The Giant Insect

Mrs. Ryan had been waiting outside her house long before Dougly and his team arrived. As soon as she saw them, she rushed up.

"Darling, you must thank Glen properly. He saved me and our children," she said, her voice shaking slightly with the residual fear of the recent events.

Dougly immediately began checking his wife's body for injuries. Once he was certain that she was unharmed, he sighed in relief and asked, "Quickly, tell me what happened."

A crowd of curious onlookers had gathered around, and one of them loudly complained, "Sheriff Dougly, what kind of law enforcement do we have around here? The criminals are running around freely!"

One of the more hot-headed officers snapped at the complainer, "Get your facts straight! The victim here is the sheriff's wife! If you don't have anything useful to add, keep quiet!"

Despite the officer not being high-ranking, his sharp tone had enough authority to silence the crowd.

Mrs. Ryan gestured toward the house. "Let's talk inside. It's not the place to discuss things out here," she suggested, her voice calm yet firm.

Once inside and with the situation explained, Dougly broke into a cold sweat, the realization dawning on him. He was relieved that his wife was safe, but at the same time, he was astonished by the power that Glen possessed.

"No wonder he dared to stay in Baiek. It seems he's no ordinary person…" he murmured to himself, before suddenly coming to a realization. "Wait a minute... he left in a hurry. What if he found something?!"

Mrs. Ryan was puzzled. "Found what?"

Dougly's expression grew increasingly serious. "He might have discovered the hideout of those criminals! We need to find him—now!" He turned to his officers and barked out orders. "Quickly! Find Glen's whereabouts! He may know where they're hiding!"

Meanwhile, in the Ruined Tavern

The tavern, already on the brink of destruction due to the battle between Glass and Glen, was falling apart. Glass, covered in deep and shallow gashes, was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling like a bellows.

He had thought he understood his opponent's strength, but as the fight had continued, Glen's vast combat experience and textbook-perfect offensive tactics had left him with no room to fight back. Every time he thought he could get a blow in, Glen would slip away or dodge with ease.

I can't keep going like this... I'll die... Glass thought grimly.

"Enough! How long are you going to keep watching?! Come out and help me!" he suddenly roared at the sky, his voice thundering across the room.

Glen halted his attack and raised an eyebrow. "So, the mastermind is finally showing themselves?"

He hadn't killed Glass immediately because he wanted to draw out the person behind this operation. If Glass had fled in fear, it would have been much harder to track them down.

A sinister, raspy laugh filled the air, and the minions that Glen had already defeated began to rapidly weaken, their bodies quickly withering. Blood mist, visible to the naked eye, gathered above Glass and then entered his mouth, his aura strengthening at an alarming rate.

Glen didn't interrupt the process. Instead, he focused on pinpointing the source of the mysterious voice.

After absorbing the blood mist, Glass's back sprouted jagged bone spikes, and two symmetrical holes appeared in his chest, almost as if breathing. His body also began to expand, just as Glen had anticipated.

"Now, feel despair!" Glass yelled, his voice booming with newfound power.

With a roar, Glass unleashed a pillar of purple flames from his mouth, aimed directly at Glen's chest.

The light from the flames was blinding, but Glen's muscles slightly bulged, and a thin layer of black fur sprouted across his skin. At the last moment, he nimbly dodged the blast.

The purple flames pursued him relentlessly. Glen used all four limbs to dodge, weaving around Glass as if it were a game of tag.

Despite the dramatic chase, Glen wasn't focused on the flames or the fight. He was still honing in on the source of the voice.

At the moment his foot hit the ground, Glen's senses locked onto a location: beneath a nearby well.

"Gotcha." Glen's lips curled into a grin, his sharp teeth glinting in the dim light.

Without wasting another moment, he halted mid-run and charged straight at Glass.

Seeing this, Glass grinned cruelly, preparing to launch a counterattack. He stopped spewing purple flames, and with a powerful motion, he swung his right arm back, charging up. A bone spike, over a meter long, erupted from his wrist, piercing through his skin and shooting directly at Glen.

But Glen leapt high into the air, raising his right hand. As Glass watched in bewilderment, Glen's arm expanded, inflating like a balloon. The hand grew large enough to easily crush Glass's entire body.

The massive wolf claw slammed down with tremendous force, breaking the bone spike into pieces before smashing Glass's body to the ground, reducing him to a bloody pulp.

Before Glen could speak, the disembodied voice cried out in panic, "How can this be?! This isn't possible! How is there someone this powerful here?!"

Glen smirked, about to respond with, "You're next," when suddenly, the ground shook violently beneath his feet, cutting him off.

Boom!

The well erupted, and a colossal, grotesque figure pushed its way out, filling the air with dust and debris. The outline of the creature loomed before Glen.

Swiping at the dust, Glen narrowed his eyes, his gaze growing cold.

"You've ruined my hard work! Now, choose your death."

The creature that emerged was an enormous, disgusting insect-like being. Its body was made of stacked, pulsating layers of flesh, with a grotesque head and countless shifting eyes. Its mandibles clicked together, ready to strike.

Despite the visual horror, Glen's attention remained locked on the creature's abdomen.

There, hundreds of semi-transparent white sacs were visible, each containing a child between the ages of two and fourteen. Their eyes were wide with fear and pain, and thin, thread-like strands of mucus clung to their skin. Some of them, if they had regained a little strength, were weakly struggling.

Glen's chest heaved, his anger bubbling up, but he quickly suppressed it, his face turning stone cold.

The creature seemed to sense his emotions. Beneath its massive head, a booming, mocking laugh echoed.

"Ho ho ho... You asked about those children, didn't you? Now, you see them. They're being drained of their pure life energy, slowly withering away. I will drain every last drop of value from them. They will die in agony... Ho ho ho, how pitiful."

Glen's gaze never wavered as he spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion, "You'll regret this. You'll suffer even more."

The creature was about to retort with more taunts when, in the blink of an eye, Glen vanished, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.

The sound of the creature's protective magic activating filled the air as Glen's wolf claws collided with a purple energy shield, the impact resounding with a loud clang.

Instead of growing angry, the creature laughed even harder.

"Ha ha ha... You think just because you defeated a weakling like Glass, you can challenge me?! In my eyes, you're nothing but a stronger bug!"

Glen gritted his teeth, barely holding back a sarcastic comment. This damn creature... calling me a bug?

The creature continued mocking, "And you think you can save them? Foolish. The moment they leave my body, they will die!"

Glen's eyes burned with an intense fury, but he knew the battle was far from over.