Ari's legs pounded against the scorched earth as he darted through the smoke-choked air. All around him, the battlefield crackled with fire, screams and chaos. Ants shouted, acid hissed as it hit the dirt, and the termite colony's decaying tree stump loomed like a dying giant in the flames.
He didn't have a plan—just adrenaline and a stubborn refusal to freeze up. His heart hammered in his chest as he charged past a wounded comrade, gripping the two mandibles he'd been given for weapons. They felt too light in his hands. He hadn't trained long enough to use them with precision, but they were all he had.
Then—
A sharp hiss cut through the air.
A termite burst through a split in the bark, tall and gaunt with twitching limbs. Its compound eyes glowed faintly, and from the palms of its hands, a stream of sizzling green acid shot toward Ari.
"Crap!"
He dove to the side, barely dodging the jet of corrosive liquid. It struck a rock behind him, immediately eating into the surface with a violent sizzle.
The termite hissed again, raising its arm for another shot.
But Ari was already moving.
He surged forward, eyes locked on the attacker, legs pumping on pure instinct. He zigzagged to throw off its aim, and as the second stream of acid missed him by inches, he leapt—body twisting mid-air.
He slashed with both mandibles.
The blades connected with a soft, wet crack—slicing into the termite's chest. It staggered, eyes bulging as it fell backward into the dirt, limbs spasming.
Ari landed in a crouch, panting, wide-eyed, hands shaking.
And then—
A soft digital "ding" echoed in his ears. Not from around him—but "inside" him.
"What...?"
A thin line of light traced itself into existence just above his field of vision, shimmering as if the air had cracked open. Then, in a blink, a glowing rectangular screen snapped into view—hovering just ahead of him.
He froze, eyes wide.
[New Quest Detected]
Objective:Slay 50 Termites
Progress:1/50
Reward: ???
Status:Auto-Accepted
"What the hell?" he whispered, backing away slightly. The screen moved with him—anchored to his vision.
It looked like something out of a game—sleek, blue-hued text with crisp lines and pulsing borders. Just like the RPGs he used to play when he was human. But this wasn't a screen. There was no controller. No menu to open. No pause button.
"This doesn't make sense, what is a screen like this doing in this world… I didn't agree to anything."
He reached out toward it, hesitated, then swiped a hand through the screen.
It offered no resistance. His fingers passed through like mist.
"Involuntary quest," he muttered, reading the line again. "So… it's just happening? Whether I want it to or not?"
Then he noticed the counter jump—2/50—as a nearby termite was consumed by the fire.
His chest tightened.
"What is this place?" he murmured, watching as another number ticked up.
He didn't understand what was going on. But deep down—beneath the confusion and fear—something stirred. Not courage exactly… but a pull. A strange compulsion. As if something unseen was *watching*, waiting for him to respond.
"I don't know what this is," Ari said, tightening his grip on his mandibles, "but something compels me to complete this quest, and I will
With a burst of speed, he sprinted toward the burning heart of the termite colony, the quest screen glowing faintly above him—like a silent, impossible witness.
"Ari, what the hell are you doing? Do you have a death wish?" shouted Anastasia, her voice echoing from outside the blazing stump.
But Ari didn't turn back.
He darted deeper into the burning termite colony, the smoke curling through the broken tunnels, the scent of acid and charred bark thick in the air. The corridors glowed orange from the firelight, flickering shadows cast across the curved walls. He ran like a phantom—too fast for the termites to track, too erratic for their acid streams to land.
He moved on instinct, slicing with both mandibles as he passed.
One termite lunged from a crack in the wall—slashed down.
Another aimed acid from the corner—Ari sidestepped, kicked off the wall, and cut it down mid-charge.
They weren't built to fight at close range. Their acid was their only real weapon. Once Ari closed the distance, they were helpless.
"That's forty... forty-one..." he murmured, eyes scanning for the next target.
Behind him, he heard a subtle pop—the hiss of acid charging in a termite's palm.
Without thinking, he twisted on the balls of his feet and lunged to the side. A thin stream of acid sizzled past his shoulder.
He landed in a crouch and lunged forward in one clean movement, slicing the termite cleanly down the middle.
"Forty-two," he exhaled.
The quest screen flickered into view above him, and just as he finished the next kill, the words glowed:
Quest Complete
Reward Processing...
Ari stopped moving, chest rising and falling with each breath. The flames licked closer to the core of the colony, and the termite screams faded into the distance as the rest of the swarm was pushed back.
He stared at the quest screen, eyes wide and uncertain.
"That's it… I finished it."
He lowered his mandibles slightly, his grip loosening. Somewhere in the chaos, the thought slipped into his mind—gentle and aching.
Keiko...
"I wonder if I'll be given a reward," he muttered. "Something that can get me back to my world. So I can be human again… So I can see her…"
But the fantasy shattered in an instant.
A sudden shift in the air—like the pressure of the room changing. An ominous presence flared behind him like a dark wave crashing through the tunnel.
Ari's eyes widened.
Crap. I let my guard down.
He spun around—but too late.
A sharp, wet crack—a mandible laced with seething green acid pierced through his back and out his chest.
Ari gasped as his vision blurred, hemolymph pouring from the wound. He staggered, coughing violently before spitting up a thick glob of it. His legs buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright, trembling.
Behind him stood a termite unlike any he had seen before.
She wasn't gaunt and monstrous like the others. No—this one was different. She looked human just like the ants from his colony.
Her face bore the sharp elegance of a woman—eyes cold and golden, lips twisted into a smirk. Her body was humanoid in shape, yet her skin was replaced with dark yellow exoskeletal plating that glimmered like armor in the firelight. Elegant and terrifying all at once.
"I finally caught you," she said with a chuckle, her voice rich and venomous. "You're a quick one, aren't you?"
"To think you lowly ants had the nerve to attack my colony," the termite woman sneered. "How dare you?"
His vision wavered. The heat of the fire, the searing pain in his chest, and the toxin spreading through his body all crashed into him at once.
"Oh, I like you. You're strong—fast. Must be important to those pests outside. That makes you perfect."
Her smile widened.
"I think I'll use you as my one-way ticket out of here. Sadly, you won't survive the trip. That acid flowing through your body? It's already eating you alive from the inside."
Ari grit his teeth, every breath ragged. His arms trembled as he still had a grip on his mandibles, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Outside the burning tree stump, the termite resistance had begun to falter. Their numbers dwindled by the minute, and the few that still emerged did so in panic, their movements erratic and directionless. Ant soldiers cut them down one after another, their mandibles slick with termite blood, the scorched earth steaming beneath their feet.
"The situation seems to be under control now, Commander. Fewer termites are coming out of the colony," reported Beatrice, her mandibles dripping with termite blood, acid hissing against the blackened earth beneath her feet.
Anastasia stood at the frontline, her breathing heavy but steady, sword-like mandibles gripped tight in each hand. She scanned the field, assessing the chaos.
"That's good news," she said. "But don't let up. Not until every last one of them is dead."
Just as she turned to relay more orders, a terrible silence rippled across the battlefield.
From the heart of the burning tree stump, a figure emerged—half-draped in smoke, bathed in firelight.
And in her grasp was Ari.
Blood and hemolymph dripped from his limp form, staining the ground in his wake.
"A-Ari..." Isla gasped, hands trembling, her voice cracking with disbelief.
"They got him…" Rory muttered, paralyzed. "No… He can't survive termite acid. No one can…"
The termite holding Ari stepped forward, regal and predatory, standing tall with an eerie calm. She was unlike any termite they'd seen—shapely and humanlike, with a gleaming dark yellow exoskeleton wrapped around a feminine, commanding frame. Her golden eyes radiated fury and malice.
I am Andromeda—the Corrosion Empress" she announced, voice sharp as a blade. "You ants have destroyed my colony and slaughtered my people."
She paused, lifting her chin with disdain.
"One day, we will have our revenge." The marrow in your bones will sizzle before your scream even leaves your lips."
A surge of rage erupted from the soldiers.
"Let's kill her!" an ant shouted, already starting forward.
"No! Stop!" Anastasia shouted, raising her arm. "She has Ari! Do not engage!"
Queen Andromeda's lips curled into a wicked smile. She looked down at Ari, his barely conscious face contorted in pain.
"I knew you were special," she cooed. "Thanks for your help, handsome."
With a sickening noise, she yanked her acid-coated mandible from Ari's chest. His body spasmed and sagged in her arms.
Then she bolted.
"After her! Don't let her escape!" roared Beatrice.
The soldier ants charged—but it was a trap.
With a sudden, feral screech, Queen Andromeda spun mid-stride and expelled a massive torrent of sizzling green acid in every direction. It erupted like a shockwave, coating the battlefield in a deadly mist. Where it touched, ants screamed—and then disintegrated, their bodies reduced to bubbling sludge within seconds.
Those too slow to dodge were lost in an instant.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Beatrice yelled, her voice cracking over the dying screams.
Smoke and acid swirled in the air, and amidst the chaos, Anastasia knelt by a fading trail of blood that Ari had left behind.
Her hands trembled.
"Ari… Say something to me…"
Silence.
"I told you not to run into the colony alone, you reckless idiot!" Her voice broke.
But the anger couldn't hide the terror on her face.
He was gone. The Queen had him. And worse—he was dying.
Anastasia clenched her fists, her mandibles scraping against the earth.
"Damn you..."