On the way to the Nest University's open training grounds,
Sniff-!
Sniff-!
Two "people" walked, the purple woman and the mantis she let free.
The mantis looked around as if searching for something,
"What's the holdup buttercup? The boss doesn't like to be kept waiting."
Drool slathered the mantis' jaw as he said,
"I smell something tasty, I know this scent.
He looked absolutely unhinged.
"It's him, that dragonfly!"
—
'Just one hit…'
Do-Hyeok was currently swinging wildly at professor Ji,
Well, wildly is an exaggeration.
Somehow, despite being faster than Professor Ji, he was countered absolutely.
'Why is this so difficult!'
"Hmm, you have the basis of a punch at least…"
Professor Ji grabbed his arm and twisted his body into a headlock.
"...but it's nothing more than street fighting."
He couldn't break out, he'd been absolutely outplayed.
'Why is his grip so strong…!'
'I gotta get him off of me…!'
And he pushed, as hard as he could…
The Asian weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina).
"Hmm?" Professor Ji felt the increasing resistance against him.
arguably the "strongest" in terms of relative lifting.
Eventually…
Unlike the average ant which can lift up to 10x its bodyweight.
Do-Hyeok had broken free!
The asian weaver ant can lift 100x.
"!!!"
Professor Ji was a little shocked. He knew Do-Hyeok had an ant complex, but he was also confident he wouldn't be able to break out of that hold.
"Impressive." That was it. All he had to say, because it was simply the truth, he was impressed.
"...?" Do-Hyeok was a little confused, how was that impressive? As far as he knew, the professor hadn't even used his abilities yet!
"Im not able to use insect abilities."
'?!"
"Yes, I am also an insect-human affected by jungle juice, but my abilities come with side effects, and my body can't bear them at this old age. Which is why I always carry a weapon for self defense purposes."
'Coluda fooled me…'
"The point is, you have what it takes to beat me, in theory. The only problem you face is inexperience, which I have years over on you, kid."
He walked over to Do-Hyeok,
"Luckily, you don't seem to hate what you are compared to most other students here, which gives you an edge. The first step to getting stronger from here is for you to truly learn what you're made of."
'...what I'm made of, huh?'
CLAP-!
"My goodness, that really was a brilliant lesson."
A woman, slowly clapping, began to come into view.
It was the purple woman.
"You've always had a certain flair, professor ji."
She walked up to the side of the two girls, who were still on the ground.
Professor Ji's face looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"You even had me going for a bit there, intimidating them with talks of expulsions and whatnot."
She was still clapping,
"But then, you turn it around and reward them with profound insight. A hard-earned lesson from an educator."
The students looked at her with an ominous feeling.
"It's so stirring…"
THWACK-!
Suddenly, the sprained girl, Hyeona, was launched up into the air by something that came out of the woman's back.
"...That I could just vomit."
"KYAAA-!"
The girl screamed,
"You fucking bastard!!!"
Suddenly, Hyeseong came from the side, attempting to kick the life out of this woman.
"Hmm? That's not very nice dear."
Stab-!
He was stabbed by the woman's stinger which earlier had attacked Hyeona.
Venom was injected into his body and he went limp.
"There there, I got you hun, you'll be so numb that you won't even feel a thing. You'll make a nice little morsel to snack on."
'Snack on…? No way…'
Do-Hyeok was shocked at what he heard. Did she have something to do with Breeder?
"i fed him a student on our way here, but he has quite a demanding appetite."
"Fed…?" Do-Hyeok heard Suchan mutter.
Suddenly, a flesh piercing sound was heard to his side,
A mantis' mandible was protruding through professor Ji's chest.
'What…?'
Professor ji fell to the ground, limp and bleeding out.
"We meet again…"
An overwhelming sense of dread.
"...Dragonfly."
Inexplainable fear.
"Now that's enough. This is plenty enough to snack on, so let's get moving."
Paralysed by the presence of an absolute predator.
"but I haven't felt this energized in so long…"
The woman cut through, resonating over the crowd,
"time for us to say goodbye, everyone. We've got a full day ahead of us. Anyway, take care of yourself and see you next time!"
She removed the mask, finally getting a glimpse at her face.
Two vividly purple eyes, a striking burn mark on her left eye, purple, just beyond shoulder length locks. In every sense of the word, she was beautiful, but dangerous.
"So long, Professor."
"Stop right there!!"
Huijin began to chase after them but was stopped by a hand grabbing her arm.
It was professor ji!
"No! They're dangerous… and students… can't fight outsiders without permission from Nest. I've contacted the school… so let them handle this and… head back to campus…"
Professor Ji was breathing incredibly heavily, clearly losing blood at an alarming rate.
"Now is not the time to worry about the rules!!!"
Huijin retorted,
"We could miss our chance! And Hyeseong–!"
"School rules must be upheld, as long as you're students at Nest, there's nothing you can do."
Do-Hyeok had finally calmed down, fear no longer paralysing his body.
'What the fuck was that…?'
They took Hyeseong and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt helpless.
But…
"...i cant just leave him to die."
Helplessness was an old friend to Do-Hyeok, he's experienced it countless times, was this any different?
"Other than the paralysis, I felt no different than before I came here…'
No.
If anything,
The risk he felt,
A smile appeared on his face.
It was euphoric.
Fear was just a stronger form of risk, when applied to this weirdo gambling addict, something changes in his mind.
"So that's what it feels like to go up against a natural predator… the pressure is deafening."
Despite the odds stacked against him.
Despite the absolute power the enemy held.
Do-Hyeok,
Still had that crazed smile on his face.
And like that, he burst.
BOOM-!
"Wait-!"
Professor Ji tried to call out to him but he was already gone, a trail of footsteps seen imprinted on the ground and wind flashing across the field.
And almost right after that
SWOOSH~!
Suchan flew over them, on his way to help Do-Hyeok,
"Just so we're clear, you said we'd be expelled if he lost the bet right?"
Professor Ji had nothing to say,
"Then none of us need to think about the damn rules, since we're not students here anymore."
And Suchan flew after Do-Hyeok.
—
Do-Hyeok was on his way toward the direction of where the assailants were headed,
[Saharan silver ant x Compound eyes]
'...man, I need to come up with a name for this stuff.'
He was surprisingly carefree,
'Super dash? Nah, too corny. Chain burst? Sounds generic. Subliminal ultra-hyperspeed? Too long… What was the scientific name for ants again? Formicidae? Hmm… Nah too nerdy.'
After a little bit of thought in his gait, Do-Hyeok came to a conclusion.
"Got it!"
[Overdrive]
Simple, efficient, easy to remember.
SWOOSH~!
In this somewhat off topic thought, Do-Hyeok abruptly stopped when he saw Suchan fly over him and move at an even greater speed!
'Right. Not the time for something like this.'
And Do-Hyeok began to run even faster.
—
By the time he got to them, Suchan was already fighting the mantis and the woman was leaning on a tree with her stinger wrapped around Hyeseong's neck.
"Late to the party?"
'That woman seems to be playing a relatively passive role… but that makes sense when she's got a minion to fight for her and can brainwash anyone who gets close…'
Sensing the impending intense battle, Do-Hyeok decided to help Hyeseong first, he was the priority after all, not because he was scared or anything.
No way.
[Overdrive]
Do-Hyeok launched at the woman intending to make her think he was about to strike,
"!!!"
It worked. She leapt back a few feet, leaving Hyeseong leaning on a tree, unconscious.
Do-Hyeok took advantage of this and crouched down over to Hyeseong to wake him up.
"Yo, soccer boy, Wake up."
Do-Hyeok remarked while gently slapping the guy's face.
And Hyeseong began to wake up.
"Ugh… What happened?"
And the purple lady approached rapidly,
"No time for that!" Do-Hyeok announced as he grabbed Hyeseong and threw him in Suchan's direction.
The lady swung down her stinger on Do-Hyeok. Not to pierce, but to cut.
Do-Hyeok tried to block, crossing his arms over each other, but it barely stopped the vitals from being hurt.
It hurt, maybe more than he'd thought,
But it was nothing compared to what he felt when he was locked in that box, suffocating from the jungle juice.
"My, my dearie~ you're quite resilient."
"Blame your shitty stinger. Not even close to painful enough to hurt me."
"Hm~? Is that so?"
His arms were bloody, but that didn't stop him at all, in fact the adrenaline made him more concentrated.
He closed his eyes for a second,
"Hoo~ Lock in."
He opened his eyes, the woman was on her way,
[Compound eyes]
The world seemed slower,
'The first step to getting stronger from here is for you to truly learn what you're made of.'
He thought back to what his professor had told him.
'Just what exactly…'
The trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus bauri)
The woman swung at him at a near blinding speed,
This ant has sensory hairs on its face, when touched, the muscles in its jaw slam shut, allowing it to catch its prey at an instantaneous speed.
This ant is known to have the ant equivalent of danger sense…
The ground cracked, a small crater in the ground, surely this should have hit, however…
While one would think this means Do-Hyeok only has these hairs on his face, they would be sorely mistaken.
Do-Hyeok has these hairs all over his body, this was caused by the trait adapting to his body during the jungle juice experiment.
This meant…
There stood Do-Hyeok, looking down at her with glowing, eerily cold eyes.
…Do-Hyeok could dodge imperceivable attacks without even looking, making him…
Practically unhittable. (If active)
'...am I made of?'
The attack did not land.
And in the next second, the woman looked up to see a fist rapidly approaching her face.
—
END OF CHAPTER
A/N: Did I cook, dear readers?
Over 50 collections and powerstones in a week. Im touched.🥹
But I'm greedy so gimme more.
Oh and as of right now the asian weaver thing was activated unconsciously so Do-Hyeok can't use it on command. But he will soon.(TLDR: he's throwing baby punches really fast.)