The Holy Knight furrowed his brow with a grave expression.
I waited for a moment.
“Is the operation becoming too difficult to continue?”
“For now, let’s keep going.”
Honestly… to tell the truth.
We have to keep going for now.
My clothes are probably covered in borax and insecticide residue, but treating wounds here isn’t a good idea either.
There’s no way to escape without fighting.
“Let’s rest for three minutes and then move. We have to hurry. If the enemy senses something’s off, there’s a chance they’ll try to sneak the Queen away.”
“Understood.”
The Holy Knight grabbed his own arm with a serious look.
“Why did the North Korean Army abandon Kaesong? If they’d sent more Awakened, they could have won. And why didn’t the people of the North try to flee south?”
“I don’t know the details, either.”
I thought for a moment.
What we saw through the Drone. The intelligence provided by the Ministry of National Defense. It was hard to see the full picture, but the outline was forming.
“It looks like all the Awakened were sent to Pyongan Province. With the tanks. Now that I think about it… I think the North Korean Army’s goal is to push the Monster Legion out of Pyongan Province. The Monsters are moving to attack the cities.”
“So, from the start, the goal was to drive the Monsters out of Kaesong?”
“Probably.”
The Holy Knight changed his Gas Mask and stood up.
I lifted my head from the Tablet.
The central area of the Train Station.
If there’s a place here to prepare for a hunt, then the Queen must not be far from here either.
“While you were sitting, Sage, I checked the positions of the Monsters. The Queen’s location shouldn’t be far from here. The hunting preparation area was at the station entrance, after all.”
“Understood.”
Ming Ming looked at me as if she’d just realized something.
“Ming Ming. Have the number of Monsters outside increased, or decreased?”
“Ming.”
“Increased?”
Ming Ming nodded.
Hearing that their numbers had grown made the Holy Knight frown even more.
“We should get moving. If their numbers have increased, that’s actually good for us. It means they’re not planning to run.”
“Do… do lizards know stuff like that?”
“What? Lizard?”
Ming Ming, clearly annoyed, tapped the floor with her tail.
“Let’s go over the plan one more time.”
“Okay.”
“The second floor hallway is blocked by three Summoned Beasts. We’re heading straight for what we think is the Queen’s Chamber, at the train platform, taking Pineapple with us.”
“How do you know the way to the platform?”
Bik. Pineapple displayed something on the cracked screen, a map.
We all looked at the robot’s face.
“I’ll find the way.”
***
I opened the Stairway door.
It was time for a decision.
As I snapped my fingers, Ming Ming, Honey Combo, and Mangkomi each transformed to their maximum size.
Up to here, everything was going according to plan.
“Cause as much chaos as you can.”
“Ming!”
“Circle around once and regroup at the platform.”
The three Summoned Beasts charged toward the swarm of Monsters.
Mangkomi wasn’t all that big yet, which worried me a little, but…
Summoned Beasts grow by eating Monster meat, so it wasn’t a big concern.
They all could fly or move quickly, so as long as they didn’t get caught, they’d make it back alive.
I turned to Pineapple.
From here, we’d go straight to the Queen’s Chamber.
“Move.”
Pineapple raced down the corridor of the train station at top speed.
A few Monsters, sensing our presence, started following us, but Pineapple began spraying insecticide again, so they weren’t pursuing us too quickly.
“Pineapple, do you have a lot of insecticide left?”
“I’ve used more than half.”
At least there’s some left.
Running with a Gas Mask on wasn’t easy.
If I weren’t an Awakened, I probably would have collapsed by now.
The sound of the Ant Monsters grew louder and louder.
The scraping of exoskeletons, the clatter of hard armor on the floor, the flutter of massive insect wings.
And then…
We arrived at the platform.
As if waiting for us, several gigantic Monster insects stared our way.
Some had jaws like blades, front legs like sickles, spiked limbs, even some with pincers like a Scorpion.
Most of them were as big as, or bigger than, a tank.
“They’ve set up a formation.”
“This…”
Rather than fleeing, the enemy had chosen to fight.
It seemed all the generals and higher-ranked Monsters were waiting in front of the Queen’s Chamber to protect her.
“How do we deal with this?”
It took so much time to take down just one earlier.
It’s not a matter of time—I almost died more than once.
Even if we just cut them down, there are dozens.
Since this is the train station platform, it’s spacious enough to hold even dozens of giant Monsters.
It’ll be a task just to find the Queen among them…
Bang—!
With a loud explosion, the Holy Knight stepped in front of me.
Looks like one of the Ant Monsters can attack from range.
Seeing some kind of acidic substance sprayed our way, it was pretty threatening.
Tiny sparks flickered nearby.
“It’s one obstacle after another, really.”
“I’ll try spraying all the insecticide.”
We started running again.
“If we stand still, we’ll die.”
Luckily, the train station was full of columns to use as cover.
“Do you have a plan?”
A plan.
I do, though I’m not sure it’s a good one.
I didn’t answer.
“First, we need to get to a safe spot.”
We might be able to call in an airstrike on the enemy’s position.
It wouldn’t be easy to attack North Korean soil, but considering we’d be taking out a Military Division’s worth of Monster troops, it’s a risk worth taking.
We could also unsummon the three Summoned Beasts and then call them back to fight again. Or pull out a new card.
Bang—!
Another explosion rang out.
A terrible insect Monster was chasing us, firing burning poison from the structure at the end of its tail.
“How annoying.”
“Take cover.”
I stopped behind a column, half-concealed, and fired my gun at the Monster. Direct hit.
The Monster Insect kept staring at me as it bled.
The column I was hiding behind started to melt from the corrosive attack.
“This is just ridiculous.”
The Holy Knight hid behind his shield, and the sounds of toxic explosions kept coming from beside him.
“I really didn’t want to use this…”
But there was nothing else left.
I bowed my head, and the Holy Knight looked at me.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m about to use something I really shouldn’t.”
I took out a Shard of the fake Gate from my robe pocket.
***
The ‘Living Armor’ I recovered from the fake Gate.
I never intended to deploy it in the field.
A horrible Monster, made with the fake Gate’s power, steel armor stuffed with human corpses.
I thought I should never use it, but I saw no other way.
The Shard from the fake Gate shone with light, and pieces of armor pulled from the Inventory slowly—but surely—took on a human form.
It was completely unfazed by the onslaught of explosive toxins.
“What… is that?”
It was an upgraded version of a golem.
The Living Armor was the strongest being we’d encountered among Monsters—at least, since my regression.
The Living Armor, wielding a Greatsword twice the size of a man, charged into the horde.
It pushed through obstacles, crushing the terrain as it advanced—reassuring, but also unsettling.
A gigantic Scorpion-like insect Monster tried to tackle it—
Bang!
The two Monsters collided with a column on the platform, causing the floor to tilt.
The Monster Insects immediately moved to surround the Living Armor.
The Holy Knight drew his sword.
“This is our chance.”
Exactly. The Holy Knight’s sword shone once more.
A warm, sunlit glow formed a circle around the Holy Knight, and I quickly entered his field.
This time, I could fight much more calmly.
A Mantis-shaped Monster lunged at the Holy Knight, but he skillfully deflected its bladed forelegs. The Mantis tried to overpower him with its weight—
Bang!
The Hunter Rifle targeted a gap in its exoskeleton.
The Monster bled, staggering.
The Holy Knight wasted no time, thrusting his sword at the Monster’s weak point, and the Mantis reeled back with a strange cry.
More Monsters followed, but things were turning chaotic.
The Living Armor fought like a barroom brawler, grabbing and tossing Monsters aside.
Bang!
A flying Monster grabbed the armor from behind.
The Living Armor pulled it off and slammed its head into a pillar.
“If this keeps up, the whole place is going to collapse.”
I shifted my aim and fired a few shots at the Monster clinging to the armor.
The giant seized the moment to slam another insect into the floor.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
“Doctor Lee! Help!”
“Right… the Holy Knight is still fighting.”
The Holy Knight, far more fragile than my steel golem…
I shot the Monster in the head to stun it momentarily.
The Holy Knight barely crawled out from under the Monster’s claws.
Our trail was nothing but blood.
Not red, but an odd blue sheen—Monster insect blood.
Another Monster tackled the Living Armor, and another pillar fell.
“It’s coming down!”
“Okay.”
That’s the sound of the building collapsing.
I grabbed the Holy Knight from behind and ran as far from the battle as possible.
With a loud crash, the structure that formed the ceiling of the platform collapsed like dominoes.
From the stairs above, we watched the devastation below.
Part of the platform had broken off.
The room was full of dust from the crumbled concrete.
Amidst the rubble, the Living Armor tried to use its Greatsword to stand, but the sword snapped.
That acid bath from earlier hadn’t come without a price. The helmet—like a cone—turned to face me.
“Mission… complete.”
And then, even the armor collapsed.
Some might think of it as just an Artifact, but that thing must have a story of its own.
From the concrete wreckage, one by one, Monster insects began to crawl out.
I raised my weapon, but the Monster insects just turned their backs and left us alone…
***
And then, the Queen’s Chamber.
It was a section originally used for train maintenance at Kaesong Station.
I didn’t know where the trains had gone, and only the gigantic Monster insect, presumably the Queen, remained.
She seemed wounded from the earlier battle.
“That’s an Awakened.”
It looked like the Queen of the Ant Monsters only accepted the highest quality prey.
The corpses and weapons of what seemed to be Awakened from the North Korean Army were piled up in front of the Queen.
Either way, it was time to end this.
I raised my hand and signaled. Ming Ming, Honey Combo, and Mangkomi leapt at the Queen of the Monster insects.
[You have defeated the Army Ant Queen.]
[Exploration Score +30.]
[Enlightenment Stage 3 progress: 200/300.]
[You have defeated multiple high-ranking Monsters.]
[Exploration Score +30.]
[Enlightenment Stage 3 progress: 230/300.]
[You have discovered the characteristics of a Swarm-type Monster.]
[Exploration Score +30.]
[Enlightenment Stage 3 progress: 280/300.]
[You have reached Level 40!]
I closed the Status Window.
Dozens of high-level Monsters died in the last battle, so it made sense that I leveled up so much…
And I’d recovered a bunch of North Korean Hunter weapons, too.