The fight—or perhaps the one-sided attempt of the ant to attack with all its strength—went on for another five minutes, without a single scratch on Min-Jae.
Every time the ant attacked, no matter how powerful, no matter how much force it put into the strike, nothing could bypass Infinity.
Even the ice attacks weren't working. The poison wasn't working.
Instead, with a few lazy punches Min-Jae had landed on the ant, he'd managed to crack its outer exoskeleton—which was impressive in itself, considering it was far stronger than a normal ant's exoskeleton by a considerable margin.
'Physical strength... poison... nothing works against it...' The ant's consciousness processed this information. After so many attempts, it couldn't accomplish anything. 'Overpower... I can't overpower him... but speed. I need speed. There's no way he can match my speed. I'm done with this foe.'
'I'll just...'
'What does it plan to do now?' Min-Jae thought, watching the ant carefully.
Suddenly it shot upward, its four wings spreading wide on both sides as it began flying with their support. Its body started glowing with a white hue.
'It's getting smaller? Weird.'
Before everyone's eyes, the monstrous ant shrank significantly in size, floating in the air above and looking down on Min-Jae.
'I'll just reduce the size I had increased and put everything into agility. I need to kill him. I'm the strongest. I can't lose to anyone. I'm not supposed to lose.' The ant's consciousness spoke as it suddenly moved from its position—but something had changed. The speed it was now moving at was far, far faster than before.
'I see. It's putting everything into agility instead of raw strength now,' Min-Jae thought, analyzing the reason for its transformation.
'Though, the transformation looked cool. I wonder how it looked in the anime. Speaking of which, who could defeat this ant in the original story?'
His thoughts were interrupted as the first attack came with blistering speed. The ant was moving so fast that it was incomprehensible even for the S-Rank hunters watching from nearby.
"Shouldn't we help him?" Ma Dong-Wook said. "The way the ant increased its speed all of a sudden—will Hunter Min-Jae be able to keep up alone?"
"What could we even do? We couldn't even see its attacks coming when it was moving much slower. Now I can't see it at all," Baek Yoon-Ho replied.
'A mage-type hunter fighting at the front line alone... I think I saw it before,' Cha Hae-In thought. Flashbacks of Sung Jin-Woo popped into her head, and suddenly her face turned red.
"Is something wrong, Hunter Cha Hae-In?" Choi Jong-In asked.
"No..." She shook her head, maybe a bit too quickly.
'What technique should I use now...?' Min-Jae thought as the ant continued its relentless attempts to land an attack. Even with its increased speed and agility, it still wasn't enough to break through his defense. 'It's annoying. It isn't letting me think properly.'
Suddenly, he grabbed the ant's claw hand mid-strike and pushed it away with minimal force.
'Now, I've used Red and Blue. The only thing left is Hollow Purple. But if I'm going to use this technique then...'
Min-Jae suddenly turned and started moving back toward the hatchery room they'd walked through moments ago.
The ant king immediately followed with blinding speed, its consciousness triumphant. 'He's running away! I knew it! Once I cornered him, he couldn't handle it! But, I will kill him. I am the only strongest.'
"What is he doing?" Baek Yoon-Ho said, confused.
Cha Hae-In stood up, gripping her sword—which was now broken from the edge—and followed the two without hesitation. The others, mostly healed by Min Byung-Gu's abilities now, followed as well.
Min-Jae entered the massive hatchery cavern and began running along its perimeter, the ant pursuing him closely. He moved in a wide arc around the entire room, weaving between the countless eggs that filled the space.
When he reached the far end of the cavern, with the ant closing in behind him, Min-Jae suddenly teleported—vanishing from his position and reappearing at the entrance of the hatchery.
'If I just use that technique in the queen's chamber, I'll cause destruction without purpose. But if I'm causing destruction, I'd rather destroy for a reason at least,' he thought.
He raised both hands.
First, his left hand. "Blue."
A sphere of compressed gravitational force materialized, glowing with intense blue light. The pull began immediately, dragging everything toward the focal point—including the ant king, who was caught mid-flight and yanked forward against its will.
Then, his right hand. "Red."
A sphere of repulsive force formed, crackling with violent energy, pushing outward with tremendous power.
The ant struggled against the gravitational pull, its wings beating frantically, trying to escape. But it was too late.
Min-Jae brought his hands together.
"Hollow Purple."
The blue and red spheres merged, creating something entirely different—a violet sphere of destructive energy that didn't just push or pull. It erased.
The ant king charged forward anyway, either unable to stop its momentum or refusing to retreat. Its consciousness screamed defiance. 'I am the strongest! I cannot lose!'
Min-Jae released the attack.
The purple sphere shot forward in a concentrated beam, distorting the very air around it.
'Wait... I need to flee. Am I not the strongest ? What kind of being is this ?'
The moment it connected with the ant king, the creature simply ceased to exist—not torn apart, not burned, but *deleted* from reality. Its body, its matter, its very existence was erased as the beam passed through the space it had occupied.
But the attack didn't stop there.
The beam of Hollow Purple continued forward, tearing through the hatchery. Every egg in its path was instantly obliterated—not cracked or destroyed, but erased entirely. The violet energy carved a perfectly straight line through the cavern, disintegrating hundreds upon hundreds of ant eggs in an instant.
The beam struck the far wall of the hatchery with devastating force. The stone didn't explode or shatter—it was simply removed from existence, creating a massive, perfectly smooth tunnel that extended deep into the rock beyond.
Then came the shockwave.
The release of energy created a rippling distortion that spread outward from the beam's path. Eggs that remained near the attack's trajectory cracked and exploded from the pressure. The cavern walls trembled, and chunks of rock began falling from the ceiling.
The Korean S-Rank hunters, who had just entered the hatchery, stood frozen in absolute shock.
"What... what was that?" Ma Dong-Wook breathed.
The destruction was total. Where there had once been a thriving hatchery filled with thousands of ant eggs, there was now a barren wasteland. A massive tunnel had been carved straight through the cavern, and the lingering violet energy still crackled in the air.
Min-Jae lowered his hands, releasing a slightly longer breath than before. 'That was insane. And fun.'
But one question lingered in his mind. 'Who would have killed this ant in the original story? Goto, maybe? Because Sung Jin-Woo didn't even join the raid. Or... did he join in canon but chose not to because I'm here in this timeline? If not that, it's not like he can just teleport here right in the middle of the raid, right?'
He turned to face the others, who were staring at him with expressions ranging from awe to complete shock.
"The ant king is dead," he said simply. "Took care of the eggs too."
Silence hung in the air for several seconds.
"That was..." Min Byung-Gu started, his voice trailing off as he looked around at the devastated cavern. Where there had been thousands of eggs just moments ago, there was now nothing but empty space and that massive tunnel carved through solid rock. "What was that technique?"
The ant that had nearly overwhelmed five S-Rank hunters was simply... gone. Not defeated. Not killed. Just erased from existence.