Henry was in a great hurry. He had just received a new quest from the guild to exterminate a monster and a colony accidentally discovered by some newbie adventurers while gathering herbs.
The reason he was in such a hurry to complete the quest was because the colony was spotted in a forest just outside the city, and if left alone to grow, the colony might become uncontrollable and attack the city. As such, as one of the highest-ranking adventurers at the guild, the task of exterminating the colony of monster ants falls to him.
Although monster ants are not strong individually, they're quite the menace when in a group. And oh, boy, do these ants love to be in groups. It was for this reason that Henry, despite being one of the highest-ranking adventurers—a testament to his skill—was taking the quest very seriously.
After hours of trekking through the forest, Henry finally saw a huge mound with monster ants going in and out of it while carrying the carcasses of animals and other monsters. His face grew solemn, seeing the size of the colony, which was larger than what was reported, and he knew that he must act quickly.
Getting rid of ordinary monster ants won't do, as the queen can just lay more eggs to replenish their numbers. So to resolve the problem at its root, the queen must be exterminated first.
To kill the queen, though, he must first go through hundreds, if not thousands, of monster ants. As a single person, there's no way he could pull this off, as fighting so many monster ants at the same time would quickly drain his stamina. Therefore, he could only do this using his wits and experience.
Fortunately, before rushing over, he had come prepared and had purchased some alchemical potion from an alchemist friend. Although the potions were expensive, the reward should more than cover the cost.
Henry quickly put his plan into action and started hunting some monsters, which he dropped near the colony, but not before pouring some alchemical potions on them. The purpose of that alchemical potion was to attract the attention of the workers and soldiers ants, making it easy for him to infiltrate the colony.
Soon, a large number of ants, who seemed to have lost their minds, stormed out of the colony and started feasting on the monsters. Taking advantage of this, Henry quickly navigated the colony while killing all of the monster ants that got in his way. After some time, he finally reached his target and quickly dealt with the ant queen, who, thanks to its size, was not able to do anything to Henry.
After killing the ant queen, Henry poured another type of alchemical potion, which started burning the moment it touched the ant queen's body. Henry, seeing all of this, quickly bolted out of the colony, as he didn't want to get roasted.
Outside the mound, Henry was finally able to let out a sigh of relief. He then looked around and noticed that all of the monster ants who feasted on the monsters were dead. They were poisoned. After making sure that no monster ants were left, Henry started going back to the city to report the success of his quest.