As the Dagger Squad steadily advanced toward the ant nest.
On the ground in Jeju Island.
Smoke filled the air, thick with the stench of blood.
The "decoy" teams sent by Country R had spread out across the island, drawing the attention of large numbers of ants.
In a relatively open area that had once been a village square, the ground was now littered with ant corpses and scorched marks left by battle.
Szzzt—!
Her blade flashed like snow, moving so fast it seemed to blur into a single streak.
Tawada Kanae, an S-Class Hunter from Country R with a physical enhancement ability, darted among several A-Rank black ants like a phantom.
The two long katana in her hands were inscribed with pale blue wind runes. Each swing cut through the air with a sharp whistle, sending visible crescent-shaped blades of wind flying.
Her blade flashed, and the black ants' hard shells split as easily as paper. Heads and limbs fell in turn, their cuts smooth as mirrors.
She landed lightly on a toppled chunk of concrete, casually flicked the sticky fluids from her blades, then raised an eyebrow as she looked toward her teammates, who were finishing off the last few black ants nearby.
"Is this so-called S-Rank dungeon really as terrifying as the rumors say? I don't know, it feels pretty ordinary to me. It doesn't seem much more troublesome than the few large A-Rank nests back in Country R."
"Of course it does~"
A clear, melodious voice answered, with a hint of childish sweetness.
It was Shimizu Akari. She stood barely a meter and forty-five centimeters tall, and even among the hunters of Country R, where the average height was relatively low, she looked especially tiny.
Yet the weapon in her hands was a monstrous hammer-blade, taller