217

Only a few minutes ago.

Beru always prided himself as the most loyal subject to his king. But now, after getting trapped within the ice prison of the Sovereign of Frost, he realised what the taste of sheer powerlessness was like.

Was I really this weak?

Why did I continue to grow stronger? For what purpose was it?

Beru felt so pathetic by the fact that he couldn't do anything while his liege was being besieged by his enemies. However, there was nothing the former ant king could do.

The Sovereign of Frost was an existence on another level compared to Beru. And he didn't possess the requisite power to escape from this magic. All he could do now while trapped in ice was to pray that his liege would be safe.

Fortunately, his liege wasn't pushed back at all, even when facing off against transcendental enemies.

'As expected of my liege.... This lowly slave can only be moved by your greatness.'

Beru was so emotionally moved by his master's display of power that tears overflowed from his eyes as he continued to watch Jin-Woo's battle.

But then, the disadvantage of numbers gradually tightened around the neck of his liege. The progressively-worsening cycle of attacks and defences of the enemies began pushing Jin-Woo back and Beru desperately struggled against his restraints.

'My king!! My king!!!'

And finally, Beru watched as Jin-Woo was sent flying by the Sovereign of Plagues' large palm and slam into a wall.

The king was in danger. The king was in danger. The king was in danger!

'I must protect my king.'

Snap.

Something inside Beru's head snapped loose. The empty void where his reasoning used to be was replaced by the 'emergency mode' designed to protect his king.

"Kiiiiieeeehhk!"

Beru's expression crumpled to resemble a frightening devil as he screeched out loudly.

Arms, shoulders, neck, chest, thighs, calves, ankles! Every part of his body ballooned up at the same time and began pushing away the block of ice imprisoning him.

Crack, craaack!

The seemingly-inescapable ice prison began to develop several large cracks. Beru shook his entire body.

Kwa-jeeck!

The ice prison could no longer contain the power of the ant soldier going crazy inside and its surface cracked even more so. Even in the midst of this, there was only one thing in Beru's head – the thought of rescuing his king.

Kiiieeehk!

He poured out all his strength and twisted his body, causing a big crack to run down the ice block.

Kwa-jijijik!!

He used his sheer physical strength to prise out the gap even further and extricated himself from the ice prison. Beru then disregarded everything else while flying straight towards Jin-Woo's side.

"My kingggggg!!"

"Beru!"

Even before he felt happy at his master looking back at him, all those little nicks and scrapes on Jin-Woo's body entered Beru's vision first. They were caused by the insect woman when she smacked his liege into the building just now.

A mere insect woman dared to lay her hands on his king!

She dared to touch his king!!!

"Kiiiieeeehhk!!"

Beru's anger reached a new height and he flew directly at the Queen of the Insects. The thunderous screech of Beru reverberating throughout the battlefield that used to be city streets rendered the Sovereign of Frost quite surprised.

[A measly Shadow Soldier managed to break free of my binding magic?!]

Such a thing shouldn't even happen. It took a closer look at Beru's power in the 'emergency mode' for a second there and spat out a gasp of shock next.

This power didn't belong to some 'measly' Shadow Soldier at all.

[How did a mere human manage to rear up a Marshal grade being?]

Each and every single one of the soldiers with 'Marshal' grade acting as the Shadow Sovereign's hands and feet could be considered as destruction personified.

The Sovereign of Frost couldn't have imagined that it would see a Marshal grade creature today and failed to hide its astonishment. In the meantime, Beru had arrived right before the Queen of Insects, the target for his unquenchable rage.

[I must punish an unruly child that can't even recognise his own mother!]

"Kiiiieehhk, shut up, you crazy wench!"

[What did you say?!]

The resident of the Chaos World and the master of all insects living there, the Sovereign of Plagues got triggered by the former ant king's statement.

Vuuwoong!

Beru ably dodged an attack from the Insect Queen and took aim at the centre of the insects swarming together to form a single body before screeching out with his magical energy.

"Kyaaahk-!!"

The former ant king's thunderous roar forced the insects to fall off from the Queen's body in an instant, causing the real body of the Sovereign of Plagues hiding within to briefly reveal itself.

It was a humanoid female with rotting, distorted skin, and a pair of empty eye sockets filled with wriggling maggots.

The Sovereign of Plagues displayed violent rage against the detestable former ant king that dared to bare its fangs at its original owner.

"Kiiiaaahhk!!"

The screech from the Insect Queen resounded out loudly enough to tear asunder the heavens, and Beru was forced back with no way to block the attack.

He was pushed far, far back before he managed to regain his balance and floated back down to the ground.

"Kiiechk, kyahk, kyaahk."

While Beru was shaking his head left and right, a heavy groan leaking out of his mouth....

The Queen of Insects had managed to recall the bugs back to rebuild its giant body once more.

'Okay, that's good.'

Jin-Woo nodded his head after watching the exchange between those two.

Of course, he knew that Beru wouldn't last long. The enemy was far too strong for that. However, if he could just steal away the attention of one of these three....

While Beru was fighting against the Queen, Jin-Woo shifted his eyes back to the other two Sovereigns. The tension hidden within their eyes was transmitted in the air, and he could clearly sense it.

The amount of time Beru could buy him wasn't much.

So, move faster than anticipated!

Jin-Woo dashed towards the Sovereign of Frost with all his power.