Laws of the Insect Hive - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Shava’s Oath

System followed the temporary nest’s tunnels and advanced. As he got closer to the nest’s exit, he smelled the scent of many worker ants and also heard the sounds of those worker ants moving around.

There seemed to be many worker ants patrolling near his nest.

“Is it possible that Shava had commanded them?”

As System crawled out of the hole, almost 100 ants nearby instantly gathered toward him.

The commanding level of the soldier ant, Shava, had no obvious increase as those normal ants still viewed him as their enemy. Thus, they would attack him without hesitation after seeing him.

System did not jump. Instead, he gently opened his carapace, which was filled with complicated patterns, and just like a feather that was blown into the air by the wind, he flew.

After the third molting, System’s body and wings had undergone a qualitative change. His body was now lighter while his wings were more agile.

However, System was unclear about the way the structure of his wings had changed. Nevertheless, this change was for the better, as System’s wings were much easier to use now, and he could effortlessly control his body to hover in the air.

In the past, after System had evolved into an adult grasshopper, one had heard loud, rustling sounds whenever System had flapped his wings. Now, the sound his wings produced while flying was negligible.

System gently flapped his wings and flew above the worker ants. The ants did not chase the flying System and continued using their antennae to patrol the surroundings of System’s nest.

After he started flying, System stopped giving attention to those worker ants, as he had suddenly locked on Shava’s scent.

System followed the unique scent in the air, and soon, he encountered Shava, who was beside a small seedling a few meters away.

…

In the past two days, Shava’s injuries had already clotted into off-white scabs.

To System’s disappointment, other than the broken antenna on Shava’s head, which seemed to be growing back, there was no sign of her severed limbs regenerating.

‘Looks like Shava does not have the [Limb Regeneration] ability like me.’

System did not choose to immediately disturb Shava. Instead, he observed her from afar. Although they were a few meters apart, System could see Shava’s every action easily and clearly due to his evolved vision.

He had a feeling that his eyes were sharper than an eagle’s now, and he could even vaguely see a dead leaf mixed with the clouds in the sky.

System turned his insect head and concentrated on observing the soldier ant in the distance.

Shava, whose remaining limb was her left foreleg, was more agile than two days ago when she had been gravely injured. At the same time, her abdomen seemed to have become her second limb.

Shava used her left foreleg and her abdomen to move about on the ground in a jump-like manner. Then, she opened her huge mandibles and bit at the small seedling vigorously.

After biting the seedling, Shava used her left foreleg to check the cut that had appeared on the seedling’s trunk before she gradually moved back to her original spot. Afterward, she charged toward the seedling’s stem to bite it once again.

System noticed, at least, tens of cuts on the trunk. Shava should have practiced on that seedling for quite a long period.

“Is it possible that she is doing that because of the images I showed her?”

System recalled the message that he had sent to Shava before he had completed his molting and those images of knights that he had imagined.

He had imagined a knight who was always practicing his slashes against the wooden stake while holding an iron sword.

It might be because of those images that Shava had started to train like a knight. Although she did not have a sword, Shava had a pair of huge mandibles. Thus, she had started practicing with the seedling as her biting target.

System did not think that the human knights’ practicing methods would be suitable for insects, not to mention that those images were but a figment of his imagination.

In System’s mind, rather than spending time to train like this, Shava might spend the time to eat more food to allow her physique to improve. That was the correct path for insects to grow.

Shava had already lost five of her limbs, and the way she trained would not result in anything. Thus, System decided to stop Shava’s training session.

However, when he saw Shava practicing how to bite another two times, System came to an abrupt stop. It seemed as if a flash of blue light had appeared in System’s dark green compound eyes.

System opened the database in [Tools Menu] and carefully compared three of Shava’s biting actions. After analyzing, he realized that what he had felt just now was correct.

Shava was improving!

Each time she bit the seedling, she would reflect and slightly adjust her actions the next time she bit it.

System was unable to quantify Shava’s biting strength, but her charging speed towards the seedling the last two times increased slightly each time.

“Is it a coincidence? Or is it the potential of insects? Or is it that Shava is naturally gifted?”

System stopped and silently observed Shava’s training and used [Tools Menu] to record it.

In an hour, Shava had bitten the seedling 131 times. Shava’s charging speed had been faster than previously 117 times.

Thus, in conclusion, Shava’s charging speed increased by nearly 1/4 in an hour compared to her speed in the beginning.

Shava continued attacking the cut-ridden, two-centimeter-thick seedling of a woody plant before she finally bit it off completely.

Although System did not want to admit it, training like humans was indeed effective towards Shava. It looked like the effects were quite good.

…

After splitting the plant in two, it seemed as if Shava had consumed too much of her physical energy. Hence, she started devouring the food piled up beside her.

System saw that, so he flew down from the tree branch above and used [Spirit Connection] on Shava.

Shava was stunned for a moment before she expressed a doubtful emotion. However, that emotion instantly changed to joy as she excitedly crawled in front of System with her current incomplete body.

System noticed that Shava had pushed out the stinger in her abdomen, so he was puzzled.

Was it possible that Shava was going to use her stinger to attack him?

It was simply impossible!

Suddenly, System witnessed Shava turning her body and stabbing her stinger into the soil—she actually used the stinger to stand upright!

Shava resembled a human, as she placed her left foreleg on her chest, but her pose was hilarious.

System’s mandibles could not help but twitch as he felt a little awkward. He could not figure out why Shava had assumed such a weird posture.

System asked, “What are you doing now?”

“Swearing an oath!”

Shava’s message was filled with pride.

“An oath? Erm… what you are doing now? Is it the knight’s oath?”

“Yes!” replied Shava excitedly.

System’s mandibles could not help but twitch yet again. He looked at Shava’s embarrassing stance and felt that transmitting to her the knights’ images was a mistake.

What the heck had that normal ant turned into? Why was she messing around and being so extra!?