Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Grand Mantis Feast
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There was a sound you’d usually only hear in documentaries about insects.
Crunch- crunch-
It was the subdued yet brutal noise of carnivorous insects devouring other bugs.
Such events happened in such a tiny world that unless you zoomed in on purpose, it was hard to hear.
But what if that sound were amplified tens of thousands of times?
Crunch- crunch-
That was exactly the scene unfolding before Jeong-hyeon and his party members.
“What the hell is that...?”
Jeong-geun muttered, his face pale as if he were utterly dumbfounded.
It wasn’t unreasonable to be gripped by terror at the sight of a massive mantis tearing into live Cave Orcs.
A mound of dozens of Cave Orc corpses lay piled up, with Grand Mantises positioned on either side.
Not one, but two.
The sounds of the two Grand Mantises feasting on Cave Orcs echoed starkly through the vast cavern.
Just those two were enough to make it feel like the enormous space was completely filled.
Even regular mantises boasted a height of about 3 meters.
But Grand Mantises were monsters on another level entirely.
They stood at least 5 meters tall.
Their full body length probably reached 10 meters.
“How the hell did those things end up here...?”
Grand Mantises weren’t even native to caves like this to begin with.
They were field boss-level monsters from 6th-level gates.
Yet here were two of them brazenly enjoying a meal in what was supposed to be a 5th-level Mission Gate boss room.
While everyone else trembled in fear,
Jeong-hyeon calmly observed the creatures.
Asking “why?” in a gate changed nothing.
In a standard gate, you could run, but not in a Mission Gate.
They had to clear the mission to get out alive.
And something caught Jeong-hyeon’s eye.
“Can you see that thing embedded in their heads?”
“Yes... ? Ah...”
Yeon-su narrowed her eyes at his question, then nodded.
Their heads were so massive that it looked like a mere speck, but something was definitely there.
It sparkled like a gem.
Meanwhile, Deok-jin spotted it too and widened his eyes.
“T-that’s Harad!”
“Harad?”
Deok-jin seemed to know what it was.
He nodded and explained.
“I’ve only heard about it... It’s a gem that amplifies specific attribute magic. But why is it in a monster’s head...?”
It supposedly appeared very rarely in mine-type gates level 6 and up.
Hunters socketed it into gear or made accessories for mages to use.
But regardless of the details, Jeong-hyeon felt a surge of irritation.
‘Those fuckers use magic?’
Anyone else might scoff at a monster casting spells, but it was entirely possible.
No, 100% certain.
Otherwise, what reason was there to embed Harad or whatever in a monster’s head?
Especially one that amplified specific attribute magic—using no magic at all would be the weird part.
Now it all made sense why their previous four attempts had failed.
“Looks like those bastards can use magic too.”
“...?”
The party members’ expressions shifted rapidly, as if wondering what nonsense he was spouting.
Grand Mantises alone were a hopeless matchup, and now magic on top?
“What do you mean? Magic?”
Won-ho finally asked, unable to hold back.
“Why else would they have Harad in their heads? Better to assume they can use it and prepare than assume they can’t and get blasted to death.”
At Jeong-hyeon’s matter-of-fact explanation, the party’s faces turned corpse-like.
U-yeong muttered in despair.
“We’re done for...”
The others didn’t say it out loud, but they thought the same.
Excluding Jeong-hyeon, the Vice Guild members could hunt in 6th-level standard gates, but these were two field bosses.
Magic on top of that? No way out.
No one had ever imagined Grand Mantises casting spells.
That was when Jeong-hyeon shot to his feet.
“Well. Let’s give it a shot.”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
Jeong-geun raised his voice slightly at Jeong-hyeon’s casual tone, like he was talking about a game boss.
But he couldn’t argue against Jeong-hyeon’s next calm words.
“Are we just gonna sit here and starve to death?”
Only then did it sink in for the party.
There was no retreating from a Mission Gate.
They’d entered; now they had to see it through.
They knew that in their heads, but their bodies wouldn’t cooperate.
Not everyone had clawed through hell like Jeong-hyeon, especially not these hunters who’d always played it safe.
Then, the silent Won-ho spoke up.
“Yeah, we can’t just do nothing. Let’s try.”
As the highest-ranked but least experienced Vice Guild member, the others looked at him in surprise.
But he ignored them and looked up at Jeong-hyeon.
“You’ve got a plan, right?”
A plan.
Truthfully, Jeong-hyeon didn’t have a sharp one.
First time facing these things.
Plus the Harad gems were an unknown variable unlike usual foes.
But nothing would happen without engaging.
It reminded him of his weak days facing the variant boss White Rock Spider.
The terror of possible death mixed with the savage will to kill it first.
Jeong-hyeon nodded.
“Scouting battle first.”
At least, taking on both at once was off the table.
***
Crunch-
One Grand Mantis tilted its head mid-feast on a Cave Orc.
A human had entered the cavern where they resided.
Several more lurked behind.
Not striding boldly like the leader, though.
“Kii-”
The Grand Mantis tossed aside the Cave Orc and advanced fearlessly toward the intruder.
Humans had been coming here often lately.
Their shells were too hard and tasteless, but the tender flesh inside was decent.
Far better than the rotten-smelling Cave Orc meat.
Excited at the prospect of fresh prey, the Grand Mantis perked up.
“Kiiit-”
Its mate stirred too, intrigued by the rare humans.
But the humans stopped at a certain point.
The rest only peeked from the entrance, not venturing into the open.
This made it hard to attack freely.
The two Grand Mantises exchanged glances.
The one with the red gem would engage upfront; the yellow-gem one would support from behind.
“Kiiii-”
The red-gem Grand Mantis clashed its jaws and let out a long cry.
Thrilled for fresh meat after so long.
“Hey, you’re already monster rejects, so quit chitchatting and come on already?”
“H-Han Jeong-hyeon Hunter!”
The lead human shouted something.
One behind him shuddered and yelled back.
Grand Mantises couldn’t understand human speech, but the intent came through clear.
Arrogant prey.
The lead Grand Mantis charged, red gem gleaming, raising its foreleg high.
The human just looked up, showing no other movement.
Common enough.
Prey facing it always froze in terror, accepting fate.
That earlier yapping was just temporary madness.
Boom-
Its serrated, reaper-scythe-like foreleg slammed down where the human stood.
Humans were tougher than Cave Orcs, so a quick opener made things easier.
Rocks scattered, dust billowed.
Too much damage for a mere jab.
“Kii?”
But the Grand Mantis tilted its head.
No sensation of hitting anything with its foreleg.
“Kiiit-”
Then, the yellow-gem one watching from behind screeched sharply.
At the same instant, mana surged from the yellow Harad, unleashing a barrage of lightning magic.
Zap-
“Tch.”
The lightning vanished into the dust, and a human silhouette emerged from within.
Only then did the striking Grand Mantis grasp it.
The prey had insolently dodged.
Enraged, it raised both forelegs.
Then it alternated slashing at the air like a blender.
Swoosh- swoosh-
The deadly whooshes sounded impossibly vicious for air alone.
Yet this puny prey somehow evaded every strike.
It stayed near the entrance, dodging nimbly without entering the open.
Frustrated at wasting energy, the Grand Mantis paused.
The human’s mouth twisted.
“That all you got? The one back there’s shooting lightning, so what are you?”
Even in an unintelligible foreign tongue, insults were viscerally felt.
Regardless of species.
It couldn’t parse the words, but the mockery was clear.
From prey smaller than the saw blades on its forelegs.
“Kiiii!”
Fury boiling over, the red-gem Grand Mantis flared its wings.
No room to fly, but it expressed rage.
And in response, a faint heat-haze aura rose around its forelegs.
The human’s expression turned odd.
A mix of wry confirmation and hollow disbelief, like “it really came to this.”
***
In truth, Jeong-hyeon felt much the same.
‘How the fuck did the world end up this screwed?’
Before drawing the Grand Mantises’ attention, they’d quickly planned. Deok-jin, who seemed to know Harad, had said:
“Harad’s color matches the attribute. So if they use magic like you predict, Han Jeong-hyeon Hunter, the yellow one’s likely lightning, red’s fire.”
A thought flashed through Jeong-hyeon’s mind.
‘But does magic amplification equal being able to use magic?’
Deok-jin described Harad as mana amplification.
But if Grand Mantises couldn’t use magic anyway?
Wouldn’t the amplification be moot?
Meaning the gems might just be decorations.
If not embedded in their heads but on a wall, they could cheese it by breaking the gems without fighting.
Maybe that’s why they were placed there—to force confrontation.
‘Then it might be doable.’
No matter how much bigger than regular mantises, treating them as just oversized versions eased his mind a bit.
But his gut ominously pointed otherwise.
The world had never been that kind to him.
Still, hoping against hope, he provoked them to test for magic.
The result was grim.
As the Grand Mantis used magic right on cue, it felt like the system popped up:
[Yep, they can.]
‘Why’s my gut always spot-on with the bad shit?’
The yellow one spewed lightning, and the red wrapped its forelegs in flames, perfectly.
If there was a system admin, had they tossed these in for 5th-level hunters?
He’d love to ask.
Not politely, though.