Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Queen Wasp
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-Thud! Thud! Thud!
To enter their nest, I hammered the floor.
'Damn! Why is it so damn tough...'
There was a limit to hardness.
This went beyond it.
It even felt like striking a powerful monster.
The nest walls themselves seemed protected by mana to some degree.
'The queen's power?'
Otherwise, the toughness made no sense.
The ones climbing upward began swarming toward me like mad.
As I relentlessly hammered the nest wall, the monster giant hornets seemed to sense something amiss.
'The queen might be issuing orders...'
Even without spotting me, they crammed toward the spot where I'd entered.
-Puk! Puk! Crunch!
The heads of the incoming ones crumbled under my giant hammer, their bellies bursting open.
In the end, I spent more time killing monster giant hornets than exerting force to smash the wall.
The ones about to head out to fight the wild boars were all descending this way instead.
There was no end to them.
'This'll drive me insane.'
Now even the floor I'd been trying to break was invisible under their corpses.
Enormous giant hornet carcasses piled up around me, suffocatingly thick.
I could see why the wild boars were in such a bind.
No matter how much you demolished the nest towers above, it would've been meaningless without clearing out what lay below.
The fact that even I struggled to break through...
...meant the wild boars couldn't smash the underground nest while fending off the hornet assaults either.
I dropped my invisibility.
My body was already splattered with the monster giant hornets' bodily fluids from their explosions—no point in staying transparent now.
Their savage fangs and venom attacks lunged at me from every direction.
Too many now; nowhere left to dodge.
They gnawed at my mana armor and jabbed their tail stingers.
-Clack! Clack! Clack!
-Sizzle~
The venom they spat was so potent that smoke rose from my mana armor.
But it still couldn't inflict serious damage on me.
I ignored the attacks and wildly swung my giant hammer, pulverizing them.
-Crunch! Puk! Splurch!
It was a slaughter.
But I couldn't just keep farming these endlessly.
This approach wasn't getting me anywhere.
If things stayed like this, I'd end up dragging it out and retreating half-assed.
'After all this hassle, just retreat?'
Of course not.
'First, pull out.'
Getting out wouldn't be hard.
I'd broken straight through the floor right after entering.
I crouched powerfully and sprang up.
-Thud!
My body rocketed upward.
I body-slammed through the giant hornet cluster sealing the entrance, turning them to mush, and burst onto the surface in an instant.
'These filthy bugs...'
-Bzzz! Bzzz!
Whether sensing a threat from my hammering of the nest walls, a black swarm of monster giant hornets followed me surging to the surface.
'Suni.'
Explosive propulsion erupted from the halo.
-Boom!
The sudden pressure hit my body.
I shook off the ones hot on my tail and shot skyward at high speed.
At the endlessly rising altitude, the pursuing monster giant hornets grew fatigued, peeling off one by one.
At some point, I realized they weren't chasing anymore and halted my ascent.
I looked below.
Saw them returning to the nest.
"Phew..."
I took a light deep breath.
After that godforsaken place, gazing at the wide-open clear sky felt purifying to my eyes.
I wanted to head back like this, but...
Thinking of the kids, I couldn't bring myself to.
"This must be what it feels like to be head of the household..."
I muttered some pointless drivel to lighten my mood.
Did those survivors know... that I was striving this hard for humanity's survival?
I had every right to work them even harder.
My view flipped.
I began a slow descent.
Falling headfirst, I drew my greatsword and pointed its tip upward.
Black mana spread from the greatsword, enveloping my entire body, forming a sharp-tipped massive awl that solidified firmly.
-Kwang!
Boosted by thrust from the black halo, I plummeted rapidly.
The hornet-crawling ground rushed up in an instant.
A black meteor plunged vertically into the nest entrance.
The meteor crushed the clustered monster giant hornets at the surface entrance and bored straight in.
Then slammed into that sturdy nest wall.
-Kwaaaang!!
The tough nest wall shattered, unable to withstand the impact.
I plunged through the broken wall.
-Squelch!
The inner walls were surprisingly soft.
Seemed they'd gone all-in on defense for the outer encircling walls.
I smashed through inner walls while charging, then stopped after burrowing a fair distance and looked around.
Numerous hexagonal holes embedded in the walls brimmed with... cute? larvae.
Hatchery, apparently.
'Fuck... ugh! My eyes!'
I didn't want to linger here.
I rapidly extended my senses, searching for the monster giant hornet queen.
My perception expanded, flooding my mind with environmental details far sharper than eyesight.
As expected, deeper inside, the detection-jamming force had vanished.
That sturdy outer wall must've held some special power.
'Found it!'
A bit farther down in the nest's lower section, I sensed an individual three or four times larger than a normal monster giant hornet.
The one that'd plunged me into this hell was time to pay up.
I relentlessly smashed obstructing walls, charging toward the presumed queen.
-Bzzz.
Whether sensing the queen's peril, the surroundings grew intensely noisy.
Breaking walls en route, a massive cavern appeared.
There sat one bigger than any monster giant hornet I'd seen.
Alone.
《Save me.》
The monster giant hornet queen, spotting me, abruptly begged for her life.
She seemed to grasp her own crisis.
Her voice was annoyingly pretty, though.
'Jeez... one after another...'
Monsters transmitting thoughts like this was still hard to get used to.
But a pretty voice wouldn't soften me up enough to spare a bug.
"Die, you she-devil."
I had no desire for further talk.
My greatsword instantly severed the monster giant hornet queen's neck.
Her repulsive appearance was crime enough.
《Kieeeeeek!!!》
A death wail that prodded the mind echoed out.
Scream? Felt more like a psychic attack.
'Last-ditch struggle?'
Sorry, but it had zero effect on me.
The queen herself was weak in combat.
By my standards, anyway—even a legendary wouldn't drop this easily.
Two level-ups brought me to level 11.
"Phew..."
I felt the ordeal was worth it.
Would've shed tears if it were truly unpaid labor.
Fatigue eased up a bit.
Bigger haul than expected.
Figured it was tough for a reason—highest-grade Corrupted Being.
Guessed as much from the telepathy... yeah, made sense how mana-stone-less giant hornets had those abilities.
Seemed specialized in that direction.
"Mana stone?"
[It's in the abdomen.]
"Fuck..."
This moment, I missed the disposable convict hunting squad.
'Sigh... no helping it now...'
I squeezed my eyes shut and sliced open the queen wasp's belly.
The gut split, spewing the filthy insect fluids characteristic of bugs.
I fished out the incongruously radiant mana stone from the grimy innards and stowed it in my inventory.
The wild boars said one queen was enough, but.
Since I'd come this far, I decided to farm massive points.
Time to show these bugs how terrifying a human defiled by their filth could be.
'You touched the nose hairs of a sleeping lion.'
...Though I poked first.
Either way, the psychological trauma they'd inflicted was huge.
My whole body was slathered in their fluids.
No more holding back.
Just the nest towers spotted at first: three.
Assuming one queen per tower, that's another 20 skill points.
Obviously, to dispatch them easily, reinforce skills first.
Level-ups and highest-grade Corrupted Being netted 22 skill points.
Plenty.
Body Strengthening Lv. 5 → Lv. 6
Using 16 Skill Points
-Dong!
The instant the skill leveled up, my mana swelled.
I bound it tightly to prevent size increase like before, channeling all into pure body strengthening.
Unable to expand further, the mana lost direction, gradually coalescing in my heart to form a core.
As always, the Body Strengthening skill's level-up brought power incomparable to before.
'This... like a martial arts dantian...'
Only difference: located in the heart, not lower abdomen.
I'd learn its purpose soon enough.
Now was the time to mete out heavenly punishment to the queen wasps who'd forced me to slaughter countless bugs I loathed.