Volume 03 Chapter 85. After the Battle

With each echoing dry crack, the mining ants fell silent. The combined assault of my bullets and Vigna's magical gunblade took down the surrounding mining ants one by one, until finally, the last of them lay defeated.

Georg and his significantly diminished subordinates were also busy dealing with the mining ants, but that was of little consequence to me. What caught my eye was...

"Master... fear not, Lord Grace, Lady Vigna has vanquished the Queen Ant," Galatea spoke, withdrawing her sword from the Queen Ant's abdomen, its blood spraying as its colossal body collapsed.

With a sword crafted from adamantite gripped firmly in one hand, Galatea turned to glare at Georg and his companions.

Yes, the Queen Ant had been defeated. But there were irregularities. And those irregularities stood before me now. Originally, the plan was to dispose of the Queen Ant while Georg and his cohorts served as decoys. But unfortunately, we now found ourselves face to face with them.

Surely, they wouldn't attack us outright, but they wouldn't hesitate to demand credit...

"You there, Golem, return my sword."

"Master!!"

"Georg... it was us who defeated the Queen Ant. Don't forget that."

Ignoring Georg's words, I glared at him. Once, I would have been intimidated by my eldest brother, who possessed a physique far superior to mine and unparalleled swordsmanship. But now, for some reason, I felt no fear, unlike before.

It seemed that my newfound confidence, in various aspects, had made me stronger.

"Strength is everything in our nation."

"..."

"I haven't stooped so low as to steal the credit for defeating the Queen Ant by force. But don't forget, the only reason you were able to defeat her is because we arrived early. Even without us, we could have taken down the Queen Ant. Remember that."

Taking back what he had wrested from Galatea, Georg turned his back and departed, and I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.

As tension threatened to overwhelm me and I nearly collapsed, Vigna hurriedly supported me.

"Grace, are you alright!?"

"Yeah, sorry... it's not over yet. There are still mutants out there. Once we've dealt with the remaining survivors to some extent, let's head back to the town."

Nevertheless, now that the Queen Ant had been defeated, the mining ants wouldn't increase anymore. Soon, daily life in the mines would return to normal. We had successfully rescued them, after all.

That's what I thought as I returned, only to hear that Neil had defeated the mutants and that Kyle had been injured.