222 CH: 203 Entry of Another Monster

The ant king quickly sensed the 'changes' taking place on the body that it felt so proud of.

Crack.

Crack….

Its outer skin, most likely tougher and hardier than any known meterial on this planet, began developing cracks all over the place. On the other hand, the enemy was easily withstanding the ant king's attacks.

'It can't be.'

An impossible hypothesis quickly entered the ant king's head.

'I… I'm losing out on physical strength?!'

Not only that, to a human less than half its size?

But, right at that moment….

CRACK.

It realised that the fresh wound on its waist from that powerful hit felt 'wrong'. Even the sound coming from there was not too good to hear.

The exoskeleton lacked pain receptors, so the ant king had to divert its attention for the briefest of moments to confirm the status of its shell down there.

Sneak.

The result was rather shocking to behold.

'….It's cracked open!'

The small crack that was no more than just a nick had spread out to everywhere and was growing larger and larger. It was the same thing as a warning sign, telling the creature that there wasn't a lot of time left.

The ant king quickly turned its head around. However, even if it was only for a brief moment, Jin-Woo wasn't some amateur who'd miss this golden opportunity.

Ka-boom!!

The king's face spun to its side.

'…..??'

The ant king staggered unsteadily for a second or two from the ridiculous impact force that ignored the ant king's forged steel-like shell on its face.

It managed to regain its balance before it took a step back, but by then, the follow-up punch was already closing in from below.

KWAHNG!!

The ant king's chin shot upwards.

'How dare a human, who's inferior to a bug…!!'

While its head was still pointing up at the ceiling, the ant king shot a glare full of murderous rage down below.

The power this human possessed – it was indeed great. However, unlike this human, who only had his physical strength to fall back on, the ant king possessed a variety of other powerful means at its disposal.

Such as….

The ant king's head snapped back down, and at the same time, it fired a poison needle out of its mouth. A tip coated in deadly poison attached to the tongue-like tentacle shot out like a bullet.

It was an unavoidable attack aimed at the enemy's face in this point-blank range.

Swish-!

The human deftly tilted his head out of the way to dodge the needle, but a smile still crept up on the face of the ant king as the result of its attack became clear. The needle still managed to scratch the human's cheek and left a small wound there.

'It's done!'

That alone was more than enough.

Once, the ant king devoured a sea snail and somewhat coincidentally, absorbed a skill called 'Paralysis Poison'.

One of the most fatal poisons secreted by the known lifeforms in this world had been transformed into an even more deadly substance within the ant king's body after it became a concentrated mix that contained the magical energy of the host creature.

It was indeed the worst poison imaginable, evolved forcibly by the skill, 'Gluttony'.

'You've really given me so much trouble, you human b*stard.'

Even the slightest scratch would result in complete paralysis in one's nervous system within seconds; the victims would lose all sensations in their bodies and lose control of themselves.

The only thing remaining would be to systematically destroy the resistance-less enemy.

"….?"

As if the poison was doing its thing, the human formed a flustered expression.

"This is the power of the true king!"

The ant king smiled widely and smacked the human's face. However….

Kwahng!!

The human raised his left hand and blocked it.

'…..??'

The question of how he was still able to move lasted only for a second.

Ka-booooom!!

The human's right fist flew in from the other side and struck the ant king so hard that the monster was shoved down to the ground rather unceremoniously.

"Kiiiehk!!"

For the first time ever, a pained yelp shot out from the king's mouth.

***

"Damn it, I despise poison and curses," Esdeath muttered aloud, as if recalling a memory that never occurred.

In the next instant, the right cheek, which had been scratched by the poison needle, turned blue as if the poison was stacked there and wasn't able to travel. Suddenly, the poison solidified into ice and shattered, revealing newly formed skin beneath. Ice then enveloped the broken area, seamlessly restoring it to her beautiful original state.

Esdeath sprinted towards the ant king trying to push itself off from the ground.

'…..!!'

There was a wide manic smile on her face as finally she got the chance to let loose. So she continued pounding resulting in the creature's exoskeleton almost being cracked open.

She thought so and closed the distance in the blink of an eye, before jumping up slightly in the air. And then, he kicked down.

Kwa-boom!!

However, the ant king had already vanished from the spot. Only the poor ground caved in from the impact.

"Where did it go?!"

"It disappeared??"

While the other Hunters hurriedly searched for the ant king, Esdeath calmly looked above her head. The monster was flying in the air using its wings.

'Well, I guess this is convenient.'

Esdeath smirked to herself.

What with her being able to sense the monster's fluctuating emotions, searching for its presence had become a step easier now. The emotion of confusion felt had changed to fear, before it changed once more to happiness.

The ant king had changed its strategy now.

'If that human's speciality is his strength, then there's no need to face him head-on.'

The ant king's true weapon was its speed. Even that foolish human who lied and said he was the king of humans, couldn't even react to the ant king's movements and lost his neck.

From the onset, the reason why the creature wanted to use physical strength to suppress the human was a type of desire to show off its kingly powers.

But, right now, the ant king has decided to throw away that selfish reasoning and focus all of its being in this battle from now on.

Shushushuk….

The enlarged body reverted back to its original size, while the claws in its hands grew even longer and sharper, like well-honed blades.

'Its claws….'

Esdeath calmly studied the changes taking place in the ant king and realised that the creature would change how it attacked from here onwards.

Shururuk….

Two ice swords metrialized in Esdeath's hands.

Swiiiish-!!

The airborne ant king shot down Esdeath. Its speed was incomparable to only a minute ago.

'…..!!'

Time slowed down, and every single movement the monster made entered his vision. In all honesty, Esdeath didn't feel most confident when it came down to the contest of speed. But she had ways to slow down the enemy so much so it would feel still to him.

So she easily deflected the ant king's claw slashing down from above with her swords.

The follow-up attacks from the ant king landing on the ground, as well as from Esdeath spinning around, clashed violently.

Clang!! Claaaang!! Clang!!

As they exchanged offence and defence countless times, the ant king was now completely beset with unbridled shock.

'How can this be?!'

The enemy was actually matching its speed. No, it wasn't only that – as the seconds ticked by, his movement speed was actually picking up as if her muscles had finally loosened up sufficiently enough.

'How… How can such a….'

The ant king had been pushed back during the contest of raw strength, and now it was also being gradually pushed back in the contest of speed, too.

One step, another step….

As the number of retreating steps taken increased, so did the wounds appearing on the exoskeleton. The greater the monster's retreating distance became, the more the smile on her face bloomed.

'This is fun.'

The mental shock this monster, this so-called ant king felt right now, it was being transmitted in full to Esdeath. Right now, that monster was greatly shaken up.

Compared to any monster she fought, even shadows of this monster's strength, speed, and abilities fell some ways behind. No, maybe, it was on the same level as some of the Shadows, or even exceeded it in some regards.

When the ant king took another step back, Esdeath took two steps forward. And then…

Her sword stabbed straight into the ant king's torso.

With the monster's exoskeleton broken in several places, it was not an exaggeration to say that the creature's entire body was now the so-called weak spot.

Pa-ba-bak!!

It was then, her swords immediately sought out all of the ant king's openings and, literally in the blink of an eye, slashed out dozens of times.

Tadadadadada!!

"Kiiiieeeehhckkk?!"

The ant king screamed out.

As the creature writhed around in pain, Jin-Woo swung his sword once more and sliced off its arm.

Slice.

The monster's long, black-coloured arm fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Kiiehhk!"

By now, the ant king lost all semblance of pride or desire for revenge, and hurriedly fled to the air. Its instinctive desire to survive overruled everything. Unfortunately for her, Esdeath was having too much fun…

Sensing the approach of another being, the ant king took a look behind.

'A human… is flying?!'

Esdeath walked herself up frzzeing the very air and proceeded to walk on it then she cut off one of the ant king's wings.

Plop!

The ant king crash-landed in an unsightly manner. During that short time of its fall, the ant king constantly thought about a way to escape from this incredibly dangerous predicament, even though confusion and fear threatened to paralyse it.

'I, I need to come up with something to overwhelm the enemy!'

Physical strength, speed, and even its hidden trump card, 'poison' all failed to work. It couldn't come up with anything.

Did it not possess anything that was better than what that human possessed?

Just before the despair set in, the ant king finally arrived at the right answer. It recalled the one thing that it held an advantage over the enemy.

And that would be…. the headcount.

The overwhelming numbers.

There was only one enemy. But the ant king possessed thousands of soldiers. Indeed, didn't it have brave warriors waiting for its orders by the entrance of the chamber right this moment?

The ant king staggered back to its feet, before pointing at Esdeath with its one remaining arm.

"Kiiiieeeehhhkk-!!"

As if they were waiting for that rage-filled screech, the waves upon waves of ants began flooding into the chamber.

'Take this, human!!'

"Kiiieeehhk!!"

The king continued to screech out. It was to restore its crushed pride, and also to rouse the fighting spirit of its countless soldiers, as well. And so, as it confidently glared at the impudent human….

"…?"

Esdeath looked at the the red 'wave' that was rushing towards her the smile on her face grew wider as she spoke.

"Good than come"

As she said Esdeath carried her own blue swords and papered to slaughter these bugs.

The strongest on the both side s were charging and long range Unites in the rear were sending out their skills as the battle between a single woman and an army of monsters ignited once again!

However right at this moment It was, in fact, a 'soldier' decked out in black full-body armour. shadow climbed out of Esdeath's shadow as an overwhelming dark aura enveloped the whole Jeju Island.

The endless magical energy/ darkness element seemed to be stimulated by some kind of stimulation, all of them were cheering and jumping making the place swaying and illusory, as if a breeze had blown over the lake.

In the next moment

From the soldier, a familiar voice came out.

– "Exchange."

As an astronomical amount of magical energy spread all over the Jeju Island everyone helt stopped their steps as skills got cancelled

There was silence all around, only breathing of the crowd could be heard.

"Sorry I am late… Again"

The cool voice carried a hint of self-condemnation, but everyone looked around to see the owner of the voice, sadly no one saw exactly where the speaker was.

Even though Esdeath was forced to stop, when she heard this voice her heart was jumping, her eyes were searching around, wanting to find the figure to give him lots of love.

But unfortunately no matter how much she looked, she was not able to find the other side of the figure.

Until she saw him standing before the Ant king.

As she gazed upon his perfect form standing before the Ant King, his eyes scanning the monstrous form with a discerning gaze, Esdeath witnessed a remarkable sight. The Ant King and his entire army of ants froze solid, as if transformed into sculptures or paintings, the moment he appeared before them.

Their sorry state was a testament to the overwhelming surge of magical energy emanating from him, creating ripples even in the vast ocean of reality itself.

"Weak, pathetically weak," Jin remarked with disdain, his voice dripping with contempt as he observed the frozen Ant King and his army.

This was the final indignity for the Ant monster. As the king, the apex predator, he was born to rule, born to dominate, yet here he stood, being disrespected by what he considered the lowest lifeforms on the planet. Enough was enough.

"Kiiieeehhk!!"

With a surge of sheer fucking willpower, he lunged forward, his remaining intact hand moving at speeds that shattered the sound barrier, creating multiple sonic booms as it slammed into the man's face with ferocious force. The shockwaves alone killed multiple Ant monsters around them, a testament to the devastating power unleashed in that single strike.

***

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