Ch.68Challenger (2)

A massive, enormous something approached us, reflecting the moonlight as we were basking in our victory.

The trees in the Forest of Demonic Beasts were about twice my height, but this enormous entity boasted an even greater stature. Each time it moved its feet, the sound created an overwhelming sense of intimidation along with its massive size.

“Mmmrrrooo (This never ends.)”

“That one… looks dangerous, Khan. Be careful. No matter how you look at it, it’s on a completely different level from the other ants and insects.”

“Moo. (I felt that too.)”

But I couldn’t just leave that thing alone. I picked up my axe and prepared to fight it. While other demonic beasts showed signs of panic and retreat, I stepped forward in the direction of the monster.

With each step, my instincts screamed that I couldn’t win. That someone like me had no chance against such a monster.

Honestly, the demonic beasts might be smarter than me right now.

It’s a biological instinct to flee from opponents of a higher caliber. My instincts kept screaming that I couldn’t win against that thing, that I should run away.

Mooooooo———!!!!

I let out a roar, ignoring the screams of my weak instincts. If I ran away every time something like this appeared, I’d always be a lowly creature who only bullied the weak.

At my roar, the demonic beasts who were backing away to flee stopped and stared at me blankly. Wraaw, Kamin, the antlerless deer, Storm Wing.

Everyone in the demonic beast alliance in this forest was looking only at me.

Hoo…

I let out a groan without realizing it. I couldn’t gauge the opponent’s strength, and I couldn’t imagine myself defeating that monster.

The opponent was a monster over 30 meters tall that commanded insects like subordinates. Since all the subordinates in the middle of this forest were this monster’s underlings, it must be a monster from the deepest part of the forest, near the master.

Siiik—

I smiled at that thought. Though such a monster would surely be weaker than Lassis, it was still a trial for me.

The giant ant seemed to notice my presence and lowered its head, which was larger than my body, to reveal its true form.

Twitching antennae, jaws larger than my body. A face that looked like what a spider might become if the ones we’d just slaughtered grew larger. Despite having an ant’s body, it had a glossy black color, suggesting it was a mineral ant like the others.

Unlike its black body, its eyes were green, making it look quite gentle if not for its size… but contrary to its gentle appearance, it was an extremely fierce monster. The ant drooled as soon as it saw me, as if salivating.

Chiiiiik—

When its saliva hit the ground, the earth began to scream. The acid was so strong that it immediately burrowed into the ground. Smoke rose from the spot, and a pungent smell stung my nose.

Kiiiiiiik—

When it opened its mouth to make a sound, saliva sprayed from its mouth. I was able to block the spit with lightning like a shield, but…

Dududu—

The sound that burst from its mouth seemed to be a command to its subordinates.

Despite having killed so many ants and various insects, it seemed some subordinates remained as ants approached, shaking the ground.

But these ants were different from the ones we’d been slaughtering. Ants approaching while emitting light in various colors. Some red, some green, some blue.

Ten of them with rainbow-like colors. I wasn’t sure what they were, but since they ate minerals and changed colors, perhaps they’d eaten gemstones.

“Khan!!! I sense elemental power from those ants!!! Be careful!”

“Moo? (Elements?)”

With those words, intense fire shot from the mouth of the ant leading the group.

Hwararararuk——!!!

Mooooo!!

I surrounded myself with lightning when I saw fire coming from its mouth, but this creature’s fire was too hot. Not artificial fire made by magic, but like the fire emitted by an elemental spirit itself.

And the green ant next to it began launching countless wind blades from thin air.

Kaaang—!!

Chwak—!!

Wind blades cutting past my forearm. The elemental that the slave of that middle school disease I once caught used wasn’t this strong…

But I couldn’t keep thinking about this. Fire was flying, wind was raging, water was flooding, and the earth was howling.

In the face of attacks like natural disasters, I made myself smaller to reduce my hit area and breathed lightning at them.

Kwarrrung——!!

But the yellow ant emitted lightning from its antennae, drawing the current toward itself—absorbing all the lightning I had breathed out.

Tak tak tak

It clicked its jaws as if satisfied, then breathed lightning from its mouth.

Kwarrrung——!!!

I also wrapped the ant’s lightning around my axe, but the lightning it breathed out seemed to have a will of its own, constantly trying to escape my control.

Mooooo——!!!

Kwarrung——!!!

Kiiiiiik—

When I swung my axe containing my lightning and the yellow ant’s lightning, black lightning and yellow lightning raced across the ground and hit the red ant at the front. The red ant paused as if electrocuted.

I wrapped lightning around my legs to approach it instantly to finish off the red ant, grabbed its body, and tore it in half.

“Moo. (One down.)”

The ants, having lost sight of me for a moment and seeing the red ant in front torn apart, began to pour all their power. Wind, water, stone, lightning, wood.

Various abilities descended upon me, but I released as much lightning flowing through my body as possible to block those attacks, then.

Pueok—!!

I struck down the closest green ant with my axe. The green ant’s head exploded with a crumbling sound. Then I grabbed the chain and swung the axe.

Mooooo!!!

Kwajik!!!

The body of the closest blue ant was embedded in the axe, and other ants were also swept up in the attack, their bodies smashing into trees.

Kiiiiiik—!!

And when the remaining five rushed toward me.

Hwaruk— Kwaaaang——!!!

Kiiiiiik!!!

Fireballs flew and burned two of them. Minky had chosen to stand and fight rather than flee, firing fireballs. To not run away at the sight of that huge monster… the one who had been screaming while being dragged by ants…

And the same was true for the other demonic beasts. The gorilla jumped from a tree and smashed a brown ant with both fists, and the toad also launched itself to crush a green ant.

The remaining yellow ant was killed by the antlerless deer Kamin, who used his power to turn it into a ball that fit perfectly in my hand, with the sound of its entire body breaking.

Mooooo—

When I lifted the ant that had become a ball with satisfaction.

Kugugugung—

The giant ant began to move. The creature that hadn’t moved until all its subordinates died was now finally moving.

It shouldn’t be unable to control its subordinates while moving, yet the giant ant had just been watching us quietly.

Kiiiiiiiik——

It began to charge straight ahead, making a sound that could be either a scream or a roar. The saliva flowing from its mouth was melting the ground, and the forest was being devastated by its enormous size.

And it charged toward us, trampling even the corpses of its subordinates. Despite it being a simple charge, we did our best to avoid it.

The gorilla went to the trees, those who could fly took to the air, and those of us on the ground jumped for our lives to avoid the ant’s charge.

Kugugugung….

I was amazed by its brute force, creating a path through the forest with just a simple charge, but it was still just a simple charge. Perhaps because it had only eaten food provided by its subordinates, it was just charging.

The demonic beasts and I approached the creature as it stopped and tried to turn around, unleashing our attacks.

Moo—!!

Kwajik———!!

My lightning-wrapped axe dug into its carapace. The axe blade was blunted and didn’t penetrate properly, but thinking it was still effective, I continued swinging my axe, trying to break the carapace.

Kwaang—

And Minky also began attacking, as the sound of fireballs exploding could be heard. Above, Storm Wing attacked the creature’s carapace with sharp claws, but the claws broke, and beak attacks were the same.

The reindeer’s lightning just bounced off when it hit the carapace, and the ant corpses thrown by Kamin’s telekinesis also did no damage.

The gorilla climbed onto the giant ant as if climbing a tree and struck down with its fists, but only hurt itself due to the hardness. The toad also climbed onto the giant ant with its remarkable leg strength and spewed poison, but…

Only a very few were doing proper damage. The chameleon, the tiger, the owl. Various demonic beasts poured attacks, but the giant ant showed no reaction and turned its body around.

Kiiiiii….

The giant ant opened its mouth and made a sound. Everyone tensed and widened the distance, and the gorilla and toad also jumped off its body.

Chwaaaak———

It shook its head and sprayed its saliva everywhere. The first to be hit were the gorilla and toad jumping off its body.

Uhooooo——!!!

Peep peep——

The toad’s two hind legs disappeared without a trace after being directly hit by the acidic liquid, and while the gorilla was somewhat shielded by the toad and could avoid some of it… it couldn’t avoid it completely, and its arm became riddled with holes like cheese, exposing the bone.

That acidic liquid was flying toward us too, and I was able to block it with lightning just like I had blocked the elemental ants’ attacks earlier, but…

The giant ant’s acid spray left large and small wounds on demonic beasts who couldn’t use abilities or fly.

Kikikikikik——

It seemed to be enjoying itself, mocking us while drooling.

* * * * *

“Kyaaaak—!”

Kwoooong——

The yellow liquid sprayed from the sky penetrated my barrier. Fortunately, I was able to block it by deploying a shield at the front, but…

Minky, who was beside me, had retreated into his shell, but I witnessed the shocking sight of his shell melting away.

“I’ll heal you now! Just wait a moment!”

Green energy was being emitted to the shell, but the shell that had melted from the yellow liquid wasn’t regenerating easily. While Mary was struggling with the slower-than-usual recovery.

Mooooooo——!!!

The sound of thunder echoed along with Khan’s roar. It seemed he was still fighting well, but…

“Khan…”

Mary nodded once as if resolving something after hearing that roar, then spread her wings wide and flew to the center of the forest.