Chapter 37. Ignatia's and Flor's chase.

After the fireball, the place it impacted didn't start burning as one might expect. While the fire was indeed a weakness for most plant creatures, thanks to levels and natural strength, they had some resistance to it. This made wildfires much more uncommon.

Her fireball understandably left a charred spot. Yet, the fire didn't spread. The resistance of the surrounding plants was more than enough to resist the spreading.

Ignatia's beautiful compound eyes caught the entirety of what happened before her, allowing her to detect even the slightest movement; adding to the extra senses her antennae gave her and the few scouts she had released to track them, Ignatia was quick to find them. "Hm? Are you fleeing? First, that dumb idiot Froorar, and now you. Do you think it is that easy to come and go from my nest!? Follow them! My children, today, you are eating human flesh!"

With a wave of her hand, hundreds of giant red ants surged out like a small tide from the nest, rushing through the forest in an eerily silent yet swift march.

Because ants communicated through smell most of the time, their fights, movements, and any action always seemed silent and cold, like machines built for that specific purpose.

Ignatia communicated with a few worker ants, telling them to send the Rose Fairy back to their territory, and then she rushed behind her army of children.

The Rose Fairy saw one of the Level 4 workers approach her and tilt her head a few times while clicking her mandibles. Speaking of which, because of Ignatia's unique skill, all the ants in her colony were female, which allowed her to have children without needing fertilization.

Regardless, the Rose Fairy, who was looking at the ant's gestures, couldn't help but giggle. "Hm… Although you are cute, I don't understand."

The worker ant stood there, speechless, literally and metaphorically.

After a few seconds of thinking, the worker ant turned sideways and lay on the ground, her head tilted a bit to look at the small fairy. The Rose Fairy blinked and understood, flapping her wings and landing on the ant's back. "Are we going somewhere?"

The worker ant began walking away with quick steps, and on the way, one of the warrior ants left behind to protect the nest followed them.

The Rose Fairy smiled and patted the ant's carapace. "Thank you~."

Once they arrived, the Rose Fairy on guard received them. "How did it go?"

The Level 3 Rose Fairy grinned. "Mommy Ignatia loved it!"

The other Rose Fairy blinked. "Mommy?"

"Ah." The Rose Fairy covered her mouth, her face gaining a blush. "I-I meant Chief Ignatia. Sorry."

The one speaking with her smirked with an amused smile, making that Rose Fairy even more embarrassed. With a slight stutter, she commented, quickly changing the subject. "A-Also, I think she is in trouble. We should tell the Queen! Chief Ignatia suddenly went out with a lot of warrior ants!"

Hearing her serious tone, the Rose Fairy receiving them quickly nodded. "Understood. Wait for a second. I'm going to speak with her."

Flor was resting on one of Liu Shu's branches, basking in the Sun, when she heard one Rose Fairy rush toward her. The buzzing sound of the quickly flapping wings created a very peculiar sound that was hard to confuse with anything else.

Flor opened her eyes and looked over. "What's wrong?"

The Rose Fairy was quick to answer. "Queen! I've received information that Chief Ignatia is about to start battling someone! She took out most of her army with the intention of doing so."

Flor sat up, her eyebrows coming together as she got thoughtful. "Thornstrides?"

"We don't know." Answered the Rose Fairy while shaking her head from side to side.

 Flor looked at Liu Shu and commented. "Little one, I'm leaving for a moment. While we can't really be considered allies, Ignatia wants to join us in the near future, so lending a helping hand is something I should do."

Flor then turned around and left.

Meanwhile, Ignatia was facing the three humans with a sneer. "Well, now you are surrounded. You poked the ant nest, and this is the result."

The group leader looked around carefully and warned. "Monster, if you kill us, my power will send stronger people to investigate."

Ignatia's antennae moved up and down as she thought. Then, she smiled at them. "But if I let you go, you will inform your power that an ant nest has been spotted in the Golden Sap Forest."

The group leader's face changed significantly. 'How clever is this monster? I need to deliver the information back to deal with her. Should I escape alone, leaving these two behind?'

While speaking monsters were not that rare, those who could rationalize and think deeply were not only uncommon but very dangerous. After all, more intelligence meant a better use of the system and its advantages.

Ignatia looked at him with a smirk. "Now, become-."

"What's going on here?"

A powerful aura descended as Flor appeared, stealing the attention of everyone present. The three mask-wearing humans' facial expressions went from bad to worse. While Ignatia felt powerful, the Level 10 human felt that he could match her for a while and resist or even flee.

Still, the much smaller flying fairy that appeared was different.

The Aether Mana swirling around her was dense as the wind moved her long red hair and leafy dress. He couldn't help but curse. 'Crap, what is this monster!? Her characteristics are close to Rose Fairies, but the feeling around her is on another dimension!'

Ignatia blinked and smiled. "Flor, why are you here?"

Flor looked at the three humans and then at Ignatia. "I want to ask the same. What is going on?"

Ignatia snorted. "These three came to my nest's doorsteps. I was just telling them that if they wanted to see so much, how about becoming a permanent resident by becoming my children's food?"

Flor looked at the three humans and commented. "Humans are troublesome. Once a few of them die, they will investigate what happened. If they are from the wrong group, we could end up provoking a high-level Human."

Ignatia nodded. "I agree. However, if they leave, my life is in as much danger as if I let them leave. So, Flor, can you lend me a limb to kill them? As long as the next wave of humans doesn't discover me, there won't be any problems, right?"

Flor hesitated. "What if they stumble upon… her?"

Ignatia paused, having forgotten about the special existence in the middle of the grove. Now, it was time for Ignatia to frown. However, that doubt quickly vanished. "Ant Queens like me who have gained a certain level of intelligence are hunted down quickly. So, I think that the people they will send will be stronger if they return. Not only that, you've also shown yourself."

Flor blinked. "You are right."

At that moment, the human group leader whispered. "Run."

Flor and Ignatia had been keeping an eye on them all the time, so the second they moved, they also moved.

"<Wind Slash>!"

"<Fire Blast>!"

Both of them quickly shot at the weaker humans, their attacks rushing quickly enough for them to have almost no time to react.

Slash!

Boom!

Both attacks hit true, slicing almost eighty percent of their Phoer Body Shards. Still, even when they weren't dead, Ignatia and Flor ignored them and rushed after the Level 10 human.

As they left, Ignatia's cold voice spread and reached their ears. "Eat them."

The two humans felt their hearts drop as the ants surrounding them rushed forward, clearly intending to eat them alive.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"AH! AH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

However, their pleas were useless, as the ants had received an order from their Queen and Mother. The humans wanted to resist, but it was futile; with the powerful attacks they received, their bodies were weakened to the point that even a single Level 7 Warrior Ant would probably be able to deal with them.

They were surrounded by hundreds, some Level 8 and 9 ants included.

Flor and Ignatia ignored the shrieking humans while quickly navigating the forest to catch up with the swift human.

Ignatia's compound eyes quickly analyzed the surroundings as her curvy body agilely navigated the lush forest. Her quick dash was helped by the branches, sticking roots, and even some springy flora, which allowed her to flash through the forest with incredible precision and agility.

Flor was even more impressive. Her Physique stat was much lower than Ignatia's, but she had the skill called <Frantic Flight>. This skill was an E- Rank skill, an entire tier above what Ignatia used.

Her Aether stat was also high enough to make her Aether Mana break through the five digits.

Combining both, her body was like a ghost, rushing forward much faster than Ignatia and swiftly closing the gap between herself and the Level 10 human.

The group leader was sweating as he felt Flor's presence approaching, and Ignatia followed at a slightly faster speed than his. 'If it was only that Ant Queen, I would've no problem escaping. However,…' He took a quick glance behind him and saw the small Rose Fairy Queen right at his heels, getting too close for comfort. 'This monster is too fast! I couldn't analyze it previously, but compared with the ant queen, she should be at least one or two levels ahead.'

He was cursing his bad luck in his mind. How could he find an ant nest by chance, and instead of being a normal one, he had to stumble across one with a humanoid ant queen?

If that wasn't bad enough, the ant queen seemed to be in alliance with an absurdly powerful Fairy Queen. It really felt as if someone wanted him dead. 

Flor followed behind, and when she was close enough, she spoke. "Stop. I'll count to three."

"One…"

The man sneered. 'As if I will-huh?'

"<Wind Slash>!"

He quickly changed his footwork, trying to dodge to the side. But the surprise attack from Flor was too swift and struck his side.

[-427]!

The human took a sharp breath in pain, and his steps faltered for a moment, allowing not only Flor but Ignatia to close the distance. 'I got hit!? Tsk, since you are so eager for a fight, I'll give you one!'

When he felt that Flor was close enough, he used a tree in front of him and his trained legs to do a side jump by using the tree as a spring.

Flor's eyes flashed with surprise when she saw the blade rushing at her. 'Dodge!'

But, as her own attack, Flor wasn't prepared, and the only thing she could do was create a makeshift barrier with Wind Aether Mana, deflecting the blade away from her neck.

It still managed to land on her stomach, blasting her flying for several meters.

[-865]!

Flor didn't have as many Phoer Body Shards, so this hit took away a fifth of her Phoer reserves, showing how fragile Rose Fairies were if you managed to close the distance.

Still, the human man was not happy about his strike. 'Only 800? Her body is really tough! I should've bisected her!'

"<Fire Blast>!"

The human man snarled. "Annoying ant queen!" He quickly moved and slashed sideways, using decent sword mastery to slash precisely at the fireball rushing his way.

BOOM!

The explosion hit him head-on, slicing around 300 of his 6,000 Phoer Body Shards. What he didn't realize was the silent attack rushing at him from behind.

SLASH!

A lethal gush of blood sprouted from his back as a large number appeared in his eyes.

[-2360]

'Shit.'