SSS-Rank Evolving Monster: From Pest to Cosmic Devourer-Chapter 54: Personal farm

Ricky hovered mid-air, wings humming with a low, threatening buzz as his compound eyes remained locked onto the obsidian ant below. Each beat of his wings stirred the thick mana-laden air around him. His entire posture was taut, ready, furious.

Below, the ant stood unmoving—its crystal-white antennae twitching slowly as it stared back at him, its massive body exuding calm yet undeniable hostility.

"Damn, you bitch..." Ricky muttered, his voice laced with irritation and a touch of relief. "Thank the abyss you can’t fly."

A sneer tugged at his mandibles. That small advantage was the only reason this battle hadn’t already turned into a losing war. He narrowed his gaze, spiritual energy surging within him like a boiling tide.

With a soft hiss, Ricky channeled the venom deep inside his body. His proboscis pulsed with eerie black light, swallowing the surrounding glow as if it were a dying star.

Wring!

A dense orb of venomous mana launched forward, a perfect sphere of compacted death, howling through the air as it aimed straight for the ant’s glimmering eyes.

Pop!

The moment it touched the shimmering field around the creature, the orb dispersed into thin mist, scattering like black pollen in the air.

Ricky clicked his tongue.

"Hehe... let’s see how long you can keep on dodging..."

He grinned, eyes gleaming with a cruel glint. The rage simmering in his chest had reached a boiling point. That earlier blast—when the ant nearly shattered his spiritual seed—still sent phantom echoes of pain through his core. He hadn’t forgotten. He wouldn’t forget.

A crippled pest? That would’ve been pathetic.

With a thought, his proboscis glowed again—then again. One after another, bolts of venomous mana shot out, filling the sky like falling stars, each one jagged, pulsing, and laced with enough poison to corrupt a hill.

The air thickened.

Thousands of toxic fangs surged down like a divine rain of death.

BOOOOM!

The ant responded immediately. Its entire body lit up like a radiant gemstone, defensive energy erupting from within. Each fang that struck its hardened spiritual field shattered upon impact, bursting into toxic clouds that darkened the air.

But Ricky noticed it.

A subtle shimmer. A flicker of weakness.

"It’s working..."

Though his attacks didn’t pierce the defense, they were chipping it—ever so slightly. His poison wasn’t just physical—it eroded, it pierced, it corrupted. Even something as durable as this ant’s shield couldn’t withstand it forever.

"This is it..."

Ricky’s grin widened. He adjusted his focus, narrowing every ounce of force into a single point. Like a swarm guided by instinct, the next barrage of fangs launched—thousands converging onto one tiny spot, pushing past the limit.

Ka-chhh!

A delicate crack echoed out, barely audible—but to Ricky, it might as well have been a thunderclap. A fracture—thin as a hairline—had formed on the ant’s barrier.

"Die."

He didn’t wait.

With a surge, his Superior Iron Frame skill activated. Ricky’s body glowed faintly, a silver light tracing over his limbs and torso. His bones turned stark white, radiating the luster of newly-forged metal.

Like a meteor hurled from the heavens, Ricky dove.

Wind screamed around him as he shot toward the ant’s head. The ant, momentarily stunned by the breach, roared—an unnatural, bone-shaking cry—and retaliated. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

The crown on its head flared.

BOOM!

Shards of obsidian burst outward like guided missiles, each piece glowing with dense spiritual energy as they homed in on Ricky’s form.

"Not good..."

His eyes flicked. In mid-air, he twisted—his movements erratic but precise. He narrowly avoided the full brunt of the attack, but one jagged shard slashed across his leg.

Pain flared instantly—cold, biting, invasive.

His body hissed as the foreign mana attempted to dig into him, but his venomous aura surged and purged it.

"You like defense?" Ricky growled through clenched mandibles, fury flashing in his eyes. "Then try defending from inside."

He crashed down.

The impact shook the ground. The ant’s legs buckled, sinking into the earth as a crater formed beneath it. Dust and broken stone exploded outward in every direction.

Then Ricky vanished—his figure blurring like smoke chased by wind.

Reappeared.

Underneath the ant’s massive thorax.

His stinger extended—now longer, thicker, thrumming with deep black and violet light.

He struck.

The sharp tip didn’t aim to pierce. It phased, slipping through the barely repaired spiritual field as his venom synchronized with the creature’s spiritual frequency.

A sickening screech erupted from the ant.

It wasn’t just physical pain—it was soul-deep agony. The venom surged inside, bypassing armor, bypassing flesh, and heading straight for the spiritual seed.

The ant thrashed violently, spiritual energy lashing out in every direction. It activated Earthen Anchor, trying to root itself and stabilize. But Ricky was already a step ahead.

His spiritual field expanded—a suffocating dome of venom and rot. Black vines surged from the ground, thick and twitching with fangs, anchoring the ant’s limbs. These vines were like Spiritual parasites—tiny writhing forms—latched onto its legs and torso.

Ricky rose into the air.

His wings beat once—twice—splitting into five blurred afterimages.

"Sleep," he whispered.

He dove.

His forelimbs glowed, sharpened like scythe-blades. In rapid succession, he struck—five precise jabs, each one targeting a joint, bypassing armor, and injecting concentrated venom into its cores.

The ant froze mid-motion.

Its Aegis Crown dimmed, flickering weakly once—twice—then extinguished.

With a shudder, the creature slumped to the ground, its massive frame twitching once before falling still. Its spiritual seed cracked. Its soul field faded.

Dead.

---

[You have killed: Obsidian Aegis Ant – Rank 3]

[Genetic Signature Acquired]

[Spiritual Defense Understanding +1]

[Lifespan absorbed x71 Days]

[Lifespan absorbed...]

[Lifespan...]

---

Ricky stood over the husk of the once-mighty guardian, watching as the prompts flowed in like holy scripture. His lifespan increased dramatically—days stacking like bricks on an eternal wall.

Some of the prompts caught him off guard, but he quickly composed himself.

He glanced at the ant’s corpse—now a hollow shell of what it once was. There was a flicker of disappointment in his gaze. He had hoped to learn the ant’s defensive techniques. Maybe absorb a portion of its essence.

But nothing more came.

With a huff, he turned toward the crevice, its glowing mouth still pulsing with dim mana-light.

Now what...?

The desire to dive down into the unknown tugged at his instincts. But reason held him back. If just one ant was this difficult—what if there were more?

A colony?

He grimaced. If he rushed in, he might not crawl back out.

So he waited.

He kept guard.

This forest was his domain now—his private farm. If more ants emerged, they could easily decimate the weaker creatures living here, and Ricky couldn’t allow that. The stability of the ecosystem mattered—for his own growth, and for long-term survival.

Seven days passed.

During that time, not a single ant emerged from the crevice. The entrance remained silent, its light flickering weakly but never erupting with activity again.

After confirming no immediate threat lingered, Ricky finally turned away.

He had questions—many questions.

And now, it was time to seek answers.

He vanished into the sky, wings trailing behind like fading shadows.

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