21
The red, chitinous outer shell gleams.
The ants moving in a group appeared to number at least a hundred.
Fortunately, the only access road to Gulag Village is through the valley to the north.
If those guys had come rushing in from all sides, the village would have been reduced to ruins without anyone being able to do anything.
It was a blessing that the village was located on top of a towering peak.
However, the access road should not be just one-way.
In order for Dojin to handle all the ants rushing in alone, he needed a device that could limit not only the direction but also the number of ants rushing in at once, as well as their speed.
These were the ‘burnables’ that the villagers had collected and piled up at the exit of the valley in front of the village.
“Oh, my lord, over there! There are baby ants coming up over there!”
The villagers working outside the village were startled by someone’s shout and fled behind the fence.
Dojin, who had been observing the ants with “hints”, set fire to the pile of wood in front of them just before they left the valley.
The fire fueled by mana quickly spread to the previously spread oil and spread, devouring the wood without mercy.
Then, a change occurred in the ants climbing up the valley.
As they were leaving the canyon, the path became narrower due to the fire, so they began to crowd into the middle.
It was a so-called bottleneck caused by bugs.
‘I was worried that it wouldn’t work… but thankfully, it’s acting on instinct.’
In fact, the fire that burned oil and wood like that, not magic, could not stop the Gulag Ants.
You can kill low-level monsters like Kobolds, but you can break through Gulak Ants, which are level 29 monsters, by taking a certain amount of damage.
So Dojin ordered the villagers to pile up firewood and broken furniture on both sides of the entrance to the valley.
To keep the living door open and encourage ants to enter only through that living door.
“Hey! They’re trying to get through the middle, wizard!”
The answer to the shouts of the village youth who occupied one of the two watchtowers to the north was a fireball tearing through the air.
《Fireball》
Unlike the ‘Arrow’ which specializes in single attacks and penetration, it is a flame ball with greater firepower and explosive power.
This was also one of the new magics that Dojin had learned.
In particular, this magic is a 2-star magic learned to hunt ants in the wasteland that are weak to fire.
It was a means prepared to kill as many of them as possible efficiently.
Phew.
Three ants, trying to escape the burning piles of wood on both sides through a narrow gap, were caught in the explosion at the same time.
Dojin’s fireball, equipped with the “Suspicious Ritual Sword” that increased magical attack power instead of penalties and spread out the Book of Truth, was enough to instantly kill the ants caught in the explosion.
To begin with, Gulag Ants are scary because they gather together in large numbers, and they are not powerful individually.
If you come hunting with them when they are of a similar level, they will be a pain in the ass, but if you can deal with several of them with one spell, they are a hidden treasure that will allow you to level up while gathering experience points.
But those honey lumps are coming at me on their own two feet?
I don’t know who planned the plot, but from Dojin’s perspective, it was no different from an experience event.
However, the problem is that it is a bloody event where one misstep can cost you your life.
‘Let’s see who gets tired first.’
Dojin cast fireball again.
This time, I aimed a little further back and killed five ants.
They are so close together that the explosion radius is narrow, but they still die easily.
Was it the roaring flames, bursting fire magic, and the smell of their dead kin that excited them?
The Gulag Ants clacked their jaws in a frenzy.
Then, it starts to surge forward with even more ferocity.
However, the instinct to get as far away from the fire as possible still remained, and in the end, the one they chose was the living door that Dojin had made.
The lower-level insect monsters, which have little intelligence and move only by instinct, did not realize that it was the Gate of Death that resembled the Gate of Life even when they saw their own kind dying.
Dojin poured endless magical fire towards those ignorant insects.
“Wow, that’s amazing… … !”
The man standing on the watchtower opposite Dojin muttered as if possessed.
His eyes looked at Dojin, then followed the fireball Dojin shot.
When the fireball exploded, I let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s the situation outside right now!”
Then the village men gathered under the watchtower shouted at him.
Just a moment ago, or rather, as if he was still collecting things worth riding, steam was rising from his body.
Looking at them, the man in the watchtower said.
“Oh, I think we bought it.”
“Stop mumbling and speak clearly!”
“It looks like we bought it, you bastards!”
As he spoke almost in tears, a faint joy spread across the villagers’ faces.
Look at that! There’s someone who can make fireballs out of his hands and shoot them like that, so what’s the problem with bugs?
Whether to forget their fear or out of excitement, they screamed “Waaaah” as they watched Dojin shoot fireballs.
however.
‘Damn, I’m going crazy.’
Dojin was actually feeling like he was going to die.
Dojin poured the second bottle of mana potion into his mouth.
Unless it is a special potion, you will need to rest after drinking it to expect proper recovery.
But now, Dojin is in a situation where he has to pour out magic without any time to rest.
The recovery efficiency is less than half, let alone a quarter.
“If I catch that little bastard, I’ll kill him for real.”
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As soon as the mana drain subsided even a little, Dojin shook his head to chase away the dizziness and used magic.
《Crawling Fire》
This time, it was not a fireball, but a 3-star magic spell, “Crawling Fire.”
Instead of flying and exploding, the writhing snake-like fireballs literally crawled across the floor, devouring ants.
Kiik, kiik.
The ants screamed as loud as any insect can and ran around in panic.
Some tried to climb over the less hot burning piles of lumber to escape the hotter fire.
“No way!”
Dojin, who saw that, quickly cast a fireball with increased power.
Kwang.
The pile of wood explodes, killing the ants that are crossing it.
But that resulted in that part being hollowed out.
This is all because of the firepower that is incomparably stronger than that of other units at the same level.
“How much is there to burn!”
Dojin quickly turned his head and saw men waving their hands.
“I’ve gathered them all here, Wizard!”
Now, there really was nothing left to collect, and the pile of junk they had gathered included pieces of wood that looked like roofs and doors had been torn off, as well as the remains of carts that were being torn down in real time.
It was a desperate situation that gave a glimpse of a desperate desire to survive.
If you want to live like that, you have to let you survive.
Gritting his teeth, Dojin summoned his mana.
The Book of Truth glowed golden, and his magic circuits glowed.
In response, the things the villagers had gathered began to rise into the air one by one.
“Oh… … !”
Dojin threw the things he had lifted with all his might.
Due to the continuous casting of “Spirit”, the mana that was recovered with difficulty is drained away like water.
Quasi-snap.
The thrown objects lost their strength and scattered from the middle, then rained down like corn on the burning debris.
It’s like shooting a parabolic slingshot.
Dojin repeated this over and over again, and eventually the place was engulfed in flames again.
“Ugh.”
Dojin poured his third bottle of mana potion into his mouth, bleeding from the nose due to the excessive mana mobilization.
The taste of the potion, which was supposed to be warm, was a bit gritty and bitter.
This was a sign that if I drank any more, I would start to experience symptoms of potion addiction.
‘If I drink at this rate… I think I can probably drink about 10 bottles.’
After that, even if you drink potions, you will hardly recover.
Dojin looked forward.
It was to estimate the number of enemies remaining.
It’s sickening to see the dead ants burning in piles and the ones trying to climb over the corpses of their own kind.
But since I killed that many people, shouldn’t it have been reduced by half?
With hopeful thoughts, I tried to use magic again.
But at that time.
Kkwarreung.
An ominous sound rang out.
It wasn’t the ants’ side, nor the Dojin side, nor anywhere in the mountains.
“no way…….”
The townspeople, including Dojin, looked up and saw that the ominous sound was coming from the sky.
Swaaaah-
“f*ck.”
Dojin cursed as he watched the rain start to pour down.
The front view, seen while nervously pushing back my hair that was quickly getting wet, was terrifying.
The entrance to the canyon, once filled with blazing fire, was now burning with the only thing burning was the rage of ants.
Crack, crack.
They moved so violently that their jaw joints were worn down, and they viciously tore and destroyed piles of debris that had begun to burn out.
Now there was nothing stopping them.
“Everyone run away and hide wherever you can!”
From the moment it started to rain, the last bit of hope disappeared from the faces of those who had been anxiously looking at Dojin.
“Ugh, it’s over!”
“Damn it! It would have been better to run away! Now that they’ve blocked the canyon, I’m stuck here!”
“Since it has come to this, let’s fight even if it means dying. Shouldn’t we keep the children alive?”
The townspeople are making a fuss about central heating.
At that moment, Dojin’s shout pierced through the heavy rain and reached them once again.
“Get away from me quickly!”
With that momentum, people’s eyes were once again focused on the wizard.
“omg!”
The fluttering robes of the wizard and the golden magic concentrated in his hands entered their eyes.
The wizard had not yet given up the fight.
“Let’s all run away quickly! If we stay here, we’ll only be a hindrance to the wizard. Let’s each go home and hide in a cave!”
Hanolds, who saw it, pushed the people away.
Some people panicked and even punched them, and if that wasn’t enough, they even kicked their butts.
“Hannolds is right! We’re not much help to him, we’re just a burden. Let’s hide so the wizard can fight.”
In addition, as the village chief’s solemn words were added, the people who had gathered scattered.
Hanolds also ran towards home.
“Sob… … !”
I’m scared, hopeless, and sorry to Dojin.
A loud noise was heard from behind Hanolds, who was running while crying, overcome with emotions.
It was magic.
* * *
This is not a situation where you can spare mana.
We need to minimize the power of those who are rushing in now so that we can strike unilaterally.
That way, the later annihilation battle will be a little easier.
《Window of the Earth》
Kkudduk.
The ground rose due to a three-star attack spell.
Originally, it was a magic that caused a large, sharp rock to rise, but Dojin transformed it into several small spikes.
As a result, about five ants that had been happily swarming through the obstacles were swept away at once.
“Ugh-”
The highest level of magic available.
It was pulled up to the output as is, and then transformed, so the mana consumption was enormous.
The aftermath was so heartbreaking.
The fourth bottle of potion went into Dojin’s mouth.
Because my hands were shaking so much, I couldn’t tell if the liquid running down my chin and neck was rainwater or a potion.
Anyway, my blurred vision returned as my mana recovered a little.
“It’s so f*cking fast.”
And Dojin laughed bitterly at the sight he saw.
Before we knew it, the Gulag Ants had arrived right in front of the village and were trying to climb over the fence.
Thump thump.
The sound of hard jaws and feet hitting the fence was truly disgusting.
“It’s not easy to get them to climb up.”
As he spoke, Dojin squeezed out the mana he had recovered.
《The Splitting Lightning》
Rain-soaked bugs were excellent conductors.
Because they were so jumbled together, quite a few Gulag Ants were killed by the lightning.
It was fortunate that I had also purchased and learned a 3-star lightning spell just in case.
‘I’m going to faint at this rate.’
The mana that was rising slightly was about to hit rock bottom again with a single 3-star spell.
Still, Dojin endured the dizziness and flew down the watchtower.
Into the village filled with heavy rain.
‘Let’s do it until the end.’
When circumstances change, just take advantage of them.
The darkness and the rain were the perfect curtain to hide one’s body.
Now is the time to start hunting quietly.
