Different from the guards and knights who were escaping with all their might trying to outrun the giant ants rushing them from behind, the group that Thomas was part of had already begun moving ahead of time and were far enough away from the chaos that they could glance back to check out the situation playing out behind them from time to time.
"Huh? Is... Is that little lord Charles riding one of the giant ants...?"
And it was during one of these occasional glances back towards the group escaping in their direction, that one of the B Rank Adventurers who mainly used a bow and had far better eyesight than the others spotted the current state of Charles as he was being caried on the back of the largest giant ant that had emerged so far. Seemingly leading the giant ants into battle against his own people... And in response to this ludicrous exclamation, the rest of the adventurers including Thomas couldn’t help turning around to see for themselves...
"W-what? Repeat that again- Wait, he really is on the back of one of those giant ants!"
"How in the world is he doing that? And it even looks like he is sleeping... Is Charles perhaps a powerful monster tamer that managed to tame one of the giant ants...?"
"That is possible... After all, monster tamers are exceptionally rare and normally needs a lot of financial resources at the start. Maybe this Charles was a monster tamer all along."
But contrary to what most of them had expected, this claim turned out to be correct, causing them to come up with their own conclusions that ultimately ended up with Charles being a secret monster tamer that had managed to tame one of the giant ants just in time before using it to escape. The reason for his sleeping state being because he had exerted all his strength in taking control of the giant ant and was thus forced to leave the escape to the giant ant.
The only one who knew for certain that this was not the case was the leader of the group, who was far more familiar with Charles and his background and knew for certain that he wasn’t a monster tamer and Thomas, who in his vast knowledge of monster understood that Charles wasn’t a monster tamer.
Not just because of how weird it would be for this noble to somehow be a secret monster tamer, but also because he understood that it was essentially impossible to tame a giant ant even for a monster tamer at the level of an S Rank Adventurer. All for the simple reason that these giant ants were all under the control of the ant queen and only by taming the queen would one be able to control the giant ants.
Of course, that was without considering the difficulty of taming a giant ant queen, as under most circumstances, it would be easier to tame an S Rank Monster... And Thomas seriously doubted that Charles had the ability to accomplish something like that.
For this reason, while the rest of the group were silently admiring Charles for his ability to tame a giant ant that seemed to be close to the A Rank, the leader and Thomas both understood that the giant ant Charles was riding on top of wasn’t tamed. Meaning that the other party had seemingly been caried off by the giant ant by accident and because he had seemingly fallen back asleep again without moving around too much, he hadn’t ended up alerting the giant ant to his presence.
Because of this, both the leader and Thomas quietly looked at each other for a brief second, both seeing the understanding in each other’s eyes.
"This... Is the first time I have seen something like this in all my years of researching monsters..."
"I don’t doubt that... Even in my experience as an Adventurer, I have never seen something like this before today..."
With this short comment, the two turned back around and continued their escape. After all, they were still not outside of danger yet and still had to ensure that they got far enough away from the giant ants to avoid getting swept up in the chaos that had been caused by the mountain ape.
At the same time, they also had to keep an eye out for said mountain ape in case it decided to target them now that they were moving through the night.
Not just the mountain ape, but they also had to keep an eye out for other monsters, as they had essentially been forced to move deeper into the mountain range by the giant ants, something they had originally wanted to avoid given how there were some monsters hidden in the depths of the mountain range that were far scarier than the giant ants.
But in their current situation, they didn’t have much of a choice, as facing the giant ants head on wasn’t an option.
The only positive about their current situation was that they would no longer have to worry about the noble that had been chasing after them and his guards, as those guards and knights were already disappearing amidst the large number of giant ants that had surged forth. Leaving behind only the few stronger ones able to outrun the giant ants for now.
As for Charles himself... The leader and Thomas both doubted he would be able to survive, as the giant ant he was riding on top of would undoubtedly turn around to kill him the second it discovered someone riding on top of it.
In the end, the giant ants continued chasing down everyone who had wandered into their territory, with only the two former A Rank Adventurers being able to escape by relying on their strength and experience.
The only other person to remain alive from the noble escort group by the time the giant ants began to recede back towards their nest again was none other than Charles, who still remained peacefully asleep on top of the largest of the giant ants, who had already torn through over half of his guards while he peacefully slept on its back.
However, everyone who saw him being caried back into the nest of the giant ants understood that his fate wouldn’t be much different from that of his guards. After all, a giant ant nest was terrifying on its own, but stuck inside one, even an S Rank Adventurer would struggle with the unending stream of giant ants that could easily wear one down over time.
Not to mention, the complicated tunnel network of a giant ant nest that stretched on in a seemingly endless maze undiscernible to anyone who wasn’t a giant ant made it close to impossible to leave ones one was trapped inside.
"A pity... It would have been preferable to at least fight for life at the end instead of the fate that awaits him in there..." Quietly muttering this to himself as he stared off towards the mountain that housed the giant ant nest, Thomas couldn’t help silently praying for Charles, being fully aware of the horrible fate that awaited someone who found themselves inside a giant ant nest.
It wasn’t just worse because of how many giant ants one would face inside the nest, but more so because the giant ants became far more brutal towards those who dared to directly invade their nest. Meaning that those who stepped inside a giant ant nest and found themselves unable to escape were bound to meet a far worse fate than those dying to giant ants outside their nest.
At least the ones from Charles escort that had died outside the nest were all dead already, while the fate that awaited Charles ones the giant ants became aware of his presence would almost certainly be him captured and fed alive to the younger giant ants or worse, used as live practice for the younger giant ants, being used to teach them how to hunt prey. A fate worse than death, as he would essentially be forcibly kept alive while continuously being bitten and skewered by the younger giant ants for weeks on end.
Although... With the endurance of Charles, Thomas doubted that he would be able to hold on for that long. In most cases, humans caught alive by giant ants tended to last for a shorter time compared to captured monsters, as the younger giant ants tended to accidentally eat their limbs during the practice hunts.
Shaking his head as he recalled this information on giant ants that most people were unaware of, Thomas decided it was for the best not to share the grim fate of this young noble with the others, as it would undoubtedly make them unwilling to ever get anywhere near the giant ant nest again after they understood what kind of fate could await them in case they got caught by the giant ants alive.
Speaking of which, this behavior of the giant ants to use prey caught alive for training of their young was one of the main reasons why giant ants were considered a threat that had to be dealt with by the Adventurers Guild when it became too large, as the influence of a giant ant nest with a queen at the S Rank would essentially control a territory comparable to a small kingdom.
But more importantly, S Rank Giant Ant Queen’s had developed a certain degree of intelligence and would begin to operate in a manner that directly threatened any kingdoms close to the nest itself, as the ant queen would almost always begin expanding her influence and territory into these kingdoms.