Francis moved quickly and stood in front of Crow. As soon as the first furry leg appeared, a second one came ... then a third... Looking around, the entire floor-to-ceiling glass was crawling with countless furry legs. There were brown antennae too, and sharp jaws. "It's an ant swarm!" "We're being attacked!" As the soldiers shouted, the base alarm went off right away. "Get Commander Ball to his room!" Francis shouted. Two soldiers ran over—they were Nathaniel's personal guards. Before leaving, Nathaniel glanced toward Caroline. "I'll make this right for you later!" Caroline nodded slightly. Justice wasn't important to her. But anyone trying to mess with her would face punishment. Blake stood frozen, scared by what he saw, slowly stepping back. He shouted that he had to tell his men to set up defenses and ran off. Right before leaving, he gave Caroline's group a long, intense look. Zach and the others were panicking. Francis told them to hide in the next room. Caroline knew there was no time to argue about Tyler or Bernard's mistakes. They had to deal with the ant attack immediately. Mutant ants were extremely hard to deal with. Out of all insect problems, ants are one of the worst. They divide jobs, didn't fear death, were extremely aggressive, and had strong territorial instincts. Why did they suddenly attack? What orders had their queen given? She looked at Denton. "Go get Raven, Jet, and Snow! Bring them here!" Denton nodded and ran off.Right now, everyone needs to stay together. Raven and Jet had awakened powers and could defend themselves, but they were still mutant animals with limited intelligence. Alone, they could make mistakes and get hurt. Together, they could handle danger much better. Francis looked at Caroline. "This is a full-on insect disaster! Too many ants to count—they're attacking the base. Caroline, can you hold this side? I need to take charge." Caroline nodded. "Go ahead. I've got it." He patted her shoulder, a mix of thanks and teasing in his eyes. "No long speeches! In the future, I'll make sure to take good care of your friend Kay!" Caroline rolled her eyes silently, thinking how he could still joke at a time like this. Suddenly—crash! Glass shattered right in front of them. Two giant ants twisted their antennae and crawled inside. Francis happened to be nearby. He unleashed his power, sending a wind blade that sliced off the heads of the two ants. But their six legs kept moving! Even without heads, their bodies kept charging forward! They quickly crawled further into the base, still thrashing around. Caroline sent out two ice blades, pinning the ants to the ground. Their six legs still wriggled violently, the tough shells scraping the floor with a loud, bone-chilling screech, like knives dragging on stone. She froze the ants solid, then clenched her fist and smashed them into dust! But while she was dealing with those two, there came a series of loud bangs. Looking around, Caroline saw that a dozen more windows had shattered at once. A huge wave of ants poured inside. Leading them, a giant male ant jumped straight into the base. It landed right in front of Nathaniel and his two guards. "Commander Ball, these aren't normal ants. They're army ants!" one guard shouted. Army ants, also called legion ants, mostly live in the Veloria River. They like huge colonies—sometimes a swarm can have a million ants or more. Some people in Caswana even kept them as exotic pets. These mutant army ants probably belonged to someone before the apocalypse. Unlike ordinary ants, they don't build nests. From birth, they're constantly on the move—hunting, finding prey, and devouring it. They have super-strong jaws, much stronger than ordinary ants. When they hunt, they form teams and fight together, moving like trained soldiers with heavy armor. That's why they're called army ants. These ants were much tougher to deal with than ordinary ants. Nathaniel's two guards immediately charged at the giant male ant, meeting it head-on.