Chapter 21
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Song Eun-young (1)
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The sword sliced cleanly through the soldier fire ant’s body.
The severed limbs of the soldier fire ant twitched.
“What? How’d you do that?”
“Is your Strength stat just high or something?”
“Let’s just say I have a knack for it.”
I replied, having overheard the murmurs of the Hunters behind me.
It was the truth.
To be able to cut through a soldier fire ant’s body, you needed a Strength stat of at least B+.
It would be nice to be strong enough to not have to worry about my surroundings, but when that wasn't the case, you had to know how to use your skills.
‘As long as it's a living creature, it has a weak spot.’
The shell covering its body was as much a part of the soldier fire ant as anything else.
I had simply cut through its weakest point efficiently.
“Hey, give us a hand over here!”
Min Seong-taek, who was holding back the soldier fire ants with his shield, raised his voice.
As I ran over, Min Seong-taek stepped back, batting away a soldier fire ant with his shield.
I lightly pushed off a wall to launch myself into the air, then sliced through the airborne ant, targeting the weak point on its chest.
Then, I joined Min Seong-taek in fighting the other soldier fire ant.
“This is the last one.”
A soldier fire ant with its legs severed was crawling on the ground.
I thrust my sword toward its chest.
When I pulled the sword out, a sound like air escaping a hole hissed out.
It seemed we had dealt with most of the soldier ants in this area.
After confirming there were no more monsters, I sheathed my sword.
As I was flexing my aching wrist, my eyes met Kim Yu-han’s.
Having finished his part, Kim Yu-han slung his pack over his shoulder.
“It looks like it’s getting dark. Let’s move! Hurry up!”
“Yes! Coming!”
Min Seong-taek and the others, who had scouted ahead, called out to me.
With his bag and gear on, Kim Yu-han walked past the soldier ant corpses.
I walked alongside him.
Blood pooled on the ground splattered toward Kim Yu-han.
It was because he had taken a wrong step.
Seeing the blood on his clothes, Kim Yu-han sighed from behind his mask.
But I was genuinely, really curious.
“Aren’t you hot in that?”
My eyes met Kim Yu-han’s.
His gaze seemed to ask if I was talking to him.
Well, everyone else is up ahead, and there are only two of us here. Who else would I be talking to, the empty air?
I was so dumbfounded I was at a loss for words.
Just as I was about to say something, Kim Yu-han answered first.
“What does that have to do with you?”
What a spectacular reply.
What does it have to do with me? Well, when you think about it, nothing really.
Damn, he’s prickly.
“It has nothing to do with me, but can’t I just ask?”
“Just don’t.”
He was speaking formally a moment ago, but now he’s being casual.
Then again, I started with casual speech, so I guess it doesn't really matter.
“Why are you so twisted? You don’t have any friends, do you? Huh? They say one out of every two Hunters is a psychopath, and the other has some kind of issue. The wiki wasn't wrong about that.”
“You don’t look like a proper Hunter yourself.”
“I am a Hunter, you know? My ID is somewhere… dammit, I threw it in my bag.”
I didn’t feel like rummaging through my bag to pull out my ID.
Seeing me scratch my head, Kim Yu-han turned away.
‘Weird bastard.’
Then again, Kim Yu-han wasn't the only eccentric Hunter I’d met over the past few months.
There was the guy who showed up in full plate armor like some medieval knight, another who came dressed in a cosplay of an anime character, and even one who brought along some unidentifiable drone.
‘It’s not like we’re filming some superhero movie.’
These guys call themselves Awakened Ones, but not a single one of them is normal!
At this point, Choi Soo-hyun, who commuted to a normal job and collected a regular paycheck, seemed like the sane one.
“Sigh, forget it. Not worth talking about.”
Min Seong-taek seemed to have found something and beckoned to me.
There didn't seem to be any monsters following us, so I ran forward without hesitation.
* * *
The dungeon expedition was going smoothly.
If things continued like this, it seemed we would be able to leave the dungeon much earlier than expected.
I walked through the cave, unwrapping a nutritional calorie bar from my backpack.
Kang Hyun-seung, who was next to me, grimaced at the sight of the bar.
“Is that any good?”
“It’s fine. It’s not like I’m eating it for the taste.”
“Well, yeah, but most people get sick of them.”
“Really?”
I fiddled with the wrapper of the finished calorie bar in my hand.
As long-term dungeon expeditions became more common, the emergency food industry naturally grew along with it.
One of its flagship products was the nutritional calorie bar.
They called it a calorie bar, but it was closer to a block of white jelly.
The downside was that it didn't taste very good due to the wide variety of ingredients it contained.
Hunters usually didn’t pack them unless they were in a high-rank dungeon where minimizing luggage was crucial.
“I don’t like lugging around a bunch of stuff. And they’re not so bad once you get used to them.”
“You have some unique tastes.”
“That guy’s eating one too, you know?”
I pointed a finger at Kim Yu-han in the corner.
He was eating the same kind of calorie bar as me.
Feeling Kang Hyun-seung's gaze, Kim Yu-han turned his back.
After finishing our meal, we fell asleep on our own.
We took turns on watch, but nothing eventful happened.
Our exploration of the ant nest continued.
The Giant Ant Nest wasn't a particularly large dungeon.
The paths weren't complicated, and the patterns were mostly similar.
On the second day, Kang Hyun-seung returned from his scouting.
“Did you find it?”
“Yeah. The queen ant.”
“You know the deal, right? We have to get the egg. The problem is who’s going to retrieve it…”
The five of us looked at each other in silence.
The ‘Queen Ant’s Egg’ was an incredibly valuable reward.
Fortunately, no one started fighting over who would get the egg.
There was nothing more foolish than Hunters fighting amongst themselves for an extra reward.
“I think Kang Hyun-seung should take it.”
Min Seong-taek sided with Kang Hyun-seung.
Even though the ant nest’s layout wasn't complex, Kang Hyun-seung had done an excellent job as the scout to get us this far.
It was a reasonable choice.
“Honestly, I don’t mind either way.”
I took a step back.
It would be a lie to say I didn't want the egg, but I had no intention of disrupting the team’s atmosphere to get it.
‘I’d rather just land the final blow.’
People say the last hit is all about luck, but that's a load of crap.
For someone like me, who had killed more than a few monsters, this was a much easier way to go.
It was settled that Kang Hyun-seung would take the egg.
“Alright then, let’s drop our gear and prepare for the raid.”
The queen ant raid began.
Min Seong-taek was the first to charge in and draw aggro.
Kim Yu-han and Ahn Ju-hye dealt with the soldier fire ants that rushed toward Min Seong-taek.
While the ants’ attention was drawn to the three of them, I focused on the queen ant.
With a body much larger than the other soldier fire ants and crimson skin, the queen ant certainly stood out.
I narrowly dodged the queen ant’s attack.
I felt a wave of heat pass by my cheek.
I swung my sword, drawing a line in the air.
The queen ant’s leg was severed and fell to the ground.
Losing its balance, the queen ant staggered.
I gave the signal, and Kang Hyun-seung moved.
He quickly snatched the large egg the queen ant had been cradling.
The queen ant’s egg was about the size of a watermelon.
“Fall back!”
At Min Seong-taek’s command, I did a back handspring to create distance from the queen ant.
Seeing Kang Hyun-seung holding its egg, the queen ant stomped its feet frantically.
The cave walls shook, and rocks fell from the ceiling.
The eyes of the queen, robbed of its egg, began to turn red.
The other soldier fire ants, influenced by the queen, also grew enraged.
The queen ant spat fire.
As if by agreement, we all hid behind Min Seong-taek.
He thrust his shield forward.
A light emanated from the shield, protecting us.
Simultaneously, the light temporarily blinded the ants in the cave.
It served as a sort of flashbang.
Before the light faded, Ahn Ju-hye and I made our move.
Ahn Ju-hye’s poison-coated dagger lodged itself in the queen ant’s shell.
It didn't deal damage deep into its flesh, but that was enough.
[The aura of the god Soter blesses you.]
[A level 2 blessing is activated.]
The shell around the embedded dagger turned black and cracked.
As Ahn Ju-hye retreated, I swung my sword horizontally.
A soldier fire ant threw its body in the way to protect the queen.
A crescent-shaped afterimage lingered where the sword had passed.
The bisected soldier fire ant’s body fell to the ground. The queen ant’s leg grazed my cheek.
I swung my sword from top to bottom.
Another leg was severed.
‘I’ll end it now!’
I thrust my sword toward the queen ant’s chest.
The queen, pierced through the chest, thrashed about in a final, desperate struggle, but it was no use.
‘It’s over…’
The moment I sensed the queen ant’s end, I realized something felt off.
My intuition was usually pretty accurate.
Instinctively, I pulled the sword from the queen’s chest and retreated.
No sooner had I created some distance than the queen ant’s body began to twist grotesquely.
“What? Wh-What’s happening?”
Ahn Ju-hye, dagger in hand, was tense.
Instead of blood, an unidentifiable black fluid dripped from the open wound.
Min Seong-taek, who had finished off the remaining soldier fire ants, tilted his head.
“What? What’s wrong with that thing?”
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either!”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Kang Hyun-seung, who had the most experience raiding the Giant Ant Nest.
Cradling the egg, Kang Hyun-seung shook his head.
“This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this.”
The black ooze from the queen’s wound shot toward me and Ahn Ju-hye.
It felt like a large piece of jelly had been sliced off.
The severed pieces of jelly burst and scattered across the floor.
It seemed Ahn Ju-hye had managed to dodge on her own.
Seeing the ooze on the ground, I frowned.
I relaxed my grip on the sword and took a deep breath.
A faint magical energy spread out from me.
‘Something’s definitely wrong.’
The black ooze from the wound soon covered the queen ant’s entire body.
It could no longer be considered a proper monster.
The black mass clumped together.
It looked like a ball. To be more precise, it was closer to a living chrysalis.
Seeing it, I was certain.
I knew what that thing was.
A Thought-Form.
A Thought-Form was a being that had broken a Taboo.
Although small, that thing was a part of a Thought-Form.
To be precise, it was a being corroded by resentment.
Corrupt thoughts give birth to other corrupt thoughts.
That is what these encroaching forms are.
‘Why is this here?’
Before I even had a chance to grasp the situation, another thought struck me.
Can I fight this in my current state?
I turned to look behind me.
If I were alone, I could probably find a way to survive, but the problem was the people behind me.
‘What rotten luck.’
Having experienced the goblin village last time, the thought of a total party wipe left a bad taste in my mouth.
As I was racking my brain for a way to survive, my eyes fell on the queen ant’s egg in Kang Hyun-seung’s arms.
“Throw that away! Right now!”