A full week has passed since the Ant Queen's assassination. Zack had molted twice since then. The first molting was completed immediately after the assassination. The second had just finished a few seconds ago.
Zack stretched out his body, and the shed exoskeleton lay on the ground. His new carapace had tiny chips and cuts. The fights within the ant mound were just that intense. Even after two molts the scars of battle still lingered. Zack would argue that the results were worth it though. Spying on the ants from atop a flower their numbers have dwindled significantly. Originally the Flower Forest was overrun with ants, which killed off any competition. But, now a variety of creatures inhabited this domain.
Zack's stomach growled when he saw a small convoy of ants. The group was mostly made up of soldier ants. Before the assassination, a group of this size would've been a little troublesome, but now it was nothing to him.
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Name: Zack Huntt
Species: Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus)
Age: 1 Month, 14 Days old
Lifespan: 2~ Year
Lifecycle: Nymph
Size: 37 mm
Prayers Collected: 94 Prayers
Biomass Collected: 51 Biomass
Abilities: Flowery Aroma, Mimic Flora
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Zack fell from the flower's petals and speared an unsuspecting ant with his claws. They became alert and reacted to the unexpected enemy with haste. A dozen soldier ants charged at Zack, but he didn't even need to use any tactics. Simply with. the size and weight of his newly grown body, Zack bulldozed through the ants. They were helpless, his carapace was too thick for their mandibles to pierce. The only way was if they got a clean hit, but Zack was never stationary. By the time he finished, mangled ant corpses were strewn all over the battlefield.
Zack chewed his slain foes as he prayed. The size increase was amazing with only one downside. The food requirements were horrific. Zack needed to eat more than one ant just for a single point of Biomass. This led to his uneven collection of resources. The Prayers resource had now passed the hundredth mark soon after eliminating the convoy. However, Zack didn't mind. It never hurts to have too many resources.
At that thought Zack reminisced of the games he played. The hoarding-like mindset he had was never satiated. The ground quaked as Zack was lost in his thoughts, but it was too late. A frog leaped past a flower stalk, some distance away from Zack. However, now caught in the frog's line of sight he stilled. The frog was roughly a third larger at about 60 mm in size. Thankfully, Zack had experience and knew how to deal with frogs. Zack enabled Mimic Flora and waited.
A frog's vision heavily relied on motion and in every encounter he used that to his advantage. This time it was no different for Zack. A frog's main weapon is their tongue, it shoots out of their mouth at blitzing speeds. Snatching any prey they detected and then crushed them within their jaws. The speed and force of the tongue were so powerful, that prey hit by it were stunned upon contact. Their demise was guaranteed after that point. Zack didn't wish to be the frog's meal of the day, so he watched and waited.
The frog oblivious to Zack, jumped once more. The frog crashed right beside what it believed to be a whiteish-pink mushroom. It took all Zack had to remain still. The damn frog had almost landed right on him! It was Zack's instincts that told him not to move. Zack didn't possess these newly found instincts before his reincarnation. Instead, these instincts were actually developed as a mantis. Forged through multiple battles, they finally reached a level of utility unseen before. Even now, they were still being sharpened.
Thanks to his newly acquired battle instincts, Zack had kept hidden. The frog was blissfully unaware of the predator beside it, a perfect opportunity. While the frog may dwarf Zack in size, mantises were known to occasionally hunt up the food chain. Additionally, given the way they were situated, the frog was at a disadvantage. The frog had its mouth placed away from Zack, and its eyes were directly in front of Zack's forelimbs. He didn't even hesitate.
Two claws extended from the mushroom-mimicking mantis and ripped out one of the frog's eyes. The frog hurt and confused jumped away, but it couldn't find the attacking mushroom at all. A sharp pain came from its snout, Zack had hitched a ride on the frog's back! Climbing the backs of bigger creatures was a method Zack had developed to make the most out of his smaller stature. Using the spikes on his forelimbs, Zack sawed at the frog's snout until it was a bleeding mess. Blood, the crimson liquid that kept many animals alive. Upon seeing it, Zack had worried his fighting abilities would diminish by giving him second thoughts. But that wasn't the case, even though it left him feeling a little uneasy. Zack's thoughts still remained the same, he was a hunter taking down prey.
The frog's snout bled splattering droplets everywhere. Zack's forelimbs were coated in blood, but his attacks weren't doing enough damage. Eventually, the frog will come to its senses and figure out how to throw him off. Zack's main worry was that the frog would run away after he was thrown off. If the frog decided to run instead of fighting there was just nothing Zack could do. His mobility was nothing compared to the frog's own. Unless he took that mobility away.
Zack carefully turned around on the leaping frog, quickly finding his target. The frog's hind legs were stretched out as they glided through the air. Zack's antennas twitched with glee. His forelimbs quickly started sawing the frog's thigh. Whether it was the panic cooling down or the imminent sense of death, the frog suddenly twisted mid-jump. The frog's back was now falling directly to the ground with Zack on it. Getting squashed between the frog and the earth was disastrous. Zack quickly threw himself off moments before being crushed. Only one of the frog's thighs was fully slashed, but it was enough. The frog could no longer jump as it used to.
The dust settled as Zack stared down the frog. The frog was covered in blood and glared at Zack with its singular eye. A slimly red object traveling at high speeds struck one of Zack's forelimbs. It was the frog's tongue, but Zack was prepared. A harsh pull yanked him towards the frog's open maw. Zack didn't resist but pre-stretched his forelimbs and legs wide. The frog's jaws shut, only to bite upon empty air. The frog hadn't realized Zack navigated around its most powerful attack. Zack's limbs were stuck on the edges of the frog's mouth. His multiple legs were barely stretched enough to not fall into the frog's mouth.
Zack immediately clawed at the frog's remaining good eye. Blinded, bleeding out, and with one of its leaping legs disabled, the frog was truly in a terrible situation. But the bitter amphibian wasn't willing to die without a last struggle. Zack tried his best to deal as much damage while trying to receive minimal himself. When the frog had finally met its end, Zack looked a little worse for wear. An antennae was ripped off and a section of his leg was torn. The blood on his white-ish pink exoskeleton glistened red under the sunlight.