Chapter 117 - Chapter 117 (2/2)

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 117 > Fin.