Chapter 13

"Ugh!"

Zeon let out a groan.

A deep wound had opened on his arm. He had been bitten by the wolf ant's pincer-like jaws.

He had yanked his arm away in a hurry, but not before suffering a serious injury.

If his body hadn't been strengthened by eating the gallbladder and flesh of the Sand Angler, his entire arm would have been torn off.

The wound was so deep that bone was visible.

He needed to act fast.

If he wasted any more time like this, he could be left with a permanent disability. But there was no time to calmly treat his injury.

Clack! Clack!

Dodging the snapping jaws of the wolf ants, Zeon unleashed Sand Blaster.

Boom! Boom!

The wolf ants' heads exploded.

Sand Blaster was powerful, and the wolf ants were no match for it.

The problem was their numbers.

No matter how many he killed, there was no end.

Even when their numbers thinned, more would crawl out from somewhere and fill the gaps.

The sheer swarm of the Great Horn Hyenas had been impressive, but it was nothing compared to the wolf ants.

The wolf ants attacked Zeon tirelessly.

Even evading them with Sand Walk had its limits.

Zeon was already surrounded.

At this rate, he would inevitably become their prey.

He quickly checked his mana.

There wasn't much left.

If his mana ran out, he wouldn't even have a chance to try anything.

This was his only opportunity.

'It has to be stronger than Sand Blaster. Faster too. And it has to consume less mana. A method like that… Think. Think!'

The key was imagination.

Even in this life-or-death situation, where there was no room to think calmly, he had to imagine—an evolved form of Sand Blaster.

At its core, Sand Blaster was a skill that fired sand at high pressure.

A technique that damaged enemies through the force of sand projection.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

'Do I really need to compress air?'

His ability was control over sand.

He didn't necessarily need air to propel it.

Among magic-type awakened skills, the most common was Magic Missile.

'What if I apply that?'

It seemed possible.

No—even if the chances were slim, he had to make it work.

His life depended on it.

Even a 1% chance was enough to try.

Zeon released all his remaining mana.

And he imagined.

He imagined compressing sand.

Swoooosh!

In an instant, the sand around him rose into the air and gathered into masses the size of an adult forearm.

Dozens of them formed.

Sand Missiles.

"Go!"

The moment Zeon gave the command, dozens of Sand Missiles shot toward the wolf ants.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Holes the size of forearms were blasted straight through the wolf ants' bodies.

Each Sand Missile killed three or four of them at once.

The wolf ants collapsed, spilling their bodily fluids.

Zeon scanned his surroundings with bloodshot eyes.

Not a single wolf ant remained standing.

They had all been wiped out by the Sand Missiles.

"Ha… ha!"

Zeon let out a hollow laugh as he dropped to his knees.

Having exhausted all his mana, an overwhelming fatigue crashed over him.

He had done everything he could.

Now, he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.

At that moment—

Ssssss…

He heard the sound of sand shifting.

As Zeon lifted his head and looked forward, despair filled his eyes.

"Fuck!"

A wolf ant was emerging from beneath the sand.

But it was three to four times larger than the others.

Its chitinous shell glowed faintly with a reddish hue, making it look even more formidable.

The moment he saw it, he knew what it was.

"Th-the queen?"

Now that all her subordinates had been killed, the queen had finally appeared.

More wolf ants emerged around her.

Soldier wolf ants.

They were twice the size of normal ones, and their biting force was several times stronger. Once caught, there was no escape.

One queen wolf ant, accompanied by twenty soldier wolf ants.

Compared to the number Zeon had already killed, it was a small group—but their danger was several times greater.

Guarded by the soldier ants, the queen approached Zeon.

The rage burning in the queen's inorganic eyes was conveyed directly to him.

Her anger must have been immense for her to break her taboo and come this far.

The queen wolf ant was only C-rank, but because she commanded countless wolf ants, her threat level was equivalent to B-rank or higher.

Kiiiee!

The queen let out a shriek. At once, the soldier wolf ants advanced toward Zeon.

Even as they closed in, Deioden never showed himself.

'That damn old bastard.'

Then it happened.

Crunch!

One of the soldier ants bit into Zeon's waist.

A horrifying pain surged through him, and his entire body stiffened like stone.

Yet his mind remained clear.

The queen ant burrowed into the sand.

The soldier ants followed.

The one biting Zeon dug into the sand last.

'Ugh!'

The crushing pressure of the sand pressing in from all sides twisted Zeon's face in agony.

He didn't know how far they had burrowed underground.

Suddenly, the pressure vanished, and a massive cavern appeared.

He had been brought into the ants' nest.

The walls of the nest were made of sand, yet they didn't collapse because the wolf ants had hardened them with their saliva.

The nest was more complex than a maze.

Even a human with an excellent sense of direction would inevitably get lost inside an ant nest.

The queen wolf ant and the soldier wolf ants dragged Zeon to the deepest part of the nest.

A place filled with countless larvae and eggs.

It was the queen wolf ant's breeding chamber.

Bones of devoured magical beasts were scattered across the chamber.

Kakakak!

Standing at the center of the breeding chamber, the queen wolf ant emitted a grotesque sound. At once, wolf ant larvae emerged from all over the walls.

They were much smaller than normal wolf ants, and their shells were translucent.

More than a hundred larvae filled the walls and floor as they approached.

The soldier wolf ant that had been holding Zeon opened its jaws.

Thud!

Zeon fell helplessly to the ground.

Paralytic venom had spread through his body, leaving him unable to move even a finger.

The larvae waved their antennae wildly as they looked at Zeon lying there weakly. It was as if they were celebrating a delicious feast.

Crunch! Crunch!

The larvae lifted his robe and sank their teeth into his body.

Zeon couldn't even scream—his eyes only widened.

The realization that he was being devoured alive instantly threw his mind into panic.

'Aaaagh!'

Zeon screamed silently.

At that moment, the insignia on his wrist began to shine.

A deep orange light spread across the second line.

It was proof that he had advanced to E-rank.

Faced with death, his latent potential had exploded without him even realizing it.

As he reached E-rank, all status effects were removed.

The paralysis vanished, and his mana was fully restored.

In that instant, Zeon shouted—

"Diiieee!"

With his cry, Sand Missiles filled the ant nest.

Kiiiee!

The queen wolf ant let out what sounded like a scream, but Zeon paid it no mind and fired.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The Sand Missiles shattered the larvae.

Like fragile snacks, the larvae burst and tore apart.

Seeing this, the soldier wolf ants rushed in.

"Raaagh!"

Zeon fired Sand Missiles at them as well.

The soldier wolf ants struck by the missiles were killed.

The difference between F-rank and E-rank was immense.

With just one rank advancement, the power of Sand Missiles had increased exponentially.

The soldier ants' legs snapped, their heads burst—they were completely incapacitated.

Now, the only one left in the breeding chamber was the queen wolf ant.

Zeon launched Sand Missiles at her too.

Bang! Bang!

But his attacks had no effect.

The queen's shell was on a completely different level from the soldier ants. Her titanium-like exoskeleton was strong enough to nullify even aura-infused attacks.

She also possessed a force field, rendering Zeon's attacks completely useless.

Kreeee!

Enraged by the deaths of her larvae and soldiers, the queen emitted a high-frequency shriek.

The sound bounced off the walls and amplified.

"Argh!"

Zeon cried out and collapsed.

Blood flowed from his ears.

His eardrums had ruptured, and his brain felt shaken.

As befitting a boss-type creature, the queen wolf ant had a skill.

Her attack used high-frequency waves.

Zeon glared at her with bloodshot eyes.

The approaching queen appeared doubled—two, three overlapping images.

The queen waved her antennae wildly, as if boasting of her victory.

'Yeah… you win. Damn it!'

With great effort, Zeon raised his middle finger.

The queen drove her jaws down toward him.

Zeon stared wide-eyed, waiting for death.

Then—

Slice!

A sudden gust swept through the nest, and the queen wolf ant's head flew into the air.

Her body remained standing, while only the head was severed and airborne—it looked unreal.

Zeon was drenched in the fluid spraying from her body.

Then, a familiar voice rang out.

"Get a grip, you idiot! How long are you going to sit there like a fool?"

The owner of the voice was none other than Deioden.

He had severed the queen's head and saved Zeon.

Looking at the corpses of the larvae and soldier ants, Deioden spoke.

"Well, you're not completely useless after all."

Zeon had proven his worth with his own strength.

Though he had appeared powerless before the queen, any awakened individual would have been the same.

The queen wolf ant was a high-grade magical beast—one that even higher-ranked awakened would struggle to handle.

What mattered was that Zeon never gave up until the end—and that he ultimately achieved advancement.

A person's true nature is revealed in moments of crisis.

Some give up at the slightest hardship, while others struggle desperately to overcome it.

Zeon was the latter.

He deserved to live.

At that moment—

Kiiiee!

The cries of wolf ants echoed through the nest.

They had sensed the queen's death and were swarming in.

"Heh heh!"

Deioden let out his signature rough laugh.

His eyes gleamed red with madness.

"Get up. How long are you going to sit there? Your enemies aren't gone yet. Planning to just sit there and die?"

"Ugh!"

"Get up. Even if you die, die fighting."

"Damn it!"

Zeon gritted his teeth.

Even if he were to die, he didn't want to be seen as pathetic by Deioden any longer.

'You damned old bastard!'

Cursing Deioden in his mind, Zeon forced himself to stand.

Kiiiee!

Wolf ants flooded the nest, charging toward him.

"Raaaagh!"

Zeon screamed and unleashed Sand Missiles.

There were no humans in the ant nest.

Only wolf ants, a monster in human form, and a madman who had lost his reason and was unleashing his skills without restraint.