SSS-Rank Evolving Monster: From Pest to Cosmic Devourer
Chapter 59: If the ants were the tidal wave

Chapter 59: If the ants were the tidal wave

"Holy Mother of God..."

Most of his life, Ricky had been a staunch non-believer. He’d mocked devotion, scoffed at superstition, and rolled his compound eyes at prayers. But the scene before him made something primal and instinctive stir deep within—the kind of awe that cracked even the firmest beliefs.

Roar!

The air trembled as a thunderous howl echoed, rising from the throats of a hundred armored monstrosities. The Aegis ants surged forward in a unified tide of rage, like prehistoric beasts awakened after centuries of hunger. Bloodlust poured off them in waves, so thick and concentrated it practically took form—striking Ricky like invisible blades trying to peel his exoskeleton apart.

He gritted his non-existent teeth and readied himself.

Ricky had never been a coward. Not when he’d downed fifty bottles on a dare, not when death circled overhead during his evolution, and certainly not now—when a swarm of bloodthirsty ants threatened to rip him to shreds.

Then his compound eyes narrowed.

In the midst of the overwhelming bloodlust, Ricky sensed something else—an emotion far too familiar.

Hunger.

Not anger. Not malice. But the kind of deep, consuming hunger that carved its way into your bones. That ancient hunger that made you forget who you were, turning you into something desperate and animalistic.

His mandibles twitched.

Now that he looked closer, something was off. The Aegis ants looked... wrong. Ragged. Wild. Like starving wolves rather than disciplined sentries. Their sleek shells were dulled, their movements twitchy, uncoordinated, as if madness was eating away at their discipline.

But Ricky shook his head. Now was not the time to think.

He was in the middle of a battlefield, and these beasts were his enemies.

Boom!

His spiritual field flared to life, releasing a distorted pulse of toxic energy. The air around him cracked and recoiled as if punched by a pressure wave. A sickly purple mist swirled like a halo around his insectoid body, thick with venomous mana and death.

The darkness spiritual seed pulsed within his spiritual space, vibrating with hunger. Like a black sun, it greedily inhaled the ambient darkness mana that flooded the air here, feeding Ricky’s rapidly building power.

"Good guy..." Even Ricky was startled by how excited the seed felt—vibrating in resonance with the oppressive environment.

"Well then, come on ants..." His eyes gleamed with unhinged determination.

Superior Iron Frame. Blood Infusion. His body trembled, layer upon layer of blackened muscle and iron-hardened chitin forming in real time. Power surged, washing away hesitation.

He didn’t delude himself. Hundreds of Aegis ants? Against just him? The odds were laughable.

But so what?

He wasn’t going down without a fight.

The ground trembled beneath the charge of the ants. The corridor shook, dust cascading from above like falling ash. A boiling sea of armored nightmares was upon him—dozens of glowing compound eyes fixed solely on him, filled with insatiable craving.

He looked like a lone raft bracing for a tidal wave. Yet, something changed in his gaze. Something shifted deep within.

All at once, he grew still.

Utterly calm.

The eerie stillness of someone who had accepted death—or perhaps something more dangerous—someone who’d transcended it. There was no panic in his eyes now. No tremble in his wings.

If the ants were the tidal wave, then Ricky had become the frost that froze oceans.

"Come and die..." he whispered. Darkness flowed out from his body like ink bleeding into water, writhing and pulsing with ancient intent.

Seconds passed.

But instead of impact, a deafening shockwave knocked him back. He winced, antennae twitching from the sudden pressure.

"Huh! What happened..." he blinked, momentarily breaking character.

The ants hadn’t moved. Not one.

As if caught mid-charge by some invisible force, the swarm was frozen in place. A foot away, a thousand snapping mandibles twitched, but no legs advanced.

They snarled and hissed from where they stood—an ocean of rage and starvation held at bay.

Ricky didn’t relax. He kept his body primed, spiritual field roaring like a cornered beast. Any moment now... they would resume the assault.

But minutes passed.

And nothing.

Fifteen whole minutes.

Eventually, he let out a slow breath and deactivated his spiritual field.

They couldn’t reach him. He was safe... for now.

Now that survival was guaranteed, his thoughts drifted to another matter.

"Where is Noctyss?"

He scanned the surroundings with twitching antennae, eyes darting between shadows, but there was no sign of her.

Not even the faintest lingering trace of her presence.

"Maybe she was sent to some other place..." he muttered. It made the most sense. If she’d passed through the same inheritance mechanism, perhaps they had been separated as part of the trial.

Ricky took in his surroundings more carefully now.

He stood in an enormous corridor, stretching over three hundred meters in both height and width. It felt like the inside of a cathedral turned fortress—vast, cold, echoing with ancient power. The walls glowed faintly with inscriptions, their blue-green luminescence bathing everything in eerie light.

No windows. No doors. Just seamless glowing walls and floors.

Like a cage.

And the ants... they were the prisoners.

Suddenly, the monstrous ants no longer looked terrifying.

They looked like opportunities.

Ricky’s mandibles curled upward. He swallowed hard, unable to hide his anticipation. Every single one of those ants was a juicy, walking lifespan battery.

"Hehehehehehe..."

A low chuckle escaped him. His grin turned sharp. Dark. Sinister.

He was going to drain every last one of them. Penetrate their cores and harvest everything they had.

But first... he had to figure out the rules of this cage.

He took to the air and began circling the massive corridor. Moving slowly, cautiously, he studied the perimeter, testing the boundary of the ants’ invisible prison.

It became clear rather quickly—as long as he stayed near the glowing walls, they couldn’t reach him. A barrier of some sort kept them leashed to the center of the hall.

Ricky’s heart rate climbed. This wasn’t just survival anymore—this was a buffet.

Roughly two hundred ants. Each of them brimming with lifespan and potential.

But even if they couldn’t touch him directly, they weren’t just going to lie down and let him feed.

He needed a strategy. Something clever.

Something cruel.

And oh boy... he already had a few ideas.

His grin widened as tendrils of darkness coiled lazily around him, whispering through the air like waiting serpents.

Today... was going to be very, very fun.