Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Last Wave (2)
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With a massive influx of experience points, I began enveloping my entire body in solar mana and climbed atop the fortress piled high with ants.
Beyond the collapsed passageway, the enraged roars of the giant soldier ants started echoing through. Roughly thirty of them had perished in the explosion just moments ago. Considering they were all elite soldiers, I could confidently say my trap had worked brilliantly.
They raged and grieved over their comrades' futile deaths, but they didn't stop.
No, they couldn't stop. The queen's fury-laced voice resounding from their final chamber drove them onward.
That was the queen's power—and her ability.
The giant soldier ants began clawing through the rubble with their jaws. It was menial work for regular soldiers, but with elite and royal guard ants pooling their strength, a hole pierced through in an instant. In less than ten minutes, all four directions—east, west, south, and north—were breached.
-Kikikik!!!
The queen commanded them: shatter the egg, even if it costs your lives!
It was an order they couldn't comprehend or accept, but they couldn't refuse or rebel either. The moment they laid eyes on the mysterious queen's egg in the center of the massive cavern they'd never seen before in their nest, their reason paralyzed, and the brainwashing etched into their minds activated. With roars, they charged solely toward the egg.
"Min Chorang, now! Legion, fortify the castle! They'll prioritize the egg over us once they see it, so we just have to hold out! You protect the egg and the capsule!"
"......Got it!!!"
"Understood!"
Min Chorang's blessings and protections began concentrating on the legion. Empowered by the saintess's grace, every ability amplified, the legion moved.
Holy Fortress! The legion slowly slotted their bodies into the gaps of the makeshift stronghold.
"We'll hold!!!"
For the first time, he shouted without stuttering, and in that instant, a golden wave erupted from his body like crashing waves, enveloping the ramshackle fortress. It transformed into a massive citadel, vowing not to let a single step encroach within this circle, guarding the stronghold.
A job notoriously hard to advance beyond upper ranks—tank—and he'd reached SS-grade, a peerless genius! As Legion's power manifested, I hurled myself out of the holy body's perimeter without hesitation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I swung my sword at the frenzied ants charging toward the queen's egg, its shell already cracking faintly beyond the golden fortress.
Slash! Slash!
I couldn't cleave through a giant soldier ant's flesh in one strike like when Equivalent Exchange had elevated my Infinite stat to [E-]. I could inflict wounds on their shells now, but not sever them clean.
But that didn't matter. My heightened weapon talent and body reborn through marrow cleansing made targeting their weaknesses far easier, and the solar mana cloaking my sword amplified the lethal damage to those vulnerabilities.
Slash, slash, and slash again. If one strike failed, follow with two; if two weren't enough, unleash three to carve through the swarming foes.
In the end, with nearly ten kin falling to my blade despite their powerful brainwashing!
-Kikikiki!!!
The queen raged and commanded: kill everything guarding the egg too!
Some of the giant soldier ants' gazes turned to me. I let out an incredulous laugh at the sight and pulled out what I'd been saving for this moment.
Out of the extra ten bombs I'd smuggled in, the only two I hadn't planted in the passageways.
Gripping a grenade that unleashed ferocious flames—one in each hand—I hurled them at the ants lunging straight for me.
Kaboom!! Rumble!!!
The grenades detonated spectacularly, birthing a colossal firestorm. The effect and power rivaled a mid-tier C-rank hunter's attack skill—no joke.
'Crea Group direct lineage. Shin Sung, that bastard Lee Ji-yong's ability feels similar.'
It mimicked the flame powers of that obnoxious guy I'd once clobbered. Of course, his talent—recognized as divine—and the lavish support he received made his far superior.
But it was more than enough to devastate the giant soldier ants—overkill, even. The flames even ignited their corpses, burning fiercer without end.
And this field was made for me. I possessed absolute fire immunity, and the sacred relic's power turned heat into my potion.
As my mana and stamina rapidly recovered amid the intense blaze, I rampaged freely.
"Sun."
A miniature sun bomb formed above my hand. Improved slightly from the one I'd detonated at the company after witnessing the grenade, it soon left my grasp and struck the burning, agonized ants as a follow-up.
They were defenseless. Without brainwashing, fighting under true queenly orders, they might not have fallen so pathetically—but they had no choice, no other path.
I became the reaper of the battlefield, moving madly. Spewing solar mana wildly, never ceasing, swinging my sword to slay foes—yet my stamina and mana only swelled.
My perfect scenario unfolded as planned. As the ants I felled mounted and terror overtook their brainwashing!
Finally, with her kin on the brink of annihilation, the queen revealed herself.
She entered the cavern flanked by her ten most cherished royal guards.
-Kikgekek!!!!
With a thunderous roar, she unleashed mana, extinguishing the flames with the earth from the collapsed passages in a flash.
"Tch, ends here, huh?"
I clicked my tongue and retreated. Now the real fight began. Fewer than fifty giant soldier ants remained, but these were the elite of elites, survivors to the end.
Over twenty bore fire wounds, but facing them alone was still overwhelming.
"We hold no matter what."
Twenty minutes left. I manifested the First Wing of Pride and pulled buff potions from my inventory, stacking them wildly.
-Kikgeak!
Watching me, the queen ordered her royal guards: kill the nuisance. The ten guards, exuding immense pressure, advanced. [Unique-D+]-rank; even a decent C-rank hunter couldn't withstand their combined assault.
I drew a deep breath, sharpening my mind.
"Legion! Twenty minutes! Hold at all costs!!"
Frankly, impossible. Even with world-class tank potential, he was a rookie freshly awakening his powers. Low level meant he couldn't sustain them long—a glass cannon.
He'd already held for over thirty minutes; asking for twenty more?
Truth be told, he'd managed this long thanks to Min Chorang's maxed-out buffs, heals, and the mana potions I'd given. In past near-death fights, he hadn't lasted ten. This was phenomenal efficiency.
He looked ready to collapse, yet pale-faced Legion shouted.
"......Don't... worry!"
The golden fortress shimmered, hardening further. His Mythic stat, Holy Body, grew from sheer will to protect.
But it wasn't enough to shift the tide. The queen ant ordered all remaining elites to smash Legion's fortress, and they charged madly.
Feeling the heat wane, I realized I had to end this fast and moved.
-Kieeek!!
The royal guards were massive, swift. But I'd prepared for this.
As I charged, my eyes narrowed then snapped open—the sun within flickered red flames, and their bodies stiffened.
Unique-Rank [D+] LV 30: Giant Soldier Ant Royal Guard afflicted with Stun!
Unique-Rank [D+] LV 32: Giant Soldier Ant Royal Guard afflicted with Hallucination!
...
Unique-Rank [D+] LV 34: Giant Soldier Ant Royal Guard afflicted with Intimidation!
Lucky. Nine of ten afflicted. I wouldn't waste the opening, weaving through the stunned ones and swinging.
But my plan backfired spectacularly. As I neutralized the first royal guard, the uninjured one realized and slammed into its comrades, forcibly purging their statuses.
"Damn it, these bastards weren't even brainwashed?"
They schemed intelligently to counter! A variable. No time to despair.
My trump card ended neutralizing three and killing one—incensing the remaining six. Enraged at mental attacks while duty-bound to protect the queen, they activated skills.
"Crazy! Skills too?!"
Monsters using skills. Obvious, really—tutorial mobs had them.
But wielding such stats and skills? Cheat!
Black energy cloaked their jaws. As they snapped at empty air!
'Danger!'
Instinct hurled me back.
Crunch!
A black maw materialized in midair, shredding space before vanishing. A split-second later, and I'd be critically wounded.
"What kind of bullshit is this?!"
I knew royal guards were strong, but this? Deflecting with Flowing Water would be tough.
Sniping from afar? Timing's hard, and it'd just drain my stamina.
-Kiiik!
Skill failure prompted cries to comrades. Five jaws blackened, birthing five massive aerial maws.
"Damn it!"
No escape—they blocked every direction.
'I can do it. No, I must. If I don't wanna die.'
Whoosh... In that instant, my movements were flawless.
First, deflect the head-aimed strike upward with my left hand. Shoulder-check the arm-targeting jaws to clash them. Slam the leg strikes into the ground.
Perfect, seamless flow. Too advanced? Or just bad luck?
The left-arm jaw veered off my deflection, grazing my head.
Yeah, that. If Fortune hadn't blessed that timing, causality warped—the head-crushing strike whiffed into empty air and dissipated.
-Kiek?
Shock was brief. They couldn't spam such a cheat skill forever—my turn. Flames cloaked me as I gripped my sword and charged.
Simultaneously, I reshaped All-Changes into one weapon: a massive hammer.
Sword first, stabbing a shell weak point precisely.
Thwuck!
As the Frostfire Sword lodged in the nape, I kicked off and swung the hammer.
Acceleration and force amplified, smashing the embedded blade down!
Krunch!
The sword-hammer pierced clean through one royal guard's neck.
Experience surged, leveling me up—just as others pounced. I snatched the protruding Frostfire Sword and countered.
It didn't take long. Not a real battle—I was just surviving with every trick.
Ten more minutes passed; under five until the egg hatched. Unable to wait longer, the queen intervened personally.