Chapter 92

Panic scenes are so much fun to write that the story doesn’t progress at all!

“Hey there, it’s you again. Things have been rather unsettling lately. I might be imagining things, but I feel something moving underground. Earthquakes have also become strangely frequent. I hope it’s not a harbinger of something bad. Ho ho ho.”

After finishing my daily chat with the old lady who always says “ho ho ho,” I was in the middle of discussing future jobs at the guild when “it” happened.

The guild’s door burst open with a loud bang, and a man tumbled inside.

Unaware of the odd looks from those around him, he opened his mouth with a desperate expression.

“Ou, ou! Ou, ou, ou, ou, ou….”

Perhaps overwhelmed by his emotions, the man pointed outside, repeating incomprehensible words, then took a deep breath and shouted:

“Ants!!”

The guild, which had been noisy, fell silent at this brief and meaningless cry.

Amid the confusion,

“They’re here!”

I twisted my lips into a smirk, slipped past the man, and rushed out of the guild.

Stumbling out of the building, I saw the scene I had expected.

The lively streets of Freila.

Everywhere, holes had been dug from the ground, and from them, black something—ants, each over a meter long including their antennae—were crawling out.

People in the streets screamed and ran around.

But that wasn’t all.

The ants, once on the ground, bent their bodies and aimed their tails at buildings and people, firing yellow viscous liquid.

Those who were too slow to escape just stared in shock as the liquid flew in a parabolic arc.

It hit buildings and the ground with a hiss.

“What is this? Ants’ bodily fluids?”

“Ugh! Acid… It’s acid!!!”

A hellish scene of chaos.

So, first, I had to take control of the situation on the brink of panic.

“—*Fire Rain*!”

Rain of fire poured down from my hand onto the ants.

These ants, *Killer Ants*, are terrifying monsters to civilians, but they are only level ten.

They are no match for even a slightly experienced adventurer, let alone an A-rank adventurer like me.

Waiting for everyone’s attention to focus on me, I shouted immediately.

“Calm down! Those who can’t fight, get inside the buildings! Adventurers, let’s exterminate these bugs together! They’re not a big threat, but there are a lot of them! It’s a good time to earn some money!”

Understanding that the ants were not an insurmountable threat and having a direction to act, the chaotic situation began to regain some order.

I even heard voices like, “It’s Rex!” and “That’s….”

Then, as if to encourage the situation, the guild’s door burst open, and a familiar burly man shouted as he rushed out.

“It’s the veteran of the Adventurer’s Guild!! The ants are our job! Men, let’s take them down!”

Though his battle cry sounded like a bandit’s, in this case, its clarity worked in our favor.

Unable to ignore the loud voice, the killer ants turned to face the veteran.

Then, with a roar, the adventurers rushed out and the battle between adventurers and killer ants began.

* * *

“Shi…she…old man!!”

I met up with Rad and the others, who had returned from outside the city, about ten minutes later, after most of the ants in the city had been dealt with.

“Hey. You were quick.”

As I raised my hand to greet him, Rad started talking in a flustered manner.

“Hey, not ‘hey’! What’s going on here!”

“It’s just as you see, an ant attack. …But don’t worry. The worst is over.”

There were still a considerable number of ants left on the city walls, but there were only a few left in the city.

They would be eliminated soon by the enthusiastic adventurers.

(But, no doubt.)

The quality of the defenders, the adventurers of Freila, is higher than in the game.

Is it because the NPCs have become human and can make better judgments, or because the information on classes and manual arts I provided was helpful?

In any case, the situation seems to be resolving much faster than in the game.

(Well, I did prepare in advance.)

When the ants attacked Freila in the game, the main spawning point was a certain abandoned house on the outskirts of the city.

So, I took precautions, bought the house, and covered the holes so they couldn’t be dug.

While some of the ants might have spread to other holes, the situation has improved significantly because they don’t all come out at once.

Furthermore, the *scent bags* I prepared, which incapacitate low-level monsters for a few seconds, placed in boxes throughout the city, are functioning properly.

Thanks to this, there have been only minor injuries so far, no deaths.

Looking at me with a complicated expression, Rad asked:

“So, is it safe to say the city is under control now?”

“Up to this point, yes.”

At my words, Rad’s face twisted.

“So, that means….”

“There’s no way so many monsters would appear without a reason. There must be a cause behind this, a ‘Queen’ that produced all these ants.”

As I said this, I recalled the game’s memory.

—World Event: *The Great Ant Invasion*.

This event occurs after the era is divided into II, and depending on how the game progresses, either this event or *The Great Bee Invasion* will happen.

The condition is straightforward: the extermination of enemy races.

In simple terms, if you kill ants, bees will appear, and if you kill bees, ants will increase. When the balance tips to a certain point, the event will occur.

You can delay the event to some extent by killing ants and bees equally, but the count increases over time, and eventually, one of the invasions will happen.

So, my plan is to focus on exterminating the target race and control the event’s occurrence.

Furthermore, if I complete this event and defeat the “Queen” myself….

(I might be able to find the “protagonist”!)

Sensing something from my demeanor, I patted Rad’s shoulder, who seemed to be slightly backing away.

“Rejoice, Rad. Fortunately, I already have a plan to reach the ‘Queen’ and be the first to get there.”

Well, it will require some reckless actions, but it’s too late for that now.

In other words….

“—It’s time for the long-awaited ‘adventure’!”

Just between us, the parts with “San, San, Thunder!” and “Ants!!” were already written a few months ago.

I’m glad the story connected properly.

The next update is on December 4th!

It’s the book release day!

I’ve also posted information about the book in my activity report.

Please check it out if you have a chance!