CHAPTER 281: 281: RED MIST IN THE MORNING SKY

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"Hey system, show me the status window."

[Ding! System notifications:

Status window-

Name: Kai

Species: Monarch Devourer Ant

Titles: Humanoid Ant Monarch. Ruler’s Guardian. First Flame Father.

Titles effect: All ants below host level submit to him. All Ruler’s below host level submit to him. Bonded offspring growth +10% while within lair.

Level: 43 (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Exp: 600/1000

HP: 4000/4000

Aura: 4300/4300

Lifespan: 30+ years

Strength: 500

Speed: 500

Stamina: 500

Soul power: 500

Unallocated stats: 25

Ultimate Skill:

1.Essence Eater

Sub skills: Essence Overlord, Devourer’s Bite

2.Monarch Brand

Subordinate Slots: 10/ 20

Silvershadow Rank 4★ , Shadeclaw Rank 4★

Skyweaver Rank 3★, Vexor Rank 3★, Shale Rank 4★, Flint Rank 3★, Needle Rank 3★, Wolf: Rank 2★, Azhara 5★, Lirien 5★,

Branding costs 400 Aura per target. Branded subject evolves into Ant-Hybrid form retaining original racial perks + colony synergy. Brand obeys Monarch’s direct commands, range limitless once bond stabilises.

Unique skill: Luster’s Mark

1. Mia- impression points: 30

2. Luna- impression points:75

3. Akayoroi- impression point: 50

Inventory: Soul-Bonded Storage Cube (4x4x4)

Item: Many Liters star crystal liquid, Essence liquid 1050 liters, meteoroid star iron 1 ton, and a few tons of Beast meat. Some frog star cores for four, five and six star rank.

Skill Set: (Duration: 5 minutes without any cool down.)

Antenna Sensory Boost – Sensing enemies through vibration and pheromones.

Worker’s Resilience – Briefly buffing stamina at the expense of fatigue earned.

Tiny Tank – Hardening the exoskeleton for greater resilience.

Ant’s Instinct – Enhanced resource finding but with a few bugs.

Reflex Mode – Movement speed increased; use at your own risk as it is unstable.

Adaptive Armor (Passive): Exoskeleton can adjust to reduce damage from different types of attacks.

Predator’s Instinct (Passive): Enhances detection of threats and weaknesses in enemies.

Pain Resistance (Passive): 50%

Soul Core Mastery Effect Upgrade:

—Global Mark Resonance (One-way): Host may open a soul channel to any subordinate marked by Monarch’s Mark or Luster’s Mark, regardless of distance or plane.

—Aura Cost: 100 per 1000 km transmission. Cost scales linearly; no upper distance limit recorded.

—Channel direction: Host → Subordinate only. Subordinates may reply only when the channel is open. (For Now, without their own soul power they can’t contact Kai)

Aura Cost: -200 upon per use. ]

The status screen vanished with a soft ripple of light, leaving behind silence and a faint afterglow in Kai’s vision. He blinked once, adjusting to the morning light now spilling fully across the horizon. The air had warmed slightly, though the tension in his spine only grew colder.

Kai frowned. Something was wrong. His eyes twitched.

He turned slowly, eyes narrowing as instinct scraped along his bones like a claw on stone. His foot shifted backward without thought. The terrain beneath him felt different, the ground soft with ash and trampled grass, but the air itself had changed.

Sha and Naaro noticed it too. They paused in mid step. A low rumble came from the sky.

It wasn’t thunder.

Azhara stopped giggling in mid conversation and looked up.

Vel muttered, "That doesn’t sound like one of ours."

A blur silhouette passed overhead.

No wings. No feathers. Just raw muscle, horns, and teeth. A beast. The same one that had howled under the moonlight the night before. But now, it was flying. And it was not alone.

The sky tore open in a swirl of red aura mist.

A scream, no... a roar which echoed from within the aura mist, shaking the clouds themselves. The predator snarled back, circling midair, then lunged into the crimson fog like it was hunting something within it.

Kai’s eyes widened. He couldn’t see what the predator was chasing. The red aura mist pulsed like a heartbeat, forming and reforming itself, twisting like a living storm. Something was inside it... something powerful. Too powerful for him.

The air screamed with aura pressure. A deep weight pressed down on them. The girls winced, some clutching their heads.

A system message crackled into Kai’s ears like a flare bursting into soundless fire.

[Ding! System Notification: Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

Deadly high-star aura detected.

Rank: ★★★★★★★★★ (Nine-Star). Risk level: Catastrophic.

Recommendation: Evacuate the safe zone immediately. Survival chance below twenty percent within the current aura field. ]

Kai did not wait. "Move. Now," he growled.

"Did that thing want to attack us?" Akayoroi asked, gripping her curved blade.

Kai’s voice was sharp. "I don’t know but we need distance. Fast."

The aura radiating from the red mist was unlike anything he had ever felt. It was not just strength, it was hunger. A cold, ancient hunger. A hunger made of blood and fury and teeth.

They ran.

Kai led the charge across the field, every step burning like sprinting through lava. The sky cracked again above them. Another thunderless explosion shook the heavens as the predator beast collided with the red mist in mid air. Sparks flew. The clouds bent around the clash like the sky was screaming.

Behind them, wind howled.

Vel gritted her teeth. "It’s gaining!"

"No. It’s not chasing us," Kai said, scanning the sky. "They’re fighting each other. But the pressure... we’re still inside its range."

Naaro’s eyes glowed faintly as she extended her senses. "It’s like being buried under a mountain."

Azhara was gasping, clutching her chest. "My boobs can’t breathe in this gravity."

Sha helped steady her. "Don’t die now, pervert."

"Save me a kiss if I do."

"Denied." Kai said while running.

Alka let out a high-pitched whistle from above, circling overhead like a hawk made of bronze feathers and a bad attitude. She is a bird she can’t run. He has to fly. But the aura is crushing her.

Kai raised one hand. "Alka! Go ahead and land in a place where the aura pressure range is low!"

A few moments later...

With a thunderous beat of her wings, Alka dropped in a low pressure location and waited for them.

Minutes later they all came, she lowered her back for them to leap onto her back. The moment Kai’s feet touched the saddle spine, he hissed through his teeth.

"Even Alka was struggling."