Ha Joon and Eun Byol witnessed it.
The red mist eating the mountain.
From top to base.
Consuming it slowly.
Deliberately.
The relentless noise of war stopped.
Ha Joon and Eun Byol's faces painted with confusion.
Chi-Long remained unfazed.
Taking a short moment to observe the changing event.
Then proceeding forward.
Moving without hesitation.
Ha Joon carrying Eun Byol followed.
---
Hovering drones witnessed it from above.
Some short circuiting as the red mist reached them.
Falling like dying birds from the sky.
Taking one last image on the way down.
Giant human-like hulking ant creatures leading the rest inside the military tents.
Paper flying through the air.
Voices bouncing off everything.
Allergic readings spiking.
*Mana density in that area has become abnormal.*
*Impossible.*
*Sub bosses cannot leave the dungeon.*
*What is that red mist.*
---
The mist on top of the mountain.
Unknown to most.
But not to all.
The pure manifestation of the King's blood lust.
Its final craving.
A worthy opponent.
To kill.
To eat.
Not a special technique.
Not a skill ability provided by the system.
Nothing more than raw instinct.
Hunger.
Superiority.
Dominating will made visible.
The fog not real in a literal sense.
But all those witnessing it felt it immediately.
The weakness spreading through them.
The dominated will of the King Ant pressing down on everything beneath it.
Not a weapon.
Not a skill.
Just the absolute certainty of something that had never once considered losing.
Made into weather.
Made into atmosphere.
Made into something that entered through the eyes and settled in the chest and told the body to stop.
To submit.
To kneel.
---
Ha Joon felt it.
His legs slowing slightly.
His grip on Eun Byol tightening.
Eun Byol felt it.
Her breathing changing.
Her eyes widening against her will.
Chi-Long kept walking.
Her pace unchanged.
Her posture unchanged.
Her expression unchanged.
As though the dominated will of a King pressed against her and found nothing to press against.
Nothing to grip.
Nothing to break.
She simply walked through it.
And they followed.
Into the red.
Into whatever waited at the center of it.