A strange sensation filled Ben's mind.
From his neck, purplish flesh pushed outward.
It stretched and grew, shaping itself into a humanoid form.
The change drew the ant queen's attention.
She raised a finger.
A small ember appeared in the air.
It swelled in size until it was as large as a football.
With a flick of her finger, the fireball shot forward.
It streaked through the air and exploded with a loud boom.
The ant queen did not look satisfied.
Her brows drew together, and her lips moved in a low murmur.
When the smoke cleared, a transparent barrier appeared in front of Ben's forming body.
The queen created more fireballs and launched them at the barrier.
Each blast hit, but none of them broke through.
Inside the barrier, Ben's new body had almost finished forming.
It was humanoid, like a normal human body, but covered in purplish chitin armor.
That was how it looked from the outside.
On the inside, Ben felt something completely different.
Power surged through him, a heavy strength he had never felt before.
He felt as if even a truck running over him would not kill him.
He guessed that a single punch from him now would be at least as strong as the royal ant's jaws.
Ben looked at the ant queen.
His lips curled into a grin.
As he dropped from the air, he landed on the royal ant's head and stomped down.
BAM.
The head crushed under his foot like soft tofu.
[You have killed the ants' Royal Guard]
[You get 25x biomass]
More notifications appeared, but Ben ignored them.
All of his attention was on the ant queen.
The magical barrier disappeared the moment his transformation ended.
"Just what are you!?" the queen shouted.
"Ah, now I can understand you," Ben said.
"It seems absorbing the biomass had this effect."
The queen stared at him, surprised.
Before, his speech had sounded like meaningless noise to her.
Now, every word was clear.
Ben noticed her reaction.
He stomped on the ground and rushed forward.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of her.
BAM.
His fist drove into her side.
It tore through her skin and sank deep into her flesh.
The queen reacted quickly.
Fire wrapped around her hand as she grabbed his arm.
She raised her other palm to his head.
Ben felt intense heat gather just inches from his face, but he did not panic.
With a thought, the chitin armor crawled up his neck.
It covered his entire face and closed into a helmet.
The flame exploded at point-blank range.
Heat and pain washed over him.
It hurt, but it was nothing compared to what he had endured before.
He kicked at the queen's head while flipping backward.
He completed the backflip and landed lightly on the ground.
"It seems taking those martial arts classes wasn't pointless," he thought.
Ben pointed forward.
A dozen rock cubes dropped in front of the queen.
He wanted to block her movements and interrupt any new spell she tried to cast.
He then leaped and landed on the queen ant's body.
"STOP!
Let's talk," she shouted.
Ben ignored her.
"Talk now?
Fuck you," he thought.
He understood that they had not been able to speak before.
But that did not erase the fact that she had just tried to kill him.
There was no way he would sit down and talk like nothing happened.
At the very least, he wanted to return the favor.
He stretched out his arm like a spear and thrust it down into her back.
His target was her heart.
He did not know if an Aetheris-ant hybrid had the same internal layout as a human.
But since her upper body was humanoid, he assumed the heart should be in about the same place.
Crimson blood sprayed out.
The ant queen's body slumped.
Her face twisted in pain, then went still.
Silence followed.
The queen did not move or make a sound.
"Is she dead?" Ben wondered.
The body did not twitch.
He did not sense any life from her, but no notification appeared.
While he was still trying to figure it out, the woman's hand suddenly moved.
Her arm wrapped around him from behind in an unnatural way.
She pulled him forward, pressing his chest against her back.
It looked almost like a hug, but the feeling was wrong.
Then, in front of his eyes, her head rotated a full 360 degrees.
She had a beautiful face, but in that moment, Ben felt only discomfort and disgust.
He tried to pull away, but her grip was too strong.
"Stop struggling and we can talk," she said.
"I never wanted to kill you, but since we couldn't communicate, I had no choice."
"Bullshit.
You could have just ignored me," Ben said.
"No can do," she replied.
"If I left you alone, someone else would have taken you.
You are a human, the creator species that should already be extinct."
"Extinct?
Human?" Ben thought.
"It seems you have no understanding of this world, so the book is true," she said.
Her words only made Ben more confused.
He knew he needed information, but every instinct told him this situation was dangerous.
"Prove it then," he said.
"If you really just want to talk, release me."
"..."
"Why can't you trust me?" he pressed.
"You clearly need something from me.
And like you said, I need information about this world."
"..."
The ant queen hesitated.
Their eyes met and held.
Ben did not back down.
With a small, resigned sigh, she spoke.
"My name is Elvira, and I am not really an ant."
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, one of her eyes glowed red.
"I am Aetheris," she said.
"In my species, each individual is born with a unique ability.
My ability lets me take over someone's body and then slowly assimilate their abilities."
Her explanation made Ben tense up.
"What do you mean?
Are you planning to take over my body?" he asked.
As soon as he said it, he realized that if that had been her plan, it would have been stupid to reveal it so openly.
She also would not have tried to kill him earlier.
She would have focused on taking control instead.
"I can't," Elvira said.
"My ability has many limits.
First, I can only try to take over someone of the same gender.
Second, the target must be weaker than me."
Ben frowned.
"Yet you still haven't released me," he said.
"How do I know this isn't a lie?
Maybe your ability needs me to say a word of consent.
Or maybe it only works if I trust you."
'It seems he will never trust me,' Elvira thought.
'As expected from a human.
The legends say they were cautious, even with their own kind.'
"Fine," she said aloud.
"I will release you.
But remember this: even if you kill me, sooner or later, others will come after you.
And they will not be as welcoming as I am."
Ben's lips twitched.
"What welcome, you bitch," he thought.
"You tore off my arm and cut off my head.
If this is your idea of a welcome, what will the others do?"
Still, his anger was weaker now.
Punching a hole through her body had helped him vent some of it.
Elvira loosened her hold.
Ben immediately kicked backward, using the motion to push himself away from her.
He landed near the pickaxe.
He reached out, planning to grab it again.
But as soon as the thought formed, the pickaxe vanished, leaving his empty hand.
Elvira's head rotated back to its normal position.
"Can we talk now?" she asked.
"There are many things I need to ask you."
"Fine, let's talk," Ben said.
His eyes stayed cold.
"But if you try anything suspicious, you will face the consequences."
He finished the thought in his mind.
"I will escape."
He understood now that fighting this woman head-on would not be simple.
Even with his new strength, killing her would be difficult.
He also needed time to check his notifications and understand his new body better.