# Chapter 79
It was an incomprehensible situation.
“Guide Lee Jaehee!”
The Guide team and the one Esper who was guarding them could only watch in bewilderment as Jaehee ran toward the temple. They couldn’t leave their positions.
Except for the nine Espers who had entered the temple area where the ant swarm was gathered to kill the boss monster, the queen ant, the rest of the personnel were all gathered at the entrance of the forest, several dozen meters away from the temple. This was because the location was just barely outside the territory of the red ants.
But suddenly Jaehee’s face had turned pale white, and he had dashed out. The one Esper who had remained to guard the Guides couldn’t chase after Jaehee because he had to protect the safety of the other Guides. Nothing was more dangerous in a Gate than acting alone.
And soon, Jaehee entered the ants’ territory.
Ants had an instinct to spare no one who invaded their territory, no matter who it was, in order to protect it. The ants immediately rushed toward Jaehee.
Kikikik-!
With their mouths wide open, countless ants crawled menacingly toward Jaehee as if they would tear him apart. They were about to hunt the prey that had entered their territory.
“Guide Lee Jaehee!”
Hearing the voice calling Jaehee from behind and sensing Jaehee’s wavelength that was closer than before, Dohyun deflected the huge leg of the queen ant that was swinging at him with his ability and hastily stepped back. Then he immediately turned his head toward where he felt Jaehee’s wavelength.
“…!”
The scene he saw made Dohyun’s heart drop. Jaehee, who should have been in a safe place, was inside the ants’ territory. But that wasn’t all. Countless ants were swarming toward him. Dohyun immediately tried to go to Jaehee.
“We’ll hold them off here!”
The Espers began attacking the ant swarm in front of Dohyun to cover him.
But.
Keeeeak!
The thousands of ants that rushed at once and the giant queen ant that looked to be 10 meters tall would not easily let go of Dohyun, the Espers, or anyone else.
Certainly, ant-type monsters were easy opponents. But there were too many to handle in a short time, and perhaps because of that, they weren’t diminishing easily. Plus, there was the queen ant, the master of this Gate.
On top of that, the sky was already densely filled with ants. This was because countless winged combat ants protecting the queen ant were blocking the Espers’ path.
“Get out of my way!”
Dohyun grabbed the head of an ant that stood in his way and tore it off. The ant’s corpse rolled to the ground. But immediately other ants filled its place. He couldn’t move easily.
“Damn it!”
Curses involuntarily burst from Dohyun’s mouth. There was no time left now. The situation had become one where the ant swarm would pounce on Jaehee before Dohyun could reach him.
The Gate clearing difficulty itself wasn’t high, though it would certainly take some time. But Jaehee’s sudden action had increased the Gate clearing difficulty. No, to be precise, Jaehee had put himself in danger.
Why on earth!
But then.
“…target!”
Jaehee was actually shouting at the Espers. With his gaze fixed on Dohyun, he ran forward and yelled at the top of his lungs.
“…target the back!”
Surely Jaehee could see the swarm of ants approaching him. But Jaehee was only shouting at Dohyun as if something else was more important than that.
But in the dangerous situation Jaehee was in, there was no way his voice could be heard.
“Lee Minhun!”
Seeing the ants blocking his way, Dohyun immediately called for Minhun. At this distance, only Minhun was capable of a long-range area attack.
“N-no, it’s too far!”
But unfortunately, Minhun was a rookie Esper. Regardless of the strength of his ability, he wasn’t yet proficient in using it. Fine control was difficult.
“At this distance, I’ll burn Guide Lee Jaehee too!”
The ant swarm that needed to be eliminated was too close to Jaehee. Minhun stretched his arm toward Jaehee but couldn’t use his ability. The fear of possibly killing a person with his own hands was greater than the fear of the ant swarm rushing at Jaehee.
And that hesitation gave the ants time. Countless ants pounced on Jaehee in an instant. Numerous ants with their mouths wide open clung to Jaehee’s body.
“Lee Jaehee!”
In an instant, Jaehee disappeared from view. Covered by ants, not even a strand of hair was visible. Dohyun’s face turned white. His fingertips trembled.
It was then.
Whoosh! A large flame rose over the ant swarm that had pounced on Jaehee. Dohyun and the Espers were surprised, looked at the flames, and immediately turned to Minhun. But Minhun also wore a surprised expression.
Minhun looked at his hand. His ability had suddenly burst out. It seemed to have been released involuntarily due to the tension.
And that coincidence turned into divine providence.
“Lee Jaehee!”
The ants that had pounced on Jaehee burned to death, and Jaehee was among their corpses. Jaehee seemed to be unharmed. He was emerging from between the ant corpses without a single injury. That was a relief.
“Get out of the ant territory now!”
Moreover, the massive flame that Minhun had released from his fingertips had created a path to the edge of the ant territory, burning all the ants in the vicinity. Before other ants could gather, Jaehee just needed to go back out of the territory. So Dohyun shouted at Jaehee to quickly leave the ant territory.
But.
“Target the center of the red pattern on their backs!”
Instead, Jaehee shouted as he approached closer to where Dohyun and Minhun were.
“You need to target their backs to end this fight!”
“Lee Jaehee, right now…!”
As Dohyun was about to shout at him to get out, Jaehee cut him off mid-sentence.
“Don’t worry about me.”
Saying that, Jaehee actually approached the ant swarm. And he shouted to the people.
“The ants can’t attack me.”
What could this mean? Incomprehensible expressions were directed at Jaehee. And as if to prove his words, Jaehee actually approached the ants. But unlike before, the ants backed away as if frightened, stepping back.
Everyone had bewildered faces at the incomprehensible situation.
“And never get bitten by an ant.”
Jaehee said, looking at the Espers, or more precisely, at Dohyun. Then, with his gaze averted, he started poking around the ant swarm, looking for something.
“Captain, what the hell…?”
While blocking the ant swarm’s attacks, an Esper who didn’t understand the current situation asked Dohyun.
“Everyone, target the red pattern on their backs.”
But from Dohyun’s mouth, only the words Jaehee had said flowed out. He had participated in Gates with Jaehee since they were young. Jaehee wasn’t an S-class Guide for nothing, and he wasn’t the leader of the Guide team for no reason.
The situation where ants didn’t attack Jaehee was incomprehensible no matter how much he thought about it, but if Jaehee spoke and demonstrated like that, there must be some reason.
Jaehee was not only a precious person that he had to protect, but also a reliable comrade in the Gate, more so than anyone else.
“And never get bitten.”
So Dohyun followed what Jaehee had said. But then, the number of ants that hadn’t been decreasing began to decrease very slightly. Why? Dohyun checked the surroundings. Ants that died after their backs were attacked and ants that died after their bodies were pierced. But isn’t that ant that died after being pierced in the body standing up again after a while?
It was an abnormal phenomenon. Clearly, a dead ant had come back to life. No, it was moving like a zombie. Dohyun’s gaze turned to Jaehee. Certainly, Jaehee knew something.
‘…There must be something!’
As Dohyun thought, Jaehee was the only one who accurately understood this situation.
Jaehee recalled everything about what had happened in the Gate that Dohyun had entered before the regression, what he had heard. He had heard that abnormal phenomena had occurred inside the Gate.
‘The number of ants didn’t decrease.’
No matter how much their attack power was equivalent to D-class, if their numbers didn’t decrease, it was a different story. Ants with D-class attack power were classified as C-class because they moved in swarms. But what if the ants didn’t die? Then they could no longer be considered C-class monsters.
But since dead monsters coming back to life had never happened before, it caused everyone to let their guard down, and as Dohyun tried to control and protect them, he eventually lost his leg. It wasn’t a disaster caused by Dohyun’s carelessness. It was the fate of a leader who had shouldered the panic of others instead.
‘When I just heard about the situation, I couldn’t believe it, but…’
Only after entering the Gate himself did it become certain.
‘B-class monster.’
There was clearly a monster hiding here that shouldn’t be here. A monster of a rank that didn’t match the Gate.
