Chapter 11: Harpie Queen

Choi Kangjoong stood before the Gate.

He had come this far, but his feet wouldn’t move.

A greater fear blocked him than when he first crossed the front door.

“Don’t shake. I’m just here to observe anyway. Lutal will do all the fighting.”

He stood still and took a deep breath.

One hour passed like that.

Choi Kangjoong was still standing in front of the Gate.

He simply couldn’t bring himself to step inside.

The very space where the incident that forced him to lock himself in his room had happened was beyond a Gate like this.

“When I can’t move, someone else just has to carry me.”

Choi Kangjoong summoned Lutal.

“Krung.”

The huge, fierce Apocalid exhaled purple smoke from the spike growing on its back.

Despite sensing Choi Kangjoong’s fear, it showed no reaction.

Because it didn’t understand the feeling called fear.

“Carry me and go in there.”

Lutal lifted Choi Kangjoong with its middle leg.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The massive body moved toward the Gate.

Choi Kangjoong closed his eyes.

His heart pounded wildly.

The atmosphere shifted.

They had crossed the Gate.

Choi Kangjoong opened his eyes.

A completely different environment stretched out before him, unlike Earth.

“We made it!”

Choi Kangjoong raised both arms high.

“Krung!”

Lutal cheered along.

Choi Kangjoong looked around.

There wasn’t a single human in sight.

Harpies were truly unpopular monsters.

Fast, flying, and equipped with ranged attacks, they were terribly inefficient to hunt.

Occasionally, some ranged dealers came by just for shooting practice.

The reason such Gates remained open until now was because Harpies were territorial monsters.

Aggressive toward anything entering their domain, but unwilling to leave their territory.

Because of this, their hunt ranking was far behind others.

“Put me down.”

Lutal gently set Choi Kangjoong on the ground.

Choi Kangjoong stood on his own feet.

His pounding heart had already settled.

“Good place to work.”

• Interest

Choi Kangjoong summoned all Apocalids except Kuongi.

Three hundred Walkers, three hundred Scouts, one hundred Warriors, six Cannon Giants, two Skyeye Giants, and Kai appeared.

“Kiek.”

Kai came up to Choi Kangjoong and bowed.

Standing over two meters tall when fully stretched, this made him the perfect height for Choi Kangjoong to pet.

Swish swish.

“Kiek! Ik!”

Though aggressive in appearance, Kai looked cute like a puppy to Choi Kangjoong.

“That’s a lot.”

Seeing them in person was different from sensing them by feeling.

The view was so packed that it was beyond fulfilling—it was moving.

The Cannon Giants, measuring over 20 meters from muzzle to tail, were especially majestic.

“Should I summon Kuongi too?”

He couldn’t move, but if it was just for a moment, it should be fine.

Choi Kangjoong summoned Kuongi.

Ku-ung.

The ground trembled as the massive Apocalid appeared.

A 200-meter-long life form captivated Choi Kangjoong with its sheer size.

“It’s really huge.”

“Kuong.”

Kuongi shifted uncomfortably.

Nearby Apocalids quickly moved away to avoid being crushed by Kuongi.

Choi Kangjoong went to the Dimension Boundary and summoned Kuongi again.

Freed, Kuongi happily swam around.

He sent the Skyeye Giants along with Kuongi.

“Stay in the Dimension Sky.”

“Kuong.”

“Build the Soil Pit away from the Gate and send Scouts to recon. Warriors guard the Walkers and Giants.”

“Kruk!”

“Kiek!”

Kai and the Scouts dashed across the grassland.

They quickly found the Harpy Nest.

It was perched on a gentle hill, one of the few elevated spots in this dimension.

Made by cutting trees, it looked like a palisade.

There were a total of three such places in this dimension.

“Attack the closest one first.”

Kai and the Skyeye Giants shared coordinates.

Kuongi and the Cannon Giants rotated their turrets.

Mana gathered in the Mana Cannons.

“Kruk.”

Lutal signaled it was ready to charge.

Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwang!

Logs flew, and feathers scattered wildly.

The Harpies’ nest couldn’t withstand the impact and collapsed.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Aaah!”

“Kiooooh!”

The surviving Harpies took flight.

But most were caught by Scouts and Warriors before gaining much altitude and fell.

The Harpies that did reach the sky fired Wind Cutters.

One Scout, unable to evade, was knocked down.

“Kik! Kik! Kik!”

The Harpies sneered down at them.

“Wingless creatures!”

“Keep shooting.”

Kuongi and the Cannon Giants fired Mana Cannons.

High-speed Mana Shells exploded near the Harpies.

Harpies suffered ruptured organs and broken bones, falling helplessly.

Their speed was no match for the shells, several times faster.

[Evolution Points acquired.]

[Total Evolution Points: 214,581]

[Harpies Evolution Code decoding rate: 36%]

The entire Harpy Nest, home to thousands of Harpies, was instantly devastated.

The Evolution Code decoding was quickly completed.

[Evolution Code]

• Trace Concealment: 100%
• Combat Muscle: 100%
• Telescope Vision: 100%
• Acid Pouch: 100%
• Wind Flight: 100%

“What’s going to happen?”

His wing bones tingled.

Mana surged, and the Chitin Gauntlet twitched.

Pwoahk!

His wings unfolded.

Even without a mirror, he could see the wings through other Apocalids’ eyes.

“Looks awesome.”

A thin membrane stretched over a solid chitin framework.

The thick bones gave it a more mechanical look than the wings of a bat or pterosaur.

“A biomechanical structure for flight assistance.”

Choi Kangjoong liked this unique appearance even more.

“Shall I try flying?”

As soon as he decided to fly, mana transformed into flight power.

His body lifted off.

Supplying more mana, he shot upward like a bullet.

“Waaahhh!”

He steadied his mind and stopped supplying mana.

His speed dropped, and he began to fall.

He angled his head downward and twisted his wings.

The direction curved smoothly, turning into a glide.

“So this is how it’s done. Fun.”

Choi Kangjoong happily enjoyed flying for a long time.

He even entered the Harpies’ territory and was chased.

“Let’s quickly take down the Harpies first.”

Choi Kangjoong sent Apocalids to another nest.

The commotion from attacking the first nest had roused the Harpies.

It wasn’t easy to kill more than half of them at the start of a fight like before.

But it didn’t matter.

They would only be hunted down by overwhelming firepower and brutality.

Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwang!

Harpies flying in the sky were blasted by Mana Shells.

On the ground, Scouts and Warriors tore them apart.

The Harpy pack even tried to attack the Cannon Giants.

But Warriors guarding the Cannon Giants’ Mana Cannons wiped them out.

Even when Wind Cutters touched the Cannon Giants, they didn’t budge.

The toughness of the Giant Class exceeded that of the Warrior Class.

“Perfect.”

This was the vision Choi Kangjoong had painted.

Attacks raining down from the Sea of Dimensions.

Mobile cannon fire support.

Ground troops crushing what remained.

Of course, there were still things to implement, like equipping Scouts and Warriors with ranged weapons and biological weapons that sprayed acidic mist over wide areas.

But the basic framework was complete.

“Kuek!”

A Skyeye Giant warned.

Harpies were flying out from the remaining nests.

Among them was a larger Harpy with four wings.

“That must be the Harpie Queen.”

The Harpie Queen was a B-rank monster, two ranks higher than Harpies.

Her physical durability was poor, but her speed and attack power rivaled A-rank, making her very difficult for Hunters to deal with.

The Harpie Queen fired a Wind Cutter.

It was faster and sharper than the Harpies’ own.

Before Choi Kangjoong could react, he drew his Chitin Blades.

Klang! Klang!

Kuongi and the Cannon Giants targeted the Harpie Queen first.

Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwang!

Mana Cannons fired, but the Harpie Queen vanished.

She wasn’t dead.

She had simply moved at high speed, disappearing from sight.

A Wind Cutter fell on a Walker carrying Harpy eggs.

The Walker’s shell cracked open.

Choi Kangjoong felt fear facing such a Harpie Queen.

At the same time, anger surged.

A monster he hated was killing Apocalids.

For a long time, that suppressed emotion exploded from his subconscious.

Above all, he wasn’t going to lose.

His combat nerves took control of his body.

Combat Muscle activated, and he deactivated Telescope Vision’s narrow sight.

He filled his Acid Pouch and began high-speed flight.

Adrenaline pumped, blood flow accelerated.

Fear disappeared, replaced by the instinct of a hunter.

This combat response happened in all Apocalids too.

Their priority was supporting Choi Kangjoong’s combat rather than killing the target themselves.

At this moment, the Apocalids became one entity.

1,224 eyes tracked the Harpie Queen.

612 brains were linked in parallel, processing combat calculations.

The neural network extracted and combined tens of thousands of hunting techniques embedded in the predator instinct to devise the optimal hunting method.

A tremendous amount of information flooded Choi Kangjoong’s mind.

Far beyond the limits of a human brain.

But the Outer Mind’s brain skillfully handled it.

Using all senses, it pinpointed the Harpie Queen’s location.

It predicted her flight path and selected courses she favored.

It observed every feather movement to find habits even the Harpie Queen didn’t know.

“When she changes direction, the lower wing twists.”

That was it.

Choi Kangjoong’s stillness lasted only an instant.

The Harpie Queen, sensing he was at the center, seized the opportunity.

She closed in to ten meters and fired Wind Cutters.

It was an unavoidable distance.

But Choi Kangjoong’s brain produced the optimal defense.

Klang! Klang! Klang!

He deflected three Wind Cutters and twisted his body.

The remaining Wind Cutter grazed his Chitin Gauntlet.

“Kkiik!”

The Harpie Queen retreated with frustration.

She instinctively knew standing still meant death.

“You’re already dead.”

He had long since analyzed how the Harpie Queen would fly.

Twenty-six Mana Cannons targeted one point.

Her expected flight path.

They would all explode simultaneously from every direction, leaving no escape.

“Fire.”

Kuongi and the Cannon Giants fired simultaneously.

The Harpie Queen sharply changed direction, but that too was within the blast radius.

Kwahng!

She was flung aside.

Seriously injured but not dead.

She staggered but flew quickly.

Choi Kangjoong accelerated.

The Harpie Queen’s back grew nearer.

She veered right.

Anticipating this, Choi Kangjoong followed the same direction with her lower wing.

Thuk.

His Chitin Blade pierced the Harpie Queen’s torso.

With the other Chitin Blade, he sliced through her neck.

A thrilling sensation washed over him.

Not a sense of accomplishment, but pure pleasure.

He now understood why people fished or hunted.

“So this is why Hunters want to catch stronger monsters.”

He pulled the Mana Stone from the Harpie Queen’s chest.

It glittered brilliantly, like a reward for a successful hunt.

He flew over the Soil Pit and pulled the Harpie Queen off the Chitin Blades.

[Top-tier creature devoured.]

[Evolution Points acquired.]

[Total Evolution Points: 349,822]

“100,000 Evolution Points!”

Enough to raise species evolution from stage three to four and to devour 10,000 orcs.

“So bosses give more points.”

Choi Kangjoong learned a new fact.

The remaining nests were quickly cleared.

“Today’s haul is pretty good.”

The nutrients were enough to create one Giant, but he gained 250,000 Evolution Points.

[Total Evolution Points: 461,396]

“Just 40,000 more points, and I can complete all five species evolutions.”

Since 10 million points were needed to unlock the Supertitan Class, now was the time to invest in species evolution.