An ant worker made her rounds through the Flower Forest. She inspected an aphid that was growing old and decided to kill it to make room for younger aphids. Her mandibles snapped the aphid's head off. But while attending to her task, the ant didn't notice the monster that fell from the flower. Two giant scythes grabbed and crushed the little ant just like she had done to the aphid. Zack prayed to his kill before retreating back into the flowers above.
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Name: Zack Huntt
Species: Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus)
Age: 1 Month, 7 Days old
Lifespan: 2~ Year
Lifecycle: Nymph
Size: 21 mm
Prayers Collected: 33 Prayers
Biomass Collected: 12 Biomass
Abilities: Flowery Aroma, Mimic Flora
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Zack examined his attributes panel as he ate. The trek back to the Flower Forest was challenging, but his new ability to mimic flora improved his stealth greatly. Without it, Zack bet that he would've died on the way back. The bright white and pink carapace on his body was just that eye-catching. Luckily, mimicking mushrooms saved him on multiple occasions.
Upon his return to the Flower Forest, Zack had scouted the situation. It was both good and bad. Firstly, ants plagued the Flower Forest at every corner. They controlled the aphid population and even used a few of them as bait for bigger prey. The level of organization and efficiency wasn't unheard to Zack, but seeing it in person was shocking. Thousands of ants a quarter of his current size each functioning like a cog in a machine wasn't easy to acknowledge. But, Zack had no choice but to accept the truth. Doing otherwise would be underestimating his enemy which was a death wish according to those wildlife documentaries.
On the bright side, the thousands of ants allowed him to collect Biomass to his heart's content. The flowers also functioned even better than he imagined. Birds, bees, and any other flying insect didn't notice Zack at all. Zack's carapace just blended way too seamlessly into the environment. He felt like an expert assassin hunting down multiple targets.
However, an issue has cropped up. It wasn't related to any immediate danger, but instead his attributes panel. Zack suspected the Biomass points increased in relation to his size. Therefore, the bigger he got, the bigger creatures he would have to eat. Zack hadn't noticed it at first, but when his Prayers were increasing much faster compared to his Biomass it became obvious. The ants he hunted were just too small and Zack had yet to run into any of the bigger varieties. Although only a speculation, Zack collected more data as he hunted further confirming his guess.
Zack stopped his thoughts as he noticed a convoy of larger ants below him. A majority of them were battered and beaten but carried a golden liquid on their carapace. They were covered in honey, Zack's stomach hungered at the thought of the sweet treat. Insects were alright as a meal, crunchy and nutritional. But having them over and over again for an entire month left Zack wanting something new. Without hesitating Zack jumped down from the flower above directly blocking the convoy's path.
The brightly colored object immediately caught the ant convoy's attention causing them to halt. The larger ants stepped forward and inspected the suspicious object. Zack identified the larger ants as Soldier ants, they were roughly 10-15 mm. The Soldier ants were the fewest in the convoy with only five on duty and they were injured the most. Zack guessed they sacrificed most of their numbers to collect the honey. The moment the antennae of a soldier ant tapped his carapace, he struck. Zack's scythes crushed the first ant with brutal efficiency. The other ants were too stunned to react until Zack had already eliminated a second ant.
The three remaining soldier ants were the first to counterattack. Zack jumped away and evaded their attacks as he latched onto a flower stem. The soldier ants chased him up the stem, and then Zack vanished. The soldier ants scanned the stem for the enemy, but Zack was gone. At least that was until they picked up the pheromones of an ambush. An enemy had struck the weaker ants that remained behind. The three hurriedly climbed down the flower stem, but by then more than half a dozen of the convoy had died. Zack reaped the lives of the little ants that barely reached the height of his abdomen. It was like slaughtering a group of midgets, it was effortless. The half that was left tried to restrain Zack with their mandibles. Surprisingly they succeeded to some degree, but that didn't matter.
Zack had long noticed the return of the three soldier ants and held his claws at the ready. The little ants binding him weren't able to even pierce his carapace. The additional armor granted by size wasn't that easy to overcome, let alone these measly numbers. Zack waited till the three soldier ants were within reach when he activated his ability, Mimic Flora. For just a second, the soldier ants were distracted. Their enemy had been replaced by a whitish-pink flower. That second of confusion was all Zack needed, his scythes slapped a soldier ant away and grabbed another. Zack's mandibles tore the soldier ant's neck clean off.
The soldier ant still remaining didn't wait and struck at Zack, only to have the body of his dead comrade flung at him. The soldier ant instinctively bit the dead soldier ant. The opening wasn't missed as a pair of sickles ripped the soldier ant's head. Turning to the last soldier ant, Zack didn't use any tactics. One-on-one, the sheer size difference was a gap unsurmountable that the soldier ant could never hope to surpass. A swift strike and the enemies that posed an actual threat had been vanquished. All that remained was cleaning up the cannon fodder.
Zack bit into the honey-covered soldier ant as he planned his retribution against the ants. While he could continue taking out the droves of ants that populate the Flower Forest, in the end, more would take their place. Ant Queens lay hundreds if not more eggs a day, so the continued slaughter would be redundant. Not to mention, the gains would be useless. Using the soldier ants and regular ants, Zack confirmed prey size affected Biomass gains. Whether his size was also a variable in the calculation was yet to be determined.
Zack re-examined his reasons for killing the ants. Other than for the sake of revenge, the Flower Forest would never truly be safe. One day, a war band of a thousand ants might come through the Flower Forest. They would cut off his retreat path and his mimicry ability wasn't infallible. During movement, enemies would realize his true form and attack. The consequence of that happening while trying to escape a mad mob of ants was death. If only all the ants could just die, Zack mentally huffed. His thoughts paused, maybe it was possible. Not kill all the ants that is, their numbers eclipsed Zack's capabilities. However, killing one ant that was responsible for it all might be doable. A plan slowly formed in his mind, assassinate the Ant Queen.