Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Giant Ants and...
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+ Spare Points +1
Ju-ruk!
Having finally slain all 23 Giant Ants, I forcibly steadied my buckling legs, shook off the dizziness from losing too much blood, and dragged my body upright.
"I... have to go back."
Manbeon reverted to its bracelet form on my wrist, and I opened my inventory to pull out a potion, shoving it into my mouth.
I had to endure. I had to get back. If I stopped here, it was over.
Even now, my little sister was in danger, and Legion and the Saintess were risking their lives to hold back the monsters. I had to go. I had to be the one to stop them.
I wouldn't live just taking hits anymore. I wouldn't kneel to mere ant spawn.
'My stopping point isn't some place like this.'
With that, I stepped over the Giant Ant corpses and moved forward...
Kwajik!
"Keurk!"
The moment I exited the cavern, something bit into me as if to crush my desperate resolve.
They were the Giant Ant elite soldiers. Having heard the signals from the regular soldiers, they'd waited for me to tire and ambushed me.
Their powerful jaws pierced my abdomen, hurling me away and tearing out my right side in the process.
"N... no."
Flying through the air and crashing into the wall before collapsing, I instinctively knew. Death.
The thought hit me at the same time. I'd been arrogant... Just one stat rank up and a good ability, and I'd acted like the world was beneath my feet. The result was a fatal wound. And death.
I was a worm. A bottom-feeder worm. For a guy like that to go wild after getting a high rank? This end was probably inevitable.
A pearl necklace on a pig's neck.
"Kuhuk... No!"
I forcibly suppressed the negative thoughts. It wasn't over yet. I couldn't collapse here.
"P... please...!"
Get up. Don't crumble. Move!
"Help me...! Help me, damn it...!!"
Blood drained from my lips, my face turning pale. My right thigh, half-healed, split open again, dangling uselessly without strength. My hollowed right side felt no pain, and the pierced wound beside it was dire—organs failing, blood pouring out.
I reached out a hand. A desperate plea no one would see.
"Luck!!!"
Impossible. Luck's authority could twist situations favorably, but it couldn't save a dying life. The Tower of Gold granted me vast wealth and power, but it never intervened directly.
It was over. My vision darkened. But I didn't stop. Even crawling, I pushed forward. Toward the elite soldiers approaching me.
Little by little... little by little...... little by little............
At the end of those meaningless gestures mixed desperation and self-loathing.
It's my fault. My sister dies because of me. You idiot!
Through my closing eyes and fading ears came not hope, but despair.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The Giant Ants' powerful jaws turned toward me.
"Ah..."
'No!!'
Please, please. My desperate prayer echoed in my heart, and just as massive death's jaws closed to crush my head—
Something I thought impossible happened.
It was a miracle. Also the whisper of an irresistible demon. A lifeline I had no choice but to grasp.
'Yes! Do it!'
It happened in an instant. My wounds fully healed, my mind cleared, and overwhelming power filled my body.
I grabbed the elite soldier's jaws closing on my head. My E-rank Infinite stat not only withstood the Giant Ant's immense strength but overpowered it.
"Die."
Kwaduk! I slammed the Giant Ant's jaws into the ground and swung my sword, severing its neck. No need to target weak points anymore. My blade pierced its scales, killing it in one strike.
"Let's end this quick. I'm in a hurry."
No time to hesitate or marvel. I drew my Frostfire Sword and charged the oncoming elite soldiers, slicing four in a flash before breaking into a run.
No thought of hiding my presence. I ran flat out. Anything blocking me got cut down. After half the ten minutes passed and the guiding turtle in my pocket dissolved into light, I spotted a man blocking dozens of Giant Ants without a single scream.
His body was riddled with holes, soaked in so much blood it was a miracle he still stood, his eyes devoid of light.
Behind him, a girl with her pretty face ruined by tears sat on the ground, pouring every buff and heal beyond her limits onto the man.
Adduk!
I ground my teeth as if they'd shatter, drew a deep breath, and roared.
"Come at me!!!!"
My lion's roar-like shout made nearly a hundred Giant Ant heads snap toward me.
"Aaah!!!"
The Saintess saw me and finally stopped her skills. Tension released, nosebleeds erupted, her eyes closed, and she collapsed.
Seeing my sister, protected by their ultimate sacrifice, ignited my rage, and the sun's mana responded.
"I'll kill every last one."
In the pitch-black underground, a radiant sun rose to illuminate and judge all things, its flames enveloping me as I charged.
A 1-vs-100 battle? It was a one-sided massacre. Naturally, I was doing the slaughtering.
Flames that barely fazed the Giant Ants' tough shells melted under the tier-three-boosted sun empowered by Infinite, leaving only their precisely decapitated corpses amid scorching heat in my wake.
The massacre ended in under five minutes. As the last Giant Ant died, I rushed to Legion, still manifesting his Sacred Citadel, and caught the collapsing man.
'Danger!'
His breathing was faint, consciousness gone. His body crumbled from overexertion, wounds so severe even a former Saintess couldn't heal them.
Just then, Equivalent Exchange's buff on me expired.
"Equivalent Exchange! I'll pay any price! Please save him!"
"No!"
A way... think of a way. A way to save Legion. I couldn't let him die here.
As I pondered desperately, another authority stirred as if showing the path.
It was a divine relic. The sacred object of the great god called the deity of healing and medicine.
Only then did I realize what the Tower of Gold wanted to tell me. I didn't hesitate.
"Perk! I'll use the perk! Grant Manbeon the Staff of Asclepius!"
Manbeon, in sword form from battle, flew to me and transformed in a burst of light.
A crude wooden staff entwined by a snake. The moment this symbol of healing and medicine touched my hand, its use instinctively came to mind.
"Glaukos."
The name of one struck dead by Zeus's lightning, the first life revived by Asclepius—a resurrection spell derived from it. A miracle manifested, healing Legion's wounds in the blink of an eye and restoring his consciousness with his breath.
True to the deity of medicine's premier relic for saving the dying, its power was extraordinary.
I set down the fully recovered Legion, blood caking him, and let out a deep sigh of relief.
I'd saved the future SS-rank hunter. But more than that, the pride swelled from saving him with my own hands instead of just watching him die helplessly.
I laid the unconscious Legion comfortably on the ground, cast a healing spell on the fallen Saintess beside him, then approached my sister.
"Please..."
Gazing at the sun's core within the staff, I invoked its final power.
"Ophiuchus."
"Ophiuchus"
⟨ Ophiuchus ⟩
The poorly known 13th zodiac beyond the 12, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. Asclepius's supreme authority manifested.
The staff's snake turned to light and was sucked into my sleeping sister's capsule. The light snake permeated her body and...
Suddenly burst out. As if rejected by the flesh, the snake panicked, circling her before abruptly changing direction and absorbing into me.
The snake swiftly scanned my body, leaving a meaningful message.
Instantly, unimaginable agony crashed over me. My body crumbling, soul shattering—pain too excruciating for even a scream. At its end lurked enraged Misfortune.
The snake's bold assault ended there. It paid the price for touching an untouchable power.
Caught by Misfortune's will, the snake thrashed but couldn't escape the strengthened Misfortune from Equivalent Exchange.
That was when dormant Fortune couldn't tolerate the commotion and opened its eyes.
The snake vs. Misfortune clash devolved into Fortune vs. Misfortune. The result? A draw.
Fortune, not fully recovered, couldn't subdue massively empowered Misfortune. Nor was Misfortune strong enough to overcome Fortune.
And that yielded an unexpected gain. The snake, reverting to staff form and vanishing, left half its essence in my body due to Misfortune.
With those messages, the time limit ended, and it vanished completely.