So it wasn't some imperial co-ruling thing after all—seems like the Queen really was just a tool for birthing the King.
Birth, birth, and more birth—everything from the regular ants to Neferpitou, who now followed the King, and even the King himself, had come from the Queen.
Once the Ant King was born, the Queen had served her purpose.
Pure breeding machine.
Turns out the Queen and the King really couldn't coexist.
The storage curse, meanwhile, was sobbing as he chomped down the supplies, glancing at the Ant King and weeping uncontrollably.
Clearly, he still remembered getting headshot by the King's tail.
Geez, it's all because this guy was too weak in the first place—that's why he got blasted.
And now Cyr had lost the mood to keep playing with the Ant King. Total buzzkill.
"Let's go. I'll come play with you again next time, Number One." Cyr waved at the Ant King, looking nothing like someone at odds with an enemy species.
If it were anyone else, the Ant King's tail would've already smashed their skull.
But... during their previous fight, the Ant King had tried hitting him many times—every attempt failed. He just couldn't land a hit.
Although Cyr's attacks hadn't caused much damage either—only the final blow really hurt—the whole exchange still proved how strong he was.
Strength came with privileges.
So the King let the boy's casual attitude slide.
However... "Number One... Is he referring to We?" the Ant King asked Neferpitou calmly.
"He was far too disrespectful, Your Majesty," Neferpitou lowered her head deeply, her tone full of displeasure.
In the blink of an eye, she was smacked across the face by the Ant King's tail.
"Silence," the King snapped.
No matter what, that human was still a strong one—and strength deserved respect. And what was Neferpitou in comparison? Just a weaker servant.
To the Ant King, all ants were nothing more than his servants.
Their lives rested in his hands. Doing anything for him was simply their duty.
"My apologies," Neferpitou said quietly, after being sent flying. She calmly twisted her skewed neck back into place. Her loyalty was self-evident.
But the King clearly didn't care.
…
Cyr left the palace—now belonging to the Ant King—feeling thoroughly refreshed. Even the sight of those low-level ants no longer stung his eyes as much.
After all, he'd just had an intense showdown with their King. It felt good. He'd definitely come back for more.
As for calling the Ant King "Number One," that was simply because he didn't know the guy's name. There was no way he'd refer to him as "King" or "Your Majesty" like the other ants.
So he gave him a number instead.
The Queen was 0, the Ant King was 1, the white-cat ant was 2, the blond ant was 3, the purple giant was 4, and the rest were just fodder-ant N. Perfectly reasonable.
Come to think of it, the Ant King was kind of cool… Might actually be a pretty badass pet to keep…
A flood of random, unfiltered thoughts drifted through Cyr's mind as he strolled leisurely through the forest.
The ants had their own unique communication network, and Cyr figured he'd probably made quite a name for himself among them.
Because… the moment any ant spotted him, their first reaction was to run far, far away.
Hard to imagine how infamous he was in the ant army—but he didn't care.
No weaklings getting in his way? That was a plus.
That was when he sensed a familiar presence up ahead, going on a killing spree.
The stronger ants had either followed the Ant King, wandered off, or actively avoided Kite from a distance. None dared try to stop him.
Apparently, this guy had just as terrible a rep among the ants as Cyr himself did.
Seeing Kite reminded Cyr of something important.
"Kite!" The white-haired boy suddenly appeared in front of the silver-haired man—just as a bullet whizzed past his face.
It had been aimed at his head, but he dodged it with a simple turn.
Anyone who'd killed before would know: jumping in front of someone mid-slaughter was extremely dangerous.
They were on high alert, murder in their veins, reacting to every shadow.
"…It's you." Kite recognized him and quietly put away his weapon.
"Don't go back to the human side for a while," the white-haired boy said cheerfully.
"Did something happen?" Kite's first instinct was to think. Had something gone wrong with the human camp?
"Nope. Just that, over there, you're already a dead man." Cyr grinned brightly.
Kite fell silent. His eyes—hidden by his hair—seemed to widen.
…What?
Where the hell did that news come from?
"Because Gon and Killua are training like mad right now to avenge you," Cyr said matter-of-factly.
"It's better for their growth if you're dead." As if he had only the boys' best interests in mind. Definitely not just feeding his own twisted sense of humor.
"…I see." Kite nodded.
He'd never been the overprotective type. Had there been no incident, he'd have brought Gon and Killua into the fight himself—real combat experience against the ants.
After hearing that this would help the boys in their training, Kite agreed.
But still—this couldn't be hidden from them forever. When the time was right, he'd have to show up in front of them again.
Otherwise, if they stayed lost in hatred for too long, it would eventually twist them. That wouldn't be good for the two young boys.
After finishing his chat with Kite, Cyr was about to head off—he'd finally remembered the person and the tiger he'd left behind.
But behind him, a distant voice called out in urgency.
"Human—!"
"The human over there—!"
"Please wait a moment—!"
Ants… actively trying to approach them? And they even sounded kind of… polite?
Wait, those two siblings were with them too?
Cyr cooperatively stopped walking and turned around to look.
What he saw was an ant that looked like… a goblin? Or a gray-skinned gremlin with wings, along with a bunch of other ants sporting features of tigers, leopards, owls, and such, all rushing over in a fluster.
Clearly, they weren't on the same level as the three powerful ants who followed the Ant King—the difference in strength was obvious.
No wonder the King only brought those three with him. Seemed reasonable.
Kite looked at the group, silently raising his weapon.
"What do you want?" Cyr asked, casually and without much vigilance.
Though the question was aimed at the ants, his gaze was focused on the siblings following behind them.
"The Queen is dying," Aimé said, smiling even as he spoke. "We tried everything to prolong her life, but it's not working."
They were practically unkillable and had strong healing powers, but they couldn't heal others.
The only reason they had managed to keep the Queen alive this long was because Aimé had split off a part of himself and placed it inside her to sustain her life. But that couldn't go on forever. The half-dead Queen was no longer worth observing, so after he withdrew that part of himself, her condition quickly worsened.
The other ants had begged him for a long time, but he refused to give up more of himself. Instead, he offered them another option—seek help from humans.
Neither Aimé, Eili, nor the Queen herself had ever imagined seeking help from humans—what the Queen had always referred to as food.
True non-humans just didn't think that way.
But the ants born from the Queen? They were different. All of them carried some degree of human genes within them. In fact, most of their bodies were human—otherwise, they wouldn't have had such human-like abilities.
So Aimé and Eili were genuinely curious to see what choice these ants would make when given the option.
The result… surprised them. The ants actually agreed. They were willing to seek help from humans—so much so that they were even prepared to surrender.
This development left the siblings dumbfounded.
Human genes… were truly terrifying things.
"…" Cyr looked like he wanted to say something but didn't.
So much for the Queen being just a tool, huh? That Ant King really wasn't doing a great job of winning his people's hearts…
No wonder he only had three followers. Seems like the rest of the ants still followed the Queen.
What kind of King doesn't even feel embarrassed by that…?
Still, Chimera Ants willing to surrender to humans for the Queen's sake? That was also… hard to comment on.
Not only had they inherited humanity's potential for growth, but also its darker instincts.
"Guess the Queen must've eaten too many low-quality humans back then…" Cyr mused thoughtfully.
Monsters that ended up having human emotions—now that was one hell of a fatal flaw.
"So you decided to surrender, huh…" He looked at the white flag in the ant's hand, feeling a sigh almost escape.
He'd really been looking forward to a full-blown battle between the Chimera Ant army and humanity. And now, that wasn't going to happen.
A fight where ten capable humans took on an entire ant army would've been something—straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. One against a thousand.
Yeah… guess that wasn't happening either.
Now the Hunter Association only had four enemies left to deal with—
The Ant King and his three followers.
But going by what he remembered of the future plot… the Ant King was going to fall for a human.
Which meant… not a single proper fight left.
Here's a joke: the reason the Chimera Ant army lost… was because of the human genes in their bodies.
Honestly, human DNA was starting to sound like a virus.
"…The humans are probably going to be thrilled," Cyr said aloud, though his expression didn't show much joy.
No more small fry to worry about—just focus on the boss fight. If this were a game, he'd be excited too.
After all, in boss battles, it's usually not the boss that takes the last bit of your health—it's some random mob wandering by.
"But coming to me won't help you," he added, casually pointing off into the distance—specifically in the direction of the cliff where Morel and Knov were stationed.
Only after pointing did he remember… he actually could call in the Hunter Association's medical unit if he wanted.
After all, the Hunter Exam Committee—aka the Hunters' logistics department—existed to serve Hunters.
The goblin-looking ant with white wings immediately flew off in a panic, waving the white flag in the direction Cyr had pointed.
"You're not…" Aimé and Aili both looked at the white-haired boy.
They remembered—he had a special ability. One that could heal people. Even bring them back from the dead.
The human who had been killed by Neferpitou had survived only because of him. So, technically, shouldn't he be able to easily heal the Queen?
"If I could, I would like to keep an ant as a pet…" the white-haired boy said, stroking his chin.
Nothing wrong with imagining it. Everyone's allowed to have daydreams.
But he was kind of torn between the Queen and the Ant King.
The King was more stylish, more powerful—definitely a cooler sight when summoned.
But the Queen could give birth. Raise her properly and maybe he could have a whole ant army under his command. That kind of spectacle was also pretty awesome.
Having both mother and son? Eh… the situation didn't really allow for that.
"Such a dilemma," he sighed dramatically.
"You want… to keep a Chimera Ant as a pet?" Eili adjusted her glasses, speechless.
This was a human? Always seeing things as either pets… or food?
"Is that a problem?" the white-haired boy raised a brow, glancing at the ants in front of him—silent, timid, and clearly afraid to speak up.
"If you raise the white flag, you better be ready to throw away your pride and kneel before the victor," he sneered.
The losers had only one role—to compromise, pay reparations, give up their land. Just meat on the chopping block. Wasn't that obvious?
°°°
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