Solo Leveling Novel Chapter 63

“Ah…. S-someone, s-save me…”

Eun Ji-Min somehow managed to squeeze out her dried-up voice and took a couple of steps back.

No, that’s what she tried to.

However, her feet didn’t want to move. It was as if heavy iron ingots were attached to her ankles. She could only stand there frozen as her tears began streaming down her face.

Meanwhile, the man scanned his surroundings.

Since the girl didn’t look like she’d be able to move, he was thinking of offing her here, right now. How fortunate that there was nobody around. Also, there wouldn’t be a CCTV camera of the Big Brother installed in a secluded alleyway like this one, as well.

‘That’s why I love this neighbourhood, you know.’

The man formed an evil grin and thrust the knife at Eun Ji-Min’s midriff.

But then, a hand shot out from the darkness and grabbed the knife.

“Uh??”

The man raised his head, only to find a strange youth standing there. Because of his hood, only the punk’s chin was visible. But he possessed a pretty d*mn outstanding physique.

‘Is he… wearing a glove or something?’

Not a drop of blood dripped down from the hand grasping the blade.

“Who the hell are you?!”

The serial killer tried to yank the knife out several times, but after realising that it wouldn’t budge an inch, he quickly let go of the knife’s grip and turned around. He rapidly escaped from the spot.

“What a strange son of a b*tch….”

The serial killer took a look behind several times and found that strange youth was following along, constantly scanning the surroundings while he was at it.

‘What the hell is up with this b*stard…?’

The serial killer changed his direction and led the youth to a deserted vacant lot, the place he originally wanted to drag that woman to. If that punk was protecting his hand with something, then it’d be fine to attack him elsewhere.

When he arrived at the destination, the serial killer slowed down, and gradually shortened his distance to the strange punk that had been keeping pace with him until then. Once their gap closed to around a couple of feet or so….

“Hey punk, who the hell do you think you are?”

The serial killer spun around and stabbed the youth in the chest with an awl he’d been hiding under his jacket.

“Do I look like an easy mark to you?! Huh?”

Stab!

The hand pushing the awl into the youth’s chest shook, hard.

‘….What the hell could be this hard?!’

A stab-proof vest? Or something else underneath his shirt??

The serial killer quickly threw out a question.

“What the f*ck?! You wearing something under your clothes or something?”

If this guy was able to sense magical energy, then he wouldn’t have asked such a stupid question. Too bad, the serial killer somehow failed to think of the word ‘Hunter’ even though his opponent didn’t try to retaliate after that second sneak attack. Instead, a quiet voice leaked out from under the hood.

“I’m curious about something.”

The voice naturally belonged to Jin-Woo. He discarded the kitchen knife of the serial killer to the ground.

“Why are you doing this?”

“What’s the matter? You wish to reform me or something?”

“Nope. Just curious if you have a reason or not. That’s all.”

The serial killer snorted derisively. He thought that, what with this punk jumping out of nowhere to save that woman, and following him all the way out here, he was looking at some weirdo masquerading as an ally of justice or something. But now…

‘This kid’s just a bloody idiot, isn’t he?’

Or maybe, this punk was the same type of madman as he was?

The serial killer thought that maybe he could get away from here unscathed if he used his gift of gab, so he readily humoured the youth.

“A reason, is it? Well, if I were to really think of one… because it’s fun?”

“Fun?”

“For some reason, whenever I see someone weaker than me, I just wanna torment that…..”

….Person.

The serial killer didn’t get to finish what he wanted to say. Instead….

“Uwaaaahk?! Uwahk!!”

Instead, he fell to the ground clutching his left ankle where his tendon had been sliced apart. When he raised his head, he realised that Jin-Woo was holding the kitchen knife even before he had the time to notice it.

‘But, didn’t he throw that away? Just when….?’

It was right then, Jin-Woo’s shape grew blurry again.

“Uwaaahk?!”

This time, it was his right ankle. The serial killer rolled around the ground in pain. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo leisurely rummaged through the serial killer’s pockets now that the murdering b*stard wasn’t going anywhere with his tendons cut in half. He soon found the killer’s mobile phone and the wallet.

“You, you!! Who the hell are you, you son of a b*tch?!”

Jin-Woo ignored the venom-spewing serial killer and calmly dialled 119 to call for an ambulance. He then pulled out the ID card from the wallet to take a look.

Next, he placed the phone and the wallet back in the hands of the shivering serial killer and murmured quietly.

“Hand yourself over to the police before midnight tomorrow.”

“What?!”

“….If you wish to keep breathing, that is.”

He said all he wanted to say.

Jin-Woo got up from the spot and inserted one of his Shadow Soldiers inside the serial killer’s shadow, before leaving a similar sounding order to that soldier.

‘Although, I don’t know how patient a High Orc’s shadow can be, but….’

That soldier might not be good with patiently waiting around until the designated time, but well, carrying out the next part of the order should be the speciality of High Orcs.

“I’d prefer it if you keep living on.”

The killer had to be alive if he were to repent for his sins for the rest of his life.

“J-just… what the hell are you?”

Jin-Woo left the serial killer shivering from pain and fear behind in the vacant lot. He could hear the sirens of an ambulance coming from afar.

He walked to a far enough location, and after confirming that there was no one nearby, he pulled his hood back.

“….Whew.”

Thanks to the signal sent by the Shadow Soldier after discovering the serial killer, Jin-Woo was able to arrive just in time.

The ‘Shadow Exchange’.

This skill was proving to be exceptionally convenient the more he used it.

‘It’s not the highest-ranked Rune Stone for nothing, is it?’

Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile now that he got to experience the greatness of the Shadow Exchange once more in the last couple of days. He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how much more useful this skill would get, once the skill level rose up high enough to sufficiently decrease the cooldown time.

And so, as he continued to walk back home…

‘Mm?’

He abruptly raised his head to see that the moon was now in the middle of the night sky.

‘Now that I think about it… it’s already tomorrow.’

The Korea-Japan united assault team’s raid. It was already here.

He wasn’t even on the team, yet his heart was pounding this much in anticipation. So, what would the participating members be feeling right now?

Jin-Woo recalled the faces of the raid members he was acquainted with, and prayed for their safety as well as their success in the mission.

***

Late at night.

Goto Ryuji was still in the dojo inside the Japanese Hunter’s Association.

In front of him, two men, and at his back, one other. He was surrounded by rank S Hunters, ostensibly the same rank as he was. Goto Ryuji took a deep breath, and just as his eyes flew open….

“Ta-ha-aht!!”

The Hunters biding their time powerfully pounced on him all at the same time. However….

Slam!

The ones to fall down were the three attacking Hunters.

“That was great!”

“As expected of Goto-san!”

“No one can measure up to your skills, sir.”

The three Hunters lying on the wooden floor of the dojo dusted themselves off and stood back up. This was only possible because Goto Ryuji had held back his power. Without saying anything, he lowered his head slightly to imply that they all did a good job.

‘As expected, there’s no problem with my physical condition.’

No, if he were to frankly assess himself, then he was at peak condition right now. Just from imagining how he’d swallow up South Korea, it felt like his condition was getting better and better all by itself.

So, how come….?

Goto Ryuji continued to stare at the dojo, now empty that the three Hunters had left, as the memories of that day still lingered on in his mind.

Seong Jin-Woo.

Just what was he?

‘……’

The more he thought back to that day, the more bitter he felt. Soon, though, Goto Ryuji shook his head.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter now.’

Regardless of all else, that man Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t taking part in this raid. And the Association President’s plan would unfold without any mishaps.

Once South Korea loses almost all of her rank S Hunters, its leadership would naturally fall into Japanese hands. By then, the complaints of the Japanese citizens demanding for the appropriate reparations from the Koreans would have been transformed into rousing cheers of fanfare, instead.

When that happened….

‘What can Seong Jin-Woo do all by himself?’

Didn’t matter whether Seong Jin-Woo was a genuinely powerful Hunter or he simply came across that way through Goto Ryuji’s momentary delusion, the fact remained that, him not participating in tomorrow’s raid was for the greater benefit of Japan.

There was nothing to bother him now. The decisive moment would come tomorrow.

Inside this still dojo bathed in the cold moonlight, Goto Ryuji formed a quiet smile to himself.

***

“We’ll be in your care!”

The managing director of a certain TV station deeply bowed his head to the lone cameraman. Such a thing was completely unheard of. However, the cameraman standing in front of the director was no ordinary man; he was an active Hunter and a proud holder of a rank A licence.

“The future of my station depends on this raid.”

In order to win the exclusive broadcasting rights, the director had to spend over half of the station’s total annual budget. There had been simply too many competing bids, and that’s why he had to go all in.

But, then again, there was a compelling reason why he simply had to make such a brave business decision.

Not many rank S Gates opened up around the world. Even when one did open, it was still impossible to take the recording equipment inside to capture the footage of what happened in there.

In other words, this would be the one and only opportunity for regular citizens to witness an actual rank S raid in progress. As long as there wasn’t another unfortunate event of a rank S Gate opening up somewhere else, that was.

On top of this, this broadcast wouldn’t be a recording, but shown live. Sure, there would be a ten-minute delay to the live feed, but still.

Just how high would the audience rating reach?

70 percent? 80?

When the managing director thought back to all the potential profit margin to be had from selling the footage to the TV networks in other countries, he no longer felt regret in investing half of the station’s budget in this venture.

‘….As long as the raid doesn’t end in failure!’

Indeed, no sane-minded viewer out there would ever want to watch the top-ranked Hunters get devoured by the monsters during the raid. No, even if there were, he couldn’t let such footage be broadcast to the public, to begin with.

So, the director had staked everything he had on the success of the fourth subjugation operation.

Considering that, bowing his head several times to the cameraman tasked with capturing the all-too-important footage was indeed, nothing.

Heck, if the cameraman wished for it, the director was prepared to prostrate on the floor, even.

“Please don’t worry too much, director.”

The cameraman did his best to calm the shivering managing director down from his high anxiety level.

Even before he became a Hunter, he made his living as a cameraman. And after agreeing to take on this job, he made sure to study and polish his skills of wielding the camera even further.

Obviously, he didn’t want to spoil the broadcast that the entire nation would be watching through some stupid mistake on his part. Of course, he’d get paid quite a big reward in return, too.

‘He’s going to give me a portion of the profit earned from the broadcast, after all.’

The cameraman had already earned plenty from being a rank A Hunter, but the offered amount was so high that it really excited him to no end.

If the operation ends in success, then he’d be able to earn an enormous amount of money and fame, perhaps as much as the rank S Hunters actually participating in the raid.

Wouldn’t he become quite possibly the most famous rank A Hunter in South Korea?

A smile formed on the cameraman’s face as all sorts of wonderful thoughts of the future bloomed in his head.

“By the way, I’m surprised that the Association President Goh Gun-Hui actually gave his permission to film this raid. I mean, that hard-headed man wouldn’t have allowed it simply for the sake of money, so….”

The station’s director nodded his head at the cameraman’s puzzled question.

“He said that the fee we paid will be split equally among all the Hunters participating today, actually.”

“Oh? In that case, why….?”

Why did he permit the filming of the raid?

The director cautiously voiced his educated guess.

“I think….. I think, perhaps he wishes to console the hearts of the citizens.”

The Korean Hunter’s Association had to swallow the bitter pill of defeat three times at the hands of the ant monsters. Because of the continuous failure, the Association had to suffer great losses, which in turn also led to the loss of the public’s trust. Meanwhile, the citizens felt increasingly powerless as the thought of these ant monsters being invincible took root in their hearts.

As the atmosphere of the nation festered like that, a chance to reverse this whole thing had suddenly landed on their laps.

‘You can tell how the public is responding by taking a quick look at the internet forums.’

The Association President wanted to take a step further than that. He wanted to capture the moment of victory and broadcast it live to the citizens.

His grim and perhaps desperate resolution to not fail could be gleamed from this decision.

The cameraman nodded his head after hearing the managing director’s explanation. He took a look at his wristwatch before standing up with a determined expression on his face.

“It’s time already. I’ll be on my way now, sir.”

The managing director once more bowed deeply to the cameraman.

“We leave everything to you, Hunter-nim!!”

***

Hunters began boarding the helicopter, as the spinning rotors issued deafening noises above their heads.

“…”

“…”

The constantly-smiling Mah Dong-Wook, the always-confident Choi Jong-In, and even Baek Yun-Ho famed for his positive personality, were all wearing sombre expressions.

The cameraman checked his recording equipment for the last time. The camera itself was designed to be fitted around the head so it should not impinge on his movement by much.

‘I wouldn’t have agreed to come if the camera was bulky and made it impossible to move.’

The place their helicopter was heading off to was perhaps the most dangerous place in the whole of South Korea – no, maybe, even the world. Thinking about their destination, the cameraman could only swallow his saliva down in nervousness.

No matter how hard he tried to stay calm, there was nothing he could do about the nervous tension slowly mushrooming in his heart. It was the same story for the rank S Hunters, as well.

In order to dispel the tension in the air, Baek Yun-Ho started talking to his ‘dongsaeng’, the one he was closest to.

“Hey, Byung-Gu. I really didn’t expect you to show up here today.”

Min Byung-Gu grinned in response.

“I thought that, without me healing you, hyung would be the first one to get killed today. I mean, you always jump on a monster whenever you see one, you know.”

“What the hell. Why do you have talk like that? Since when did I ever ‘jump’ on monsters??”

Other Hunters began giggling after hearing the two men chat.

Min Byung-Gu was the sole rank S Healer in South Korea. All members of the raid team were greatly relieved and happy to hear that he was coming out of retirement especially to participate in this operation.

There was a big difference in whether there was a Healer or not in a raid. After all, one would be able to fight harder without worrying about getting hurt when there was one.

As the tense atmosphere frozen stiff in nervousness gradually relaxed through Baek Yun-Ho and Min Byung-Gu’s conversation, Cha Hae-In sitting next to the former quietly asked a question.

“Chairman Baek. By any chance, have you spoken to Mister Seong Jin-Woo before coming here today?”

“Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”

“Yes.”

Baek Yun-Ho shook his head.

“No, I haven’t. But, why do you ask?”

“Ah…. It’s nothing important, actually. I guess I’ve made a mistake.”

It was then.

Mah Dong-Wook broke out in genial laughter.

“Huhuh. Looks like it’s finally starting.”

The gazes of the Hunters present followed the direction he was pointing at. Through the window of the helicopter, they could see the darkened island that had become the land of monsters.

---

The mutated ants discovered the helicopter’s presence in the air and began flying up one by one.

Vuuonng….

Vuuonnng…..

Maybe the number of specimens that could fly was low, because the Hunters could only see seven flying up to meet them.

“Let me take care of them.”

The sole Mage-type Hunter among the team, Choi Jong-In, stepped forward. His skill, ‘Flame Spear’, was called into action.

As soon as he was done casting his magic, seven bodies of floating flames drew long lines in the air to resemble burning spears and slammed accurately into the airborne ants.

Kwa-kwa-boom!!

It was difficult to kill a single ant monster with scattered firepower, but it was more than enough to burn away their wings.

Kiiieeehk-!!

Kyaahhk-!

With their wings burnt off, the ants fell freely back to the earth. Choi Jung-In tightly clenched his fist while witnessing the result of his hard work. However, now wasn’t the time to bask in the glow of his victory.

Choi Jong-In turned around and asked Mah Dong-Wook.

“What’s happening with the Japanese side?”

The ants had noticed their approach and began moving now. Meaning, there was no more time for them to take it easy.

Crackle-!

Mah Dong-Wook paid attention to the radio receiver stuck in his ear. As a Tanker, he was named as the leader of the Korean side of the raid team.

“They say they have landed on the island now….”

Ka-boom!!

Just as he was done speaking up, there was a loud explosion from afar.

Boom!!

Kaboom!!!

As if that was the signal, several more explosion began ringing up from all parts of the island as thick, choking smoke plumes rose up. The fourth subjugation operation was now officially underway.

The Master the Reapers Guild, Im Tae-Gyu, looked out of the helicopter’s window, and at the ground far below, a deep frown forming on his forehead.

Thousands of ants were pouring out of the ant tunnel, before splitting up into four smaller swarms to rush towards the four cardinal directions.

“That’s some creepy and disgusting thing to look at. Seriously, man.”

“Doesn’t it look like most of them have left the tunnel now?”

“….It does, doesn’t it?”

The once-lengthy lines of ants soon came to an end, leaving behind a massive gaping hole in the ground. That was the entrance to the ant tunnel.

The scale of the ant tunnel must’ve been rather incredible, because the entrance itself was as big as the mouth of a tunnel one would see commonly on the national highway.

And in the deepest past of the ant tunnel, the ant queen was waiting for their arrival.

This raid team only had one goal – to eliminate the ant queen.

“Everyone.”

Before they set off to invade the ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook gestured and gathered the raid team members around him. He even gestured towards the hesitant cameraman, too.

Everyone participating in this operation pressed their heads together.

“During hundreds of simulation runs, Japanese were only able to buy us one hour, tops. Which means, we need to kill the ant queen within that hour, no matter what.”

He didn’t bother to speak about the possibility of ‘if we fail’. Unlike the first three subjugation raids, there was no escape path this time around for them. They would be utterly cut off inside the ant tunnel.

Mah Dong-Wook studied the faces of each raid members, and they returned a nod, a look of grim determination clearly etched on each one.

‘These are the best individual team members imaginable.’

Unless there was another tragedy similar to Jeju Island happening in the future, one would never come across an opportunity to hunt together with members this capable ever again.

Mah Dong-Wook was deeply honoured to be the leader of this team.

They soon finished reconfirming their resolve, and then…

“Let’s go.”

From the helicopter, seven people, the six members of the raid team and the lone cameraman, jumped out.

***

“How long has it been since the Koreans went inside?”

Goto Ryuji threw out a question.

“Hold on.”

Now originally, it was Goto Ryuji’s job to communicate with the mission control centre. But, as he didn’t enjoy carrying around bothersome things, another Hunter was tasked with doing so. It was precisely this person that provided the answer.

“They say it has been less than 10 minutes.”

“Ten minutes, is it….”

Time to start the escape procedure, then.

Before they started withdrawing from Jeju Island, though, Goto Ryuji briefly scanned his vicinity. The corpses of the massacred ants were piled up on high.

The role of the Japanese in this raid, on the surface, of course, was to attract the attention of the ants. They didn’t even focus on killing the ants and concentrated on retreating in order to buy as much time as possible, yet they still managed to achieve such a feat.

‘The Koreans might find these ants as tough opponents, but they are nothing to us, the Japanese.’

The unbridled confidence caused the corner of Goto Ryuji’s lips to arc up. He kicked away an ant corpse hampering his steps to a far away distance and immediately issued the order to withdraw.

Finally, it was time for them to start moving towards the true goal of the Japanese team.

However….

“Excuse me, Goto-san.”

“Mm?”

The Hunter in charge of the communication formed a worried expression.

“I can’t get in touch with Team 3 from a while ago.”

‘Is it equipment malfunction…?’

The instances of equipment, that had gone through multiple meticulous checks, malfunctioning right before an important part of the mission, or during the important part itself, did happen occasionally.

The landing point of Team 3 was in the southern part of the island. Goto Ryuji’s Team 1 landed on the western part and they had been constantly moving south, so their distance shouldn’t be that great.

“What is the estimated distance between our current position and the last known position of Team 3 before the communication failure?”

“With our current speed, we should be able to get there within ten minutes.”

As expected, it wasn’t far. At this rate, Team 3 would never get to hear the order to withdraw and get left behind in the island, eventually meeting a very bad end for themselves.

‘……’

When he thought about the next subjugation operation that would take place involving only the Japanese personnel, he simply couldn’t afford to have five rank S Hunters as KIAs.

Also, because Team 3 was planned to be deployed on the southern part of the island, which was the closest to the ant tunnel, the whole team was made up of the best of the best among Japan’s elite.

Losing them here meant that Japan would greatly suffer as well.

‘Well, I’m sure nothing bad has happened over there….’

Indeed, it must’ve been a minor error. Nothing to worry about.

After a short deliberation, Goto Ryuji decided on the next course of action.

“We shall head over there and take a look.”

***

The moment Jin-Woo stopped his usual daily run, the familiar mechanical beep rang out in his ear.

Tti-ring.

[Total distance ran: 10 km.]

[You’ve completed Running, 10 km.]

Completely the opposite to when he started doing the Daily Quests, Jin-Woo wasn’t even out of breath. He had repeated these Daily Quests for so long, it simply felt like the part of his daily routine now.

Soon, along with the completion message, his rewards figuratively landed on his lap.

‘Stats.’

Out of the three Stat bonus points he gained as a reward, Jin-Woo spent two on his Agility, while the remaining point was spent on his Strength.

[Stats]

Strength: 219

Endurance: 200

Agility: 230

Intelligence: 250

Perception: 200

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in the physical damage: 46%

Seeing that almost all of his Stats were now ending with a ‘0’, a satisfied smile crept up on his face.

‘If only I had one more point….’

Although it was regretful, he couldn’t manufacture a point out of thin air, so there was no helping it. Still, looking at his Stat value that had risen up evenly like this, a smile automatically bloomed on his lips.

‘Nice.’

After he raised Intelligence Stat to 250, he began maintaining a balance of sorts and made sure that not one Stat was left behind.

‘All five Stats are indispensable to me.’

That was his final assessment after levelling up and raising his Stats for a long time. Regardless of which Stat it was, with their numerical values continuing to soar higher, he hadn’t been disappointed once so far by their usefulness.

‘That’s why….’

He was planning to continue with this Stat balancing act for the foreseeable future – as long as there weren’t any unexpected circumstances forcing him to change, of course.

Jin-Woo dismissed the Stat Window with a satisfied grin still etched on his face. He then took a look around him. His neighbourhood had always been on the quieter side, but today, he failed to spot a single soul so far. He could easily guess the reason why, though.

Jin-Woo pulled his phone out and confirmed the current time.

‘I knew it.’

The Korea-Japan united team’s raid would be in full swing by now. And pretty much every single citizen should be glued to their TV screens, too.

Jin-Woo turned around. His Daily Quest was already over, but the steps leading him back home were far more urgent than usual.

***

The operation was unfolding smoothly so far.

Just as the Japanese had predicted, Mah Dong-Wook’s team didn’t encounter any obstructions as they entered the deeper parts of the ant tunnel.

The inside of the tunnel resembled the cave-type dungeons in its layout. However, if there was one clear difference to note, then that would be the lack of illuminating stones. The Hunters had to provide light themselves to see where they were going.

‘……..’

Gulp.

The cameraman thought that he had plenty of experience exploring dungeons before, but today, he just had to nervously swallow his saliva.

His current position was right at the back of the group. The team maintained a formation of Choi Jong-In standing right at the front to light their way using magic, while the other Hunters were sticking very close to him.

The cameraman also had a flashlight attached to his headgear for the purpose of filming.

Unfortunately, this darkness was infused with a heavy amount of magical energy. The flashlight didn’t provide as much help as the magic from a rank S Mage, and it could just barely illuminate a bit of space in front of his eyes.

“It’s really quiet in here.”

Choi Jong-In voiced his opinion without giving it too much thought, and Mah Dong-Wook next to him nodded his head to express his agreement.

“Mm.”

As a leader and a Tanker, he was duty-bound to protect the Mage, Choi Jong-In, who should originally be stationed at the far back.

Was that the reason why? Mah Dong-Wook continued to glare at the surroundings with a pair of sharp, focused eyes. His usual, out-going demeanour was nowhere to be seen now.

It was the same story with Baek Yun-Ho, as well. He activated the ‘Eyes of the Beast’ even before entering the ant tunnel. He hadn’t spoken a single word and did his absolute hardest to latch on to any slight movement or deviation in the flow of the magic energy.

Both Min Byung-Gu and the cameraman also carried deeply tense expressions.

Only Cha Hae-In maintained that expressionless face of hers, silently walking forward while her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.

It was then.

“Look, over there….”

He must’ve found something in the distance, because Choi Jong-In raised his voice.

“…Huh.”

“Mm….”

The Hunters all gasped out in nasty shock.

Countless ant eggs were attached to the walls and the ceiling of this huge chamber with nary an empty space between them.

They could see dark-coloured larva wiggling inside the semi-transparent shell of each egg. There could only ever be one emotion they felt when facing this nursery area filled with gloomy, dreary atmosphere and a seriously terrible stench.

That would be ‘sheer disgust’.

“Don’t you think we should just burn all these away?”

Choi Jong-In spoke, his expression crumpling greatly.

For the first time since he entered this ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook formed a smile.

“I’d like nothing more than to do exactly that, but since we don’t have much time, let us not.”

Even if all of these creatures hatched, they would only live for no more than one year, at most. As long as they could kill the mother, they didn’t have to worry about these critters anymore.

“….Here they come.”

Baek Yun-Ho pointed towards the distant darkness and warned the rest of the team. Even before he made his warning, though, Cha Hae-In had unsheathed her sword already.

Mah Dong-Wook pulled the shield as large as his body right up to his chin and glared at his front.

Shashashasha….

A group of around ten ants appeared at the same time. As if they were born on Jeju Island and had gone through some sort of a mutation, all of them didn’t have eyes.

“Are they the queen’s guards?” Asked Mah Dong-Wook.

Choi Jong-In shook his head.

“No, they are not. Looks like they are here to guard the nursery area.”

“In that case, this shouldn’t be difficult.”

If they were regular monsters, not the guards of the boss creature, then there was just no way these critters could withstand the combined firepower of a raid team consisting entirely of rank S Hunters!

Knowing better than anyone else that there wasn’t a lot of time, Mah Dong-Wook jumped into the fray first.

“Let’s go!”

Hunters followed after him. Right behind them, flames flared out brightly from Choi Jong-In’s hands, and arrows fired by Im Tae-Gyu sliced up the air as they flew to their targets.

Just as Mah Dong-Woo predicted, the battle was concluded pretty quickly.

Kiiehhk!

The head of the last ant fell to the ground. Cha Hae-In wordlessly shook off the bodily fluids clinging onto her sword. Meanwhile, Mah Dong-Wook spoke up.

“Since the nursery area is right here, that means….”

Choi Jong-In provided the follow-up.

“….The queen’s lair is nearby.”

As the Hunters began checking their equipment before they rushed into the decisive showdown against the ant queen, the cameraman began looking here and there to capture more footage. But then, he gasped out in pure shock.

“Heok!!”

The gazes of the Hunters were immediately focused on him.

“I-I’m really sorry.”

Momentarily forgetting that the camera attached to his head was actually broadcasting to the rest of the nation, the cameraman hurriedly bowed towards the Hunters. Sensing something was afoot, Baek Yun-Ho approached the cameraman.

“Did you find something?”

“Ah, well, it’s just that…. Over there.”

The cameraman sheepishly smiled and pointed to the corner of the chamber.

“There’s a pile of empty eggshells over there, but like, one of them happens to be really, really big, you see.”

‘.…!!’

Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes grew larger.

It was as the cameraman said. Most of the eggs containing regular ants were only about the size of a bicycle wheel, yet the one pointed out was as big as a grown man….

‘No, wait.’

The lengthy and ovoid shape of the egg was large enough to say that a fully-grown ant specimen must’ve emerged from it.

‘That’s also an ant egg??’

“….Just what the hell came out of that egg?”

Min Byung-Gu had walked closer before anyone had noticed it; there was a look of huge shock on his face as well. Baek Yun-Ho’s expression was stiff for a brief moment, but he quickly changed it to a grin as he lightly slapped Min Byung-Gu’s back.

“We’re here to kill the queen. Let’s not worry about anything else.”

“…..Right.”

Min Myung-Gu carried an uneasy expression as he turned around to walk over to where the rest of the Hunters were. Before he joined the others, Baek Yun-Ho took one last look at that egg.

‘That’s just crazy….’

***

‘This is just crazy….’

Goto Ryuji had to doubt whether his own eyes were working properly or not.

“Heok!!”

“Mm…..!!”

Other Japanese Hunters either convulsed in shock or muttered lowly under their breaths.

Goto Ryuji frowned deeply as he scanned his surroundings. The Hunters of Team 3 were found in the exact location where their communication had been cut off. All five of them were here, but without their heads.

The sight of their headless colleagues lying on the ground as corpses left a shocking mental imprint on the other Hunters.

‘……’

Goto Ryuji wordlessly massaged his temples, before approaching the bodies to check out their wounds.

‘This wasn’t done by a blade.’

The necks of the dead Hunters were all roughly bitten off.

‘Just how much of a biting force was it for their necks to end up like this?’

While Goto Ryuji was stewing in his astonishment, one of his fellow Hunters walked in closer and angrily spat out.

“How dare these d*mn ants….!!”

Goto quickly shook his head.

“It’s not ‘ants’.”

“Pardon?”

“Whether this was the handiwork of an ant or not, there was only one enemy.”

“B-but, how can that be?!”

Goto Ryuji swallowed his saliva.

No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t see any hint of a battle taking place here. If ants pushed on with sheer numbers to annihilate Team 3, then he should’ve found corpses of dead ants or some other traces around this area. However, he couldn’t find anything.

Also, the wounds on the dead Hunters – judging from the location of the attack, it was more than likely that they were killed by a single assailant.

‘How could a team of the best Hunters from Japan fall to a single monster….?’

If his guess was correct, then only a rank S dungeon’s boss could do something like this.

Goto Ryuji quickly snatched the communication device from the Hunter next to him and spoke up.

“It’s Goto.”

– “Yes, please speak.”

“Where is the ant queen? Did it come out of the tunnel?”

– “Let me confirm.”

The magic energy detection camera mounted on the spy satellite. Only America, Japan and China possessed such technology in the entire world.

In reality, China had to hack the Americans to copy the camera system, so one could argue that only the USA and Japan truly possessed this technology.

The location of the ant queen, as monitored by the technology Japan so proudly boasted to the rest of the world, soon came out of the receiver.

– “No, Goto-san. The queen is still inside its chamber. Ah, the Korean Hunters are entering the queen’s chamber as we speak.”

“What was that?!”

Goto Ryuji stood right up.

He felt his heart nearly leap out of his mouth just then.

‘The queen didn’t do this?!’

His breathing quickened. He realised that something was going terribly wrong here. Goto Ryuji hurriedly issued a new order.

“Issue the withdrawal…. Tell every single Japanese Hunter to escape from this island immediately.”

– “Yes, sir. Understood.”

< Chapter 63 > Fin.

Let’s read Chapter 64