164 – Training Method of the Nymphs #5
The hyper evolution of the Emperor Honey Ant Ahn Ahn.
It had the appearance of a large warrior beetle with even bigger and stronger horns.
—Zzi…
Its golden body was truly worthy of being called an ‘Emperor.’
The surface texture that emitted a dazzling shine looked just like gold. Perhaps that’s why Ahn Ahn’s appearance resembled the machines from the robot cartoons I loved as a child.
Its body was angular, its wings had grown larger, and it seemed like the sturdiness of its exoskeleton had increased, as well.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such a large honey ant!” exclaimed Inoi.
As Inoi said, Ahn Ahn’s size had increased to that of a large dog.
—Zzi…
The usual zzi-sound it made was now much louder.
It was an impressively large zzi.
Overall, the enlarged Ahn Ahn was the very essence of an alpha ant, and it looked extremely powerful at first glance.
Soon, Inoi trembled with excitement.
“Come to think of it, I heard that long ago during the divine age, there existed terrifying ants called ‘Chimera Ants’…!”
Chimera Ants.
The name gave a deeply threatening feeling from the very start.
It felt like they would invade the world and turn it into an ant-infested land.
It seemed like the Awakened should unite to hunt down their queen or king, eradicating them completely.
In reality, Inoi indeed rated the Chimera Ants as terrifying.
“They were extremely aggressive and combative ants, but luckily or unluckily, I’ve heard they were exterminated by the hands of heroes and gods…! Still, this appearance bears a close resemblance to a Chimera Ant…!”
“Really?”
“There was a rumor among the nymphs that the ancestor of the honey ant was a Chimera Ant, and perhaps that might really be true…!”
Inoi speculated that the hyper-evolved honey ant Ahn Ahn felt like a manifestation of ancient traits.
It was a return not to evolution, but to a powerful ancient form.
In many ways, it was undeniable that it had become much stronger.
Wouldn’t this be an even match against Kalilnoi?
—Firrur!
At that moment, Kalilnoi, who was flying in the sky, dove sharply towards Ahn Ahn.
Pah-pah!
Kalilnoi’s sharp claws aimed at Ahn Ahn.
However, something astonishing happened.
There was not a single scratch on Ahn Ahn’s exoskeleton.
Kalilnoi’s claws were as strong as any regular A-rank material!
“Defense must be above A-rank!”
The hyper-evolved Ahn Ahn’s exoskeleton seemed extremely sturdy.
An evolution specialized in defense was a great boon for me.
“How reassuring!”
My animals were all specialized in offense and disruption, and I had no one for defense, so I was quite worried.
If my animals got hurt, I thought it would be quite sad, but now that Ahn Ahn had become tougher, it could surely protect the others.
It felt like the party balance had increased significantly towards a hexagonal structure?
Just then.
—Zzi…
Ahn Ahn flapped its wings.
Buhwoong—.
With that loud flapping sound, a number of knight ants in silver armor flew in from somewhere, making zzi-! and gyu-! sounds.
Buhwoong, buhwoong—.
They vibrated their wings in unison with Ahn Ahn’s wing flaps, creating a sound that felt like a strong wind blowing into a cave.
I realized this was the language of the honey ants. Just before facing Tang So-hae, I had watched a cute YouTube video featuring honey bees.
Honey bees sometimes synchronize their wing sounds to communicate. Since ants are relatives of bees, they would have similar habits, too.
—Zzi…
Ahn Ahn let out a loud cry.
Then nearly ten knight ants charged in a formation towards the scarecrow target set up in the yard.
Pow—!
The scarecrow, which rivaled an A-rank demon in strength, was destroyed in an instant, which was entirely expected.
Previously, the swarm of honey ants was evaluated as a calamity above T-rank fissures, and indeed, they possessed such destructive power.
“The hyper-evolved Ahn Ahn can summon the legion of honey ants even more easily now. It seems like I’ll have plenty of cards to play!”
Sssss—.
Ahn Ahn’s body emitted a faint glow once more and returned to the size of a small palm-sized honey ant.
The knight ants gathered in front of Ahn Ahn, and Ahn Ahn cried zzi-! at them, which I thought meant “Thanks for patrolling the village!”
Anyway.
Seeing the immediate effects of meditation brought me great satisfaction.
When else is there such joy when the results of your efforts appear right away?
“I’ve unintentionally become indebted to Seo Ye-rim.”
# # #
“So Ahn Ahn evolved, and the knight ants came flying in ho-rol-rol-rol—! It looked really cool from my point of view…!”
“I wanted to see that too…!”
Night.
The summer night transitioning into autumn had a cool breeze blowing occasionally but still retained some warmth.
Tap, tap—.
I was sitting by the fire pit in the yard while the nymphs were busy chattering, and Lee Jin-A was calmly grilling meat in the midst of it all.
“Wow, it’s really going to taste amazing even though I grilled it. You know beef is delicious when eaten with wasabi, right? Wasabi completely takes away the greasiness of beef!”
Chiiiiiing—.
Lee Jin-A, with her shirt tied at her chest and her belly exposed, reminded me of the free-spirited women in America.
“Ouch, that stings—.”
While grilling meat, she seemed to have splattered oil onto her stomach, rubbing it.
It was already the third or fourth time she had complained about getting oil on her chest or stomach.
I said to her.
“Then just lower your shirt.”
“Hey, but then I’d be hot.”
That made sense.
Did Lee Jin-A not like the heat much?
Looking at her now, it seemed that she always revealed quite a bit of bare skin.
She also seemed to enjoy wearing short dolphin shorts.
“Here, eat. This is meat that Mom got from the best stationery store owner. This is Rainbow Angus, which comes from an A-rank fissure. You can’t find this anywhere else!”
With the beef Lee Jin-A brought, we indulged in a rare feast.
It was very greasy and delicious.
Even the picky Kalilnoi was incessantly tapping my shoulder with its wings, asking for more grilling.
It melted in my mouth!
“Hey, your cup is empty! Let’s drink!”
As I turned around, my empty cup was filled with beer foam.
Why was Lee Jin-A treating me to both food and drinks?
“It’ll be my dad’s birthday soon. Mom said to thank you for being able to celebrate it together this year. If you hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t have been able to spend it with her either.”
I see.
I recalled the spring days I had worked hard to save Lee Jin-A’s mother.
Time had already passed quite a bit.
“How’s Aunt doing?”
“Very well! More than that, hey, why are you picking at your food like a little boy? Eat up a lot!”
Lee Jin-A’s energy was higher than usual.
While grilling meat, she had been sipping beer solo and it seemed she finished about two bottles quickly, which made her tipsy.
It seemed Lee Jin-A couldn’t handle her liquor as well as I thought?
That was unexpected.
She looked like she could easily drink more than five bottles of soju by herself.
“I’ll grill the meat from now on. You seem pretty tipsy.”
“Hey, I’m not drunk! You little… If I were drunk, what would it matter…!”
Her narrow eyes opened wide.
Now that I looked closely, her eyes seemed a bit dazed.
I had always thought that a troublemaker like her would be able to drink a lot, but it seemed not everyone was like that.
Looking at Lee Jin-A reminded me of my younger sister.
Coincidentally, she was about the same age as my sister.
My sister has been worrying mom and dad because she drinks and comes back late after entering university.
Wouldn’t Lee Jin-A’s parents worry if she drank and came back too late?
“Then we should go see the honey ants…! It’ll be really cool to see the knight ants gathered together…!”
“I want to go too…!”
At that moment, the nymphs ran out to the yard as if they were excited.
It looked like they were going to see the honey ants.
“The weather is nice—.”
Falling down—.
Lee Jin-A lay down under the golden apple tree in the yard.
What’s wrong with her?
This was a bit different from her usual cool demeanor, where she didn’t want to owe people anything.
“Hey, is something troubling you?”
I asked Lee Jin-A.
Then Lee Jin-A replied.
“No, rather, I feel so full of energy. It feels like my life, frozen and thawed in hot water like a chicken, is beginning to revive…! If I’m going to climb a mountain, it’s natural to want to see the summit…!”
Suh—.
Lee Jin-A stretched her fist toward the sky.
Although I thought a chicken thawed in hot water would still be dead, it was fortunate that Lee Jin-A was full of enthusiasm and was okay.
I chuckled.
“Do you think the summit is something anyone can see? Lee Jin-A, if you want to make it to the top, you need to save the time you spend drinking and messing around right now.”
“What? Are you looking down on me now? Do you want to see my special move?”
Jumping up—.
Lee Jin-A stood up.
Then she grabbed my head and tucked it under her arm.
“How about this, my special headlock? Isn’t it powerful? Crazy, right?”
“Uwaaaaaah.”
It truly was a remarkably powerful technique in many ways.
The mixture of beer, a strange scent of sweat, and Lee Jin-A’s unique smell of balloon gum overwhelmed my senses.
Moreover, her grip was stronger than I had expected!
“Just surrender already!”
“Ugh… Surrender—.”
I had no choice but to surrender easily.
This was the first time I had encountered such a powerful technique.
My heart was racing, and my face flushed bright red.
“Did you use your ability just now?”
I asked while trying to calm my heart, which was beating out of my chest.
Lee Jin-A’s ability was a technique that touched upon the ‘emotions’ of others.
It was a tricky skill, difficult to defend against or respond to.
While it is possible to train muscles and the body, it’s much harder to train emotions.
When I saw how the matches between S-rankers were swayed by subtle emotional changes and how the outcomes could change in an instant, I realized that even knowing about Lee Jin-A’s ability made it hard to respond.
In response to my question, Lee Jin-A said.
“No? If I were truly trying to do that, you would have already been begging for my foot as a pillow. Haildo, you can’t do that to me. Want to see? My Core Ability—Arrow of Passion. The effect is—.”
Arrow of Passion.
“—it’s faster to show than to explain.”
After saying that, Lee Jin-A pointed a finger at me.
It was an action that felt like she was drawing a bow and aiming, stimulating a tense feeling in my chest. Finally, Lee Jin-A winked at me.
“Bang—♥.”
Pew, pat!
At that moment, I felt something piercing my heart.
“Ugh!”
