Before anything could happen the soldiers appeared.
Torn clothes.
Bruised faces.
Some painted red and black.
Five in total.
Three wearing gold—a black star on their armor.
Two wearing red—the phoenix insignia on their arms.
The first soldier stood at the front.
Bare face.
Long metal shield.
Short sword at his side.
The two beside him wore the same gold with guns and swords in hand.
The two in red carried short shields and guns.
All five armor sets shared the same design.
Same shape.
Minor differences.
Nothing more.
Eun Byol's body was pressed into the ground.
She screamed.
Pain loud and raw.
Slowly trying to push herself up.
Ha Joon rushed to her side immediately.
The ant jumped.
Following his direction.
The giant metal shield moved faster.
Blocked its path.
The creature continued its attack.
Relentless.
The guns sparked all at once.
Bullets flying toward the ant from every direction.
It screamed.
Some bullets bounced off the black armor.
Some penetrated.
Especially at the weak spot.
The pressure of it pushed the shield soldier back.
All the way to the wall.
Reaching Ha Joon and Eun Byol.
Ha Joon got her up.
The three of them pressed against the wall.
The other soldiers rushed the creature.
Small knives out.
Cutting.
Scratching at its back.
The blades made unnatural sounds against the carapace.
Muddy in some areas.
Bouncing in others.
Black blood painting the direction of the ant's body.
It screamed louder.
Attack after attack after attack.
Then the tall man with the bare face.
His hands.
His legs.
They slipped.
The shield creating an opening.
Just for a moment.
The creature found it.
Stabbed him in the stomach.
Once.
Then again.
A storm of madness.
The man screamed.
Bleeding.
His intestines mixing with the metal of his armor.
Turned to nothing.
Meeting the ground.
Ha Joon pushed back.
He could see the pressure slowly destroying Eun Byol.
The energy of the giant ant touching both of them.
Pressing.
Crushing.
The giant of a man swung his mighty shield one last time.
Grabbed the creature.
Used the shield to punch it back.
Dual cultivation.
His eyes glowed blue.
The shield alongside him.
Small blue veins pulsing through both.
The creature pushed back.
The other soldiers surrounded it immediately.
Shooting from all sides.
It hit the ground.
They didn't give it a chance to rise.
The noise of it bounced off the ridge walls.
Then the creature's pincer found a soldier's leg.
Penetrated the armor.
Reaching flesh.
The sound was wet.
Wrong.
The soldier screamed.
A barrage of bullets followed.
Some stomping.
Some shooting.
The giant fell.
Witnessing all of it.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol behind him.
His body twitched.
Gave its last breath.
The guns stopped at the sound of bone breaking.
Metal bending.
Then finally the leg.
The ant rose.
Claimed the fallen soldier.
Stabbing him with each step toward his face.
Its mouth pincers going for the eyes.
They penetrated.
Screaming.
The soldier couldn't even scream anymore.
The pincers found his eyes.
One.
Then the other.
Blood ran down his face like tears.
The body twitched.
Then stopped.
Blood pouring where eyes should have been.
Like tears made of something worse.
The ant drove through.
Breaking bone.
Pulling back.
Leaving nothing but a stretched hollow where eyes should be.
Where a nose should be.
The soldiers continued their attack.
Being stabbed multiple times as they kept going.
The creature standing on top of the man.
Looking at what it had done.
Its face expressionless.
Then the soldiers dug in.
Knives from behind.
Working from one side of the ant through to the other.
And finally.
It died.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol watched everything.
Breathing.
The soldiers kept attacking the corpse of the creature.
Then stopped.
One by one they sat down.
Breathing hard.
The sounds of everything settling around them.
Above on the ridge, soldiers looked down at the direction of Ha Joon and Eun Byol.
And the dead comrade between them.