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[Acacia Fire Ant]
Scientific name: Titanomyrma.
An ant with a body length of about 2cm and an aggressive nature.
As they are larger than other ants, their population is smaller. However, the potency of their formic acid is also stronger than that of a typical ant, making them an opponent not to be underestimated.
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Formic acid?
I hurriedly pushed the leaf aside and dodged.
Sizzzle.
The branch where I had just been was slightly eaten away.
Holy crap.
Seeing the smoke, I knew a direct hit wouldn't just be painful.
The good thing was, it didn't seem like they could use the formic acid consecutively.
While the ant was regrouping, I quickly lunged.
It might have been larger than other ants, but that meant nothing in front of me.
It wasn't much different from dealing with the aphids.
Crunch!
The one under my foot was crushed to death, and I popped the rest into my mouth and swallowed them whole.
An ant was an ant.
But this was no time to be relieved.
Ants communicate using pheromones. If that one had left a trail, a massive ant legion would soon be swarming this place.
Hoping it hadn't had time to release any pheromones, I activated Sprint.
The aura of wind enveloped my body.
Having reached Level 6, I was now so strong that comparing myself to before was embarrassing.
I dashed across the branches with merciless speed.
It might have looked like I was just running back and forth, but the effect was tremendous.
Splat. Splat. Splat.
Ants burst under my feet.
In no time, I had taken care of every ant that had made eye contact with me.
I would have been thrilled if that had been the end of it.
I would have thought of it as a free experience point event with a zesty late-night snack and drifted off to a sweet sleep.
But the commotion wasn't over yet.
[Acacia Fire Ant LV3]
[Acacia Fire Ant LV1]
[Acacia Fire Ant LV2]
....
I saw a black wave.
Ants were crawling up the branches. There were so many it was hard to count them.
The number easily surpassed double digits, approaching a hundred.
What was more terrifying was that this wasn't the end. More and more ants were gathering, climbing up the tree trunk.
It was impossible to count them all.
There's no winning against a mob.
Even if I could take them down one by one, fighting that many was impossible.
If even one in ten managed to spray its formic acid before dying, I'd be drenched in it and die.
Only one word crossed my mind.
Run.
The best option was to get out of here.
There was no reason to defend this place. I had made a nice nest, but I wasn't that attached to it. It wasn't more precious than my life.
But even running was impossible.
The bodily fluids of the ants were all over me.
Even if I ran, they would chase me to the end.
I was left with only one option.
To defeat every single one of them.
But that was realistically impossible.
It was something a Level 6 gecko couldn't do.
The black wave was closing in.
I didn't have much time to think.
'…Sprint.'
Once again, the aura of wind settled into my body.
I ran toward them at full speed.
It was do or die.
Countless ants were crushed to death under my feet.
The more I ran, the slower I became. Even as they died, the ants clamped their jaws onto my legs. I could shake them off, but it slowed me down.
They were tangling their bodies together, creating a natural barricade.
It seemed they had noticed I was trying to escape.
But if they thought a wall of that height could stop me, they were sorely mistaken.
I tensed my thighs. After assuming a posture that minimized air resistance, I kicked off the ground.
Whoosh.
I was a flying lizard.
Leaping as if I were flying, I successfully cleared the wall of ants.
So long, ants.
I glanced back.
To my surprise, they had started to cross over to where I was.
They were making a bridge with their own bodies, crossing from one branch to the next without jumping.
Unbelievable.
They probably thought it was an efficient method.
And it was. Anyone who saw that many enemies crossing at once would run.
But my blood is cold. Instead of panicking, I thought about the most efficient course of action.
I carefully observed the movement of the ants crawling over each other.
The moment the ones in the lead reached my branch, I leaped and swung my plump tail.
WHACK!
They were literally smashed to pieces. The middle of their bridge was severed, and countless ants fell to the ground. They probably weren't dead, but it would be a while before they could return to the battlefield.
I continued to obstruct their advance.
Whenever they built a bridge, I destroyed it.
But they seemed to be learning, making the bridges thinner and increasing their number. It was impossible for me to destroy all of them on my own.
I turned and left without a second thought.
My plan was just getting started.
The ants charged at me fiercely.
Their jaws grazed my hide. Formic acid seeped through the gap.
It stung like hell. The moment I stopped moving, I would die a horrible death.
I swung my tail, preventing them from latching onto me.
I lifted my head slightly and looked toward the place I had been thinking of from the start.
I controlled my speed, luring the ants without letting them notice.
"Kieek!"
The place I had led them to was none other than the nest of the Nephila jurassica.
It seemed flustered by the sudden appearance of me and the swarm of ants.
But that was only for a moment. Perhaps angered by the thought of having its food stolen and its home threatened, it brandished its long legs and assumed a battle stance.
The ants were the same. They seemed startled by the sudden appearance of a powerful enemy, but upon seeing the corpses of aphids scattered around, they charged toward the spider.
Of course, some of them still clung to me, but they were a tiny fraction of the whole.
They sent only the bare minimum force after me, with the vast majority heading for the web.
They knew instinctively. They had to deal with that suspiciously large spider before worrying about a single gecko.
"Kiek!"
I let out a sigh of relief.
I praised myself for not picking a fight with the Nephila jurassica.
If I had fought that thing, I would have been dead in three seconds.
The spider's combat prowess was overwhelming.
CRUNCH!
A mere brush from one of its long legs was enough to slice an ant in half.
Moreover, having its web as its own territory gave it an even greater advantage.
The ants couldn't even touch the spider's body before being crushed by its legs.
While dealing with the ants attacking me, I watched the battle unfold.
If things continued like this, it would be an easy victory for the spider.
Good. I'll just eat the stragglers and level up.
With that in mind, I loitered nearby.
But the tide of battle soon turned.
It was because there were more ants than I had expected.
A massive number of ants swarmed in like a black tide.
Any that touched the web became the spider's meal, but that didn't last long.
The moment the spider missed a single ant, another one climbed on top of it. Stepping on the bodies of their comrades instead of the sticky web, they closed in on the Nephila.
"Keeeek!"
Perhaps furious that some thoughtless creature had eaten all their aphids, the ants showed no signs of backing down.
They disregarded their own lives and charged recklessly, dying just so the next ant could get a little closer.
The spider was fighting remarkably well, but at this rate, the outcome was obvious.
…It's going to lose?
Time to run, no regrets.
With the ants' aggro focused on the spider, I could probably manage to escape.
A quick dip in a pond should wash off the ant fluids.
I felt bad for the spider, but it couldn't be helped.
This was the wild.
When I had my own neck on the line, I had no room to help anyone else.
....
"Gekgegek!"
I let out a valiant roar and charged toward the spider.
Using my tail, I knocked off the ants clinging to its legs. I stomped on one that was preparing to spray formic acid and let out a roar-like cry.
"Gekgek!"
Snap out of it, spider!
If you die, I can't steal your bugs anymore!
The ants seemed flustered by my sudden intervention.
So did the Nephila jurassica.
But their confusion didn't last long.
The ants recognized me as an enemy and attacked.
"Keeeek!"
And the Nephila jurassica blocked them.
It leaped down from its web.
Using its long legs, it began to indiscriminately trample the approaching ants.
A swarming ant legion, and standing against it, a single spider and one lizard.
The tide of battle had shifted once again.
The Nephila jurassica lifted one of its legs and gently poked me.
Even though we couldn't speak the same language, I understood.
'I still haven't forgiven you.'
It must have been spouting a line straight out of a hot-blooded manga.
I lifted one of my own legs in response.
I had only one thing to say.
'Shut up and get ready, they're coming…!'
*
The general leading the fire ants, Sharp Jaw, caught a certain pheromone.
It was the tragic news that all the aphids they were raising were dead. Sharp Jaw urgently led his soldiers up the tree.
What he found was a single lizard, sleeping peacefully.
Sharp Jaw ordered his subordinates to deal with the lizard and went to scout another area. It was an efficient way of handling things. He never thought a lizard like that could defeat his vanguard.
But that was his mistake.
When he returned from his reconnaissance, the corpses of his vanguard met his eyes.
The lizard, which had been sleeping while scratching its belly, was now in a peculiar stance.
It was walking on its hind legs, despite how short they were.
And it was incredibly fast.
It toyed with Sharp Jaw's enraged forces.
It displayed an intelligence unthinkable for any lizard he had ever seen.
Sharp Jaw was a veteran commander who had been through thick and thin.
He admitted his mistake and decided to divide his forces.
Seeing the ants' formation change, the lizard immediately fled.
Sharp Jaw was about to go mad. The lizard acted as if it was one step ahead of him, a veteran general. He was furious, but a commander could not let personal feelings ruin an operation.
Sharp Jaw suppressed his anger and pursued the lizard.
And there, he came face to face with the queen of this tree.
It was the one enemy he wanted to avoid fighting the most.
But then he saw the corpses of the aphids scattered all around.
There was no turning back.
He prepared for death and threw his forces into the fray.
The spider's seemingly impenetrable defense began to crumble.
Just when he thought it was almost over, the strange lizard intervened once more.
It knocked off all the soldiers clinging to the spider's body and began to fight alongside it.
Sharp Jaw felt a sense of unease.
This battle felt like it would be harder than any he had ever fought.
Not even during the grand operation to steal an Oviraptor's egg, nor when hunting an injured Microraptor, had he felt this anxious.
A thought a commander should never have entered his mind: that this battle would end in his legion's defeat.
Sharp Jaw lifted his mandibles high.
He was an old general. His once-proud mandibles had grown blunt over time.
Nevertheless, he was Sharp Jaw.
As his jaws had dulled, his wisdom had sharpened.
Both the spider and the lizard had outstanding combat power, but they were not without weaknesses.
He noticed that they were not accustomed to each other's movements.
Infighting. As a seasoned general, he did not miss the opportunity.
Sharp Jaw released a pheromone, ordering a temporary retreat.
As if on cue, the two of them began to fight each other.
He quietly led his elite troops, moving stealthily behind them.
"Gekgegek!"
"Keeeek!!"
The moment their conflict intensified, he charged toward them with his elite soldiers.
An opening.
Shhhk!
And in that instant, his world began to spin.
What in the world had just happened?
His question did not last long.
The elite soldiers who had followed him were flying through the air, sliced into three parts—head, thorax, and abdomen. Sharp Jaw realized he had met the same fate.
"Gekgek!"
"Kekek!"
The spider and the lizard cried out in unison.
The ant could not understand their words.
But he could vaguely grasp their meaning.
You're in the way.
Isn't that what they would have said?
Sharp Jaw's legs trembled.