Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 305 – Strange Adventure in the Bastro Dimension (5)

It was very faint, but Han-Yeol could definitely tell that it was indeed the Dragon of Destruction's mana. The Dragon of Destruction's mana and Restore were complete opposites. Therefore, it would be a waste if the soldier ants Mariam was struggling to control died because of Restore. So, he chose to use Healing Bullets instead.

Restore had purifying properties, making it incompatible with the Dragon of Destruction's mana, while Healing Bullets simply healed the target's body, making it safe to use on the mind-controlled ants.

The soldier ants under Mariam's command were fully healed, and they were stronger than before, thanks to being buffed by Han-Yeol's Enhancement Aura.

[Death to the filthy traitors!] the Combat Queen Ant roared in anger.

Treason was punished by death in the society of the ants. It might seem unfair for the ants since they were mind-controlled by the enemy, but their fate was as good as sealed the moment they fell under the enemy's control.

Mariam's telepathic ability was so powerful that the only way for a weaker creature to break free from it was for her to cancel it or for her to die. This was the reason why her ability was quite terrifying.

“…”

Woooong!

The ants under her control moved according to her commands, completely disregarding their queen.

[Go make quick work of the traitors, my children! I shall go and punish those arrogant intruders!]

[Her Majesty has given her command!]

‘Oh? It's not just big in size, but it knows how to think as well?’ Han-Yeol was impressed.

The battle restarted.

Shwiiiik!

‘Restrain!’

It was time to attack preemptively and seize victory!

Han-Yeol struck first with Restrain and Cold Chain, which was a deadly combo. Getting caught by this attack was going to end the battle because being afflicted by Cold Chain while immobilized by Restrain would spell certain doom, unless the target possessed strong resistance against frost attacks.

The tunnels were quite spacious enough for Tayarana to fly around at low altitude, but they were not large enough to accommodate the huge size of the Combat Queen Ant. In other words, the Combat Queen Ant had no way to avoid the incoming attack.

[Your Majesty!] the soldier ants cried out, just in case their queen would get hit by the dangerous-looking attack.

[Fools!]

Fwaaaaa!

The Combat Queen Ant spat out a huge amount of acid at the incoming chain.

Bzzt!

[H- Han-Yeol-nim! T-This poison is…!]

Karvis, currently in the form of the unique artifact chain, began to struggle against the poison.

‘Hmm?’

Han-Yeol found it strange that Karvis was in pain, considering she never showed any signs of pain before, no matter how strong an impact she was subjected to. He had no idea what was going on but decided to pull his chain back and inspect it.

‘Are you okay, Karvis?’

[Y-Yes... Han-Yeol-nim, that acid is no ordinary acid. It can corrode anything it touches, and my body, in this chain form, is highly susceptible to corrosion. I wish to avoid that as much as possible.]

‘Ugh... That's quite the troublesome ability…’

It was definitely bad news for Han-Yeol that the enemy possessed the ability to corrode things.

Kieeeek!

[Foolish intruders! Enter into eternal slumber in these tunnels!]

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Combat Queen Ant made her move.

“Tara!”

“Yes,” Tayarana replied before she flew up in the air.

‘Crescent Slash!’

She swung her sword and a crescent wave of mana flew toward the Combat Queen Ant.

[Ha!]

However, the Combat Queen Ant simply scoffed at the attack and swung her arm.

Boom!

Tayarana's attack was easily blocked, achieving nothing more than creating a loud noise.

"Huh?" Tayarana was stunned after seeing her attack easily blocked by a single wave of the monster's arm. Then, she bit her lip and grumbled in anger, "That's annoying… You're not getting off easily."

Whoosh!

Tayarana readied her sword once again, infused mana into her Horus Wings, and flew toward the Combat Queen Ant.

Vroom!

She was proud of being a warrior, but having her attack blocked so easily made her angry. It had been quite a while since she was last furious, and she definitely wanted to...

[Die! Intruder!]

“You’re too noisy.”

Krwaaaaang!

Tayarana's sword clashed with the Combat Queen Ant's long arm.

In this battle, there was no clanging sound of steel; instead, it was the sound of the sword meeting a rock-solid pole that reverberated throughout the tunnel.

‘Wow… Tayarana is quite scary when she’s mad…’ Han-Yeol thought while observing the battle.

[Kill the traitors!]

[…]

[Hurry up and speak! Let me hear what excuses you have, traitor!]

[…]

[Ha! Are you at a loss for words?!]

Han-Yeol observed the soldier ants getting angry at the mind-controlled ants. 'They can speak, but they can't use their brains? Ah, I guess it's because mind-control abilities don't exist in this dimension.'

Then, he realized that mind-control skills were virtually non-existent in this dimension. The closest skill to it would be the corruption ability used by the hyenas, but that was quite different from the mind-control skill Mariam was using.

'Besides, even if such a skill existed, it wouldn't be that effective against the Bastro Warriors anyway.'

Of course, there could be some rare cases where it might work if certain tricks were pulled, but that was highly unlikely too.

It was then.

[We are one.]

"Hmm?" Han-Yeol noticed that the mind-controlled ants were saying the same things at the same time.

'What was that?'

He looked at Mariam, who was controlling the ants. He noticed that she had her eyes closed while mumbling something.

Woooong!

Then, a thick blue smoke began to rise around her, and her head was shaking as it absorbed the mana from her surroundings.

'W-What's she doing? What's happening? Someone explain!' Han-Yeol was completely flabbergasted by the sudden turn of events.

'Aaaah! My head hurts!' He grabbed his head and screamed inside his head in agony.

Boom! Boom!

The battle between Tayarana and the Combat Queen Ant raged on. Meanwhile, the mind-controlled ants continued to mumble in unison.

[We are connected as one. We hear and see as one!]

[Silence, traitors!]

Clang! Clang!

[Hmm?!]

The twenty mind-controlled soldier ants clashed with the forty soldier ants.

At first, it might seem like Mariam's ants were going to lose, given that she was controlling twenty ants against forty, and it didn't matter whether they were receiving buffs from Han-Yeol or not. However, the complete opposite happened after the two sides clashed.

[We are connected as one. We hear and see as one!]

Sukeok!

“Kieeeek!”

The twenty ants under Mariam's command displayed fluid movements that should not have been possible for them to make.

The soldier ants were confident they could easily kill the traitors since they were low-ranking soldiers destined to die at the frontlines.

Shockingly, the low-ranking soldier ants started moving in complete synchrony and displayed overwhelming combat abilities, as if they were under the influence of some powerful drug.

[K-Kill the traitors!]

[Yes, sir!]

[Death to the traitors!]

The battle raged on.

Puuuk!

A soldier ant was stabbed through its chest by a traitor.

Puuuk! Puuuk!

[K-Kuheok…!]

Two traitors took advantage of the opening and stabbed their spears at the head and chest of the soldier ant.

It went without saying that the soldier ant died instantly after being skewered.

The traitors continued to move in an organized manner and attacked the soldier ants.

[Keuk…!]

The captain of the soldier ants couldn't help but be shocked at what was happening. It was their first time seeing such tactics from the ants.

[Hmm…? Don’t tell me?!]

The captain looked at Mariam. Her eyes were closed, and she was mumbling something under her breath. The captain noticed that whatever she was doing was likely empowering the traitors.

'I see… I heard those hyenas, or whatever they were called aboveground, had the ability to capture monsters and control them… It turns out that they were not traitors but fools who were under the enemy's control. Then, we just have to get rid of that intruder first!'

The captain gave the command to two of his elite soldiers.

[Hey, you two!]

[Yes, sir!]

[Follow me. We're going to go kill the intruder.]

[Yes, sir!]

There was no way the captain could simply let the enemy be after figuring out the trick behind their strength.

[Let’s go!]

[Yes, sir!]

Buzz!

The three soldier ants waited for an opening before suddenly flying toward Mariam.

Han-Yeol saw the sudden movement made by the ants.

'Damn it!'

Mariam was able to participate in battle through the monsters she controlled after having her second awakening, but she was not experienced in direct combat. Thus, she was definitely going to be in danger if the enemy suddenly popped up in front of her.

'I need to help!' Han-Yeol thought as he prepared to run over to her.

“Kieeeeek!”

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Keuk…!”

‘W-What?! Even Tayarana?!’

Tayarana was viciously attacking the Combat Queen Ant, but it was an uphill battle for her because the boss monster was more powerful than the Magma Giant. She might have exchanged blows with the boss monster thanks to her initial momentum, but it was clear as day that she was starting to lose.

‘W-What should I do…?’ Han-Yeol was in a dilemma.

It was then.

“Mind Crush!”

Chwaaak!

Mariam had been concentrating with her eyes closed for a while, but she suddenly shot her eyes wide open and cast a strange spell before clapping.

Then…

Ziiiing!

An invisible energy enveloped the three soldier ants coming toward her.

[K-Kuheok…!]

[Kireuk!]

[Kwak!]

The three soldier ants lost their minds.

‘W-What…?!’

They couldn't see what had hit them, but they were certain that something had. However, they soon found their consciousness fading slowly after being struck by the invisible force.

‘N-No…!’

‘P-Protect the queen…’

‘My… My… queen…’

The three soldier ants passed out.

“Mind Control,” Mariam used her skill.

Woooong!

Kireuk…

The three soldier ants that had just passed out rose from the ground and knelt in front of Mariam.

"Go fight," she gave a simple command.

The three soldier ants gave a slight bow to acknowledge the command and flew to join the fray.

Han-Yeol was surprised to see Mariam easily take control of the situation, and then he kicked off the ground and ran to assist Tayarana.

“Tara!”

“Han-Yeol!”

Chwaaaak!

‘Restrain!’

His chain was stopped by the corrosive acid once, but he wasn't going to back down just because of the boss monster's acid. However, he was not stupid enough to do the exact same thing, so he made sure to attack from an angle that the boss monster wouldn't be able to anticipate.

‘Mana Explosion!’

Shwoooong… Boooom!

He shot out two mana shells from his shoulder cannons to distract the Combat Queen Ant.

There was no reason for him to use only a single combat style, as his greatest strength was possessing numerous skills.

[Ha! Fool!]

Bam!

[Keuk!]

The Combat Queen Ant swung her arm to block the incoming mana shells, but the true power of the mana shells lay in the explosion they triggered upon impact.

The explosion made the Combat Queen Ant grimace and groan, but that didn't necessarily mean she was damaged by it.

Unfortunately for her, the mana shells were not Han-Yeol's main attack.

Shwiiiik!

[W-What?!]

The main event was none other than the chain!

Han-Yeol's chain snaked up and around the tunnel walls before sneaking behind the Combat Queen Ant's leg.

'Heh. Frozen Hand!' Han-Yeol used his ability to freeze whatever it touched.

He had recently discovered that this skill did not stack with Cold Hand but, instead, accelerated the speed of the enemy getting frozen.

Han-Yeol was not complaining about it at all, as having more flexibility with his skills was something he always welcomed.

C-Crack…!

[Gwuuuuaaaak!]

The Combat Queen Ant screamed like an old lady as her body started freezing up.

[Y-You insoleeent!]

Fwaaaaa!

She spat out her corrosive acid after seeing that Han-Yeol was behind it.

‘Activate Force Shield and… Reflect!’ Han-Yeol prepared to deflect the ball of corrosive acid back at the boss monster, but...

Chwak!

‘Double Slash!’

Tayarana suddenly appeared in front of him, cutting the ball of corrosive acid in half with her sword. Both halves of the corrosive acid flew above and beneath them.

Tssshhh...!

The tunnel wall instantly eroded upon contact with the corrosive acid. Not a single drop of the corrosive acid touched either Tayarana or Han-Yeol.

[You damn intruders!]

The Combat Queen Ant screamed and raged, but Tayarana silenced her.

“Shut up.”

Vroom!

She flew toward the boss monster.

[Die!]

Clang!

They traded blows once again, and it was on the third blow that…

[K-Keuk…!]

C-Craaack!

The Combat Queen Ant's movements were slowly getting restricted as the frost traveled above her waist.

“This is the end for you,” Tayarana said as she swung her sword.

Whoosh… Sukeok!

[N-No… I can’t…! Kyaaaaaah! Nooooo!]