"Is this it? The end of my life?" The ant made another attack. This time, it used its strong legs. Ben raised his hand instinctively.
BAM!
He was sent flying, crashing into the wall. Ben could feel a few of his ribs were broken; the same could be said for his hand. He barely could feel it. The ant started crawling. Despite its size, its movement was very fast.
Ben's eyes turned bloodshot, 'No! I will not die here!' He opened his inventory using his thumb, then started dropping the stone blocks, creating a wall. This slowed down the ant's movement, but not enough. The other three ants also made their move. Ben started spamming the stone blocks, creating a wall surrounding him. He made a few layers with one block gap so he could still see the ants.
The next thing was a constant cycle of dropping a block as the ants kept destroying it. "There must be a way, c'mon, my brain. This ant's shell is too hard. Even the stone blocks aren't enough to destroy it. Should I try the bronze ore? That should be heavier and harder than normal stone."
So far, Ben only had 18 blocks of bronze ore. He couldn't spam it like rocks. He looked at the ant, then targeted its legs. Even though the ore was still unprocessed, it was heavier and harder than stone. The green ore fell down, crushing the ant's leg. "GRAARH!" the ant screeched in pain.
"Yes! It's working!"
A single ant had six legs. He was now facing four ants. Ben took out 15 blocks of ore, dropping it on top of the ants' legs. He targeted their front and back legs. He didn't stop there. On top of the copper ore blocks, Ben also added a few more stone blocks to make them heavier. "AHAHAHA! Take that, you damned insect! Who told you to try to kill me?"
Ben laughed hysterically.
It was thanks to the ant being hellbent on attacking him that allowed Ben to drop the blocks directly on top of them. Otherwise, they would have been too fast for him to target. The result of his attack made the four ants pinned to the ground.
They tried to stand, but the weight was too much to bear with just two legs. Ben dropped to his knees, his heartbeat loudly like a drum. He wanted to rest, but he knew this wasn't the time yet.
Things were still far from over. The woman ant he had seen was probably the queen.
'After beating her royal guard, she should have sent her ant army after me. This is not the time to dilly-dally.'
Ben's eyes glinted with coldness as he looked at the ants. He spawned his last metal ore on the three ants right above their heads.
BAM! SPLURT!
The ground shook as the ants' heads burst into minced meat.
[You have killed the ants' Royal Guard]
[You have killed the ants' Royal Guard]
[You have killed the ants' Royal Guard]
[...]
Many notifications filled his view, but unfortunately, Ben didn't have time to check them. The rock wall that protected him was smashed to smithereens. His body was pulled by invisible energy. The next thing he knew, he was grasped by the neck by the ant queen."$%#@*#@"
The queen said something in an angry tone, but Ben didn't understand any of it. "Wh-what are you saying? If you want to eat me, I'll tell you, I smoke a lot! My meat is toxic and poisonous to your body. Not only that, my meat is hard for you to chew."
The ant queen's eyes looked at him with contempt. She tried to communicate a few more times, but it was pointless.
"ARGH!" Ben could feel the grasp on his neck tighten, making it impossible to breathe. His head started getting dizzy, and his vision turned blurry. Ben forcefully used his hand to hit the ant queen, but it didn't do any damage. He then took out the Blockify pickaxe.
The ant queen's eyes lit up the moment she saw this item. She tried to take the pickaxe from Ben's hand, but weirdly, even with her strength, she failed to pry it open.
Ben didn't do anything. In fact, he tried to release it from his grasp, as he didn't want to anger the queen further. But he failed. It was like his hand was glued to the pickaxe.
Now that he thought about it, Ben had never released his grasp from the pickaxe. Every time he finished, he just willed it to return to his inventory. 'What should I do now? Release more stone blocks?'
"#@%^@^" The ant queen seemed to get angrier as Ben didn't release the tool. Then, in a fit of anger, the queen tore his arm away.
"ARRRRGGHHHH!" A guttural scream reverberated in the chamber. searing hot, pain spread through his nerves.
"FUCK! SHIT! YOU BITCH ANTS!" Ben's body was then thrown to the ground. He rolled toward the only royal ant still alive. But Ben didn't realize this. He was busy cursing, and overwhelmed by the pain, He didn't get how he could still be conscious.
The queen's eyes were glued to the pickaxe, her gaze like a person dying of thirst who finally found an oasis. Ben's body kept rolling until he stopped right in front of the ant. He was still cursing in pain while the ant's jaw cut into his neck. Ben didn't even feel it; he just saw the whole world turning upside down. But suddenly, everything turned to slow motion. The pain he felt disappeared. His mind returned to clarity.
[Danger! The Host will die! One-time intervention from Plot Armor will be used!
Looking for the best Method to help Host in a way that makes sense...
Method found, utilizing biomass in Host's inventory.
Doing this will alter the Host's species. Will Host agree?]
[Yes/No]
The button appeared in front of Ben. "The hell!? You still ask? Do you think I have a choice? If I don't do this, I'll die!"
Ben didn't even care what he would turn into next. He just wanted to survive. In the past, he often thought about how good it would be to just die. Living seemed pointless and had no meaning. But this was nothing more than an afterthought, one that appeared because he just wanted to complain about how unfair the world was. Deep in his heart, he knew he wanted to live. Ben always kept his parents' teachings deep in his heart.
"Remember, Ben, being alive is the greatest strength you can have in this world. As long as you're breathing, the possibilities are endless! Drowning in debt? Who's to say tomorrow won't bring a life-changing windfall? Battling illness? It's only a matter of time before new treatments emerge. So don't give up, Ben! You already hold the greatest power there is, and with great power comes the responsibility to keep fighting. No matter how tough life gets, hold on—you never know what tomorrow might bring!"
'Yes, Father, I will never give up!' Ben shouted in his mind as he chose 'Yes.'
[Acknowledged, consuming the biomass.]