Amid the gloomy waves.
One enormous creature after another came ashore.
If a single giant monster with a pitch-black shell as hard as stone was enough to make people feel they stood no chance against it,
then the sight of four such monsters appearing on the shore and charging at them, their sharp claws gleaming coldly, undoubtedly shattered the confidence people had always held.
At that moment,
wisdom and courage were no longer traits that defined humanity.
Weakness and helplessness were.
Although Ned had detected the monsters' approach in advance with water mosquitoes and promptly warned the nearby tribespeople to retreat, greatly reducing the initial casualties,
the sight of so many giant monsters breaking through the defenses
sent fear spreading through their ranks.
Some of the younger tribespeople couldn't stop their legs from trembling, making it difficult to carry out the plan they had made earlier.
In the midst of the panic,
Ned's expression was grave as he promptly raised the Rot Spirit Staff high.
"Don't be afraid!"
"They're nothing but ignorant beasts with shells, while we are the Warriors blessed by the gods!"
"With the gods as our witnesses,"
"victory will be ours in the end."
As fate willed it,
the once free-spirited young man who had shirked his duty seemed to become just like his father.
In that instant, he awakened the power to inspire others.
In a daze,
the people seemed to see that tall figure from long ago, raising a torch in the endless night and leading the Tribe onward.
Ned's words helped the tribespeople reclaim a little of their courage.
Following the original plan, they shouted loudly.
"Come on!"
"You monsters!"
Ned and the tribespeople waved the glowing Worm Lamps in their hands again and again, shouting angrily.
Just as expected, the giant monsters were lured by the conspicuous blue light.
As if enraged, they all changed course at once and chased after the ignorant humans who dared to provoke them.
Even so,
some tribespeople still died beneath the giant monsters' sharp claws.
But at last, they had lured the creatures into the forest.
That was exactly what Ned wanted.
This forest
was where the people had established a realm for poisonous insects to dwell,
guided by the Rot Spirit Flower.
It was home not only to the few most ferocious Yamal Spiders Ned had just awakened,
but also
countless poisonous insects the people had carefully selected.
At that moment, they too lay dormant within.
As the giant monsters charged into the dense forest,
thinking they could still slaughter the lowly creatures with ease,
several Yamal Spiders that had long been poised to strike launched their attack first, controlled by Ned.
The acid they spat directly from their mouths was on a completely different level from the acid in the Acid Arrows.
One unlucky crab-like giant monster was struck by all the acid.
Thick white smoke immediately billowed from its black armor. It let out a strange, hissing cry and collapsed.
The other giant crabs swung their claws, slashing at the Yamal Spiders.
A Yamal Spider hiding behind some grass was immediately cleaved in two by a sharp claw.
But purple acid splashed onto the monster as well, inflicting grievous injuries.
"Loose!"
At Ned's furious shout,
the nimble tribespeople who had climbed the trees alongside him took the opportunity to fire their arrows.
The dense forest restricted the giant monsters' movements, while the insects' interference kept the beasts occupied, giving the people in the trees a hidden and safe vantage point from which to shoot.
Volley after volley of arrows flew.
As the giant monsters took hit after hit, they also rammed their enormous bodies into the towering trees. Leaves and wood chips rained down, and the tribespeople, their faces slick with cold sweat, hurriedly leapt to nearby trees as the trunks toppled.
But as more and more trees fell,
the people had fewer and fewer places left to retreat to.
Then,
within the forest,
patches of pale blue light finally began to shine.
One pale blue rove beetle after another began pouring out of the tree hollows.
A dense swarm of insects blanketed the entire forest.
Such a spectacular sight
was not Ned's doing.
It was
the power of the Messenger of the Gods.
At that moment,
all the other Rot Spirit Insects on the island collapsed where they stood.
Ants, dragonflies, and giant cockroaches sank into slumber.
In their place,
hundreds upon hundreds of Rot Spirit Poison Insects throughout the forest awoke.
Although the Rot Spirit Flower couldn't control all the tens of thousands of Rot Spirit Insects,
it could
extend the Rot Spirits' lifespans by putting them into slumber, keeping some of the insects that had already been parasitized on standby.
When they were needed,
the dormant insects could be awakened again.
And now
was the moment these fearsome poisonous insects awoke.
One Rot Spirit Poison Insect after another took flight beneath the excited gaze of the people.
They didn't attack the giant creatures' hard shells.
Instead,
relying on their extraordinarily tiny bodies, they slipped through the gaps in the armor.
These clever insects bypassed the creatures' sturdy defenses.
They burrowed straight into the soft parts beneath the shells, devouring the giant monsters' most vulnerable flesh and injecting their venom.
Faced with so many tiny insects,
the giant monsters could only swing their claws wildly.
But in that moment, their massive, sharp claws were utterly useless.
They had no way to inflict any real harm on the lowly insects, much less purge the venom that had already invaded their bodies.
"The Messenger of the Gods is protecting us!"
"Attack!"
Seeing the giant monsters immobilized, Ned knew this was the best opportunity they could hope for. He used his specially made crossbow to fire the Rot Spirit Staff in his hand.
As the power of Corruption spread, another giant monster crashed to the ground.
One by one, the giant monsters began to lose ground against the combined forces of the people and the insects.
They tried to flee the forest, but it was already too late.
When the last giant monster in the forest finally collapsed, oozing foul-smelling, pale yellow liquid,
these seemingly invincible giant monsters
had been defeated by insects many times smaller than themselves.
Up in the trees, Ned watched the bodies of the giant monsters strewn across the ground.
Countless insects flew out and surged into the sky.
The sight left him staring in a daze as he murmured,
"Oh, God."
"Is this why You bestowed the Rot Spirit Flower upon us?"
Perhaps,
on the day the gods bestowed the Rot Spirit Flower,
the wise god had already foreseen this very scene.
What truly countered these giant beasts wasn't something just as enormous,
but the countless
lowly yet intelligent insects.
After the giant monsters that had invaded the forest fell,
humanity finally sounded the horn of a counterattack.
The fighting lasted from daytime until the second dawn.
Under the leadership of Boer, Ned, and Barlow,
the enraged tribespeople joined forces with the Rot Spirit Insects and began hunting down the remaining giant monsters scattered across every corner of the island.
In the end,
all eleven giant monsters were slain by the people.
The brief war
ended with the Tribe's victory.
Having survived the disaster, the people stood dazed and covered in grime, looking around them.
After a long while,
once they had confirmed the news with the messengers rushing about,
the tribespeople finally embraced one another, weeping and cheering.
They fell to their knees and looked up at the sky, tears streaming down their faces as they excitedly proclaimed their victory.
"We've driven off those enormous monsters!"
"Oh, God, do You see? Your followers... haven't let You down!!"
Before you continue