[Author’s Note] Thank you! Chapter 30
10. Ant Cave029 – Ant Cave #2
“Bakanishu!”
He clashed his shield and axe with a mighty roar.
Dressed in a suit of armor made from an ant’s exoskeleton, this guy was the very definition of ‘warrior,’ standing tall on two legs and flexing brawny arms.
His slitted eyes bore down on me, scanning me head to toe before he let out a ghastly grin.
“…Nishu.”
I sized him up, too.
He looked somewhat like the marbling I’d seen before, but if the others were considered kids, this dude was straight out of a Spartan movie.
His broad shoulders and towering stature were definitely eye-catching.
—No, this dude’s a green skin. From the looks of it, he’s matured all the way to a hop. I’d heard stories of beasts working as mercenaries, but sharing a home with ants? That was a first for me.
Leaf, with a mix of curiosity and fear, kept glancing at the marbling-green skin combination.
I decided it was time to check the most important thing.
—Is that guy strong?
—Strong enough to conquer a valley or land. He’s probably on par with that Belger from yesterday.
—So, he’s no joke then.
The image of the forest madman Belger, who’d sent shivers down my spine, overlapped with that of the axe-wielding warrior in front of me.
Our strengths had been evenly matched, but since I fought alongside Leaf, I managed to take him down relatively easily.
—What if it’s one-on-one?
—Then all the ants would swarm in and punish you.
At the raccoon’s tense answer, I glanced around at the gathered ants.
Though they were standing back, forming a spectator circle, their antennae were twitching as if they’d leap into action at any moment.
—So it’s basically a repeat of what just happened.
I couldn’t count on Leaf for help.
And considering that guy could wipe the floor with me, it seemed I was left to take this battle solo.
“Muhamba!”
The green skin twirled his axe, creating a clattering sound on his ant exoskeleton shield.
His body, broad and muscular, resembled a tree trunk.
If I ever ran into someone like him back in my human days, I’d have sprinted off without a second thought.
“Muhamba!”
He slammed his axe against the shield again, shouting his meat-headed battle cries, which seemed to hold some sort of meaning.
—That’s gotta be his name. Looks like they say names before dueling.
I nodded, getting the gist thanks to the raccoon’s explanation.
—How civilized!
I slowly approached, the ants clicking their legs in a chorus as they surrounded me and this Muhamba character.
Raccoon Leaf, pushed back by the mass of ants, bounced out of the circle.
—H-Hang in there! You have to win for me to survive!
Seeing Leaf hop around outside the ring somehow eased my tension and made my head throb.
I turned back to Muhamba and locked eyes with him.
He thumped his chest with his thumb.
“Muhamba.”
And then he aimed his axe at me, likely asking for my name.
‘What do I say?’
The three syllables of my human name flickered in my mind.
But it felt like such a weak name, and during that time, things hadn’t gone well for me.
—I am Bakanishu.
Bakanishu means “forest hooligan” in ancient tongue. As a fighting title, it sounded pretty good.
“…Bakanishu.”
Muhamba’s eyes widened, and his lips quivered. He hefted his crude stone axe high.
“Balom!”
He yelled some unintelligible battle cry and brought the axe down. Whoosh, the wind whooshed by me.
I narrowly dodged his attack, realizing he was faster than I’d anticipated.
I’d mistakenly thought he’d be slower due to his bulky body, but that was a misconception.
After all, he was muscle-bound as opposed to just chubby, so agility wasn’t going to be a problem.
“Seiku.”
Muhamba readjusted the axe that had slammed into the ground.
While I knew nothing of warrior tactics or swordsmanship, his stance was solid, without any openings.
It felt like I was about to be flattened the moment I lunged forward.
‘This isn’t going to be easy.’
I kept my feet planted and fur bristled.
I circled around while looking for a chance to strike from the center of the ant-made arena. He was doing his best not to show me his back, constantly twisting his body to stay aware of my movements.
“…Nishu.”
Since the first attack, he hadn’t jumped in recklessly, cautiously more prudent than the smaller marbling creatures.
—Hey, Leaf! Does this guy have any weak points or anything? Tell me something useful!
I shouted while keeping my distance from Muhamba.
Raccoon Leaf, watching from amongst the ants, quickly replied.
—Lift your middle toe! They respond to that action!
—Lift my middle toe?
Leaf meant to raise my middle finger.
An action that would be considered a swear in the human world, yet apparently, it was their weak point? How bizarre.
‘What the heck, let’s give it a shot.’
I stood tall and aimed both middle fingers at the guy.
“…”
Muhamba’s serious expression twisted into one of confusion.
“Bakanishu!”
Then he charged at me with a thunderous stomp.
“Balom!”
He looked furious, like he was ready to explode.
—Whoa, he’s really angry! Did I poke a beehive!? Yikes!
I dodged the massive stone axe that he swung wildly like a circus act.
Crouched low, it felt like the ground trembled beneath me with each thud of his axe crashing down.
Bang, bang, deep holes gouged into the earth with alarming force.
‘If he so much as grazes me, I’m toast.’
Yet there were plenty of openings compared to before when he was all set.
Muhamba’s face was red, as if he was about to blow a gasket, and he seemed clueless.
“Uo!”
He swung his axe down hard.
I dodged it to the side while lacerating the bicep of his left arm gripping the axe.
‘Gotcha!’
I felt the sensation of my claws digging deep into his muscle.
“…Paroma.”
He cradled his bleeding left arm. bl**d poured out like a hose was stabbed with a sharp object.
I got lucky, it seemed; I must have sliced through a vein.
“Ha! Huuh.”
Muhamba, face reddening as if about to burst, tensed his forearm.
His muscles ballooned, and the bl**d that was gushing out stopped.
—Impressive trick.
I wasn’t sure, but that had to be some sort of talent.
‘Seems like this fight isn’t without its damages after all.’
His breath was becoming ragged.
His attempts to keep swinging and catching up to my movements seemed to drain his stamina.
Or maybe he was exhausted from the nifty hemostatic technique he’d just shown.
Whatever the case, his panting was a good sign for me.
I still had plenty of gas in the tank.
My heart was pounding with the excitement of battle, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.
If anything, the right amount of tension made my senses sharper than ever.
‘Let’s drag it into a war of attrition!’
I decided to play to my strengths: speed and stamina.
I circled around him, clawing in for surprise attacks as my strategy.
“Nishu!”
He blocked my strikes with the hardened exoskeleton of his ant armor. My hits easily ricocheted off that tough shell.
But after several exchanges, his armor began to fray and drop off to the ground.
Muhamba’s right arm was now fully exposed.
While it was packed with well-toned muscle, compared to his ant armor, his right arm looked weak and vulnerable.
‘Seeing this makes it clear just how weak humans really are.’
No sharp fangs or thick shell protection.
No matter how honed their muscles were, to beasts, they were just as soft and squishy as any prey.
‘Still, I better watch out for that axe.’
Though it looked like a primitive weapon made from a massive stone and vine-bound to branches, one solid hit could easily break bones.
No matter how strong I thought I’d become, I wouldn’t outmatch stone.
‘Now that I’ve stripped away his armor, let’s make him drop that axe.’
I decided to focus my attack on his left arm, which held the axe.
Maybe due to the weight, while he swung the axe quickly, his movements had notable gaps.
“Baah!”
I lowered my stance and baited him to slash down, using that fleeting moment to rake my claws across his wrist.
—Got it!
As I raked his wrist, I shouted in triumph.
—Huh?
But just then, I realized my claws were stuck in his left arm, not pulling out.
It was like jamming a saw or kn*fe into a stout tree; my claws were ensnared in his forearm.
It felt like when a mosquito injects its proboscis into muscle; if the muscle tenses, the mosquito can’t pull away.
“Kuheh.”
He stiffened his arm muscles and flashed me a dreadful grin.
Before I knew it, Muhamba’s right arm snagged my hind leg.
With my body lifted into the air, I was slammed onto the floor repeatedly.
The hard cave floor felt like it would shatter my bones with each crash.
—Guaah, ack!
With each collision against the ground, involuntary screams escaped my mouth.
What if I died like this? That fear clouded my mind.
When my body once again flew through the air, I catapulted myself onto Muhamba’s head like a shrimp.
Muhamba, clearly flustered, tried to grab and punch me off.
I endured the pain, climbing onto the back of his head.
Wrapping my legs around his neck, I hoisted his chin upwards with all my strength.
My vision turned bright red.
Whether bl**d was streaming from my eyes, or his rage was causing colors to bleed, I couldn’t tell.
I simply tightened my grip around Muhamba’s throat. Soon enough, I heard a crack, like his spine was snapping.
Was his jaw broken? Because my one arm just flopped down limply.
It seemed like it fractured pretty seriously.
I grimaced through the agony as I tightened my hold on his throat.
“Cough, kehk, Nishu…!”
The struggled movements of Muhamba, who had been trying to hit me, slowed down significantly.
As less oxygen reached his brain, he was likely drifting towards unconsciousness.
I could feel his strength seeping away.
His grip loosening from my legs, I seized the chance and used my uninjured right arm to slice across his neck.
And without mercy, I slashed him deep.
“Ku, keh!”
With all my might behind the cut, he splattered bl**d everywhere and writhed in agony.
I leaped away from him and landed safely on the ground.
Muhamba staggered about, clutching his throat with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding.
But his neck was already damaged, pouring out bl**d like a broken dam.
After a while, he slowly crumpled to the floor, knees buckling.
Before long, he lay flat on the cold ground.
I approached the convulsing, dying Muhamba and picked up his stone axe, raising it high above my head.
“…Nishu, Baloma.”
—I bet that’s an insult.
With my able right arm, I swung the axe down with all my strength.
Crack.
I aimed to behead him in one fell swoop.
But it seemed the axe had dulled or maybe my strength just wasn’t enough because cleaving through his thick neck wasn’t going smoothly.
I kept swinging the axe. The sound of bone cracking echoed vividly in the cave.
—Stop! You’ve won! Muhamba is dead!
Until the raccoon Leaf stepped in front of me, I continued my relentless assault.
As I regained my senses, I saw Muhamba’s face, utterly mangled beyond recognition.
—Hah, sh*t. I won.
Every part of me felt shattered.
One arm—don’t know if it was dislocated or broken—just hung limply, but somehow, I had triumphed in this duel.
—Gizhiz.
—Zichi.
The ants that had been stomping their feet bowed their heads to me.
The ants who’d formed the circle parted like the Red Sea, clearing a path.
Ahead, a wide cave opening awaited.
