Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 88: Glass Matriarch

---

Mia yelled, "Form a Line! Spears out! Shale, anchor center!"

Warriors spread in a crooked arc along the gypsum shelf, better footing than the pan. Shale planted himself, hammer axe raised. Kai took position left of Mia, tightening grip on his hooked spear.

Needle and Ash reached the line; healers dragged Ash aside a spike fragment jutted from his thigh, hissing with electrical heat.

The ripple beneath the pan halted in silence and swallowed the heat haze then the surface exploded. Salt shards rained as a colossal head rose: a translucent bulb of quartz armor with mandibles like mirrored scythes. Its body was half-worm, half-centipede remained buried, but one could sense weight stretching fifty yards underground.

It shrieked the sound of glaciers shattering glass. Kai system ding on his mind.

[Ding! System notifications:

Boss Class beast detected.

Name: Glass-Crawler Matriarch (4★).

Optional Quest auto registered: Slay or Repel the Matriarch.

Reward: 500 EXP, reputation boost in the team.]

"Don’t look directly in the Eyes!," Mia warned but too late. Three soldiers froze, mesmerized by the creature’s refracted shell which bent sunlight into dazzling patterns. Seconds later electric tongues lashed from its mandibles, blue arcs striking those warriors. Their shells cracked, bodies twitching.

Kai lunged using his skill reflex mode, hooking one comrade away before a second bolt hit. Heat scorched his back. He rolled beneath Shale’s hammer swing as the big ant crashed forward, slamming the monster’s chin. Quartz splintered.

The Crawler hissed and reared, exposing softer under-hinges. Mia’s spear flashed SILVER PIERCER skill. Her thrust stabbed the joint but the shell there re-liquified, closing like ooze around the blade. She yanked free minus half the steel, eyes narrowing.

Kai pivoted toward the broken warriors Vexor already kneeling, pressing salve leaves on burns while Dustmere twin Axe covered them with cross-bolts. The bolts shattered uselessly.

Mental snapshot: Soft joints re-harden slower. Need concussive or heat-disruptive force.

"Shale, target mouth hinge again. I’ll spike the aura burst behind yours."

The hulking ant grunted affirmatively.

Kai inhaled, triggering Aura Channel (cost 100). Blue filaments raced his limbs. He bolted forward at chest height, Tiny tank activated and engaged time stretched syrup-slow. The Crawler lunged but its arcs missed.

Shale roared and hammered the left hinge with Earth Breaker style: a full body pivot. Quartz webbed; the beast shrieked. Kai stabbed exactly where the cracks met, channeling aura through his spear in a pulse. The charge detonated inside the fissure. A fist sized chunk blew free, spraying molten salt.

[Ding! System notifications: Beast HP ­-12 %]

Progress, but the monster whipped its head, smashing Shale sideways into a dune. Kai felt ribs creak; exoskeleton hairline fractures blinked red in HUD.

The matriarch burrowed again, diving; they had seconds. "Scatter!" Mia shouted.

Ground erupted under Flint, giant glass fangs clamped, shredding the waist to thorax. Flint’s scream gurgled, cut off as he vanished below, blood pooling in salt.l

Rage boiled inside Kai’s, his vision was red. Lomar, Thren, now Flint. He would not lose more comrades. He scanned the area and noticed a heat haze wavering above the beast’s tunnel path. Predator Instinct highlighted the likely surfacing vector.

Kai sprinted, motioning Shale to opposite flank. Mia understood everything, she rallied remaining warriors into a pincer position.

The ground swelled, "Now." she yelled.

Shale leapt, hammer overhead. Kai vaulted, spear reversed for plunge.

The monster breached; Shale’s hammer met skull with a bell-crack, pinning it half-out. Kai drove his spear deep into the earlier wound, straight to brain-mass. He unleashed the Essence Overlord sub-skill (half channel, not devour). Aura surged like liquid silver; inside the Crawler’s head a corona of light burst. Its shriek cut short and the shell slumped.

Salt pan stilled. System sounds rang inside Kai’s mind.

[Ding! System notifications: Quest complete. Matriarch slain. EXP +500. Reputation increases in the team.]

Kai painted leaning on his spear. HP alert blinked 51 %. But they were alive.

Mia approached, eyes soft and fierce. "Good plan," she whispered. Shale grunted proud thanks.

They recovered Flint’s core but only a shard remained. Three injured ants would march wounded; Mia ordered a two-hour triage then movement, "we could not camp near blood-scent."

Kai can’t use his essence eater skills. There is no chance to use it. He decided not to waste time looking for an opportunity. Rather he focuses on healing.

As the sun set red behind dunes, Cerastis Banner limped onward, leaving the shattered husk to scavengers.

They camped in a crescent dune valley called Knife Hollow, named for stone blades protruding from slopes like fossilized fins. Scouts set clay wards to vibrate at tunneling approach. Mender Lylac worked past midnight, stabilizing electric-scalded warriors. freёweɓnovel.com

Kai sat watch with Dustmere twin Ash. Stars burned diamond-sharp; a chill replaced day’s furnace. Thoughts wandered to Thea’s column, had they faced worse? To Mia’s slender silhouette by firelight, issuing soft commands. And to Darius, marching under a stronger princess’s shadow. The anger cooled into purpose: each victory was one more step toward meeting him in open combat.

Before dawn, Mia woke him for quiet discussion. Need to circumvent Furnace Rift by midday, its vents spew glass storms. Kai volunteered to lead a small path-finding trio at first light. Mia’s faith now increased. She believes Kai can handle himself.

She thanked him with a faint smile,still a brick wall between them, but maybe a door forming.

Dawn bled orange as Kai, Shale, and Axe scaled an obsidian rise. Ahead a valley shimmered: spires of black glass erupted from cracked earth. Every few minutes vents roared, blasting shards upward that rained in sizzling sleet.

Needle’s earlier path plotted a zig zag between eruptions. The trio sprinted when vents paused, flattened behind fallen monoliths when geysers screamed.

Heat singed antennae; glass dust cut limbs. But after an hour they reached the west edge and found Coatl Banner’s track: boot prints, beetle imprints, deep and hasty. They’d crossed with losses and dried streaks of crimson dotted the fusion crust.

Kai signaled success. Cerastis followed safely three hours later.