The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 44

“Why is it doing that…?”

With a mutter from someone—it was unclear who—the giant stone statue began to move without a sound.

It moved slowly and fluidly, like a fish wavering underwater. A pure white hand reached out accurately toward the party.

“Watch out!”

Thump—! Rocks crumbled and fell from the palm that pressed directly into the ground. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Gong Siyoung summoned an ice spear and lunged. Vaulting off the ground, he slashed the statue’s arm with the spear. One side of the arm, which had begun to freeze solid, exploded and shattered into pieces.

The scattered ice shards fluttered like snowflakes. It looked as if fragments of light were swirling around Gong Siyoung.

Julian also drew his sword and watched the front. When the statue wrenched its mouth open, black mist flowed out from within.

“What is that now?”

Gu Jayoung waved her hand in disgust. Her barrier began to encase the black mist in a circular shape.

A humming sound could be heard. It wasn’t black mist; it was a swarm of black bees.

The statue’s eyes curved like half-moons. The eyeballs vanished, and from the empty sockets, swarms of bees flowed out again.

A flustered Gu Jayoung used her skills, but it wasn’t enough. Holes began to open up not just in the eyes, mouth, and nose, but across the entire statue. Swarms of bees took flight from everywhere.

Julian let out a “Ugh,” gagging. He squeezed his eyes shut while covering his mouth.

He was fine with any kind of bizarre monster, but the holes were something he absolutely could not stand to look at.

It wasn’t enough that hundreds of small and large holes appeared bunched together; to have swarms of bees wriggling and crawling out from inside them… Just looking for a moment made goosebumps shoot up from his toes.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up…”

It wasn’t just a feeling; he was actually nauseated. Julian leaned his body against his sword, using it as a support.

Since there was some distance, attacking that thing with a sword was impossible. He squeezed his eyes shut. Fortunately, he was still able to concentrate well.

With a whoosh of burning, dozens of fireballs rose around him. The moment he snapped his eyes open, the fireballs moved toward the bee swarms as if they had a will of their own.

Boom! Sparks flew along with the sound of explosions. Gong Siyoung, who had been attacking the statue’s limbs, shot a glance over.

Julian waved his hand to signal that this side was under control.

“This should be enough…”

Crackle, crackle, the sound of the bee swarm burning could be heard. At the same time, massive white larvae wriggled and crawled out from the holes in the statue.

“Ugh, crazy! Damn it! It’s so damn gross!”

Woo Yujin made a huge fuss, looking absolutely revolted. Julian felt much the same.

He chose to look away instead. He looked down at the ground while keeping his focus as blurred as possible.

Meanwhile, giant larvae—the kind that would surely appear in nightmares—poured endlessly from the holes. The problem was that crawling wasn’t all they did.

“Shit! What is that!”

The backs of the larvae split open, and legs burst out from within. Having now been born as perfect insects, they began to crawl rapidly.

Even the normally composed Gu Jayoung screamed at the sight.

“Bugs! They’re bugs! Those are cockroaches!”

Pitch-black insects with long antennae and legs scurried everywhere, ransacking the area as they swarmed out. The small ones were the size of a palm, but most were larger than a dog or a cat.

The bees were actually better. At least the bees looked somewhat like monsters; those were just bugs. And damn big giant cockroaches at that.

On behalf of the revolted Julian and Gu Jayoung, Myeong Haejin used a skill. The antennae of the bugs melted by the poison moved frantically. That was horrific in its own right.

He felt like he would die from the goosebumps just by looking, but the bugs continued to crawl toward Julian.

“I don’t feel well…”

Julian muttered weakly. The ground, covered in bugs, looked pitch black. All those bugs were crawling toward him.

Even for a nightmare, this was too much. When he rose into the sky using magic, the bugs also took flight all at once with a vroom sound.

“They’re flying! They’re flying! Those things are flying!”

They were even twice as fast as they were when crawling. Julian’s face turned deathly pale as he was covered by bugs in an instant.

He prided himself on having experienced most kinds of crises, but a feeling this horrific was a first.

Flap, flap, along with the sound of wings, antennae touched his face. Julian wanted to praise himself just for not fainting then and there.

His vision was already black because of the bugs. He tried to speed up to escape somehow, but the things stuck to his body followed him tenaciously. With a skittering sound, a bug’s antenna touched his lips.

Julian instinctively created fireballs. If he set a fire here, he would burn too, but did that matter? An antenna just touched his mouth!

‘Die! Just all of you die!’

Unable to even open his mouth, he bid the bugs farewell in his heart.

Soon after, the fireballs flared up. He fell toward the ground along with the stinging pain of his entire body burning.

His consciousness gradually blurred. Even in the midst of that, the surrounding bugs were burning brightly, so he quite liked that much even at the moment he lost consciousness.

∞ ∞ ∞

Gong Siyoung had been watching Julian ever since the larvae appeared.

He had a bad feeling. It was one thing for the statue to move, but for bugs to appear as well. Though the statue was one thing, weren’t bugs a bit ambiguous to classify as monsters?

He intended to join him after clearing this part first. Regardless of where the boss monster was, they had to get out of this area first.

He froze the holes where the bugs were popping out solid. The statue, its limbs frozen and broken, moved with a tilt.

“They’re flying! They’re flying! Those things are flying!”

Gu Jayoung screamed from behind. The bugs, having unfolded their wings with a skitter-skitter, took flight all at once. Even Gong Siyoung, who usually passed over most disgusting scenes without a thought, felt goosebumps shoot up.

Floating like a dark cloud, the giant bugs lunged toward Julian. It looked somewhat similar to moths gathering toward a light. Though those things were twice as large and grosser than moths.

Julian’s face turned deathly pale at that horrific sight. He flew high into the sky as if escaping. It seemed he had used magic or something. He was fast enough that it was a struggle to follow him with the eyes, but the bugs chasing after him moved just as nimbly.

“Shit, seriously…!”

Julian grew further and further away. Whether he had been terrified by the bugs or had become bait on purpose, he was in danger at this rate.

Myeong Haejin, seemingly having the same thought, forced his skill to activate. The bugs flying around were crushed like flour dough and fell in thuds.

“Chase him! It’s more dangerous if we lose him like that!”

Gong Siyoung bit back a curse. He had intended to do so even if Myeong Haejin hadn’t ordered it.

As he ran out quickly, Woo Yujin naturally filled the empty spot. Woo Yujin waved his chainsaw as if to tell him not to worry.

“Leave this to me and go, hurry!”

The statue’s head creaked as it gave a broad smile. A tongue burst out from between its wide-open mouth. The long tongue was shot accurately toward Gong Siyoung.

Before the attack could land, the chainsaw sliced the tongue in two.

K-k-krunch—!

Along with an unpleasant smell, the tongue was blown away in its entirety. Woo Yujin, who let out a phew whistle, blocked the front of the statue.

“Uh-uh. Not that way, but this way.”

Rumble, the chainsaw blade rotated rapidly, throwing off sparks. Gong Siyoung vaulted into the air and ran, leaving his back to the other man.

He couldn’t have gone far yet… He couldn’t see well ahead because of the mist. He increased his speed while gauging the direction. Fortunately, he saw a light flashing at a distance that wasn’t too far.

“That’s…”

In the mist, red flames burst out like an explosion. Something fell downward just like that. Before he could think of anything, his body moved first.

He reached out his hand, avoiding the burning bugs. He activated a skill before the other was completely consumed by the flames. The coldness that escaped Gong Siyoung’s fingertips covered Julian’s entire body.

Gong Siyoung snatched Julian’s waist, hugging him tightly as he lost consciousness, and swung his spear toward the ground.

Ice pillars drove into the ground with a thud-thud. Between pillar and pillar, silver threads made of ice were intertwined. While falling, his body was caught in the threads, and his speed gradually decreased.

He fell onto the ground on his back. It hurt like hell, but it wasn’t enough to kill him.

As soon as he touched the ground, Gong Siyoung checked on Julian first. He laid the limp body on the ground and checked his pulse first.

It was weak, but fortunately, his heart was beating regularly. Although he had burns on his hands and feet, it wasn’t an unrecoverable, serious injury.

Only then did a sigh of relief flow out. Sitting crouched, Gong Siyoung rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Ha, seriously…”

He really thought he was going to die. If he had missed him there, he would have crashed into the ground and died. Just thinking about it was dizzying.

Leaving aside the lack of a plan, how could a person be this unable to see even an inch ahead?

He stared at the fainted Julian’s face for a long time. No matter how much he looked, he couldn’t understand it at all by his own common sense.

“Why on earth did you set a fire there, of all things?”

It wasn’t even at the level of burning down the house to catch a bedbug; he literally almost burned to death trying to catch bugs.

Gong Siyoung, who had been checking on Julian in silence for a while, reached out. He patted Julian’s cheeks with a tap-tap.

“Hey, wake up.”

With a urgh groan, Julian’s eyelids flickered. Without even being able to open his eyes, Julian muttered with difficulty.

“Ugh… anten, antennae… no… I hate it…”

Moans of groaning flowed out. Julian, who had been groaning for a long time like someone experiencing sleep paralysis, snapped his eyes open. He rubbed his lips frantically and looked around in a hurry.

“Antennae! What about the antennae?! Are they dead? They’re dead, right? They’re dead, right?!”