Law of the Swarm

Chapter 17 Attacking and Killing Ants
Jumping, catching, jumping, jumping, in less than a breath, System successfully caught a dark brown ant, and then jumped away gracefully.

Whether it is speed, strength, or body shape, System has an absolute advantage over ants. As long as he is not fighting head-on with an army of ants, it is still very easy to catch a single ant. After all, although ants have a certain degree of vigilance, they rarely will run away.

When ants encounter an abnormal situation, the first thing they think of is not to run away, but to try to bite you first.

The process of System catching the ants went smoothly, but the subsequent handling of the ants was very rusty.

The four limbs easily caught the smaller ant, but the ant did not resist. It directly bit the root of one of System's limbs with its fangs.

In fact, even if System loosens the legs that are holding the ant, the ant will not fall from System's body. Rather than saying that System caught the ant, it is better to say that they held each other. The opponent caught it.

The exoskeleton was slightly shattered, and System's feet felt burning with formic acid.

After molting into an adult, System's exoskeleton became much stronger, and with the derived abilities [Severed Limb Regeneration] and [Acid Resistance], System's injury was actually not serious.

Waving the huge fangs that were the same size as the ant's head, the black-brown ant carcass was separated.

But an ant is an ant, even though only the head is left, its fangs still firmly bite System's forelimb.

In order to avoid secondary damage to his limbs, System could only use [Corrosion Mucus] to melt the ant's head and fangs, and then successfully separated the ant's head from his forelimbs.

After chewing the ants' crunchy chocolate-like heads a few times, System continued to jump towards the ants that were fighting with the tadpoles in the mud.

Unlike ordinary insect hunters who grabbed their prey and ate them directly, System's actions were more efficient. He had to kill more ants and eat them together.

The IQ of the ants was very low, and their eyesight was extremely poor. Although the sudden appearance of System confused a dozen or so ants for a while, they continued to fight the tadpoles in the mud without finding any abnormalities.

System followed suit and caught the second ant again.

This time, more than a dozen ants were obviously more vigilant than last time, and two ants even chased him half a meter away in his direction.

However, the distance of half a meter was just an easy jump for System, and he easily got rid of the chasing ants.

The reason why the ants were chasing after him for the second time, System quickly figured out that it should be the pungent sour smell left on his forelimbs. Ants have poor vision but extremely sensitive sense of smell.

System was much more careful when catching the second ant. He used his two forelimbs to spread the ant's head far away. Although his forelimbs were scratched many times by the ant's fangs, the ant always pointed the fangs at the west. Sturm's body.

In the end, System bit off the head of the second ant without any injuries.

System, who was eating the head of the grasshopper, began to think about how to get rid of the sour smell left by the ants on his body.

There is still a lot of stagnant water in the forest, using this stagnant water will surely remove some of the sour smell from his body, but compared to washing with water, System has a special method, that is, his [Corrosion mucus].

System's [Corrosion Slime] evolved from [Smelly Slime], and still retains the smelly characteristics. System feels that this smell is enough to cover up the sour smell secreted by ants.

Secreting a few drops of foul-smelling corrosive liquid into his wound, System attacked the dozen or so ants again.

……

As System expected, the smelly liquid he secreted successfully covered the smell of the ants' formic acid. This time, the remaining ants did not chase System too far.

They just searched vigilantly around the dead tadpoles for a while, and then continued to entangle with the dying tadpoles in the mud.

Compared to [Corrosion Mucus]'s success in covering up the smell, System's hunting of the third ant showed flaws again. He was accidentally broken free by the third ant, and his forelimb was bitten tightly by the ant again.

But starting from the third ant, System's movements gradually became more proficient.

At noon, dozens of ants came one after another to dismember and carry the tadpole corpse, and System successfully hunted and killed nine ants.

After the third ant, System was never injured again, and he gradually figured out how the ants attack.

They only attack on instinct, are very predictable, and don't let go of their prey as long as they have a bite.

According to the characteristic of ants that they will not let go when they bite something, System invented a tactic for hunting ants. When hunting the fifth ant, System held a straw stick in his fangs and held it. After catching the ants, the grass stick was sent to the ant's mouth actively.

The ants that clung to the grass stick lost any ability to threaten System.

The sixth and seventh System also hunted and killed them in the same way, but the eighth System didn't use the straw stick anymore, because he was already very familiar with these ants, even if he didn't use the straw stick, He can also easily kill ants.

……

System carried and gathered the corpses of these ants to a short tree branch, and he began to eat.

System can feel that his talent [Degeneration and Growth] is absorbing certain nutrients from the corpses of ants. As long as he hunts and kills different types of insects like this, System estimates that his level will reach level 10 at the latest. , his [Degeneration and Growth] will reach the full level of level 13.

Not only [Molting Growth], as he ate the glands that secrete formic acid from ants, System felt that his [Corrosive Slime] became more corrosive. It is estimated that when his level reaches level 9, this ability will become stronger. promotion.

Looking at the experience bar on the [Self-Information Generation Technique], System estimated that if he ate all these ant carcasses, his experience bar would reach [-]/[-].

These nine ants plus the previous one cricket provided as much nutrition as one pupa.

After careful calculation, fifteen ants are worth one egg.

It has to be said that if it wasn't for System's urgent desire to increase the level of [Molt Growth], it would undoubtedly be the best choice for him to guard those chrysalis.

System chewed the carcass of the ants, and began to think about the next plan. He could continue to hunt some of these ants, but if he ate too much, his [Molt Growth] effect would decrease. to eat a wider variety of creatures.

For these ants, System thought of many plans, such as driving away tigers and wolves.

Use a wooden stick to collect the ants' acidic liquid, and then use this acid to lure the colony to attack enemies that it cannot deal with-such as spiders.

However, it is very difficult to do so, not to mention that the spider's nest is generally in a high place, and it is difficult for the ant colony to launch a general attack. Even if he knocks the spider off the ground, the spider may not be killed by the ant.

Not every kind of ant is a marching ant that can dispatch millions of troops at any time.

If you put hundreds of ants and spiders in a bottle, the spiders will definitely be dismembered by the ants and die, but if you put the ants and spiders in the wild, the spiders will run away long ago.

……

About two hours before the sun set, System ate all the remaining corpses of the ants.

System, who continued walking, encountered a large number of ants again...

(End of this chapter)