Chapter 119
With the favor of the mayor, Xi’an and his party were able to secure a place to live.
A dusty old hut in a corner of the city.
It was never a good environment, but it was a satisfying enough place for the party who had been homeless for a long time.
After taking a day off like that, the group finished maintenance again and left the city early the next morning.
“This way.”
Looking at the map, they headed for the territory of the ants.
After some progress over the ridges surrounding the city, the mood of the forest changed dramatically.
Until then, it was an ordinary forest that was only a little dense, but at some point, the color of the trees became darker and the air became much heavier.
A fishy smell was wafting up everywhere.
“Looks like you came in.”
Erze took out a dagger and looked around.
This heavy, stinging atmosphere. It was exactly the same air that could be felt in the realm of monsters.
“Everyone be careful, you’ll have to walk a bit to get to your destination.”
“How long will it take?”
Xian answered Allen’s question.
“It’s about a day’s distance without any obstruction, but I don’t know if I can get there in a day.”
Saying that, Xian pulled out a black sword. And let’s look at one place.
– Kirik.
I could see dozens of pairs of red eyes staring at me from across the forest.
The party prepared for battle in an instant and put their backs to each other.
The red eyes of the ants were also visible from the back.
“Didn’t you say that the guys in the area are a bit strong?”
“It did. Everyone be careful… … .”
– Kirik!
Before Xian could finish talking, the ants attacked all at once.
Kugu Palace! Clumsy!
The oversized hulking lunges at you, digging up soil and breaking trees.
Xian swung his sword and split the head of the one in front vertically.
Even so, the other ants attacked Xian without shrinking at all.
“You don’t even give me a chance to talk.”
He lightly wrapped the aura around his sword.
As a result of slicing one of them, just enough to catch it with minimal mana consumption.
The ants rushed in to bite Xian, their jaws crackling sideways.
If it was a normal small ant, the skin would have been pinched a little, but these giant ants are not.
Their jaws were big and strong enough to tear Xian’s head off.
– Karak!
A charging giant ant. Xian swung his sword and hooked it to the guy’s chin.
Kang, there was a sound, and the guy clenched his jaws as if he was going to bite off even a sword.
It is the jaw of a giant ant that is said to chew and eat even steel. If it was an ordinary sword of an ordinary knight, the sword could really have been ripped off, but neither the sword nor the person who wielded it were ordinary people.
Awesome!
Xian twisted his body and swung his sword wide.
The sword, enveloped in the faint aura of the night, literally cut through the ant’s head and body.
Its bodily fluids spurted like a fountain and splashed onto the bodies of the ants around it.
– Karak! Kararak!
– Kirik!
The more they were flooded with the bodily fluids of their colleagues, the more red their eyes turned. The ants are getting more and more ferocious and rough as if they were angry.
However, that doesn’t make it any more powerful.
Paying attention only to the changes in their attack patterns, Xian calmly sliced up the ants.
“Certainly, he must be stronger than the guys outside!”
Quaang!
Allen shouted at Xian, bursting blue flames through the ants.
“It’s enough to feel it.”
Xian agreed with that statement.
As I heard, the ants inside the territory were much stronger than the ones outside.
The upper was harder and stronger. His personality seemed a lot rougher too.
‘The more I go inside, the stronger it will become.’
It will probably become stronger the further you go towards the center of the realm. I felt like I had to think about that and come up with a plan.
“But so far, no major problems.”
Soon the battle was over.
In the place where the corpses of the ants were piled up, Xian and the others took a breath.
Those who were cut by knives, those who were knocked over by Altima’s fire, those who were burned by electricity, those who had their thin necks connecting their heads and bodies split into pieces with a pinpoint, and so on.
The signatures were also very different.
“There are no big problems.”
Sian clicked his tongue as he spoke.
Even after dealing with all the ants, red eyes started to appear again in front of me.
Some of them bitten the corpses of their fallen comrades and carried them as if they were going to use them as food.
“This number is a bit problematic.”
Xian sighed and raised his sword again.
The aura of the night wrapped around his body and gradually restored his physical strength.
* * *
As a result, reaching the destination in one day was absolutely impossible.
Xian and the others had to go ahead, killing more than 100 ants every three steps, adding a bit of exaggeration.
As we went along, the problem got worse.
Since Xian has Ravi’s ability to recover physical strength, it was somewhat okay, and Hector is also an ogre by nature. One stamina did not lose to anyone.
However, Allen and Erze’s stamina was quickly depleted.
In the end, the distance traveled during the day was only about 1/4 of the destination.
“ha… … ha… … .”
“Whoa… … .”
Finding a suitable hiding place, they rested.
Allen and Erze were covered in sweat and gasping for breath.
“I’ll have to change my method a little from tomorrow.”
“uh… … how… … ?”
Erze asked with difficulty.
“Let’s divide them into two, one side clearing the road, and the other side providing adequate cover to preserve our stamina. I don’t think it’s efficient to move forward while all four of us are fighting like now.”
“good… … Sounds like a good idea.”
“I agree… … .”
Ergé and Allen agreed, raising their hands.
They, too, were acutely aware of the limits of their physical strength. If today’s forced march continues, tomorrow will be more miserable than today.
“Hey, master. I came here too.”
Hector, who was watching the outside, said so. The sound of an ant attacking again.
At those words, Ergé and Allen flinched.
I feel like I’ve seen all the ants I’ve ever seen in my life in one day.
“You guys are resting for now. Hector and I are coming.”
“huh… … .”
“sorry… … .”
Leaving the two sullen, Xian and Hector came out.
How did you know, the ants gathered again.
“I came here while erasing as many traces as possible.”
“If that only works for humans, will it work for bugs?”
“That too.”
Xian frowned.
With their tracking ability at this level, it would be unreasonable to hide and sleep. Just like now, it should be stopped by taking a break and taking turns taking naps.
‘Four to five days in that state.’
If that’s the case, it’s pretty much possible.
They are doing that now, but they are the ones who have broken through the endless practice classes at Allen and Erjedo Academy.
It doesn’t matter if I can’t sleep for 4-5 days.
“Take over there. I will do the other side.”
“ok.”
Xian and Hector dispersed to opposite sides of the hideout.
Koo Goo Goo!
Hearing the sound of thunder coming from behind, Xian drew his sword and raised it.
He was about to use a spear, but it was a long time ago, so he also brought out a thunderbolt. Saber that spews thunderbolts.
[ Heavenly Sword – True ]
Kwakwagwagwagwang!
As he swung his sword horizontally, lightning fell along its path.
The ants were swept away by the falling white lightning and all burned.
A smoky, unpleasant smell of bugs spread everywhere, and Xian mechanically cleaned them up.
Even today, each person caught hundreds, maybe even thousands of monsters.
The stage of juggling each other has already passed.
‘How are things going now?’
if you go deeper. If ants stronger than this continue to attack in numbers like this.
It is never possible to go through it.
Not to mention Allen and Ergé’s stamina, but Xian himself wasn’t confident either.
‘How the hell does that weirdo live in the territory of ants?’
This situation made me even more curious.
What kind of magic did he use to live among the many, vicious, and smelly ants?
It seemed that it wouldn’t be difficult to safely cross the territory of the ants if I could learn how to do it.
“Whoa! Are you done?”
“uh. What about that one?”
“It is over here. I don’t know when they’ll come again.”
As I was thinking about it for a while, Hector, who had sorted everything out before I knew it, approached me.
Xian’s thoughts stopped for a moment and he looked at Hector.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Hector frowned at the sudden staring.
“Come to think of it, I think I forgot to ask one.”
“What?”
Actually, it wasn’t that I forgot, but because Allen and Ergé were there, I couldn’t ask.
Xian asked him something he hadn’t been able to ask before.
“Have you ever seen the King of Giants?”
The goal of this journey. The search for the king of giants that Atlanta talked about, who must be sealed somewhere.
Hector, the Thunderbolt God, was a demon that existed even when the King of Giants was still alive.
Knowing the Querndel that surrounded Everwhale proves it.
If so, wouldn’t the giant king have actually seen it?
“Um, well, I’ve seen it from afar.”
Hector frowned and said.
Soon, the story of the giant king came out of his mouth.
* * *
The next day, as Xian said, the party split into two to clear the road.
In the first place, it was not something all four would rush at.
Even if there were only two of them, they could easily penetrate dozens of ants.
Sian was paired with Allen, and Hergé was paired with Hector.
Ergé showed signs of wanting to be with Xian, but Xian decided that this was more reasonable.
He divided Allen and Hector, who were more specialized in wide-area attacks, and put himself on Allen’s side and Erze on Hector’s side, considering the balance of power.
Since the balance could not have been better than this, Erze had no choice but to agree.
Although she never objected to Xian’s words in the first place.
Two days to go like that.
After we split up, the distance we traveled in one day became longer, and we reached the point where we could arrive at our destination in about a day.
A day until you meet a strange person who lives in the territory of ants.
However, unexpectedly, Xi’an’s party encountered the strange one earlier.
“Hey, you guys. I hope you don’t pass through this road with the bodily fluids of the ants buried like that. Our house is right in front of it.”
Sian lifted his head at the sound.
I looked up and saw a man on a tree looking this way while grunting something.
“Suin?”
It was a man with ears similar to those of a fox.
A strangely skinny man for a beastman.
No, it wasn’t just skinny, it looked like a tree branch.
Compared to him, he was also quite tall, and although the clothes he was wearing were of normal sizes, he looked very big.
“What, is it your first time seeing Suin? The thing that is widely spread in the world is the number of people.”
He spat out what he had been chewing on next to him and spoke.
“This is a place where ants are carefully managed so that they don’t come in, right? That’s why it’s very difficult when you come in with bodily fluids like that. If you understand, go back the other way or wipe yourself at the water’s edge and come back. Because I can’t go on like this.”
At those words, Xian’s eyes lit up.