The experiments continued.
And those experiments they repeated—sacrificing some individuals along the way—piled up data across the entire colony with every iteration.
I kept pouring the solution into the emptying container, watching the results unfold.
If they showed the will, my role was to help them until we achieved satisfactory outcomes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Your subordinates have discovered the perfect poison concentration.
Finally, after nearly thirty Venom Ants had perished, they pinpointed the concentration they could ingest for maximum efficiency.
Venom Ants carrying a dose potent enough to be lethal to enemies but not so overwhelming as to kill themselves outright became a new force in the ant legion.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Repeated learning stimulates the Queen.
But the gains weren't limited to just calibrating the ingestible poison concentration.
This was something I hadn't anticipated.
Through the repeated experiments, the Queen—who could manipulate the individuals' bloodlines, their genetic information—was influenced by the data as well.
The stimulation I provided is making her produce stronger offspring.
Even if the ants I fed into the process died, their legacy accumulated across the colony.
Combined with their characteristically rapid generational turnover, growth, and the Queen's evolved abilities, the Venom Ants gained greater resistance to poison and the capacity to carry even more of it.
Stronger Venom Ants were born, allowing me to increase the amount of poison I supplied.
The expanded poison doses made the colony's Venom Ants even stronger, prompting me to ramp up the supply further.
It was a repeating cycle forged by my intervention—an existence far beyond the ants' comprehension in the breeding tank.
We were at the level of formic acid for now, but the thought crossed my mind that we might progress to even more potent toxins from other species.
"I've got the hang of it."
I smirked as I watched them.
Beyond simply supplying mass quantities of regular food or providing samples for evolution, it seemed I'd found another way to aid them.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙A new Queen awakens.
As the Venom Ants grew more potent under my influence, a new Queen emerged just days after progressing from egg to larva to pupa, tearing free from her cocoon.
This new Queen's awakening didn't happen in the breeding tank but in the spawning chamber of the fresh fortress the ants had built in that other world.
Thanks to the antics of the original Queen, this one was limited to nothing more than consuming nutrients and laying eggs—and she immediately began doing so to meet the colony's demands.
The production rate...
Even by simple math, her growth speed had doubled.
The doubled eggs and larvae matured into double the troops, allowing the colony to recover from nearly all the losses sustained in the war within mere days.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙They desire more food.
"Even if I dump more food in here, they'll just expand by that much anyway."
I muttered in disbelief at the popup alert.
As the colony grew, so did the resources needed to sustain its larger body.
But the ants' desires didn't stop at mere maintenance.
The moment any surplus appeared, they poured it all into further expansion.
To them, that behavior was an immutable instinct, the very purpose of their existence—no matter how much they evolved or improved.
Even compared to ordinary ants, it was excessively intense, to the point where I wondered if it was another trait warped by becoming my subordinates.
Filling that hunger of theirs is pointless.
I cracked open another tub of mealworms and poured them in.
My expression soured as I gazed down at the ants swarming in to shred the mealworms.
No matter how much food I shoveled into the breeding tank, they never found satisfaction—they still foraged relentlessly in that other world.
Worse, overfeeding them could lead to uncontrolled bloating beyond their limits, leaving the colony vulnerable to catastrophe at the slightest disruption in my supply.
Were they truly doomed to chase eternal hunger forever?
And those who encountered them as predators—spreading in all directions, multiplying explosively to sate that hunger—how much terror would they feel?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Hiiik! D-discovered!"
"No choice. Fight!"
A band of goblins, hauling overloaded wagons, turned pale and flailed in panic.
They had run into a hunting detachment of about thirty ants.
The location was a pass near the old Retenverk barony, once held by Baskal's forces.
This goblin squad, on orders from their chieftain, had been looting weapons and goods left behind in the lord's castle that the ants had razed and promptly abandoned.
To goblins lacking any real metallurgy, it was prize booty worth losing their minds over—but to the ants, it was just worthless scrap metal.
"Protect it at all costs!"
At the warrior's shout, the goblins—armed with high-quality human-forged iron—fought desperately against the ants.
Weapons and gold coins might be worthless to the ants, but living, breathing goblins were different.
They were organic matter infused with mana—the very thing that drove the ants mad.
"Hah!"
A goblin warrior bellowed, his axe cleaving the head of a Worker Ant lunging to snap at his jaw.
Even after undergoing first-stage evolution, a Worker Ant's combat techniques were still rudimentary.
A seasoned warrior could suppress them easily with a weapon.
Fortunate for the goblins, the hunting party's numbers were low.
It meant the ants' greatest strength—swarm tactics—wasn't fully brought to bear.
Thanks to that, goblin soldiers, who lagged behind ordinary Worker Ants in raw strength, held firm with their superior gear.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙"Kieek!?" "W-what is this!? Kuaaaak!"
But then the ants with reddish-glowing exoskeletons—distinctively odd ones—reared up their abdomens and sprayed a colorless, odorless liquid. The goblins began screaming.
Strongly acidic venom splashed across the goblins.
Potent enough to sear flesh on contact with intense pain and burns, it even smoked and corroded their iron weapons.
"Eyes... eyes! I can't see!"
A goblin warrior who took a direct hit clutched his face and wailed.
Even with his mana-enhanced hardy body, poison in his vulnerable eyes blinded him in an instant.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Your subordinates have won.
In the end, overwhelmed by the Venom Ants' acidic venom, the goblins were annihilated, leaving only their wagons behind.
Watching it all, Jin-hyuk tapped his phone screen absently, lost in thought.
"So it was those goblin bastards after all?"
He recalled the goblins who had lured the ants before the war with the human forces.
He'd sensed it then, but the ants' encounter with the humans hadn't felt natural.
The northern forest goblins were the first to notice and swarm the spoils after the ants' victory.
They'd acted with eerie speed, as if they'd been watching the clash from the start.
Though that squad was wiped out, the ants ignored the wagons loaded with inedible junk.
The wagons lay abandoned by the roadside; the goblins just needed to send a follow-up to retrieve them.
Too bad they can't grasp the idea of using it as bait for a trap...
Jin-hyuk easily envisioned baiting the goblins with those wagons for an ambush, but regretfully, the ants couldn't comprehend the strategy yet.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙They are learning about new forms of combat.
Instead, the ant colony gained practical experience deploying Venom Ants in battle.
Spraying poison to fight was a novel concept for them, but with dozens in the hunting party, that knowledge was shared across the colony in real time.
More efficient postures for spraying, optimal conditions, perfect timing—all of it.
Trivial details on their own, but synergizing powerfully when combined. Through their hive mind, the ants shared these experiences, learned simultaneously, and grew together.
With the new soldier types born from his assistance, the ant colony buzzed busily once more, seeking fresh prey and wars to wage.
"Damn it all, what in the hells is the real strength of those monster freaks!?"
One who heard the news flew into a rage tinged with profound anxiety.
It was Karon, chieftain of the goblin village, glaring at the meager spoils his follow-up squad had barely recovered after the dispatched unit's annihilation.
"Five warriors and forty soldiers dead—for this? You think that's a good trade?"
Even the dim-witted warriors and sharper shamans shrank back at his furious words.
It had gone exactly as planned—the ants clashing with the thorn-in-the-side Baskal forces—but the outcome fell far short of Karon's expectations.
Baskal's group crumbled too swiftly, with most humans slaughtered by ants or fleeing.
Meanwhile, the supposedly battered ants recovered in days and now advanced with even greater strength, new soldier types in tow, expanding their territory.
"We can't fall back any further. Lose more ground, and we'll be driven from this land entirely."
Karon gnashed his teeth, regretting not striking the ant nest while it was likely empty during their battle with the humans.
Options were scarce. Fight the ants, or pack up and migrate everything.
The problem: the area was already carved up by rival goblins and other异種.
"Ooooh..."
"That light!"
Then, a beam of intense light descended from the heavens, striking Karon's body.
The gathered goblins flung themselves flat at the sight of their trembling chieftain bathed in the glow.
Goblins—mere lowly beasts—were slowly evolving into civilized beings, all thanks to the blessings of that great entity.
"Ch-Chief. What is it?"
Once the light faded, they couldn't help but ask, faces alight with excitement.
Whenever this happened, Karon received special powers or divine oracles bearing solutions—always good tidings.
"Send word to the nearby forces right now. We can't fight this alone."
For the first time, Karon—stunned momentarily—spoke of forging a united front.
"Our closest are Durkan and Adon's tribes, right? They can't refuse my proposal. He's surely given them oracles too!"
He ground his teeth over the map.
Allying with rivals chafed, but against a calamity engulfing all equally, there were no choices left.
"And... contact the others as well. Orcs, humans—no exceptions."
This was the frontier, but goblins weren't the only ones here.
Plenty of forces faced the same peril.
Refuse, and they'll meet the same end. They're a disaster. An evil calamity come to end this world.
If compromise or surrender were options, they might pass as rivals.
But monsters incapable of even parley were no rivals—just acts of nature.
Karon no longer took the ants lightly.