Chapter 35 : The Monster of the Mosquito (2)

“This guy… what the hell is he?”

Out of nowhere, an unknown monster appeared and challenged me to a hierarchy battle.

This place is clearly supposed to be my territory, yet it shows up at the most crucial moment, as if it just suddenly appeared.

This is when it tried to take the life of an S-rank hero.

“My specially nurtured ancient mosquito’s disease doesn’t even work on it… And what’s with that bizarre horned mask?”

It seems like it’s trying to hide its identity.

It’s definitely something out of the ordinary if it’s hiding its face like that, not typical for a monster.

So, the mosquito monster flapped its wings, which were as big as a person’s size.

For now, it decided to retreat into the fog to reassess the situation.

“Gruk gruk?”

“Where?”

“?!”

It quickly tried to hide again, slowly observing the enemy’s movements.

But then,

“Hey, when did that happen?!”

Wham.

“Ugh?!”

Before it even realized, the horned mask monster had jumped from behind.

The mosquito, who didn’t even have time to react, was slapped across the face and fell to the ground.

It immediately coughed up transparent blood from its mouth.

“Ugh…!”

“Uh, huh? When did it disappear from my side?”

The one who had been quietly observing, “Missing-chan”, was utterly bewildered by what happened in the blink of an eye.

Watching the battle between two high-ranking monsters, it could barely comprehend what was happening.

Still, it seemed that its side was winning.

“Go, horned mask! I don’t know what it is, but fight on!”

“Missing… NeNoOm!”

“Yikes?!”

Despite still being terrified of the mosquito monster, it didn’t stop cheering for Kang Jang Hoon.

That was the very essence of an underdog, willing to do anything to survive.

“Ugh, ugh…! B-but I’m on the side of the horned mask! Anyway, the mosquito will just use me as a breeding ground for insects even if it wins, right?!”

“Ugh!”

“Horned mask! It looks like it’s still alive, please finish it off quickly!”

“Krraaaaa~!”

The mosquito monster then immediately dropped down from above with a kick.

It tried to dodge, but it awkwardly rolled to avoid getting its head smashed.

It quickly jumped up, unwilling to use such a burdensome technique on some unfamiliar creature.

“Consider it an honor.”

“…?”

“Normally, this technique can only be used with the permission of my master, the monster of disease.”

Could it be… This mosquito?

Breaking the most trusted master’s command to do something so rude?

But, it thought, it has to stay alive to be scolded and forgiven, right?

So, it went back into the fog for a moment.

“Scatter! Malaria!!”

The mosquito monster spread its arms wide, and soon began to break its body down.

It transformed into mosquitoes as small as “nano size”, too small to catch.

“Th-the mosquito monster disappeared?!”

“Krkrkrkr…”

“No… This is really broken down into a tiny size.”

It was becoming troublesome.

The mosquito monster.

To think that such a power existed in a monster not even in the original work.

Kang Jang Hoon threw a punch toward the swarm of mosquitoes, which were now moving like a black fog.

Whoosh.

However, the mosquito, now shrunk down to a cellular size, easily dodged the attack.

Aaaaeeeng~!

Instead, the swarm of mosquitoes burst through the swatter and quickly clung to his body.

“Grk?!”

“It’s over.”

Then, the sharp, pointed lips began to pierce the completely blackened body.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap…?

The highlight of this technique is to quickly turn the body into a skeleton by injecting it from all sides.

‘What the hell is this thing…’

‘Lips, nose, inside the ears…’

‘Even the eyes that are still open, my lips don’t even pierce them…?!’

No matter how much of a monster it was, even it should have weak spots like a human’s groin or eyeballs.

But it’s so tough, it’s like an exoskeleton.

This is, damn it.

What kind of nonsense is this?

There’s no other life form nearby to drain, so further power-ups are impossible.

‘Should I just run away…?’

Or should it try to suck some life from the humans inside the restaurant far away?

But there’s that annoying S-rank hero there.

In the worst-case scenario, it might have to face off with both this mysterious horned mask and the cockroach monster slayer, Yoon Ha Eun, at the same time.

What should it do?

“Heeek?! Horned mask, um… are you okay?”

“Hmm?”

While contemplating,

It had no choice but to turn towards the trembling Missing-chan, who was standing behind it.

“U-uh?!”

“Krkrkr!”

‘No way…!’

“Missing, I’ve changed my mind! Become my nutrients right now!”

“Ahhh?!”

The mosquito monster, having given up on eating Kang Jang Hoon, dropped all of its remaining power from his body without any hesitation.

The black fog-like swarm of mosquitoes surrounded Missing-chan in an instant.

It was just like a swarm of mosquitoes discovering a dead animal in Africa.

“Sa-save meee…!”

“Don’t worry. Monsters that die in this world are only reincarnated here with their memories lost.”

“Th-that means I’m going to die soon, right?! The missing monster without memories is no longer me!”

Missing-chan replied distastefully to the voices coming from the mosquito swarm.

But that was all.

“Just quietly get eaten.”

“Yikes?!”

And then, the swarm of disgusting mosquitoes closed in from all sides.

The buzzing, irritating sound of the insects seemed to resonate through her eardrums, and with the instinct of death overwhelming her, she collapsed to the ground.

‘It’s over… It’s all over!’

In a world where monsters and humans coexist, there are deaths, but “missing persons” are rare.

And being “missing” might bring the “despair” of death, but at the same time, it can also bring the “hope” of being alive.

In a way, it’s one of the few beneficial concepts for humans.

That’s why, born from the fear of being missing, she was always the embodiment of ambiguity.

As a neither-here-nor-there monster, she could never dare to go to the human world, so she spent her life hiding in another world, effectively making herself “missing”.

But this is the end.

The one thing she was confident about, hiding, didn’t even get attention and was soon found out and dragged away by the mosquito monster that wanted to use her.

In the end, she was about to be harvested as food for a high-ranking monster.

‘Really, I really hate this…’

Being missing is both despair and hope.

A duality that has both the negative and positive, but why is it that my life has always been nothing but despair?

However, such a life is about to end.

Accepting the final stage of death, “acceptance”, Missing-chan tightly closed her eyes, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much.

“Krkrkr!”

‘Missing!’

“…Huh?”

Swoosh!

She had been silently praying and praying.

“This guy?!”

In an instant, the horned mask monster broke through the swarm of mosquitoes buzzing around her.

“H-Horned mask monster?”

Did it save me?

Why?

She couldn’t understand.

It was said that monsters below the high-ranking level, involved in such a hierarchy battle, were like mere stones on the ground with no value.

But this horned mask monster saved her not once, but twice, as if it were her “comrade.”

And such coincidences happening twice in such a short period of time seemed impossible.

In other words…

Thump thump.

“My, my heart is beating… I’m still alive!”

The relief of being alive.

And the joy of being rescued by someone.

These two emotions intertwined, and tears began to flow from Missing-chan’s eyes without her even realizing it.

“Hoo… sob…”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Sitting on the ground, Missing-chan expressed her gratitude to Jang Hoon, who had saved her.

Meanwhile,

“Did you really save that low-ranking monster?”

“To get distracted by something like that in the middle of the hierarchy battle.”

“But actually, it worked out.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Thanks to it, we found a ‘weakness’, right?”

The mosquito monsters, now split into nano sizes, buzzed around, the ones with high-ranking monster strength.

While they were angry that the hierarchy battle had been disrupted, they were pleased to have discovered an unexpected weakness.

“Targeting the missing one.”

“Then you’ll be affected too.”

“Sympathy for a monster?”

“You’re the ultimate blasphemy to us monsters.”

Aaaeeeng~!

The swarm of mosquitoes surrounded the two monsters once again.

“…! H-Horned mask! You don’t have to worry about me!”

What they were targeting was the completely powerless Missing-chan.

Realizing this, Missing-chan confidently responded, now fully supporting Kang Jang Hoon’s victory, ready to die for it if necessary.

“I’ve been saved today!”

“Grk?”

“I am the one who was saved!”

She had been alone, a neither-here-nor-there monster, but just the fact that someone strong like him had reached out to her was an immense honor.

Why is it that there are always loyal followers beneath high-ranking monsters?

For Missing-chan, who had been trying to live alone until her death, it was one of the most difficult things to understand.

But now, in the world of monsters, where even the concept of family is rare, she had come to realize how important a leader you could trust and follow was.

So,

“Horned mask, thank you.”

For the victory of the horned mask monster!

Missing-chan, eager to eliminate any possibility of him losing, was ready to sacrifice herself to ensure that.

Swoosh.

“Horned mask monster…?”

At that moment, the horned mask monster grabbed her wrist, as if he didn’t need it anymore.

Splat!

“Screech!”

“What the hell?!”

Before she could see, the horned mask monster clapped his hands and pulverized the nano-sized monsters, turning them to dust.

“Krkrkr.”

‘Still, my lower half has received so much from you in the past, I can’t just let such a “benefactor” die.’