Park Jongryeo immediately felt something was very wrong as soon as he saw the ant monster leisurely entering the queen’s chamber.
‘What’s this…?’
It was almost impossible to locate the creature without keeping his eyes locked on it constantly; that’s how difficult it was to sense its presence.
There were only two beings out of all the Hunters and the monsters he met until now, that had this sort of effect on Jongryeo. One of them was this ant monster right in front of his eyes, and the other one was….
‘….Mister Sung Jin Woo.’
He inexplicably recalled Sung Jin Woo, who had finally bared his hidden fangs at Japan’s most powerful Hunter a couple of days ago.
What if that man stood in front of him as his enemy?
Shudder.
He felt a crippling chill ran down his spine.
‘…..’
Just imagining it alone caused his expression to harden considerably. The entrance of this unknown ant monster was definitely not good news for the Korean Hunters, who were still deeply fatigued from fighting the ant queen.
“That thing….”
“Something’s wrong with that monster.”
“It feels really creepy.”
It wasn’t to the extent of Baek Yoonho or Jongryeo, but other Hunters also felt a certain sense of incongruence here.
Gulp.
It was just a single monster, yet the atmosphere was shifting rather rapidly.
‘What should we do?’
Ma Dong Wook was inwardly worried. When faced with an unexpected situation, a leader has to make a quick decision. Especially so, when they were pressed for time like this.
‘It’s a monster, so we should just kill it, but….’
But.
Just why was he feeling this enormous sense of unease right now?
While they stood there pondering and hesitating, the ant monster narrowed the distance between them quite quickly. Its movements were so eerily quiet that goosebumps automatically rose up on their skins.
‘We don’t have the time to hesitate like this.’
By the time Ma Dong Wook finally managed to suppress the warning bells rung by his instincts and made the next logical decision….
….The monster suddenly disappeared from his view.
“Where?!”
Ma Dong Wook’s eyes opened super-wide as he hurriedly scanned his vicinity. The reactions of other Hunters weren’t all that different, either.
“Behind….”
The cameraman anxiously looking around belatedly located the monster and shouted out.
“It’s behind us!!”
The Hunters were startled by this and quickly turned around. With the speed none of them could see, the ant monster had slipped past the Hunters to stand before the dead corpse of the ant queen.
‘It went past us?!’
‘But, how….??’
Just like that, the Hunters of the Korean raid team finally got to see what Baek Yoonho saw earlier with his ‘Eyes of the Beast’.
Thump, thump, thump!
Their heart rate rapidly picked up and their breathing quickened in no time.
‘….That’s no ordinary monster.’
Cold sweat drops dribbled down Ma Dong Wook’s forehead.
The ant monster quietly stared at the dead queen, not even showing a hint of interest towards the Hunters. But then, it raised its head and….
Kiiiiieeeeeeehhhhh…..!!!
It began screeching out a beastly howl so terrifying and loud that the entire ant tunnel began shaking from the reverberation.
Plop!
The cameraman was the first to lose all his strength in his legs.
Plop!
Plop!
The other Hunters couldn’t withstand the sheer pressure as well, and they began kneeling on the ground one by one.
Ma Dong Wook carried a look of pure disbelief as he tried to support himself off the ground.
‘I… I’m kneeling because of a howl?’
Eeeehhhhhkkk…!!!
By the time the seemingly never-ending howl came to an end, the only one standing was Park Jongryeo and no one else.
Only then did the ant monster display some interest towards the Hunters. With a clear hostile intent, to boot.
‘….!!’
Jongryeo’s calm eyes were cold and deadly.
The creature’s face was hideously twisted as it turned around to face the Hunters as if it was expressing its anger at the death of the queen.
Something about this monster, vexed him. However, the ant monster was a step faster than the speed of Jongryeo drawing his sword.
…
Piishuk-!
The ant monster literally blinked and reappeared right in front of his nose. Jongryeo growled and was about to counterattack but then….
He heard a voice echo in his mind.
“How long will you keep running?”
He didn’t even have enough time to think about defending himself.
SLAM-!!
“Ahk!”
Being struck in the side of his head, Jongryeo flew away in a straight line and slammed into a far wall, before falling to the ground.
Tumble….
Just one hit, and Jongryeo was rendered unconscious. All of his teammates couldn’t hide their astonishment after seeing that horrible spectacle. Because… their strongest member had been knocked down in one hit, that was why.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any time to stay shocked like that.
They had confirmed the ridiculous power level of their new enemy. Through their experiences, these Hunters knew very well that their odds of survival would decline further the longer they remained hesitant as they were now.
As the main Tanker, Ma Dong Wook took a step forward first.
“Hup-!!”
…
Ma Dong Wook tightly bear-hugged the ant monster from behind and strengthened both his arms.
With the strength that could easily uproot a full-grown tree, he squeezed hard at the ant monster’s body. Thick veins popped up all over his arms and his neck.
Unfortunately…
“Uwaaaahk-!!”
When the ant monster increased its strength for a bit, both of Ma Dong Wook’s arms fell off, just like that. He fell down to his knees.
“No!!”
Baek Yoonho pounced forward.
If he failed to draw that thing’s attention away now, then Ma Dong Wook would be killed off in an instant now that he lacked the means to defend himself.
Baek Yoonho gritted his teeth. White fur began sprouting up all over his body; his claws extended and he transformed into a ferocious beast, before pouncing on the monster.
Piishuk-!!
The monster disappeared from the spot again.
‘Where…?!’
Even Baek Yoonho’s ‘Eyes of the Beast’ failed to follow the monster’s movements.
The scream came from his behind.
“Uwaaahkk!!”
This time, it was Choi Jong-In, who was getting ready to cast his magic. The ant monster’s long claw left a lengthy, diagonal cut wound on his upper torso, and he fell to the ground with a pained moan.
About five paces from where he was, Lim Tae-Gyu had been waiting for an opening while hiding his presence. He immediately fired an arrow containing his magic energy.
‘I’ll never miss in this distance!!’
His strong self-belief was contained within that shot.
Swish-!!
Too bad for him,
Grab.
A powerful tremor rocked Lim Tae-Gyu’s eyes.
‘Heok?!’
The ant monster snatched the flying arrow and easily snapped it in half.
Crack!
Lim Tae-Gyu hurriedly tried to nock his next arrow, but by the time he did so and raised his bow, the monster was already standing in front of him.
“….Fuck.”
POW!
Lim Tae-Gyu was struck in the face and flew away.
Baek Yoonho attacked when the ant monster’s back was turned away from him, but the back of his head was grabbed by the monster instead, and the creature spun around in an instant. He was planted violently into the ground next.
Boom!!
Baek Yoonho’s body quivered from the impact.
Just as the ant monster was getting ready to slam Baek Yoonho to the ground again, Ma Dong Wook dashed forward ashoulder-chargedged the creature away.
Kwahng!!!
The ant monster rolled on the ground for a little while, before standing back up. Ma Dong Wook’s arms had been severed for sure only a moment ago, yet he was attacking the creature with all his limbs completely intact.
The ant monster defeated Ma Dong Wook again, and then, proceeded to defeat other Hunters again, too. Yet, the humans that should’ve stayed down with crippling injuries were attacking again, all fully healed in the blink of an eye.
Only then did the ant monster begin to recognize the existence of a Healer. The monster scanned the vicinity to find this annoying human.
However, Min Byung-Gyu stayed calm under the pressure.
His self-defense skill, [Camouflage].
He was able to completely hide himself with this skill that was quite similar to the ‘Stealth’ skill, but there was a drawback to it: He couldn’t move from the spot. Even then, that was more than enough for a Healer like him.
He simply had to stand still in one spot and continue to heal his teammates, that was all.
When the healing skill continued to fly in from an unknown place, the ant monster changed its tactic. It selected Ma Dong Wook who looked the sturdiest among the Hunters, grabbed his leg, and dangled him upside down in the air.
‘What is that thing trying to do now??’
Min Byung-Gyu was taken aback with great surprise.
The ant monster then proceeded to slowly destroy Ma Dong Wook. Min Byun-Gyu carried on healing him as that happened.
He had no choice there. The moment he stopped healing Ma Dong Wook, that man would be dead in less than a blink, after all. Sweat poured out in buckets as Min Byung-Gyu continued on with the healing magic.
The ant monster traced the continuously firing healing magic’s origin, and then, its head swiveled in Min Byung-Gyu’s direction.
‘It can’t be?!’
His heart skipped a beat; he blinked, and the ant monster was gone from the spot.
‘What the hell?’
Where did it disappear to this time?
“Byung-Gyu!!”
Baek Yoonho loudly yelled out.
It happened, then.
Stab!
“Keok!”
Blood sprayed out of Min Byung-Gyu.
The pain of being burnt alive came from below, and he took a look down to see a huge hole in his stomach. And the ant monster’s black emerges out of that hole.
He raised his head in disbelief and met Baek Yoonho’s gaze.
Min Byung-Gyu spoke in a faltering voice.
“Hyung…. Run.”
“B-Byung-Gyu!!”
Baek Yoonho tried to get up, but he couldn’t put any strength to his wounded leg.
Kwajeeck!
The ant monster tore into Min Byung-Gyu’s head.
Kwajeeck! Kwajeeck!!!
“Uwaaaaahh!!”
Baek Yoonho staggered unsteadily and ran forward. The ant monster discarded the now-headless body of Min Byung-Gyu and grabbed Baek Yoonho by his neck.
He struggled with all his might, but it was still insufficient to escape from the creature’s incredible grip.
Suddenly, the ant monster opened its mouth.
“Hyung…. Run…. Hyung…. Run…..”
“…..??”
Baek Yoonho was freaked out of his skull, his brows shooting up real high in shock and terror.
The ant monster was perfectly mimicking the speech pattern of Min Byung-Gyu. If one subtracted the off-putting crack in its voice, one might even mistake it for Min Byung-Gyu’s, even.
“Run…. Hyung.”
The ant monster repeated the same words for a long time, before looking straight into Baek Yoonho’s eyes.
“You are all….. weak.”
From the mouth of the ant monster, a familiar language flowed out. It sounded inarticulate, but for sure, it was still undeniably Korean.
“What the….?!”
Baek Yoonho’s eyes widened even further.
“This side… Queen, dead….. Killing soldiers….. Not enough payment… your king, who?”
“….King?”
The ant monster strengthened its grip on Baek Yoonho’s neck.
“Keok.”
“Your king… where?”
Baek Yoonho’s brain kicked into gear.
With the strongest person in the Korean team, Park Jongryeo, still unconscious, he needed to find someone who could buy him and the rest of the group a little bit of time.
And he immediately thought of the Japanese team that had abandoned the Koreans. More specifically, the strongest among the Japanese, Goto Ryuji.
“Out… Outside….”
“Outside….”
The ant monster raised its head up. It seemed to be searching for something, before speaking again in a satisfied tone of voice.
“…There….. A strong one.”
And then, it discarded Baek Yoonho as if he was not even worth wasting time on, and disappeared from his sight in a scarcely believable speed.
“Keok, keok.”
Baek Yoonho lay on the ground and panted out heavily. He quickly took a look around him.
This wasn’t the time for this. Before that thing came back, they needed to get out of here.
However…
Shashashasha…..
While they were engaged in the battle against that ridiculously overpowered monster, the swarm of ants had returned to the ant tunnel and were slowly encroaching upon the queen’s chamber now.
Comment