Birth of the Sand Missile
“Urk!”
Zeon groaned.
A deep gash had opened on his arm. The wolf ant’s pincer fangs had clamped down hard.
He yanked his arm free in a hurry, but not before sustaining serious damage.
If his body hadn’t been strengthened by devouring the gallbladders and flesh of sand eels, his entire arm would have been ripped clean off.
The wound was deep enough to expose bone.
He needed to treat it fast.
Wasting time like this could leave him with a permanent disability. But there was no leisure for healing right now.
Crack! Crack!
Zeon dodged the wolf ants’ fangs while unleashing Sand Blaster.
Boom! Bang!
The wolf ants’ heads exploded.
Sand Blaster was devastatingly powerful, and the wolf ants couldn’t stand against it.
The problem was their sheer numbers.
No matter how many he killed, they kept coming.
Even after thinning their ranks, more surged in from somewhere to fill the gaps.
The great-horned hyena’s swarm tactics had been impressive, but these wolf ants were on another level.
They attacked relentlessly, showing no signs of fatigue.
Even evading with Sand Step had its limits.
Zeon was already surrounded by wolf ants.
At this rate, he’d end up as their meal without a doubt.
Zeon quickly checked his mana.
He didn’t have much left.
Once it ran dry, he’d have no chance to gamble.
His only shot at turning things around was now.
‘Stronger and faster than Sand Blaster, but with less mana cost. There has to be a way… Come on, think! Think!’
The key was imagination.
In this life-or-death pinch with no time to leisurely ponder, he still had to imagine. An evolution of Sand Blaster.
Sand Blaster was fundamentally a skill that blasted sand at high pressure.
A technique that struck enemies with the force of ejected sand.
A sudden question popped into his mind.
‘Do I really need to compress air to launch it?’
His ability was dominion over sand.
He could move sand without relying on air at all.
Among mages’ skills, the most versatile was Magic Missile.
‘If I adapt that…?’
It felt promising.
No— even if the odds were slim, he had to make it work.
His life was on the line.
He had to seize even a 1% chance.
Zeon unleashed every last drop of his remaining mana.
And he imagined.
Imagined compressing the sand.
Whoooosh!
In an instant, the sand around him floated into the air and coalesced into chunks the size of an adult’s forearm.
Dozens of them.
Sand Missiles.
“Go!”
At Zeon’s command, dozens of Sand Missiles rocketed toward the wolf ants.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Holes the size of forearms punched straight through the wolf ants’ torsos.
Each Sand Missile took out three or four wolf ants.
They collapsed, spewing bodily fluids.
Zeon scanned the area with bloodshot eyes.
Not a single wolf ant remained standing.
All swept away by the Sand Missiles.
“Ha… ha!”
Zeon laughed hollowly as he dropped to his knees.
Having poured out all his mana, overwhelming fatigue crashed over him.
He’d done everything he could.
He didn’t even have the strength to twitch a finger now.
That was when it happened.
Hiss!
The sound of sand shifting reached his ears.
Zeon looked up ahead, and despair flickered in his eyes.
“Fuck!”
A wolf ant was emerging from the sand.
But this one was three or four times larger than the others.
Its titan chitin shell gleamed with a faint red sheen, marking it as something special.
He knew what it was the moment he saw it.
“The… queen?”
With all her minions slain, the queen had finally deigned to appear.
More wolf ants emerged around her.
Soldier wolf ants.
Twice the size of regular ones, with biting force several times greater. Once they latched on, escape was impossible.
One queen wolf ant and twenty soldier wolf ants.
Few compared to what Zeon had felled, but their threat level was several times higher.
Flanked by her soldier guards, the queen wolf ant advanced on Zeon.
The fury in her inorganic eyes transmitted straight to him.
Her rage must have been immense to break taboo and venture here herself.
The queen was only C-rank, but commanding hordes of wolf ants made her B-rank or higher in danger.
Kieee!
The queen let out a shriek. The soldiers charged at Zeon.
Even as they closed in, Dayton still hadn’t shown himself.
‘That damn old bastard.’
Then—
Crunch!
A soldier wolf ant sank its jaws into Zeon’s waist.
Agonizing pain shot through him, and his body went rigid like stone. Yet his mind stayed sharp.
The queen ant burrowed into the sand.
The soldiers followed.
The one biting Zeon dove last.
‘Urk!’
Zeon’s face twisted under the crushing pressure of the sand.
He lost track of how deep they went underground.
Suddenly, the pressure vanished, revealing a massive cavern.
He’d entered the wolf ants’ nest—the ant den.
The walls were sand, hardened firm with their saliva.
More labyrinthine than any maze.
No human, no matter how sharp their sense of direction, could navigate it.
The queen and soldiers dragged Zeon to the deepest chamber.
A place teeming with larvae and eggs.
The queen’s nursery.
Scattered bones of devoured monsters littered the floor.
Kakaka!
The queen stood at the center, emitting a bizarre cry. Larvae emerged from crevices in the walls.
Much smaller than adults, with translucent shells.
Hundreds of them swarmed from walls and floor.
The soldier ant released its jaws.
Thud!
Zeon hit the ground unceremoniously.
Paralysis toxin coursed through him; he couldn’t move a finger.
The larvae waved their antennae excitedly at the helpless prey.
Chomp! Chomp!
They tore at his robe and sank fangs into his flesh.
Zeon’s eyes bulged; he couldn’t even scream.
Being eaten alive plunged his brain into panic.
‘Aaaargh!’
Zeon screamed silently.
In that instant, the rank badge on his wrist glowed.
A deep orange light flared along the second line.
Death’s brink had unleashed his hidden potential unconsciously.
Reaching E-rank lifted the debuff.
Paralysis vanished; mana surged full.
Zeon roared.
“Die!”
With his shout, Sand Missiles filled the cavern.
Kiiieee!
The queen’s agonized screech rang out, but Zeon ignored it and launched.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The Sand Missiles pulverized the larvae.
They burst and shredded like crumbling snacks.
The soldier ants rushed in at the sight.
“Raaah!”
Zeon fired Sand Missiles at them too.
Struck soldiers dropped dead.
The gap between F and E was enormous.
Just one rank up had exponentially boosted Sand Missile’s power.
Soldiers’ legs snapped, heads exploded—they were helpless.
Only the queen remained in the nursery.
Zeon launched at her too.
Thump-thump!
But his attacks bounced off harmlessly.
The queen’s chitin was incomparable to the soldiers’. Titan-grade shell that could neutralize even aura-infused strikes.
Plus a force field—nothing got through.
Kreeee!
Furious at her brood and guards’ deaths, the queen unleashed a high-frequency screech.
It echoed off the walls, amplifying.
“Urk!”
Zeon screamed and collapsed.
Blood trickled from his ears.
Eardrums ruptured, brain shaken by the sonic assault.
As a horde boss, the queen had skills.
High-frequency attack—her signature.
Zeon glared at her through bloodshot eyes.
The approaching queen blurred into two or three.
She waved her antennae triumphantly, as if boasting victory.
‘Fine! You win, fuck!’
Zeon laboriously raised his middle finger.
The queen plunged her fangs down at him.
Zeon braced, eyes wide for death.
Then—
Slash!
A gust like wind swept the cavern, and the queen’s head flew into the air.
Body intact, head severed and soaring—unreal.
Zeon was drenched in the geyser of fluids from her neck.
A familiar voice rang out.
“Get it together, you moron! How long you gonna sit there spacing out?”
It was Dayton.
He’d decapitated the queen and saved Zeon.
Dayton eyed the larvae and soldier corpses.
“Not entirely useless after all.”
Zeon had proven his worth on his own.
He’d looked helpless before the queen, but any Awakener would have.
She was a high-grade monster even seasoned veterans struggled against.
What mattered was Zeon never gave up, and he’d ranked up.
True nature emerges in crisis.
Some quit at the slightest hardship; others thrashed to overcome.
Zeon was the latter.
He deserved to live.
Then—
Kiiieee!
Wolf ant cries echoed through the den.
They’d sensed the queen’s death and were swarming.
“Kehhehe!”
Dayton’s rough laugh echoed.
Madness gleamed red in his eyes.
“On your feet. Gonna sit there forever? Your enemies ain’t done yet. Planning to die slumped over?”
“Urk!”
“Get up. If you’re dying, die fighting.”
“Goddamn it!”
Zeon gritted his teeth.
Die or not, he wouldn’t look pathetic to Dayton anymore.
‘This damn old bastard!’
Cursing inwardly, he stood.
Kiiieee!
The den filled with charging wolf ants.
“Raaargh!”
Zeon bellowed, unleashing Sand Missiles.
No people in the ant den.
Just wolf ants, a human-shaped monster, and a madman spraying skills without restraint.