When I came to, the first thing I noticed was the sound of something scratching against the ground, like hundreds of thin sticks scraping together.

Swish, swish, swish.

It wasn’t a pleasant sound. It reminded me of the noise bugs make when they crawl through the thin walls of our home…

Wait, hold on.

Was I supposed to be sleeping right now?

The memory of the last thing I saw came rushing back. Right before I lost consciousness, I had been caught up in a dungeon break!

The boss…!

I immediately opened my eyes and looked around.

Something warm and damp was surrounding me.

I quickly figured out what it was.

A cocoon made by a monster…?

If that’s the case, the monster is most likely an ant or a spider.

I reached out and touched the filmy membrane enveloping me. The moment my hand made contact, I felt a squishy, viscous liquid.

And as soon as that liquid touched my skin—

Sizzle!

The surface of my skin started to dissolve slightly. The faint smell of burning meat suggested the presence of acid.

But this wasn’t the same as the past 19 years, when I couldn’t use magic to avoid detection by the system.

Even if my body was that of a frail young girl, my magical knowledge hadn’t disappeared.

With no time to waste, I channeled mana into my fingertips and elongated my nails. Magical energy gathered at the tips, forming blade-like edges.

Rip!

The cocoon tore apart.

“The boss… isn’t here.”

I looked around, but there was no one else in sight. It was dark, and when I touched the walls, hard dirt crumbled under my fingers. It seemed I was in an ant nest, just as I suspected.

With no time to linger, I pressed my hand against the wall and began casting a basic detection spell.

Even at this elementary level, the spell could detect lifeforms within a 1-kilometer radius, which would suffice for now.

Mana flowed out of me rapidly, and a mental map appeared in my mind.

The tangled maze of the ant nest came into view.

“There are more life signs here than I expected… Wait, no. For an ant nest, this might actually be fewer. And there aren’t any signs of younglings… That’s strange.”

I got a decent understanding of the layout, but there was a problem: the spell couldn’t differentiate between human and monster life signs.

That was because back in my Demon King days, I never needed to distinguish between the two.

“This room seems to be a storage area for food… specifically for long-term preservation.”

For invaders—monsters—human vitality, or mana, was the primary food source.

Naturally, my body must have looked like prime long-term sustenance to them.

But the boss was different. If she had been caught in the dungeon break with me… Considering she’s an ordinary, elderly civilian, the ants likely wouldn’t bother storing her for long-term consumption. They’d paralyze her and eat her quickly.

That meant time was of the essence.

I committed the map to memory, pushed off the ground, and dashed out of the room.

It wasn’t because I genuinely cared about the boss, nor was it a sudden burst of compassion unbecoming of a former Demon King.

No, it was because if my sibling found out that a nearly seventy-year-old woman had died in a dungeon break because of me, he’d have a heart attack. Worse, if he had to attend her funeral, he might actually pass out.

And I couldn’t let that happen.

Screee!

The moment I burst out of the room, a giant ant passing by the doorway spotted me.

It was roughly the size of a midsize car. Judging by its less-than-sharp mandibles, it was probably a worker ant.

Its sharp legs and antennae turned toward me, poised to strike.

I swung my hand down at the massive ant.

Slash!

A blade of magical energy extended from my fingertips, slicing through the ant’s midsection, severing its head from its body.

The whole thing happened in an instant.

Green blood splattered everywhere.

It seemed that even worker ants couldn’t withstand this level of impact.

The ant’s multifaceted compound eyes, each resembling countless tiny lenses, flashed briefly with disbelief before it collapsed.

User "Jung Da-on" has defeated a monster for the first time.

The system has categorized the monster.

Monster Identified: Worker Ant (D-rank).

The system chimed in. This must have been the first instance of this invader species appearing on Earth.

Still, "Worker Ant"? What a lazy name.

Looks like it released pheromones…

My heightened senses, sharp from the detection spell, caught an unpleasant scent.

This could draw more of them. Annoying.

I made a quick decision.

Clenching my fist, I compressed the surrounding air into a single point.

Crunch!

The once-massive ant’s corpse crumpled into itself, crushed by the air’s pressure. If it had been a living enemy, this would’ve suffocated it instead. At least this was a relatively painless death.

I froze the compacted corpse like a ball of crumpled paper and hurried onward.

Using magic again after so long didn’t feel awkward. On the contrary, it felt liberating. Like a fish finally released from a tank into the open ocean.

Even with my current mana level at just 12… for someone of my caliber, that wasn’t much of an issue.

Casting large-scale spells would be different, but… Something about this situation feels off.

I pushed the thought aside to focus on finding the boss, but the oddity of the situation nagged at me.

The man who had walked into the supermarket.

He had broken through my unique spell and entered the shop. Not only that, but he had somehow triggered a dungeon break.

None of this made sense.

There are only two ways to break my unique spell. One is knowing the exact method to bypass it. The other is having overwhelming power to shatter the barrier outright.

The latter wasn’t the case. If it had been, the spell would’ve broken entirely, and I would’ve noticed.

That meant this stranger somehow knew how to enter The Thorn of the Millwheel, my unique spell.

But that’s impossible.

No one in this world should know about my unique magic. No one.

And even if they did, it’s implausible they could act within just half a day of my awakening as an S-rank hunter.

And to forcibly trigger a dungeon break?

Even if someone wanted to eliminate me, this wasn’t something humans from Earth would come up with. Dimensional cracks don’t vanish after a dungeon closes. This method would only lead to self-destruction.

None of it added up.

Crunch!

I crushed another ant as I pondered.

Who could it be?

“Oh my, what’s going on?”

“Does anyone have a way to contact someone outside?”

“No, I didn’t bring anything fancy like that…”

The reporters, now paralyzed by the ants’ venom, lay scattered across the floor. Some murmured anxiously, their earlier excitement about catching a big scoop replaced by dread and despair.

“I’m sure rescue hunters will arrive soon. We just have to hold on.”

“This is a dungeon break! It’s an emergency. Do you really think they’ll get here that fast?”

“Well, panicking won’t help either, will it?”

“Besides, isn’t Jung Da-on somewhere in this dungeon? She might save us.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to one person: the supermarket boss, the elderly woman.

“Ma’am, what about Jung Da-on? Isn’t she caught up in this too?”

“She’s no hunter!”

The frail woman, who had been lying silently, suddenly snapped.

“What hunter nonsense! Do you think it’s good news that a kid got dragged into this mess? She hasn’t even graduated high school yet!”

Her outburst silenced the group, leaving a heavy sense of despair in the air. The reporters had pinned their hopes on Jung Da-on, and without her, they would have no choice but to await rescue, however far off it might be.

“Damn it, this is useless.”

“If she’d just given us a quick interview, we’d have left already!”

“How hard is it to answer a couple of questions? Seriously, ma’am.”

Tension rose among the trapped reporters, their frustrations bubbling over. Helplessness, fear, and anger churned together, leading to bitter words and frayed tempers.

And then it happened.

Swish, swish, swish.

The sound of thin legs scraping against the ground reached their ears, and all arguments ceased. The reporters froze.

Moments later, the swarm arrived.

“Hiiik!”

“Aaah! Help me, please!”

Panic erupted as the monstrous ants filled the room, their antennae twitching ominously. Their compound eyes seemed to scan the paralyzed humans, while acidic saliva dripped from their mandibles, hissing as it hit the ground.

One ant lowered its head toward the closest reporter, jaws opening wide.

“Help me! Please! Nooo—”

Crunch!

Thwack!

A sickening sound echoed as the ant’s head burst apart, spraying cold, sticky liquid everywhere.

Amidst the chaos, a girl’s voice rang out.

“Boss! There you are.”

The swarm of ants lay in heaps, their bodies crushed and lifeless. Standing amidst the carnage was a schoolgirl in a gray uniform sweater. Her long black hair gleamed, and though her shirt’s buttons were undone, her overall appearance was neat and proper.

Except for one thing: she wasn’t holding bubble tea or a snack.

In one hand, she clutched a massive ant’s severed head. In the other, she gripped a torn-off ant wing, chewing on it as if it were a piece of jerky.

“Hic!”

One of the reporters hiccupped in shock.

The sight was surreal, an image that would haunt them forever.

Everyone in the room knew her name.

Jung Da-on.

The 11th S-rank hunter in South Korea had just made her first appearance.