Soul Devourer Chapter 2 Episode 28 — Investigation Begins. What Caused the Mutation?
The next day.
For the investigation into the cause of the Empress Ant’s appearance, hunters and guild staff summoned by the Hunter Guild had gathered in front of the A-rank dungeon at 9 a.m.
“We have confirmed that everyone is present! At 9:10, as of the current time, we will begin the investigation! Hunters, we appreciate your cooperation!”
Once the staff member’s greeting ended, the investigation team filed into the dungeon entrance. Among them was a familiar face.
“Matsumoto-san, you were summoned too, huh.”
“Yeah! I rushed to the scene back then, but I didn’t actually fight. I guess since I wasn’t fatigued or injured, they called me in.”
“I did fight, though…”
“But Matsubara-san is an S-rank hunter, and the battle was over in an instant, right? Of course you’d be summoned! Besides, with you here, we can investigate with peace of mind.”
“When you put it like that, I can’t really argue. More importantly, there really aren’t any monsters around.”
“Right after a stampede, monster numbers temporarily drop significantly. There might only be around ten left in the nest, including the boss.”
“Since it’s called Empress, it’s only natural to think that the Queen Ant mutated for some reason, rather than a Soldier Ant.”
“That’s exactly what I think too!”
The investigation team found no abnormalities on the surface and proceeded into the massive nest.
To finish the investigation as quickly as possible, I took charge of combat for the team.
We defeated about five Soldier Ants along the way and reached the boss room in no time. Before engaging the boss, I asked the staff member behind us.
“What should we do about the Queen Ant and her Soldier Ant guards?”
“To be honest, we haven’t decided on a concrete verification method yet. However, there appear to be similar cases overseas.”
“I see. In those cases, were there any suspicious hunters involved?”
“There was no such information.”
If it was the work of hunters, what could it be?
If it were the power of some unimaginable item, we’d be helpless, but, something more familiar that could strengthen monsters would be…
Hunter corpses?
Given the time of day back then, there shouldn’t have been many hunters around, so it’s highly likely that corpses were brought in from outside.
If someone possessed a《Magic Pouch》like mine, it would be possible.
I also have corpses in my《Magic Pouch》… but with people watching, I can’t test that method.
Then what else could it be? Cannibalism among monsters?
No, I’ve never seen anything like that throughout all my activity.
And would a boss that leads lower-ranked monsters really resort to cannibalism?
Among all the bosses I’ve fought so far, not a single one behaved that way.
If cannibalism is unlikely, then how about monster corpses? There are Soldier Ant guards right here; it might be worth testing.
“There’s one method I’d like to try.”
“What kind of method?”
“Feeding Soldier Ant corpses to the Queen Ant.”
“…Would a monster really eat the corpse of another monster?”
“I don’t know. But even if it fails, all we lose is one verification method, so there shouldn’t be any problem, right?”
“That’s true. Then, just in case, everyone will cooperate and-!”
“No, I’ll be fine on my own. If it turns into an Empress Ant, the rest of you wouldn’t be strong enough, and fighting while protecting others would be a hassle.”
“Understood. Then we’ll wait at the entrance to the boss room.”
“Please do.”
As everyone turned back toward the entrance, I tightened my grip on《Balmung》and dashed forward powerfully.
I finished the fight in an instant and then took a large step back to create distance.
As I watched, the Queen Ant didn’t try to pursue me, instead bit into the corpse of a Soldier Ant.
*Crunch, Crunch*
An unpleasant sound echoed as the Queen Ant stopped eating partway through and latched onto the corpse of a second Soldier Ant.
“So it’s not eating everything. It looks like it eats something and then moves on… wait, could it be the magic stone!?”
After the Queen Ant finished consuming the Soldier Ant’s magic stone, a change occurred.
Its body steadily shrank, mutating into a humanoid form capable of bipedal movement, and its presence clearly changed.
Even when I checked its status with【Discernment】, it had unmistakably evolved into an Empress Ant.
“KYIIIEEEEE!”
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E/N:
This is gonna be fun for Yuito, 😂!
Also, this week I'm going to be extremely busy. College + there is this Doujin Cosplay event coming up this weekend and I'm participating as a Translator for a VVIP from Japan…
So, yeah… Wish me luck, guys! Just pray I don't f up any context 😂!
For such reason, I'll mass upload for a week worth, please enjoy!
Stay tuned!
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