Chapter 1084 - 115 - 119

Chapter 115: Chapter 115

The mutated ants discovered the helicopter's presence in the air and began flying up one by one.

Vuuonng….

Vuuonnng…..

Maybe the number of specimens that could fly was low, because the Hunters could only see seven flying up to meet them.

"Let me take care of them."

The sole Mage-type Hunter among the team, Choi Jong-In, stepped forward. His skill, 'Flame Spear', was called into action.

As soon as he was done casting his magic, seven bodies of floating flames drew long lines in the air to resemble burning spears and slammed accurately into the airborne ants.

Kwa-kwa-boom!!

It was difficult to kill a single ant monster with scattered firepower, but it was more than enough to burn away their wings.

Kiiieeehk-!!

Kyaahhk-!

With their wings burnt off, the ants fell freely back to the earth. Choi Jung-In tightly clenched his fist while witnessing the result of his hard work. However, now wasn't the time to bask in the glow of his victory.

Choi Jong-In turned around and asked Mah Dong-Wook.

"What's happening with the Japanese side?"

The ants had noticed their approach and began moving now. Meaning, there was no more time for them to take it easy.

Crackle-!

Mah Dong-Wook paid attention to the radio receiver stuck in his ear. As a Tanker, he was named as the leader of the Korean side of the raid team.

"They say they have landed on the island now…."

Ka-boom!!

Just as he was done speaking up, there was a loud explosion from afar.

Boom!!

Kaboom!!!

As if that was the signal, several more explosion began ringing up from all parts of the island as thick, choking smoke plumes rose up. The fourth subjugation operation was now officially underway.

The Master the Reapers Guild, Im Tae-Gyu, looked out of the helicopter's window, and at the ground far below, a deep frown forming on his forehead.

Thousands of ants were pouring out of the ant tunnel, before splitting up into four smaller swarms to rush towards the four cardinal directions.

"That's some creepy and disgusting thing to look at. Seriously, man."

"Doesn't it look like most of them have left the tunnel now?"

"….It does, doesn't it?"

The once-lengthy lines of ants soon came to an end, leaving behind a massive gaping hole in the ground. That was the entrance to the ant tunnel.

The scale of the ant tunnel must've been rather incredible, because the entrance itself was as big as the mouth of a tunnel one would see commonly on the national highway.

And in the deepest past of the ant tunnel, the ant queen was waiting for their arrival.

This raid team only had one goal – to eliminate the ant queen.

"Everyone."

Before they set off to invade the ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook gestured and gathered the raid team members around him. He even gestured towards the hesitant cameraman, too.

Everyone participating in this operation pressed their heads together.

"During hundreds of simulation runs, Japanese were only able to buy us one hour, tops. Which means, we need to kill the ant queen within that hour, no matter what."

He didn't bother to speak about the possibility of 'if we fail'. Unlike the first three subjugation raids, there was no escape path this time around for them. They would be utterly cut off inside the ant tunnel.

Mah Dong-Wook studied the faces of each raid members, and they returned a nod, a look of grim determination clearly etched on each one.

'These are the best individual team members imaginable.'

Unless there was another tragedy similar to Jeju Island happening in the future, one would never come across an opportunity to hunt together with members this capable ever again.

Mah Dong-Wook was deeply honoured to be the leader of this team.

They soon finished reconfirming their resolve, and then…

"Let's go."

From the helicopter, seven people, the six members of the raid team and the lone cameraman, jumped out.

"How long has it been since the Koreans went inside?"

Goto Ryuji threw out a question.

"Hold on."

Now originally, it was Goto Ryuji's job to communicate with the mission control centre. But, as he didn't enjoy carrying around bothersome things, another Hunter was tasked with doing so. It was precisely this person that provided the answer.

"They say it has been less than 10 minutes."

"Ten minutes, is it…."

Time to start the escape procedure, then.

Before they started withdrawing from Jeju Island, though, Goto Ryuji briefly scanned his vicinity. The corpses of the massacred ants were piled up on high.

The role of the Japanese in this raid, on the surface, of course, was to attract the attention of the ants. They didn't even focus on killing the ants and concentrated on retreating in order to buy as much time as possible, yet they still managed to achieve such a feat.

'The Koreans might find these ants as tough opponents, but they are nothing to us, the Japanese.'

The unbridled confidence caused the corner of Goto Ryuji's lips to arc up. He kicked away an ant corpse hampering his steps to a far away distance and immediately issued the order to withdraw.

Finally, it was time for them to start moving towards the true goal of the Japanese team.

However….

"Excuse me, Goto-san."

"Mm?"

The Hunter in charge of the communication formed a worried expression.

"I can't get in touch with Team 3 from a while ago."

'Is it equipment malfunction…?'

The instances of equipment, that had gone through multiple meticulous checks, malfunctioning right before an important part of the mission, or during the important part itself, did happen occasionally.

The landing point of Team 3 was in the southern part of the island. Goto Ryuji's Team 1 landed on the western part and they had been constantly moving south, so their distance shouldn't be that great.

"What is the estimated distance between our current position and the last known position of Team 3 before the communication failure?"

"With our current speed, we should be able to get there within ten minutes."

As expected, it wasn't far. At this rate, Team 3 would never get to hear the order to withdraw and get left behind in the island, eventually meeting a very bad end for themselves.

'...'

When he thought about the next subjugation operation that would take place involving only the Japanese personnel, he simply couldn't afford to have five rank S Hunters as KIAs.

Also, because Team 3 was planned to be deployed on the southern part of the island, which was the closest to the ant tunnel, the whole team was made up of the best of the best among Japan's elite.

Losing them here meant that Japan would greatly suffer as well.

'Well, I'm sure nothing bad has happened over there….'

Indeed, it must've been a minor error. Nothing to worry about.

After a short deliberation, Goto Ryuji decided on the next course of action.

"We shall head over there and take a look."

The moment Jin-Woo stopped his usual daily run, the familiar mechanical beep rang out in his ear.

Tti-ring.

[Total distance ran: 10 km.]

[You've completed Running, 10 km.]

Completely the opposite to when he started doing the Daily Quests, Jin-Woo wasn't even out of breath. He had repeated these Daily Quests for so long, it simply felt like the part of his daily routine now.

Soon, along with the completion message, his rewards figuratively landed on his lap.

'Stats.'

Out of the three Stat bonus points he gained as a reward, Jin-Woo spent two on his Agility, while the remaining point was spent on his Strength.

[Stats]

Strength: 219

Endurance: 200

Agility: 230

Intelligence: 250

Perception: 200

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in the physical damage: 46%

Seeing that almost all of his Stats were now ending with a '0', a satisfied smile crept up on his face.

'If only I had one more point….'

Although it was regretful, he couldn't manufacture a point out of thin air, so there was no helping it. Still, looking at his Stat value that had risen up evenly like this, a smile automatically bloomed on his lips.

'Nice.'

After he raised Intelligence Stat to 250, he began maintaining a balance of sorts and made sure that not one Stat was left behind.

'All five Stats are indispensable to me.'

That was his final assessment after levelling up and raising his Stats for a long time. Regardless of which Stat it was, with their numerical values continuing to soar higher, he hadn't been disappointed once so far by their usefulness.

'That's why….'

He was planning to continue with this Stat balancing act for the foreseeable future – as long as there weren't any unexpected circumstances forcing him to change, of course.

Jin-Woo dismissed the Stat Window with a satisfied grin still etched on his face. He then took a look around him. His neighbourhood had always been on the quieter side, but today, he failed to spot a single soul so far. He could easily guess the reason why, though.

Jin-Woo pulled his phone out and confirmed the current time.

'I knew it.'

The Korea-Japan united team's raid would be in full swing by now. And pretty much every single citizen should be glued to their TV screens, too.

Jin-Woo turned around. His Daily Quest was already over, but the steps leading him back home were far more urgent than usual.

The operation was unfolding smoothly so far.

Just as the Japanese had predicted, Mah Dong-Wook's team didn't encounter any obstructions as they entered the deeper parts of the ant tunnel.

The inside of the tunnel resembled the cave-type dungeons in its layout. However, if there was one clear difference to note, then that would be the lack of illuminating stones. The Hunters had to provide light themselves to see where they were going.

'.....'

Gulp.

The cameraman thought that he had plenty of experience exploring dungeons before, but today, he just had to nervously swallow his saliva.

His current position was right at the back of the group. The team maintained a formation of Choi Jong-In standing right at the front to light their way using magic, while the other Hunters were sticking very close to him.

The cameraman also had a flashlight attached to his headgear for the purpose of filming.

Unfortunately, this darkness was infused with a heavy amount of magical energy. The flashlight didn't provide as much help as the magic from a rank S Mage, and it could just barely illuminate a bit of space in front of his eyes.

"It's really quiet in here."

Choi Jong-In voiced his opinion without giving it too much thought, and Mah Dong-Wook next to him nodded his head to express his agreement.

"Mm."

As a leader and a Tanker, he was duty-bound to protect the Mage, Choi Jong-In, who should originally be stationed at the far back.

Was that the reason why? Mah Dong-Wook continued to glare at the surroundings with a pair of sharp, focused eyes. His usual, out-going demeanour was nowhere to be seen now.

It was the same story with Baek Yun-Ho, as well. He activated the 'Eyes of the Beast' even before entering the ant tunnel. He hadn't spoken a single word and did his absolute hardest to latch on to any slight movement or deviation in the flow of the magic energy.

Both Min Byung-Gu and the cameraman also carried deeply tense expressions.

Only Cha Hae-In maintained that expressionless face of hers, silently walking forward while her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.

It was then.

"Look, over there…."

He must've found something in the distance, because Choi Jong-In raised his voice.

"…Huh."

"Mm…."

The Hunters all gasped out in nasty shock.

Countless ant eggs were attached to the walls and the ceiling of this huge chamber with nary an empty space between them.

They could see dark-coloured larva wiggling inside the semi-transparent shell of each egg. There could only ever be one emotion they felt when facing this nursery area filled with gloomy, dreary atmosphere and a seriously terrible stench.

That would be 'sheer disgust'.

"Don't you think we should just burn all these away?"

Choi Jong-In spoke, his expression crumpling greatly.

For the first time since he entered this ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook formed a smile.

"I'd like nothing more than to do exactly that, but since we don't have much time, let us not."

Even if all of these creatures hatched, they would only live for no more than one year, at most. As long as they could kill the mother, they didn't have to worry about these critters anymore.

"….Here they come."

Baek Yun-Ho pointed towards the distant darkness and warned the rest of the team. Even before he made his warning, though, Cha Hae-In had unsheathed her sword already.

Mah Dong-Wook pulled the shield as large as his body right up to his chin and glared at his front.

Shashashasha….

A group of around ten ants appeared at the same time. As if they were born on Jeju Island and had gone through some sort of a mutation, all of them didn't have eyes.

"Are they the queen's guards?" Asked Mah Dong-Wook.

Choi Jong-In shook his head.

"No, they are not. Looks like they are here to guard the nursery area."

"In that case, this shouldn't be difficult."

If they were regular monsters, not the guards of the boss creature, then there was just no way these critters could withstand the combined firepower of a raid team consisting entirely of rank S Hunters!

Knowing better than anyone else that there wasn't a lot of time, Mah Dong-Wook jumped into the fray first.

"Let's go!"

Hunters followed after him. Right behind them, flames flared out brightly from Choi Jong-In's hands, and arrows fired by Im Tae-Gyu sliced up the air as they flew to their targets.

Just as Mah Dong-Woo predicted, the battle was concluded pretty quickly.

Kiiehhk!

The head of the last ant fell to the ground. Cha Hae-In wordlessly shook off the bodily fluids clinging onto her sword. Meanwhile, Mah Dong-Wook spoke up.

"Since the nursery area is right here, that means…."

Choi Jong-In provided the follow-up.

"….The queen's lair is nearby."

As the Hunters began checking their equipment before they rushed into the decisive showdown against the ant queen, the cameraman began looking here and there to capture more footage. But then, he gasped out in pure shock.

"Heok!!"

The gazes of the Hunters were immediately focused on him.

"I-I'm really sorry."

Momentarily forgetting that the camera attached to his head was actually broadcasting to the rest of the nation, the cameraman hurriedly bowed towards the Hunters. Sensing something was afoot, Baek Yun-Ho approached the cameraman.

"Did you find something?"

"Ah, well, it's just that…. Over there."

The cameraman sheepishly smiled and pointed to the corner of the chamber.

"There's a pile of empty eggshells over there, but like, one of them happens to be really, really big, you see."

'.…!!'

Baek Yun-Ho's eyes grew larger.

It was as the cameraman said. Most of the eggs containing regular ants were only about the size of a bicycle wheel, yet the one pointed out was as big as a grown man….

'No, wait.'

The lengthy and ovoid shape of the egg was large enough to say that a fully-grown ant specimen must've emerged from it.

'That's also an ant egg??'

"….Just what the hell came out of that egg?"

Min Byung-Gu had walked closer before anyone had noticed it; there was a look of huge shock on his face as well. Baek Yun-Ho's expression was stiff for a brief moment, but he quickly changed it to a grin as he lightly slapped Min Byung-Gu's back.

"We're here to kill the queen. Let's not worry about anything else."

"…..Right."

Min Myung-Gu carried an uneasy expression as he turned around to walk over to where the rest of the Hunters were. Before he joined the others, Baek Yun-Ho took one last look at that egg.

'That's just crazy….'

'This is just crazy….'

Goto Ryuji had to doubt whether his own eyes were working properly or not.

"Heok!!"

"Mm…..!!"

Other Japanese Hunters either convulsed in shock or muttered lowly under their breaths.

Goto Ryuji frowned deeply as he scanned his surroundings. The Hunters of Team 3 were found in the exact location where their communication had been cut off. All five of them were here, but without their heads.

The sight of their headless colleagues lying on the ground as corpses left a shocking mental imprint on the other Hunters.

'...'

Goto Ryuji wordlessly massaged his temples, before approaching the bodies to check out their wounds.

'This wasn't done by a blade.'

The necks of the dead Hunters were all roughly bitten off.

'Just how much of a biting force was it for their necks to end up like this?'

While Goto Ryuji was stewing in his astonishment, one of his fellow Hunters walked in closer and angrily spat out.

"How dare these d*mn ants….!!"

Goto quickly shook his head.

"It's not 'ants'."

"Pardon?"

"Whether this was the handiwork of an ant or not, there was only one enemy."

"B-but, how can that be?!"

Goto Ryuji swallowed his saliva.

No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't see any hint of a battle taking place here. If ants pushed on with sheer numbers to annihilate Team 3, then he should've found corpses of dead ants or some other traces around this area. However, he couldn't find anything.

Also, the wounds on the dead Hunters – judging from the location of the attack, it was more than likely that they were killed by a single assailant.

'How could a team of the best Hunters from Japan fall to a single monster….?'

If his guess was correct, then only a rank S dungeon's boss could do something like this.

Goto Ryuji quickly snatched the communication device from the Hunter next to him and spoke up.

"It's Goto."

"Yes, please speak."

"Where is the ant queen? Did it come out of the tunnel?"

"Let me confirm."

The magic energy detection camera mounted on the spy satellite. Only America, Japan and China possessed such technology in the entire world.

In reality, China had to hack the Americans to copy the camera system, so one could argue that only the USA and Japan truly possessed this technology.

The location of the ant queen, as monitored by the technology Japan so proudly boasted to the rest of the world, soon came out of the receiver.

"No, Goto-san. The queen is still inside its chamber. Ah, the Korean Hunters are entering the queen's chamber as we speak."

"What was that?!"

Goto Ryuji stood right up.

He felt his heart nearly leap out of his mouth just then.

'The queen didn't do this?!'

His breathing quickened. He realised that something was going terribly wrong here. Goto Ryuji hurriedly issued a new order.

"Issue the withdrawal…. Tell every single Japanese Hunter to escape from this island immediately."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

Chapter 116: Chapter 116

Translator: None Editor: Chugong

Goto Ryuji ended the communication there, his expression remaining quite grim.

'Did we miss something?'

In order to successfully achieve what they were aiming for, the Japanese considered all types of possibilities and variables.

However, the event of a team featuring five of the very best Japanese Hunters getting annihilated in one go like this – such a thing simply exceeded all their expectations.

'Wait a minute….'

Something popped into his memory just then. There was an odd occurrence about four months ago.

The ant queen, being observed for 24 hours straight every single day, suddenly showed a massive decline in its magical energy emission. It was less than half of the usual amount!

The research team interpreted that as the lifespan of the queen coming to an end, and submitted several hopelessly optimistic reports. That was only until the ant queen began slowly recovering her magic energy, of course.

'It took about a month, didn't it?'

It didn't take too long for the queen to regain its original magic energy output. All those researchers that spoke up about the lifespan or rather had to shut their mouths as this result obviously went against their expectations.

"Goto-san."

The voice of one of the team members woke Goto Ryuji up from his reminiscence.

"….Mm."

He had been kneeling on one knee in order to check the bodies of Team 3's dead Hunters. He slowly stood back up. Now wasn't the time to worry about anything else.

'Did we come in far too deep inland…?'

Shashashashak….

Hundreds of ants had appeared behind him by then, and these monsters raised their heads up as if they were smacking their lips in anticipation of a tasty meal.

On the other hand….

The Korean team had entered the boss room, also known as 'the queen's chamber'. It took them 15 minutes to get here.

'If we consider the fact that we'll need roughly the same amount of time to get out of here….'

They still had around 30 minutes of wiggle room. Assuming that they should be able to shorten their return trip because they were already familiar with the path now, the remaining time was on the 'more than enough' side.

'Very good.'

Having confirmed the time with his wristwatch, Mah Dong-Wook raised his head. Everything was going according to plan. What remained now was how should they go about bookending this operation.

Baek Yun-Ho used his 'Eyes of the Beast' to see through the darkness and accurately assessed the number of enemies present.

"The queen is at the rearmost location. There are eight guards in front of the target."

The queen's guards were incomparably stronger than the regular ants. It'd be too tough for one Tanker to take on the attacks of the queen and its guard monsters. From here onwards, Mah Dong-Wook needed another person to act as a secondary Tanker. He looked to his side.

"Hunter Cha."

"Yes."

"Can you take on the guard duty while I tend to the queen?"

"Leave it to me."

Cha Hae-In's reply was short and simple.

She served as the main Tanker during the raids of her Guild, the Hunters. So, performing the role of a sub-Tanker was easier than drinking cold soup for her.

Mah Dong-Wook shifted his gaze to the rest of the team. Every single member present here was a top specialist in hunting down monsters. Going through detailed explanations was a waste of time for them.

"Let's go."

As soon as Mah Dong-Wook turned towards the ants, Choi Jong-In created a massive ball of light and floated it up to the highest point in the boss room. That brightly illuminated the entirety of the chamber.

"Heok."

The cameraman spat out a quiet gasp at the sheer size of the light sphere. He quickly began whispering towards a small mic located near his lips.

"As a rank A Hunter, I've participated in quite a few raids before, but it's my first time seeing such a huge 'Light' magic like that. As expected of Korea's best Mage-type Hunter!"

His voice entered the mic and got transmitted to the viewers throughout the entire country.

Not too long ago, he heard that the live broadcast he was filming had shot past the audience rating of 80%.

Feeling overly motivated now, the cameraman tried to step forward in order to capture even better footage, but then, Min Byung-Gu standing next to him at the back of the group hurriedly yanked him back by his shoulder.

"Keok?!"

At this absolute strength, the cameraman couldn't offer any resistance and spun around to face Min Byung-Gu. His shoulder hurt so much that his mouth bobbed up and down all by itself.

'How can a Healer be this strong….??'

There was no time to get shocked, though. The cameraman was now facing Min Byung-Gu who carried a completely different expression to when he was busy cracking jokes during the ride in the helicopter.

"This here is a boss room of a rank S dungeon. No one here is responsible for your life, except yourself."

Hearing Min Byung-Gu's anger-infused voice, the cameraman could only continue to nod his head, unable to form an intelligible reply.

"If you understand, then stay at the back. The real thing is about to get started."

The overflowing energy of a rank S Hunter – even a Healer, who was supposed to be the physically weakest out of all the Hunter types, still could display an aura that easily overwhelmed a rank A Hunter. That was the difference between a rank S and a rank A.

Such monstrous beings were uniting together to start an intense battle, so what could a measly little rank A cameraman even achieve here? The cameraman felt his own powerlessness for the first time since becoming a Hunter, and hurriedly stood behind Min Byung-Gu. Sure enough….

"Here they come."

A super-giant ant discovered the Hunters' presence and shifted its six legs to slowly approach where they were.

"So, that's the queen…."

Baek Yun-Ho nervously swallowed his saliva.

The taut, nervous tension was also writ large on the faces of other Hunters.

The absolutely commanding presence of the ant queen!

These men and woman had become the very first humans to witness the outer appearance of the ant queen, having sneaked past the wall of hundreds, thousands of ants to get here.

'Today, we shall end the lifeline of these d*mnable ants for good.'

Baek Yun-Ho's heart trembled as he thought about bringing that massive creature down. But, if they were to do that, then first of all….

Baek Yun-Ho's glare that had been fixed on the ant queen now shifted lower to the ground.

'We need to….'

Eight ants walking in front of the ant queen – they had to get rid of the guards first.

"Ha-ahp!"

As if he had read the minds of his fellow raid members, the main Tanker of the team, Mah Dong-Wook, rushed forward to the frontline. A thick vein protruded out of his neck as he shouted out.

"You d*mn ants, come and get some!"

His impressive roar!

The ants' sights had degenerated now, but in return, their sense of hearing had become even more developed, so they immediately bared their fangs and claws before pouncing on Mah Dong-Wook's position.

He quickly looked behind him.

"Hunter Cha! Now!"

Cha Hae-In had been running behind Mah Dong-Wook while maintaining a certain distance, and when she heard his call, quickly unsheathed her longsword. Grabbing the hilt in a reverse grip with both hands, she powerfully stabbed the ground.

Skill, 'Tremor of Provocation' – activated!

Khwack!!

With the sword stabbing the ground serving as the epicentre, magic energy radiated out in circular waves. The ant guards aiming at Mah Dong-Wook suddenly all changed their directions and jumped at Cha Hae-In instead, as if they had been entranced by something powerful.

'There you go!'

Mah Dong-Wook inwardly fist-pumped the air as the monsters ran past him and towards Cha Hae-In. She was successful in attracting the aggro of the ant guards.

Next up, it was his turn.

Mah Dong-Wook quickly stepped in between Cha Hae-In and the giant ant queen trying to shuffle towards her.

"You're mine."

The ant queen must've been displeased by an enemy blocking its way, because it began bellowing out a high-pitched scream.

Kiiiieeeehhhk!!

Any old Tanker would have been suppressed by the sheer pressure and cover their ears from that horrifying screech, but such a trick wouldn't work against Korea's best Tanker, Mah Dong-Wook.

"Hap-!!"

He instead activated his skill, 'Battle Cry of Provocation'.

Unlike Cha Hae-In, who activated an AOE aggro skill, Mah Dong-Wook activated one that only worked against a single target.

The ant queen stopped screeching out and glared at Mah Dong-Wook now. He had successfully attracted its aggro.

'Yes!!'

And now, his role was to endure the boss's attacks until his colleagues managed to kill off the ant guards and come to his aid. And that would be the role he felt most confident of performing in this world.

Mah Dong-Wook lifted up that heavy, large shield right up below his chin, the light of grim determination burning in his eyes. As he always had done, he began praying deep in his heart.

'Please grant me the power to protect myself and my colleagues today.'

Kwa-ka-boom!!

Just then, a huge explosion resounded out from behind him, signalling the beginning of the raid of the ant queen, where countless lives were at stake.

"Grandpa, aren't you going to watch? Hunters are supposed to show up on screen today."

"Grandma, I don't care."

"Don't be like that now…..The folks in TV said just now that they can really smash apart those ants today this time, so let's watch together."

"Argh. They all say the exact same thing all the bloody time. I told you, I don't care."

An old grandpa turned away on his chair and concentrated on the newspaper, instead. But then, a sound of him clicking his tongue came out from his slightly hunched back.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Even this newspaper is talking about those d*mn Hunters and nothing else. How boring."

The old grandma cautiously closed shut the door to their bedroom as the grouchy voice of her husband continued to enter her ears.

"Uh-whew…."

Only until two years ago, her husband used to hold so much interest towards all the news related to Jeju Island. He was also a big supporter of Hunters, too.

Their one and only child was taken from them by the ants of Jeju Island, after all.

The despair that felt like their world was collapsing on them soon became deep hatred towards the ant monsters. Her husband donated a sizeable amount of money to the Hunters Association whenever there was a subjugation operation taking place to cheer on the participating Hunters.

He failed to fall asleep because of nervousness on the nights leading up to the operation dates, too.

However, the bigger the one's expectation, the greater the one's disappointment would be.

When the third subjugation attempt, where the Hunters promised to spare no effort to succeed, also ended up in failure with heavy losses incurred, her husband couldn't regain his wits for several days, looking all dazed and the like.

After that, her husband stopped talking about Hunters altogether. He stopped expecting, and stopped hoping for a miracle from them.

"Whew…."

The grandma sighed out once more and picked up the remote of the TV in the living room. When it was switched on, the host of the broadcast was in the middle of making his emotional speech.

Our proud Hunters of South Korea have taken their very first step towards the ant queen raid!

The Hunters were getting ready to engage in combat just as she turned the TV on. The grandma gathered her hands in front of her chest and continued to watch on, her heart beating faster and faster in anxiety.

When the Hunters were injured, she averted her gaze while feeling sorry for them. When the attacks of the Hunters landed successfully, she clapped her hands in delight.

"Aigo! Aigoo!!"

Ah, ah!! finally! They have brought down a monster!

That was the beginning. The terrifying-looking ant monsters began falling one by one from the fierce attacks of the Hunters. And whenever that happened, the roars and cheers of people shook and reverberated throughout the apartment building the grandma lived in.

"Aigoo! Aigoo!!"

Only four! There are only four more left!! They have managed to defeat half of their numbers!

Hearing that announcement, tears suddenly formed in the grandma's eyes.

First of all, she was thankful towards these Hunters who were risking their lives to protect other people.

Secondly, she recalled the face of her son as the boy celebrated him getting hired by a large corporation located in Jeju Island.

Only two more guards remain! As long as they can defeat these two, they can start concentrating on the ant queen! It's not too long now from the successful completion of this raid!

It was then.

Slam!

The bedroom's door flew open and the grandpa hurriedly ran out, his face burning with emotions.

"Dear…."

Even though grandma called out to him, grandpa didn't say anything, his reddened eyes glued to the TV screen and nowhere else. His tightly-clenched fists were trembling hard now.

The host held his breath and continued to observe the situation for a while, before….

They have defeated all of those powerful ant guards! The only remaining ant is the queen itself! As soon as they kill the queen, it'll be the same as the ants being completely decimated!! Our proud Hunters, they are not wasting any time and have begun attacking their final target!

The TV screen now displayed the stirring image of five Hunters rushing in at the same time from behind Mah Dong-Wook, who had endured commendably well against the ant queen's attacks.

Thick tears streamed down grandpa's face as he energetically punched the air almost out of instinct.

"Uwaaahhh-!!"

Inside the TV station.

As the phone calls of encouragements and support inundated the station's phone line, the station's director yelled out in pure, unadulterated joy.

"Sir, the audience rating has gone past 85% just now!!"

"We did it!!"

The director tightly clenched both of his fists.

The audience rating of 85%!!

Now that was a record that would never be beaten, even if the South Korean football team reached the final of the World Cup. And when he thought about all the profit coming from overseas, as well as the potential future revenue…..

'A jackpot!!'

He plopped down on his chair and rubbed his face. All the other employees within the station's 'situation room' all breathed sighs of relief after seeing the happy face of their boss.

On the main screen showing the transmitted footage from the island, the Korean Hunters were busy making mincemeat out of the ant queen.

The USA, China, Russia, and France!! This is the moment that South Korea will join the list of countries that have successfully cleared a rank S Gate!

The station's director took out his handkerchief to pat down his sweat-soaked slick forehead.

'Yes, very good! Very good!!'

The queen was on the brink of death now; all these Hunters had to do now was to finish off the ant monster and safely escape from the ant tunnel.

However….

Kyahhhhhhhh-!!!

"What the hell?!"

The director was jolted out of his senses and he quickly took a look behind him. One of the producers hurriedly lowered the volume. The director tilted his head this way and that, before walking closer to where this producer was.

"Producer Nah? What was that noise just now?"

"Ah, that was…. This is the real-time live feed coming from Jeju Island, actually. That screech came from the ant queen."

"The ant queen made that noise?"

There was a slight delay between the broadcast being shown to the public and that of the real-time live feed coming in from the island. Since no one knew what would happen during the raid itself, it was decided that the real-time footage couldn't be shown to the public directly.

The station's director stared at the feed, before issuing an order with a smile on his face.

"Well, I think it won't do for a monster's terrible screech to come out when we're about to witness a historic victory. How about you edit that part out, or decrease the audio volume?"

"Will do, sir."

This producer named 'Nah' nodded his head, and the director squeezed his right shoulder as a gesture of encouragement. It was then.

One of the station's employee hurriedly ran up to him with a hardened expression.

"Director, Producer Nah!!"

The director quickly turned his head around.

According to his personal experience, not once did the reports made by his subordinates carrying such expressions turn out to be a good one.

Even before the director heard the report, he was beset with this rather ominous hunch. Praying that he was wrong, at least for today, the director cautiously asked the employee.

"….What happened?"

Unfortunately, one's ominous hunches had a way of coming true. The employee spoke in a disconcerted voice.

"Sir, I just found out that Japanese Hunters are withdrawing from the island right now!"

"What was that?!"

Mah Dong-Wook spurred his teammates on.

"We're almost there!! Let us just push a little bit harder, everyone!"

Just as his words implied, the ant queen was truly on its last legs. All they needed was a little more push, and that would be it.

There were hundreds of arrows stuck tightly together on the head of the queen fired by Im Tae-Gyu, and the creature resembled a hedgehog as a result.

Pi-ooong!

Kwa-jeeck!

Yet another arrow flew and struck the queen in the face. The creature screeched out as if it was in great pain and shook its head.

Kieeehhk!!

The queen quickly recovered its bearings and began spewing out poisonous acidic liquid throughout the boss room.

Splash-!!

It was such a wide-scale attack that several Hunters failed to escape in time. Their skins began burning up into black charcoal, but their wounds were restored in full by Min Byung-Gu's healing magic.

Kiieeehk!!

The queen was further enraged by the fact that its acid attack wasn't effective, and bit down on Mah Dong-Woo in front of the group with its large, saw-like fangs.

Kwack!!!

However, Mah Dong-Wook activated the 'Advanced Fortification' skill to defend his entire body and managed to endure the queen's attack.

One side of the ant's jaw was blocked off by the shield, while the other side, with his left hand. While Mah Dong-Wook was buying more time in this fashion, a huge pillar of flames exploded out from the side of the ant queen.

Kwa-ka-ka-boom!!

It was Choi Jong-In's magic doing its thing.

Kiiehk!!

The queen staggered and failed to balance itself. Baek Yun-Ho in his beast-type monster form, meanwhile, seized upon this chance and jumped up very quickly to rip out the queen's left fang with his bare hand/paw.

Kwajeeck!!

Deftly landing back on the ground, Baek Yun-Ho breathed heavily as certainty grew larger in his heart.

'The queen's finished.'

His extensive hunting experience told him so. This would be the moment when they finally kill the leader of an army of monsters that dyed this land black with the blood of their victims.

Just a little bit more, and it'd be done. When he thought like that, a certain powerful emotion welled up from deep inside his heart.

but then, the queen suddenly raised its head high up in the air. And….

Kyaaaaaaaaahhh-!!

A screech that was so loud that it almost ruptured the Hunters' eardrums reverberated throughout the entire ant tunnel. Baek Yun-Ho's eyes shook hard.

'What was that?! A roar of anger? Its death throes?'

No, it felt different from those. That screech sounded like a pleading call towards someone, something, which was still far away.

'It's calling for something?!'

When his thought process reached there, he felt an unexplainable chill run down his spine.

"We need to stop that thing!!"

Before Baek Yun-Ho could take another step forward, Cha Hae-In jumped up rather gracefully and swung down the sword she held firmly with both hands.

Slice!

The queen's head fell down to the ground first before she could land back on her feet.

Thud!!

The cameraman had been holding his breath as he bore witness to this battle of the rank S creatures. And finally, he was able to raise both of his arms up high in elation as tears formed in his eyes.

This was the moment when the curtains closed on the horrifying battle that lasted for 4 years.

"Pant, pant…."

The heavily-panting Mah Dong-Wook raised his thumb up towards his teammates.

Cha Hae-In also sighed out in relief. Choi Jong-In grinned as he adjusted his glasses, while Im Tae-Gyu punched the air. Everyone was expressing their delight over the victory in their own way.

Only Baek Yun-Ho among them was shuddering from this ominous and unexplainable chill taking root within the corner of his heart.

"Hyung, we just became the seventh raid team in the entire world to successfully clear a rank S Gate, so why do you look like…."

"Hold on."

It was then. Mah Dong-Wook, who had been in communication with the command centre, suddenly formed an enraged expression.

There was no time for them to relax like this. He quickly called out to his teammates taking a short break nearby.

"The Japanese have withdrawn already, and the remaining ants are heading this way! We need to escape from here, right now!"

"What?!"

"But, don't we still have some time left?!"

"20 rank S Hunters couldn't even hold out for 30 minutes, never mind one hour?!"

When his teammates grew visibly flustered, Mah Dong-Wook spoke in a complicated voice.

"I don't know the details, but…. The Association is trying to find out what's going on, but the Japanese have one-sidedly cut off the communication."

"Those stinking sons of b*tches…!"

Choi Jong-In spat out some choice words in disgust.

If it were the Japanese Hunters down here and not the Koreans, would they have given up this early and withdraw? No matter what, though – one had to be alive first in order to get angry later.

To prevent unrest from breaking out among his teammates, Mah Dong-Wook did his best to suppress his own feelings. With a calm face, he hurried with their escape from this place.

"Everyone, hurry!"

The members of the Korean raid team hurriedly ran towards the exit of the queen's chamber.

However, the one running in the lead, Baek Yun-Ho, stopped in his tracks first.

"Ah….."

"Hyung?"

Min Byung-Gun running right behind had to stop there, and as a chain reaction, everyone else came to a stop as well. Wordlessly rooted to the spot, Baek Yun-Ho's gaze was fixed in one direction as his entire body began trembling noticeably.

"This, this can't be…."

This couldn't be happening.

No, such a thing shouldn't even happen in the first place.

As he watched a shadow approach them, he recalled the tall, humanoid-shaped eggshell back in the nursery area.

'This… you're telling me that this is the power possessed by a single monster??'

Baek Yun-Ho's complexion paled instantly.

Other Hunters feeling puzzled finally sensed something was wrong and quickly took a step back from the exit.

"What's this?"

"Did the ants return here already??"

As the Hunters began falling into a confused state….

From the far side of the ant tunnel draped in darkness, a single winged ant was slowly walking towards the Korean Hunters.

Chapter 117: Chapter 117

Cha Hae-In immediately felt something was very wrong as soon as she saw the ant monster leisurely entering the queen's chamber.

'There's… no presence?'

It was almost impossible to locate the creature without keeping her 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 she met until now, that had this sort of effect on Cha Hae-In. One of them was this ant monster right in front of her eyes, and the other one was….

'….Mister Seong Jin-Woo.'

She inexplicably recalled Seong 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 her as her enemy?

Shudder.

She couldn't breathe anymore as a crippling chill ran down her spine.

'…..'

Just imagining it alone caused her 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 Yun-Ho or Cha Hae-In, 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?'

Mah Dong-Wook was inwardly worried. When faced with an unexpected situation, a leader had 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 Mah 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?!"

Mah 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 Yun-Ho 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 Mah 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. Mah Dong-Wook too 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 still was Cha Hae-In and no one else. However, her two legs were wobbling noticeably too, as if standing upright was all she could do at the moment. Obviously, fighting back was out of the question here.

Only then did the ant monster display some interest towards the Hunters. With a clear hostile intent, to boot.

'….!!'

Cha Hae-In's eyes grew wider.

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.

She did her best to calmly move her hand towards the hilt of her sword. However, the ant monster was a step faster than the speed of Cha Hae-In drawing her sword from her waist.

Piishuk-!

The ant monster literally blinked and reappeared right in front of her nose. Cha Hae-In's eyes shook hard. She didn't even have enough time to think about defending herself.

SLAM-!!

"Ahk!"

Being struck in the side of her head, Cha Hae-In flew away in a straight line and slammed into a far wall, before powerlessly falling to the ground.

Tumble….

Just one hit, and Cha Hae-In was rendered unconscious. All of her 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, Mah Dong-Wook took a step forward first.

"Hup-!!"

Mah Dong-Wook powerfully 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 Mah Dong-Wook's arms fell off, just like that. He fell down to his knees.

"No!!"

Baek Yun-Ho pounced forward.

If he failed to draw that thing's attention away now, then Mah Dong-Wook would be killed off in an instant now that he lacked the means to defend himself.

Baek Yun-Ho 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 Yun-Ho'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, Im 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 Im Tae-Gyu's eyes.

'Heok?!'

The ant monster snatched the flying arrow and easily snapped it in half.

Crack!

Im 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.

"….F*ck."

POW!

Im Tae-Gyu was struck in the face and flew away.

Baek Yun-Ho attacked when the ant monster's back was turned away from him, but the back of his head was grabbed by the monster instead, as the creature spun around in an instant. He was planted violently into the ground next.

Boom!!

Baek Yun-Ho's body quivered from the impact.

Just as the ant monster was getting ready to slam Baek Yun-Ho to the ground again, Mah Dong-Wook dashed forward and shoulder charged the creature away.

Kwahng!!!

The ant monster rolled on the ground for a little while, before standing back up. Mah 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 Mah 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 recognise the existence of a Healer. The monster scanned the vicinity to find this annoying human.

However, Min Byung-Gu stayed calm under the pressure.

His lone self-defence 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 Mah 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-Gu was taken aback with great surprise.

The ant monster then proceeded to slowly destroy Mah Dong-Wook. Min Byun-Gu carried on healing him as that happened.

He had no choice there. The moment he stopped healing Mah Dong-Wook, that man would be dead in less than a blink, after all. Sweat poured out in buckets as Min Byung-Gu continued on with the healing magic.

The ant monster traced the continuously-firing healing magic's origin, and then, its head swivelled in Min Byung-Gu'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-Gu!!"

Baek Yun-Ho loudly yelled out.

It happened, then.

Stab!

"Keok!"

Blood sprayed out of Min Byung-Gu.

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 arm emerging out of that hole.

He raised his head in disbelief and met Baek Yun-Ho's gaze.

Min Byung-Gu spoke in a faltering voice.

"Hyung…. Run."

"B-Byung-Gu!!"

Baek Yun-Ho tried to get up, but he couldn't put any strength to his wounded leg.

Kwajeeck!

The ant monster tore into Min Byung-Gu's head.

Kwajeeck! Kwajeeck!!!

"Uwaaaaahh!!"

Baek Yun-Ho staggered unsteadily and ran forward. The ant monster discarded the now-headless body of Min Byung-Gu and grabbed Baek Yun-Ho 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 Yun-Ho 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-Gu. If one subtracted the off-putting crack in its voice, one might even mistake it as Min Byung-Gu's, even.

"Run…. Hyung."

The ant monster repeated the same words for a long time, before looking straight into Baek Yun-Ho'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 Yun-Ho'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 Yun-Ho's neck.

"Keok."

"Your king… where?"

Baek Yun-Ho's brain kicked into gear.

With the strongest person in the Korean team, Cha Hae-In, 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 Yun-Ho as if he was not even worth wasting time on, and disappeared from his sight in a scarcely believable speed.

"Keok, keok."

Baek Yun-Ho 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 comes 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.

"Hmm…."

Goto Ryuji sheathed his sword back in the scabbard. Corpses of ants were piled up like small hills all around him. At a quick glance, there must've been over a hundred of these creatures.

It was a perfect demonstration of the abilities possessed by Japan's strongest.

"Looks like we've taken care of most of them."

"Yes, sir."

His teammates nodded their heads while admiring the sight of the always-trustworthy Goto Ryuji. They thought that, as long as they stuck by his side, they at least would avoid the fate of getting killed off.

"Sir, I've been told that we'll be the last to withdraw."

The Hunter receiving the transmission from the operations centre relayed the message. Goto Ryuji nodded his head and turned in the direction of the coast.

"This way…."

Goto Ryuji didn't get to finish his sentence.

Swish-!!

Because an ant monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now standing before his group, that's why.

'...."

With a single glance, Goto Ryuji figured out the capabilities of the new enemy.

'That isn't a normal ant at all.'

"Goto-san!"

His colleagues tried to step forward to help him, but he held them back.

"I'll handle this."

Against an opponent this strong, his colleagues would only prove to be a hindrance, instead. Going at it solo would be simpler for him.

Trusting his judgement, the teammates heeded his order and retreated to a distance while leaving everything on his shoulders. Goto Ryuji unsheathed his sword with a circumspect look on his face.

"An ant…. You seem to possess a pretty strong aura."

Perhaps the ant monster had also sensed his power, because it wasn't budging an inch from the spot.

But, that was to be expected – if that creature displayed even a hint of movement, Goto Ryuji was planning to slice it up into hundreds of fine little pieces.

It was then, the ant monster opened its mouth.

"You are… the king?"

"King?"

Goto's eyes opened wider.

An ant just spoke a human language!

However, it was already a well-known fact that intelligent monsters conversed in their own languages. So, it wouldn't be a stretch of his imagination to think that a monster would succeed in imitating human's languages.

A smirk formed on Goto Ryuji's face.

'A king, is it….?'

When Association President Matsumoto Shigeo finishes building his empire of Hunters, then indeed, he was the one and only viable candidate to assume the throne, wasn't he?

"That's right. I'm the king."

Kekek.

As soon as the desired answer came out of his mouth, the ant monster fully unleashed its magic energy.

Hwa-ahck!

Like failing to realise how big an iceberg was from seeing only its tip, Goto Ryuji misjudged the true power of the enemy from the small portion of its magic energy that leaked out. His eyes imperceptibly trembled.

'This, what is this….?!'

The bone-chilling cold air woke goosebumps up on his skin, and all the hair on the back of his neck stood right up. He had experienced a sensation like this only once before.

'.....Seong Jin-Woo??'

Slice.

Almost at the same time as the ant monster made its move, Goto Ryuji's head fell to the ground.

"Uwaaahh!!"

The Korean team was currently surrounded by the swarm of ants.

Mah Dong-Wook fought; Im Tae-Gyu fought; Choi Jong-In also fought, and even the cameraman had to kill the ants. However, there was seemingly no end to the waves upon waves of ants.

"Pant, pant, pant….."

All sounds had stopped and all Baek Yun-Ho could hear was his own heavy breathing.

'Is this the end?'

He quickly wiped the blood trickling down below his eyebrow with the back of his hand. With their lone Healer-type Hunter gone, they had no avenue to deal with these many monsters now.

This resistance was a futile one, indeed.

Even then, he couldn't bring himself to give up – because, two of his most precious friends had lost their lives in this d*mn place. He definitely didn't want to dig his grave where they were buried, too.

"Uwaaaah-!!"

He destroyed the head of yet another ant. However, countless more replaced the dead one and tried to pounce on him.

Kiieechk!

Kiiehck!!

Baek Yun-Ho powerfully shook off the ants and stood with his back against a wall. Like this, he at least wouldn't get surrounded from all sides now.

"Pant, pant…."

He raised his head and searched for other Hunters. His colleagues, who had been fighting alongside him only a moment ago, could no longer be seen, their figures completely buried within the swarm of ants.

No way. He wanted to believe that it wasn't possible….

He bit his lower lip, but then, was jolted out of his senses with a sudden presence appearing behind his back.

He spun around rapidly and threw a punch, but stopped before he reached his target. Because… the one standing behind him wasn't an ant.

'What…. Who is this?'

It was, in fact, a 'soldier' decked out in black full-body armour.

This was his first time seeing one, but then again, he heard plenty of times before about this 'thing' from Park Hui-Jin who had been involved with the Red Gate incident.

'Isn't this….??'

Baek Yun-Ho cried out in surprise.

"Why is this thing here?"

It was then.

From the soldier, a familiar voice came out.

"Exchange."

Chapter 118

One year before the Korea-Japan united raid team came knocking on the island….

The ant queen began thinking.

'We must leave this island.'

Other lifeforms that should've served as their food source had all disappeared from the island, and the incidents of its children devouring each other occurred frequently now. There was no source of food on this island to sustain the citizens of the queendom now that its population had swelled up to several thousand strong.

'This can not continue.'

Abandon the existing nation and seek out a fertile land overflowing with other lifeforms to establish a new one – if the domination of the island was the queen's first task, then this problem would be its second one.

However, the queen remembered. It remembered all the powerful invaders that stepped on the island several times before.

The queen's forces managed to repel them, but the nation had to suffer great losses as well. Far too many of the queen's children had to be sacrificed. Would its children be able to defeat those beings if they went to another land?

'Need stronger soldiers.'

It needed a single most powerful soldier to lead the citizens of the nation. And so, the queen decided upon the direction of their evolution.

Half a year later.

By gathering the magic power it already possessed, as well as all the nutrients it had amply absorbed before, the queen gave birth to a brand new life. It was the greatest combat weapon imaginable, born solely for the sake of dealing with the strong humans.

The queen's determination to create the most powerful soldier there was, combined with the original order of killing all humans it heard in its head, created a horrifying monster that simply exceeded all common sense.

The monster was born with the skill, 'Gluttony'.

By consuming its opponents, this new monster could turn their magic energy as well as a portion of their knowledge into its own.

'I want to become stronger.'

The monster realised what its powers were early on and began devouring its own kin, but the queen left it alone. What this monster wanted was the same as the queen's desire, after all.

The queen was greatly happy as 'he' grew stronger and stronger day by day.

It was happy because 'he' had already exceeded the power of 'his' mother now. And without encountering a single hitch, the army 'he' would lead was getting closer to completion as well. That was why.

'Just a little more time….'

In the midst of that….

The human invaders entered this land once more. Their numbers were lower this time, but they were far stronger than before. However, the queen laughed at them.

In preparation of the ants waging war against humanity in another land, this should serve as a great opportunity to test out the powers of 'him'.

The queen, as usual, sent out all of the soldiers guarding its castle along with 'him'.

Just as the queen desired so, 'he' went out and completed the first mission 'he' was given. But when 'he' returned, the queen was already dead.

'He' was enraged.

And thankfully, there were enough strong humans left on this island that would serve as the outlet for 'his' rage.

First of all, the king of the humans was killed. And then, it systematically annihilated all the subordinates next to the dead king. One of the subordinates cried out before he got killed off.

He asked just what the hell 'he' was.

After devouring humans through the skill 'Gluttony', 'he' now possessed the ability to reason. 'He' then began thinking to itself.

'What… am I?'

Up until that point, 'he' was a soldier of the queen.

But now, with the queen's death at the hands of the humans, what should 'he' call itself now?

A sole existence that must lead the remaining soldiers of the queendom. 'He' only knew one word to denote such an existence.

'….King.'

'He' had killed off the enemy king already, so 'he' had definitely satisfied the requirement to become one now.

Grab.

The ant king bit onto the head of the remaining human. But, then….

Suddenly, the ant king's head swivelled in the direction of the ant castle. There was an enormous aura rushing out like a fierce storm from where the queen used to live.

That level of power couldn't have come from a common foot soldier.

'…..A king?'

Immediately sensing that an enemy that could threaten itself had appeared, the ant king slowly rose up towards the ant castle.

Just what kind of a calamity was this?

The TV station's situation room used to be enveloped in the celebratory mood, but now, everything felt sombre and dreary like a funeral.

The 'live' broadcast showing up on the viewers' TVs suddenly got cut off with the entrance of a strange, winged ant monster. Understandably, they began flooding the station with phone calls of angry complaints and urgent inquiries.

Ringgg…!

Ringgg….!!

One of the employees walked over to the station's director and cautiously made his report.

"Sir, our communication network is about to collapse from all the calls made by the irate viewers."

The station's director raised his head.

"So what? Are you suggesting that we should broadcast live the scenes of our Hunters getting ripped to shreds by a single ant monster??"

"N-no, sir."

The broadcast got cut off just as the Hunters were getting one-sidedly beaten up by that mysterious ant monster. It was understandable that the curiosity of the viewers would skyrocket.

However, that didn't mean they could broadcast the scenes of Hunter Mah Dong-Wook getting tortured, nor the moment that Hunter Min Byung-Gu got devoured.

The director buried his face in his hands and let out a helpless moan.

"It's over…. It's all over."

The once-in-a-lifetime gamble where the fate of his station rode on, was now going down the drain because of one d*mn ant monster.

"It's over….."

Heavy, grim silence filled up the situation room. No one person was brave or dumb enough to open their mouths now. Except for one, that was.

"Huh??"

The producer staring at the real-time feed with an ashen complexion suddenly opened his mouth.

"D-Director!!"

"….What now?"

"Someone just appeared in the location out of nowhere!"

The director didn't bother to raise his head up and grimly replied.

"Unless it's Jesus himself, don't report to me every little thing that happens over there. Got that?"

"However…!!"

"….It's all over."

Realising that talking wouldn't get him anywhere, the producer increased the previously-lowered volume up way higher.

Kiieeehck-!!

Kiieehck!!

The situation room was immediately filled up with the screams of the ant monsters.

The director quickly raised his head up out of sheer shock. It wasn't just him, either. Everyone present within the situation room all rushed to the live feed monitor. And soon, sounds of "Oh, oh!" came out amongst those watching the screen.

"…"

The director sitting there in a daze finally managed to lift his butt off the chair. When he came in closer, the employees stepped aside to let him through.

The screen of the live-feed monitor was reflected in the director's eyes.

"Oh, dear lord….. Jesus holy Christ."

The director suddenly began calling out to Jesus, which he didn't even believe in, to begin with, and hurriedly shouted out to the rest of the employees.

"What the hell are you all doing here? Why aren't getting ready to start broadcasting this?! Are you going to take responsibility if we lose out on the current audience rating?!"

The producer hurriedly tried to dissuade his director who didn't even bother to hide his boiling excitement.

"But, sir! If we start broadcasting again, we'll be showing the live feed, instead! There won't be any delay in the transmission, and everything will be shown in real time, sir! We won't be able to do anything if another emergency situation breaks out!"

The delayed transmission time of ten minutes between the feed and the broadcast had run out by now. Which left the director with the decision of going with either the real-time feed, or end the broadcast altogether right here.

"….It's all or nothing."

"Pardon me?"

"We've already stopped broadcasting midway, anyway. Things won't get any worse than it already has."

"Well…. I, I guess so…?"

A Hunter's sudden appearance was caught on the camera. No one could tell whether he was a Korean or a Japanese. Heck, it was unknown if he was a Hunter at all, but with his appearance, the director's gamble that seemed to be over for good suddenly gained one last shot at the glory.

The director issued a new order with a determined expression firmly etched on his face.

"Switch it on. Switch it on, now."

He then pulled a chair closer to the producer and settled down there.

"Our station's fate rides on that man, you got that?"

"Euhhhk!"

Even though he was being pushed into the figurative cliff, the cameraman didn't regret anything. Anyone would've dreamed at least once of doing something like this when they were young.

…To become a hero.

If that was impossible, then at least, to become a support to the true hero.

During the time he did menial jobs for the TV station and earned his experience that way, he never imagined that he'd be blessed with an opportunity to do so in his lifetime.

But then, he Awakened into a rank A Hunter, and by earning experience fitting for his rank, he was able to get to this point in his life. Thanks to that, he got to clearly capture the scene of Hunters proudly representing South Korea successfully raid the boss of a rank S Gate.

'I'm the one who caught that on film. Yes, me.'

And with the footage he captured, many people would come to know the valiant sacrifices these rank S Hunters made for the purpose of the extermination of the ant monsters. That was more than enough for him.

He felt like that all of his efforts spent in studying filming techniques and working as a Hunter was finally being paid off here. But, if there was one thing he was a bit regretful about, then that would be….

'Dad…'

His father, who looked after the cameraman all alone after they lost his mother to cancer. Thinking that he'd not get to see his father again, he felt a deep pain in his heart.

Kwajeeck!!

His shoulder was bitten, yet he couldn't feel a thing. His arm had stopped moving a long time ago.

He was originally a Tanker, so he was able to endure somehow, but this really was his limit.

Plop.

He knelt down on the ground. Even then, his head was filled with the thoughts of his father.

'Why did my last conversation with dad have to be me asking him if he had his breakfast?!'

If he knew this would happen, he might have talked for a lot longer.

'On that day, when dad came for a visit to Seoul, I should've cleared up all of my schedule….'

However, time was a ruthless, unrelenting b*stard and regret always arrived one step too late.

The cameraman raised his head. The horrifying fangs of the ant monster were nearing his head.

He no longer had any magic energy left to activate the 'Fortification' skill, so he wouldn't be able to defend against the monster's attacks now.

Tears formed on the edges of his eyes.

'Dad, I'm sorry.'

It was then.

Kwajeeck!!

Accompanying the noise of the outer shell being crushed, the bodily fluid of an ant got splashed on the cameraman's face.

"….Huh?!"

A blade emitting a cold, silvery gleam had cleanly stabbed through the ant's head.

The cameraman raised his head and followed the blade, only to find another 'ant' with a long red-coloured 'plumage' stuck to the top of its head standing there.

'Why is an ant attacking another ant?!'

No, that thing wasn't an ant!

The cameraman was mistaken because both were of the same black colour. What he saw was an unknown 'soldier' decked out in black armour from head to toe pulling his sword out from the head of the dead ant.

Plop.

The ant monster with a hole in its head powerlessly sagged to the ground.

"Just what on earth is…..?!"

When the black 'soldier' stepped aside, a youthful man with a somewhat familiar face approached the cameraman and shouted at him.

"Open your mouth."

"Pardon me?"

This man didn���t even give the confused cameraman a chance to start a conversation; he simply grabbed the injured man's chin and poured down an unknown liquid down the throat.

"Keok?! Keok!!"

The cameraman nearly coughed his lungs out, but he still managed to swallow all of the liquid. He covered his mouth and asked.

"Who, who the hell are you?!"

However, the youthful man didn't even bother to respond and simply turned around to face the ants.

'W-what the heck?!'

The cameraman was flustered greatly, but still, he stood back up.

'….Wait a d*mn second here.'

His legs were moving again. But, was that all?

He belatedly realised it, but his arm was also fine after drinking that strange liquid.

'What happened here? What's going on??'

Did that man do something to him just now?

He couldn't come up with any other logical explanation besides that one.

It was then.

Quite out of the blue, the cameraman finally remembered where he saw that youthful man's face.

'Could he be that guy?!'

Jin-Woo calmly scanned his surroundings.

'.....'

Last time he got to meet the members of the Korean raid team in the Association's gymnasium, he had inserted one of the Shadow Soldiers in Baek Yun-Ho's shadow, just in case. What a relief it was that he did that.

It seemed that what he'd been watching wasn't a live broadcast, as the situation here was far worse than the stuff shown on the TV screen before it got cut off. He managed to save the weakest of the lot, the cameraman, first, but the other rank S Hunters were still surrounded by countless ant monsters.

'What should I do now?'

The quickest way to deal with this situation would be to summon Fangs out and sweep these pesky ants away in one go with his trademark pillar of flames. But, if Jin-Woo did that, he couldn't guarantee the safety of the rank S Hunters.

So, he needed another solution here.

Jin-Woo quickly made his decision and turned his head towards Iron.

"Iron!!"

Iron tapped his chest in a manly manner as if to say, "Leave it to me!"

He then strode forward, his large frame shaking to and fro, before opening his shoulders wide to roar out at the top of his lungs.

Woowuhhhhhh-!!!

Tti-ring.

[Iron has activated 'Skill: Roar of Provocation'.]

The effect of that was rather amazing. The ants attacking the Hunters all snapped their heads towards Iron's direction simultaneously. And soon, they all rushed over.

"Nice work."

Jin-Woo lightly tapped Iron on his back and summoned the two shortswords he got as rewards after killing the demon king.

'The Demon King's Shortsword.'

The pair of shortswords with a blue tinge to their blades gleamed threateningly under the light magic's glare.

Kkiiiieeeehk!

Kiiechk!

When hundreds of ant monsters screeched out and pounced at the same time, his entire view was dyed jet black in an instant. Jin-Woo began gripping the hilts of the shortswords even harder. And then, he vanished from view.

Kiiiechk!!

Soon, ants collided with the soldiers in a bloody battle to the finish.

In the meantime, Baek Yun-Ho, whose status was still better than everyone else, managed to move the injured Hunters to a safe corner. Thankfully, they were all still alive. The cameraman joined soon afterwards, and helped Baek Yun-Ho out.

Because Jin-Woo, or more specifically, Jin-Woo's summoned creature, attracted the aggro of all the ants present here, he was able to safely finish this task.

"Pant, pant, pant….'

Mah Dong-Wook was leaning against the wall, his breathing rough and irregular. He then grabbed the arm of Baek Yun-Ho, who brought him here, and asked.

"W-what's going on? Who's fighting?"

Mah Dong-Wook's eyes were unfocused. His eyes were injured and he couldn't see properly.

Baek Yun-Ho placed his hand on Mah Dong-Wook's hand.

"Instructor Mah. It's fine now. Everything will be fine."

"….."

He then shifted his gaze over to Jin-Woo.

Other people may not have know it yet, but Baek Yun-Ho had a rough idea already on how powerful Seong Jin-Woo was in reality.

Baek Yun-Ho might have been greatly flustered when the black soldier suddenly vanished, only to be replaced by the youth, but he still ended up shouting out loud even before he consciously realised it.

He said, 'please, help us.'

And then, after seeing the youth move towards the ants along with his summoned black soldiers, the sense of relief washed over Baek Yun-Ho; so much so that he nearly plopped down to the ground.

Sure enough…

Seong Jin-Woo proceeded to massacre and annihilate the ants that gave him and his teammates so much trouble at a frightening pace, as if those creatures were nothing but broken toys to be played around with.

Kiieeehk!!

Screams of dying ants exploded out from everywhere and nearly made Baek Yun-Ho dizzy in the head. But, he still sighed out in relief.

'It'll be fine now.'

He wasn't saying that to Mah Dong-Wook. No, he was telling that to himself. The hope of survival was rekindled in his heart. The aid from one Seong Jin-Woo was far more reliable and trustworthy than the 20-plus rank S Japanese Hunters combined.

'….Looks like there's no need for me to step up here.'

Baek Yun-Ho formed a smile and sat down next to Mah Dong-Wook.

All he could do now was to sit down quietly like this and watch Hunter Seong Jin-Woo do his thing. He then drew the cameraman's attention towards Jin-Woo.

"You should keep the camera pointing at him. Because you're going to witness something amazing pretty soon."

The incident of the Red Gate, and the incident during the raid of the Hunters Guild. This was Baek Yun-Ho's chance to personally witness the spectacle he had been hearing about all this time.

"Y-yes!"

The cameraman did his best to maintain his distance so he wouldn't get in the way and tried to capture Jin-Woo's actions with his camera. The work of the raid team's Hunters may have been finished now, but his own work was far from over.

Gulp.

The cameraman struggled to swallow his saliva.

Kiiiehk!

At the same time, an ant was split cleanly in half from top to bottom by Jin-Woo's hands. He then took a look around him. The number of ants had decreased significantly, and there were just over half of them remaining.

He killed so many ants that he had lost count now, but his breathing remained even and unperturbed. In all honesty, he found this place far easier to manage when compared to the uppermost floors of the Demon's Castle.

'Should I increase my speed a bit more?'

Glance.

Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the floor, and he immediately issued an order to the puffs of black smoke rising up from the corpses of the countless ants.

"Rise up!!"

Chapter 119

The cameraman felt a creeping chill crawl all over his skin.

'Wha-what's the meaning of this?'

What was about to happen here?

He was deep inside a cave where breezes shouldn't exist, yet this eerily chilly air inexplicably brushed past his back.

'Now that I think about it…'

Just as he began questioning whether the surroundings had become too quiet or not….

Kiiiieeeehhhk-!!

Thick, heavy screams resounded out within the queen's chamber and countless black hands began shooting out from the ground.

Tuck.

Tuck….

The hands grabbed the ground, and began pulling themselves out.

"Heok!!"

The cameraman unwittingly gasped out in pure fright. His eyes were opened wider, and his breathing grew rough and heavy. He was a rank A Hunter yet he could scarcely believe the things taking place, so what would the viewers at home watching be feeling right now?

While the cameraman remained stewing in his own astonishment, the owners of the black hands finally emerged out of the ground.

'Ant monsters?!'

At a casual glance, they looked like ant monsters, but then again, endless streams of black smokes were rising from their bodies. It was hard to tell whether these monsters were physical beings or made out of gases.

Wouldn't one potentially get that sort of appearance if one carved out the statue of an ant monster using a block of black-coloured dry ice? Several hundreds of such things rose up from the ground.

The cameraman's heart beat so fast and so loud that he couldn't even breath now.

Seeing that scene, Baek Yun-Ho too gasped out in shock as well. He was comparatively calmer than the cameraman, but that didn't mean he could close his slack jaw.

'All of those…. are his summons???'

Unlike the two speechless men, Jin-Woo was forming a satisfied grin at the new additions to his shadow army.

'Nice.'

Now, the number of his Shadow Soldiers easily overwhelmed the surviving ant monsters.

'With things like this, looks like I won't have to personally step out now.'

Jin-Woo stored the Demon King's Shortswords back to his Inventory. And then, issued the very first order to his new soldiers.

'Go. Don't leave any one of them alive.'

Kiiieeehhk-!!

With the same intensity as back when the ant monsters flooded into the queen's chamber, Jin-Woo's new soldiers crashed into their enemies like a tsunami wave.

The once seemingly-endless swarm of ant monsters was now being swept away by the black tide.

Woooahhhh!!!

A huge cheering roar broke out inside the TV station's situation room.

The director shot up from his seat and clapped his hands in happiness.

"Yesss!! He's doing it!!"

Seeing those disgusting ant monsters being swept away like that, it felt like his tight chest was being pried open again. It was as if the ten-year-old indigestion plaguing him had finally been flushed away.

If only there were no other eyes watching here, he'd have asked the producer to screen capture that moment and have it sent over to him later – so he could relieve his accumulated stress even if it was several months later. Nay, several years later!

It was indeed very regretful to see the death of Hunter Min Byung-Gu. When the director saw the scene of the team's lone Healer die at the hands of that d*mn monster, he thought that the heavens were crashing down on him.

Even then, if the Korean Hunters get out of the ant tunnel safely with the help from that unidentified Hunter?

'That's all I ask for!'

The Korean team had already achieved its goal by killing the ant queen. With their only method of propagation gone, there was no need to even repeat the simple fact that the ants would eventually die out in the Jeju Island.

And then, what about the Japanese?

Indeed, what would happen to the Japanese team?

Since they abandoned the important mission right in the middle of it all and escaped with their tail between their legs, there was obviously no need to hand over the promised share of the loot. And not only that, the Koreans could even demand reparation from them, instead.

And of course, the footage of the raid selling like hot cakes would be the tasty icing on the cake, too.

The complexion of the director brightened like a midday sun.

'Just where did this massive ball of fortune fall out from?!'

The director's expression, as he continued to stare at the face of Jin-Woo in the monitor's screen, remained somewhat confused. It was then.

Another employee hurriedly ran towards him.

"Sir!"

The director shot up from his seat, nearly freaking out of his skull.

"What is it this time?!"

The director's expression hardened in an instant.

His heart began quivering, thinking that maybe another mishap occurred somewhere just as he was beginning to soak himself in the sea of happiness.

What with the situation arriving at this point in time, the director was quickly growing resentful of this dumb employee. He even wanted to reach out to cover that employee's mouth and pretend that no bad news was afoot.

'Looks like I've finally lost it….'

Completely unaware of what his boss was thinking of at that moment, the employee spoke hurriedly with an excited face.

"We discovered that man's identity!"

The director's eyes opened up super-wide.

"What was that?!"

Inside the office of the Hunter Association's President.

Kwajeek!!

Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly lifted his hand off the crushed armrest. His private doctor sitting next to him turned to look at him.

"…Association President."

"….It seems that I got overexcited just now."

He unconsciously gripped too tight, and this happened. However, how could he not get excited by the scenes he was seeing right now?

Indeed, watching Jin-Woo's performance playing out on the giant screen made his emotions well up without him even realising it. If only his body permitted it, he'd have gone there to fight alongside, too.

"Getting overexcited is not good for your body, sir."

Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.

There was only one reason why he, as the Association President, wasn't present in the mission control centre. Didn't matter whether this subjugation operation ended as a success or a failure, there was a potential risk that he'd strain his heart simply by being there.

Even watching the broadcast like this carried enough risk, so the personal doctor had to set up a camp next to Goh Gun-Hui.

'Maybe, it would've been better to not let him watch the broadcast.'

The personal doctor worried about his decision for a brief moment, but after seeing the expression etched on the face of the Association President, he soon shook his head.

Ever since the Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo appeared on the scene, that wide smile didn't want to leave Goh Gun-Hui's face.

["Hey, that man, that's Seong Jin-Woo!"]

In that critical moment, as the despair quickly transformed into a loud cheer, the words Association President cried out still rung inside the doctor's ears.

Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui was beaming widely.

'I can't believe this is happening.'

He then cautiously placed his hand back on the sofa's armrest. Unless he was holding onto something, his entire body would itch too much and he'd be unable to endure it.

'But, how did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get there?'

Initially, he was greatly intrigued by this quandary. The island must be overflowing with the ant monsters, so how did he appear there without anyone else noticing it?

But, such a thing wasn't important right now.

No, the truly important thing would be that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was there. And with that, the other Hunters had hope. Those two were the important things.

It was then.

Goh Gun-Hui's eyes grew extra large after witnessing the spectacle of Jin-Woo creating even more soldiers by extracting shadows out from the dead ant monsters.

'That friend, he lied to me, didn't he?'

Who could've guessed that there were well more than "only about a hundred" summons? Even at a casual glance, there must've been over 300, easy. However, Goh Gun-Hui didn't look like someone who'd been lied to.

No, a smile of contentment was filling up his face, instead.

'He said that he wanted to fight against the monsters, didn't he?'

Goh Gun-Hui could now understand a bit more of why the youth said those words to him back then. After all, he possessed such incredible power, so no monsters out there should faze him.

For sure, Jin-Woo looked like he was enjoying himself as he fought the monsters. It was to the extent that the viewers watching felt a deep stirring within their hearts.

However….

Why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who so dearly wished to battle monsters that badly, asked to be left out of the Korean raid team?

'He must've had an important reason behind that decision.'

Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head. Without such a reason, there was just no way that a man who formed an expression like that during battle would willingly walk away from a raid team.

When his thought arrived at that point, Goh Gun-Hui grew very curious about what could possibly be Jin-Woo's reason.

Tang, tang!

Jin-Ah was studying in her bedroom, but she heard those loud noises and hurriedly came out to the living room.

"Mom??"

"I, I'm sorry. That was too loud, wasn't it?"

Jin-Ah shook her head.

Mom had already lowered the volume of the TV until not much could be heard so she'd not interrupt her daughter's studies. Jin-Ah didn't feel like unduly burdening her any more than that.

"Besides all that, what's going on? Is the TV broken?"

"Not sure. It just stopped working all of a sudden."

"Where's oppa?"

"He's right h…."

Mom turned around to look, only to gasp out in surprise.

"Oh, my?? Where did he go? But, he was here only about a second ago??"

Jin-Ah tilted her head and opened Jin-Woo's bedroom door.

"Oppa?"

He wasn't even in the bathroom, either. Jin-Ah proceeded to scour the entirety of the apartment before turning around towards her mom.

"What were you watching together just now?"

"The Jeju Island raid."

"….."

Suddenly, Jin-Ah was overcome with a certain ominous foreboding. Now that she thought about it, the entire apartment building was bustling with loud noises ever since a little while ago.

'No way….?'

Jin-Ah hurriedly ran back inside her room and switched on her phone. When she did…..

Just as the vigorous, loud cheers exploded out from the floors above and below hers, Jin-Ah's eyes opened wider as she finally confirmed the scene playing out within her phone's screen.

"Oppa?!"

After utterly massacring every single ant monster found inside the queen's chamber, Jin-Woo stored his soldiers back inside his shadow.

Even now, ants that had been spread out to the rest of the island were scurrying back to the ant tunnel. He judged that his priority should be placed on guiding the Hunters out of here to somewhere safe before more ants showed up.

'We have the injured here to worry about, too.'

Jin-Woo strode towards the Hunters. Beside Baek Yun-Ho and the cameraman, the rest weren't in a good shape. Cha Hae-In was still unconscious, and the three others had suffered some serious wounds, as well.

Jin-Woo asked while looking around.

"What about Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim?"

Baek Yun-Ho shook his head with a hardened expression.

"…"

Not saying anything else, Jin-Woo brought out the potions and began treating the Hunters one by one. Since the potions would become useless once they leave his hands, he had to personally feed each of the Hunters.

"M-mm…."

After drinking the potions, Hunters began regaining their consciousness.

"What's this?"

Im Tae-Gyu quickly raised his upper torso up, touched all over his body, and spat out a gasp of amazement.

"What the….?"

Both Choi Jong-In and Mah Dong-Wook recovered from the numerous injuries on their bodies in no time.

"Hmm…"

"Cough, cough."

Choi Jong-In had no clue on what had transpired here, so as soon as he laid his eyes on Jin-Woo, he was taken aback rather greatly.

"Mister Seong Jin-Woo? What are you doing here??"

"Let's talk after getting out of this place first."

"Oh…."

Choi Jong-In took a look around and nodded his head. They were still stuck inside the deepest part of the ant tunnel. This was no place to idly chat away, indeed.

"Instructor Seong!"

Having regained his eyesight, Mah Dong-Wook was able to reach out and grab Jin-Woo's hands.

"Were you the one fighting off those ants? Thank you. Thank you so much!!"

Jin-Woo replied in the same manner to him as well.

"Let us get out of here first."

"Got it."

Finally, Cha Hae-In.

Standing before her, a frown formed on Jin-Woo's face.

'Something's not right… her aura's far too weak.'

While feeling a sense of foreboding, Jin-Woo raised her head and cautiously poured the potion down her mouth.

Sure enough, a message quickly popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.

[When the remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to recover HP with healing potions.]

Jin-Woo's expression crumpled.

When he slowly pulled out his hand supporting her head, it was soaked in her blood.

'...'

That ant b*stard.

That creature inflicted a fatal blow to the strongest person among the Korean Hunters, Cha Hae-In, with nothing but a single blow.

The sole reason why these Hunters were still alive wasn't that they were strong. On the contrary, that b*stard simply toyed with them for a little while, that was all.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened.

'In any case, I gotta….'

Cha Hae-In's injuries took priority. If her wounds couldn't be healed by the potions, then she needed to get out of this island as soon as possible and get a Healer-type Hunter to heal her, ASAP.

"Let's hurry."

Jin-Woo carefully picked her up and stood up to leave. Other Hunters also stood up.

As they were preparing to leave the ant queen's chamber, Jin-Woo walking in front of the pack suddenly spat out a long sigh.

'...'

Baek Yun-Ho could guess the reason why.

Jin-Woo entrusted Cha Hae-In over to Baek Yun-Ho. Suddenly dumped with the responsibility of carrying her around, Baek Yun-Ho formed a flustered expression, and he hurriedly raised his voice.

"I would like to help."

Jin-Woo looked at the Hunters present, including Baek Yun-Ho, and told them all in no uncertain terms.

"Do not ever step forward during the fight. It'll be faster that way."

"But, Mister Seong Jin-Woo, that means…."

Choi Jung-Hoon was still oblivious to what had transpired before, so he was about to speak up his opinion, but Mah Dong-Wook stopped him and shook his head.

He may not have seen the situation unfold with his own eyes, but through his perception, he was able to detect how Jin-Woo annihilated the swarm of ants from the beginning until the end.

Jin-Woo was right about this.

However, Baek Yun-Ho still butted in.

"Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim."

Jin-Woo turned his head to look at him.

"I understand full well that you're strong. I can confidently say that no one here knows that better than me. However….."

Baek Yun-Ho spoke with a serious expression on his face.

"However, you've already summoned far too many creatures by now."

But, why would that be a problem? When Jin-Woo stared at him with a confused expression, Baek Yun-Ho got flustered and quickly added more explanation.

"You must've had exhausted a lot of your magical energy by now. What would happen if you completely spend them?"

'Ahh… so that's what he was talking about.'

Jin-Woo guessed from Baek Yun-Ho's words that the other Hunters utilising the summoning magic had to be using a lot of magic energy to summon even a single creature.

'I'm sure there aren't any real reason to reveal that my Shadow Soldiers don't need any magic energy, right?'

Even without him saying anything, his soldiers wouldn't look like ordinary summons to these people's eyes, anyway. So, Jin-Woo decided to change the story ever so slightly.

"My summons don't require as much magic energy as you think. You don't need to worry about me."

"Excuse me?"

Both Baek Yun-Ho and the cameraman exclaimed out at the same time.

He controlled that many summoned creatures all at once, yet he was saying that the magic energy usage wasn't high? Then, just what was his weak point, then?

'.....'

Realising that explaining would take up too much time, he simply turned towards the cave up ahead, instead. With excellent timing, the waves of ant monsters were rushing inside the chamber.

'Wow, there are still so many of them.'

Their side had someone in a critical condition. So, he couldn't afford to waste time here.

Jin-Woo activated the Sovereign's Territory for maximum efficiency. The ground beneath his feet was immediately dyed in black.

Just as he was done with preparations to call his soldiers back out again, an ominous, creepy air blew in from the other side of the cave.

'.....?'

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to where that eerie aura was coming from. There was this one individual among the masses of ants. It looked similar to the others, but it was a completely different type of monster compared to the others.

'Ah, so that's the one.'

Jin-Woo instantly recognised the 'ant king'. And likewise, the ant king recognised Jin-Woo as well.

Taking its time, the ant king slowly walked over to him.

"A human… you seem to possess a pretty strong aura."

It even imitated Goto Ryuji's speech pattern.

Hunters immediately recalled the nightmare of a few moments ago and flinched grandly as soon as spotting that ant monster. On the other hand, Jin-Woo showed no outward ripples and simply stared at the creature without saying a word.

Eventually, the ant king stood before Jin-Woo.

"Are you the king of humans?"

"…..Huh, an insect that knows how to speak. Well, I'll be."

When Jin-Woo replied with a less than impressed expression on his face, the ant king's own expression crumpled unsightly.

The power the queen bestowed it with, and the power it gathered through the 'Gluttony' skill – the moment the ant king unleashed all of its magic energy, its body suddenly ballooned up greatly in size. Its height, which used to be around the same as Jin-Woo's, grew by at least 1.5 times taller.

The ant king then screeched out loudly right in front of Jin-Woo's nose.

Kiiiiiieeeeeehhhhhk-!!!

Jin-Woo didn't even blink once, and instead, a smirk formed on his lips.

"Yup, now you're acting properly like an insect."

And then, he himself unleashed his own magical energy.