Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Tower of Gluttony (3)
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After a vast ocean and sticky swamps came the desert. A parched land without a drop of moisture anywhere.
Lee Sang-hyun's eyes turned ice-cold at the utterly alien landscape.
'...This whole desert is an ant hell.'
With no moisture, his sensory domain was useless, but in its place, his survival instincts and Super Sense sharpened to a razor's edge.
That was how he knew the entire desert was one massive ant hell, teeming with ants crawling just below the surface.
'This'll be a pain.'
For Lee Sang-hyun, who wielded water like an extension of himself, a desert was the absolute worst terrain. And these weren't ordinary ants—no blood flowed from their bodies.
......
Golems? Spirits? Closer to 'inanimate objects' than living creatures.
Srrrrr...
And then.
Shhhh...
The stairs behind him crumbled into sand. His path of retreat was completely sealed.
Lee Sang-hyun's only choices now were to climb to the 4th floor... or die.
"Advance or perish."
Thump!
Of course, Lee Sang-hyun felt no fear. Instead, he gripped his sword, his aura sharpening like a blade.
"A fitting stage for a Berserker."
Ironically, an ant hell was one of the perfect arenas for a Berserker.
Taat!!
The ant hell was a tangled maze of tunnels roughly 2~3 meters in diameter.
True to paths trod by ants, it was a chaotic nightmare. The concept of flat ground didn't exist.
For 'warriors' who needed to plant their feet to fight, it was hellish. For anyone wielding a weapon, a waking nightmare.
Lee Sang-hyun made a snap decision.
'Gotta go barehanded. Swinging a sword half-assed will just snag on the walls.'
Swinging a sword in these cramped, undulating passages? A dagger might work, but a long blade would let him use maybe 10% of his skill.
So Lee Sang-hyun sheathed his sword.
Crack! Crackle!!
'My first barehanded brawl?'
An ordinary warrior would've thought of retreat before the fight even started. A weapon was their lifeline, after all.
But Lee Sang-hyun was a Berserker.
He wasn't some coward who couldn't fight without a weapon. Without one, he'd rip the enemy apart with his bare hands—a blood-starved beast.
"A weapon's just window dressing."
Scritch-scratch-scritch.
From the distance, desert ants began crawling toward him. An overwhelming horde, filling the tunnels like black sludge surging up.
Zing-zing!!
No moisture meant he couldn't see their exact forms. But his honed survival instincts and Super Sense pinpointed every last one.
"Here I go."
Lee Sang-hyun leaped into the ant-choked tunnel and rampaged like a feral beast.
Krunch! Krackle!!
Exoskeletons tougher than steel tore apart like paper under his overwhelming power.
「Keeieek!!」
Every swing of his arms burst dozens apart, his qi storm shoving back the incoming ants and detonating in monstrous blasts.
Rumble-rumble-boom!!
The tunnels shook as if they might collapse. Lee Sang-hyun tore through, ripping and stomping ants.
Kirrik-kirrik!!
But for these spirit abominations, death was no end.
Just a brief respite, not eternal rest. So they charged mindlessly, even as kin were shredded before them.
Krunch! Krackle! Kabooms!!
Roooar!!
The brutal melee caused multiple tunnels to cave in. Thousands of desert ants were crushed under unyielding rock, and the shockwaves halted tens of thousands more.
'...That way.'
Lee Sang-hyun, evading the collapses on pure instinct, spotted a tunnel in the pitch darkness.
No need to explain—it was instinctual. And uncannily accurate.
Kiiiit!!
A tunnel three times wider. And the arrival of soldier ants.
A clear sign of the path to the desert ants' queen, Harpia.
What Kaguya witnessed upon entering the Tower of Gluttony—what she called the Purification Tower—was desolation.
"Th... this... can't... be..."
A place that should have brimmed with a vast ocean stood empty. Kaguya couldn't close her mouth at the unbelievable sight before her eyes.
Her constellation, the dragon god Yamata no Orochi, could only blink in stunned silence at the incomprehensible turn of events.
「......」
Silence stretched long in the face of something utterly impossible by any common sense.
But only for a moment. True to her half-divine nature, Kaguya quickly regained her composure.
"...All the soldiers are dead."
The soldiers, bearers of the sacred mission to purify the corrupted world, lay withered and twisted in ruin.
Not a single one had survived.
「Trash. Unworthy.」
「Dispose of them.」
The dragon god Yamata no Orochi's voice dripped with contempt. Their former status as soldiers meant nothing.
Kaguya's warped gaze burned with equal disdain, colder than ice.
"As you command."
Kaguya's long, obsidian-like hair elongated, transforming into serpentine heads.
Hiss! Hiiiiss!
The sound of tens of thousands of black serpents flicking their tongues sent chills down the spine, their crimson eyes redder than blood, repulsive to behold.
Shyaaa!!
Black serpents stretching dozens, hundreds of meters devoured the withered sea monsters in single gulps.
Krunch! Krackle!! Gulp!!
Well-fed in their time, they still brimmed with 'nutrients' despite their mummified husks.
"All as you will it."
Kaguya's smile was venomous.
Soldier ants, twice the size of the 1-meter desert ants, were formidable. From their iron-hard exoskeletons to jaws that rent rock like paper and absurd strength, they transcended their kind.
Queeeek!!
In raw combat power, they rivaled trolls. And they came endlessly.
Scritch-scratch-scritch!!
Against an advance of soldier ants numbering hundreds of thousands—or millions...
Lee Sang-hyun charged.
Whoosh!!
In his right hand gleamed the Knight King's magic sword, drawn the instant he sensed the wider tunnel.
'Break through in one go.'
The resolve to pierce straight to Queen Harpia ignited a ferocious aura throughout his body.
Swaaap!!
The blazing energy rode his blade, mercilessly carving through soldier ants.
Groooar!!
The destructive force shook the wide tunnel. And it didn't end there—he advanced relentlessly, obliterating the horde in reverse.
Que... e... e... ek...!!
Yet the soldier ants pressed on undaunted, jaws gaping toward Lee Sang-hyun without a hint of fear.
Krunch!!
Those shattered by his sword aura revived in under three minutes, pursuing him relentlessly.
Scritch-scratch!!
The wide tunnel opened into a massive cavern linking dozens more. Naturally, every path crawled with desert ants.
'That one.'
Lee Sang-hyun chose without hesitation, charging as if he knew the way.
The tunnels widened and narrowed, twisted up-down and side-to-side.
Kiiiik! Queeek!!
How much farther? Another vast cavern converged multiple paths.
'This way.'
Without pause, he plunged into one tunnel.
Blocking him: elite guard ants, stronger than soldier ants.
Kaaaaak!!
They were no match for him, of course.
Slash!!
Five sword swings swept away hundreds of elite guards. Stronger than ogres, but just barely.
Kiiik...!
Moments later, Queen Harpia's chamber appeared.
But the queen was nowhere to be seen.
'...She ran.'
Incredibly, the queen was fleeing rather than fighting.
'...Clever for an ant.'
Strategically brilliant.
Unlike the undying desert ants, Lee Sang-hyun would tire eventually.
Why risk it? Let the soldiers wear him down—victory was guaranteed.
Of course, Lee Sang-hyun felt no fear.
'Won't let her escape.'
His sharpened Super Sense and Berserker instincts locked onto the fleeing queen, giving chase.
Queen Harpia of the desert ants was truly rattled. The intruder she'd expected to die quickly was still alive—and hunting her.
「...What? How? How the hell?!」
Of course, she hadn't assumed an intruder reaching the 3rd floor of the Tower of Gluttony was weak. Clearing 1 and 2 meant something.
But lasting 'two hours'? Unthinkable. Impossible.
Against an undying legion, solo, for two hours—not one—in an underground ant hell with no retreat or rest?
Absurd.
Delusional fantasy.
Such a thing couldn't happen.
Yet it had.
「...How is it tracking me?!」
「...What method?!」
Even more horrifying: despite her frantic pace, it never missed a turn.
「...No traitors.」
「...Can't be traitors.」
「...Then how?!」
「...How is it following?!」
「...Pheromones scattered everywhere.」
「...Princesses diverting attention.」
「...How?!」
Gulp.
A chilling terror she'd never known twisted Queen Harpia's face in revulsion.
And the distance shrank by the second.
The intruder's distance... closing.
Slowly...
Slowly.
Kiieek...!!
「...Coincidence?」
「...No, impossible.」
「...No such thing as coincidence.」
「...Only inevitability.」
「...Then how? How did it find me?!」
Shiver!!
The terror of being hunted by an unknown 'monster' devoured Queen Harpia whole.
Even her gluttonous hunger for the intruder's blood and heart bowed to fear. Her invincible strategies, source of countless victories, now rang hollow.
Chill!!
For the once-arrogant queen, only terror remained. Nothing else registered.
「...I won't lose.」
「...This is my kingdom.」
「...My eternal domain.」
「...No one defeats me here.」
「...I am immortal, absolute.」
「...Victory is mine...」
「?!」
Her shout to banish the dread of the mystery monster cut short unfinished.
Because the mystery monster—Lee Sang-hyun—had appeared before her.
"Found you, rat ant."
「In-Insolent...?!」
Slash!!
The single strike ending the two-hour chase cleaved Queen Harpia in two.
「Uh... ah... ah... aah......」
Unlike the long pursuit, death was swift—a blink.
As cold death overtook her, the queen's eyes reflected the intruder...
A de... mon...
The chilling terror never faded, even in death...
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