Poison Valley 3
A red carpet densely spread across a large basin.
The ants’ red chitin was shining and emitting light in the sunset.
It felt like an armored army was stationed there, and as I watched the red ball in the center slowly grow like a rolling snowball, it was clear that the sun was starting to set and the ants were creating a temporary camp.
Some ants even weave their own bodies together to create temporary shelters.
A biological barrier made up of the ant’s body and powerful jaws.
And only after seeing that giant ant colony did I finally understand what had been going on.
If such things had swept across the land, there would have been no other insects or animals to be seen on the ground.
I remember reading in a book that in my previous life, when that kind of guy passed by, insects and small animals would completely disappear in the place they passed by, and it would change as if they had been disinfected.
That’s why I remembered that the natives surprisingly welcomed the ants.
A wave of predation that moves and catches and eats up to 100,000 visible insects a day.
That’s what their movement means.
[Little Dragon, do you know what kind of magic this is? I’ve never seen it in the records of the Tang Dynasty, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it, too.]
While I was in awe of the guys’ magnificent appearance, the old man approached me with a surprised expression and sent me a message.
He nodded and whispered to his grandfather’s question.
Ants that move like crazy during the day and gather together at night to make temporary shelters.
A general term for ants that are much larger than the ants of their previous life, but are very aggressive and wander around without building a home.
Army Ant.
These guys were clearly a colony of giant army ants.
[Yes, I’ve never seen this size before, but this is most likely a military horse.]
[Military horse?]
[This refers to a wandering horse that does not build a home but rather marches like an army.]
Army ants are not always nomadic, but usually live in one place and are called sedentary. However, when there is a season when food is scarce, they start to move like that.
They were probably living in Dokmulgok, but for some reason their numbers increased and there was not enough food, so they started wandering.
[Then why weren’t any animals visible?]
[It’s probably because of those guys. If we get swept up in their march, we won’t have any bones left. I think we should retreat for now. Those guys are quite aggressive···.]
Army ants are basically quite aggressive ants.
It was the moment when I suggested that we step back for the time being, as it was common for anything that appeared in front of the procession to be swept away.
-Ttaaak!
The sound of tree branches breaking can be heard.
When I turned my head, I saw a warrior behind me looking at the broken branch under his feet with a look of despair on his face.
-Ttaak. Ttaak. Ttaak···.
The sound that started at the tip of Musa’s feet echoed down the basin like wildfire.
‘What the hell.’
Army ants are ants that recognize and judge moving animals by vibrations.
As expected, the strange sound that had led us here poured out immediately.
-Shoot!
A moment when I realized that what I thought was the sound of bamboo branches or grass swaying in the wind was not the sound of tree branches swaying in the wind, but the sound of a colony of ants moving.
A colony of ants, each doing their own thing, turned their bodies this way as if rippling at the sound of a twig breaking.
The next thing you see is the eerie sight of guys with huge jaws visible in the middle of the red waves.
The sound of their jaws hitting each other added to the ear-piercing impact.
-Tap! Tap! Thump!
A situation where the surroundings are permeated by swooshing and crackling sounds, and goosebumps run down your body every time you hear them.
Now there was no need to muffle the sound, so he shouted in an urgent voice.
“You have to step down!”
“Everyone step back!”
I turned my head and shouted to the warriors who were overwhelmed by the majesty of the ant colony behind me, and along with my urgent shout, a wave of ants began to swarm towards me from under the basin.
A wave of living, red blood.
The huge wave surged towards us like a tidal wave.
-Shoot!
The advance party, without exception, ran in the direction we had come from.
It was obvious what would happen if I was swallowed up by the red waves that were advancing densely.
-Knock. Knock.
As I ran forward through the jungle like crazy, tree branches struck my face mercilessly, scratching my cheeks and arms here and there.
But there was no reason to care about that.
‘If I get caught, I’ll really be defeated!’
Because if you get caught, it’ll be like being put in a grinder.
That’s why we ran like crazy forward.
Army ants aren’t that fast, but these guys don’t feel that slow either.
“River! Across the river!”
As we were running, it occurred to us that the guys hadn’t crossed the river yet, so we changed direction and jumped into the river, and only then did our death chase end.
-Tak. Exactly!
They were watching us from the riverside, clicking their empty jaws, and then they turned back towards the basin, perhaps because the sun was about to set.
When we reached the other side of the river, and escaped the oppressive atmosphere of the ants, everyone let out a long, long breath that they had been holding back.
“phew···.”
“Whew···.”
“It feels like I’ve dipped one foot into the Samdo River and then taken it out···.”
As I lay down on the heated pebbles of the riverside, the grass sprouted and popped its head out, wriggling inside the foam.
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A wet squirrel crawled out of my arms and licked the moisture off my face.
-Tsrrrr.
“Are you okay? The Wukongs probably don’t like water. Dad will dry it for you right away. Okay?”
As I was taking off my top and squeezing the water out of it to wipe the grass, my grandfather and the head of the household came towards me and sat down next to me and spoke.
“What a bunch of guys.”
“Little Dragon, this is truly an amazing magic. That sound. It was a truly strange sound that made people’s ears tingle.”
Both of them looked tired.
Even the greatest master of the Tang family, Grandfather Mandokshin, who never backed down in a one-on-one fight, had a puzzled expression on his face.
“This Mandokshin-kun, no matter who the opponent was, he had never felt fear even in a fight for his life, but when those guys came rushing in, he felt fear for the first time. It’s amazing that small demons can cause fear in this Mandokshin-kun···.”
“Yes, you have to be very careful because those guys tend to eat anything that appears around them.”
After wiping the water off the grass, let’s look around. There are warriors lying around here and there along the river with exhausted expressions.
The sun was just setting over the ridge, and the surroundings were getting dark.
He spoke to the warriors and his grandfather.
“Okay, so now that we’ve done that, let’s see if we can grow that too.”
Let’s see if we can raise them too.
“You’re checking?”
“Are you saying you checked it?”
But there are those who open their eyes wide at the words, “Let’s see if we can raise them like the Golden Phoenix Kings.”
Gupae Daeju tried hard to turn the happiness circuit, thinking that he couldn’t possibly be saying that he would just save his life and go back there.
“You’re not suggesting we go back there again, are you? We just came back from those things, right?”
He said to him, pointing across the river with a smiling face.
“Since we’ve lost, let’s go and catch a few.”
Among the army ants, there are some that are poisonous, so those guys are also poisonous insects.
If it was a poisonous insect, this spicy Fabre would have to take a closer look, so I needed to catch a few.
Then, the old man sends the old man a gift with an expression asking for help.
The look in his eyes asking for help from the old master drove a wedge into his heart.
“Grandpa will of course come with us, right?”
***
“Whoa! Whoa! I, I, I didn’t think I’d do this crazy thing twice! I, I thought the guys would all sleep like the Golden Phoenix King at night when Little Dragon said we should go at night!”
A man holding his breath, perhaps out of fear or terror.
His whole body was shaking as if he had peed himself.
I got caught catching army ants and ended up running all the way here with a large worker ant hanging from my back.
Army ants never let go of their bite even if you cut off their head. Unfortunately, the one that was climbing a tree ended up biting the collar of the old ant.
“Ahahaha… The devil doesn’t sleep….”
Recent studies have shown that army ants rest every 12 hours, sleeping for only 8 minutes.
Moreover, since they rest by dividing into groups, even if the ants sleep, the ant colony continues to move endlessly.
By our standards, ants are creatures that don’t sleep.
“But didn’t it still succeed?”
When we told him about our achievements, the old lord shuddered again as if he was tired of it.
It seemed like today’s incident would remain a trauma for the old ant lord, but I was very happy because I was able to obtain four of the six ranks of the army ant colony with this midnight kidnapping.
Excluding the queen and male ants, there are four castes of army ants: large worker ants, almost large worker ants, medium worker ants, and small worker ants.
Because I was able to get my hands on all four types.
The worker ants of the army ant colony are divided into four classes from birth.
A large worker ant, similar to a soldier ant, with a huge, scythe-like jaw.
And equally large worker ants with jaws that cut and crush.
A medium-sized worker ant that oversees all chores in the colony.
Even the tiny worker ants that care for the queen.
All four of them were of the same class, but he acquired all four of them in a midnight kidnapping.
As the remaining warriors placed ants on the bonfire and checked, the old lord asked if they had finally come to their senses.
“So, can you raise it?”
I shook my head at his question.
I had hoped for it, but it turned out that there was no way to raise them.
It was because the small, fist-sized worker ant I brought home alive didn’t respond to my words or anything else.
-Tick. Tick tick.
Just move your jaw in all directions.
If I could make contact with the queen ant like the Golden Phoenix, I might be able to do it, but I wonder if I could cross the river and meet the queen ant through the red waves and convince her.
Seeing this little guy’s reaction made me wonder if I could control the entire colony even if I somehow convinced the queen.
Ants have a social system similar to that of bees and possess collective intelligence, but they are very different from bees in that each individual has an excellent memory.
Ants’ maximum memory lasts only about three days.
Of course, since they are close to spirits, they may have good memories, but most army ants are blind ants, meaning they cannot see, and although they can sense vibrations, they only communicate with pheromones.
Communication is impossible without going through the queen ant.
So, even if they were raised, it didn’t seem like it would be possible to control them.
“So you’re saying it was all in vain?”
In response to my reply that I don’t think I can raise them, I hear the grumbling of the old master.
“Wasn’t it a waste of effort? Weren’t you able to get your hands on these pretty magic items? They would look really great if you dried them well and displayed them in the family’s Mandokjeon. Oh, and look at this chin. Isn’t this the guy that was hanging on Gupaedaeju’s clothes earlier?”
Although he answered that it was absolutely not in vain, the face of the old master reflected in the campfire had a slightly sad expression.
‘The poisonous snake chosen by the old master. Gritting his teeth···. Ahem···.’
A joke from my past life came to mind, but as I was thinking about it to myself, I heard my grandfather ask me a question.
“By the way, if it seems difficult to raise them, what are we going to do now? Are we going to move somewhere else to look for other poisons?
“Isn’t there another way to go from here to Ruili in the west or Xishuangbanna in the more forested south?”
Grandfather’s opinion: Now that we have the sample, why don’t we move on to other places to catch other poisons?
He answered his grandfather’s question with a smile.
“No. We’re following those demons, no, we’re going ahead of them.”
“Shall we go ahead?”
“Are you saying we should go ahead?”
People who open their eyes wide at the words, “Let’s get ahead of the guys.”
He explained to me why I had to get ahead of them.
“Yes, if you move ahead of them, they will startle you and various insects and poisonous things will pop out around you. If you aim for those, you can catch them very easily. It will be a bit difficult though.”
Originally, army ant marches were followed by many insects and birds, all of which were there to catch any insects or birds that jumped out in surprise.
What I meant was, let’s imitate that.
“Wouldn’t that be fun?”
‘Why are you guys making those faces? It looks like it’s going to be really fun.’
For some reason, everyone had a strange expression on their face when I asked them this question.
