Chapter 36
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Through the Screams, to the Kingdom (4)
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Every sound reached my ears as if filtered through a heavy veil.
- Hunter Kim Hanul, it's dangerous! A few summons won't be enough to take that thing on… Ah, you damn insect bastards!
Even Ma Dongpal's somewhat contradictory curses.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
The gunshots echoing through the cavern as Asha laid down covering fire.
Bzzzzzz.
The sound of insect wings, carried on the trembling air from all directions.
[Tricaeon Shield Formation]
To me, walking beneath the massive protective shield, all those sounds felt so distant.
Twenty lizardmen advanced in a square phalanx, with me at their center.
According to MonMonMak's skill description, the 'Tricaeon Shield Formation' was modeled after 'the defensive arts of the valiant, ancient lizardman legions'.
A veil of clear water emerged from the shields held aloft by the lizardmen, enveloping our surroundings.
The moving barrier thoroughly blocked all external attacks.
Thanks to it, I could focus solely on the monster directly ahead.
[Go no further! Do not defile this place with your filthy footprints!]
She rose from her throne.
[I said, do not defile my kingdom!]
The giant queen ant, radiating fervent hostility.
Rumble.
The ground trembled.
The queen ant raised her body, supporting it with her hind legs, and aimed her house-sized abdomen.
Swoooosh!
A torrent of hot, green ant acid poured from its tip.
A powerful waterfall of acid, similar in force to a breath attack, crashed down upon us.
Sshhhhh!
The acid torrent failed to penetrate the Tricaeon Shield Formation's barrier.
Instead, the ant acid that streamed down the veil of water dripped onto the ground, corroding the surrounding soil.
"Hiss."
The lizardman captain standing guard beside me blinked its eyes.
Its yellow eyes were filled with pain.
The barrier had blocked the physical impact, but it couldn't purify the toxic mist from the ant acid that had seeped into the air.
The captain was one of the lucky ones.
Several lizardmen were choking and sputtering in agony.
[This kingdom will never fall!]
A new line of text appeared in the Sage's analysis window.
Splaash!
A second baptism of ant acid rained down.
"Hiiiss!"
This was a crisis.
Thanks to the Gardener's blessing, I was immune to poison and remained unaffected.
But the number of suffering lizardmen was growing.
Consequently, our advance slowed noticeably.
We were still about 300 meters from the throne.
We couldn't stop here.
'Jen Karuk!'
Jen Karuk was likely focused on wiping out the insects with the Tears of the Ancient God.
But he was the only one who could break this stalemate.
I spoke inwardly to the high priest, who was fighting somewhere behind me.
'Jen Karuk, if you can hear my thoughts, obey. Cover us with the Tears of the Ancient God.'
I had never commanded a summon with just my thoughts before.
But a deep certainty bloomed within me.
A certainty that my will would be conveyed without having to speak.
And the high priest.
[Jen Karuk recasts 「Tears of the Ancient God」.]
Responded with a status window that appeared before my eyes.
Whoooosh!
The refreshing sound of water penetrated the barrier.
With it, the toxic gas that had seeped into our formation was dispersed by the spray.
Air as crisp as the sound of the water enveloped us.
The few lizardmen who had been incapacitated slowly began to rise.
I spoke quietly to them.
"You're all working hard. You're doing a fantastic job."
Amber-like eyes turned toward me.
"So, let's just push on a little longer."
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The lizardmen answered with a disciplined stomping of their feet.
Once again, the advance began.
Swoooosh!
The queen unleashed another torrent of ant acid, but the green waterfall dissipated before it even struck our barrier.
Instead, it mixed with the streams of the ancient god's tears, transforming into an insecticidal water that melted the burrowflies.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The stomping quickened.
The legion's march gained speed.
A single square phalanx broke through the ancient cavern.
As long as the streams of the ancient god protected us, the queen ant's poison was no longer a problem.
The distance was now less than 250 meters.
[By what right do you trample upon my kingdom!]
A pheromone like a scream spread thickly through the air.
Its body, five meters tall and ten meters long, trembled uncontrollably.
A storm of emotions raged within the pheromone.
Bzzzzzzz!
Two hundred meters.
The burrowflies that had survived until now charged like kamikazes.
Most were swept away and dissolved by the insecticidal mixture of acid and water.
But when the few that managed to survive rushed in.
Shink!
Various weapons shot out from between the shields, slicing the creatures in two.
There was no way to resist the advancing phalanx of blades.
The queen could only watch helplessly as we approached.
And so, 150 meters.
It was about time to make my move.
[Gono has completed his mission and returns to the Lord's Castle.]
A status window popped up at the perfect moment.
I clenched the violet orb that appeared in my hand.
The legion was now under the shadow cast by the queen ant.
The ant's head thrashed about.
The moment my eyes met its giant compound eyes.
I made my decision.
"Disband the formation now. Scatter, and keep her occupied as best you can while I face the queen."
"Hiss!"
The lizardman captain's yellow eyes widened.
I knew what it was thinking.
That breaking the formation would be dangerous.
Not for them, but for me.
But I shook my head.
Because this was something I had to do, not my summons.
"Hiss."
Loyalty shone in the lizardman's eyes.
[I will kill you. I will kill you and raise this kingdom once more!]
The pheromone grew even thicker.
The queen had entered her battle stance.
One hundred meters between the phalanx and the queen.
We were right on top of her.
"Now."
And I.
Slotted the new orb into the Emperor's Remnants and spoke.
[Activating Lord's Afterimage - Undead Lich Iramatus.]
[Activating Remnant Duplication.]
[Copied Gono's stats and one skill. Agility increases by +40. 「Carrion Crow Set Effect - Flap of the Carrion Crow (A)」 can now be used.]
"Disband."
At my word, the phalanx split to the left and right, like Moses parting the Red Sea.
My view opened up completely.
Clutching the Emperor's Remnants, I shot forward.
Thwoom!
One moment I was kicking off the ground, the next I was already clear of the formation.
For an instant, time seemed to slow.
A speed that defied all logic enveloped me.
A speed that should have been impossible.
But now, it was.
Left behind by the Undead Lich and delivered by Gono.
An agility stat that easily surpassed 100 made it possible.
Whoooosh!
Streams of water lightly brushed past my cheeks.
Even the spray mixed with acid couldn't keep up, falling behind me.
I charged, holding my sword in a diagonal downward slash, my eyes fixed forward.
[Heed my call! Take the daughters and flee this place!]
The queen was crying out.
[My soldier babies, my worker children, my precious little ones…]
Anyone, please, listen to your mother.
She cried out, searching for beings that were no longer there.
Splaash!
The acid waterfall poured down once more.
At that moment, I activated the skill Gono had given me.
[Flap of the Carrion Crow (A)]
Thwoom!
I pushed off the ground again, kicking off with my feet.
But it wasn't the ground I pushed off of.
Beneath my levitating feet, the densely packed air—I kicked off it.
A circular ripple spread from the point in the empty air where my foot had pushed off.
By the time the acid waterfall came down.
My body was already gone from that spot.
Plip-plop!
The waterfall of ant acid landed ten meters behind me.
And when I looked ahead, I was already in front of the queen.
[Flap of the Carrion Crow (A)]
I kicked off the air once more and leaped.
My feet landed on the queen's leg, on her hard, chitinous shell.
The queen thrashed wildly, trying to stop me from climbing her body.
Whoosh!
An antenna, as thick as a grown man's forearm, shot toward me like a whip.
Clang!
In response, I swung my sword to block it, all while scaling the ant as if climbing a cliff.
I've never properly trained with a sword.
So I brandished my sword crudely, as if in a brawl.
It didn't matter.
[…!]
As much as me, no. Perhaps even more so.
This young queen had likely never fought anything before.
That's why she could only counter by clumsily whipping her antennae.
The sharp sword and the flexible whip clashed again and again in midair.
Clang!
When an antenna aimed for my body, I struck it down with my sword to block the attack.
All the while, I held on tight to the queen's wildly shaking body with one hand.
[This was a kingdom forged in pain.]
Even as I climbed, the thick pheromones she emitted constantly assaulted my senses.
[At times, we shivered in the flesh-biting cold.]
[We had to hide in a predator's den to escape another predator.]
[I apologized to the gods as I ate my first child with my own mouth.]
The queen was telling a story.
The story of her life.
The history forged by a young princess ant.
[How I trembled, clutching my newly molted body, watching countless lives perish right beside me.]
[Do you have any idea how much suffering I endured to build this kingdom?]
I don't.
That was something on a plane too distant for me to comprehend.
It could have been from the distant past, or it could have been just a few days ago.
However.
Perhaps it was also something I would have to face in the future.
Maybe that was why.
Because I, too, was someone called a 'Lord'.
[This body cannot fall here!]
I couldn't just stand by and watch.
Thud.
Finally landing on the queen's enormous head, I.
Shhhk!
Aimed my sword precisely and sliced it down from above.
Piercing the middle of the queen's head.
The body of the tiny parasite.
Shk, shhhk.
It had no time to react.
The burrowfly, much smaller than the others at about thirty centimeters, turned its red compound eyes toward me.
It was split perfectly in two, collapsing in a fountain of blood.
[Burrowfly Parasite]
I dismissed the Sage's analysis window.
Such parasites exist in nature.
Some simply use a host's body for reproduction.
Others seize the territory entirely, turning the host species into their own food source.
The burrowfly was the latter.
[…]
And then.
The pheromones, which had been like a continuous scream, abruptly stopped.
Thump-thump-thump!
Instead, I heard the sound of something falling in clumps from all around.
It was the still-living burrowflies.
Their king was the parasite I had just cleaved in two.
When their king was sliced in half and died, the greed-driven colony was reduced to mere insignificant creatures.
The insects, having lost their collective power, flew about like puppets with their strings cut before plummeting to the ground.
[Ah…]
And then, my body tilted.
Or more accurately, the queen's body I was standing on.
[I see.]
The reason she was still alive, despite most of her insides having been eaten away, was because of this parasite.
Her body, its life long since extinguished, slowly collapsed.
***
The kingdom had already fallen.
Her world had gone dark long ago.
What she had thought was a light was merely a wildfire started by the ones who had destroyed her kingdom.
As her last breath of life departed, the queen admitted it.
She was a failed lord.
It was then.
Something flowed into her antennae.
- You are not.
It was a truly clumsy pheromone.
- You did not run. You looked after your children until the very end, and in your final moments, you were prepared to die for your kingdom.
So clumsy, it almost made her laugh faintly.
Despite that, the queen felt her heart grow calm.
- Therefore, you are not a failed lord.
It was because this pheromone resembled that of a male ant who had protected her to the very end, so long ago.
And so, even knowing this was not an ant but the clumsy communication of a human.
The queen, collapsed upon her throne, smiled softly.
Thank you, little one.
***
The long, unexpectedly arduous expedition had come to an end.
[The Sage has concluded its pheromone analysis.]
The moment the queen's breathing stopped, the Sage closed its eyes and went limp on my shoulder.
Even while fighting alongside me, it had been constantly analyzing the pheromones.
It had faithfully followed my command.
And at the end, it had even granted a special request.
"Good work, Sage."
I hope the message got through properly.
A faint scent had risen from the queen ant's body at the very end.
But it was so faint that the Sage couldn't decipher the words.
"Well, I can just ask later."
After all, someday, I will meet this queen again.
I tossed the massive magic stone in my hand into the rift.
[Selling a total of 1 special soulstone.]
[The Lord's Castle is providing a reward. Reward: 1 Spatial Development Ticket, 1 Premium Summon Ticket, 5000 Gold.]
[A named monster, 'Amur Queen Akasha', has been added to the Lord's Castle. 'Akasha' can be deployed during wave defenses.]
"Hiss."
As I was checking the status window, I heard the characteristic cry of a reptile from behind me.
"Ah, you all worked hard too."
Jen Karuk and the lizardman legion were now standing behind me.
The MVPs of this expedition.
"You did well too, Jen Karuk. Thank you."
"Kiit."
Jen Karuk awkwardly scratched the back of its head with the end of its staff.
"You can go rest now."
Clack!
At that, all the lizardmen, except for Jen Karuk, dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.
…No, this is a bit much.
"Ki, kiit?"
Even the high priest, sensing the mood, awkwardly began to lower itself.
"No, you don't have to do that."
"Kit."
Jen Karuk, its amber eyes darting about, let out a sigh of relief.
And with a final nod from it, the lizardmen, their farewells complete, transformed into two orbs and returned to my hand.
As I was reattaching the orbs to my bracelet, I felt a gaze on me.
"?"
"…"
In the distance, Asha and Ma Dongpal were staring blankly at me.
And their expressions.
They were both staring wide-eyed, as if looking at a hero who had just saved humanity.
It was intensely uncomfortable.
What's with these two now?
"Hunter Kim Hanul. Uh, when we get out of here."
Ma Dongpal was the first to speak.
"No, wait. Take this first."
"?"
Ma Dongpal, who had walked right up to me, held out something he had been clutching in his fist.
A black pouch the size of an egg.
I recognized it at once.
'It's a Concentrated Pheromone Pouch.'
A byproduct so rare you might find only one after killing a thousand ants.
An ingredient for the most expensive perfumes, boasting a price comparable to the ambergris of a sperm whale.
"Uh, I checked the corpses on the way here. This was the only one."
That made sense. The Concentrated Pheromone Pouch was only found in the less common male ants, and specifically, only in those with underdeveloped internal organs—a kind of deformed male ant.
"But why are you giving this to me…"
"Ah, well. Of course, it's because you did all the work, Hunter Kim Hanul. Take it, take it."
Ma Dongpal pressed the Concentrated Pheromone Pouch into my hand.
He hesitated for a moment, as if wanting to say something else.
He continued, rubbing his brawny arms vigorously.
"And also, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a serious talk with you after we leave the dungeon. Would you have a little time?"
Once again, the great bear's face turned red.