Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 350. An armour of ants

"Alright, we are all set to leave now."

The whole group had gathered beneath the only large tree in the entire camp. This was the same tree that had once been the home to thousands of ants. Until now.

Carved deep into the bark of the tree were bold and deep words.

’The Merrick Barony Was Here’

And beneath the first line were the names of everyone from the barony.

First came the Baron. Then Theo. Then Clara. Then Elias.

When they were done and were just about to leave, a white flash crossed their vision. Theo blinked and noticed yet another deep cut at the end of Elias’s name.

"You wanted to record that you were here too, glutton?" Theo asked with a grin. The more he acknowledged the mantis’s growing level of intelligence, the happier and prouder he felt.

"That’s a good idea," the Baron spoke with a nod. "Attendants, have your beasts leave their mark as well. They worked just as hard with us."

At the baron’s command, the beasts that were already standing beside their tamers glanced at their master once before stepping forward.

Every single beast in their group had now reached an intelligence level where they could understand what other humans or tamers were saying without relying on the bond.

The boar stepped up first and dragged its lone tusk to make a slash across the bark. The tusk made a harsh scraping noise, and the next instant, they all saw a broad, jagged slash on the trunk.

The pup followed, wagged its tail and casually clawed the tree bark with its metallic claws.

Chips of wood flew to the side as four sharp claw lines were carved into the surface.

Next came the ape, grunting softly, still gripping its sword. Ever since Theo achieved a breakthrough with his aura, the ape couldn’t let go of the sword no matter what.

Only Elias and the Baron could truly understand that burning desire for achieving it, the same one they had felt when Theo first displayed the aura.

Chip darted forward and latched onto the trunk before starting to hammer at it like a woodpecker, punching a hole into the bark in the process.

"Alright, everyone’s done," the Baron said and stepped forward.

Theo chuckled. "One more left, or I should say... many more are left." He added with a smile.

The Baron sighed and looked at the ground; if anyone else could notice what he was staring at, they would have jumped in alarm.

When Clara and Elias heard those scittering sounds and looked down at the commotion below their feet, their hearts nearly jumped out of their bodies.

A swarm of ants was surging toward the tree, already climbing its trunk.

"...They are really big now..." the baron muttered, slight disgust evident in his voice.

Most of the ants were nearly half the size of the mantis, and that too was natural; the only exceptions were the spiked ones, which seemed like the smallest ones since there was no sunlight to make them grow bigger.

Thousands upon thousands of ants crawled up the tree and began gathering at a single point before swarming back down again. The entire work was completed within a minute.

When they dispersed, everyone stared at what the ants had left in awe.

Carved into the bark was an intricate design of what looked like the head of a massive ant, complete with long antennae stretching outward. It had been made right beside Theo’s name.

"Intelligent too," the baron whistled. But anyone could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t have a good opinion about them.

Soon, they saw a shifting blob of ants move and stop right before Theo. He crouched and casually lifted the writhing blob filled with the ants. But his action made everyone look away. While the baron kept watching, the disgust on his face just intensified.

"You’re a lot more daring than I am, my son. I am not sure how I feel about that," the baron remarked.

Theo let all the ants from the blob crawl up his arm, lining themselves neatly along it. It almost looked like someone had placed tiny toys on him with care.

Except they weren’t really toys.

They were live, big ants.

With the swarm thinning, the ant queen could be seen with ease, and anyone looking at it would question that this looked nothing like an ant queen... in fact, barely like an ant at all.

Theo opened one of the larger pouches at his waist and placed the ant queen inside.

It was as if the pouch were a perfect fit for the Ant Queen. Soon, several of the larger ants came and perched themselves all around the bag, as if guarding it.

Everyone just watched and then deliberately tried not to watch as this whole process continued, until thousands of ants started moving up Theo’s legs, while he invited them all. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

By the time the last ant had perched itself on his shoe and gone up the armor, everyone had their mouths agape, including the baron.

"I have never seen anything like this, son," he said, his jaw dropped.

The design of Theo’s lesser dragon armor had changed completely, and while a small hole punctured it, it was impossible for anyone to tell that, now with the living layer that now completely covered him.

Thousands of ants clung tightly to his armor, their mandibles gripping into the armor’s surface to keep themselves in place.

It was as if, instead of black, Theo was now wearing brownish armor.

Theo stepped forward.

Seeing him walk, Elias just froze, while Clara instinctively took a step back.

A cheeky smile crept across Theo’s face as he took another step forward. stepped forward. But Clara matched it backward until he started walking toward her slowly.

Clara turned and ran, stumbling once in panic.

"AHAHAHAHA!" Theo burst into laughter at the sight of Clara fleeing while being scared of the ants.

Elias couldn’t help but think that this seemed like employee harassment, but wisely kept the thought to himself. He had no desire for Theo to come anywhere close to him with that creepy armor.

The baron roared with laughter as well.

And just like that, they began moving north.

According to the Baron, the North was the only place where they could have the best chance of finding the gate. Coincidentally, Chip had also found something interesting in that direction, which was enough for all of them to make a decision.