Chapter 22: Shattered Hope
"My queen... in danger... I must... kill the enemy...!" Despite having only just been born, the guardian’s instincts were able to judge the situation accurately.
Without wasting any time, the guardian launched itself towards the zombie. Although hundreds of zombie ants surrounded the blood ant queen, the Guardian remained focused on Ethan.
Opening its pincer-like mandibles, it decided to ram straight into him. If he wanted, Ethan could easily evade its attack.
"Let’s see how strong you are!" Folding his fingers into a fist, Ethan prepared himself to attack in return.
As the guardian closed the distance, he launched a punch—aiming for its head.
*Bang!*
Ethan’s fist slammed against the crystal armor of the guardian. His arm immediately grew tens of times heavier. Clearly, the guardian’s strength was no joke.
However, Ethan was struggling. Although he was able to stop the guardian’s movements temporarily, he could feel his body slowly succumbing to its force.
Little by little, he was being pushed back.
’This is bad!’ Realizing that the situation wasn’t looking good, he quickly decided to jump to the right and evade the attack.
But as he leaped, the guardian closed its mandible, scratching Ethan’s side.
Thanks to his trait—Regeneration—the wound closed up almost instantly.
"I see." Turning back, Ethan stared at the back of the guardian. "I have a rough estimate of its strength as well as mine. What about his endurance, though?"
Seeing that the guardian was slowing its movements, he noticed that due to its size, it required some effort to stop. Taking advantage of this moment, Ethan rushed towards it and jumped.
Aiming for the hard shell on its back, Ethan attacked with every last bit of his strength.
*Crack*
A nail-sized crack formed on its exoskeleton. Ethan raised his brows in astonishment.
The shell was too hard!
’Even after using my whole strength, the best I could do was this small crack?’
Before long, he dozed off into his thoughts, completely forgetting about the existence of the guardian.
*Bang!*
The guardian swung its mandibles, striking Ethan and throwing him away.
With an almost ear-deafening sound, he brutally crashed into the wall next to the cave. For a moment, his body was completely stuck to the wall—cracked and crumbling.
A stream of jade green blood quickly trickled down the rocks, pooling near the edge.
*Bleurgh!*
With a single attack, Ethan’s body had been critically injured. Many of his organs had been damaged, pierced through with his own broken bones.
The blood ant queen, on the other hand, was slowly regaining her senses. Previously, the queen was anxious about the outcome of the fight.
But now, she could move her eyes. And before her, Ethan slumped on the ground in a sorry state.
’Fufufu...’ Without realizing it, the ant queen had started giggling in her mind like a maniac.
Recalling the extent of powers Ethan had shown her, the queen had become sure of the result.
’The guardian... won.’
---
———————————————————
[#/System Notification/#]
———————————————————
[Class Skill Activated.]
└ ■ Flesh Assimilation (SSS)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Assimilation Target:]
└ ■ Dead Blood Ant (F) ×50
---
*Swoosh!*
Suddenly, a wave of energy spread through the cave. The guardian—aiming to strike the final blow—flinched as he felt an insurmountable pressure befalling his mind.
Similarly, the blood ant queen felt her mind going blank.
’Th-this... What is happening?’
Blood that had been soaked deep into the ground slowly emerged to the surface. Crimson winds emerged from Ethan’s body, extending in all directions.
In no time, the wind swept the blood and remnants of the blood ant’s remains, bringing them closer to him.
The blood ant queen observed the incident in complete shock. At first, she didn’t know what was happening. But the more she saw, the more her instincts screamed of danger.
’I-I... I must not let him complete his motive...’ She stammered weakly.
The bodies and blood were broken down into biological energy before entering Ethan’s body at once.
---
[Assimilation Complete.]
Biological energy has been successfully absorbed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Recovery Result:]
└ ■ Overall body damage restored by 90%.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Racial Trait Activated.]
└ ■ Regeneration (C)
[Regeneration Progress:]
└ ■ Estimated time until full recovery: 3 minutes
---
Instantly, Ethan’s damaged organs were patched, and his bones joined back. Ignoring the few injuries on his skin, Ethan slowly got up.
’I see... so that’s your strength...’ Recalling the impact he had withstood a moment ago, Ethan concluded. ’If one hit didn’t kill me and I can fully heal, then as long as I avoid its charge and target its weak point, I can win.’
’System, allot all the available points to strength,’ he called out.
A few moments ago, he had leveled up once again, granting him two free points.
Ethan knew that investing those points in endurance or agility was useless.
’Those stats are too low; a mere two points won’t make a difference.’
*Kreeek!!!!*
Realizing that the guardian had lost its chance, it screeched. Angered, it launched yet another attack toward Ethan.
Rather than responding to its attack, he was left stunned.
’...system?’ he called once again.
For some reason, the system didn’t answer.
However, he didn’t have the leisure to sit around and ponder on the question any longer.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a silhouette approaching him rapidly. Without thinking twice, Ethan jumped onto the wall and pushed himself away.
The guardian rammed straight into the wall, completely missing Ethan.
Its two sharp mandibles dug deep into the crumbling rocks, getting stuck. The guardian continuously tried to free himself; however, his jagged, teeth-like mandibles stuck tighter the more he forced.
Ethan saw this and immediately pounced on top of the guardian. As soon as he landed on his back, both the guardian and the queen felt a similar emotion.
Helplessness.
Ethan stepped on the guardian’s face and stomped his right leg on one of his eyes.
*Squelch!*
The guardian screamed in pain as its eye burst open, letting a small stream of blood flow through. Then, Ethan bent down and struck its mandibles relentlessly.
One strike.
Ten strikes.
Small cracks emerged on the crystal’s surface, becoming more evident with each punch.
Then suddenly, with a loud sound, Ethan’s fists broke through both of his mandibles. Deep crimson blood gushed out of its wound, paining the guardian to near-exhaustion.
Hearing its guardian scream in agony, the queen’s mind began to break. From within her heart, she could hear a voice similar to her.
Yet, for some reason, this voice spoke in a different tone.
’Say, don’t you think that zombie is extraordinary?’
’What if he’s a being meant for greatness?’
’Shouldn’t you serve a being like that?’
Thoughts she’d never imagined emerged in her mind as if they were completely normal.
"N-No... He’s dangerous!!! He killed my children! N-Now, he’ll kill me just like them!" The blood ant queen fought back relentlessly; however, she could feel her consciousness weakening.
On the other hand, the guardian stumbled back pathetically. Its breathing grew uneven, yet it continued to oppose Ethan.
"I thought about taking you in as a subordinate, but you brought this upon yourself," Ethan said, his expression eerily calm.
For a moment, his gaze drifted towards the queen.
Her face had gone white, her eyes void of all hope.
Seeing her state, Ethan’s lips twitched into a smile before relaxing immediately.
’It’s time...’
---
———————————————————
[#/System Notification/#] ———————————————————
[Unallocated Attribute Points Used.]
└ ■ 2 Points Allocated
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Strength Increased.]
└ ■ Strength: 42 → 44 (↑2)
---
At this moment, a system window appeared before his eyes. Ethan gave it a few glances before focusing on the problem ahead.
With the resolution of fighting the enemy to death, the guardian charged at Ethan for one last time.
Ethan pulled back his right arm and prepared to hammer the final nail to his success.
The zombie ants and the ant queen stared at them with a deathly silence. Holding their breaths, the zombie ants stared at the powerful majesty of their sovereign.
The queen? Her mind had deteriorated rapidly. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with her, but she still wanted to survive.
Was it her instincts?
Or was it merely a wishful hope?
Who knew? But she still believed in her guardian, as it was the last and most powerful wall that protected her.
’If my guardian kills that m-mutt... Will you let me live?’ The queen’s voice echoed in her mind, weak and emotionless.
’Yes.’
The guardian opened its mouth wide. After losing its mandibles, its only chance at survival was to devour the zombie whole.
Closing the distance, its only eye struggled to pinpoint Ethan’s exact movements. Before it could even realize it, Ethan threw his punch.
Although this time, he neither aimed for its exoskeleton nor did he attempt to brawl with his strength.
No, instead, he aimed for its mouth.
’Its entire body is covered with a layer of crystals; I can’t kill him in a single strike. But that doesn’t apply to the soft tissues inside his mouth.’
Inserting his arm completely in the guardian’s mouth, Ethan spread his fingers and grabbed onto its neck from the inside.
Instinctively, the ant bit down hard, its teeth slashing through his flesh easily, digging against his bone.
Ignoring the pain, Ethan ruthlessly twisted his hand, breaking the guardian ant’s neck instantly.
But he didn’t just stop there. Ethan slammed his left leg against its body and, with all its strength, pulled at its head.
Strand by strand, as its muscles teared apart, the guardian squirmed. Since its birth, it only had the intention of saving its queen. But now facing its imminent death, the guardian, just like any other creature, wished for life.
"Just..." Slowly, Ethan’s efforts bore fruit as the guardian’s head was completely detached from its body.
A large amount of blood gushed out of its body, raining over Ethan’s body. Holding onto the guardian’s head, his gaze shifted towards the queen.
Looking at Ethan victoriously bathing in her guardian’s blood, the queen’s mind completely shattered. For the first time in her life, the queen felt something beyond helplessness.
’I couldn’t win against him from the start... Haha... Y-You monster!’
An utter sense of fear took over her soul, molding it into a newly desired shape. A strange green hue swirled in her crimson eyes, rapidly devouring their original color.
The queen’s crimson eyes completely lost their light. Fear overwhelmed every remaining shred of resistance.
---
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully slain an E-Rank Monster.]
└ ■ Blood Ant Guardian
[Experience Gained.]
└ ■ +500 EXP
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Dormant Infection Complete.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Target Mental State Confirmed.]
└ ■ Fear
[Infection Threshold Satisfied.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[New Undead Registered.]
└ ■ Blood Ant Queen (E)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Zombie Sovereignty Activated.]
[The target has submitted to the designated user’s authority.]
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