Laws of the Insect Hive - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Surprise Attack on Ants

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

‘Jump, catch, jump, and jump again!’

In less than a second, System caught a black ant with ease and leaped off.

In terms of speed, power, and size, System was way better than ants. It would be easy for him to hunt unless he was stupid enough to choose to fight the entire ant army head-on. Although ants were alert with their surroundings, they rarely ran away.

When faced with danger, the first thing that came across an ant’s mind was to attack.

The capturing process was easy for System, but he was unfamiliar with the rest.

System held the ant with four of his legs, but the ant was struggling hard. It bit at the end of one of System’s legs.

In fact, even if System let the ant go, the ant would not stop biting him. Thus, they caught each other at the same time.

System could feel the sensation of the ant’s formic acid as his exoskeleton was breaking slightly.

After becoming an adult insect, System’s exoskeleton was much harder. With [Limb Regeneration] and [Acid Resistance], there was not much damage dealt to System.

System raised his gigantic mandibles, which were about the size of the ant’s head, and beheaded the ant. However, the ant’s mandibles maintained a firm grip on System’s leg even though it was dead now.

System had to use [Corrosive Slime] and burn the ant’s head and mandibles in order to prevent further damage from spreading on his body.

After eating the ant’s crunchy head, System jumped toward the puddle of water where the ants were fighting with the tadpole.

Unlike other insect hunters, System had a more efficient way of consuming food. He would kill lots of ants first before consuming all of them together.

The ants had low intelligence and poor vision. The sudden appearance of System caused panic in the group momentarily, but none of them sensed any danger and continued fighting with the tadpole.

System managed to catch the second ant with the same method.

This time, the ants were more alert, and two of them trailed after System for half a meter.

However, just half a meter was nothing to System. He jumped, and the ants were nowhere to be seen.

System soon realized why the ants gave chase this time. His wound exuded an acidic odor. Although ants had poor vision, they had a keen sense of smell.

System was much more careful with his prey this time. He pushed the head of the ant away with his front legs. Although the ant’s mandibles were scratching on System’s forelegs, it only wanted to attack System’s main body.

In the end, System beheaded the second ant without receiving any damage.

System was thinking about how to get rid of the smell while chewing on the ant’s head. There was plenty of water in the forest, so there must be some effect in washing off the smell with water. However, System had a better idea.

His [Corrosive Slime] was a derived skill of [Fishy Slime], and some of its stinky smell remained. System felt that it was enough to cover the ants’ acidic odor. Thus, he sprayed some slime on his wound and launched another attack on the ants.

…

Just like what System expected, his slime covered the smell beautifully, and the ants did not bother to chase after him.

They were alarmed for a second but went back facing the tadpole immediately.

Although System was clever enough to use the [Corrosive Slime] to cover up the smell, he made another mistake with the third ant. He accidentally let go of the ant, and his foreleg was bitten by the ant once again.

System started to get the hang of it slowly.

The ants successfully caught the tadpole by noon, while System had caught nine ants. He had not suffered any more damage after the third one and could now predict how the ants would attack.

They were only driven by instinct, and that made them predictable. They would not let go after they got to bite their target.

With these traits, System came up with his special way of hunting. During the fifth ant’s capture, System had a grass straw in his mouth, which he swiftly delivered to the ant after catching it.

The ant bit on the straw firmly and was not a threat to System anymore.

System was so familiar with hunting that he did not even need to use the grass straw from the eighth ant onward.

…

System brought the ants’ carcasses to a low tree trunk and started eating.

He could feel that his [Molting Growth] was absorbing some information about the ants. System’s [Molting Growth] would reach Level 13 if he kept killing different insects.

Not only his [Molting Growth], but System also felt that his [Corrosive Slime] became slightly stronger after consuming the ants’ secretion glands. It would probably advance by the time he reached Level 9.

Upon checking the EXP bar on [Self-Information Generation], System believed that he could gain another quarter level by eating all the dead bodies.

The nine ants and the half-eaten cricket were equivalent to the nutrients provided by a pupa, meaning that 15 ants were equivalent to an insect egg.

It was not the best spot for System, but he desperately wanted to level up his [Molting Growth]. He could camp at the pupae site, and the outcome would be better.

System planned for the next step while chewing on his food. He could hunt more ants, but that would be less effective for his [Molting Growth]. He had to kill more types of animals.

For now, he had to consume these ants swiftly.

System thought of a way to deal with a spider, one of the insects that he could not solo. He could use the wooden stick and collect the acid produced by the ants. He could then bait the ants with the acid and lure them into attacking the spider.

However, it was a very tedious job. Usually, spiders stayed at a high ground that was hard for ants to attack. Even if he managed to drop the spider into the ants’ crowd, there was no guarantee that the spider would lose the fight.

Not all ant colonies had millions of soldiers ready for war at all times.

It would be a different story altogether if they kept the spider and ants in a jar—the spider would lose because it had no place to run.

…

The sun would set in another two hours and System had just finished his meal.

System encountered more ants on his way again…