Querehsha felt like she'd fallen into a dream.
Worse—a nightmare. The kind that was impossible, senseless, absurdly cruel.
Because otherwise, how could a mere human… possess mana this terrifying?
With that scale of pressure, even Antares—the Monarch of Destruction, strongest among the nine—might not necessarily match it.
"Yes. Exactly." Scáthach kept releasing that vast mana as she walked toward Querehsha, her tone lazy with weary resignation. "The moment I stop suppressing myself, every battle ends in an instant. Every enemy loses the will to fight on the spot. It's… dull. Boring. Pointless."
The crushing weight of mana was like an invisible millstone, pinning Querehsha to the ground. She struggled to lift her head—only to find even the simple act of opening her mouth had become brutally difficult. Under the steadily intensifying pressure, her enormous body began to come apart. Her chitinous limbs cracked with a sound that made teeth ache.
No followers could come to mend her wounds now. If even Querehsha couldn't resist this pressure, those tiny insects would have only one fate—ground to dust.
Scáthach looked down at the Monarch's futile struggle and gently tapped her trembling forehead with the spearpoint.
Death's shadow fell.
Querehsha could no longer hide behind the weak excuse of a nightmare.
"Wait! I surrender! Don't kill me!"
At the edge of life and death, Querehsha threw away everything—her pride as the Monarch of Plagues, her contempt for humans—without a moment's hesitation. Her scarlet eyes churned with abject pleading. Even if she had to crawl like a worm, she would live. In the face of death, millennia of ambition and arrogance turned instantly pale.
"Please! I'm begging you! As long as you don't kill me, I'll do anything! I'll be your slave—your servant! From now on I'll obey every order! I'm the Monarch of insects—I can help you!"
As Querehsha said, she was the sovereign of insects, ruler over every insect-type monster in this world. The ants on Jeju Island—those were her children. She held absolute authority over them.
And more than that, she was one of the nine Monarchs. Even if she ranked at the bottom, she was still a Monarch—one of the peak forces in the world. Subduing her would bring undeniable benefits.
And yet…
"I'm sorry. I'm not interested in keeping pets… especially insects."
The cold words drew a line under Querehsha's fate.
A pillar of searing red flame surged skyward and swallowed the Monarch of Plagues whole. Her shriek warped and twisted in the inferno. Layer by layer, her carapace peeled away under the heat. Her soul—like wax tossed into a furnace—melted, her last flailing limbs turning to drifting ash in karmic fire.
Once she was certain Querehsha was truly dead, Scáthach slowly reined in that seemingly endless mana. She ran a hand along the vermilion spear and let out a long sigh. The roaring flood of power receded like a tide, lingering around her for a moment before dissolving into the Land of Shadows' faint breeze.
"Hm… that settles things here." She lifted her gaze. "Time to see how my disciples are doing."
She flicked her spear lightly. The tip tore open a spatial seam that shimmered with purple light. After she drew the spear back, Scáthach stepped through at an unhurried pace. Her robes fluttered—and the seam closed like a wound knitting shut, vanishing into the air.
...
The moment Scáthach erased Querehsha, the battle on Jeju Island was also nearing its end.
Under Cha Hae-In's leadership and the Hunters' coordinated assault, the Ant Queen was finally killed. The remaining soldier ants were no longer a threat. Even left alone, they would naturally die out within a year as their lifespans ran out. The primary objective of the Jeju Island reclamation was achieved.
And then there was the black ant…
Even with Goto Ryuji and Esil fighting together, they couldn't withstand its ferocious assault—they couldn't even hold out until Cha Hae-In could arrive with reinforcements.
Goto Ryuji's katana had been severed in the clash, sliced apart by the black ant's claws.
Esil's spear had been forged by Scáthach on a whim; it wasn't nearly as fragile. After several collisions, its edge still hadn't dulled.
Stepping out of the spatial tear, Scáthach arrived directly at Esil's side—only to find both Esil and Goto Ryuji collapsed on the ground, spent.
As for the black ant…
It was already a cold corpse.
Sung Jinwoo stood beside it, motionless. Black, ominous mana still churned around him.
"Shishō… is it done on your side?"
When Scáthach appeared, Sung Jinwoo didn't relax—his expression only tightened further. He gripped his short blades with both hands, knuckles whitening, as if bracing for the next battle.
Because he knew: compared to Scáthach's opponent, this black ant was nothing.
"Of course." Scáthach nodded lightly. "It's resolved. The Monarch of Plagues is dead."
Only then did Sung Jinwoo let out a breath.
"Sorry, little Jinwoo." Scáthach's tone softened. "Looking after the people here should've been my job. Instead, you had to leave your family behind and rush over… and I even stole your prey."
Sung Jinwoo blinked, caught off guard that she would say such a thing, and looked almost flustered.
"No—Shishō doesn't need to apologize. If no one dealt with the Monarch of Plagues, there's no telling what kind of disaster she'd cause. She's far more terrifying than the ants here on Jeju Island…" He paused, then added, "And as for 'stealing prey'—you said it yourself. It's too early for me to face a Monarch. I should be thanking you for stepping in so nothing worse happened."
At Cartenon Temple, Sung Jinwoo had learned part of the truth—and he had personally defeated the designer of the System. He knew that if he kept growing, a war with the Monarchs was inevitable.
But Scáthach's presence eased the pressure on his shoulders. It reminded him he wasn't fighting alone.
Sung Jinwoo claimed the dead black ant as a shadow soldier. Just like in the original story, he named it Beru. Scáthach thought it suited the creature well. In the comic's ending, Sung Jinwoo commanded three shadow soldiers of commander-class. Two were Ashborn's legacy—old subordinates passed down to him. Only Beru had risen step by step alongside the Shadow Monarch Sung Jinwoo.
In life, Beru had already been top-tier S-Rank. As a shadow soldier, it jumped straight to general-class, becoming the strongest in Sung Jinwoo's current Shadow Army.
But this Beru hadn't slaughtered its way across the battlefield like it did in the comic, devouring several S-Ranks—including Akari Shimizu, Goto Ryuji, and Min Byung-Gu. So it hadn't evolved the ability to speak, nor gained Min Byung-Gu's healing. Sung Jinwoo's Shadow Army now had tanks, warriors, mages, and assassins—what it lacked most was a healer.
When Cha Hae-In's support team arrived, everyone stared in surprise at the sight of Scáthach and Sung Jinwoo.
After a brief rundown of the situation, the Hunters were even more stunned—not only because Japan's Hunters had encountered a terrifying enemy that even Goto Ryuji and Esil together couldn't handle, but because the savage black ant had been killed by Sung Jinwoo alone.
Beru had become a shadow soldier, but its corpse still lay there, still leaking dreadful mana. From that lingering presence alone, Cha Hae-In and the others understood what kind of monster Japan's Hunters had faced.
At the same time, they couldn't help marveling at Scáthach's foresight… If she hadn't ordered Esil to rush to Akari Shimizu's team immediately after landing—and if Esil hadn't held the black ant back—Japan's Hunters truly might have been wiped out on Jeju Island.
Of course, some people noticed a problem.
Why could Scáthach know in advance that something far more dangerous than the Ant Queen would appear on Jeju Island? Why was she so sure the black ant would attack Akari Shimizu's team first? And why hadn't she shared that intelligence before the operation?
The doubt didn't exist only among the Hunters present. It also spread among the citizens watching the live broadcast at home—inevitably including those with conspiracy theories rotting in their heads, people ready to assume Scáthach had ulterior motives.
But this clearly wasn't the time for that.
With both the Ant Queen and the black ant dead, every ant monster on Jeju Island had gone berserk. Cha Hae-In and the others decided their top priority was evacuating the wounded as quickly as possible.
No one objected. Against a rampaging ant swarm, even S-Rank Hunters would only find death.
Only Sung Jinwoo made a different choice.
"I'll stay."
Faced with all the questioning looks, Sung Jinwoo spoke calmly.
"I'll handle the ants on Jeju Island."
Scáthach's words had made it clear: compared to a Monarch, he was still too weak. That was why he refused to waste any chance to grow stronger. To him, the ants on Jeju Island were experience—huge amounts of it. If he could wipe them all out, he'd level up several times over.
He'd already proven his strength in the fight against the black ant, so the Hunters didn't worry too much about his safety.
Once everyone else was aboard the helicopter, Sung Jinwoo immediately summoned Kaisel. The pitch-black wyvern burst up from his shadow, wide wings beating up a gale. It carried its master straight into the sky, slicing through the air at terrifying speed before plunging directly into the ant swarm.
The greatsword dropped by the Demon King Baran spat out sweeping arcs of lightning sword energy with every swing, drastically boosting Sung Jinwoo's clearing speed—his experience bar climbing in huge, steady jumps.
The mana consumption was just as frightening, but Sung Jinwoo could buy red potions to restore HP and blue potions to restore mana from the [Shop]. Every drop he burned in combat could be replenished by chugging items, letting him push forward like he had near-infinite firepower.
Outside the cabin windows, lightning turned the helicopter interior bright, then dim, then bright again. Every S-Rank Hunter instinctively held their breath, watching the ant swarm that had left them helpless get erased in a thunderstorm. One by one, their throats tightened.
Sung Jinwoo's efficiency at clearing monsters was like a harvester rolling through a wheat field—unstoppable.
With Sung Jinwoo carving a path, the helicopters carrying Scáthach and the others were able to withdraw from Jeju Island safely.
Scáthach lifted her hand and traced emerald rune symbols in the air with light, dancing fingertips. The symbols glimmered, releasing a warm glow like a hot spring. The Hunters bathed in that light let out relieved sighs, as if their entire bodies were submerged in healing water. Fatigue and wounds visibly knit themselves closed in the gentle radiance.
"Consider it a reward for your efforts, warriors. You've all worked hard." Scáthach's lips curved softly, her voice brushing past their ears like a spring breeze.
Baek Yoonho rolled his fully restored arm, staring at Scáthach with delighted surprise. "I didn't expect Hunter Scáthach to be so skilled at healing magic… Thank you. Truly."
Scáthach smiled and nodded, accepting his thanks.
"Miss Scáthach! Miss Scáthach! I have a question for you."
Cha Hae-In raised one hand high, like a student trying to get called on in class—though back when Scáthach was young, she'd been the type to keep her head down.
"Hm…" Scáthach studied her. "I see your eyes full of questions—and the desire to know. As your teacher, I do have a duty to answer. So what is it, Cha Hae-In?"
Cha Hae-In lowered her hand slowly and stared straight into Scáthach's eyes.
"I want to know… did you know about the black ant all along? Why didn't you share that intelligence before the operation, instead of sending Esil to rescue the Japan Hunters who were attacked? And why did you know who the black ant would target first?"
Cha Hae-In knew this doubt would be lingering in many hearts right now. They simply didn't dare ask. Left alone, it would eventually rot into a crisis of trust. And as Scáthach's disciple, Cha Hae-In believed she was the most suitable person to ask—and more than anyone, she knew her teacher couldn't be someone with hidden malice.
"Mm… that question." Scáthach rubbed her chin, looking conflicted.
"It wasn't that I intended to hide anything. It's just…" She shook her head, calm as ever. "Even if I told you, you wouldn't have believed me."
"Yes. I knew about the black ant in advance. And I predicted it would prioritize attacking Akari Shimizu's team." Her gaze was steady. "The reason is simple."
"Because I saw it."
Inside the helicopter, they exchanged looks, not understanding what she meant.
"You said you saw it… but it hadn't happened yet. How could you possibly—" Choi Jong-In began, then a startling thought struck him, and his eyes widened.
"This pair of eyes of mine," Scáthach said, tapping her bewitching crimson irises, "has a special ability. It can transcend the shackles of time and space—see scenes from a thousand li away, and…"
"…glimpse fragments of the immediate future."
---
T/N: aura farm and awww beru is a bit weaker :(
T/N2: heres the bonus chaps teeheeeeee, late because i forgott ;(
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl