That Thing!

A sunken stone stage.

From it, billowing white smoke like dry ice surges upward. Then, with a tremendous rumble, an enormous... pale yellowish-green sphere rises through the gaps in the smoke, revealing itself.

[(UZUDODODODOD...!!)]

"What the hell is that...?"

"Hah... No way!? Is that—a leaf-sucking aphid!?"

Unbelievably, the monster making such a grandiose entrance as the boss was a super-giant aphid.

"Wait, why an aphid...?"

"You don’t know, Shizu? Ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship!"

Mm, as expected of Serai-san, coming from a farming family—she knows her stuff. For once, the usual dynamic of their conversations was flipped.

"I only knew about, like, the ant and the grasshopper thing..."

"That’s just a fable, isn’t it?!"

Anyway, the boss was a super-giant aphid.

Up until now, it had been nothing but ants, so I’d assumed if there was a boss, it’d be a queen ant. But this was a total curveball.

Its imposing figure was massive, pale yellowish-green, and round... Yeah, it kinda reminded me of those gas tanks you see around the city.

But seriously, the sense of scale here is always messed up.

And with the enemy being insects, it almost felt like we’d been shrunk down to microscopic size.

"More importantly, they’re coming! There’s nowhere to run, so we’re fighting here, right?"

But while I was thinking that, the Great Ants—having finished their grand entrance and lined up—began their advance, clacking their mandibles toward us.

"Fine, then it’s a fight. We’ll form up too!"

Seven Great Ants, each easily five meters long with savage faces, were closing in. The pressure was intense. It was less the Seven Spears of Shizugatake and more the Seven Ants of the Mountain Dungeon.

On our side, Serai-san was at the far left, then Nina-san, with Massive Kangaroo Masaru sandwiched between them, and me on the far right—a straight horizontal formation.

The dome wall was at our backs to prevent flanking. Masaru was the weak point in our defense, so Nina-san and I would cover him from either side.

...

"Taaah!"

"Hyah!"

And so, the battle began.

Serai-san and Nina-san shouted, firing sticky bullets and swinging their weapons. In response, the Great Ants bared their massive mandibles, lunging to bite. Masaru countered with sharp kicks, knocking back their heads repeatedly.

But it didn’t take long to realize—we were at a disadvantage.

"What the...! We’re not even pushing them back!?"

"Ugh! Why do they retreat right when we’re about to finish them!?"

We were already outnumbered, and whenever a Great Ant took damage, it would wisely fall back instead of overextending. They’d retreat to the super-giant aphid, recover, and then return to the fight fully healed.

"Grr, I wondered what combat ability an aphid could possibly have... So it’s a healer!?"

The Great Ants’ massive bodies blocked our view, so we couldn’t see clearly.

But given their relationship, the super-giant aphid was probably secreting some sweet fluid from its rear to heal the injured Great Ants.

Still, what a solid strategy...

It was just like hardworking, diligent ants. Staring at the Great Ant in front of me, I could almost hear it saying, "We’re not like grasshoppers... We’re nothing like them!"

Against this rotating formation of healing Great Ants, our outnumbered side couldn’t break through—instead, we were being pushed back.

I spread sticky membranes to hinder their movement and attacked with Rock Salt Stakes.

But if I left even a slight gap next to Masaru to press the offense, a Great Ant would immediately shove its head in, forcing me back.

Serai-san seemed to be in the same situation on the other side.

"Ugh! We can’t even heal, this is a losing battle!"

Nina-san, swinging her Hyper Excalibur fiercely, spat out frustrated words from behind Masaru. She was struggling too, having to watch both Masaru and Serai-san while fighting her own opponent.

Mmm, this is bad...

"Hey, wait, Masaru! That’s bait!!"

But then, Masaru—sniffing out what was clearly a feint—charged forward at a staggering Great Ant.

And just as expected. The "staggering" ant instantly steadied itself, and the one next to it—which had been facing me—swung its mandibles toward Masaru in a sudden pivot.

(Crap!)

To save Masaru, I hurled a Rock Salt Stake at the ant on my right, staggering it, then lunged forward myself.

I slammed into the ant’s mandibles from below, forcing them upward before they could clamp down on Masaru.

"Not happening!"

[BUGO!?]

Thanks to that, Masaru avoided the attack.

But with both of us now forward, another Great Ant slipped into the gap we’d left. And this one... was in some weird stance, thrusting its big rear out between its legs before body-slamming me.

I couldn’t dodge—not while still holding up the other ant’s mandibles—and took the hit.

At the same time, something pierced my right flank, bypassing my armor and sending unbearable pain shooting through me.

"GUWAAAAAH!"