[2] Solo Leveling

Chapter 265 | Recollections / After Stories

Part 1: Beru's memories

Inside a certain egg....

Before he was ready to hatch, Beru heard the voice of the Queen through the thick shell of his egg.

[For the sake of the kingdom.]

'For the sake... of the kingdom.'

[Make all the enemies blocking our path shiver in terror.]

'Make all the enemies blocking our path shiver in terror....'

He needed to become strong.

He simply had to be strong.

That was the very first duty bestowed upon Beru, still sleeping in an embryonic state. And then, the obsession of the Ant Queen wishing to build a prosperous kingdom resulted in the birth of a horrifying monster.

[Kkkieeeehhk!!]

The young soldier ant shattered the eggshell, emerged from the confines, and screeched out loudly. The ominous and terrifying murderous intent oozing out from its two eyes didn't permit any comparison to other ant monsters in existence.

The Queen shuddered. It felt a powerful surge of emotions by this creature born from its efforts.

'If it's this child, then certainly, those humans wielding strange powers will be....'

The Queen's eyes sparkled in anticipation, but even before it could issue a new order to the greatest ant soldier that triumphantly emerged from the egg, Beru felt hungry, so he did what he wanted to do.

Grab.

The wrist of one of the worker ants aiding with the hatching process got grabbed by Beru.

'.....?'

Even before the worker ant could understand what was going on, Beru simply began swallowing and chewing on the hapless monster from its head.

Crunch, crunch....

[....!!]

The Queen was greatly taken by surprise at Beru's unexpected behaviour, but it was suppressed by the powerful aura of the future king of the ants and couldn't even dare to stop him.

Beru managed to erase all traces of its kin from this world in the blink of an eye and stood proudly before his queen. The bodily fluid dripping from his mouth looked rather grotesque.

'The terror of our enemies....'

The thing was, the subject of powerful fear would also have the same effect on his own allies, as well. The Queen belatedly realised this fact and took a look around itself. The brave soldiers of the ant kingdom were shivering in fear.

The emotions they felt were transmitted in full to their Queen, the only one capable of exercising absolute control over them.

The newborn soldier definitely passed the test. As expected of the greatest soldier the Queen had produced – he was truly a masterpiece.

[Become even stronger.]

The Queen issued the next order to Beru, with an eye towards a full-scale invasion of the human's lands.

[Stronger, until none can stand in your way.]

***

Beru proceeded to devour everything on the island. When there was a shortage of food, he didn't even hesitate to devour his own kin. From tiny lifeforms on the ground like worms and larvae, all the way to large fish and aquatic mammals of the nearby ocean....

As Beru voraciously devoured every single life in front of his eyes, a new realisation dawned on him. Whether it be lifeforms possessing fatal poison or creatures with huge bodies, they all quaked in fear upon running into him.