<h4>Chapter 616 Chimera Ants (12)</h4>


    There was no movement at first from the ant, but then it suddenly opened its mouth and swallowed the leaf that I was holding up in front of it.


    As soon as it swallowed this leaf, it suddenly opened its eyes.


    I made sure that I had been right in front of it when it opened its eyes, so the first thing that this ant saw was me.


    After seeing me, the ant paused for a second before suddenlying forward to nuzzle up against me.


    This leaf was a rare leaf that had a special effect on insect monsters. As long as this leaf was fed to an insect monster, then it would create an imprinting effect where they would follow the first living creature that they saw.


    It was only because I had this that I felt confident enough to take care of these Chimera Ants.


    I really had to thank the second prince and the fourth prince for giving this thing to me.


    This was in the treasures of the second prince that the fourth prince gave me.


    After getting this ant to imprint on me, I immediately cut off a small part of my flesh for it to eat. It was only a small part of my arm that was only the top part of the skin, so it didn''t bleed that much.


    Though to say that it didn''t hurt would have been aplete lie.


    The little ant looked worried about me at first, but I just offered it my flesh as I said, "I''m fine."


    The little ant still looked at me with that worried look for a bit, but in the end, it still ate the flesh that I offered it.


    I waited for it to finish eating my flesh before asking, "Do you understand me now?"


    The little ant slowly gave a nod, though there was a bit of a confused look on its face.


    That wasn''t strange since one moment, it didn''t really understand what I was saying and then the next, it started understanding the words that wereing out of my mouth.


    This was a queen ant that was just born a few minutes ago, so it wasn''t as if it knew about its abilities just yet.


    Even if the Chimera Ants could grow faster than other species, this was still a queen ant that had the mentality of a child while being forced to grow up by me.


    But there was no time for this queen ant to slowly grow.


    Though I did have to think of a way to address it.


    "Queeny, I want you to..."


    The queen ant listened to what I had to say, but it had a confused look during this.


    It was as if it couldn''t understand what I was saying at first.


    But it seemed like eventually it was able to figure it out.


    With the way that it looked down at its feet, it was like it was slowly figuring out just what it was capable of.


    When it was done, it just gave a nod and turned to face the other ants that were in this room.


    …


    "Hold!"


    Cecilia called out as she faced these ants that were charging at them without any care for their own lives.


    Once the queen ant had been taken down, the ants had gone crazy and started attacking without a single care for their own lives.


    Though this did make it easier for them since the ants could easily be baited into bad positions, it didn''t mean that it waspletely easy. It took a lot more concentration to deal with the ants now that they were fighting without a single moment of hesitation.


    They didn''t care if they lost their lives, so they had to make sure not to fall into the clutches of the ants.


    That meant that they had to pay more attention to dodge out of the way.


    But this extra attention meant that it was a strain on their mental capacity.


    At this rate, they would be exhausted just from focusing on the ants and keeping up with them.


    However, Cecilia believed in her man.


    He was the one that had killed the queen ant and he was the one that said that he would be able to take care of these ants as long as he was given some time.


    This was a man that had surprised her again and again, so the only thing that was left in her heart was trust for this man.


    But…


    There was a soldier that had slipped and was about to be stabbed by the pincers of the ant that he was facing.


    With how sharp those pincers were, there was no doubt that he would be pierced through by them.


    Without hesitation, Cecilia ran forward with her sword raised as if she was nning to block it herself. But at thest second, she was able to find an opening on this ant and she was able to stab it in the abdomen, cutting it in half.


    For a second, she let her guard down and that was all that it took.


    "Watch out!"


    When she heard this, she turned to see another anting right at her with its pincers opened as if it was about to snap them onto her body.


    Cecilia knew that it was already toote, so all she could do was raise her sword to block it and brace herself for the pain. She hoped that she would be able to take it with her well trained body and her armour.


    But before it could reach her, there was a seam that appeared in the center of the ant.


    Then that seam split and the ant was cut in half, falling to the sides in front of her.


    She then felt a strong arm take her into its embrace and when she looked up, she saw a familiar face.


    I looked down at her and said with a smile, "Who told you to be so reckless? You almost gave me a heart attack."