The Fall of the Ant Kingdom
We quickly secured the items from the monkey habitat and the Crocodile Rock zone. Unfortunately, there were no high-grade items. Still, because we had cleared the area in advance, we were able to rapidly collect a large number of mid- and low-grade Fruit of Good and Evil. During the process, we discovered something useful: the Giantification skill that Nareun-i and Bangsil-i had obtained was far more versatile than expected.
First, the skill worked exactly as we had anticipated—it amplified existing strength. As the beastkin grew stronger by consuming corpses, the size granted by Giantification gradually increased. But that was not all. The skill did not force the entire body to enlarge; partial giantification was possible. There was no need to strip or tear off clothes every time—just enlarge an arm or a leg as needed. This opened up all sorts of applications.
Crunch—crunch— Bangsil-i, with only her head enlarged, picked up an entire crocodile and popped it into her mouth. Her massive teeth crushed and devoured it.
“Huk…! Baengnae wants to do that too.”
Baengnae immediately ran over to me and begged for Giantification as well. Unfortunately, we had no Giantification fruits left.
She’s so greedy…
“Go play somewhere else. I’m busy right now.”
“Awight…”
No, I already told you we don’t have any…
I was once again revising our route—this time for a positive reason. There were five danger levels in the Maze of Evolution. I had deliberately avoided the restricted zones when planning our path. Those areas were not places we could simply charge into and cause chaos. It was not merely because they were dangerous. It was because we had no information. Restricted zones were designated when explorers repeatedly failed to gather any data. They were places where danger was guaranteed, yet the exact nature of the threat remained unknown.
Amid all this, we had discovered an exit. We still only had one bull corpse in storage, but in the end I would obtain twenty-seven more. Once our army reached that scale, there would be no need to fear the restricted zones. That was why I was now recalculating both the method to secure the exit and the route that would follow.
Adjusting plans for greater profit feels pretty good.
Once my calculations were finished, I called the zombies.
“Everyone, let’s move out!”
The first destination on the revised route was the conquest of the danger zone known as the Ant Kingdom. Heading straight north from the Crocodile Rock zone brought us to a wide, flat plain. Scattered across it were sturdy earthen walls. These were not the walls of the maze. Each wall stood roughly three meters tall, built by the native shovel ants. The shovel ants, which lived in colonies of hundreds, were about the size of three basketballs stacked together, with shovels attached to their heads. Judging by their appearance and size, they did not seem particularly dangerous. Yet this place had been marked as a danger zone because of the fortress they had constructed.
The intricately built earthen walls and various traps were designed to heavily disadvantage attackers. It was a case of overcoming biological weakness through superior terrain. Of course, such a formula only worked when the gap in strength was not too large. My zombies had already grown far beyond what simple earthen walls and forts could contain.
“Hand over the house! Hand over the house!”
“Jju-in! Can I eat this?”
“You idiot. Don’t break the walls—only step on the ants. Didn’t you hear what Master said?”
The giantified Nareun-i and Bangsil-i, along with regular-sized Bootz, stomped the ants mercilessly. To them, the shovel ants were nothing more than slightly larger insects. Every step crushed another one. The traps the ants had painstakingly built were mere toys to the massive zombies.
Going smoothly.
I had chosen not to turn the shovel ants into zombies because it was unavoidable. Insects were fundamentally stupid. As an expert who had created countless stupid zombies, I now had a decent grasp of what made a good zombie. The most important factor was the intelligence the creature possessed in life. Communication method mattered as well. In that sense, insects and fish were simply failures when turned into zombies.
“The queen is here! Bootz caught her!”
“No! Bangsil-i caught her!”
“Haah… Neither of you caught the queen. That’s just a soldier ant.”
Before long, the earthen fortress was completely overrun. There was no need to slaughter every last ant. Shovel ants had a peculiar trait: once all the royalty in a nest were dead, they would abandon the nest and flee. They would then move to another nest and resume their slave-like existence. When one curious user had gone around killing every royal in every nest they could find, the result was mass suicide among all the shovel ants. They were creatures that lived their entire lives as slaves.
They really wrecked the fortress…
I followed the path the zombies had trampled and headed for the throne room of the earthen castle. Preparations were complete. I began summoning the monkeys around me.
“First, eat all the ant corpses and clean them up.”
The monkeys cheered at the mention of free food. Even the ants that Nareun-i and Bangsil-i had flattened into pancakes looked delicious to them. Once the cleaning was done, I would press Combat Start. I was quietly looking forward to seeing which race would appear as the enemy.
Alright, time to put that desperate faith to use.
Elves…! Come out, elves!
***
High-ranker Kim Seolhwa scratched the tip of her nose. She had a problem. As president of the Returnee Anti-Club, she needed to select a tiger to submit for the Stage 4 Challenge.
Stage 4…
It had been the era of fierce competition among the first wave of pioneers. Among them were countless famous names, and she had not been one of the standout users. Yet it was precisely in Stage 4 that Kim Seolhwa began her explosive growth. Upon entering the Maze of Evolution, she, like every other user, had no information whatsoever. While wandering the maze, she discovered a village that looked like something out of a painting—Pinwheel Village, a high-risk zone. The village was an idyllic place. There were no troublesome native creatures, and it even had running water, so bathing was possible. Seolhwa settled there and steadily cleared stages by hunting enemies.
Then the wind came. Thousands of ghosts appeared from every direction. They pounded on the windows and doors of the building where she lived, trying to reach her. The sound of the world tearing apart echoed as blood-soaked ghosts ripped the front door off its hinges. One by one, her tigers fell before the endless tide of ghosts. Everything she had built was disappearing. When her death was only moments away, her final hope rested on her strongest tiger—the beastkin Hodori. Seolhwa’s very first tiger, a powerful creature on the verge of evolving into a spirit beast. Yet the overwhelming number of ghosts made him despair. With the chance to evolve right in front of him, Hodori gave up on becoming a spirit beast. To kill ghosts, he would become one himself.
Hodori bit into the ghost that was biting him. He chewed the flesh of the ghosts that were eating his own. Casting aside all the spiritual energy he had gathered, he stole the ghostly energy they possessed instead. Every time a ghost was torn apart, a vengeful spirit clung to him. The vengeful spirits devoured ghosts and gave birth to more vengeful spirits. The tiger that had once sought to become a spirit beast gradually transformed into a monster covered in vengeful spirits. And when every foul thing in Pinwheel Village had finally attached itself to him, he became a disaster spirit. He became a calamity that protected his lone master, spreading death along every path she walked.
Seolhwa conquered Stage 4. With the fearsome disaster spirit at her side, no creature in the maze dared stand in her way. But when it came time to move on to Stage 5, Hodori—who had become a phenomenon rather than a living being—could no longer remain with her. Seolhwa left her first tiger behind in the vast maze and continued forward.
Even the dead can be summoned…
Seolhwa read the clause written for the Stage 4 Challenge. But had Hodori truly died? Perhaps he had been waiting for her all this time in the maze she had left behind. With a faint hope in her heart, Kim Seolhwa selected Hodori for the Stage 4 Challenge. It was at that moment, while she was lost in vague longing, that a familiar voice reached her ears.
[Mas… ter… My master.]
The numerous tiger spirit beasts nearby growled in response to the ghostly energy. Seolhwa raised a hand to calm them. A mere disaster spirit could no longer harm her. She gently stroked the spectral form of Hodori.
“You were waiting there all along…”
[Master… My master…]
It was not a copy. Copies were supposedly created all at once on the day of the challenge. That meant Hodori had been waiting alone in Stage 4 all this time, and had crossed over in response to her summons. The tiger, now accompanied by countless vengeful spirits, nuzzled against Seolhwa’s fingertips. She continued to stroke him.
“It’s been a long time…”
Spirit-type beings only appeared from Stage 5 onward. The Stage 4 Challenge would now belong to her. Hodori would once again bring her glory, just as he had in the past.