A few hundred meters away from the rugged mountain, where the Crimson Gate was located, two ants stood silently—one black and one red. Both of them stared at the shadows of a jagged mountain cliff, silently watching the deep shadows like a pair of sneaky hawks, ready to snack on their prey.
Their compound eyes stared unblinking at a large, almost 2-meter-tall demon lizard clinging upside down to the rocky ceiling, its leathery body hidden perfectly against the rough surface. It waited in stillness, hiding in the cracks of the mountain where the crimson hue of the red glowing sky couldn't touch. A perfect place for an ambush.
The cunning and sneaky lizard had found the perfect place to hide itself, waiting for any prey to pass by. Once any misfortunate demon came within its reach, those sharp venomous teeth would sink into the poor monster's flesh—then only death awaited, as it would be dragged into the cracks of the mountain, deep into darkness.
To any monster without sharp senses, the demon lizard would have been completely invisible. But unfortunately, the lizard had bad luck. Because no camouflage could mask the faintest ripples of vibrations in the air—ones that certainly made him stand out to the two ants.
Noah and the red ant hid behind the cliff wall, completely shielding themselves from the sharp gaze of the demon lizard, who constantly scanned his surroundings like a hawk. But the damn lizard didn't know he was going to get fucked soon.
The red ant turned her head to Noah, mandibles twitching slightly, her big compound eyes staring at him as if asking—why the hell are we still standing here?
Noah let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Patience, my sista," Noah muttered, staring intently at the demon lizard, his eyes glittering. "That thing's a mid C-rank monster, of course way weaker than you. But that doesn't mean we should just burst through everything and go attack it," Noah explained.
But the red ant wasn't listening, instead playing with a small rock with her front legs, already accustomed to Noah's boring rambling.
"Besides, we shouldn't waste our stamina by brute-forcing it when we can kill it with a little bit of tomfoolery." Noah rambled on, not knowing his companion was giving him stink eyes.
Noah flicked his antenna, positioning carefully beside the jagged ledge. "Just wait and let me cook."
He pointed his abdomen upward, aimed, and then fired.
A sharp stream of sizzling formic acid flew through the air at high speed and struck the demon lizard's exposed hind leg.
The large monstrous lizard let out a loud hiss—more like a wheeze of surprise than pain. The creature's sharp eyes narrowed as it tried to locate where the attack came from, scanning its surroundings with cruel malice.
But Noah had already hidden himself behind the jagged wall. The lizard, finding nothing, relaxed slightly. Clearly, it had low intelligence, but not so low that it would stay in the same place. It quickly moved deeper into the crack in the mountain, hiding itself in the thick darkness.
"Oh well, that sucks." Noah groaned, staring at the deep darkness of the crack. Of course, the demon lizard was still visible from Noah's location—the glowing eyes, gleaming with cruelty, shone in the darkness like two red beads.
"My acid is still not strong enough to burn a C-rank yet," Noah muttered as he repositioned himself for another shot. "But I'm pretty sure it can still give that damn lizard a good shock." He clacked his mandibles in glee and fired three consecutive shots.
Paw! Paw! Paw!
The streams of sizzling acid flew through the air, two of them landing clean on the demon's spine and the last one hitting its tail. This time, the lizard shrieked louder, clearly in slight pain, claws slipping from the cracks, losing its grip on the ceiling as it twisted and flailed.
Noah and the red ant watched as the demon fell from the ceiling, a few of its pointy side spikes breaking with a crunch as it crashed into the rocky terrain below in a loud boom.
Boom!
"Now!" Noah shouted. And the red ant quickly rushed in, not giving the demon lizard time to reorient itself, as her sharp mandibles quickly snapped closed on the lizard's neck. The lizard shrieked in pain, flailing its sharp claws against the powerful exoskeleton of the red ant. But no matter how much the demon struggled, it couldn't compete against a monster who was two ranks higher.
Noah walked in, completely relaxed as he stared at the monster with glee. "Hehe, what now, you overgrown lizard? Can't do anything, huh?" he clacked his mandibles, smirking tauntingly.
The red ant rolled her eyes at Noah's behavior, moving toward him while keeping the flailing lizard in her tight grip.
"Oh god, thank you. You finally get me now." Noah flicked his antenna in happiness, letting out teary pheromones. But the red ant flapped her own antennas in the air, as if to flick away Noah's pheromones like they were dust. She stared at him with a deadpan expression.
A few moments earlier, Noah had to sit her down when she returned from the Crimson Gate.
Like, he had to literally sit her down.
What followed was a full thirty-minute session of pure, undiluted madness. Noah flailing his front legs around like a damn mime, making wild gestures, stomping the ground, snapping his mandibles dramatically—even dragging around a dead rock to act like a fake demon. All just to explain one very simple thing:
"Don't kill the monster instantly. Leave them alive so I can land the finishing blow!"
That's it. That was the lesson.
And yet, judging by the way the red ant had kept tilting her head like a confused puppy every five seconds, Noah wasn't sure if she even got 20% of it.
But hey, at least she didn't chomp the lizard's head off right away. So the lesson was a success.
"Alright, keep him in your grip. I'll land the finishing blow, okay?" Noah said, staring at the twitching and struggling lizard as it tried to break free—but couldn't break away from the powerful jaws of the red ant.
Noah leaned in on the lizard. He had brought his new skill just for this moment—Double Chomp.
[Double Chomp: (Active)
Mandibles strike twice in rapid succession, with the second hit dealing 10% more damage if the first connects.
Increased drain on your stamina. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Cost: 2 Skill Points.]
Noah had used his last two skill points to purchase this final skill in the shop.
'Let's see what you got.'
Noah opened his mandibles wide, his muscles flexing as he positioned himself right at the demon's exposed neck.
Then—CHOMP! The first strike landed, sinking clean into the thick, scaled flesh.
The monster let out a guttural shriek, its body jolting.
And before it could even flinch again—CHOMP!!
The second strike hit harder, cutting deeper, cracking through bone and tendon like scissors through wet cloth. Blood spurted out violently, staining Noah's black mandibles with a splatter of hot, disgusting demon blood.
But the damn lizard still wasn't dead. It kept struggling and hissing through its mouth.
"Fuck! Is the rank gap between us that huge?" Noah muttered, his eyes widening. He took a moment to steady himself before starting to chomp on the lizard's mutilated neck with normal mandible bites.
Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
Finally, with the last chomp, the lizard went limp.
[You have defeated a Mid C-rank magical beast: Spine Lizard.]
[You have gained experience.]
[Warning: Since the user has already reached the required level for evolution, all gained experience will be recounted after evolution is complete.]
[Your skill, Mandibles Bite, has reached level 3.]
[Your skill, Double Chomp, has reached level 2.]
Noah stood there for a moment, listening to the system notification, his mandibles still clamping on the dead demon's neck.
Then he pulled away with a satisfied sigh, wiping his mandibles off with his front legs, clacking them in pride. "How was it?" Noah asked happily, looking at the red ant.
The red ant, still holding the lizard's corpse, gave Noah a brief look.
He puffed his chest. "Hehe, that was pretty cool, right?"
She didn't respond, of course. But Noah liked to imagine she was impressed anyway. But quickly, the red ant turned around, keeping the dead monster in her mandibles, moving toward the location of the rugged mountain where the Crimson Gate was located, not sparing Noah another glance.
"Oi, oi, oi—wait, wait!" Noah scrambled in front of her, waving his front legs to get her to stop in her tracks. "You can't just take the monster back already!"
The red ant paused, tilting her head in confusion. It was understandable why she was confused—after all, ants were highly selfless monsters, who put their colony above everything else, even their own life. So keeping the prey for themselves was abnormal for her ant mind to understand.
"I mean, this lizard won't even fill a small corner of the food chamber. You know that, right?" Noah argued, his antenna flicking in the air. "And well, we should hunt more monsters before going back to the colony. It'll be more beneficial that way, alright?" Noah said, staring at the red ant's eyes.
Of course, that was one of the reasons, but Noah's main reason was way simpler—he needed more bio-points to quickly max out all of his upgrades so he could fuckin' evolve already.
The red ant let out a slow sigh through her mandibles—like a tired big sister watching her little brother beg for one more snack before dinner—and flicked her antenna forward in defeat, dropping the corpse at Noah's feet.
"I knew you'd get my logic." Noah nodded, patting her front legs as if sealing the deal. But the red ant just glanced at Noah with a deadpan expression.
...
After a while, both Noah and the red ant sat near the shadows of the cliff, hidden from any stray demons.
Noah decided on a small break, chomping on the lizard's flesh, chewing the disgusting meat while listening to the sweet, sweet sounds of the system announcing in his head he was receiving more bio-points.
[You have consumed the flesh of a magical beast. You have received 1 bio-point...]
The red ant sat beside Noah, watching the glowing red sky above, into the horizon while keeping her antennas sharp—simultaneously scanning the surrounding air to be aware of any enemies.
Noah glanced at her, thoughts churning in his head. "You know, this whole time, I've been calling you 'red ant' in my head. It's pretty lame, isn't it?" Noah asked, tapping the red ant's side with his smaller black antenna.
She turned her head toward Noah.
"How about I give you a name?" he asked, his mandibles clicking as if he was smiling. "Well, lemme think for a moment." Noah hummed, tapping the side of his head with his antenna as he pondered aloud.
"What about Crimson Reaper! Sounds cool, right?"
THAWCK!
"OK, OK, I get it! You don't like it, no need to thwack me! Geez!" Noah huffed, rubbing his head where the red ant had given him a thwack with her red antenna.
"Alright then, lemme think for real this time." Noah said, pondering seriously.
The red ant waited in anticipation, staring at Noah with her glittering compound eyes.
After a moment, Noah smiled and turned his head. "Hm, I thought seriously about it this time," he said, looking at the red ant as he continued. "How about Ruby?"
The red ant stared, unblinking. Before turning her head, giving Noah a silent pat with her front legs—as if giving her affirmation.
"Heh, I knew you'd like it. Then Ruby it is." Noah clacked his mandibles, smiling happily. Then he stopped, as if remembering something. He also turned to stare at the glowing red sky, smiling with his eyes.
"Thanks, Ruby. For accompanying me here."
The red ant—now Ruby—glanced at Noah, staring silently at him. Not replying, of course, just giving a silent flick of affirmation with her antenna.
In the meantime, Noah put the remaining bio-points—around six in total, which he acquired after half-eating the lizard—to good use. He couldn't finish the whole thing, so he decided to finish the rest after upgrading his monstrous body.
[-> Bio Points: 6
Gland Efficiency (+2 Acid Gland) – Acid deals more damage and more fluid in the tank, lower cooldown. - 3 bio points will be deducted.
Stomach Efficiency (+2 Stomach) – Increases digestion speed, granting slightly more bio-points per consumed monster. - 3 bio-points will be deducted.]
Noah purchased them all.
"Gahhh!" Like usual, the pain of mutation came in like a tsunami, wrecking Noah's ant body and molding it into a stronger monster physique.
Ruby ignored the twitching Noah as he flailed about on the ground. She let out a tired sigh.
...
> [ Status ]
Name: Noah.
Level: 5
Next Evolution Requirement: Reached.
You have met the requirement for evolution. It is highly recommended to first upgrade all monstrous body parts to unlock advanced evolution paths.
Rank: D-rank.
• HP: 20/20
• MP: 0/0 (Requirement: mana sensory gland and mana core.)
• Stamina: 90
• Bio points: 0
• Skill points: 0
Skills: Identify (lv1), Mandibles Bite (lv3), Dig (lv2), Pheromone Signal (lv2), Antenna Sense (lv2), Dash (lv1), Stealth (lv1).
Mutations: +1 Antenna, +2 Legs Muscle Density, +2 Mandibles, +2 Carapace, +2 Acid Gland, +2 Stomach.
Hidden Skills: Soul Shaping (unlocked at level 20.)
...
Author's note:
Fuck the old status format. This format gonna stay permanent from now on.