With Ronin's group leading the way, Benket and his surviving teammates followed them into the cave.
The pitch-black tunnel stretched deep underground. Vanessa pulled an illumination stone from her pocket and tossed it ahead. The faint glow lit up the passage just enough for everyone to see.
A foul stench rose from below. Ronin slipped on his gas mask without hesitation. It wasn't the gas that worried him—it was the source of the smell.
Chimera Ant nests were usually built from a mix of excrement and mud. This one wasn't the standard design, but the signs were still there. Scattered along the floor were plenty of things that turned the stomach.
And corpses.
Spider corpses.
Dark brown drag marks on the ground showed the spiders had been pulled up from deeper inside the nest.
Ronin, Maschur, and Vanessa didn't split off to investigate the side tunnels. Their spread En was already giving them a clear picture. One of the branching chambers held a decent-sized space. Faint spider auras still lingered inside, but they were weak. A tall figure was also moving around in there. It had sensed their presence but showed no interest in coming out.
Benket's team entered right behind them. The illumination stones helped them avoid most of the mess. Unlike Ronin's group, the moment they detected an enemy in one of the side chambers, several of them peeled off to deal with it. Fighting sounds soon echoed from behind.
Ronin paid it no mind.
They continued downward along the main passage. After roughly a hundred meters the tunnel opened up. Weak light glowed from below, and a faint rustling sound drifted upward.
The same giant ant that had spoken with Ronin's shadow clone at the cave entrance now sat on a throne directly ahead of them.
A throne.
It was an ornate golden chair inlaid with glittering gemstones. Behind it stood two towering trees. Several pulsing fruits hung from the branches, though they were still far from ripe. Even so, Ronin recognized them immediately.
These were the same giant trees they had found beneath the buildings in the underground city—the ones that gave birth to monsters.
So this was the source of every creature that had poured out of the central ruins.
What made Ronin's gaze sharpen was the powerful auras he felt near both trees. Each one matched the strength of the giant snake they had just killed outside.
He had already been wondering why there was only one guardian ant. Part of him had even hoped the Queen was carrying more guardians instead of an Ant King.
"You cannot stop me."
The clear voice echoed directly inside their minds.
At the same time, figures began rising from the ground near both giant trees. They looked as though they were digging their way out of the earth. But Ronin, Maschur, and Vanessa knew better. Those trees probably marked the connection between the ceiling of the underground city and this nest.
Spiders might not be the enemy here.
Ronin quietly stepped backward as more spiders emerged. Maschur and Vanessa followed without a word.
A mocking, triumphant voice rang in their heads again.
"Heh. Weren't you here to kill me? I can smell that familiar scent on you. I don't know what happened to your kind, but the moment you failed to protect the entrance and let humans with that special scent inside, your race lost any chance of stopping our rise."
Ronin's eyebrows rose slightly. The Queen thought he was Kurta?
He pulled off his gas mask and let his crimson Sharingan shine.
The Queen's expression shifted into obvious confusion the moment she saw his eyes. Even with her alien features, the Sharingan caught the tiny change.
Ronin didn't give her time to think.
Black flames erupted in the air in front of her—Amaterasu.
The moment they appeared, they began shrinking, just like the kunai. The intercept-type Nen activated instantly, trying to push the flames away before they could touch her.
But a split second later the shrinking stopped. The black fire surged forward and began burning straight toward the Queen.
The reason was simple.
Amenotokotachi.
Ronin had deliberately triggered Amaterasu first to force the Queen's counter ability into action. The moment it activated, he locked the entire space in front of her with his left eye's ability.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, the key to breaking Gojo's Infinity had been a spatial slash. Space-type powers were the natural counter to this kind of infinite defense. And Ronin happened to have one.
He hadn't hesitated to test it.
For the first time, genuine panic flashed across the Queen's inhuman face.
Then an arm punched straight through her swollen abdomen from the inside.
At the same moment the spreading black flames finally reached her body. Thick blood sprayed outward, trying to smother the fire. A green, slime-covered figure used the Queen's ruptured stomach as a springboard and burst free, knocking the flames aside in the process.
"It's not time yet!" the Queen screamed in agony. But the pain in her voice was nothing compared to the desperate concern for the creature that had just torn its way out of her.
Ronin's eyes locked onto the escaping figure.
It was a green monster with two arms and two legs. Its face was clearly insect-like, and a long tail extended from its rear. Overall it looked far less imposing than Meruem, the Ant King born in NGL. It resembled Cell in his first form from Dragon Ball—a mix of insect and beast, with more humanoid features than the original Ant King.
The black flames of Amaterasu continued burning the Queen's body even as the newborn escaped. Within five seconds the Queen was reduced to nothing but screams and the desperate gaze fixed on her child. Then the black fire consumed her completely.
Maschur and Vanessa moved up beside Ronin.
Two more figures had appeared beside the green Ant King—both of them also showing partial human features, but far more bestial in shape.