Chapter 117 - Chapter 117 (1/2)

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.