Great Wave (7)
‘What the hell? That explosion?’
Wayne’s eyes widened twofold as his Odd Eye flashed brightly.
The queen ant’s egg-laying underbelly had been gouged out by 1.5 meters! The area where its armor-like exoskeleton and flesh had been torn away spanned a full 3 meters. Looking closer, the blast had radiated out from the depth where Hermes’ spear blade had embedded itself.
“Whoa!”
Boom!
Hermes twisted its body sideways to dodge. One wrong move, and the monster’s foreleg would have punched right through its torso.
The strike had landed a solid hit on the queen ant, but given its massive size, it wasn’t fatal.
‘Still, I nailed the weak spot perfectly!’
There was no way a spear made from A-rank monster byproducts would pierce deeply into an S-rank monster. But the queen’s egg-laying underbelly was weaker than the rest of its body. This was intel he’d gotten from the princess ant.
That’s why the queen instinctively kept princess ants out of its range—and why the princesses knew on instinct that targeting that spot gave them even a slim chance of victory.
Without this info, Wayne wouldn’t have even considered taking on the queen ant.
Vmmm!
The queen swung its scythe-like foreleg, and Hermes leaped backward to evade. But another foreleg followed right after.
‘Gotta block this one...!’
Clang!Screeech!
He blocked with the spear shaft, but the 7-meter Gigant was shoved back a good distance. As the spear and Gigant’s arm shuddered, Wayne’s own arm shook, numbness crawling up to his grip and wrist.
‘Damn sync!’
He cursed it, but that very synchronization was why he dodged harder and blocked more fiercely.
As Wayne gritted his teeth and swallowed the pain—
[Watch out!]
Pew! Thunk!
An arrow from Artemis slammed into one of its antennae.
“Kreeeeaaahhh!”
The queen ant shrieked in agony, yanking back its legs to shield its head. Thanks to that, Hermes gained some breathing room as it retreated.
One antenna dangled half-severed, tilted sideways and useless. With only one left, it raised a leg to protect the remaining one.
Lose that too, and it couldn’t command its ant legions anymore—effectively crippling it as if it had lost a leg.
‘Found the right targets, but the damage is weaker than I thought...’
If it had been Predator, that thrust would’ve pierced 2 meters deep into the queen’s belly. But without Hermes’ speed, he couldn’t have dodged or closed in to begin with—so it wasn’t worth considering.
If he could just keep hammering that lower belly and rip it open, killing the queen seemed feasible.
‘Was that explosion a fluke?’
Wayne had accelerated his white Odd inside its body, but time ran short, letting other Odds mix in by mistake. Yet when the electric strike hit, it triggered an explosion that amplified the damage.
No other living thing had multiple types of Odd in its body like Wayne, so Odd fusion exploding like that was uncharted territory. The fact that Odds could even mix opened up all sorts of experiments.
‘Gotta test it once more!’
If it wasn’t luck but the Odd mix causing it, then stabbing deep and detonating like before might take the queen down easily. The catch: he only had white Odd left for two more shots.
[Sabina! Arrows holding up?]
[Yes! Three quivers left.]
Sabina replied while firing nonstop. Artemis had two quivers strapped to one leg—plenty of ammo to spare.
[Then shake up its vision a bit.]
[On it!]
Sabina was thrilled just to be helping Wayne. Feeling recognized, she unleashed her remaining Odd freely, arrows flying at the queen’s compound eyes and remaining antenna.
Shwick! Shweee!Ting!
Dead on the compound eye, but it didn’t penetrate. Still, it made the queen flinch and raise a leg.
Plenty of opening for Wayne.
He charged again, spear raised at the belly.
“Kreeeek!”
The queen bellowed, swinging a foreleg at Hermes.
Slash!
Sawtooth leg cleaved the air. Hermes dove forward to dodge, then surged ahead. Target: the wounded belly he’d already struck.
Odd acceleration complete.
“Hya! Die!”
Stab!
Spear tip sank into the belly—but not deep.
Time to release the accelerated Odd.
‘...?’
Shrieeeek! Thud!
A sharp whoosh—its central leg speared the ground and lunged at Hermes.
“Shit!”
Wayne dropped the spear and threw himself aside.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
“Ngh!”
Accelerated Odd burst out—not from the tip, but along the shaft in a chain of small explosions. Precious Odd wasted.
The queen now propped itself on three legs, one foreleg checking Artemis’ arrows, two pressuring Wayne—yet it refused to abandon its egg-laying stance, keeping the rest planted.
Thud! Thud-thud!
As legs stabbed repeatedly, Hermes rolled across the floor to evade.
Shing!
Wayne ejected blades from Hermes’ forearms and parried the stabbing legs.
Clang! Burst!
“Arghhh!”
Wayne screamed. A blade snapped, and a claw-like talon pierced his shoulder, shearing off an entire arm.
If he hadn’t twisted Hermes at the exact moment the shoulder was breached, the cockpit would’ve been hit.
The queen’s legs were pure exoskeleton—its toughest parts. No blocking head-on.
[Wayne!]
Sabina rushed over.
[I’m fine. Keep the pressure on.]
[Got it!]
Sabina bit her lip and fired from her spot. Wayne charged the belly once more.
‘One shot left!’
Fail this, and he’d abandon the queen and retreat. She was damaged, one antenna gone—no perfect legion control anymore. Wait for reinforcements from the capital or grand territories.
But then her byproducts and Odd might not be his. Or if imperial forces claimed the subjugation, no chance to kill her at all.
Seize the moment now.
“Kreeeah!”
Wham!
He barely dodged a foreleg swipe. Wayne poured white Odd into the embedded spear upfront, accelerating more inside himself.
‘Just a bit more!’
Spear shaft mere meters away. But a mid-leg struck from behind at Hermes’ back.
Grab and detonate, and that leg skewers him.
Shweeeek!
Wayne ducked. The leg, missing its mark, smacked the spear’s butt end instead.
Thwack! Squish!
“Kreeeek!”
Spear drove deeper. Hermes reached up with one hand.
“It’s over!”
Crackle-zap! BOOM!
“KREEEEEEAH!”
The queen wailed in torment.
Splatters!
Flesh erupted, heavy innards spilling out.
Wayne pulled back in shock. The first hit had already cracked the exoskeleton; this one hit far harder.
‘Done!’
No time to retrieve the spear—he retreated. Guts poured, tiny eggs spilling too.
Victory from knowing the weak spot. Plus the Odd explosion luck.
‘Huh?’
Rumble-rumble!Groooan!
The ground shook. The queen’s buried legs surged upward.
Eggs spilling and bursting, she went berserk.
[Sabina, get back!]
Wayne turned and ran.
[Gasp! How’s it alive with its belly blown?!]
[Won’t last long.]
Ants don’t die instantly even if bisected. But with belly pierced and organs out, no breathing—death soon.
Last-ditch rampage.
“KREEEEEEAH!”
Thud-thud-thud!
Innards spilling, she lurched at Hermes.
Wayne deliberately split from Sabina, dashing opposite. The queen’s spot was a depression; this vast cavern had pillars everywhere. He ducked behind one.
BOOM! Crash!
Berserk queen smashed pillars wildly.
‘Damn it! Die clean if you’re gonna die...!’
Couldn’t stray far—needed to absorb Odd at death.
Five minutes of frenzy, then slowing.
Thud! KRABOOM!
Queen toppled forward. Wayne approached cautiously. Still alive.
Then her consciousness transmitted.
"I am the great queen Bellokina!"
"Yet I fall to a human!"
"You attacked humans! So just die quietly!"
"We had no choice. They were strong, we were weak."
"To beat them, we needed more legions."
"What’re you talking about? ‘They’ who?"
"Ahh... my children..."
The queen recalled her eggs one last time, then consciousness faded.
Wayne didn’t understand a word. No matter—he’d get memories with the Odd.
Her final breath escaped, Odd flooding out.
Wayne dashed over, placing Hermes’ hands on her head. He breathed Karian’s second-stage breathing technique, accelerating Odd intake.
Odd flooding everywhere poured through Hermes’ hands into him. Queen’s memories surged in.
‘Insane! This many S-rank monsters?’
The queen ant had no rivals in the eastern Great Forest—not because she was strongest, but her army was.
But invading other S-rank territories brought crisis: massive deathworms ruling underground, flame-winged king, beast king, swamp king, giant carnivorous plant monsters—diverse foes.
They didn’t need vast domains like her ant legions. But she needed more land to feed and grow hers.
Overlaps led to brutal wars. Even her mighty horde crumbled under multi-S-rank assaults.
Flame-winged king’s fire was worst matchup, devastating ants.
Queen retreated east into the Great Forest. Problem: scant prey there.
One solution: humans!
East beyond forest teemed with them—easier prey than S-ranks. Expand to human lands until ten million ants, then conquer whole forest.
‘Tsk. I get it, but... humans are off-limits.’
Sharing memories and instincts, he understood. Expansion was instinct—more eggs, bigger legion. Not world domination, just spreading ants. Couldn’t stop.
‘This Odd volume is nuts.’
Three minutes in, her body still overflowed.
‘Oh ho! Odd does this too?’
Wayne’s face lit up. Base yellow Odd like princess ant’s, but queen-level unique abilities.
Whether he could use them? Unknown.
‘Saturation point...’
Body overflowed, saturated. First time with such pure, massive Odd. Muscles cramped.
More might break him. Regretfully, release the rest.
Wayne tried pulling hands away.
‘What? Won’t come off?’
Heart sank. Hands magnetized to her head.
Body frozen too.
Dread hit.
[S-Stop!]
Too much Odd intake collided internally, overloading.
Agony followed.
[Argggghhhh!]
Wayne’s screams echoed through the cavern for over ten minutes.
[Wayne! I’ll help!]
Thud-thud-thud!
Sabina’s Artemis rushed, grabbing Hermes’ waist to pry it off.
[Kreeeeaaahhh!]
Sabina screamed too.
And—
“Kekeke-kekeke!”
Eleven, rushing blindly to his master’s cries, touched Hermes’ leg and wailed.
Screams filled the cavern nonstop.
Then orcs searching for Wayne entered.
“Kuok? Wayne in danger!”
“Orcs! Save human!”
“Kuoook!”
Bardetu and 300 fearless orc warriors charged to pry the Gigant loose.
“Kweeeek!”
“Krrglglgl!”
Orc screams joined the chorus.