Inside the Ant Colony
The tunnels of the Ant Colony echoed with the sounds of battle.
Ma Dong-Wook raised his shield, blocking an incoming swarm of elite soldier ants, their razor-sharp claws scraping against his unmovable defense. Cha Hae-In moved like a specter beside him, her blade dancing through the air with swift precision, slicing through the ants as if they were nothing more than paper.
"Push forward!" Choi Jong-In commanded.
Flames erupted from his palms, incinerating a group of charging ants in a single, powerful blast.
Behind them, Byung-Gu lifted his staff, golden light radiating outward as buffs surged into his comrades.
"Don't slack off now!" he barked, pouring enhancement spells into each of them. Choi, Ma, Hae-In, Baek, and Lim Tae-Gyu all felt their muscles tighten, their bodies growing lighter, faster, stronger.
They advanced deeper.
Outside the Colony
Elsewhere, Japan's Team Delta stumbled upon a gruesome sight—the mangled, headless bodies of Team Charlie.
Kei, one of the hunters, stared at the horror before him, his stomach twisting into knots. The stench of death was unbearable—raw, putrid, suffocating.
He ripped off his breathing filter and vomited onto the dirt.
"Holy shit… what did this?" another hunter whispered, voice trembling.
A chill ran through the air. Kei's magic flared on instinct, his body reacting in desperation to whatever invisible threat was looming. He slammed his hands together, conjuring a massive ice wall in an effort to buy them time—
SCHLICK.
A single black blur darted through the shadows.
Before any of them could react, an Ant's claw sliced through Kei's ice wall as if it were nothing but glass.
Blood sprayed.
Team Delta was no more.
Inside the Colony
The Korean S-Rankers stood before their presumed final target—the Ant Queen.
A towering, grotesque monstrosity, the Queen loomed over them, her bloated body pulsating with eggs while massive soldier ants surrounded her, guarding her life with primal ferocity.
The battle was ferocious.
Choi's flames roared.
Baek, in his beast form, ripped through exoskeletons.
Dong-Wook held the line, absorbing deadly blows.
Lim Tae-Gyu fired precise arrows that struck weak points.
Byung-Gu's magic kept them all alive.
And at the center of it all was Cha Hae-In, her sword moving like lightning, carving through wave after wave of enemy reinforcements.
Finally, with a breathtaking display of speed and technique, she unleashed a devastating final strike—
A clean, powerful blow straight to the dome.
The Queen collapsed.
It was over.
The Korean audience erupted into cheers, with 85% of the country watching the broadcast in real-time. They did it. The raid was won.
Or so they thought.
Something was wrong.
Choi's expression darkened.
His Flame Prison, the barrier he had placed to keep out anything B-Rank or lower, had been breached.
"A powerful one is coming," he muttered, eyes sharp.
Then—it hit them.
A wave of pure, unfiltered malice crashed into the chamber like a tsunami. The very air grew heavy, thick with unrestrained, monstrous power.
Footsteps echoed.
Slow. Deliberate.
Emerging from the tunnel was an Ant—not red like the soldiers, not grotesquely massive like the Queen.
A black ant.
At a glance, it looked almost… normal. Humanoid in build, standing slightly above 3.5 meters tall. Yet every fiber of Cha Hae-In's being screamed in warning.
Her heightened senses burned, her nose was overwhelmed by the scent of something horrific.
"This smell…" she whispered, her grip tightening on her sword.
This was no ordinary Ant.
Could it be—?
The Ant King opened its mandibles and roared.
The cave shook.
Its power erupted, climbing to unbelievable heights in mere seconds.
Baek, still in his Beast Form, felt his heart pound in his chest.
"How is a single Beast… capable of such power?"