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＜ 21. The strongest card (4) ＞ A
carapace ant that attacks with its saw-like jaws. Andrea sighed and hit her head with her fist .
Gh-gp !
The shell of the carapace ant, whose hardness is comparable to steel that has been refined countless times, did not live up to its name. A head that breaks easily like a cookie. Taking advantage of the death of his colleague, he rushed in, kicked his stomach open, tore off the head and threw it at the carapace ant that was aiming for Emilia .
Fur – oops !
“ Kiiiie- ”
The head landed properly on the chest, and the carapace ant was cut in half. Emilia gave a short thank you glance. Andrea slapped her hand lightly as if it was nothing, and turned her gaze back to the carapace ants .
‘ There really are a lot of them .’
“ Keee !”
“ Kiek! Kick !”
Ants the size of bears were fairly large, filling the aisles and teeming with them. It’s a disgusting and disgusting sight just to look at. In my mind, I wanted to write ‘Indomitable Will’ and then throw a punch in my heart .
Of course, ‘I want to do it because I feel like it’ means that I can never do that. If you do, the entire ant nest will collapse .
‘ To find the man who murdered Priest Franco, you have to follow the trail… but if the anthill collapses, there is no answer .’
Because of this, he has no choice but to stand up to the ants with his bare fists. Carapace ants were no longer a threat to Andrea, but I couldn’t waste time killing them one by one .
So, Andrea asked Emilia for a favor .
“ Emilia, are you still far away ?”
“ I am ready now! Wait a minute !”
Emilia used the card in her hand and slammed the floor with her staff. Then, with a loud vibration, the floor broke and a thick barrier began to rise .
‘The Unbreakable Barrier’. It was a skill that could completely isolate hiding places and passages .
Carapace ants can pierce rocks by striking their mandibles down like pickaxes. However, due to ‘Arpan’s staff’, magic power increased, and the barrier Emilia made had defense power that was incomparable to ordinary rocks. It will take quite a while to make a hole .
“ Keee !”
Before the entrance could be blocked, several carapace ants desperately crawled over the barrier. Andrea grabbed both antennae at the same time and pulled them, causing them to headbutt each other. The head of two ants that are smashed with excitement .
Wedge – Drop! Puck !
Wedge – Drop! Puck !
“ Kick !”
The remaining two passed away after being hit by Trisha’s arrow, and the last carapace ant that climbed over the barrier got stuck between the barrier and the ceiling and turned to mush .
“ Jjiik !”
“… Whoa .”
The scars left by the battle were devastating. There were dismembered corpses and gooey bodily fluids everywhere. The sour smell of formic acid stings the nose. Andrea pinched her nose and turned around .
“ Nice work, Trisha, Emilia. Now let’s look at Priest Franco’s corpse .”
The carapace ants immediately rushed in, leaving no time to examine the corpse properly. Emilia and Trisha nodded and followed Andrea .
“ Ugh . . .”
Seeing the horrible appearance of the corpse, Emilia vomited in vain. He had seen a lot of monster corpses, but the feeling of human corpses was bound to be different. However, Andrea and Tricia only frowned, but they didn’t look too upset .
Examining the limbs and torso, Tricia spoke quietly .
“ First of all, it seems like Priest Franco died not too long ago. My body temperature hasn’t cooled down yet, and the muscles in my body haven’t hardened .”
“… and ?”
” Well, and… the culprit seems to have subdued the resisting Priest Franco with his bare hands. If you look here, on your forearm, you can clearly see the handprint .”
Just as Trisha said, the corpse’s forearm was covered with dark red flesh in the shape of a handprint.
It looks like it was gripped hard, almost squeezed .
Looking at the traces, something suddenly came to mind, so Andrea took a look around the hiding place. As he guessed, there was a deep depression on the floor .
“… I’m guessing he probably didn’t do it with his bare hands when he exploded his head .”
“ What? That’s possible… I’m sure it will. If you are a challenger with high strength …”
Trying to ask if that’s possible, Tricia nodded after seeing Andrea’s fist. After all, even if his strength was only half that of Andrea’s, it wouldn’t be an easy task to explode someone’s head .
“ But why did you think that ?”
“ Here, there is a dent in the floor. This is a common mark when the martial artist class uses the ‘Falkyung’ skill. You don’t have to stomp your feet so hard all of a sudden after fighting for being crazy, right? He probably used a skill and punched Priest Franco’s head .”
Tricia and Emilia just nodded their heads as they were unfamiliar with it .
Then, as if thinking of something, Emilia asked a question .
“ What? By the way, Andrea. How did the challenger get into the anthill? If someone had entered before we arrived, Father Roberto would have given him a word, and the entrance to the anthill was locked so that he had sneaked in ?”
“ Hmm… I honestly don’t know about that either .”
There was no corner in the ant nest where you could use a glitch to enter, so Andrea was also suspicious about it. But maybe it was one of the two. Either he used mind-altering magic on Priest Roberto, or he used something beyond imagination .
“ Anyway, to sum up the current situation …”
The culprit, who is believed to be of a martial arts class, trespassed into the ant’s nest aiming for the card. Then, while exploring the anthill, the culprit ran into Priest Franco and threatened him to hand over his card. However, Priest Franco resisted fiercely, and eventually lost both his life and his cards. The criminal took the card and left the scene .
Then it was time to guess in which direction the culprit had left. Although this place is cleverly hidden, there are numerous entrances. This was the reason why Priest Franco made this place his hideout .
Curiously, all the doorways were examined, but only footprints leading into the hiding place were present. It’s a situation that I can’t understand unless I left floating in the air. The party carefully looked around to see if there were any clues .
The result came out surprisingly empty. Tricia stares at the ceiling from the doorway that requires turning the corner .
“ Andrea. He must have escaped here …”
Andrea, who looked up at the ceiling, agreed with Tricia’s words. And soon, I realized how the culprit broke into the anthill .
‘··· Did you break it like this when entering the ant nest? You ignorant bastard, this .’
There was a hole in the ceiling big enough for a person to pass through. It was a hole that hadn’t been seen for a while .
As we went up, the hole in the ceiling got narrower. Later, the ceiling appeared, with only traces of efforts to destroy it. It was probably that the perpetrator ran out of energy .
‘ It looks like you entered the anthill without knowing much about it. If you recklessly break through to the top, you must have thought that you would reach the outside someday .’
It wasn’t a bad idea, but it wasn’t a realistic idea either. Considering the depth of the ant nest, it was impossible with moderate strength and endurance. Andrea broke into the hideout without difficulty, but .
In any case, it was just a matter of following the trail of the culprit in this aisle. Kindly follow me, and there were footprints. Andrea and the others walked along it without hesitation .
Fortunately, there were no carapace ants on the way. A group of people who are advancing silently. The shadows of the rugged stone wall shook along with the light of the rainbow lights .
Before long, they could hear it. The cries of carapace ants and the sound of violent beating. Andrea accelerated her steps .
“ Damn it! Damn it! damn it !”
A man covered in bodily fluids was struggling to stop the swarm of ants. Fast breathing and trembling legs. Even if I pretended, I could see that he was overdoing it .
“ Hey, look away .”
I tried to snatch him by the back of his head, but he was taking off his upper body, so there was nowhere to grab him. Reluctantly, Andrea shoved the man on the shoulder and sent him back to face the ants .
“ Kieek !”
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Now that I’ve found the culprit, I don’t have to adjust my strength. Andrea concentrated more power into her fists than when she fought in hiding. The tendon of the forearm sticking out. Tremendous kinetic energy dwells in the gauntlet .
When I threw my fist back and swung it, a storm-like power swept through the aisle .
Whoa- oh !
“ Ki- ”
“ Ki- ” The
ants were swept away by the shockwave and slaughtered without even leaving a final word. Andrea whistled lightly and turned to face the criminal .
“ Now then, let’s hear the circumstances why you did that… Huh ?”
While looking at the culprit, Andrea narrowed her eyes. It was covered in bodily fluid and I didn’t recognize it at first, but it was a face I had seen before .
Andrea, who rummaged through her memory for a long time, then hit her knee .
“ Ah! ah! You, then… aren’t you the fighter you met at the arena ?”
“…!”
The man who had been terrified at the sight of the overwhelming force opened his eyes upon hearing those words. The moment I recognized who Andrea was, anger surged like a wave. My teeth still grieve when I think of how long I struggled with the void messengers without knowing that I was immortal .
On the other hand, Andrea casually asked a question as if something had happened between us .
“ What is that look? That, that, what was your name ?”
” Berdin …”
“ Yes, Verdin .”
Verdin belatedly recalled that he could never defeat Andrea with his own strength. Verdin tries to hide his emotions on his face as much as possible. Nevertheless, because he couldn’t completely suppress his anger, Verdin’s face became quite strange .
Andrea snorted at the sight .
“ I assumed he was a fighter, but I never thought he was a familiar face. The dungeon is really narrow, is n’t it ?”
“… I don’t want to engage in useless conversation. What did you come here for ?”
“ It’s really hard. Well, if you want me to start talking about business like that …”
Andrea erased her smile and straightened up. Then, he grabbed Verdin’s head with the gauntlet and slammed it into the wall .
bang !
“ Did you kill Priest Franco ?”
“…”
A silence that is nothing short of affirmative. Andrea spat and glared at Verdin .
“ Give me your card, you bastard .”
He was the one who brutally murdered the priest without hesitation to get the card. There was no need to look after the circumstances and treat them warmly .
Blood dripped from Verdin’s head. However, a relaxed sneer hung over his lips .
“ Kuh… Did you come to get that card too ?”
bang !
The smile on Verdin’s face disappeared, as if it was a little painful this time. Andrea answered in a cold voice .
“ I don’t like people with long tongues .”
“ If you’re trying to kill someone to get a card, you’re no different from me. It’s already late. That card is …”
bang! bang! bang !
“ aaagh !”
“ Stop talking and give it to me .”
“ Now, wait a minute …”
The pain as if the entire bone was being split open engulfed me. No, actually, it wasn’t a metaphor, it was actually the skull being smashed. Verdin thought that he could really die if he did this .
Perhaps it was embarrassing to say honorifics in a hurry, Verdin poured out his words like a rapid-fire cannon .
“ No, listen to me. I want to give, but I can’t. That card is already in my deck !”
“… what ?”
All of them couldn’t hide their embarrassment. A thick silence settles in the ant nest. Seeing that, Verdin changed his stance in an instant, as if he thought he had seized the flow .
Verdin speaks confidently with a grim smile .
“ If you can steal a card from a deck, why don’t you try stealing it? Now, even if they kill me, I won’t take it. You know that when the challenger dies, all the cards in the deck disappear, right ?”
After entering the ant nest, there was no easy way to get out of it. Andrea felt a throbbing headache again .
＜ 21. The strongest card (4) ＞ End