Magical constructs, in other words, contraptions made by magic. In this world, every living creature is basically a magical construct created by the almighty Creator. The only difference was that the Creator blessed us with the gift of life and its various traits, causing this world to be filled with a complex plethora of variations.
—From <<A tattered scroll from the ancient times>>
Receiving an outcome like that was just shocking…at this point, there was no way anyone was going to convince me that the Black Blood Ants and the mysterious golem creators had no relation, not even if they were to beat me to death.
With the danger gone, the Black Blood Queen Ant slumped weakly to the floor in relief. Just as the golem had lumbered off ten seconds in the direction from which he came, the Black Blood Queen Ant’s eyes suddenly lit up as if something had just occurred to her. She quickly climbed to her feet and crawled after that golem. Circling around to the front of the golem, she started waving her limbs about while trying to say something to it.
However, the golem ignored her and merely continued onwards. The queen ant, unwilling to let it go like that, pleaded with it desperately.
“Master, what’s that bug doing?” Asked a puzzled Big 4 who had just returned from his mission. For a simple devil like Big 4, he naturally couldn’t understand what that bug was plotting. I, however, was different. Even without understanding her words, I knew exactly what she was planning.
“That bug was trying to get that golem to attack us.”
“What! That d*mned bug, I’m going to squish it to death!” Big 4 immediately roared like a challenged lion. “I swear I’ll tear that ugly bug to pieces!”
“There’s no need for pieces but how about you go ahead for now, there’s something I want to test out.” I had a bold theory in mind that, if unsuccessful, would place Big 4 in great danger. But without his help, there was no way I could verify it either. Thus, with trepidation in my heart, I had no choice but to ask this of Big 4: “From the looks of things, that golem probably doesn’t understand ant speak. I need you to follow that queen ant for now but don’t stay too close to her or stray too far either. I wish to know if those golems will try to attack you if you are near a queen ant.”
“I’ll get right on it, Master.” Big 4 rushed off without any hesitation in spite of the fact that he might potentially have to face up against an indomitable golem. If I had to grade his loyalty right now, it would definitely be a 100/100.
Given the relationship between the ants and the golem creator, what if, and that was a big if, being near the queen ant alone was enough to prevent the golem from attacking Big 4? That was exactly what I wanted to find out now!
As a magical construct, it should have been created with some degree of language skills. But because it was made for combat and not for utility purposes, its intelligence shouldn’t have been that high, at least not to the extent where it would understand a wide variety of languages…that was probably why it ignored the queen ant.
No matter how much the queen ant cried, the golem refused to listen to it. Even after noticing Big 4 following the queen ant, it merely ignored him and continued lumbering forward. Most likely it had assumed that the queen ant was trying to speak up for Big 4…in short, it assumed that the queen ant’s weird chittering was about Big 4 not being an intruder. While the golem wasn’t able to understand ant speak, it could still recognize the frantic actions of that ant.
Seeing that, I heaved a sigh of relief. Since the golem didn’t attack, it meant that as long as he followed behind the queen ant, the golem would assume that we were a part of her gang.
And yet just as I thought that everything was proceeding according to plan, the script suddenly took a change.
The queen ant, probably realizing that the golem didn’t understand ant speak, decided to change to the Devil’s tongue. In what had to be the most awkward and inferior use of the language ever, the queen ant uttered her cry for help.
“Save me…they…bandits…”
While her devil speak wasn’t all that good, the golem still managed to catch a few key terms. It immediately halted its tracks and turned around to look at the Black Blood Queen Ant. ‘Was it waiting for her to finish speaking?’
I had known that the Black Blood Queen Ant was still stubbornly trying to resist us but never would I have imagined that her goldfish level of intelligence was actually able to come back and bite us in the rear… ‘That golem…is it planning to help the queen ant? What a mess! Also, is that queen ant blind or something? Did she ever consider the vast difference in strength between us and the golem? For her to act so rashly because of a mere glimmer of hope…how reckless.’
Because of my mistake, the queen ant ended up saying what shouldn’t have been said. More importantly, that golem actually understood her…
Standing right before her, Big 4 had also noticed the strangeness in the scene right now. He hurriedly rushed forward and gave the queen ant a thump on the head to prevent her from talking. However, he was too late. Upon seeing him hit her, the golem immediately struck out at Big 4.
“Blast it, that unobedient bug! Nola, it’s up to you now.”
Already in an alert stance, Nola leaped at the golem like a bolt out of the blue. Her powerful limbs bent down ,causing the earth itself to crack and tremble from the sheer force she applied, before springing forth like an unstoppable bullet!
“Don’t kill that bug, I still need her!” Worried that Nola might just squish that bug out of anger, I hurriedly called out after her rapidly shrinking figure. At the same time, I yelled out to No.3 and Big 4: “BIg 4, No.3, go drag that bug back here, quick, and don’t kill it…”
“We’ll help as well.” Ever the sharp one, Sinmosa immediately offered to help with her husband while simultaneously handing over Cinderel to me.
In order to prevent the queen ant from dying, all our available forces had basically sortied by now. Without a doubt, she was a crucial key to our future plans, at least that was what I thought.
There was one simple reason why I valued her life so much…because her existence was indispensable. Based on my earlier observation, I was able to conclude that the golems won’t attack her and that by staying next to her, we should be safe as well, assuming that ugly bug didn’t try and turn on us of course.
From the way that golem acted so swiftly and decisively, it was obvious that the queen ants were seen as important targets to be protected. To the golem creators, these bugs were probably a valuable resource, though exactly how valuable she actually was was still a mystery.
With the combined might of No.3, Big 4, Sinmosa and Sasani, the bug was quickly, and forcefully, dragged back to a safe spot.
At the start, that bug tried to escape, making use of that golem to distract us. She planned to do so by digging a hole but unfortunately for her, No.3 and Big 4 had already flown to her side by the time she only managed to dig a tunnel the size of half her body. By using their brute strength, they forcefully pulled her out of the newly dug hole just as Sinmosa and Sasani arrived.
With the four of them guarding her, there was no way she could escape, or die for that matter. As for Nola, her fight with the golem probably wasn’t going to end anytime soon, given how heated it had become. For now, the situation seemed rather optimistic for us…on the surface anyway.
The ants, whom the queen ant had deliver tribute to us up till now, were still quietly carting up their poop from underground. Even after we started dragging away their queen ant, none of them even reacted in the least bit.
For a species like them, such indifference was shocking to me. After all, the queen ant had to be their most important member. As long as the queen ant survived, their hive would survive. Without her, they were literally nothing.
That was why after I had No.3 restrain that queen ant, I immediately turned my attention to the busy ants. As before, they were still minding their business, with no sign of having reacted to our actions at all. It had struck me as strange then but I merely brushed it off, assuming that it was simply because the queen knew that there was no way to resist us so she had them do nothing instead.
Now however, I finally understood what she was planning…
At my side was only Mo Na and Cinderel, these two kids. Nola was busy with the golem. No.3, Big 4, Sinmosa and Sasani were all busy with restraining the queen ant. In short, I was at my weakest right now.
Thus, something happened. The ants who had been indifferent up till now, suddenly took action. Each of them abandoned the poop rock they were carting up to the surface and swiftly swarmed towards me like an army that had its sights on a target…unfortunately for us, we were said targets.
“Mama, the ants are coming!” It didn’t take long before Mo Na discovered the strange actions of the ants and yelled out. Not intending to hide their hostility at all, they charged towards us without a care, especially those winged ants who rushed us like a horde of angry wasps.
