Unlike the ants led by Meruem who trained hard after occupying the Republic of East Gorteau, the five squads of squadron leaders who left split into countless division-captain teams, radiating outward from NGL Autonomous Region to prey on humans. Ants had no real sense of right and wrong; to them, so-called humans were all food. Coupled with bodies inherently stronger than ordinary humans and powerful talent for Nen, the ants who left did whatever they wanted. The Republic of Rokario, the country closest to NGL, suffered the most attacks—practically ground zero for the ant disaster.
Unfortunately, the ants weren't as powerful as they imagined. True, at birth even division captains—and even soldier ants—were stronger than humans. But once humans learned Nen, with their myriad bizarre abilities, killing ants became quite easy.
It's worth noting that before soldier-class ants learned Nen, even ordinary humans with pistols and other firearms could take them out easily. Division captains, however, weren't so simple: vastly superior vitality and an almost instant knack for grasping Nen made their damage to average humans terrifying. Even so, the ants weren't unbeatable. Strong human Nen users could easily wipe out these freshly born ants, slaughtering them the way ants slaughtered normal people. Think about it: the human population dwarfed the ants' by millions or tens of millions; if even one in ten thousand humans had Nen, and one in a hundred thousand surpassed the ants in Nen talent, that would be enough to deal with them.
The sheer disparity in numbers was the ants' first disadvantage. Second, while ants were born able to learn Nen, their understanding—Nen fundamentals—was far too poor. Against average Nen users, they could win by racial talent; but against masters, it was a massacre. Every powerful Nen user had a trump card.
The ants' reckless methods had long since alerted humans. TV stations were reporting almost daily on strange monsters attacking people. Worse, the lion squadron leader Hagya even went on television himself; after the interview, he ate the female reporter.
They were only a step away from announcing to the world: We are monsters. We eat humans. Please gather your heroes to come destroy us.
Facing such blatant provocation, the Hunter Association took the lead, and Nen users across regions spontaneously rallied to hunt the roaming ants. For Meruem, who happened to catch the broadcast, this was a massive headache. Hagya's stunt was digging a pit for the ants who left. Many humans had remained on the fence about whether Chimera Ants even existed. Hagya's performance shifted their stance from doubt to united enmity. Meruem's plan had been to let those ants disperse human attention and buy time. Now it had become Concentrate and Exterminate. Once the ants outside were wiped out, those holed up in East Gorteau under Meruem would be exposed soon after. In the original, those ants didn't even last a month.
"This won't do. At the very least, I need to drag it out past the three-month mark—until my battle with that old man Netero." Standing atop the highest point of the royal palace, Meruem looked into the distance and muttered. "My lovely subordinates are still slowly getting stronger. It's not time for war. Mm… looks like those who left are about to get a bargain."
He took a step forward and dropped straight down under gravity—maintaining the same nonchalant expression the whole time. All I can say is: ten out of ten for style.
"Ooh~~~~~~ it's been a while. Nothing's changed at all." Atop a hill of garbage stood a blond, baby-faced youth in a vest—the kind of face that screamed easy to bully. His right hand shaded his eyes as he looked far off and sighed. Beside him were a strange man swathed head to toe in bandages with boxing gloves on both hands; a bespectacled moe girl; a black-kimono-clad loli; a short youth cloaked nearly head to toe in black; and a tall man dressed in attire like a pharaoh. The six oddly dressed figures were the infamous A-rank wanted theft group—the Phantom Troupe.
All around them were mounds of trash, and under those heaps were many trucks. Around the trucks, people in white protective suits combed through the garbage for anything useful.
After they passed through a strange, reeking fog, three figures in gas masks and hazmat suits appeared.
"What's the situation?" asked the blond, baby-faced youth—Shalnark of the Troupe. It seemed the six and the three newcomers knew each other.
"Victims and enforcers together number over three hundred. Even bombs did nothing. We're at a loss," the gas-mask man said, voice heavy with helplessness and bitterness. "Even the definition of dead is under debate in our meetings."
"What do you mean?" The six Troupe members didn't follow.
"Please, this way." The man led them to a corpse covered with a white sheet. "Look." He yanked it off—revealing a grotesque body. To call it a corpse was generous; it looked more a monster: a pig's head, buck teeth, strange sharp horns, one human arm, one pig's trotter, and a body packed with bizarre fatty tissue—like mismatched organs stitched together.
"A few days ago, he was human," the mask man said—whether in fear or anger, it was hard to tell.
"This is no different from a dead man," Phinks said.
"But there are those who argue these transformed monsters should be allowed to live. Still, the majority believes that regardless of whether they can be restored, once transformed into a monster, they should be classified as dead," the man explained.
"Nothing's changed at all. Even when avenging yourselves, you argue whether comrades were killed or remodeled? I can't fathom how you think." Though Phinks spoke calmly, anyone observant could feel his Nen gathering—a sword being drawn. "Leave it to us. We'll crush that bug calling herself Queen by tonight." Was it anger for a slain comrade? Rage over a ruined home? Perhaps neither.
"Ooh ooh~ Phinks is fired up!" the blond baby face, Shalnark, clapped and joked airily.
"Feels like a hot-blooded idiot!" Shizuku quipped from the side.
"Shut up."
Meteor City Council Hall
"I am the Queen!! Repeating—surrender now. Those who defy me will be executed. Those who obey will settle in Paradise." An arrogant voice rang through the council building, now covered in slime like a giant spiderweb—sickening to look at.
"Mother's greatest failure was having to use the ancient, dreadfully inefficient method of egg-laying to increase troops," said the scorpion-woman Zazan from a throne within. Around her stood many strikingly beautiful females whose bodies were clearly not human. These were soldier ants—but different from those born from the Queen.
"And her only success was birthing me." At that moment, two soldier ants escorted in a human youth.
"Kill me! Come on, kill me, you bastard!" The youth shouted nonstop, but fear crept beneath his bluster—fear of Zazan.
"Hehehe, promising. You get to live." Zazan chuckled and stood. Her scorpion tail stabbed into the youth in an instant.
"Aaaahhhh!" His body ballooned; his face elongated; sharp teeth sprouted from his mouth. In barely a quarter of an hour, the human youth became a monster like an ant.
"Welcome, chosen one, to Paradise. Swear allegiance to the Queen," said the female ant beside Zazan. The newly-made monster's mind seemed altered as well; he bent and kissed the floor at Zazan's feet—nothing like the mortal enemy of moments before.
"I am the new Queen! This is my ability—Aesthetic Transmogrification Injection."
At the same time, the six Phantom Troupe members arrived before the council hall.
"Front assault," Phinks said.
A great battle was about to erupt—Phantom Troupe vs. Chimera Ant squadron leader Zazan.
"Ah ah w(?Д?)w, looks like I'm early. Final bosses usually appear last. Should I go play somewhere else?" A yellow blur like lightning arrived at the other side of the hall. "Forget it. If the King finds out I slacked off, I'll probably get killed." The yellow figure shivered at the thought and instantly vetoed his own idea.
"Yoshi—then I'll watch the show from the sidelines." Hands clasped, the yellow figure made another decision. "Let me see how much you've improved, my former comrade. (?￣△￣)? Aha—anyway, the King said as long as you're not dead and I bring you back, it's fine." The jokey second half completely wrecked the cool vibe he'd just built.
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