| “ | Are there others? Others you call king? | ” |
—The Ant King, Chapter 101 (Webtoon) | ||
| Overview |
The Ant King (개미왕) was the hidden boss of the Jeju Island S-Rank Gate and one of the most powerful monsters to appear in the entire series. He was single-handedly responsible for the deaths of over eight of the 16 S-Rank Hunters who took part in the 4th Jeju Island Raid, including Goto Ryuji, the greatest hunter in Japan.
Appearance
The Ant King was a large and muscular humanoid ant with a black armored exoskeleton, glowing red eyes, sharp claws, two small pincers extending from his abdomen, and four transparent ant wings.
Personality
The Ant King was an arrogant and bloodthirsty 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 took great pride in his status as an apex predator and was stunned when he discovered the truth that there were others out there who were even stronger than him. Unlike the other ants, he possessed human-level intelligence, which enabled him to fight against his opponents strategically and effectively target their weak spots. He was also smart enough to know when he was outmatched, as displayed when he gave up trying to kill Jinwoo after realizing that he couldn't win and tried to run away.
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 attack each.[1] However, before he could continue the slaughter, 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.[2] 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 techniques through his Gluttony ability.
With the Korean hunters having been 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 he only lasted one hit longer than the rest.[3] However, before he could finish off the three remaining Japanese hunters, the Ant King sensed Jinwoo's presence on the island and flew back to the queen's chamber for a second time to deal with this new enemy.[4]
Upon locating Jinwoo inside 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.[5] 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 army of ants - to no avail, as Jinwoo easily countered every one with his superior strength.[6]
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 with Ruler's Authority. Scared for his life, the Ant King desperately tried to crawl away, but Jinwoo used his Mutilation skill on him, finally killing the creature once and for all.[7] After the raid was over and the other Korean hunters had safely departed the island, Jinwoo decided to revive the Ant King as one of his shadow soldiers and gave him the new name of Beru.
Abilities
As the strongest child of the Ant Queen and the hidden boss of a S-Rank gate, the Ant King was an immensely powerful individual and one of the most powerful magic beasts ever encountered by humanity. He also possessed human-level intelligence, which made him much more dangerous than the rest of his kind, and was said by Jinwoo to be about as strong as the clone of Baran that he fought in the Demon Castle, if not slightly stronger.[6]
- Immense Strength: The Ant King possessed immense physical strength. As a testament to this, he was able to knock out and injured Cha Hae-In in a single blow, kill Goto Ryuji in just two hits, slaughter six Japanese S-Rank Hunters with one attack each, and punch Jinwoo hard enough in the face to make him bleed from his mouth.[5]
- 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.[6]
- Immense Durability: The Ant King possessed immense physical durability, as demonstrated by how he was able to withstand Jinwoo's attacks for a considerable amount of time.[6]
- Gluttony: The Ant King was able to absorb the skills and knowledge of those he consumed.[3]
- Paralysis Poison: Due to having consumed a cone snail at some early point in his life, 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 a matter of seconds.[6]
- 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.[7]
- Ice Magic: Due to having consumed part of Kei’s body, the Ant King was able to generate massive swaths of ice to use in battle.
- Conversation: Due to having consumed Min Byung-Gyu's head, the Ant King was able to speak and understand both Korean and Japanese perfectly.[4]
- Flight: The Ant King could use his wings to fly at high speeds.[4]
- 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.[6]
Trivia
- The Ant King may have been inspired by the villain Meruem from the manga/anime series Hunter x Hunter.
- The Ant King's ability to use ice magic is unique to the anime. He is never shown to have that ability in the webtoon or the novel.
External Links
- The Ant King on the Villains Wiki
References
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 97
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 99
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 100
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 101
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 102
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 103
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 104