webnovelfull Chapter 203: The Queen Ant
Chapter 203: The Queen Ant
The three of them slowly lowered themselves along the white membranes until their boots finally touched the ground. Only then did they realize how enormous the Queen actually was.
From above, it only looked like a giant ant fused with mushrooms. Standing beside it, however, the thing was closer to a three-story building.
The swollen abdomen alone occupied almost half of the chamber, completely merged with countless mushrooms and white membranes that spread throughout the headquarters.
Transparent liquid continuously flowed through those membranes before disappearing into the Queen’s open mouth. It looked less like breathing and more like an irrigation system feeding a giant tree.
Arthur couldn’t stop observing it. "The mushroom really is the center of the Groove."
He walked a little closer while avoiding the membranes beneath his feet. "The shape is weird."
Otis immediately looked at the giant mushroom growing from the Queen’s abdomen but all he could see through the night vision was different shades of green.
"What shape? Also, don’t get too close! What if she is awake?"
"She won’t, for now. Mycorrhiza mushrooms naturally have smooth caps and rounded edges because they need as much surface area as possible to exchange nutrients."
Arthur pointed at several parts connected to the Queen. "These ones are shrinking. The edges are curling inward and some caps have rough patches instead of smooth surfaces. There are also dozens of spots all over them. I can’t tell the color because of the goggles, but they shouldn’t be there."
Jace also raised his head. "The whole thing looks dry."
Arthur nodded. "Exactly. The membranes are still transporting nutrients, but the mushroom isn’t expanding anymore. It keeps consuming without replacing damaged tissue."
He became silent for a moment while watching the transparent liquid continuously flow into the Queen before letting out a long breath. "The mushroom is reaching the end of its life cycle. The queen will surely wake up after taking all the nutrients needed, we can’t stay here any longer."
"Let’s plant the C4 and leave before that happens. We probably won’t be able to kill it, but at least we can damage the main body enough before returning to Edelweiss."
Jace and Otis didn’t argue. They were terrified, but more than that, they needed to bring this information back to Freebound.
If all three of them died here, everything they had discovered would disappear together with them and this expedition would become completely meaningless.
After planting the explosives near the thickest membranes, Jace’s attention shifted behind the Queen where a tunnel almost hidden by fungal tissue connected directly to the giant body.
It was easily large enough for several worker ants to walk through side by side and the ground was covered with hardened secretion instead of mushrooms.
"That should be a maintenance passage," Arthur immediately concluded while comparing it with Leon Miller’s notes.
"Worker ants need a route to feed the Queen, clean parasites and remove waste. The colony is almost dead now, so nobody is using it anymore. If we can get inside, we might reach another tunnel without passing through the main chamber."
"The problem is getting there," Otis whispered while looking at the fungal network spread beneath their feet. "The tissues and mushrooms there are fussed together with the queen, maybe becoming part of her body. What if it wakes up?"
Jace nodded and immediately took off the small pouch hanging from his waist. Arthur reluctantly followed, putting down his backpack before carefully transferring the rotten canned food sample and the black goo they collected earlier into his pockets.
"One of these is inside a glass bottle, I don’t want it breaking after we went through all this trouble. Besides, if we survive, Greenwardens will definitely want to examine them."
Even then he still crouched beside one of the mushrooms and cut off a small piece that hadn’t completely assimilated with the Queen before sealing it inside another container. Otis could only shake his head.
"You’re collecting samples while standing next to a monster bigger than a building."
"I walked all the way here already. It would be stupid not to."
The three of them slowly stepped onto the membranes and immediately realized they weren’t walking on solid ground at all.
The fungal tissue sank beneath their boots before returning to its original shape, soft enough to feel like a wet mattress and slippery enough that every step needed to be carefully tested first.
Arthur suddenly stopped and looked down before immediately changing direction.
"This part already fused completely. You can feel it moving if you stay still long enough, the same rhythm as the Queen. Try stepping on the mushrooms that are still separate instead. Let’s not take risks."
None of them questioned Arthur anymore. They simply followed him while carefully choosing every step, trying their best not to become the reason the giant Queen opened her eyes before they even reached the tunnel.
Arthur suddenly frowned when he noticed the membrane beneath Otis’ boots was different from the others. It was smoother and thicker, directly connected to the Queen instead of the surrounding mushrooms, making him immediately raise his hand.
"Wait, don’t step on tha—"
It was already too late.
Otis had already shifted his weight. The membrane slowly sank before expanding again, and the movement spread throughout the entire network like a ripple on water.
The transparent liquid inside every white vein suddenly stopped flowing before rushing back toward the Queen, making every membrane swell at the same time.
The three of them instinctively held their breath.
For a second nothing happened, making Otis almost think Arthur had overreacted, but the ground suddenly shook so hard that they nearly lost their footing.
Cracks spread across the chamber while the mushrooms attached to the Queen trembled violently and started breaking apart.
Arthur’s expression immediately changed. "Run! The network is collapsing!"
None of them asked another question. They turned around and rushed toward the maintenance tunnel while the giant body behind them slowly moved for the first time.