Just as Battlesight had shown Ackster, the ant general's two upper fists smashed into his head and knocked it back until the back of it was parallel to the ground. Ackster was pretty sure he heard and felt his neck crack in ways even a chiropractor wouldn't manage to fish out of him.
But that wasn't the only thing he felt.
Ackster felt his fist punch through the cracked chest plate shielding the ant general's insides.
After eating so many soldier ants, Ackster had managed to identify several important organs. Of course, the general was a more advanced and far superior version, but if the outer appearance was any clue, it was still based on the same base model, just made with better materials.
That meant its composition of organs should be about the same, even if it were more humanoid than the soldier ants since it had one set of legs instead of two and two sets of arms instead of one.
The soldier ants had one heart in their humanoid chests and one in their ant halves. But the general didn't have an ant-like lower body. It had vaguely human-like legs. And while there might be place for a heart there, Ackster wasn't so sure it would be efficient.
But even after smashing his fist into the general's chest and caving it in, Ackster only found one heart right in the center. He unhesitatingly crushed it as he ripped it out and hastily threw it in his mouth as soon as he stepped back.
Ackster's neck stung with pain. It was nothing compared to the secret technique. But damage to his neck wasn't necessarily something he could just endure since he would be physically incapable of moving if his spine or spinal cord snapped. He didn't think even Limit Breaker would be capable of breaking through that physiological limit of his, at least not at the skill's current rank.
Fortunately, it didn't seem to be that bad. Ackster's balance was a little askew. But he had experienced worse vertigo when he ate poison during his Poison Resistance training. This much was nothing, especially since it had won him the trade. A little instability in exchange for destroying and eating the ant general's heart was undeniably an exchange in Ackster's favor.
While savoring the tube that was the ant's heart, Ackster looked at the general. Since it had been so different from human hearts, he wasn't sure it was a heart at first. But after conducting countless dissections over the last couple of weeks, he had indeed confirmed some of the organs, one of which was the heart.
So, he was sure he had pulled out the ant general's heart.
However, the ant general was still standing. It was clutching its broken and leaking chest. The red, grey, and green bodily fluids flowed out in a slow but steady stream. The wound was severe, possibly too severe for the ant general to live much longer. But it still didn't fall and instead looked at Ackster with a primal fury.
"I guess you have another then."
The ant general tilted its head back and unleashed a screeching roar, accompanied by a string of clicks, before looking at Ackster again.
Ackster didn't know if it was a simple warcry or something else, but it was loud, especially in the enclosed underground cavern.
'Shit.'
Even if the ant queen slept soundly, there was no way she would stay slumbering when the ant general cried out loudly enough to wake even the dead.
Ackster had no idea where the ant general's second heart might be located. But there was no time or no need to target just its heart. Now that it had lost one and incurred a mortal wound, Ackster just needed a little more to finish off the ant general.
So, before the general's roar could wake up the queen or attract all the other ants stationed within and outside the queen's room, Ackster dashed forward at full speed using Limit Breaker and Sprint.
Since he couldn't rummage through the ant general's body in search of its second heart, keeping it alive, Ackster decided to take revenge for the general almost blowing his head off. He aimed for the ant general's head. With a heart and a head gone, the ant general would be doomed, even if it still had a heart left.
Ackster's fist snaked through the general's arms, raised feebly in defense. After losing its heart, the meager defense the ant general could put up wasn't enough to defend against the pumped-up Ackster. But the ant general, despite its intact wings, didn't even try to flee. It embraced its fate, satisfied at having let out its call before succumbing to a greater foe than itself.
It was a shame it hadn't been able to kill this sustenance for its queen. But his sacrifice would allow the queen to grow stronger using Ackster. In the first place, the ant general lived and died for the queen, just like any other of her soldiers.
The ant general used all its arms to grab hold of Ackster's hand, arm, and body in exchange for getting hit in the face. The ant general's arms locked down Ackster, even in death.
Ackster fist hit and smashed the ant general's fist without much trouble. But after that, it didn't move. The ant general dug its clawed feet into the ground and leveraged a weight Ackster hadn't noticed these last few weeks due to the general's agility.
'Shit.'
Ackster barely had time to notice just how dire his situation was before one of the ant queen's forelegs torpedoed him into the wall with enough force to send cracks all the way to the ceiling and set off a small shower of rubble.
The ant queen had woken up, immediately assessed the situation, and attacked Ackster with all her might. And, thanks to her general, she had landed a devastating blow.
It wasn't for naught since the general was gone. But even without knowing exactly how injured he was, Ackster could tell that he was going to be in for a tough battle now that the queen had awoken.