Chapter 39: Final Wave (2)
With a surge of experience points, I began to cloak my entire body in the power of the sun as I climbed atop the fortress made of ant bodies.
Beyond the collapsed passages, the furious roars of the Ganggwi could be heard.
The number of Ganggwi I had just killed in the explosion was roughly 30—all of them elite warriors.
Considering their status, my trap had worked splendidly.
They mourned their comrades’ deaths with rage, but they did not stop.
No, they couldn’t stop. The furious command of the Queen from the rear drove them forward.
This was the power, the ability, that the Queen possessed.
The Ganggwi began to gnash their mandibles and bore through the collapsed passages.
It was menial labor, fit for the common soldiers, but as the stronger elite and guard units worked together, they quickly created new openings.
Within ten minutes, they had broken through in all four directions.
A grating screech rang out.
The Queen ordered them to sacrifice themselves, to destroy the egg first and foremost!
It was an incomprehensible, unacceptable command, but they could neither refuse nor resist.
At the sight of the mysterious Queen’s egg in the center of the grand cavern, their reasoning short-circuited.
Brainwashed instincts surged within them, and they began to march forward, roaring, aiming straight for the egg.
“Min Chorong, now’s the time! Gundan, form the citadel! They’ll prioritize attacking the egg over us, so we need to hold the line! Just protect the egg and the capsule!”
“…Understood!!!”
“Yes, got it!”
Min Chorong’s blessings and protections began to concentrate on Gundan. Empowered by the Saintess’s blessings, Gundan moved.
Divine Citadel! Slowly, Gundan inserted himself into the fortress, filling a gap with his own body.
“I will protect it!!!”
For the first time, he raised his voice without hesitation.
Golden waves surged from his body, coating the makeshift fortress. As if he were declaring that nothing could step within this ring, his enormous citadel manifested and began to guard the fort.
A peerless genius who had achieved SS-rank as a tank, a rank hard to attain in the first place! As Gundan’s power took form, I sprang outside the citadel without hesitation.
Boom, boom, boom!
Beyond the golden citadel, some Ganggwi threw themselves madly at the Queen’s egg, their shells beginning to crack.
I swung my sword at the ones surging forward.
Slash! Slash!
With Equivalent Exchange, I had previously raised my Mugeuk stat to E-, allowing me to cut through their shells in one stroke.
Now, I could only inflict minor wounds, but slicing through them was no longer possible.
But it didn’t matter.
My honed martial skills and reborn body allowed me to target their weak spots more easily, and the power of the sun wrapped around my sword dealt even greater damage to those vulnerable points.
Slash, slash, and slash again.
If one strike wasn’t enough, I followed with a second, and if two weren’t enough, I struck a third until I cut down each charging enemy.
Finally, when nearly ten of their comrades had fallen beneath my sword—
A high-pitched, angry screech rang out.
The Queen, furious, issued a command.
‘Kill everything that guards the egg!’
Some of the Ganggwi turned their attention to me. I couldn’t help but laugh at their choice, and I brought out what I had saved for this very moment.
From the ten additional bombs, I had withheld two, choosing not to place them in the passage.
Item: Blazing Grenade [Advanced-A+]
Holding one of these powerful flame grenades in each hand, I hurled them at the Ganggwi rushing toward me.
Boom! Fwoosh!
The grenades detonated spectacularly, creating a massive wave of fire. It felt like an actual attack skill from a C-rank hunter.
“That wretch from the Changseong Group, Lee Jiyong, had a power similar to this.”
The effect was much like the fire ability of that detestable punk I had clashed with before.
Of course, his ability, being blessed and heavily funded, was far stronger than mine.
But this was more than enough to deal critical damage to the Ganggwi, even burning the bodies of the dead Ganggwi, creating an unquenchable inferno.
This battlefield was my domain. I was immune to flames, and the power of the divine artifact transformed the heat into a source of restoration for me.
As the intense heat rapidly restored my energy and mana, I fought with renewed vigor.
“Sun.”
A small sun-like bomb formed in my hand.
Based on the performance of the grenades, I modified this sun bomb to have even greater power than the one I used at the company.
As the blazing ball left my hand and struck the writhing Ganggwi, it exploded into fiery chaos.
They were defenseless. Without their brainwashing and under the Queen’s proper command, they wouldn’t have been wiped out so easily, but they had no choice left.
I became a reaper on the battlefield, releasing the power of the sun relentlessly as I moved, never ceasing to swing my sword, killing everything in my path.
Despite my constant action, my energy and mana surged.
The perfect scenario I had crafted unfolded exactly as planned.
The more Ganggwi I killed, the more fear grew within them, overpowering the Queen’s brainwashing.
At last, when nearly all of her kin had perished, the Queen herself appeared.
She entered the cavern with her ten most cherished royal guards leading the way.
With a tremendous scream, she released a surge of mana, quenching the flames by compacting the debris from the collapsed passageways.
“Tch, is it time already?”
I clicked my tongue and retreated a few steps.
Now, the true battle was beginning.
Only about fifty Ganggwi remained, but they were the elite of the elite.
While more than twenty were wounded by the flames, even that wasn’t enough for me to take on alone.
“We just have to hold on.”
Roughly 20 minutes remained.
Activating the First Wing of Arrogance, I pulled various buff potions from my inventory and layered on every buff I had.
The Queen barked a command to her guards to kill the bothersome intruder.
Ten royal guards with overwhelming presence advanced on me, each [Unique-D+] rank.
Even a C-rank hunter would struggle to withstand their combined force.
Taking a deep breath, I focused my mind.
“Gundan! 20 minutes! Just hold on!!”
Honestly, it was an impossible command.
Even though Gundan has the potential to become the world’s greatest tank, he’s still a rookie who’s only just fully awakened his abilities.
His level is still low, meaning he can’t maintain his abilities for long, and he’s barely hanging in there.
He’s already been holding his ground for over 30 minutes, and now he has to hold on for that long again?
The only reason he’s been able to last this long was due to Min Chorong’s buffs and healing, squeezed out to the limit, as well as the mana potions I handed him.
Considering he couldn’t even hold out for 10 minutes in the previous battle, he’s performing incredibly well.
He’s at the point where he could collapse at any moment, but even with a pale face, Gundan shouted:
“…Don’t… worry!”
The golden citadel flickered and became even sturdier.
His Mythical-level stat, ‘Sacred Body,’ was growing, developing through sheer willpower and his desire to protect others.
However, it wasn’t enough to dramatically change the situation.
The Queen Ant ordered all remaining elite soldiers to break down Gundan’s citadel, and they charged forward as if possessed.
Feeling the waning heat, I realized I needed to end this quickly and moved into action.
Kieeek!!
The royal guards were massive, and their movements were swift. But I had prepared for this.
As I charged toward the royal guards, my eyes briefly closed, and when I reopened them, the sun in my gaze blazed with red flames, causing the royal guards to hesitate.
[Unique-Rank D+] LV 30: Ganggwi Royal Guard is afflicted with status: Stiffened!]
[Unique-Rank D+] LV 32: Ganggwi Royal Guard is afflicted with status: Hallucination!]
…
[Unique-Rank D+] LV 34: Ganggwi Royal Guard is afflicted with status: Overwhelmed!]
I got lucky.
Nine out of ten of them were affected by a status ailment, and I had no intention of wasting this brief window.
I dove into their midst, swinging my sword.
But my expectations were quickly shattered.
Just as I subdued the first royal guard, the one unaffected noticed its comrades had been compromised and rammed into them, forcibly breaking them out of their statuses.
“Damn it, are these guys not even brainwashed?”
They possessed true intelligence, able to counter my plans! It was unexpected. But there was no time to be discouraged.
I managed to subdue only three and kill one before the others, now furious, began unleashing their skills.
“You’ve got to be kidding! They’re using skills now?”
Monsters using skills wasn’t unusual.
Even the monsters in the Tutorial Zone had skills.
But using skills with stats at this level? That’s just unfair.
A black aura covered the mandibles of the Ganggwi, and as they bit into empty space—
Danger!
I instinctively threw myself backward.
Crunch!
A massive black jaw materialized and vanished as it tore into the air itself.
I would have taken a fatal hit if I’d been even a moment slower.
“What kind of cheat is this?!”
I knew they’d be strong since they were royal guards, but this?
Dodging their attacks with Flowing Water Evasion won’t be easy in this situation.
Their attacks from afar made it hard to find an opening, and even if I tried to parry them, I’d only exhaust myself.
Kiiiik!
One of the royal guards screeched after its skill missed, and in response, the five others surrounded me with blackened mandibles, creating five enormous jaws in the air.
“Damn it!”
They didn’t leave me any space to escape.
I can do this. No, I have to. If I want to live.
Taking a deep breath… in that split second, my movements were flawless.
I deflected the first attack aimed at my head with my left hand, then tilted my body slightly to collide the jaws aimed at my shoulders.
Finally, I stamped down on the attacks targeting my legs, forcing them into the ground.
It was a seamless, flawless motion.
But maybe the technique was too advanced—or maybe I was just unlucky.
The jaw meant to attack my left arm veered slightly off course, snapping toward my head.
[Sleeping Fortune stirs! A miracle briefly shines upon you!]
[Skill: Flowing Water Evasion disperses the attack!]
Right… that’s what happened.
If not for Heavenly Fortune blessing me at that precise moment, things might have ended differently.
The causal link was disrupted, and the attack that should have smashed my head simply vanished into empty space.
-Kiek?
The surprise lasted only a moment. They couldn’t possibly keep using such powerful skills endlessly, so now it was my turn.
I cloaked myself in flames and charged forward with my sword.
Simultaneously, I activated Manbyun, transforming it into a weapon. This time, I chose a giant hammer.
Item: Piston Puncher [Advanced-S]
Gripping my sword, I aimed at the gap in their shell.
Thrust!
My fiery sword pierced through the neck of the closest guard, and as I pushed off the ground, I swung the hammer down with all my might.
With the momentum and power behind it, the force drove the sword straight through, impaling the guard’s neck completely.
With the experience gained, my level immediately increased as more royal guards rushed me, but I pulled the sword out of the first guard’s neck and faced the others.
It didn’t take long—not even much of a fight, honestly.
I’d exhausted every trick I had, and now it was all I could do to keep holding out.
At last, ten more minutes passed, and with less than five minutes remaining until the egg would hatch.
The Queen herself could no longer hold back and finally entered the battlefield.
—
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