Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

"Thank you for saving us, my lord." A farmer bowed happily, expressing his relief. His village had been attacked by a group of Hoil Bees, resulting in the loss of many innocents.

The Hoil Bees arrived once every few days, attacking during the night when the village was the least defensive, kidnapping both people and cattle. And those that tried to resist them were killed in the process.

The villagers had been living in fear, requesting their lord to take action. Finally, their requests were answered as the lord sent a Horned Human to take care of the Hoil Bees.

Though only a Stage 1 Horned Human, his crossbow was pretty potent during defensive fights, allowing him to take down the Hoil Bees one after another.

It wasn't as if he defeated them all overnight, but took a few days at the very least. But, from when he was posted, neither a villager nor any livestock was captured by the Hoil Bees.

"It's not over yet," The Stage 1 Horned Human, Balkan said, staring at the three Hoil Bee corpses before him, "I counted eight of them during my first night of stay here. And, adding onto the three I killed today, it already totals to eleven Hoil Bees."

"There's more of them." He said solemnly.

"T-Then," One of the villagers said in fear, losing all hope as he bowed immediately in response, "Please don't abandon us, my lord."

"Please protect us!" Everyone prostrated in response.

'This is troublesome.' Balkan felt a headache as he pointed at a villager, commanding him, "Inform the Castle Lord about this. I need to wait for his orders."

"What are you waiting for?" He snapped upon staring at the villager sport a dumb look on his face, "If you don't hurry up, I'll return to the castle."

"Y-Yes!" The villager said in a hurry before rushing towards the Castle Lord.

The Tulcan Region was home to seven scenic hills, each aligned with their respective star in the sky for ages. This led to the birth of seven powers, typically called the Castle Lords.

They each controlled their respective province. Each province had a main town and multiple villages surrounding it. Each town was situated around its respective hill.

At the top of each hill was a castle, and the lord of the castle was addressed the Castle Lord. There were seven Castle Lords that controlled the Tulcan Region, all Horned Humans at Stage 2.

Depending on their influence, the number of Horned Humans under them varied. Currently, the Seventh Castle Lord, controlling the seventh province of the Tulcan Region was the weakest among the seven.

He only had three Horned Humans under him, all of which were at Stage 1.

Balkan was the Seventh Castle Lord's nephew. Even among their family, there were still plenty that had yet to become Horned Humans. This displayed how weak their influence was, which was why the Castle Lord had refrained from sending Balkan to the village until the voice of concern from the people became loud enough.

"Keep watch and alert me if another Hoil Bee shows up." Balkan yawned in exhaustion, having not had a proper sleep since he arrived at the village. He made his way to the house allocated to him, intending to sleep, leaving the rest to the villagers.

The Hoil Bees only showed up in the dead of the night, so it was taking a toll on his body already.

"When will I leave this dump?" He muttered, sitting on the bed as he drank a glass of alcohol before slumping tiredly. A few seconds later, he was fast asleep.

The rest of the villagers too returned home, save for the few posted guard for the night. The torches were snuffed out one after another as darkness overwhelmed the village. The only source of light was from the watch tower they had built.

Its flame was too weak to highlight the entire village, but as the Hoil Bees were pretty loud, the villagers weren't worried about failing to detect their arrival.

Though, this was why they failed to notice a hole that had appeared on the ground, next to the walls of the house where Balkan was asleep. The hole was fist-sized as streaming out of it were ants, each ten centimetres in length.

The ants walked over the wall and entered through the window, instantly making a hole for their entry. They streamed into the bedroom in large numbers, quickly surrounding the bed as they began to gnaw at its legs.

The ants behaved like clockwork, with them eating through the legs of the bed at the same pace before soon, it became too weak to support the weight.

"Hmm…" Balkan uttered in sleep, turning around when his action shifted the weight distribution over the bed, causing its four legs to snap in response, resulting in it falling to the ground, creating a large thud.

The fall startled him, shocking him to the extent it felt like his heart stopped beating. "Gah!"

He was deep in sleep, not even having the time to gather his bearings from the sudden fall when the ants swarmed him, biting him everywhere.

"Argh!" Balkan leaped out in a hurry, condensing his crossbow as he shot arrows everywhere, with each arrow killing an ant.

But, there were hundreds in the bedroom, climbing over his body as their mandibles clutched hard on his flesh, not letting go even when he swatted them.

"Dammit!" Balkan roared as he slapped using his crossbow, sending the bodies of a few ants flying. But, like how ants behaved, even after their bodies were sent flying, their heads still remained on his body, their mandibles not letting go.

"Graaah!" Balkan collapsed to the ground as the tendons on his ankle were cut, preventing him from walking as the ants climbed over his body and began to bite him everywhere.

His crossbow continued to shoot arrows before soon, his fingers failed to hold it anymore as the nerves around his wrist were already severed by an ant. With his hands rendered useless, Balkan could only roll around to save himself.

But, the carapace of the ants was tough, causing them to survive his weight as they continued to eat into him. Balkan struggled for less than a minute before losing his life, rendered helpless like a doll as nerves throughout his body had been severed.

Ant ants rapidly devoured him, swallowing chunks of his body whole, not even leaving any bones behind.

Bang!

The door slammed open as the villagers rushed in alarm, alerted by the sound of his cries, carrying torches with them, "Kyak!"

One after another, the villagers screamed in horror, staring at the bloody room where it seemed a battle had occurred. But, there was no sign of Balkan there, except for the blood.

The ants had already cleaned up the place, including the corpses of their brethren. After all, whatever they swallowed directly ended up in the ant queen's Origin Space. And hence, clean-up was easy for them, after which they retreated underground.

"T-This…" One of the villagers barely reigned in his urge to retch as he looked around, shining the torch's light on the shattered legs of the bed, muttering once he recognised the markings, "It seems like the legs have been eaten by termites."

Another villager braved up at the remark, looking at the room to point at a location, "Doesn't that hole seem to be from the lord's arrow? Wait, there are multiple such holes all over the room."

'Does that mean he fought within the room and was defeated so fast?' This was the thought that resounded in their minds before the villagers were horrified to even stay home anymore.

After all, even Balkan, a Horned Human died so mysteriously. Normal humans like them would only end up as prey to whatever horrifying entity was behind this.

"W-We have to alert the Castle Lord."

They were unaware that the perpetrators of this bloody scene were right beneath their feet, moving underground through the tunnels they dug. The ants moved through the tunnels in a file when suddenly, one of them stopped moving.

The nearby ants tapped its antennae before retreating in alarm. The cause of the alarm was this soldier ant that ended up eating the Horned Human's Origin Space.

And unlike before when everything they consumed ended up in the abdomen of the ant queen, this Origin Space remained in its abdomen, taking root there.

This was when the Nacre within was slowly being converted to their pure, non-attributed energy. As for the Mutated Beast living in the Origin Space, it died as its essence was absorbed by the ant itself who then began to manifest the properties.

It was still an ant, but now, growing in its back was an aperture similar to a mantis peacock shrimp. The muscles were like spring, shrinking as a drop of water gushed into the created vacuum.

The muscles were released, unleashing a frightening amount of pressure on the drop of water that shot out like a bullet and impacted a nearby ant, shattering through its carapace before splashing out its brain matter.

It was apparent that this soldier ant was no longer part of their colony, now a separate entity.