A figure erged from the darkness of the passageway. Its body glead faintly in the dim light, covered in a thick black exoskeleton that shimred like polished obsidian. Its size was monstrous, nearly as large as a warhorse. Long serrated mandibles extended from its face, twitching as it moved. Six legs, each ending in a curved claw, scraped against the walls, leaving shallow marks behind.
A Devouring Ant.
It moved with eerie precision, its every step calculated and soundless despite its size. The faint greenish glow in its many eyes reflected against the damp tunnel walls. Its antennae twitched rapidly, brushing the air in front of it as if tasting the scent of a living being.
Max's muscles tensed. He could feel the faint pressure of its presence pressing against his senses. The creature radiated an aura of hunger—a primal, ancient instinct to consu everything in its path. His body entered combat readiness on instinct.
"So this is what the dwarves feared," Max whispered under his breath. "Let's see just how strong you really are."
The ant stopped moving. For a brief mont, both predator and prey stood still, locked in silent confrontation. Then, with a sudden screech that pierced the air, the Devouring Ant lunged forward.
Its mandibles snapped open and shut with terrifying speed, cutting through the air with a tallic hiss. The tunnel shook from the impact of its movent, dust falling from the ceiling.
Max's eyes narrowed. "Fast," he muttered. He shifted his stance, energy coursing through his body. Blue lightning flickered faintly across his skin, casting blue sparks against the walls.
The Devouring Ant lunged again, and this ti, Max moved.
In that instant, the quiet tunnel transford into a battlefield.
Max's figure blurred backward in an instant, blue lightning sparking violently around his body. His boots scraped against the rough ground as his hand reached behind his back, pulling out his sword in one fluid motion. The faint hum of the blade resonated through the tunnel, mingling with the low clicking sounds that echoed in the darkness ahead.
He exhaled slowly. "Raw strength won't work here," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the ant that was already regaining its balance. The dwarves were living proof of that. They were masters of brute force, yet even they could not stand against these creatures. It ant one thing—the Devouring Ants were impervious to physical power. To fight such an enemy, precision and elental force were the only path.
"Severing Flow Sword Art!"
The words left his mouth like thunder, and his blade moved. A trail of blue light cut through the air as he unleashed the third level of the Concept of Severing Sword. The very air seed to split before him as the sword descended in a clean arc.
Bang!
The strike landed with crushing force, slamming into the creature's glossy black exoskeleton. The impact sent a violent shockwave through the tunnel, shaking dust and small stones from the ceiling. The Devouring Ant was thrown back several ters, hitting the wall with a dull, resonant crack. The tunnel trembled under the force.
But when Max steadied himself and looked closely, his expression darkened. The ant was still moving. Not a single cut marred its shell. Its exoskeleton glead faintly, as if mocking his effort.
'The exoskeleton of this thing is stronger than the centipede's,' he realized, his brows furrowing. 'I won't get anywhere with a direct hit.'
The ant let out a shrill, screeching hiss. Its mandibles clicked together with such speed that sparks flew from the friction. The creature's body twisted unnaturally, and before Max could blink, it lunged forward again—this ti faster than before. The tunnel's air pressure changed with the speed of its charge, creating a rush of wind that slamd into Max's face.
Max didn't flinch. His grip tightened around the hilt of his sword, and the faint crackle of lightning filled the tunnel once more. Red lightning began to coil around the blade like a living serpent, hissing and flickering in rhythm with his heartbeat. The ground beneath him buzzed as arcs of energy danced across it.
"Brilliant Thunder."
It was the first form of the Storm King's inheritance, an enhancent technique that magnified the sharpness and cutting power of his weapon through compressed lightning. The red bolts fused perfectly with the steel, making the sword gleam as if it were forged from living thunder.
At the sa ti, his body burst into motion. Blue lightning exploded around his legs, and the tunnel was filled with the sound of a storm. He used One Mile Step, his movent art, vanishing from sight in a blink. The lightning that trailed behind him left a ghostly afterimage, a streak of blue cutting across the air.
The Devouring Ant's claws swung forward—but Max was already gone.
He appeared behind the creature, red lightning swirling in his sword arm like a storm condensed into a single point. His voice echoed through the shaking tunnel. "Heaven-Piercing Thunderclap Sword—Fifth Form!"
A roar of thunder followed the strike. The red lightning erupted violently, flooding the passage with blinding light. Max's sword swept across the ant's midsection in a single, fluid slash. The sound that followed was unlike anything natural—it was as if the air itself scread.
When the light faded, Max stood several ters ahead, his sword lowered. Behind him, the Devouring Ant froze mid-lunge. A thin red line glowed across its abdon. Then, with a wet, splitting sound, the creature's body separated cleanly into two halves. Both halves fell to the sides with heavy thuds, ichor splattering across the stone floor. The air was thick with the sll of burnt chitin.
Max exhaled slowly, red lightning still dancing faintly across his shoulders. "Lightning is effective," he murmured, his tone calm but satisfied. He approached the corpse, his eyes fixed on it with curiosity. "Good. That ans I have an edge."
He raised his hand, black flas flickering to life in his palm. They hissed and writhed like shadows, ready to devour the remains. But just as the flas reached out, the two halves of the corpse began to twitch.
Max stopped. His eyes narrowed.
The remains vibrated violently, and then—without warning—they collapsed inward. A strange suction force appeared for a split second, and the corpse sank into the ground as if being pulled by an invisible mouth. Within seconds, nothing was left. Not even a drop of blood. The only trace of the creature's existence was the faint scorch mark left by Max's lightning.
"What…?" Max muttered, his expression darkening. "The corpse disappeared?"
He crouched down, examining the floor. There were no holes, no cracks—just smooth stone. The disappearance was unnatural. "Could they be devouring themselves when one dies?" he wondered aloud.
The thought unsettled him. It wasn't just the ant's strength that was terrifying—it was the instinct behind it. Sothing that powerful shouldn't need to erase its dead unless it was part of sothing larger, sothing organized.
Max stood up, tightening his grip on his sword. The tunnel stretched endlessly ahead, and faint clicking sounds echoed once again from the distance. This ti, the noise wasn't from one ant.
It was from many.
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