Deciding to continue moving through the territory of the giant ants now that they had seen what they believed to be some kind of expeditionary force that was in the process of clearing up the giant ant colony, it didn’t take the group of adventurers long before they reached the recently dug out tunnel entrance connected to the giant ant nest below the small mountain that the group from earlier had used.
"Wait... Isn’t that the insignia of the Holy Light Church?"
"Huh? Indeed... It does look like it... Could it be that the people from earlier were from the Holy Light Church?"
However, before the group could continue forward past the tunnel entrance, one of the adventurers noticed a rather distinct insignia on a piece of cloth that had seemingly been torn off during an ambush from a giant ant that had been lying in wait for prey just beneath the ground next to the entrance. An ambush attempt that had obviously ended in failure outside of the little piece of cloth that had been torn off.
Hearing the words of the two curious adventures now pointing towards the piece of cloth in question, the leader frowned visibly as he looked over it. Confirming from glance that this was indeed the insignia of the Holy Light Church.
But, different from the rest of the adventurers who just recognized it as an insignia of the Holy Light Church, he also noticed a small distinct red cross at the center top section of the insignia, a clear indication of what branch of the church that these people belonged to. A branch of the church that even he, an A Rank Adventurer, feared deeply.
What reason would they have to go all the way out here? This place shouldn’t have anything valuable enough for the Holy Light Church to mobilize part of the Red Dawn Legion. Especially given that they usually just go through the Adventurers Guild for situations that require dealing with monsters.
Silently thinking this to himself as his frown deepened even further, the leader understood that the situation couldn’t be as simple as the church just sending someone to clear out the giant ant nest.
For the Red Dawn Legion to come to this place, there had to be something of immense value to the church present... And given that it was a giant ant nest, it didn’t take long for him to remember certain rumors he had heard about the giant ant queens in the past.
If those rumors were correct, it might really warrant the appearance of the Red Dawn Legion, but at the same time it would also mean that the giant ant queen had already managed to become an S Rank Monster. Having reached a level where it could pose a threat to an entire kingdom on its own.
No matter how he thought about it, fifty or so members from the Red Dawn Legion would be far from enough to deal with that kind of monster unless there were several people comparable to S Rank Adventurers present amongst those fifty people. After all, the giant ant queen was feared for a reason, as no small number of forbidden zones had come into existence throughout the world due to a giant ant queen growing to a point where even the Adventurers Guild was left helpless in dealing with it.
At the end of the day, the strength of the giant ant queen was never her individual strength, but instead her intellect compared to other monsters and the fact that she could create an army of unique giant ants that could easily overwhelm an unprepared S Rank Adventurer.
The only positive about the current situation that the leader could think of was the fact that the giant ant queen should have only recently managed to reach the S Rank and hadn’t yet managed to create a powerful army for herself... And perhaps this was the window that the Red Dawn Legion wanted to take advantage of to kill her before she could grow into a real threat.
Of course, like the leader, Thomas also put things together and came to the same conclusion. Only different from the leader, he knew about the unique substance created by the giant ant queen when she evolved and reached the S Rank and its ability to be used into a potion that could directly increase someone’s lifespan.
But outside of this, he also knew that the giant ant queen whose nest they were standing on top of was far from reaching the S Rank, her nest too small and the overall size of the colony under her control still far from reaching the level that was expected for a giant ant queen close to reaching the S Rank.
In a sense, because of this, there had been no interest in the giant ant queen from the nearby kingdoms and powerful figures, as they likely guessed that it would still be a few decades before the giant ant queen could reach the S Rank.
Not just them, but Thomas had also been under this belief. If not, there was no way he would have ever dared take even a single step into the Thousand Spire Mountain Range. Understanding full well, just how terrifying the colony under an S Rank giant ant queen was.
For a giant ant queen that should still have been far from reaching the S Rank to so suddenly reach the S Rank without any prior warning, Thomas could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he remembered a certain book he had read about giant ants in preparation for his journey to the Thousand Spire Mountain Range this time around.
In the old book, it had mentioned a scenario just like the one he was finding himself facing. Only... The scenario in the book wasn’t just about any old giant ant nest, but instead one about a giant ant nest that had gone out of control and ended up swallowing three kingdoms before being designated as a forbidden zone, one that was still around to this day...