Soul Devourer Chapter 2 Episode 21 — The Unknown Humanoid Monster
As the emergency Stampede alarm rang out across the city, civilians sprang into action in a flurry.
Hunters who had been spending their day off with family, as well as those drinking with party members at izakayas, quickly equipped their gear and gathered their items before rushing to the scene.
Ordinary civilians who were not Hunters also grabbed the bare minimum of belongings and hurried toward buildings with shelters.
Thanks to everyone’s swift actions, the damage did not spread much beyond the area around the dungeon, and there were zero civilian casualties.
However, for the Hunters fighting the swarm of Soldier Ants on the front lines, it was truly a fight for their lives.
Because the ants had high resistance to both physical and magical attacks, it took a tremendous amount of time to defeat even a single one.
And just when they finally managed to bring one down, another immediately stepped forward to take its place.
Each one was massive, and because they blocked each other’s paths, the battle line was somehow holding.
Even so, the relentless assaults were rapidly draining their stamina.
If even one section of the line were to be breached, the city would be swallowed by them in the blink of an eye.
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*POV of a certain A-rank party*
A shieldbearer braced himself, planting his feet and lowering his center of gravity as he held a tower shield as tall as his own body, stopping the Soldier Ant’s charge.
“«Fire Rain»”
“«Lightning Strike»”
Moments later, a rain of fireballs and crashing lightning unleashed by the rear-line mages engulfed the Soldier Ant.
As the magic subsided, a swordsman gripping a longsword leapt forward and slashed at its head.
At that moment, the Soldier Ant raised its massive mandibles upward.
The party instantly recognized the motion as the acid spray attack, conjured an earthen wall between them, and all retreated at once.
They managed to get through it safely, but their stamina was severely depleted.
With the battles coming one after another, they desperately wanted to take a break.
But now was no time to complain. There were still plenty of Soldier Ants waiting, and the others were fighting just as hard.
Slapping his cheeks to steel his resolve, he was about to dash forward again to take down the Soldier Ant before him, when—
“Hm? What’s this?”
All of a sudden, the Soldier Ants began moving restlessly. Ignoring them completely, they formed neat lines and opened a path down the middle.
As many Hunters stood frozen in confusion at the sudden development, it appeared from the dungeon entrance.
“A-A humanoid ant…?”
What emerged was not a massive creature like the Soldier Ants lined up on either side, but a humanoid monster standing around 1.8 to 2.0 meters tall.
It had the same body structure as a human. The only obvious difference was that it had four arms.
But something was wrong.
The boss of this dungeon was supposed to be the Queen Ant, far larger than the Soldier Ants.
So where did this thing come from?
As that question crossed their minds, the ground suddenly shook violently, and the humanoid monster vanished from sight.
“W-Where did it g—!?”
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
A tremendous shockwave slammed into me from behind, nearly knocking me over.
Instinctively worried about the mage behind me, I turned around, and—
“Empress Ant? Wasn’t the boss here supposed to be the Queen Ant?”
A young man who looked barely in his teens was standing there, calmly catching with one hand the leg the humanoid monster had swung down toward my companion’s head.
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E/N:
Yuito saves the day again! Let's see how long Empress Ant can endure!
Stay tuned!
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Check out my other translation -
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