I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 218: Dawn Over Shattered Stone

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Their laughter traveled the soul link, tender and raw, like the hush of two hearts brushing against each other in the dark. For a moment, across the yawning distance of forest and sea, of kingdoms and war, they were just two souls again—tangled in longing and memory.

Somewhere between love and duty, between rebellion and forgiveness, they waited. Then Kai exhaled slowly, voice dipping low with finality.

"My aura’s running out," he said. "The connection won’t hold much longer."

Mia didn’t speak. But in the silence that followed, her heartbeat whispered across the bond. Steady. Waiting. Wishing.

And somewhere, deep inside, Kai promised himself that he would bring her to him. He had to. The situation in ant kingdom is going to worsen by time.

"Hey," she added, voice teasing but warm. "Don’t let that bunny girl steal your heart."

Kai smirked. "Too late. I’ve already sold mine."

Mia froze. "...What?"

"To the highest bidder. Name starts with M." He thinks, "Also multiple others. Right now I can’t tell you about them."

She flushed hard, even over the soul link. Her cheeks become red as cherry, "You’re impossible."

"You like that about me. Don’t you?"

She didn’t deny it. And then, like a wave pulling back from the shore, Kai felt the glow of the connection start to fade.

A soft chime echoed in his mind.

[Five minutes have passed. Soul Core Manipulation / Mastery: Link Duration reached. Skill is deactivating.]

Do you wish to consume 650 aura to re-establish the connection with Mia?

Yes / No ]

Kai looked at the system prompt, then at the stars above the forest canopy.

"No," he whispered. " I need to return to the Eastern forest as soon as possible." The glow faded. But his heart didn’t quiet.

It pulsed louder now, with many names. "Luna. Mia, Miryam. Wait for me." Their name bloomed in his chest like a thorned flower.

A few hours later...

The moon had long since folded itself beneath the cobalt canopy. He rose and stretched, popping the plates along his shoulders. "No more delays. Let’s go inside the ant tunnels."

The tunnels were alive well before sunrise. Akayoroi had turned mourning into industry: surviving assassins ants wove resin tape, scouts measured fresh vents for airflow. The carved walls, once rough, now gleamed with new polish where acid had scorched them during the battle. It reminded Kai of his early days in the Monarch Mountain—raw lattice slowly becoming familiar.

He strode into the main corridor to find Sha directing something to Xxx. Sparks of lamplight caught the resin patches on her big chestplate, still fresh from yesterday’s bath. She bowed the moment she spotted him.

"Kai," she rasped, voice hoarse from chanting all night. "Queen Akayoroi awaits you in the planning den."

Kai nodded. "How many hours have you slept?"

"None, sir. Grief keeps us sharper than rest."

"Take a break after dawn. Your queen will need all of your edge more than she does this hour."

For a moment her eyes widened—gratitude, confusion... but she saluted and returned to her instructions.

Down the passage, Kai passed Azhara kneeling beside a stone basin. She was carefully cutting strips of dried moss into makeshift bandages for the wounded four. When she sensed him, her tail flicked.

"Morning, Sir Ant," she said, trying for breezy mischief, but her voice came out muted. "If you’re looking for something, tell me. I will do my best to complete your orders."

"I’ll keep that in mind." He paused. Her fur was matted, her ears sagged. "You haven’t rested either."

She snorted. "Rabbit resilience is built on anxiety. We crash later." A quick grin flickered. "Besides, burying forty-one bodies is a lot of cardio."

Kai almost smiled—then remembered the dead ants waiting for the ceremony. The humor died on his tongue. "I’ll see you at the rites," he said quietly. She nodded, her ears drooping again, and went back to slicing moss.

Akayoroi knelt in the den surrounded by crude maps scratched on bark. Soft bioluminescent fungi in corner dishes painted her carapace a gentle jade. She didn’t look up when he entered; instead, she placed a marker stone on the rough drawing of a valley.

"We’ll move the wounded to this side of the nest for now," she said, as though continuing a conversation already in progress. "Fewer tunnels to defend, easier to vent if spore infections set in."

Kai sank onto a knee beside her. "How long until they can walk?"

"Two sun cycles minimum," she replied. "We have stopped the venom’s spread, but the cure requires warmth and time." She set another stone on a mountain symbol. "After we bury the fallen, I’ll speak to my sisters. Some want to follow you. Others—" She hesitated. "Others think staying and rebuilding is the truest honor for the dead."

Kai studied the map. "Which do you prefer?"

She angled her face toward him. Her antennae were trembling in the lamplight. "I prefer that none of them die in another forgotten tunnel," she said, her voice low but sure. "If survival means changing our path, I’m willing. But I will follow the majority, even if it breaks my own instinct."

For a heartbeat, Kai said nothing. He picked up a marker. The resin markers felt lighter in his hands than the trust she’d just given him.

"I will leave after two dawns," he answered, "I will need your final decision before that. The journey back is going to be a hard march. It’s better to know who walks beside me."

"I heard." Akayoroi’s mandibles clicked once, a soft, thoughtful sound. "You’ll have my answer tonight."

She shuffled a fresh slate onto the map, then glanced toward a side passage where muffled shouts echoed. "We kept that loose tongue frog alive, the one who soiled himself. He’s shackled in a pit off the main ward. Do you want to... integrate him? Make a thrall?"

Kai snorted. "No. Let him stew in his own fear. That peeing frog holds nothing I need. That fat frog is just a joker."

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