『Insect Queen』— the alias of Icicle.

The time since she gained self-awareness has actually not been very long.

Though she appears to be a fully grown adult no matter how one looks at her, she is in fact younger than Sanshita and has not yet even lived for five years since her birth.

Icicle becoming one of the Demon King's Ten Fingers was largely a matter of chance.

Unlike the other Ten Fingers, she has little interaction with other monsters, which stems from her origins.

The Demon King's Ten Fingers are created when a monster swallows one of the Demon King's claws and successfully assimilates it into their body, thereby gaining a portion of the Demon King's power.

When a Ten Finger dies, the Demon King's claw, which had stopped regenerating, begins to grow again.

However, exceptions exist.

There is only one method to become one of the Ten Fingers without the Demon King's approval.

—If a monster directly consumes a Ten Finger and successfully assimilates the Demon King's claw, they can become one of the Ten Fingers.

Very few are aware of this fact.

Icicle was one of the rare monsters who obtained her position through this method.

The monster who previously held the position of the Third Finger of the Left Hand had already lost its former strength.

After exhausting almost all its power in the struggles against other monsters vying for the Demon King's throne, it was left with nothing but its final days.

The Demon King did not assign it a new role and instead allowed it to live out the rest of its life.

And just as it was about to breathe its last… it was devoured by an insect-type monster.

The name of that monster was Killer Bee Queen.

A third-rank monster capable of controlling pheromones to freely command its subordinate Killer Bees.

With its sharp teeth clicking together, the monster devoured the Ten Finger while it was still alive.

And thus—『Insect Queen』Icicle was born.

From that moment, Icicle awakened to self-awareness and established her identity.

As a Killer Bee Queen, she was already quite young, making her the youngest among the Ten Fingers.

She was the only one who became a Ten Finger after the current Demon King had already ascended to the throne, an entity born entirely from an irregularity.

With this change, Icicle gained even greater power than before and could now control all insect-type monsters at will.

Her strength was more that of a swarm than an individual, and her personal combat ability was not particularly high compared to the other Ten Fingers.

Though she was ranked in the middle among the fingers of the left hand, in terms of raw strength, she was actually weaker than the 『Hurricane』 Bertoll, the Second Finger of the Left Hand.

However, what she lacked in power, she made up for with flexibility in thought, often defying the common sense of monsters—for better or worse.

Having never fought on multiple battlefields as a commander of the Demon King's army, her interactions with other monsters were sparse, leading her to reach conclusions unthinkable for an ordinary monster.

Because of this, she was always alone.

As a Ten Finger, monsters feared her presence—but that was all.

A monster with an unconventional mindset and overwhelming power.

There was not a single being willing to spend time with someone like her.

But her time in solitude did not last long.

Unbound by convention, she would become the only Ten Finger to ever ally with the human forces.

The probability of such an event occurring was less than one in ten thousand.

After all, taming a Ten Finger should be an impossibility.

However, in Ivy’s dictionary, the word "impossible" did not exist.

And so, through what could only be called a miracle, Ivy's magic successfully tamed Icicle.

Thus, despite being a Ten Finger, Icicle found herself in what would normally be a humiliating position—becoming the familiar of Bruno and Ivy.

She was furious at first… but, being the unconventional thinker that she was, she adapted quickly.

As a result, the days that followed became far more peaceful and fulfilling than anything she had ever known.

Few people feared her.

Sanshita, Ivy, and the many other powerful monsters that had appeared in Akoup had completely desensitized its people.

Thanks to this, Icicle, as a humanoid monster, was readily accepted.

Recognizing her ability to control insect-type monsters, Endlord Marquis and Jennifer saw an opportunity.

Through their collaboration, Icicle developed a way to command her Killer Bees to extract nectar from flowers that normally would not yield any, thereby allowing them to freely control the sweetness of magic honey.

With the ability to adjust its sugar content, magic honey became a new specialty product of Endlord Marquis's territory, capable of being used in various ways.

Akoup, a meritocratic city, is highly accepting of those who produce results.

Moreover, her appearance, from a human perspective, was quite refined, so it didn’t take long for Icicle to gain popularity.

The days she spent in Akoup were exactly what she had unknowingly been yearning for.

Thus, her affinity for humans grew stronger… to the point where she would not hesitate to use her power against monsters if it meant protecting people.

After fighting alongside Rey and the others, she realized the gap in her strength.

While she had been useful in non-combat roles, she was still once a Killer Bee Queen and now a monster who had devoured the Demon King's claw.

Her desire to grow stronger and surpass the other Ten Fingers was no lie.

So, as both a Ten Finger and a member of the Saviors, she sought strength and stepped through the door.

Flying gracefully, she entered the world beyond—

"Oh my, where is this…?"

Before her stretched an eerie landscape unlike anything she had ever seen.

The sky was a murky purple, and the ground was covered in a poisonous swamp of mixed blue and brown.

The entire atmosphere was thick with miasma, making it feel sickening just to exist there.

"M-my eyes! They sting!"

Hit in the face by an unknown smoke, Icicle nearly burst into tears before activating her power.

A brief glow surrounded her body, and in the next moment, she manipulated her exoskeleton and skin to craft an improvised gas mask.

"Phew, that should do it…"

"Mii~!"

"—Ivy!?"

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, a transparent Ivy appeared before her.

After listening to Ivy’s explanation, Icicle nodded.

"I see, so I must master my pheromones to bring the monsters here under my control."

The pheromones she emitted allowed her to freely command insect-type monsters.

But in truth, that was only a fraction of her true power.

The Ten Finger she devoured had possessed the ability to command all monsters.

In other words, Icicle had only been using a portion of the power she had inherited.

Her training now was to master not only her inherited power but also her own pheromones—to bring any monster under her command.

If she could accomplish this, her combat strength would rise dramatically.

She might not be able to control fighting Ten Fingers, but at the very least, she could hinder their movements.

Even if she couldn’t win alone, leading a swarm of powerful monsters would grant her victory.

That was the path she aimed for—she was certain of it.

"Just wait, everyone… I’ll show you that I can do it too!"

With a flap of her wings, she released her pheromones to bring the surrounding monsters under her control—