Episode 13
“Kuhk!”
Jeon groaned.
A deep wound had formed on his arm. He had been bitten by a wolf ant’s pincer-like jaws.
He had hastily pulled his arm away, but not before sustaining a deep injury.
Had his body not been strengthened from eating the Sand Angler’s gallbladder and flesh, his arm would have been torn off entirely.
It was a wound deep enough to reveal bone.
He needed to treat it immediately.
If he wasted any more time like this, he could be left with a permanent disability. But he wasn’t given any leisure to calmly tend to his wounds.
Clack! Clack!
Jeon dodged the wolf ants’ jaws and unleashed his Sand Blaster.
Boom! Ba-boom!
The wolf ants’ heads burst apart.
The Sand Blaster was powerful; the wolf ants were no match for it.
The problem was that there were too many wolf ants.
No matter how many he killed, there was no end to them.
Even when he cut their numbers down, more sluggishly appeared from somewhere to fill the gaps.
The great horned hyena’s numerical offensive had been formidable, but it was nothing compared to the wolf ants.
The wolf ants attacked Jeon without ever tiring.
Even dodging with Sand Step had its limits.
Jeon was already surrounded by the wolf ants.
At this rate, he would become nothing more than food for them.
Jeon hastily checked his mana.
He didn’t have much left.
If his mana ran out completely, he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to adventure.
This was his only chance.
‘It has to be stronger and faster than Sand Blaster. And its mana consumption has to be lower, too. A method like that… Think, think!’
The key was imagination.
He didn’t have the luxury to calmly think in this life-or-death situation, but he had to imagine it anyway.
An evolved form of the Sand Blaster.
Sand Blaster was a skill that fundamentally fired sand at high pressure.
A technique that inflicted damage through the sand’s ejection force.
Suddenly, a question came to mind.
‘Is it really necessary to compress air?’
His ability was dominion over sand.
He could move sand without necessarily firing it with air.
The most versatile skill among magic-type Awakeners’ abilities was Magic Missile.
‘If I apply this?’
It seemed possible.
No, even if the possibility was slim, he had to make it work.
His life was on the line.
Even if there was only a 1 percent chance, he had to try.
Jeon released all his remaining mana.
And he imagined.
He imagined condensing sand.
Shwww!
In an instant, the sand around him rose into the air and clumped together into the size of an adult’s forearm.
Dozens of such sand clumps formed.
It was Sand Missile.
“Go!”
The moment Jeon’s command rang out, dozens of Sand Missiles flew toward the wolf ants.
Papbapbapbap!
Holes the thickness of a man’s forearm were punched through the wolf ants’ bodies.
One Sand Missile killed three or four wolf ants.
The wolf ants collapsed, spilling their bodily fluids.
Jeon looked around with bloodshot eyes.
Not a single wolf ant remained standing in the area.
They had all been swept away by the Sand Missiles.
“Ha… ha!”
Jeon laughed hollowly and fell to his knees.
Having poured out all his mana, an extreme sense of exhaustion swept over him.
He had done everything he could.
Now he truly didn’t have the strength left to twitch a single finger.
It was then.
Tssss!
He heard the sound of sand falling.
Jeon raised his head to look forward, and the light of despair rose in his eyes.
“Fuck!”
A wolf ant was revealing itself, breaking through the sand.
But its size was three to four times larger than the other wolf ants.
Its titan-class shell shimmered with a faint red hue, making it look all the more special.
The moment he saw it, he knew what it was.
“The… Queen?”
With all her underlings dead, the Queen had finally made her appearance.
Other wolf ants appeared around the Queen.
They were soldier wolf ants.
They were twice the size of ordinary wolf ants, and their biting force was three to four times greater. Once they sank their jaws in, there was no escape.
There were twenty soldier wolf ants for the one Queen.
Compared to the wolf ants Jeon had felled, they were only a small number, but their danger level was many times higher.
The Queen approached Jeon, escorted by the soldier wolf ants.
The anger in the Queen’s compound eyes was conveyed to Jeon in full.
Her rage must have been immense for her to break taboo and come all the way here.
The Queen wolf ant was only C-rank, but because she commanded countless wolf ants like they were her own limbs, her danger level was B-rank or higher.
Kieee!
The Queen let out a piercing cry. At that, the soldier wolf ants approached Jeon.
Even as the soldier wolf ants closed in, Deiodeun never showed himself.
‘That old dog.’
It was then.
Crunch!
One soldier wolf ant bit Jeon’s waist.
Along with excruciating pain, his entire body stiffened like stone. Yet his mind remained clear.
The Queen dug into the sand.
The soldier wolf ants followed after her.
The soldier wolf ant that had bitten Jeon also finally dug into the sand.
‘Kuhk!’
Jeon’s face contorted under the pressure of the sand crushing his entire body.
He didn’t know how far they had dug underground.
Suddenly, the pressure vanished, and a massive cave appeared.
They had entered the wolf ants’ nest—the ant den.
The walls of the ant den were made of sand. Yet it didn’t collapse because the wolf ants had mixed their saliva to harden it firmly.
The ant den was more complex than a labyrinth.
No matter how excellent a human’s sense of direction, they would inevitably get lost inside the ant den.
The Queen and the soldier wolf ants took Jeon to the deepest part of the ant den.
A place with countless larvae and eggs.
It was the Queen wolf ant’s spawning grounds.
The bones of devoured monsters were scattered throughout the spawning grounds.
Kakaka!
The Queen stood in the center of the spawning grounds and made a bizarre sound. At that, wolf ant larvae appeared from all over the walls.
They were much smaller than ordinary wolf ants, and their shells were translucent.
Hundreds of larvae filled the walls and floor, approaching.
The soldier wolf ant that had been holding Jeon until now opened its jaws.
Thud!
Jeon fell pathetically to the floor.
Paralytic venom had spread through him; he couldn’t move a single finger.
The larvae looked at Jeon, sprawled helplessly, and wildly waved their antennae. They seemed to celebrate the appetizing meal.
Chomp! Chomp!
The larvae lifted his robe and sank their teeth into Jeon’s body.
Jeon couldn’t even scream, his eyes wide open.
The fact that he was being eaten alive instantly drove his brain into a state of panic.
‘Uaaaah!’
Jeon let out a silent scream.
In that instant, the rank insignia on his wrist began to glow.
A deep orange light emanated from the second line.
It was proof that he had been promoted to E-rank.
Faced with a life-or-death crisis, he had unknowingly exploded his latent potential.
Upon reaching E-rank, his abnormal status was dispelled.
The paralysis lifted, and his mana was restored to full.
In that instant, Jeon shouted.
“Dieee!”
Along with his shout, Sand Missiles rose up throughout the ant den.
Kieee!
A sound like the Queen’s screams rang out, but Jeon didn’t care and fired the Sand Missiles.
Papbapbapbap!
The Sand Missiles pulverized the larvae.
The larvae burst and were torn apart like crumbling crackers.
Seeing this, the soldier wolf ants hurriedly approached.
“Iyaah!”
Jeon fired Sand Missiles at the soldier wolf ants as well.
The soldier wolf ants struck by the Sand Missiles died.
The difference in ability between F-rank and E-rank was enormous.
With just a single rank-up, the power of Sand Missile had increased exponentially.
The soldier wolf ants’ legs broke and their heads burst, rendering them helpless.
Now only the Queen wolf ant remained in the spawning grounds.
Jeon fired Sand Missiles at the Queen as well.
Tak-tak-tang!
But Jeon’s attacks didn’t work on the Queen.
The Queen wolf ant’s shell strength was incomparable to the soldier wolf ants. Her titan-class shell possessed enough hardness to neutralize even attacks imbued with aura.
Furthermore, she possessed a force field, so Jeon’s attacks didn’t work at all.
Kueeee!
Enraged by the deaths of her larvae and soldier wolf ants, the Queen wolf ant unleashed a high-frequency screech.
The high-frequency wave reflected off the walls and amplified.
“Kuhk!”
Jeon screamed and collapsed to his knees.
Blood was flowing from his ears.
His eardrums had burst from the high-frequency wave, and his brain was concussed.
Befitting a boss of a swarm, the Queen wolf ant possessed a skill.
An attack utilizing high-frequency waves was the Queen wolf ant’s skill.
Jeon looked at the Queen wolf ant with bloodshot eyes.
The slowly approaching Queen looked like she was overlapping into two or three figures.
The Queen wildly moved her antennae as if boasting that she was the victor.
‘Fine! You win. Fuck!’
Jeon strenuously raised his middle finger.
The Queen wolf ant brought her jaws down toward Jeon.
Jeon waited for death with his eyes wide open.
It was then.
Swoosh!
It felt as if a sudden wind blew through the ant den, and the Queen wolf ant’s head flew into the air.
The sight of her body remaining intact while only her head was severed and flew through the air felt surreal.
Jeon was drenched in the bodily fluids gushing from the Queen wolf ant’s neck stump.
Then, a familiar voice rang out.
“Get a grip, you dumbass! How long are you going to just sit there blanking out?”
The owner of the voice was Deiodeun.
He was the one who had blown off the Queen wolf ant’s head and saved Jeon.
Deiodeun looked at the corpses of the larvae and soldier wolf ants and spoke.
“So you’re not completely useless after all.”
Jeon had proven his worth with his own strength.
Though he had shown a helpless appearance before the Queen wolf ant, any Awakener other than Jeon would have been the same.
The Queen wolf ant was a high-grade monster that even higher-ranked Awakeners would have difficulty handling.
What mattered was that Jeon had shown he would never give up until the end and had finally achieved a rank-up.
Human nature reveals itself in a crisis.
There are those who give up at the slightest hardship, and those who desperately struggle to overcome it.
Jeon was the latter.
He deserved to live.
It was then.
Kieee!
The cries of wolf ants rang out from within the ant den.
It was the sound of wolf ants swarming after sensing the Queen’s death.
“Keuheuheu!”
Deiodeun let out his characteristic rough laugh.
His eyes glinted red with madness.
Deiodeun spoke.
“Get up. How long are you going to stay on your knees? Your enemies remain. Are you planning to just sit there and die?”
“Kuhk!”
“Get up. Even if you die, die fighting.”
“Damn it!”
Jeon gritted his teeth.
Even if he died, he didn’t want to look pathetic in front of Deiodeun any longer.
‘You old dog!’
He cursed Deiodeun inwardly and stood up.
Kieee!
Wolf ants filled the ant den and came charging.
“Uaaaaah!”
Jeon let out a piercing scream and unleashed Sand Missile.
There were no humans in the ant den.
There were only wolf ants, a monster in human form, and a madman who had lost his mind and was wildly unleashing skills.