Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

As the ant queen continued to increase the size of its colony, the number of ants targeting humans increased. Though, whenever the target was either a Horned Human or a Blight Human, problems arose.

After all, the ant that devoured their Origin Space immediately branched out of the colony, going rogue as it surfaced and began to hunt solo. Upon seeing what was up, the ant queen stopped targeting Horned and Blight Humans, only targeting the regular humans that possessed either a Blight Core or a Nacre Core in their bodies.

Though, the damage had already been done by now as the ants that had broken free from the colony began to consume all energy rich entities.

And typically, whether human or an animal, the one with the most potent Nacre or Blight Core in their bodies became their targets.

Moreover, unlike the ants of the colonies that stopped growing after attaining a size of ten centimetres, these ants—that had devoured an Origin Space—continued to grow as they ate.

The ants that devoured a Horned Human's Origin Space displayed part of the Mutated Beast's characteristics. In contrast, the ants that had devoured a Blight Human's Origin Space displayed characteristics of the plant that the Blight Human used.

These ants began to transform into a form closer to plants, able to hide themselves in forests and hunt any living being that approached close.

More than a hundred of such ants had arrived at the surface, causing a lot of mysterious disappearances throughout the continent. After all, everything they devoured arrived at their Origin Space, leaving behind no traces in reality.

But, they weren't invincible. After all, at the end of the day, they weren't specialised for combat beyond some tricks they gained after obtaining the Origin Space. So, quite a few ended up getting killed.

This was where problems began to crop up throughout the continent as people and creatures began to disappear mysteriously, rattling both the Fornol and Lerni Empires.

After all, if the casualties only amounted to the common populace, they could send the Horned Humans or Blight Humans respectively to solve the problem. But when the casualties also included those with power, the populace began to worry.

Among the ants, there was one that had ventured into the Fornol Empire, roaming around its borders to chance upon the corpses of both the Horned Humans and Blight Humans. It ate them all, absorbing the Origin Space of everyone within it.

There didn't seem like a limit existed in this. Or maybe as long as the ant could handle the load, it could continue to devour more Origin Spaces.

Boom!

Various colours spawned across the skies as more than a dozen Blight and Horned Humans collided with one another. This was a war ongoing between two rivalling Kingdoms, each of which had allied themselves to the Fornol and Lerni Empires respectively. They were both colonies under the respective Empires, having been that way for more than a century.

Both the Kingdoms were poor, lacking in resources. And hence, they had to snatch resources from the other side to survive and develop. Moreover, there was another reason for their conflict.

It was to swallow the other side and then raise an army large enough to attack the Autonomous City State of Yatar, an island rich with resources.

The people there were one of the richest in comparison, leading lavish lives. The environment conditions also favoured them, making foreign invasions tremendously difficult.

Whether it was the Fornol Empire or the Lerni Empire, both were contesting to take over the City State of Yatar. Unfortunately, in order to do so, they needed to gain influence over the two closest Kingdoms—Karabban and Dabbar.

Karabban was a vassal state under the Fornol Empire while Dabbar was under the Lerni Empire.

This contest over Yatar raged on for decades already. And with the arrival of the Horned and Blight Humans, things only escalated. Currently, this part of the world was where the most intense conflict was happening.

Of course, it also created the best environment for a certain ant that had formed its cave underground, relying upon its senses to observe the ongoing battle between dozens of Horned and Blight Humans.

"Keuk!" A Horned Human gasped in response, staring at a thorn pierce through his stomach, causing him to cough out blood. He glared at the opponent in anger, watching his sword brim with Nacre before it slashed at speeds approaching the speed of sound, severing the thorn.

The sword hummed as the Horned Human landed on the ground, coughing out blood as he stared at his bleeding wound, closing it with a free hand as he shouted, "You'll pay for this, fucker!"

"Heh, how will you?" The Blight Human stared with a maniacal smile, "You're on the verge of death."

"Is that so?" The Horned Human collapsed to the ground, his eyes red as he stared in hatred, "Can you even see anymore?"

"I can't…" The Blight Human said, leaning against a boulder, his limbs severed and the gash on his forehead causing blood to ooze into his eyes, hindering him from seeing.

Both were pretty injured, unable to garner strength anymore, almost exhausted of energy.

The Horned Human used his sword as a crutch to get up, straining in the process as he almost collapsed multiple times, feeling his head spin from the blood loss. The thorn had expanded while in his body, having pierced through his internal organs, including the lungs.

So, he was aware that his time was up. But before he died, he wished to kill his opponent as he dragged himself to the boulder, staring at the Blight Human that wasn't able to react anymore, pointing the sword at his neck, "Any last words?"

"Don't bother, we're both fucked!" The Blight Human's face paled suddenly, "My thorn's roots noticed something just now. There's a monster under us…"

Boom!

The ground parted as suddenly, a monster resembling a worm jutted out of the ground, swallowing both the Horned and Blight Humans. It spanned a breadth of two metres, its length unknown, having devoured enough Horned and Blight Humans that its body had changed drastically.

After all, by gaining at least a few traits from the Mutated Beasts and plants in the Origin Spaces it had devoured, it continued to evolve until reaching its current form, a true monster that no longer had any resemblance to its ant form.

Though, its entire body was covered by flexible exoskeleton. The Horned hacked with his sword, causing it to hum violently, oscillating at high frequencies, enough to cut through even steel.

Snap!

The sword slammed into what seemed to be a mandible within the throat of the monster, breaking in half. Alarmed, the Horned Human could only resign himself to fate as he stared at the over hundred mandibles that fully covered the throat of the monster, "My god…what has this world birthed now?"

Crunch!

Both him and the Blight Human were diced up by the mandibles and devoured casually, as following that, the monster burrowed into the ground, covering its traces.

The fighting in the battlefield was intense, not except for a couple of soldiers nearby, none noticed the monster. And before they could shout, a hail of arrows killed them.

It was a mess on the battlefield.

Though, the fighting halted for a moment as the heads of everyone tilted up, staring at the gigantic flower trailing through the skies. It spanned a size of twenty metres, massive in nature, causing the Blight Humans to stare in amazement.

"That's the Varnol!"

One of the Blight Humans muttered, "Is the Empress in there?"

It was indeed Feleokruna seated within the Varnol, sporting a frown as she gazed at the state of the battlefield, "Is it still a stalemate here?"

"The Lerni Empire is allocating more funds to the Dabbar Kingdom. They too have raised the importance of Yatar." Felor said. Currently, he was the one controlling it while his mother was seated on the throne calmly.

There was just the two of them in Varnol, the reason for which was simple: They planned to meet Kekua Fornol.

When she gave the command to Luncress, after sacrificing a lot of Hoil Bees in the process, Luncress managed to get the message to Kekua Fornol.

The terms of the other party were pretty simple. Only two of them could arrive for the discussion. And secondly, they would meet at a neutral location, which was Yatar.

Even though Yatar didn't have any Horned or Blight Humans, they possessed one of the strongest militaries in terms of defensive warfare, having dispatched multiple armies to the afterlife.

And unless the strength of the Horned and Blight Humans crossed Stage 5 in large numbers, this stalemate would continue to remain. But at the moment, it was still the most neutral location.

Hence, Kekua Fornol had proposed a meeting in such a place.

Therefore, Feleokruna and Felor took the trip on the newly constructed Varnol, heading towards the Autonomous City State of Yatar.

As the Varnol moved past the battlefield, from beneath the boulder peeked the monster from before, its dozen eyes staring at the Varnol in the air. Highlights in its sight were two powerful auras seated on the Varnol, the corruption rich and potent in them, causing the monster to feel hungry.

It stared at their destination, observing the city of Yatar situated afar, burrowing into the ground to head in the respective direction, making its next meal the Fornol Royal Family.