WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: BlueMangoAde
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 869: F-Rank Hunter Jeon Myeong-hoon (8)
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Jeju Island, before the Gate.
There, the vanguard commander of the ant colony, the General Ant, has gathered the ants and is giving a speech.
“Her Majesty is achieving repentant enlightenment based on the realizations she gained in this world. She is consolidating her authority through those new realizations, so until then, you must devote your lives to protecting Her Majesty. Do you understand?”
At those words, a Soldier Ant raises a hand.
“But, General Ant. I was baptized by the Heavenly Gospel Church recently and became a believer. According to its doctrine, I cannot devote my life to anyone other than God. I cannot agree with being told to devote my life to Her Majesty.”
“Damn it, Her Majesty is your parent and the master of your soul! What kind of religion have you fallen into that you refuse to devote your life to Her Majesty!?”
“I can devote my body, but making a vow to devote my life goes against our doctrine. If you leave out the vow, I will not disobey orders.”
“You little bastard, that alone is disobeying orders!”
“But, General Ant, before I enlisted in the Queen's Legion, you clearly said religious freedom would be permitted within the legion.”
“...”
The General Ant has a headache.
This is all because of those damn Merchant Guild bastards.
The world suddenly ended.
The chief god of the world they had lived in said it was because monsters from outer space had run rampant, and that the world would recover with time. But the ant colony could not believe those words.
So, they decided to leave their world.
They left their dimension and searched for another.
During that process, beings called the Merchant Guild, used by dimensional travelers, approached them and proposed a contract, saying they would provide land suitable for living.
The contract stated that the Merchant Guild would provide land, while the colony would open up the culture and civilization of its new land and new dimension, freely allowing all colony members access to them.
That was where the problem began.
It began with the Queen Ant encountering a strange culture in this dimension, attaining enlightenment, and refusing to leave her quarters.
Then, those who worshipped the divinities that had flowed in from other worlds, the Constellations, began to appear. So did those who believed in religions from other worlds and caused discord in ant society according to their doctrines.
‘How am I supposed to control these things?’
“...Anyway. What I mean is, first, kill everyone on this land who resists us...”
“General Ant! I recently became a Buddhist, so I cannot kill according to the Five Precepts of Buddhism.”
“...Then why the hell did you volunteer for the legion!?”
“I heard there was a new position for military chaplain ants...”
The General Ant considers disciplining these discordant bastards with a whip, but soon trembles and restrains themself.
‘Endure it, endure it. Religious, cultural, and ideological openness is why we are allowed to settle on this land. Calm down. If I whip these vermin carelessly, the whole colony will suffer.’
“Anyway, what I mean is...”
That is when it happens.
KABOOM!
An explosion rings out from one side of the area where the colony is beginning to settle.
“...! What was that? What happened!?”
“An intruder has appeared in Sector 112-2! An intruder has appeared! They are too strong! The intruder is charging toward the Gate!”
“What, you useless bastards! Did everyone hear that? An intruder has appeared within Her Majesty's colony! Throw yourselves at them and subdue them, then turn them into meatballs and eat them!”
“General Ant, I recently became a vegan ant, so I cannot eat meatballs!”
The General Ant finally loses patience, pulls out a whip, and swings it.
Crack! Crack!
“You trash-tier ant soldiers! You useless failures! You have been completely steeped in the ideas of another world, and every trace of you as a strong ant legion has regressed! If you are ants, eat meatballs like ants! If you are ant soldiers, move instead of talking back!”
Frightened by the General Ant's roar, the ant soldiers move in perfect order according to the command and deploy a formation to stop the intruder.
“As expected, vegans only listen when disciplined with a whip.”
The General Ant smiles in satisfaction at the soldier ants, who are finally moving properly.
Hummm! Hummm!
The formation deployed by the ant legion moves mana and spreads a massive barrier before the Gate.
The General Ant takes a deep breath and asks for a Constellation's blessing.
They, too, learned of Constellations through cultural openness. Unlike the other soldier ants, they do not worship Constellations, though they do borrow power from them.
Of course, every bit of power borrowed from a Constellation comes with a price. But belonging to the colony means the colony pays the price they must bear.
The General Ant draws upon a Constellation's authority with a far lighter heart than any human.
[The Constellation, the Life God of Alkaros, bestows authority upon you.]
The Life God of Alkaros.
It seems to be a Constellation popular among the medical workers of this dimension's native species.
However, it is popular among the ant colony's combatants.
Sizzle!
They remove the limits on the muscles throughout their body, grasp two short spears and one long spear, and glare at the intruder approaching them.
The intruder is an ordinary human.
‘They made it all the way here. I cannot underestimate them...!’
Huff!
The General Ant inhales, then swings all three spears with all their strength, hard enough to tear their muscles apart.
BOOM!
Heaven and earth shake, and the terrain is overturned.
Then, the General Ant's antennae rise.
“You blocked it...?”
The opponent has redirected the General Ant's spear strikes.
Sizzle!
Through the Life God's authority, their torn muscles regenerate in an instant.
“Fine. It is about time you native species sent someone proper. Come at me...!”
BOOM!
The General Ant collides with the human.
The human opponent also carries a spear and presses the General Ant with it.
Sizzle!
The more the General Ant fights, the more their wounds heal.
But at some point, the General Ant notices something and twitches their antennae.
‘This bastard...!’
Sizzle!
The human fighting with a spear is regenerating as well.
“Is it the power of that spear? Ha, a demon spear. Even I must pay a price to heal my body through a Constellation, but what are you thinking, relying on such a lowly artifact compared to a Constellation to heal your body? There is no price-free power in this world...! Are you planning to sell even your soul to that demon spear?”
“Ha.”
The human opponent, Jeon Myeong-hoon, gives a faint laugh at the General Ant's words as their spears meet.
“It is none of your business, so stop talking nonsense and fight with everything you have.”
Whirr!
Jeon Myeong-hoon's demon spear, Grevolg, spins and pushes aside the General Ant's spear.
Bang!
“What!?”
“Your fundamentals are much sturdier than that woman's. I will give you that.”
“You dare...!”
“But that is as far as you go!”
Immediately after.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's spear smashes against one of the General Ant's short spears, and the General Ant loses their grip on it.
Whoosh!
The next moment, a swiftly swung spear strike makes the General Ant leap back in alarm.
‘That was dangerous...! If I had been even a little later, my antennae would have been cut off!’
“...You are quite strong. The amount of mana in your body is not large, but has your skill in handling it reached the extreme? And you make up for your insufficient mana using the mana stored in that bracelet?”
“...”
The General Ant glares at the human before them and summons the lost short spear again.
“Fine. I will give you everything I have.”
Rumble!
Behind the General Ant, the mana of the ants who have deployed their Mana Formation at their command begins linking to their body.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The mana drawn in by the ants' formation becomes several lines of mana, which pierce into the General Ant's back.
With every line of mana that enters their body, mana surges from the General Ant's entire body.
Rumble!
“Fuuu... By your native species' standards, this is S-Minus-Rank, correct?”
“Call us humans.”
“Fine. I am accustomed to saying native species, but if someone as strong as you exists, I should show respect. I will endeavor to call you human. Then, human. By your standards, this is S-Minus-Rank. From this point onward, it is a completely different dimension from the lower realms! Can you contend against me?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon looks at the General Ant, who is linking the ants' mana to their body and becoming the incarnation of mana itself.
“Until recently, Shin Ah-young was my limit. At best, A+ Rank... Around there.”
This is a world with neither heaven and earth spiritual energy nor internal energy, only the foreign power called mana.
Moreover, there is almost no mana in Jeon Myeong-hoon's body in this world.
His mana recently rose from F-Rank to around E-Minus-Rank after clearing a Gate, but even that only makes him a little stronger than an ordinary person.
‘From what I heard, if you clear a high-ranking Gate alone, your mana should rise to at least C-Rank. Because of my Mana-Insensitive Body, even that increase must have been small.’
“But then I got these.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon raises his bracelet and spear.
The Mana Accumulation Bracelet, obtained as a reward for clearing an A+ Rank Gate.
And Grevolg, the demon spear that possesses the authority of [Regeneration].
Finally, the skill Ice Ball, gained by defeating a Dungeon Boss.
“Come at me. I will face you!”
A flash of light.
Using mana poured into the Mana Accumulation Bracelet, Jeon Myeong-hoon fires a far more powerful Ice Ball into the sky and points his spear.
The next moment, the General Ant accelerates to the limit and rushes at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
KABOOM!
The terrain changes with one strike.
‘A technique on the level of Shin Ah-young's ultimate move is an S-Rank's ordinary attack?’
Jeon Myeong-hoon clicks his tongue and smiles.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The terrain is overturned.
Jeon Myeong-hoon continues firing Ice Balls into the sky while barely redirecting the General Ant's spear strikes.
The General Ant is terrifyingly strong.
Their fundamentals with a spear far surpass Shin Ah-young's, and the same is true of their other powers and authorities.
And on top of that...
Fwoosh!
Jeon Myeong-hoon barely avoids a ball of flame shot toward him.
BOOM!
A Fire Ball of a completely different size from the ones used by human Hunters.
The ant legion behind the General Ant gathers mana and casts a Fire Ball the size of a house to support them.
‘Annoying. This is dangerous. It needs to happen soon...!’
Jeon Myeong-hoon keeps firing Ice Balls into the sky whenever he finds an opening as he battles the General Ant.
“Ha...! What have you been doing this entire time? Are you trying to make snow clouds? You will never defeat me with something like that...!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
The General Ant's spear strikes rain down.
Unlike Shin Ah-young's crude spearwork, they begin leaving wounds across Jeon Myeong-hoon's body.
How long does he force himself to move until his muscles tear, relying on Grevolg's authority to regenerate as he barely redirects the General Ant's attacks?
At last, Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes shine.
But at the same time, the General Ant's spear becomes a technique he cannot possibly evade, pressing in on Jeon Myeong-hoon. The next moment.
The General Ant's spears pierce both of Jeon Myeong-hoon's sides, while his demon spear blocks the General Ant's spear.
BOOM!
An explosion sounds from the ground under Jeon Myeong-hoon's feet, turning the entire area into a crater.
Blood bursts from every opening in Jeon Myeong-hoon's face.
The General Ant speaks in an admiring voice.
“Excellent. I will personally turn your body into a meatball and eat it. It is the greatest respect I can show!”
“Ah... How generous of you.”
“Are those your last words?”
Creak!
Strength enters the spear in the General Ant's grasp.
They intend to cut Jeon Myeong-hoon in two.
“Of course not. I let myself get hit on purpose.”
The General Ant flinches, then immediately retreats with all their strength.
KRRRROOOM!
Immediately after.
A bolt of lightning falls from the sky upon the place where they and Jeon Myeong-hoon stood.
The General Ant looks up at the sky.
They remember Jeon Myeong-hoon continuously firing Ice Balls into the sky.
“Lightning, Ice Balls? What is this? What connection could cause lightning...?”
Sizzle!
At the place where the lightning passed, the General Ant looks at Jeon Myeong-hoon, who has been struck by lightning, and chuckles.
“Was it a plan to perish together? Regrettably, I am disappointed. How you made lightning is...”
“When ice particles keep colliding, pressing, and bending one another inside clouds, imbalances keep forming. Then once they pass a critical point, they become heavenly lightning.”
Crackle! Crackle!
“...Hey.”
The General Ant speaks to the soldier ants behind them, who have deployed a formation and are supplying them with mana.
“I will hold them back somehow, so all of you go beyond the Gate, close it as quickly as possible, and inform Her Majesty.”
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
“...A being on the level of Her Majesty exists in this land...!”
KRAKLE!
[Skill, Mana Imbuement LV.MAX]
After being struck by lightning, Jeon Myeong-hoon loads all of its power into mana and injects it into his spear. He regenerates his burned body through the spear's power and grins until his mouth threatens to split.
Clank!
The lightning loaded into the spear together with Spear and Body Unity is injected into Jeon Myeong-hoon as well.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's body is fried, but regenerates at the same time.
“I am forcing it, but hm, yes. It truly is good...! The feeling of controlling thunder and lightning...!”
KRRRUMBLE!
With a thunderous roar, Jeon Myeong-hoon charges toward the General Ant.
KRRRUMBLE!
The General Ant tries to swing their spear, but at some point, their spear has already been severed by Jeon Myeong-hoon's strike.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
System windows follow Jeon Myeong-hoon, granting him skills.
[You have acquired the skill, Lightning Garment LV.1.]
[The user's understanding of the skill is too high!]
[Lightning Garment LV.1 has increased in level.]
[Lightning Garment LV.1 -> Lightning Garment LV.MAX!]
[The user's skill compatibility has exceeded a set threshold!]
[The skill, ‘Lightning Garment,’ evolves into the user's ‘Unique Skill’!]
KRAKLE!
A Unique Skill is added to Jeon Myeong-hoon's status window.
However, Jeon Myeong-hoon pays it no attention and begins attacking the General Ant while covered in lightning.
“Hu...!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
He does not use the spearhead.
With Grevolg's shaft, he cheerfully pounds the General Ant.
He pounds them, pounds them, and pounds them again. Then, at some point!
BOOM!
The General Ant's carapace vaporizes!
KRAKLE!
Lightning coils around Dragon Twister Thrust.
The mana in the surroundings flows into the spear according to Jeon Myeong-hoon's will.
A technique close to an authority, controlling the surrounding flow of mana because he himself has no mana!
Mana pours in through that technique, and light flashes from Jeon Myeong-hoon's spearhead.
The General Ant groans.
“Aura...!”
BOOM!
In the final moment.
A hole is pierced through the General Ant's chest, and they collapse.
Crackle!
Jeon Myeong-hoon regenerates his body, which has discharged all its electricity, and speaks.
“You were an excellent opponent.”
Ding!
[You have defeated General Ant Auswahlen, one of the Ten Mid-Bosses of the SSS+-Rank Gate, ‘Ant Garden.’ The system blesses you.]
Because of his Mana-Insensitive Body, Jeon Myeong-hoon feels his mana, previously at E-Minus-Rank, increase only a tiny amount to E-Rank. He clicks his tongue inwardly.
“So your name is Auswahlen. You do not sacrifice your subordinates? You used a skill that concentrated your subordinates' power into your body...”
“Why would I... sacrifice my subordinates... They are trash who only listen when whipped, but... they are one family, born from Her Majesty's egg...”
“I see... I respect you. Warrior Auswahlen.”
“Turn my body... into a meatball and eat it. It will nourish your body.”
“That is not a human custom.”
“Kh... Kha ha ha...!”
General Ant Auswahlen laughs and speaks.
“Human warrior. What is your name?”
“...I am...”
Jeon Myeong-hoon whispers something quietly into the dying Auswahlen's antennae, and Auswahlen's body trembles as they smile.
“It is an honor...! Perhaps you... could help Her Majesty, who has recently been wandering...”
Auswahlen reaches a hand into their chest and pulls something out.
“If you will not turn me into a meatball and eat me, then take at least my core. It will replenish your insufficient mana, even if you simply carry it.”
“I see. Understood. I will gratefully accept it. May glory be with your race...”
“To be viewed kindly by someone such as you... is glory... enough...”
As Auswahlen's breath fades, they think.
Their Queen has recently been growing stronger.
Everyone viewed it favorably.
If the Queen grew stronger, she would accomplish tremendous feats for the ant colony's future.
On top of growing stronger, she seemed to have gained some enlightenment through this world's knowledge.
But...
Auswahlen knew.
Along with enlightenment, the Queen Ant had also developed a cultivation deviation.
Within a storm of countless ideologies, she was confused because she could not tell what was what.
The Queen had become trapped inside an egg of ideology.
‘To break that egg, perhaps someone like that person could help...’
Auswahlen lowers their antennae and loses consciousness.
Even in their final breath, they think of their Queen.
‘Our Queen. May you have glory...!’
* * *
The inside of the SSS+-Rank Gate, Ant Garden, fills with uproar.
An emergency has arisen among the ants.
It is not enough that they received the shocking news that Auswahlen, one of the Ten General Ants guarding the Gate entrance, has died. They have also learned that the invader is advancing inward without hesitation.
The Sage Ants and General Ants gather for a meeting.
“We must inform Her Majesty!”
“No! Have you forgotten that Her Majesty is in closed-door cultivation!?”
“What closed-door cultivation? Do you even know how strong that invader is!? It is a being that killed one of the Ten General Ants, a General Ant supported by the legion, in a short time. We need Her Majesty's command!”
“Calm down. First, we need to identify that being...”
That is when it happens.
An ant enters the conference room and cries out.
“A report says the intruder is heading toward a religious facility built within the colony!”
“A religious facility!? Which religious facility?”
A Sage Ant asks, cold sweat running from their antennae.
At the Merchant Guild's suggestion, the ant colony has many religious facilities devoted to Constellations made up of Rulers, Divinities, and Great Divinities from other worlds, or to gods.
If such a facility is attacked and a great deity's temple is destroyed, inviting that great deity's wrath, the entire colony could be exterminated.
The Sage Ant presses the Soldier Ant.
“What religious facility is it? Speak quickly!”
“According to communications... Um... it appears to be the temple of the Thunder God Religion.”
“Ah... The Thunder God Religion? Fuuu... What a relief.”
Fortunately, the place the invader is heading toward is a temple of the Thunder God Religion, which serves the obscure Thunder God and has the weakest following.
If it is such an unknown deity, the colony will probably not face major retaliation just because its temple is somewhat damaged.
“Still, do not let them destroy other religious facilities. Begin an encirclement centered on the Thunder God Religion's temple! All General Ants, move as well. We Sage Ants will also move. Acting in Her Majesty's stead, we must mobilize the entire ant colony's strength!”
At the Sage Ant's words, one General Ant speaks in a dissatisfied voice.
“When exactly does Her Majesty intend to move?”
“How insolent! Is Her Majesty not in closed-door cultivation?”
“Hmph. How long do you intend to defend a Queen who only stays in seclusion without fulfilling her duties...?”
The Sage Ant groans at the General Ant's words.
Certainly, their Queen has neglected her duties and shut herself in her cultivation chamber.
She says it is to consolidate her enlightenment, but for some reason...
The Sage Ant worries that the Queen might have gone mad, consumed by the ideological enlightenment she acquired in another world.
‘Could she have developed a cultivation deviation, shutting herself away while rejecting even her duties...? Your Majesty. Please complete your closed-door cultivation safely in body and mind...’
* * *
Ant Garden initially opened on Jeju Island disguised as a C-Rank Gate.
Neither the Hunters nor Gate managers drawn to a C-Rank Gate could possibly notice the ant colony's members, each of whom was on average equivalent to a B-Rank Awakened.
Each Sage Ant was A+ Rank. With support from the ant legion or items, they possessed strength and authority at S+ to SS-Minus-Rank. Disguised as humans, the Sage Ants first investigated the dimension called Earth.
Earth was astonishing.
The native species called humans were impossibly weak, but human culture held many astonishing things.
The Sage Ants brought the wonders of human culture to their Queen first.
Around that time.
The Queen was focused on one duty.
‘I must give birth to a king.’
The greatest duty of a Queen Ant is to squeeze out mana and authority to give birth to a powerful king!
However...
The Queen Ant is shocked after reading a book brought by the Sage Ants.
“Fe... mi... nism...?”
The Queen Ant falls into shock while looking at a book titled Feminists, Roar!
And the Queen Ant, who had been focused on her duty to give birth to a king, comes to hold one question.
“Why must I give birth to a king?”
At first, it is a question about the position of Queen itself, born from feminism.
That question leads her to study various ideologies of Earth.
Starting with feminist books.
Mein Kampf.
What Is Fascism?
The Communist Manifesto.
Declaration of Democracy.
What Is Capitalism?
The Declaration of Natural Rights, and more.
As a result of procuring and continuously reading ideological books built up by the humans of this world.
At some point, the Queen Ant feels the horizon of ideology open wide, and mana responds to her will with greater and greater smoothness.
At some point, she falls into closed-door cultivation as she continuously probes the question of what existence is.
“Why do we have roles from the moment we are born?”
“Why was I born an ant?”
“Since I was born an ant, must I focus on the role of Queen Ant? Or should I seek out the role that I, myself, have built? If it is the latter, then what have I built up until now?”
Rumble!
Terrifying mana whirls around the Queen Ant.
“Why were we born? Why do we live? What is life...!”
As she seeks and seeks the reason for life, she enters a state where it seems she may cross some wall, yet cannot.
She pours all the mana she had saved to give birth to a king into her own evolution.
Using mana saved for giving birth to a king is an ant taboo!
Committing that taboo, she keeps thinking about what truth might be amid her changing evolution, and begins a new metamorphosis.
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