Chapter 78: Appearance (1)

A vivid message floated in the gray sky.

Ding-dong!  

<Physical Safety Desire Section: The 4th Monster Wave will now begin! Please stay safe!>

Tens of meters ahead, a yellowish sandstorm raged toward me.

As it closed in, an ear-splitting noise followed.

THUDUDUDUDUDUDU~!

But something was off.

I narrowed my eyes and stared into the storm.

“Wait… that’s…”

Boar-sized bodies covered in yellow carapace.  

Mandibles clacking like cleavers. Scorpion stingers on their tails.

Desert Locusts.

The mythical swarm of monstrous locusts from legends was charging at terrifying speed.

Flap—

<Giant Desert Locust>

– Danger Rank: B 

– Discovery Location: Maslow’s Tower  

Insect-type monsters inhabiting the desert regions of the Lokpia continent. 

Possessed of terrifying gluttony and aggression, these massive yellow locusts operate in groups of hundreds to tens of thousands, devouring every living and non-living thing in their path without discrimination.

Even a rough count put them at over a thousand.

They blotted out the ground and sky, looking exactly like a sandstorm.

THUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU~!

The roar of hundreds of helicopters flying at once.

I looked up at the gray sky.

<4th Monster Wave – Time Remaining: 58 minutes 47 seconds>

<We wish all climbers continued safety and good health!>

A new message appeared with an oddly irritating cheer.

“Well, this room is refreshingly simple.”

Survive the horde of monsters rushing at you like rabid dogs.

That seemed to be the clear condition of the Physical Safety Desire section.

Then.

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZ—!

The dense swarm of locusts instantly darkened the sky above me.

My vision turned yellow in a heartbeat.

The wingbeats of hundreds of them made my eardrums vibrate.

BUZZZZ— BUZZZZZZ—!

Soon, what appeared to be the leader locust dove straight down.

Its shredder-like jaws wide open as it charged.

SWOOSH—

The moment it reached my face, I smashed its head with my fist.

Ding-dong!  

<Activating possessed skill 『Super Strength』!>

CRUNCH! SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT!

The locust’s head exploded like a watermelon, spraying yellow fluid and chunks everywhere.

Its lower body twitched for a few seconds before going limp.

One punch.

Even with the leader dead, the swarm attacked with undiminished fury.

I slowly raised my right foot and said,

“Welcome…”

Drips of Gigasnail oil fell from beneath it.

Then I slammed the sulfur-flame-wreathed foot into the ground.

“…and goodbye.”

Ding-dong! 

<Activating item skill 『Hellfire Sprint』 from the Mantle of Sulfur Hell!>

KWABOOOOOM!

A deafening explosion and a towering pillar of sulfur flames erupted.

The swirling hellfire swallowed the monstrous locust swarm.

CRACKLE! SNAP-SNAP! CRACKLE~!

Carapaces crumpling. Wings disintegrating. Legs frying.

The front-runners were reduced to ash without a trace.

The intense heat wave then slammed into the airborne swarm.

[KIIEEEEEE—!]

[KIGIK—KIGIGIK—]  

[KIIIIIT! KIIIIIIIIT!]

The locusts scattered frantically, but most were incinerated mid-air, turning to ash.

A clear line was carved through the gray sky where the pillar had risen.

In a single blow, roughly half the swarm—hundreds of B-rank monsters—were annihilated.

Time taken: about 10 seconds.

‘Something I couldn’t even dream of a few months ago.’

I remembered freezing stiff when I first faced the camel spiders in Lethe Tower.

Now I didn’t even feel tension against monsters.

Was it because I’d been through so many battles?

Or had my high Mental Strength stat dulled my fear?

I looked at the remaining locusts.

I thought I’d thinned them out a lot, but there were still hundreds left.

‘…When am I supposed to clean all these up?’

With no idea how many more sections lay ahead, wasting stamina on unnecessary fights was unwise.

‘Should I just transform into Bloodless and run? Hide somewhere and wait out the timer?’

That’s what I was thinking when—

—Ding-dong!

<Morg’s Magic Vault has a new request for the Vault Keeper!>

Suddenly the vault quest updated.

Ding-dong!  

<Storage item MRG-1993, 『Lewd Pet Lizard of the Virgin Mage (Male)』, is running low on food!>  

<Please procure food for MRG-1993. – Request: 1000 insect-type monster corpses>

“1000 insect corpses, huh.”

That’s a filthy big request.

…Or so I thought.

Ding-dong!

<This is the 100th quest received from Morg’s Magic Vault!> 

<Morgue Featherback has prepared a special reward!>

<Reward 1: +100 to all stats>  

<Reward 2: Featherback’s Special Reward>

“Oh?”

I’d already received 100 vault quests without realizing it.

Next to Featherback’s Special Reward was a sparkling gift-box icon.

‘Special reward, huh.’

I looked up at the locusts still swarming the sky.

Was there any reason to refuse this?

The quest materials (?) were literally buzzing right above me.

Hunter and prey.  

The one who hunts and the one who is hunted.

“Come here. I’ll give you a hug.”

The roles had completely reversed.

***

—Ding-dong!  

<The 4th Monster Wave will end soon!>  

<Time Remaining: 7 minutes 48 seconds>

Fifty minutes since the fourth wave began.

Near the ruins of a collapsed temple, locust corpses were piled high like mountains.

At the center of the ruins, a golden hemispherical holy barrier protected about ten people, all looking around anxiously.

“Huff… huff… huff…”  

“We… we can’t hold any longer…” 

“Anyone got a mana potion!?”

“That was the last one…”

Anxiety, nervousness, fear.

Despair filled the eyes inside the barrier.

Everyone was on the verge of death.

Then a priest-robed man spoke.

“Professor Park Ahjeong… what do we do now…?”

The woman standing in the center of the barrier raised her head.

Professor Park Ahjeong, historian of the Lokpia continent and A-rank white mage.

An S-rank dungeon had appeared without warning at Haeundae Beach.

Over 100 civilians had already been confirmed sucked into the gate.

If the dungeon wasn’t cleared quickly, the damage would spread across the entire country.

That’s why the Korean Hunter Association declared an emergency and threw every capable awakened inside.

A-rank white mage Professor Park Ahjeong was one of them.

But no one had expected an S-rank dungeon to have such a complex structure.

The raid parties were scattered, and only ten party members remained.

If Park Ahjeong had been even slightly slower, they’d all be dead by now.

“Everyone, stay strong! Only seven minutes left! We can hold!”

She tried to encourage the others.

But then.

THUDUDUDUDUDU~!

That familiar noise returned.

Far away, another swarm of monster locusts was turning the sky yellow as they approached.

The priest shouted frantically.

“The locusts are coming again! This time there are way more than before!”

The horizon was dyed yellow.

Thousands of locusts flying in perfect formation.

Park Ahjeong scanned the situation.

A tank whose shoulder was injured and couldn’t hold his shield.  

A swordsman whose sword was broken.  

An archer out of arrows. 

Mages completely out of mana.

The worst possible scenario.

Even the holy barrier surrounding the temple began to crack.

CRACK— CRACK—

Sweat poured down Park Ahjeong’s face.

She too had long reached her limit.

Seven minutes until the wave ended.

Even Park Ahjeong, who had been rallying everyone, felt despair.

‘Is this it…?’

Seven minutes felt like an eternity.

She lowered her head weakly, legs about to give out.

But then.

“H-Huh!? L-Look… look over there…! That… that… that thing—!”

The white mage started freaking out.

Park Ahjeong slowly raised her head.

“What… what is that…?”

She wiped the sweat from her blurred eyes.

The locust swarm charging madly toward them… was being chased.

Someone was hunting the locusts.

Then.

BOOM! KABOOM—! BOOM!

Massive pillars of fire erupted from beneath the swarm.

[KIIEEEE—!]  

[KIGYAAAA—!]  

[KIGIGIGIGIT!]

Locusts hit directly by the flames turned to ash and vanished.

Someone was massacring the locust horde.

“That’s…!?”

And that someone’s face was extremely familiar.

The face she saw every Monday in the lecture hall.

A brilliant, promising student with sharp wits and boundless potential—someone who would one day deeply study Lokpia continental history and hunter studies.

“Student Cha Hasang!?”

Her small, precious graduate student (real one) had appeared!