Chapter 104 – The Ant Nest
#104.
Tick-tack-tack…
The sound of the giant soldier ants with black spines jutting out here and there echoed around the cavity.
Gaon, hiding behind a rock about 10m away from him, quietly stared at Chorin, who was concentrating with his eyes closed.
Up to this point, I managed to approach without being noticed, but it is impossible to go any further. I had no choice but to get rid of him, but before that, I needed to check if there were other guards around. Chorin was using Rinne to scour the area.
After about three minutes, I saw Chorin open her eyes. Ha-yeon’s gaze, which was guarding her diligently, also turned to her. Soon, her chorin mouth opened.
“From the 200m starting point, several dogs are regularly circling the guard. Judging from the soldier ant’s movement speed and visual acuity, it is one minute at most. You have to check everything before you leave.”
“That’s enough. If you defeat the soldier ant, Mr. Chorin should stay in front with Ha Yeoni. I will quickly check and come out. It won’t take 30 seconds.”
“All right. If I am found out, I will send a message right away.”
Ants have a unique communication system called pheromones. They have the effect of making it possible to determine the exact location even at a distance of 1 km.
In order to block it, Cho-rin must remain, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be left alone, so it was right for her to keep Ha-yeon together.
After exchanging glances with the two companions, Gaon immediately leaped silently using Poongwolbo. Gaon, who jumped up leaving only a light breeze, stood upside down on the ceiling by demonstrating his operational ability to suck in wind through Yongcheon’s blood.
In that state, she moved slowly and waited for the soldier ant to take her place in advance. As she passed, she intended to ambush and kill them right away, then run into the food depot.
And after 30 seconds, a soldier ant appeared from afar. The inside of the anthill was so dark that it was impossible to see anything in front of it, but when mana was concentrated in the eyes, it was enough to distinguish the outlines of objects to some extent.
Soldier ants, which differed in appearance from the soil and rocks in the ant nest, were clearly visible even in the dark.
Gaon waited for the soldier ant to come down to the bottom, then rushed towards it, blowing out the wind he had sucked in from the Yongcheon Blood.
-Now!
At the same time, as soon as the signal was sent by electric sound, Chorin poured mana into the barrier, expanding the range and blocking the air bursting noise from spreading to the outside as it spurred the ceiling.
Paaang—!
“Kirik!?”
The creatures of the other world who have crossed the dimension are also sensitive to mana. Surprised to feel the magic of the barrier attacking him in an instant, he raised his head at the sound he heard from directly above, and was pierced from the top of his head by the spear of Gaon, and died instantly.
Kwajik! With a sound, the aura of the spear that dug into the carapace flew from the inside in all directions, tearing the inside apart.
Gaon, who confirmed that the carapace was bulging and flinching from rigor mortem, twisted the spear out and turned his head to nod to Chorin and Hayeon, who were just coming out of the rock.
The moment they arrived in front of the soldier ant’s corpse, they immediately used Poongwolbo to enter the food warehouse without making a sound of footsteps.
Inside the warehouse, the seeds of all kinds of plants, or the corpses of humans and various monsters that were kept from decaying using natural preservatives, were well organized.
These guys also use quite sophisticated methods, as if their intelligence naturally increased as they grew in size. Gaon brushed those things aside and quickly checked the inside.
‘The floor covered with tree roots.’
Evidently, Jang Bo-do was said to be contained in a metal box buried in a floor entangled with tree roots. The metal box was said to be platinum with a reddish tinge, but it was most likely an oricalcum, also called true gold.
Shopping is also valuable, but Oricalcum itself could be a great enough income. If it can be found, it can be reborn as a weapon by combining it with other metals.
With such an expectation in mind, I looked carefully at everything, but unfortunately I couldn’t find the floor covered with tree roots.
I wondered if it was covered in soil, so I carefully scanned it through the senses, but as expected, the result was zero. Gaon clicked his tongue in regret and left the food warehouse.
“Gaon, how are you?”
“Doesn’t exist. Leave quickly.”
“Yes! Come on!”
The time when ants wake up from hibernation is from March to April. Until then, there are only four weeks left. You must find Jangbo-do within that time.
Gaon recorded the route he had taken in detail on a large map so that he would not miss anything. Since the structure of an anthill changes greatly every year, this map will be useless after a month, but now was the best time to use it.
A total of 31 food warehouses were recorded on the map. Now that I’ve checked one, there are 30 left. Gaon hurried his steps as he figured out his next destination through the map.
***
“Kissy Sisit!”
“Huh!”
Kwajijik!
Gaon noticed through Gi-Gim that he rushed from a blind spot, and immediately rotated his body and swung his spear, smashing the weak waist part of the guy.
Two weeks have passed since I came down to the 5th floor and explored the food warehouse. So far, I have checked 15 places, just half of them, and I have not yet found Jangbo-do.
Rather, because of that, all the ants sleeping on the 5th floor woke up and the search speed slowed down even more. Even now, they are struggling to deal with the ants that have filled the road leading to the food warehouse.
Gaon, who had just taken another life with his spear, could hear Chorin’s voice coming from behind.
“Miss Gaon! Come from behind!”
“This…”
When I turned my head, I saw the ants returning from the corner, as if I had heard the commotion from the fight. There were 38 guys blocking the road in front of me, and 16 more guys coming in from behind. With a total of 54, the moderate party was at the level of being wiped out without even using their hands.
Of course, it cannot be seen that Gaon and the others are in danger. This is because Gaon is not doing his best right now. When he’s at full power, he can easily take down them.
Not doing so is due to the simple fact that mana is a waste. Skills like Spiral Wind consume a lot of mana. I need to take a break to recover, so there’s no way it’s not a waste of time.
‘It can’t be helped.’
It would be foolish to procrastinate here just to save mana. It would have been wiser to sweep it quickly and take a break.
After making that decision, I was about to pull out the aura, but I heard a clean, sweet voice from across the aisle.
“Back off for a moment!”
Apparently, it was an elf with pointed ears. Gaon, who was looking at the 15 people behind him, jumped back without hesitation and stepped back.
Then, as if he had waited, a thorn made of soil rose from the ground and skewered all the ants. The power was so powerful that the carapace was easily pierced like tofu, and the intestines poured out through the hole.
‘A minimum level of 7 stars.’
Gaon is currently on the 6th level. There are not many people stronger than him in the Barrymore estate. Among them, there is only one elf woman who can use earth spirit magic.
Milena, the leader of the Prenewal Guild.
The Prenewal Guild is one of the three largest guilds active in the Barrymore Manor, and its influence is enormous.
It can be said that it is doing quite well here, to the extent that it even receives a request directly from the owner of the estate, Count Mondrio. What could a woman like that have done to a place like this?
Gaon stared at them for a while, and after confirming that he had no intention of attacking, he turned around and attacked the additional ants.
After a while, Gaon, who had slain all the ants, led his party and cautiously approached them. Milenya, who was taking a leisurely break while chatting with the guild members, turns to Gaon.
“Thank you for your help. Thanks to you, I was able to escape.”
“What. It was nothing. Were we on the same road?”
“I’m glad you said that. I wonder if I should give you an example…”
As Gaon blurted out, Milenya shook her head, saying she had nothing to do with it.
“No. Are you okay. It’s not like I was asking for anything in return. Rather, the ants wake up really early. She got the commission, but I didn’t expect it to be this great.”
“If it’s a request… ?”
“Oh, didn’t you know? A while ago, the Earl of Barrymore placed a request. An investigation into the abnormality that occurred in the ant nest.”
“Ah… , Okay.”
It seems that Gaon and his party made a large-scale request, wondering if there was a problem because all the ants on the 5th floor woke up when they raided the food warehouse.
The lord noticed the change in the ant nest faster than expected. She thought she had some time to spare until she found Jang Bodo, but it seems that she will have to hurry even more.
If one of the mercenaries who rushed to the 5th floor after receiving the request finds Jang Bo-do first, the plan will be greatly disrupted.
‘Of course, that’s not the whole purpose.’
Concerned, Gaon glanced sideways at Milena.
From what I’ve said, it doesn’t seem like the request came in directly. That said, it was just that he had directly accepted a request from an unspecified number of people, but Milena, the guild leader of the Prenewal Guild, did not step forward.
He must have come looking for Jangbo-do like Gaon.
It was already famous in the Barrymore estate that the pre-new guild leader was looking for Jang Bo-do. To be precise, there is a rumor that Sintu is looking for one of the stolen items, a ring with the blessing of Trowell, the king of the earth spirits.
I don’t know what kind of causal relationship exists between Milena and Sintu, but in fact, as she thinks, the ring with Trowell’s blessing exists in the place where Sintu hides the treasure.
The one who gets her chapter report after her 3 years also means her. Milena obtains the treasure of Shintou, expands the power of the Prenewal Guild ignorantly, and strengthens its overwhelming position by advancing spiritism.
And that was one of the reasons why he was looking for Jang Bo-do. Gaon expressed his gratitude, recalling the letter of introduction that was sleeping in his subspace pocket.
“I never dreamed of that. It certainly seemed like there were a lot of monsters these days. I thought it was because of my mood, but it was true. Thank you for speaking up.”
“It was nothing. Then I’ll just go for it. I hope you are all right.”
“Yes. Take a good look.”
As if there was no time for this, Milenya said goodbye to Gaon and left with her guild members. As I stared at the back of her as she walked away, Chorin and Hayeon clung to each other.
“You are a beautiful person. Right? Gaon.”
Chorin’s cool gaze warmed her cheeks. She opened her mouth to say something, but Hayeon followed.
“Master. Then I’m going to punch a hole in the back of that person’s head. Stop watching. Look at my face to see.”
Then he put her hands on her cheeks and turned her head in front of him. Gaon came to appreciate Hayeon’s appearance out of nowhere.
Even though she had been sleeping in this poor anthill for two weeks already, her appearance did not fade.
Light brown hair flowing with luster and eyes shining softly as if studded with jewels. A high nose and small red lips. Even the sweaty hair on her cheeks exudes charm.
Even the curvy body that went in badly where it entered and came out badly. Gaon forgot where he was now and absentmindedly admired Hayeon’s appearance and figure.
Chorin awakened the spirit of Gaon, who was so fascinated by Hayeon. Her soft hands touched her side and began to pinch her flesh.
“Gaon-san, wake up! I have to float from this place first. Hayeonie, get away from me too!”
“Chit!”
“… Sorry. Let’s go right away.”
Ha-yeon also knows how to distinguish between work and life. If she remains in this position, she will attract pheromone ants. It is urgent to leave before then.
As soon as Gaon came to his senses, he apologized and left with the two of them.
It’s fine so far, but according to Milena, more mercenaries will reach this place as time passes. Before that, you need to find Jangbodo.
… Unexpectedly, there was a time limit.
