'Jinwoo, just arrived here. He's fighting a powerful beast, if I go by my senses, it's probably the most powerful one here.'
Kenjaku, noticing the drop in the beasts energy, and the increase in Jinwoo's, stopped moving in the midst of the ant swarm, causing some of them to attack his motionless body.
Their fangs cracked and broke on his body as they tried to bite him, the creature's screeching in pain from the act.
'This is just a repeat of the last dungeon. I show up late, the kid kills the boss, while I eliminate all of the stragglers. These days, I find that I like agency...'
By spinning Longinus rapidly within his fingers, Kenjaku caused the lair of the ants to shake as a massive wave of water suddenly appeared from the entrance of the tunnel, engulfing all of the ants within.
When he held Longinus, he felt as if the oceans and the skies were his limbs. He could make them move with just a single thought.
'...but as much as I want to just focus on something else and let the kid handle this, my Heart is telling me that the way forward will reveal itself to me here. I just need the right information...'
The wave completely avoided Kenjaku's body as if it had a mind of its own, separating itself in two when it got close.
From the outside, it seemed as if the ocean had overtaken Jeju Island and was telekinetically being pulled into the ants lair by a mysterious force, causing the onlookers to watch on in awe.
'Don't sweep away the survivors. Destroy only these worthless ants.'
As one would expect, normal water, no matter how much it was, couldn't scratch these magic beasts. But when Kenjaku infused the ocean itself with his mana, their bodies were crushed immediately by the incredible water pressure.
At this point, it was as if a tsunami was sweeping through the dungeon, easily destroying the lair.
'I don't need to go further in. I have multiple ways knowing what is going on in there...for now, I'll just focus on obtaining the prize outside.'
The prize Kenjaku spoke about were the dead bodies of the S-rank Japanese hunters. Having already located them earlier with his senses, he just commanded the ocean to 'bring them' to him.
To think all this power existed in the Longinus, and this was only the beginning.
In no time, all of the bodies just floated out of the ocean, into the empty space where Kenjaku stood.
Goto Ryuji and the headless bodies of almost every other S-rank Japanese hunter laid motionless in front of Kenjaku, his cold gaze unaffected by their tragic fate.
BOOM!
Stomping on the ground, an incredible amount of tendrils shot out of Kenjaku's body, grabbing, ripping and absorbing them with ease.
His mana surged and increased drastically, while the density of the biomass making up his body achieved an entire new level of hardness.
'How strong am I now...it's gotten to that point where-'
Kenjaku's thoughts halted when a certain sensation assailed his mind. This sensation was ancient, primal and came from a being filled with brilliant light.
BOOM!
Kenjaku flew up into the air and looked in the direction he felt the sensation at. There, he saw a lone man on a boat wielding two swords which destroyed a swarm of ants that tried to enter the mainland in one swipe.
Kenjaku's body shook as his eyes stayed glued onto the man, especially the glowing shard of light that could be seen within the man's body. Slowly, his expression turned from shock into realization.
'Liu Zhigang!! Of course! The Absolute Being could share his power, Ashborn could do it, so of course the other Rulers could too. And the strongest hunters in the world, the National level hunters, must be the ones that contain these shards! Crushing and absorbing them will be the answer to finding the Ruler it belongs to...'
It was like a whole new world had opened up to Kenjaku. From this, he could start formulating a plan.
'There's no need to make it too complicated. I just need to kill the national level hunters, draw the Rulers out, kill them, kill the Monarchs and then turn my attention to the Itarim, the race the Absolute Being belongs to. The only thing is...'
The storm surrounding Jeju Island suddenly doubled in intensity, causing the ships on the water to struggle in an effort to keep themselves afloat.
Unbeknownst to Kenjaku, his fluctuating emotions were affecting the environment around them unconciously.
Ants that tried to attack him in the sky got struck by vicious lightning from the clouds long before their wretched fangs could even touch Kenjaku.
'...it will be me against the world. The entire planet will unite against a common threat. Heh...my blood is boiling. Liu Zhigang, after I get back to Seoul, I'll come for you. Then the rest of the world. These are your last moments of life, enjoy it well.'
By spinning Longinus again, the ocean covering most of Jeju Island receeded and the storm calmed down, giving the surviving ships below a moment of respite.
Looking down in the lair once again, Kenjaku decided it was time to go in. The bodies of the royal guard ants, the beast Jinwoo was fighting and the queen were too powerful to leave behind.
---------
By this time, Jinwoo and the survivors had already left the lair. Jinwoo took it upon himself to clean up the island of any ants that survived, but unfortunately for him, only a few remained. Kenjaku had killed most of them himself.
The only ones remaining were the A-rank hunters responsible for cleaning up the essence stones and Kenjaku, who was sitting in the boss room, absorbing every organic lifeform within.
The two 'bosses' of the dungeon, other than a massive enhancement to his normal stats, provided him with an especially useful passive ability after he absorbed them.
The ability was simple. All it did was just turn his 'human' skin into a self-regenerating exo skeleton.
Visually, nothing changed except for his skin losing all sense of warmth or softness. Now, it just felt like cold, pure layered 'metal'.
As Kenjaku sat still, consolidating the biomass within his body, his eyes suddenly snapped open, his gaze locked onto a certain direction of the dungeon.
"This feeling...the Absolute made sure to hammer this into my very being so that I won't ever forget who it belonged to. A monarch. No, two monarchs. More specifically..."
Grabbing Longinus from a nearby rock, Kenjaku immediately left the room in a flash, moving towards the place he felt the overwhelming power.
--------
In another part of the dungeon, two strange figures could be seen standing over several unconcious hunters, having a conversation of their own.
"Are you sure you felt his power here?"
A man, with long pointed ears, deep blue skin and long white hair, asked this question. On the receiving end was a lightly tanned man with incredible height and muscle, similar to a wild beast.
"I did. Ashborn was the first...but after, 'His' power appeared. I know it's here. I'm not leaving until I find it's source."
Unbeknownst to him though, the source had found them.
"Rakan. Sillad. How have you been?"
BOOM!
Hearing someone speaking his name, especially in the his language, caused Rakan to immediately react with a slash of pure power with his claws.
Swiping Longinus to counter, Kenjaku found himself being pushed back a few steps after the attack.
"I...was pushed back?"
This only meant one thing. His opponents were truly powerful. To an incredible degree.
"...you are not a human. Who are you to utter our names with such bravado? And..."
A crazed, feral look appeared in Rakan's eyes as he continued, "...who are you to carry 'His' power instead of one of us? I will rip you to shreds and pry the answer from your cold, dead body.'
Kenjaku had no interest in talking with Rakan. He was just prey.
Two obstacles had appeared in front of him.
By the end of this day, these two obstacles were going to be removed.