Kim Hajun stared up at the sky, his torso clamped between an insect-type Oebu Sin’s mandibles. His gaze drifted from the clouds, to the top of a portal, to another set of clouds, and finally, to a pair of purple eyes belonging to a demon sitting cross-legged on an ocean-blue dragon’s head. The demon pointed at him, and Kim Hajun forced his torso upright within the antlike bug’s grasp. He took a look around and frowned. There were dozens of jagged portals, and insect-type Oebu Sin were coming out of them with people and creatures held in their mandibles.

Kim Hajun’s gaze landed on a massive beetle standing not too far away from the ocean-blue dragon; he recognized the beetle as the princess bug of the Oebu Sin insect swarm. It was acting like an obedient puppy, simply staring at Vur without moving. Even though there was a large number of insect corpses littering the ground, and even though dragons and phoenixes were snacking on them, the princess bug didn’t seem to care. What kind of situation was this?

“Excuse me,” Kim Hajun said, projecting his voice towards Tafel’s direction. He would’ve raised a hand and waved, but his arms were pinned against his side by the pair of mandibles holding him in place. “Vur? Tafel?”

Tafel waved. “What’s up?” she asked before looking at Gronion. She pointed at Kim Hajun. “You can free him.”

Gronion chittered, and an ear-piercing scream resounded through the area, causing Tafel’s eyes to widen as she whipped her head towards the source of the sound. The winged ant had bit down harder, its mandibles crushing the well-dressed man in a manner that caused his arms to bend unnaturally. Gronion must’ve misheard the demon’s words.

“I said free him!” Tafel shouted down to Gronion, cupping her hands over her mouth.

Gronion chittered again, and strangled, high-pitched cries spewed out from in between Kim Hajun’s lips. The winged ant holding him in place wiggled its head about from side to side, shaking the well-dressed man while slicing his shirt and flesh with its mandibles.

“I don’t think Gronion understands you,” Garlic said from his spot beside Jeffery. The caterpillar waved its leg at the large beetle. “She wants you to let him go, not maul him to death, you big oaf.”

Gronion chittered and blinked. Kim Hajun gasped for breath as he was released by the winged ant and fell to the ground, his body crumpling into a heap upon impact. Garlic twisted his body to look up at Tafel. “Gronion says your body language was awfully aggressive for such a peaceful command.”

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Tafel furrowed her brow. Was that how the beetle communicated with Vur? Body language? Disregarding that, what part of her body language was aggressive? “What do you mean? All I did was point.”

“You shouted too,” Garlic said.

“I didn’t shout,” Tafel said, pursing her lips. “I spoke loudly for Gronion to hear me. There’s a difference.”

“Okay, well, it’s hard for bugs to detect that difference, okay?” Garlic asked. “Right now, from what I can tell as a bug, it seems like you’re upset at me, but I know you’re not upset at me because I’m acting as a translator for you on a hungry stomach.” The greenish-blue caterpillar’s legs curled inwards, rubbing its underside. “Look at how skinny I am. Feed me before I die of starvation.”

Tafel’s expression darkened. “There’s plenty of food in my cache,” she said. “How about I put you back inside of it?”

“No, that’s okay,” Garlic said, shaking his tiny head. “There’s no insect gold in there.” He smacked his lips together. “Speaking of which, can I have some? The bunch of you threw barrels of it everywhere, but I didn’t get to eat any because I was still an egg.”

Vur rolled his eyes up to look at Tafel. The demon exhaled through her nose. “Fine,” she said.

Vur’s root bracelet flashed with an amber light, and three barrels appeared in his paw. He picked one up and placed it in front of Gronion—much to Garlic’s dismay. The caterpillar rubbed its legs together and stared up at Vur with bright eyes as he picked up a second barrel of insect gold. It headed towards Garlic … and passed over the caterpillar’s head before thudding down by Jeffery’s side. “For Ginger,” Vur said and grabbed the final barrel of insect gold. He placed it down in front of Garlic, and less than three seconds later, the caterpillar was drinking from the barrel, having gnawed a hole through the top.

Gronion looked at the barrel of insect gold placed down in front of her. Compared to her, it was tiny. The beetle turned its head towards the caterpillar and pink ant pupa being fed by an old man. The barrels were several times larger than their bodies. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t consume all the insect gold in one sitting. Gronion’s eyes shifted back onto the barrel by her feet before biting it and swallowing it whole. Then, she stared at Vur without blinking.

Vur turned his head away and scanned the crowd of winged ants returning from the portals. He blinked. “That’s a lot of lords,” he said before looking at Malvina. “Did you help them get stronger?”

Malvina shook her head. “There’re only a few lords amongst those captured,” she said before pecking a roasted bug into her beak. She crunched down and swallowed before speaking. “It looks like your new pet decided to capture everyone above a certain level of strength, knowing the lords would be among them.”

“Then why did she capture Kim Hajun?” Tafel asked, tilting her head. “He’s not that strong.”

Kim Hajun’s eye twitched. He took in a deep breath as he debated whether it was worth getting off the ground. Although he was used to injuries thanks to his previous experiences, it didn’t mean he appreciated getting beat up, and it was happening a lot when he interacted with the variables, who were currently using the Oebu Sin to destroy a second tower. Had he saved the tower or not?