-Hagya-Sama ! Hagya-Sama !..

-Oye ! Down with the telepathy ! You know I hate that ! What is it that is so important you would scream in my brain like that ?

-We received a call from Colt's scouts, 3 rare humans, extremely dangerous, they defeated Rammot and Colt, 40 meters east to Rammot's trees..

3 ! Colt and Rammot were defeated.. Colt is top 10 and Rammot is top 25..

Colt wouldn't have called just me.. Scouts must be on their way to notice Cheetu and the others..

Cheetu is top 3, the moment he'll be notified, he'll run there by himself without any soldier..

If I control the information I can control the timing of his intervention..

If only those scouts weren't that dumb they would have contacted Flutter before me and I would have been sure to be the first notified.. Any ant can contact Flutter from any distance, Colt knows that yet he didn't.. He must want to avoid me getting all the glory for the command of the rescue and capture operation.. That Sly Hawk !

-Flutter, you have the biggest telepathic range, tell all the scouts you are the one who will notify Cheetu, you will do it on my or Kerpico's command.

-Understood !

Flutter was some sort of anthro dragonfly and was one of the 3 top officers under Hagya, the lion chimera ant leader.

The other ones were a rat named Kerpico and a very human looking girl named Hina.

None of them were chosen for their strength :
Kerpico was a very fine tactician from who even Hagya took advise..

And Hina.. well, let's not delve too deep into the reasons that would make her a worthy company to the king of the Jungle.

-Kerpico, gather your soldiers, the priority is to capture or kill those rare preys..

-Hagya-sama, what about Colt and Rammot ?

-The priority.. is to capture or kill those rare preys..

Kerpico knew Hagya would say that and honestly he had no arguments to plead for their life, however, he sure was going to do his best.

Kerpico was a very young ant, he hatched after the colony decided to take names for themselves, it happened about 5 days ago..

Hagya stole him from Colt -who was lacking soldiers at the time- by proposing him a place as one of his top officer.. Flutter, being a good head of intelligence of Hagya's division that he is, got to know that Kerpico had inherited some traits from the rare human Rammot faced and told everything to Hagya who decided the rat chimera would be his and his alone..

According to the reports, that rare human was stronger than the few others they met before and after the encounter, well until now...

-Three rare humans able to beat Rammot and Colt..

That sure does sound dangerous..

Froggy and his team should be close-by Rammot's trees…

Flutter, tell him to wait for me, I'll go there with my fastest soldiers, we will try to assess exactly how strong they are, until then, we shouldn't engage a real offensive.. Hagya-sama, I don't think you should come…

-I appreciate your concern Kerpico but I have to come.. You suck even more than me at using telepathy, besides you'll most likely have to focus on either talk or fight so I'll most likely be the only one that can give the call to Flutter..

-Mmh... that sounds right.. let's go

-Did you purposefully leave that aspect aside so that I could point it out to flatter my ego or are you so concerned about the need to sacrifice soldiers to scout their power that you can't think straight ?

Kerpico grinned at the remark :

He's getting good at it..

-I don't think we even need to sacrifice anyone..

-So you wanted to flatter my ego, I get a point for that.. 3 points for me.. I am catching up.. And I am ready to take a bet too even it out : If none of my soldiers die, I'll make you a squadron leader !

Kerpico was taken aback, was it another of Hagya's scheme, or a riddle he had to decipher ? All the squadron leader's seat were taken.. Was he speaking about killing one or demoting one ? Did he have such power ? it's no secret that out of the squadron leaders some have more authority than the others .. At first it was Colt ruling over everyone under the queen's banner But with the birth of Zazan and Hagya, and their appointment by the queen as squadron leaders, their factions came to life too :

If Colt dies and I take his place ! the Power balance will turn from 45/30/25 % for Hagya, Zazan and Colt respectively to a 70/30 % for Hagya ! With such a majority against her, Zazan will have to submit her faction to his authority and Hagya will become the true King behind the scene !

-Gotcha ! you're trying to buy time so that Colt get killed.. 5 to 3 for me, I won't let you even it out that easily, bye !

With that, Kerpico darted away with an insolent grin..

Hagya sighed :

-Dang ! he's good..

-Your little contest are becoming more and more intricate, I still don't understand how he came to that conclusion.. But sir, is it wise to let him compete against you in such a way ? what's even the point of this game ?

Flutter had followed their bout since the beginning and didn't enjoy it one bit, he found that annoying and confusing.. Most of the time, he dismissed that game as childish, time consuming and nonsensical.

-Kerpico.. I want him to consider me as his friend and we happen to both appreciate mind games, I knew some day very strong humans would come and Kerpico is my fail safe, I got some memory of being a lion, maybe if he gets some of his past life as a rare human, then I'll be the first he'll teach the secrets of their mysterious powers..

« Appreciate » was an understatement, he enjoyed it more than he'll ever admit but there was something about Flutter that made Hagya stick to the etiquette, more so than he did around Hina and Kerpico..

-You.. hold him in high regards.. if you were to choose, who'd be the best tool in your shed ?

-Don't worry Flutter, you're much more useful than him, you'll always be my right hand ant..

-Hagya-sama.. I..

- Fool ! I obviously didn't mean it.. 18 to 0.. you're so bad at this ! I am trying to give you easy ones but no you won't score even a single counter.. you're hopeless..

Well.. etiquette, was it ?.. their relations were complex.. Apparently, Hagya felt more comfortable around Flutter than Kerpico.. Something along the line of having someone you can bully in a one-sided way I guess..

Hina, who had been rubbing Hagya's back in the whole scene, mocked the dragonfly as well with an annoying giggling sound and a way too jolly « I am the best tool in the king's shed ! »

Flutter didn't comment, he was used to these antics..

Honestly, he knew it was going to happen, it happens every time he tries to speak with his superior..

When it happened, he could have scored a counter.. Right now, according to the rules of this stupid game, he could score a double burn counter for two points by admitting that he knew but didn't want to hurt the lion's ego.

Maybe I could beat you at this game Hagya-sama, but I know it's not what you want..

…

If you're wondering whether I am an omniscient narrator or just a faithful observer..

I have to say I don't know myself..

Wait If I don't know I can't be omniscient which means I'd be the observer type but then..

I know.. which mean the first conclusion isn't valid anymore which invalidate the second conclusion therefore validating the first one again..

And so on.. and so on..

Let's not delve too deep into mechanics that aren't set in stone..

There is an old Chinese proverb that says 'A man that would go through the codes of an indie game to learn something would just earn a headache'

…

A few dozen of kilometers away and a few minutes later, Kerpico appeared to Froggy and his team..

The frog officer was named by Hagya and hated the name he was given but one does not simply contradict Hagya. He gasped when he saw Kerpico and greeted him :

-Kerpico-sama, what a pleasant surprise ! We were waiting for orders..

-Hi everyone, this is a very time sensitive matter, no all-out attack until we know what they are capable of..

We'll need strong soldiers to test them..

A rhino ant stepped in and volunteered saying that he was very tough and thus the perfect candidate.

-Good.. Meloth will supervise their level of nervousness by listening to their heart beat and report to Officer Froggy and me..

Meloth was Kerpico's right hand, he was known to have the best sense of hearing out of all the chimera ants.

-Wait a second ! does that mean I'll need to fight silently ?

-Don't worry Rhino, Meloth can simply focus on the sounds that matter. Let's go now ! We don't have time to chat.

...

A few kilometers away, in an ancient fortified drug facility where Light Nostrade was supposed to attend a rendez-vous few days earlier.. A facility that was now known as Yunju's castle.

The new owner of the place, Yunju, a centaurian squadron leader was alerted of the situation before Hagya and decided it would be a good idea to rush in, dismissing Colt's warning as the words of a weakling.

- Boss, you're sure we should go there without any soldiers..

-What's up? Scared ? Soldiers are only good to bring trash food to the queen, for once something interesting is happening, I won't miss the opportunity to have some fun.. my dogs start to bore me..

The dogs in question were two humans on leash. They were walking on all fours and failed at doing it in an anatomically sound way : using their knees in typical human fashion and even elbows in no fashion at all..

Upon hearing their master complain about their usefulness, they started a very pitiful show : rolling on the ground, barking, waggling their tail and some other pathetic dog impression.

It didn't help them as they were soon crushed by the powerful hooves of the beast.

-See Hundra ? I need new dogs.. so unless you want to replace them, you better not be scared..

Hundra seemed to have inherited centipede's blood considering that he had sixteen arms, being part of Yunju's squadron, even as an officer, isn't really easy as the centaur is the kind of ruthless leader that would kill any of his underling that would dare to retreat from a fight.

Skita, one of the rare female ant was the other top officer under Yunju's leadership..

She had a very annoying giggle that she didn't mind dispensing whenever she found something amusing and she was easily amused like.. right now..

What a bunch of psycho.. but well at least I am not bored to death under Colt, that guy is the extreme opposite. Well, it might be dangerous but at least it will be fun, well that is if we at least have a fighting chance : « extremely dangerous » what the fuck it's supposed to mean ?!

...

By the time, Kerpico united with Froggy's team, Yunju and two of his best officers already met with Kite, Killua and Gon.

But if we skip to this moment, we'll have to skip the reaction of Gon to Colt's comment.

We'll have to skip the moment you've all been waiting for in the last 6 minutes reading this chapter..

That does sound like a very good idea !

But I guess I'll just delay it for next week..

If you discover this story with a bunch of chapter already, wait for the next week to read next chapter.. Studies has shown that it's better for.. er.. whatever..

…

Since I was late on my upload I thought I'd make a longer chapter and that I'd put Gon's reaction in.. But that wasn't considering how much of a terrible person I am..

HeHeHe..