Chapter 49: A Bug You Couldn’t Squash
The emergency alarms howled through the military outpost.
Red strobes painted the reinforced walls in bloody hues, casting a sinister light over the faces of the panicked officers.
Weapons clicked, defensive runes flared to life along the floor and ceiling, and the air grew thick with the sharp ozone scent of charging mana cannons and the metallic tang of fear-sweat.
Nobody wanted to fight a Guardian. Nobody wanted to fight this useless fight. They knew better than anyone what these monsters were capable of.
Hyun-woo, on the other hand, stood completely motionless. Medusa’s cold hand rested possessively on his shoulder, her emerald snakes hissing softly as they tasted the mounting tension in the room.
General Reeves’ holographic form flickered with barely contained rage, his fist clenched so tightly that the projection glitched. “You dare bring one of those monsters into a briefing…”
Medusa’s eyes flashed. Three guards near the back stiffened mid-step, turning fully to stone. Their rifles clattered heavily against the floor.
Hyun-woo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Medusa, I told you to stay hidden unless absolutely necessary.”
“They threatened you,” she replied simply, her voice carrying the absolute certainty that it had become necessary. “That made it necessary.”
Before Hyun-woo could reply, a low, ominous vibration rolled through the floor. It was subtle at first, but the temperature spiked drastically. A sweet, musky scent laced with deadly venom flooded the command center, and the ceiling above them shuddered violently.
Then, it simply exploded.
Despite the whole building being covered in protective barriers and reinforced runes, chunks of concrete and steel rained down as Ebonara crashed through the roof in her Queen-Class Arachne Scorpion form. It wasn't her massive, true form, but it was more than enough.
Towering, black-armored, and unfiltered fury, her eight gem-like eyes burned with a kaleidoscopic rage. Her venomous tail whipped through the air, dripping fat green droplets that hissed and melted straight through solid metal on contact.
Soldiers screamed and scrambled for cover. If there was one Guardian anyone with a brain wanted to avoid pissing off for their entire life, it was the Scorpion Queen. She was, without a doubt, the craziest of them all.
The entire base shook as her massive body crushed the primary support beams, instantly collapsing the upper levels. She didn't even wait to shrink; she simply landed with devastating force, her eight legs punching through the reinforced flooring like it was wet paper.
Dust and debris filled the room as she lowered her enormous head toward the briefing table, all eight eyes locking onto the holographic officers.
“Cutie pie,” her voice boomed, sweet as poisoned honey. “You are taking too long.”
She rapidly shrank into her humanoid hybrid form. A tight black crop top strained over her chest, leather pants hugged her hips, and her tail swayed dangerously behind her like a living whip.
Without hesitation, she slid up to Hyun-woo’s free side, pressing her soft, heavy breasts flush against his arm while shooting Medusa a sharp, competitive glance. Medusa merely raised an eyebrow, refusing to release her grip on his shoulder.
Hyun-woo rubbed his temple. “Ebo… seems like Vespera told you.”
“She did. But—” Ebonara’s eight eyes narrowed maliciously on the terrified officers. “I had already heard enough. These pathetic worms were threatening what’s mine.”
General Reeves recovered enough to snarl, “This is an act of war! You just destroyed a sovereign military installation of the United States of—”
Ebonara hadn't noticed it at first, but when she heard what he was trying to say, she laughed. It was a low, delighted, utterly unhinged sound that made the remaining soldiers' knees buckle and their pants wet.
“War?” She tilted her head, her gem-eyes swirling into a deep, poisonous crimson. “You tiny, insignificant insects think you can declare war on me?”
She stepped forward, the cracked floor splintering further under her feet.
“Let me make this very simple for your tiny brains.” Her voice dropped to a deadly, purring whisper. “If any of you… even one… touch my cutie pie again, I will personally reduce your entire country to rubble. Every military base. Every city. Every single person even remotely related to that filthy little project you have running in South America.”
The room went deathly silent.
Hyun-woo blinked. “Wait… South America?”
Ebonara’s tail flicked playfully. “Oh, yes. I’ve been keeping an eye on your little Hollow Oath friends. That secret facility under the Andes trying to summon something nasty using stolen Tower fragments? Consider it already gone. Because you have just annoyed me.”
General Reeves’ face turned completely ashen. “How could you… that's impossible, the security…”
Ebonara smiled sweetly, all eight eyes sparkling with cruel amusement. “Oh? Too late. It’s already destroyed.”
I didn't even know the exact location of that facility, the General thought in sheer terror, and she had already found and destroyed it?!
As if on cue, a panicked officer came running up to General Reeves’ physical location off-screen, shouting loudly enough to be picked up by the audio feed. “Sir! The entire Andean facility is gone!”
General Reeves staggered back, gripping the edge of the flickering projector table for support. The other officers looked like they’d just witnessed the apocalypse in real time.
Ebonara stepped right up to the central hologram projector, her tail stabbing forward with blinding speed. It pierced straight through the console, embedding itself into the floor inches from the General’s projected feet as green venom sizzled through the circuitry.
“You thought I was a bug you could squash,” she hissed, leaning casually back against Hyun-woo and curling her tail possessively around his waist.
“I am the nightmare your ancestors warned their children about. And this soft, pretty boy right here? He’s the only reason I haven’t already wiped your species off the map. I was feeling generous, so I only took out the secret base and everyone directly involved, leaving you alive as a witness. Next time? I won’t be so kind.”
She turned, cupping Hyun-woo’s cheek with surprising gentleness. Her eyes softened into warm gold and pink hearts. “Cutie pie, do you want me to kill the rest of them right now? It would be so easy. Just say the word.”
Hyun-woo exhaled slowly. He really needed to take proactive action now. Gently placing his hand over hers, he looked directly into the eyes of the top brass.
“Why not?” Hyun-woo said quietly. “That guy just threatened my mother and father.”
Medusa, watching all of this unfold, let out a soft hum of approval. Oh, this is going to be fun, she thought, fully releasing her own suffocating magical pressure.
Sergeant Nesta stood frozen near the exit, watching the absolute disaster unfold.
“Tell me, should I ask them to just destroy your country?” Hyun-woo asked.
He didn’t realize it, but the pressure he was leaking was far more potent than Medusa and Ebonara’s combined.
The air in the room grew unspeakably heavy, suffocating the physical guards and causing the holographic feeds to warp and distort under the sheer weight of his presence.
“I… we… I am… we are sorry,” one of the generals stammered. They never would have apologized so quickly if their global sensors hadn’t already picked up the massive, localized spike of world-ending energy radiating from his coordinates.
“Fine. I don't want my father to hate me,” Hyun-woo said, reeling his pressure back in. His father was a good man, after all.
Ebonara pouted, but nodded. “Fine. For you.” She whipped her gaze back to the terrified officers. “You heard him. It seems like you people just got another year to live. Now process his resignation. Or I start with the one who called him a monster.”
Sergeant Nesta, pale and shaking near the exit, finally found her voice. “I… I’ll handle the paperwork immediately, ma'am.”
“Good girl,” Ebonara purred.
Within ten excruciating minutes—under the heavy, venomous gaze of two of Eden’s most terrifying Guardians—Hyun-woo’s discharge papers were signed, stamped, and sealed.
He was officially honorably discharged under heavy duress. No one dared add a single extra word.
As they walked out of the half-destroyed command center, stepping over shattered concrete, ruined metal, and petrified guards, Hyun-woo felt the massive weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders. He had Ebonara clinging to his left arm and Medusa walking elegantly on his right.
“You two are going to be the death of me one day,” he muttered tiredly.
“Never,” Medusa replied coolly.
“Only if it’s from too many cuddles and belly rubs,” Ebonara added with a wicked grin, her tail giving his waist a playful, tight squeeze.
Behind them, the base burned and crumbled into the dirt.
In the distance, more alarms wailed as the world outside began to realize just how incredibly dangerous Hyun-woo’s “friends” truly were. The geopolitical landscape was already fracturing, with the Hollow Oath, the Tower, and an entire nation pushed to the absolute brink.
But for now, Hyun-woo just wanted to go home and eat Medusa’s cooking.
He didn't know it yet, but Stheno had also just destroyed a military base in the Middle East out of pure spite when she and Vespera found out what had happened.