Ant King

The **Ant King** (왕) was an immensely powerful magic beast and the hidden boss of the Jeju Island S-Rank Gate. He was responsible for single-handedly massacring eight of the sixteen S-Ranks who attempted to clear the gate, including Goto Ryuji, and would have slaughtered the entire Korean raid team had it not been for Sung Jinwoo, who was able to kill the creature following a fierce fight.

## Appearance

The Ant King was a huge humanoid ant with a black armored exoskeleton, glowing red eyes, sharp claws, two small pincers extending from his abdomen, and two transparent ant wings.

## Personality

The Ant King was an arrogant and murderous individual who desired to fight a worthy opponent above anything else, as demonstrated when he repeatedly demanded the Korean and Japanese hunters for their "king." He was also capable of strategy and was smart enough to know when he couldn't win, as displayed when he tried to flee after realizing that Jinwoo was too powerful for him to beat.

## History

During the 4th Jeju Island Raid, the Ant King targeted the Japanese hunters first, beheading Akari, Kenzo, Tatsumi, Kei, and Ippei all with one strike each. Before he could continue the slaughter, however, he was drawn back to the queen's chamber upon hearing her death cry.

When he made it back to the nest, the Ant King discovered that a band of Korean hunters had killed the queen and brutally overpowered them in a fit of rage. When Min Byung-Gyu attempted to heal his colleagues so that they could keep fighting, the Ant King viciously killed him by devouring his head, absorbing both his language skills and healing mastery through his **Gluttony** skill as a result.

With the Korean hunters defeated, the Ant King flew back out to fight Goto, as he was the strongest hunter on the island at the time, but was disappointed when even he died in one strike too. Before he could finish off the three remaining Japanese hunters, however, the Ant King sensed Jinwoo's presence on the island and flew back to the nest for a second time to deal with this new enemy.

Upon locating Jinwoo inside the nest tending to the other Korean hunters, the Ant King wasted no time in getting the fight started and punched him square in the face. Much to his surprise, not only did Jinwoo survive the attack, but he was barely hurt, having only sustained a small cut on his lip. Finally having found a worthy opponent, the Ant King started to exchange blows with Jinwoo and used just every ability in his arsenal in an attempt to win - strength, poison, speed, and even his ant army - to no avail, as Jinwoo easily countered every one with his superior strength.

As he watched Jinwoo's shadow army easily slaughter his brethren, the Ant King finally realized that he couldn't win and tried to flee, but Jinwoo stopped him by telekinetically smashing him into the ground. Scared for his life, the Ant King desperately tried to crawl away, but Jinwoo shredded him with his daggers, killing him on the spot. After the raid was over and the other hunters had departed, Jinwoo decided to revive the Ant King as one of his shadow soldiers, giving him the name Beru.

## Abilities

As the strongest child of the Ant Queen and the boss of a S-Rank gate, the Ant King was an immensely powerful individual and obviously one of the strongest magic beasts ever encountered by humanity.

* **Immense Strength:** The Ant King possessed immense physical strength. As a testament to this, he was able to kill Goto in one hit, slaughter seven Japanese S-Rank Hunters with one attack each, and punch Jinwoo hard enough to give him a small cut on the lip.
* **Immense Durability:** The Ant King possessed immense durability, as demonstrated by how he was able to withstand Jinwoo's attacks for a considerable amount of time.
* **Immense Speed:** The Ant King could move at immense speeds, as shown by how he was able to keep up with Jinwoo's movements during their fight.
* **Gluttony:** The Ant King was able to absorb the skills and knowledge of those he consumed.
* **Flight**
* **Size Manipulation:** The Ant King was able to increase his raw strength at the cost of his agility and speed by growing in size, and vice versa by compressing his body.
* **Paralysis Poison:** Due to having consumed a cone snail, the Ant King was able to spit an extremely concentrated poison from his mouth. Due to the magical nature of this poison, it was exponentially more toxic than its original version and could kill a target in seconds.
* **Healing Magic:** Due to having consumed Min Byung-Gyu's head, the Ant King was a master healer and was able to heal back both his left arm and his wings after Jinwoo sliced them off.
* **Conversation:** Due to having consumed Min Byung-Gyu's head, the Ant King was able to speak and understand both Korean and Japanese perfectly.

## References

1. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 97
2. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 99
3. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 100
4. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 101
5. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 102
6. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 103
7. ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 104