Chapter 40: Iron-Blooded Defense
“…Argh!”
Gundan felt the warm blood streaming from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, yet he did not back down. Even though he felt death looming, he knew retreat was not an option!
However, the golden fortress surrounding him gradually dimmed and weakened as time passed.
Limit.
That single word engulfed Gundan’s mind.
He had already endured far beyond what Shin Juha had expected of him, but if they all wanted to survive, he needed to hold out for even longer.
About 30 elite soldiers, survivors of the battlefield where Shin Juha had unleashed a massacre unmatched for an E-rank hunter, relentlessly attacked the golden barrier with only the queen’s egg in their sights.
With each strike, so powerful that even C-rank hunters would struggle, Gundan’s legs trembled.
“Sir… No, Oppa. I… I’m sorry…”
Eventually, Min Chorong collapsed, too exhausted to continue providing buffs and healing. After carefully laying her down, Gundan poured the last mana potion into his mouth and shouted out a final rally.
‘I cannot fall like this!’
Through Gundan’s blurred vision, he saw the man standing firm under the queen’s assault, struggling just as he was, yet refusing to yield.
This man—his peer, his savior, and the reason they were all still alive.
“…He asked… me to hold on.”
But merely enduring was no longer enough to change the outcome.
He needed to shield them—and strike back. He needed to help his comrade and savior survive this.
But how?
‘Innate Ability: Sacred Citadel.’
In any other place, he might have gone his entire life unaware of his own unique ability, a talent devoid of any offensive capabilities.
Reflecting his childhood fears and timid nature that didn’t match his large frame, his unique ability was entirely focused on defense.
Yet now, for the first time, Gundan desired it: strength—to protect those behind him! To protect the one fighting on the front lines! To defeat this enemy!
〚Unique Ability: Sacred Citadel senses its master’s intense resolve and his pure, holy power, and grows stronger!〛
Gundan’s will, combined with his unyielding determination to protect others, infused his power, enhancing it.
Though Min Chorong had collapsed, her blessings still enveloped his entire body.
Her holy power and Gundan’s sacred body fused, creating a miracle!
〚Skill: Holy Armament [Legendary-SSS] Acquired!〛
“Arghhhhh!”
Drawing out every last ounce of strength, Gundan, who had only ever defended and endured, now retaliated.
The once-fading golden citadel flared up, engulfed in a brilliant light, and golden armaments formed around him.
-Kreeek?
-Keeek!!
-Keeraak!!
The brainwashed elite soldiers flinched in surprise but did not retreat. If anything, they attacked with even more fury, as if daring him to bring it on.
With golden energy surging around him, Gundan commanded:
“…Fire!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The citadel fired five golden cannons in a flash, unleashing shining projectiles.
Crack!
The cannons targeted the wounded and burning elite soldiers, striking them dead with pinpoint accuracy.
Overwhelming experience poured into Gundan as he leveled up, and he launched yet another relentless assault, pushing himself to his very limits.
A flawless hunter, now armed with both offense and defense, had been born.
The elite soldiers, already gravely wounded by a monster’s rampage, could not withstand the bombardment of cannon fire, and were either killed or incapacitated.
And with that, it ended. The golden wave faded, and Gundan collapsed, unconscious.
***
I gritted my teeth, leaving behind the astonishing efforts of Gundan, who had neutralized 30 elite soldiers.
My body was riddled with injuries so severe that they could be considered fatal.
My ribs were broken, my ankle twisted, and my left arm dislocated.
All this was just the aftermath of withstanding and dodging a few of the queen’s attacks.
The royal guards had been formidable enough, but the queen was on an entirely different level.
It was hard to believe she was only Unique-C rank.
No, it was certain—her strength and abilities were at least twice that of the royal guards. A mere two-rank difference didn’t explain it.
But there was no time to question or complain.
〚Time Remaining: 00:01:32〛
One minute and thirty seconds remained—a small amount of time, yet facing such an overwhelming force, it felt endless and excruciating.
As I tried to escape, the ground solidified, capturing my leg, and the queen’s mandibles tore off my left arm.
It wasn’t just a bite or a wound; my arm was ripped off entirely.
Like tofu, my arm separated from my body and vanished into the queen’s mouth.
The strength of her grip was something my fortified Mugeuk stat couldn’t withstand.
Although shocked, I had no time to dwell on it.
The queen knew how dire and significant this moment was and attacked without pause.
With only my right arm left, I forced my exhausted body to move, holding on with sheer willpower. I held on and held on.
Though the queen’s abilities were shattering, ripping, and crushing my body, I endured.
One minute and thirty seconds—I can hold out… with willpower alone… for that long.
-Keeeeek!!!
Ultimately, it was the queen who yielded first.
With a furious scream, she slammed her massive head into me, sending my body flying.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, my limp body flew through the air and landed in front of the egg.
There lay the exhausted Min Chorong, the overtaxed Gundan, and the capsule containing my sister.
“Huff… Grrh!”
Taking a deep breath, I cauterized the gaping wound where my left shoulder had been with the sun’s power.
The immense pain forced me into a focused state.
With ten seconds left, I staggered to my feet and picked up my broken, partially shattered fire sword, aiming it at her.
-Keeeeek!!!
The queen and the remaining five royal guards charged at me in a rage.
There was no stopping them. Even with a miracle, it would be impossible to halt their advance. But I didn’t need to stop them.
Reversing my grip, I hurled the fire sword straight at her.
The sword flew toward the queen’s open mouth, only to be blocked by a dirt wall she conjured.
But I had achieved my goal. I had gained a fleeting moment.
〚The queen’s egg is about to hatch!〛
〚3〛
Realizing my ploy, the queen commanded the swiftest royal guard to charge.
〚2〛
The guard swiftly covered the short distance, racing toward me.
〚1〛
Defend! At all costs! Transforming Manbyun into the shield at the very bottom of my inventory, I braced myself before the egg.
Boom!
The immense shockwave crashed into me, but my objective was accomplished!
〚The queen’s egg is hatching! Kneel! The new ruler of the underground is born!〛
As the giant egg cracked open, something began to emerge. Its appearance was unsettling—neither entirely human nor fully ant-like.
A mix of a giant ant and a human, with long antennae on its head, pale skin that seemed to have never seen the sun, and a towering height of at least three meters.
The new queen had hatched.
〚Congratulations! You have cleared the hidden stage—Succession!〛
〚You have conquered the dungeon!〛
〚Choose!〛
〚Will you take your rewards and clear the dungeon, or remain to achieve more accomplishments?〛
I was about to choose the former without hesitation. But the gaze of the new queen stopped me.
Her eyes held a mix of kindness and an unknown majesty, as if telling me otherwise.
“I choose to stay.”
〚Hidden stage—Queen vs. ??? has begun!〛
With this message, the new queen moved.
-Krrk?
The Ganggwi standing before me stared at the new queen in confusion, as if unsure what to do, its body trembling.
Slash!
The new queen tore it apart with her bare hands.
The sight shocked me—she ripped it in half with just the strength of her two arms.
-Kieeek!!
Even at the Ganggwi Queen’s furious scream, the royal guards didn’t move.
They could feel it instinctively—the new queen was an incomparably greater being than the old queen!
The old queen was enraged.
Filled with fury, she slaughtered the four royal guards standing frozen beside her and turned to face the new queen.
-Kreeeek!!!
-You filth, you’ve brought our kind to ruin by falling to such a lowly creature.
Amazingly, the new queen spoke in Korean, and I gulped, watching the two figures left standing alone in the vast cavern.
The battle was over in an instant.
The new queen toyed with the old queen, who had once been a symbol of overwhelming strength and terror.
The six legs that had trampled and kicked me were ripped off as if they were nothing.
The old queen’s power to control the earth, which had once bound and tormented me, was nullified with a mere wave of the new queen’s hand, and the mandible that had torn off my left arm was torn out completely.
-Grrgh!
The old queen’s eyes were filled with rage and resentment, as if she couldn’t believe what was happening.
The new queen looked down on her pathetic state with disdain and prepared for the final blow.
-Keekkk!!!!
With a final scream, the old queen looked straight at me, spitting something in my direction.
The new queen looked shocked and moved toward me swiftly.
But it was too late.
Faster than a bullet, a small, mist-like object flew straight at me.
“Damn it!”
There was no time to react.
The thing, barely the size of a fingertip and with a misty form, was drawn into my mind as if it had been waiting for this.
And then I understood why the old queen had exhibited strength beyond her rank.
〚Ancient-Rank [F] LV 3: A Spear-Shaped Parasite is attempting to infest you!〛
It was a parasite—a parasite with an incorporeal body that took control of its host’s mind.
After absorbing everything from its host, it would ultimately kill them and search for even stronger life forms to infest.
Did it think it couldn’t infest the new queen, a being beyond its understanding?
The parasite chose me, trying to seize my mind to dominate me.
And that was the worst possible choice it could have made.
***
-Kshish!
It was an incorporeal being.
It first awoke in a small village populated by creatures of the wild.
Instinctively, it infiltrated the mind of the strongest creature in the village, establishing itself there.
From there, things were simple.
Absorbing the essence of its host, it moved to bring extinction to the creature’s species.
Why it sought extinction, even it didn’t know. It simply followed the instincts that compelled it.
In less than ten years, it wiped out a species that could manipulate the earth.
Then, it moved on to possess a larger monster nearby.
Or rather, it switched hosts.
Guiding dozens of species to extinction, it continued to grow.
Though it had no physical power as an incorporeal being, its essence grew endlessly, enabling it to dominate and devour ever-stronger beings.
The last species it discovered was the Ganggwi, a species with enormous bodies, overwhelming strength, and vast numbers, reigning as rulers of the underground world.
And when it finally infested their queen, the world ended.
The underground roamed through dimensions, seeking a new settlement, but the parasite relentlessly pushed forward, driven by its goal.
Destruction, then growth.
For ages, the once-great Ganggwi species dwindled under the insane queen’s rule until they were mere shadows of their former power.
Then, the parasite realized something.
Somehow, the queen had briefly broken free from its control! In that moment, she had consumed the essence of her people to give birth to a new queen!
If this new queen hatched, she could effortlessly eradicate the being that had caused their downfall!
Thus, the parasite desperately used the species’ ability of hypnosis, which it had once acquired, to search and locate the egg, hoping to destroy it.
And then… it found an intruder.
It seemed to have started from there.
Ultimately, the new queen was born, and the parasite faced extinction.
Realizing it couldn’t infest the powerful new queen, who was born with the strength of the once-great species, the parasite decided to infest me, one of the weak beings that had foolishly defeated its host!
Its judgment was precise, its action swift.
Controlling the dying queen, it launched itself at the human, successfully infiltrating my mind.
All it had to do now was take control of this body and escape!
Having crossed dimensions to reach this place, it could likely return.
First, escape from that monster and find a stronger host…
But that was as far as it got. It sensed something looking down upon it.
Slowly, it lifted its head, staring upward in my mindscape. And at that moment, its incorporeal form shuddered.
An evil presence, so malevolent that even the word “evil” could barely describe it, glared down at the parasite with arrogant ferocity, as if contemplating how best to kill this insignificant being.
On the opposite side, an entity of pure goodness, though hazy as if still half-asleep, also looked down, harboring the same thought of ending it.
And above both of them, an indescribably radiant light, something beyond all words, loomed.
The parasite realized the truth in that moment.
This was not an escape route—it was the hell that would mark its end!
The parasite dissolved itself, choosing death over facing the horrors that awaited it.
The malevolent figure scoffed and turned away, the benevolent one looked down briefly before resuming sleep, and the golden light dimmed.
And just below them, the Supreme Flame moved at the behest of the benevolent being.
That was the end.
As the Supreme Flame touched it, the Spear-Shaped Parasite—a creature that had driven countless species to extinction—was erased from existence.
—
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