Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 55: What’s a Predator?

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The rest of the team was too exhausted and busy collecting minor beast cores from the scattered bodies. Even Captain Darius, with all his cunning, appeared preoccupied with counting the star cores. That was ideal. The hush after the storm was perfect for covering up Kai’s secret feast on the alpha’s essence.

Gradually, the clearing fell into a lull. Darius reasserted command with a snarl, ordering everyone to gather near the big oak at the clearing’s edge. By now, the day’s savage battles had taxed them all beyond measure.

Gashes, bruises, and mental strain weighed heavily on every ant’s shoulders. In swift compliance, the team deposited the beast cores, including the alpha’s massive, shimmering trophy, into a single rough container pouch. Darius oversaw everything with an air of quiet menace, counting each core with a suspicious glint in his eyes. But no matter how he started, he found no direct reason to accuse Kai of any wrongdoing.

Darius thinks, "Mark my words, worthless insect, I will find a way to end you." Those dark musings radiated from the captain in an unspoken tension. He said nothing, however, merely gave a curt nod to signal that the tally was complete.

The day had been too cruel for them to press on at full pace. With a reluctant acceptance, Darius declared they would search for a secure place to camp. The battered group trudged west, seeking higher ground in a more sheltered patch of forest. The alpha’s body, half-sunken in its own gore, was left behind, now a silent testament to the savage reality of the wilderness.

Night fell with a swift finality, and the expedition settled into a small, hilly clearing that seemed defensible enough. Thorny shrubs and the natural curve of the hillside provided partial cover, and a lone, twisted tree gave them a vantage point. The forest’s canopy was thick, yet a few slender beams of moonlight slipped through, illuminating the battered ants.

The team collapsed around a small, watchful fire. Though the day had cost them deeply in strength and nerve, each ant felt a measure of relief that they had survived. The flames cast flickering shadows over their battered exoskeletons, each line a scar from recent struggles. Soft words and hushed curses mingled in the night air, weaving a tapestry of exhaustion and a quiet determination to continue.

Kai, nursing a cluster of bruises where the alpha had struck him, sat a short distance away from the main circle. His senses still hummed with the surge from devouring the alpha’s essence. Yet a subtle weight gnawed at him: the knowledge that Captain Darius’s malice had not been extinguished by the day’s battles. If anything, that hatred had likely intensified.

He stared pensively into the fire, his mind drifting over the day’s close calls, moments of near-death experience, the cunning traps laid by Darius’s saboteurs, the alpha’s monstrous final roar. Now, with the quiet crackle of embers and the faint chirping of nocturnal insects, he was keenly aware that the true quest had only begun.

"Kai," Lomar said softly, trudging over to where he sat. The older warrior’s voice carried fatigue but also a note of genuine concern. "You’ve fought bravely. We all have. But you, especially, almost took on that alpha. I saw how you held your ground. I think you could defeat the alpha without our help."

Kai offered a silent nod, mustering a subdued smile. His mind flickered back to the cunning way he had consumed the alpha’s heart, an action that had not merely sated his thirst for aura but also brought him precious stat points. The memory was a secret well of pride.

The hush around them prompted Kai to voice a question that had lingered in the back of his mind since the day’s frantic skirmishes. Glancing at Lomar, he asked softly, "What truly is the difference between a beast and a predator? I can’t help but notice that some beasts fight in packs, but others... it’s like they stand above everything else."

A small hush fell over the ring of ants, for Lomar’s battle-scarred exoskeleton and measured tone often commanded attention in such quiet moments. He settled onto a flat stone near the fire and began to speak:

"A beast is a wild thing, strong and dangerous in its own right. But a predator... Well, that is the pinnacle of a species’ ferocity. A predator cares nothing for alliances or hesitation; it kills instinctively, marking its territory with blood and terror. If you wander into a predator’s domain, it attacks without any second thoughts. Among all the monstrous foes we face in this wilderness, the predator is the one who hunts without mercy. They are the strongest rulers of this world."

Kai listens to Lomar words with awe, "Seriously, A predator is that strong? They are called the rulers of this world." He asked with a curious voice.

Lomar replied, "Let me put it in simple words, A three-star predator can easily topple entire squads of three to five people of the same star rank. Suppose, if we encounter a three star rank predator now, Even if we stand united, there’s only a fragile thirty to twenty percent chance of overcoming it, if luck remains on our side."

Kai felt a chill creep along his exoskeleton at the mention of a three-star predator. Memories of the two three star predator fights flickered in his mind. That beast had teetered on the edge of predator status, a monster that nearly wiped them out. He also remembers the vice captain Vex betrayal and how he benefited from the two predator battles.

He thinks, "If not for that small twist of fate... if they didn’t fight each other, or if I didn’t hide from them... I might have been a corpse by now."

He exhaled a breath, recalling how the two star alpha had once more proven that the line between a monstrous beast and a true predator was dangerously thin. "So it’s always this difficult," he admitted, voice edged with a mixture of awe and a simmering, fierce determination.