Chapter 98

<Locusts covered the entire land, rising into the sky and darkening it, devouring all the vegetables in the fields and the fruits on the trees, leaving not a single green thing behind. This is today's gospel message.>

The messenger delivered the gospel in a solemn voice.

Seo-Woon saw the swarm of locusts that had turned the sky pitch black, just as the messenger had said. The vibration of their wing flaps was so intense that it almost made him want to cover his ears.

<Exodus 10: The Locust Plague!>

Upon closer inspection, the messenger seemed to have an unpredictable personality. He could be serious one moment and suddenly make a joke, or make people angry, leaving one unsure how to react.

<How will 'Elephant Shrew Seo-Woon' break through this?>

Well, I'll cut them all to pieces.

Until now, Seo-Woon had never closely examined the legs or face of a locust. Seeing individuals nearly three meters tall made him feel as if he were observing locusts under a microscope.

The claws on their six legs were sharp like hooks, capable of tearing human skin. The two compound eyes, which resembled a dense honeycomb, could easily be mistaken for those of an extraterrestrial being. There was no clear leader in the swarm of locusts that were chaotically converging.

Despite being a mutant, the locusts still had degenerated wings, and they flew with the help of strong winds. The mandibles of the locusts were particularly developed; while they would normally only strip crops, some of them had blood on their hard mandibles, indicating that they had killed warm-blooded creatures, whether animals or humans.

Cha-Haya, who had rushed forward, was cutting down locusts without using Cosmos. Seo-Woon tried to create a purple dome to protect the hotel, but his concentration kept wavering. The sight of locusts spilling out their viscous bodily fluids and internal organs made his stomach churn. Even stepping on a small locust would be shocking, but the amount of internal organs these creatures expelled was as massive as their size.

Thanks to his renewed understanding of how to use Cosmos, Seo-Woon didn't have to resort to embarrassing phrases like "I'll protect my people." However, he still couldn't get used to the insect mutants.

With Cha-Haya leading the charge, the other members of the alliance handled the mutants he missed from the rear. When another strong wind blew, Seo-Woon ran in the opposite direction. He drew his Matsumoto and infused it with Cosmos, then swung it upward. Dozens of locusts that had been floating in the air were cleanly sliced in half and fell to the ground with a thud.

In the meantime, a locust carried by the wind opened its mandibles to bite his head. "Ahh! Shit!" Seo-Woon screamed when he saw the sharp protrusions in its mouth. He instinctively punched it with a force-infused fist. With a crack, the locust's head twisted, and the sound of its exoskeleton breaking made him involuntarily gasp.

"Hey, don't mess with Seo-Woon."

Cha-Haya, covered in the white, viscous bodily fluids of the locusts, turned around and laughed. Perhaps the one who shouldn't mess with anyone was Cha-Haya himself. If the locusts had any sense, they would have fled at the sight of a murderer covered in the blood and internal organs of his own kind.

Buzz, as the strong wind subsided, the locusts that had landed on the ground began to jump. Seo-Woon's mouth dropped open at the sight of them jumping several times their body length.

"Damn, they're so disgusting!"

Seo-Woon's scream of disgust was met with a loud chuckle from Cha-Haya. The locusts jumped as if trying to block out the sun, landing with a thud.

However, the locusts seemed more focused on their hunger than on attacking humans. They continued to move forward, burying their mouths in the ground and eating the soil. Seo-Woon launched a wave of sword energy at the dozens of locusts jumping toward him from the air. The purple Cosmos whipped like a whip, striking dozens of individuals. Determined not to get a single drop of their bodily fluids on him, he quickly retreated, but he still stepped on the head of a dead locust.

"Ugh!"

It was a sensation that would be hard to forget, like stepping on a swarm of hundreds of cockroaches.

"Cha-Haya! Aren't you going to use Cosmos?"

Seo-Woon shouted, telling him to stop being so relaxed.

"What will you do if I use it?"

"Damn, what do you want me to do?!"

Honestly, Seo-Woon wanted to keep some distance from Cha-Haya. Liking the guy and accepting him covered in bodily fluids were two different things.

"Hey, remember the promise."

Cha-Haya stabbed a mutant that was charging at him from behind.

"Promise? You made it alone?!"

As Seo-Woon stepped back in protest, Cha-Haya's grin faded.

"Seo-Woon, do you want to see how strong I am? Something no one else can imitate?"

A white aura began to rise from Cha-Haya's shoulder. It looked like steam or mist, swirling around his body. The aura, which seemed to want to burst out, was decidedly threatening. Just as he seemed to be suppressing the energy, he exhaled sharply.

Whirr, with a sound like a black hole, the white Cosmos that had been enveloping his body suddenly shot out in all directions. The white aura, which had been spreading endlessly, suddenly stopped as if measured with a ruler. Inside the spherical barrier he had created, the swarm of locusts was trapped. There were at least several hundred of them. The barrier, which had expanded at a rapid speed, began to contract just as quickly. Crack, crack, the locusts were being compressed toward the center by the Cosmos.

Ugh!

The sound of members of the alliance vomiting from the back could be heard. Seo-Woon's face turned pale as he looked at Cha-Haya. He was grinning like a child playing with insects. It was as if he had forced a hundred people into a ten-person elevator. If they were compressed by a scrap yard compactor, it might look like this.

In the sphere of Cosmos, which could barely fit twenty, hundreds of mutant locusts were crushed and dismembered in various forms. The bodily fluids pooled inside, and Seo-Woon barely managed to suppress the urge to vomit. Despite this, the remaining swarm of locusts still covered the sky.

Squish! Seo-Woon quickly regained his composure at the sound of wings. He turned his body to avoid the blind spot of Cha-Haya and cut the heads and abdomens of two approaching locusts with his sword. The claws on their front legs grazed his chest, tearing his shirt. Fortunately, he had quickly moved his body, so his skin was unharmed.

"Bro! I'll take the 3 o'clock direction!"

A red sword energy flew toward the 3 o'clock direction. Seo-Woon knew it was Gang-San without looking back.

"I'll take care of the stragglers! I can't trust the alliance members!"

"Disabled?! Kim Yu-Chan, aren't you being too harsh?!"

"There are so many locusts! How about we have fried locusts for dinner in our guild?"

"Ta-Chun, those damn things!"

"Vice Guild Leader! They called us 'damn things'! I'll remember the face of the one who cursed us."

While the locusts were wreaking havoc, the alliance was also having a heated argument.

Yu-Chan, who was collecting locusts for frying, tore off their legs and wings and threw them behind. Even after seeing the locusts trapped in the sphere, he still wanted to eat them. Thanks to Gang-San and Yu-Chan, the remaining blind spots could be handled without much trouble.

Seo-Woon gripped Matsumoto and set out to hunt the locusts that were flying toward him, moving faster than the swarm. Buzz, among the locusts jumping from the ground, one individual was flying higher, flapping its wings in a light breeze.

Its wings were vibrating so fast they were almost invisible, and its antennae were much longer than its body. The locust tilted its head from side to side, then suddenly started flying toward the hotel. The remaining swarm of locusts, led by this one, continued to jump forward, even as they were being cut down by Ta-Chun and the alliance members.

What is this? The mutant, which should have no sense, seemed to be moving toward a clear goal.

Seo-Woon aimed Matsumoto, infused with sword energy, at the locust with the long antennae. Swoosh, the locust, which had turned to look at the sword coming toward it, rose higher. As soon as Seo-Woon retracted the energy from the sword, Matsumoto fell to the ground and stuck in the dirt. It landed near Cha-Haya.

"Hey, this is Seo-Woon's Excalibur!"

Cha-Haya, in amazement, grabbed the handle of Matsumoto.

"Kid, don't touch Matsumoto with your slime-covered hands!"

Cha-Haya was shirtless, but his skin was completely covered. He pulled out Matsumoto and wiped it on the relatively clean part of his pants. Then he threw it to Seo-Woon, who was running toward him, handle first.

"O King of Fallen Angels, since I have drawn the sword, make me a Knight of the Round Table,"

Just as Cha-Haya was joking,

Keeek! Something spewed from the mouth of the long-antennae locust. As it approached the hotel's main entrance, it continuously fired a black liquid. The skin of the alliance members who were hit by the black liquid began to dissolve as if exposed to acid. It's toxic! Don't get close! The skin of the alliance members who were hit by the black liquid began to regenerate thanks to the healing abilities of the healers waiting at the hotel, but the alliance members kept their distance from the leader to avoid the poison.

"Kang-San, Yu-Chan! Don't get close either!"

As the two raised their Cosmos, Seo-Woon shouted. The leader locust, with strong wing flaps, flew to the top of the hotel and then opened its mouth wide, aiming downward.

Squish, the poison it spat out was like black rain. Wherever the rain fell, it sizzled and dissolved. Seo-Woon quickly spread a barrier to protect the heads of Ta-Chun and the alliance members.

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