Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Grrgh!”

Zeon groaned.

A deep wound had opened on his arm. He had been bitten by a Wolf Ant’s mandibles.

He had hurriedly pulled his arm free, but he had still suffered a deep wound.

If his body had not grown stronger from eating the Sand Angler’s gallbladder and meat, his arm would have been torn off completely.

It was a deep wound, enough to expose bone.

He had to treat it as quickly as possible.

If he wasted time like this, he might be left with a permanent disability. But he was not given the leisure to treat himself calmly.

CLACK! CLACK!

Zeon dodged the Wolf Ants’ teeth and unleashed Sand Blaster.

BOOM! BOOM!

The Wolf Ants’ heads burst apart.

Sand Blaster was powerful, and the Wolf Ants were no match for it.

The problem was that there were too many Wolf Ants.

No matter how many he killed, there was no end to them.

Even if he reduced their numbers, more appeared from somewhere and filled the empty spaces.

The Great-Horned Hyenas’ wave tactics had been impressive, but they could not compare to the Wolf Ants.

The Wolf Ants attacked Zeon without tiring.

There was a limit to dodging with Sand Walk as well.

Zeon was already surrounded by Wolf Ants.

At this rate, he would inevitably become their food.

Zeon hurriedly checked his mana.

The amount of mana remaining was not very large.

If all his mana ran out, he would not even have a chance to take a risk.

The only chance he had to gamble was now.

‘It has to be stronger and faster than Sand Blaster. At the same time, it has to consume less mana. A method like that...... Think, think!’

The core was imagination.

In a situation where his life was hanging by a thread, he did not have the leisure to think calmly, but he still had to imagine it. An evolved form of Sand Blaster.

Sand Blaster was fundamentally a Skill that fired sand at high pressure.

It was a technique that inflicted damage on the enemy through the force of expelled sand.

Suddenly, a question came to him.

‘Is there really a need to compress air?’

His ability was control over sand.

He could move sand without deliberately firing it with air.

Among the Skills of Magic Type Awakened, the most universal one was Magic Missile.

‘If I apply that?’

It seemed possible.

No, even if the possibility was slim, he had to do it.

His life depended on it.

Even if there was only a one percent chance, he had to try.

Zeon released all his remaining mana.

And he imagined it.

He imagined the sand condensing.

SHOOO!

At that instant, the sand around him rose into the air and gathered into clumps the size of an adult’s forearm.

There were more than dozens of clumps of sand like that.

They were Sand Missiles.

“Go!”

The moment Zeon’s command fell, dozens of Sand Missiles flew toward the Wolf Ants.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

Holes the thickness of an adult’s forearm were punched through the bodies of the Wolf Ants.

Three or four Wolf Ants died to a single Sand Missile.

The Wolf Ants collapsed, spilling bodily fluid.

Zeon looked around with bloodshot eyes.

There were no Wolf Ants standing in the area.

They had all been swept away by the Sand Missiles.

“Ha...... ha!”

Zeon laughed hollowly and fell to his knees.

After pouring out all his mana, an extreme sense of exhaustion swept over him.

He had done everything he could.

Now he truly did not have even the strength to move a single finger.

That was when it happened.

SSSSHHH!

He heard the sound of sand flowing down.

When Zeon raised his head and looked straight ahead, despair appeared in his eyes.

“Fuck!”

A Wolf Ant was emerging through the sand.

But its size was three or four times larger than the other Wolf Ants.

A faint red light hung over its titanium-like shell, making it appear even more special.

The moment he saw it, he knew what it was.

“The...... queen?”

Now that all her subordinates had died, the queen had finally arrived.

Other Wolf Ants appeared around the Queen Wolf Ant.

They were Soldier Wolf Ants.

They were twice the size of ordinary Wolf Ants, and their bite force exceeded theirs by three or four times. Once bitten, there was no way to escape.

There was one Queen Wolf Ant and twenty Soldier Wolf Ants.

Compared to the Wolf Ants Zeon had brought down, they were only a small number, but their danger was several times greater.

Guarded by the Soldier Wolf Ants, the Queen Wolf Ant approached Zeon.

The anger held in the Queen Wolf Ant’s inorganic eyes was transmitted to Zeon clearly.

Her anger must have been so great that the Queen Wolf Ant had broken a taboo and come all the way here.

The Queen Wolf Ant’s grade was only Grade C, but because she commanded countless Wolf Ants like her own limbs, her danger level was above Grade B.

KIEEE!

The queen let out a monstrous cry. Then the Soldier Wolf Ants approached Zeon.

Even as the Soldier Wolf Ants approached, Deioden did not appear in the end.

‘Dogshit old man.’

That was when it happened.

CRUNCH!

One of the Soldier Wolf Ants bit Zeon’s waist.

Along with terrible pain, his entire body hardened like stone. Even so, his mind remained clear.

The queen ant burrowed into the sand.

The Soldier Wolf Ants followed behind her.

The Soldier Wolf Ant biting Zeon was the last to burrow into the sand.

‘Grrgh!’

Zeon’s face twisted from the pressure of the sand crushing his entire body.

He did not know how far underground they had burrowed.

Then the pressure suddenly disappeared, and a large cave appeared.

They had entered the Ant Nest, the Wolf Ants’ home.

The walls of the Ant Nest were made of sand. Even so, they did not collapse because the Wolf Ants had mixed them with their saliva and hardened them firmly.

The Ant Nest was more complicated than a maze.

No matter how good a human’s sense of direction was, once they entered an Ant Nest, they had no choice but to lose their way.

The Queen Wolf Ant and the Soldier Wolf Ants took Zeon to the deepest part of the Ant Nest.

A place filled with countless larvae and eggs.

It was the Queen Wolf Ant’s spawning chamber.

The bones of monsters that had been devoured lay scattered around the spawning chamber.

CHITTER-CLACK!

The Queen Wolf Ant stood in the center of the spawning chamber and made a grotesque sound. Then Wolf Ant larvae appeared from every part of the walls.

They were far smaller than ordinary Wolf Ants, and their shells were transparent.

More than hundreds of larvae approached, filling the walls and floor.

The Soldier Wolf Ant that had been biting Zeon until now opened its mandibles.

THUD!

Zeon fell miserably to the floor.

The paralytic venom had spread, so he could not move a single finger.

The larvae looked at Zeon, who lay sprawled without strength, and moved their antennae wildly. It was as if they were cheering over the appetizing food before them.

BITE! BITE!

The larvae lifted his robe and sank their teeth into Zeon’s body.

Zeon could not even scream and only widened his eyes.

The fact that he was being eaten alive instantly drove his brain into a state of panic.

‘Aaaaaah!’

Zeon let out a soundless scream.

At that instant, the Rank Insignia on his wrist shone.

The second line emitted a deep orange light.

It was proof that he had been promoted to Grade E.

When faced with the crisis of death, he had unconsciously detonated his potential.

As he became Grade E, his status abnormality was removed.

The paralysis disappeared, and his mana filled up.

At that instant, Zeon shouted,

“Die!”

Together with his shout, Sand Missiles rose throughout the Ant Nest.

KIEEE!

The Queen Wolf Ant’s scream-like sound rang out, but Zeon did not care and fired the Sand Missiles.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

The Sand Missiles smashed the larvae apart.

The larvae burst and tore apart as if they were crackers being crushed.

Seeing that sight, the Soldier Wolf Ants hurriedly approached.

“Yaaaaah!”

Zeon fired Sand Missiles at the Soldier Wolf Ants as well.

The Soldier Wolf Ants struck by the Sand Missiles died.

The difference between Grade F and Grade E was tremendous.

With just one promotion, the power of Sand Missile had increased exponentially.

The Soldier Wolf Ants’ legs broke, and their heads burst, rendering them unable to resist.

Now, the only one left in the spawning chamber was the Queen Wolf Ant.

Zeon fired Sand Missiles at the Queen Wolf Ant as well.

THUDTHUDTHUD!

However, Zeon’s attack did not work on the Queen Wolf Ant.

The hardness of the Queen Wolf Ant’s shell could not be compared to that of the Soldier Wolf Ants. Her titanium-like shell had enough strength to neutralize even attacks carrying aura.

Furthermore, she had a force field as well, so Zeon’s attacks did not work at all.

KREEEEE!

Enraged by the deaths of the larvae and Soldier Wolf Ants, the Queen Wolf Ant released a high-frequency sound.

The high-frequency sound struck the walls and amplified.

“Grrgh!”

Zeon screamed and sank down.

Blood was flowing from his ears.

The high-frequency sound had ruptured his eardrums and concussed his brain.

As befitted the boss of a swarm, the Queen Wolf Ant possessed a Skill.

An attack using a high-frequency sound was the Queen Wolf Ant’s Skill.

Zeon looked at the Queen Wolf Ant with bloodshot eyes.

The Queen Wolf Ant slowly approaching him appeared doubled and tripled.

The Queen Wolf Ant moved her antennae wildly, as though boasting that she was the victor.

‘Fine! You win. Fuck!’

Zeon struggled to raise his middle finger.

Toward that Zeon, the Queen Wolf Ant drove her teeth down.

Zeon widened both eyes and waited for death.

That was when it happened.

SLASH!

Just as it seemed a wind had suddenly blown through the Ant Nest, the Queen Wolf Ant’s head flew into the air.

The sight of only the head being cut off and flying through the air while the body remained where it was felt unreal.

Zeon was completely drenched in the bodily fluid that sprayed from the Queen Wolf Ant’s body.

Then he heard a familiar voice.

“Come to your senses, cripple! How long are you going to sit there in a daze?”

The owner of the voice was none other than Deioden.

He had sent the Queen Wolf Ant’s head flying and saved Zeon.

Looking at the corpses of the larvae and Soldier Wolf Ants, Deioden said,

“At least you are not completely useless.”

Zeon had proven his value with his own strength.

Although he had shown himself powerless before the Queen Wolf Ant, the same would have been true for any Awakened who was not Zeon.

The Queen Wolf Ant was a high-grade monster that even Awakened above Zeon would have difficulty handling.

What mattered was that Zeon had shown himself refusing to give up until the end, and had even managed to be promoted.

When faced with a crisis, a human’s true nature emerged.

There were those who gave up at the slightest difficulty, and there were those who struggled desperately to overcome it no matter what.

In Zeon’s case, he was the latter.

He had the right to live.

That was when it happened.

KIEEE!

The cries of Wolf Ants rang out from the Ant Nest.

It was the sound of Wolf Ants swarming in after realizing the queen was dead.

“Khehehe!”

Deioden let out his distinctive rough laugh.

His two eyes gleamed red with madness.

Deioden said,

“Stand up. How long are you going to sit there? Your enemies are still left. Are you planning to sit there and die?”

“Grrgh!”

“Stand up. Even if you die, die fighting.”

“Damn it!”

Zeon gritted his teeth.

Even if he died when death came, he did not want to look any more laughable to Deioden.

‘This dogshit old man!’

Cursing Deioden inwardly, he stood.

KIEEE!

Wolf Ants were rushing in, filling the Ant Nest.

“Aaaaaah!”

Zeon let out a monstrous roar and unleashed Sand Missile.

There were no humans in the Ant Nest.

There were only Wolf Ants, a monster in human form, and a madman who had lost reason and was spraying Skills everywhere.