Chapter 55: What’s a Predator?
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The rest of the team was too exhausted and busy collecting minor beast cores from the scattered bodies. Even Captain Darius, with all his cunning, appeared preoccupied with counting the star cores. That was ideal. The hush after the storm was perfect for covering up Kai’s secret feast on the alpha’s essence.
Gradually, the clearing fell into a lull. Darius reasserted command with a snarl, ordering everyone to gather near the big oak at the clearing’s edge. By now, the day’s savage battles had taxed them all beyond measure.
Gashes, bruises, and mental strain weighed heavily on every ant’s shoulders. In swift compliance, the team deposited the beast cores, including the alpha’s massive, shimmering trophy, into a single rough container pouch. Darius oversaw everything with an air of quiet menace, counting each core with a suspicious glint in his eyes. But no matter how he started, he found no direct reason to accuse Kai of any wrongdoing.
Darius thinks, "Mark my words, worthless insect, I will find a way to end you." Those dark musings radiated from the captain in an unspoken tension. He said nothing, however, merely gave a curt nod to signal that the tally was complete.
The day had been too cruel for them to press on at full pace. With a reluctant acceptance, Darius declared they would search for a secure place to camp. The battered group trudged west, seeking higher ground in a more sheltered patch of forest. The alpha’s body, half-sunken in its own gore, was left behind, now a silent testament to the savage reality of the wilderness.
Night fell with a swift finality, and the expedition settled into a small, hilly clearing that seemed defensible enough. Thorny shrubs and the natural curve of the hillside provided partial cover, and a lone, twisted tree gave them a vantage point. The forest’s canopy was thick, yet a few slender beams of moonlight slipped through, illuminating the battered ants.
The team collapsed around a small, watchful fire. Though the day had cost them deeply in strength and nerve, each ant felt a measure of relief that they had survived. The flames cast flickering shadows over their battered exoskeletons, each line a scar from recent struggles. Soft words and hushed curses mingled in the night air, weaving a tapestry of exhaustion and a quiet determination to continue.
Kai, nursing a cluster of bruises where the alpha had struck him, sat a short distance away from the main circle. His senses still hummed with the surge from devouring the alpha’s essence. Yet a subtle weight gnawed at him: the knowledge that Captain Darius’s malice had not been extinguished by the day’s battles. If anything, that hatred had likely intensified.