Nymphs and Princesses at War #3
━Orolong~.
The Imperial Princess Ant's obsidian-black body glittered as she waved her front legs at me, chittering something in her crystal-bell voice. I couldn't understand a word of it, but one thing was clear: she meant me no hostility.
The reason was simple. She'd brought the ghost spider Kwang-kwangi — locked up in a cage until just now — and placed it right in front of me.
I released Kwang-kwangi at once.
━Hio-ong…!
The spider climbed up onto my shoulder. Immediately, on my other shoulder, the dog-squirrel Keongkeongi bristled at the sight of its rival, letting out a low growl.
━Grrr…!
Those two really couldn't stand each other. Growling right next to my face — awfully loud, you know.
━Orolong…!
The princess ant kept chittering away now that Kwang-kwangi had been freed. And that was when it happened.
Groooooooar—.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck. The packed earth of the surrounding fortress walls crumbled away, and the ground itself split open with a deep crack.
━Master, master—.
━Gyujik…! Gyujik…!
The ants were terrified of that rumbling. And so, quite naturally, was the nymph Oinoi.
"This rumbling is no ordinary rumbling, it is not…! This Oinoi can sense it, she can…! Something dreadfully dreadful is surely lurking within this fortress, it surely is…!"
Something dreadfully dreadful, apparently. A being powerful enough to shake the very earth, then.
The princess ant began frantically waving her front legs back and forth. Swish, swish-swish—. Her gestures looked extremely urgent, and somewhere in them was a trembling edge of fear.
I couldn't follow the details, but one thing I could tell: these ants were afraid of something lurking somewhere in this fortress.
The ants mixed sugar and honey — brought from who knows where — carefully into water, then rolled the mixture into round candies. Bright yellow and perfectly spherical like little suns, they were far more impressive than anything you'd expect ants to make.
"Those are the honey ants' candies, they are…! Terribly, terribly delicious, they are…! A delicacy one can only taste by becoming a friend or a servant of the honey ants, so it is…!"
Oinoi's mouth fell wide open. But we weren't going to get to taste any.
The great pile of candies was loaded onto a large wooden board, and the ants set off toward somewhere. After a long trek, something enormous came into view, crouched in the middle of a broad open courtyard.
It was crouched down, but even so it stood roughly two meters tall, with a long, tubular snout.
An elephant? No — not quite like an elephant.
It was a giant anteater! An absolutely enormous one!
The creature had six legs and two tails. It wasn't merely huge — its whole appearance was deeply bizarre.
━Stupid. Ants. Hurry up. Offer me. Your honey and candy. Otherwise I will. Slurp slurp. Lick you up and devour you! Slurp you up and eat you!
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the giant anteater opened its mouth and spoke. The voice was slurred and the phrasing bizarre, but it was unmistakably intelligible speech!
Apparently Oinoi was just as shocked.
"This Oinoi has never seen such a fearsome monster before, she has not…! A most monstrously ant-phobic monster, so it is…! The honey ants' kingdom was being oppressed by that dreadful dreadful monster, it was…!"
So that's how it was!
Things were starting to make sense now. The princess ant's honey ant empire had been ruled over by that giant anteater. That's why they'd raided people and made off with huge quantities of sugar!
To meet their tribute quota!
━Strange smell. Smells like nymph. Human smell. I smell it!
Grroooar—.
The giant anteater heaved its body upward. Standing fully upright, it was a good four meters tall.
A size and presence rivaling a small building. It raised its front legs high, then slammed them down into the earth.
Ku-uuu-ung—!
Uru-u-u-u-ru—.
The creature's sheer mass was enough to shake the very foundations of the land. So that was the source of the rumbling, was it?
━Don't hide. Come out. If you don't. I will eat. The ants. Slurp slurp.
The anteater stuck out its tongue. The length of that tongue was truly something else. One lick from it and countless honey ants would simply vanish.
Well, no helping it, then.
Thinking of Angangi, I stepped forward.
"Right here!"
━Strange. Human. You dare. Face Oromera! I am the son. Of Orthrus. And Chimera. A monster!
Shhk—.
So the giant anteater's name was Oromera. From behind the pillar where she'd been hiding, Oinoi called out.
"The son of Orthrus and the Chimera…! Truly a fearsome monster, so it is…! Lower in rank than the Hydra or the Sphinx, but still a monster who ought to be struck down by heroes, it is…!"
━Muhaha. The heroes. Died in this fortress. Humans. Have no heroes. Oromera. Has no rivals!
So that was it. The war that had played out in this fortress had claimed many human lives. The honey ants had moved into the abandoned castle afterward — and this giant anteater, Oromera, had chased them all the way here and squatted down in their home.
With no hero left in this land to fell Oromera, the ants had had no choice.
So. What to do about it?
My personal assessment: this creature's extermination danger level was at least B-rank. It might even rival the Troll King we'd met before — A-rank territory.
If a monster like that ever slipped out of the rift, things would get messy in a great many ways.
"Well, no helping it! I am Ha Ildo, soon to be B-rank! Anteater Oromera! I will defeat you!"
Save the princess and the emperor, and deliver the fortress from the monster — now that was a proper heroic story.
Never mind that the princess was an ant, the emperor was an ant, and the country itself was a nation of ants!
"Mana Deployment!"
Shhk—.
I released my mana at once. Immediately I sensed the energy of Keongkeongi, Kwang-kwangi, and Angangi flowing toward me.
As they drew power from me, I drew my beam saber in turn.
━Strange. Weapon!
Oromera raised a front leg toward me. Its claws were like enormous hooks — utterly menacing.
Fortunately, though, it wasn't fast.
Shhk—.
I swallowed the blue candy Lee Jina had given me, and my jittery nerves settled. Let's think this through calmly.
The fact that it wasn't fast meant — put another way — that this monster had never needed speed to survive. Which implied some other strength.
Thick hide, perhaps?
"Leg Cleave!"
Chak—.
I darted between the creature's legs and slashed at its ankle, but the wound was shallow. The fur was thick, and the hide beneath it thicker still.
"So that's why the ants have such trouble with it. Then it's blunt force over slashing! Keongkeongi!"
━Keongkeong…!
Keongkeongi was already riding on the back of Angangi, who had launched into the sky. With a burst of movement, he leapt down from that great height, spinning round and round as he slammed headlong toward the anteater's skull.
"Ram-G Thunder!"
━Grrr…!
PAAA-ANG—!
Like lightning striking the earth, Keongkeongi slammed into Oromera's head. A tremendous impact rang out, and the anteater's massive body wobbled.
━Kkyaaak! It hurts!
So it was. Resistant to slashing, but weak against blunt impact.
━Gyujik-. Gyujik-.
━Gyuji─.
The ants watching this scene were stunned. Perhaps it was simply novel for them, seeing the beast that had oppressed them stagger and cry out in pain.
Then Angangi, still soaring overhead, cried out.
━Jjuji…!
It probably meant something like "Be strong! Fight as one!"
Immediately, countless waves of ants surged toward Oromera. And I could feel something like the collective will of the colony settling into the domain of my own mana.
A sensation much like when I'd manipulated Kwang-kwangi's body.
If it was now, maybe I could actually take that thing on?
"Let's target its weak points — the eyes, the nose!"
Directing the ant swarm, I aimed for Oromera's biological vulnerabilities. The ants pressed in on it like a rising tide, blackening its whole body with their numbers.
━You! Damned ants! I will slurp you up!
Shhk—.
The giant anteater thrust out its tongue — and I seized that instant, throwing myself at the creature.
"Asura Pacheoncham!"
Vuuuuum—.
And with a single stroke, I cleaved that tongue clean off!
The tongue was bare of the coarse bristles covering the rest of it, so the cut went far deeper than I'd expected.
━Yowch!
Thud—.
Oromera collapsed to the ground, tongue severed.
━Orolong…!
The obsidian-black princess ant waved her front legs left and right at me in a flurry. I couldn't follow the ants' language, but it seemed to mean something like "You are the hero of our ant kingdom…!"
That's right. I had just defeated Oromera!
Truthfully, for all the ants' terror, the creature had turned out to be surprisingly easy to deal with. If the ants had pooled their strength, they might well have brought it down on their own.
Though uniting in the face of your natural predator is easier said than done, I suppose.
━Jjuji…!
The Emperor Ant, Angangi, addressed the gathered ants with a few clicks. It sounded like praise — "Well done!" — of some kind.
The ants kept swarming toward Emperor Ant Angangi, and their numbers were enormous.
"Angangi, you're pretty popular."
"He is the Emperor Ant, so he is…! For reference, nearly all the other individuals in the colony are females, they are…!"
Seriously?
So it wasn't an ant empire — it was an ant harem. Angangi was a genuinely hot ant, huh.
And here I'd thought he was just our household cleaning crew. Turns out he held some pretty impressive rank.
━Orolong~.
The princess ant said something to Angangi. My read on it: something along the lines of "Come live with us from now on."
And it made sense — the ants did follow Angangi. The fact that I'd been able to command the entire ant swarm, even for a moment, probably owed itself to Angangi's presence as their emperor.
Without him, I'd have had no way at all to pierce that anteater's shaggy hide.
So — what happens now?
"Angangi, this is your homeland, isn't it? If you want to stay with your own kind, that's fine with me."
Was this where Angangi and I parted ways?
Where there are meetings, partings inevitably follow. I'd grown quite attached to him over our time together, and it honestly stung to think of saying goodbye like this.
━Jjuji…!
But Angangi backed away from the swarm of ants and clung to my leg instead. It felt as if he were declaring, "The place I belong is right here!"
So that's how it was, huh.
Crack-crack—.
Just then, the rift shook violently.
"So Oromera was the core of the rift."
The anteater Oromera. With it defeated, this rift was collapsing. If I stayed here any longer, I'd be ejected outside along with everything else.
Better to leave on my own terms, then.
"Let's go!"
I had to abandon these marvelous earthen walls and make my way out. Behind me, an endless river of ants followed — an utterly surreal procession.
At last, out of the rift.
Pop—.
And there, waiting in front of me, was a familiar face.
"Well, look who it is. Seo Yerim."
"Ha Ildo! You were inside the rift too!"
Swarm-swarm-swarm—.
Seo Yerim jolted in surprise as the ants began pouring out of the rift behind me.
"Wh-what the hell! There are so many! Ha Ildo, get back!"
Fwoooosh—.
Flames kindled in her hand. I hastily talked her down.
"Hey, no fighting necessary. I negotiated with them. The ants won't be stealing people's sugar wholesale anymore."
"You resolved it?"
Seo Yerim narrowed her eyes at me. She didn't believe me, apparently.
Soon enough, the ants hauled out Oromera's fur and hide, its bones and sinews — all of it, cleanly disassembled. The sheer volume was staggering, and even at a glance the material looked like superb crafting stock.
"Did you take it down?"
"No — technically, we took it down, so—."
Shhk—.
My gaze shifted to the woman standing beside Seo Yerim.
She had striking blue hair. Was she slightly taller than Oinoi? Another nymph?
The thought crossed my mind for an instant — but no. Hers was a face I recognized.
"You wouldn't happen to be Cha Yura?"
Cha Yura. She was the acknowledged representative of the third generation of awakeners — those who had risen without ever passing through my hands.
The first generation was Kang Cheolmin and me. The second was Yu Ari and Seo Yerim. And the face of the third generation, beyond any argument, was Cha Yura.
"So you're Ha Ildo, the dog-squirrel guy? Nice to meet you. I'm Cha Yura. But really — you solved the ants' problem? How?"
Explaining it in words would be a hassle, so I showed her the footage from my body cam. The video of the giant anteater falling under the combined assault of the ants and us.
"This Oromera creature looks like at least an A-rank monster. And it collapses just like that? You're registered as a C-rank awakener, you know."
Cha Yura looked me over from head to toe. Then, as if in admiration, she let out an "Oooh—" and narrowed her eyes.
Then she frowned.
"But. What on earth is this one supposed to be?"
Cha Yura seemed unable to take her eyes off Oinoi, who kept pressing her forehead insistently against the woman's arm. I turned to Oinoi.
"Oinoi, Cha Yura isn't a nymph. Pressing your forehead against hers isn't going to count as a greeting."
"……!"
Oinoi froze in shock. Then she stared straight at Cha Yura and let out a great gasp of realization.
"Aaah…! This Oinoi had assumed she was merely a somewhat larger nymph, she had…! So that explains it — her ears are not pointed, they are not…! She was simply a human who happened to be as small and dainty as a nymph, she was…!"
"Pfff-hah—!"
Seo Yerim, who'd been listening in, burst out laughing. Oinoi mistaking a person for a nymph — well, it was a funny story.
Squish—.
But Cha Yura's expression darkened. Was being called small a sore spot for her?
So I pulled Oinoi back by the arm.
"Watch your mouth. She may look like that, but she's the daughter of one of Korea's most powerful men. Ordinary people like us would never get the chance to meet her in a lifetime. Think of her as kind of like this princess ant here."
━Orolong~.
If I got on her bad side, it would spell trouble in every conceivable way.
Soon enough, Oinoi seemed to have taken my words to heart.
Du-du-du-du-du—.
Cha Yura boarded a helicopter and returned to Seoul. And for a while, she lost herself in thought.
"Mobilizing two S-ranks at the same time means this ant situation was exactly that serious."
Cha Yura had been on sabbatical overseas. The ant crisis had been grave enough that even she had to be called back.
And now a C-rank nobody had gone and resolved it?
"Seo Yerim — there's a reason you keep hovering around him, isn't there."
Cha Yura replayed the footage again and again: a man with ants swarming all over him, toppling the giant anteater monster Oromera.
Oromera. A monster of at least A-rank, subdued in a matter of minutes.
A clean, efficient recording, stripped of any waste. At this level, it wasn't an extermination so much as a hunt.
"On my own, I could have brought down a mere anteater without breaking a sweat. But he's barely C-rank, and he's putting up this kind of performance. Is this what a first-generation veteran can do, even while stuck grinding at the bottom?"
Truthfully, though, the real problem had never been the anteater.
It was those countless Honey Ants.
According to the PhD researchers' estimates, the honey ant colony's danger level was T-rank. After pouring out of the rift, they had all vanished somewhere — every last one of them.
'If whatever appeared to be controlling those ants wasn't mere coincidence….'
Cha Yura picked up her phone.
And she spoke to her father.
"I think I'll end my sabbatical here. And since Lee Jeonghun got demoted from S-rank, that seat's still empty, isn't it?"
━Do you have anyone in mind to recommend?
"Ah—. No, nothing certain yet."
Cha Yura had made up her mind.
She would watch the strange trajectory of this man, and see where it led.