquitoes" she'd sent to his place earlier.
With the ants unleashed, the humans stood no chance.
Sector B quickly fell into chaos.
The survivors fled desperately toward Sector A, the most resource-rich area, sealing themselves behind a heavy alloy gate.
"Mr. Takeshi, hurry! The outside has completely fallen!"
"What?" Takeshi's eyes widened. "Where's my adopted son, Daigo?"
"He...he's dead," soone replied shakily, still traumatized by what they'd witnessed.
The higher-ups exchanged uneasy glances.
Their plan had clearly failed.
"Mr. Takeshi, we need to get out of here!"
"Run? I already said I'd rather die fighting zombies than run away!" Takeshi stubbornly declared.
These leaders had risen to power through strength and violence. Naturally, they were Awakeners themselves, and none of them were weak.
But the Awakener who'd just returned shouted urgently, "Mr. Takeshi, Daigo wasn't killed by zombies—he was eaten alive by Devourer Ants!"
"What?!" Takeshi's expression instantly changed, fear flickering in his eyes.
He imdiately reconsidered his stance.
"Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Everyone quickly agreed, relieved he'd finally co to his senses.
They hurried deeper into the shelter, toward a hidden ergency escape route.
"But wait," a middle-aged man muttered as they ran, "the Devourer Ants should've been locked securely in the safe. How did they escape?"
He was one of the senior researchers and knew the project well.
"Maybe the ants chewed through the safe and escaped on their own?" soone suggested nervously.
The researcher shot him a skeptical glance. "Seriously?"
While terrifying in numbers, individually the ants weren't strong enough to break through reinforced tal—that was precisely why they'd been chosen for research.
Takeshi overheard this and grew suspicious. "You an soone deliberately released them?"
"If it was just soone, we'd be lucky," the researcher said grimly. "I'm more worried it wasn't human at all..."
Everyone fell silent, chills running down their spines as they realized what he ant. A deep, inexplicable dread settled over them, as if sothing far more sinister was watching from the shadows...
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