Chapter 112

Suho thought, 'Perfect timing.'

The Asura Guild, to which Rio Singh belonged, was one of India's most successful guilds. Perhaps they knew something the Scavenger Guild didn't.

"I need information."

"... I-information? What kind?"

"Information about a dungeon."

Suho put the question bluntly to Rio Singh, who was anxiously watching his reactions.

"Do you know anything about the Glacier Dungeon?"

"Glacier? What that mean?"

Apparently, that word was a little too difficult for Rio Singh. He quickly opened his translation app, checked its meaning, and brightened.

"Ah, glacier! Glacier Dungeon! I know that place!"

"You do? Really?"

Suho's eyes widened too. He had asked on the off chance, but Rio actually knew!

["Kieek!"]

Equally startled, Beru seized Rio Singh by the collar and snarled at him. Though his arms were only as thick as fingers, his menacing presence was terrifying.

["That had better be the truth! Lie to prolong your miserable life, and I shall tear you limb from limb!"]

"Ack, ack! I-I really know! Asura good! Asura have lots of information!"

Even in his panic, Rio Singh managed to slip in a little promotion for his guild. And that was no exaggeration: the Asura Guild really did have a fairly good intelligence network. It was the Scavenger Guild whose intelligence capabilities were unusually poor for its size.

Most guilds naturally bought and sold information among themselves, working to build their own databases. This incident would prompt Scavenger to change its policy and strengthen its intelligence capabilities as well.

Suho's eyes lit up at this unexpected windfall.

"You said you were sorry, right? Then can you tell me everything you know about the Glacier Dungeon? Every last detail, however small."

"Huh? Why that place?"

"Because I'm going into that dungeon with Thomas Andre soon."

"W-what?!"

Rio Singh shuddered as though struck by lightning. What had he just heard? Suho was going somewhere with Thomas Andre? Into the Glacier Dungeon?

"No! Very dangerous! Go there, everyone die!"

"I have to go, dangerous or not. My mother might be in that dungeon."

Rio Singh flinched, his expression stiffening at Suho's resolute words.

"W-why your mother there?"

"That's just how it is."

'Technically, it's a clue to her whereabouts, not my mother herself.'

Suho had condensed his explanation to make it as easy as possible for Rio to understand, unintentionally making it more convincing in the process.

Rio Singh racked his brains, looking grave. Too much information had come at once, making it hard to assess the situation.

'Sung Suho's mother is in the Glacier Dungeon? Only a tiny handful of guilds even know about that place.'

Their background research on Sung Suho must have been inadequate. Who would have thought his mother was a hunter too? And one capable of entering the Glacier Dungeon, at that?

'No, more importantly...'

The real issue was the name Suho had mentioned: Thomas Andre. Why was Suho saying he would enter a dungeon with Thomas Andre?

'... Wait. Did he come looking for Sung Suho to recruit him, not for revenge?!'

Suddenly, he snapped to attention. Feeling dizzy, Rio Singh hurriedly turned to survey the devastated surroundings. Even on a second look, the marks left by Suho and Thomas Andre's clash were impressive.

Then he understood.

'... Now I get it.'

If Thomas Andre had used his strength in earnest, the damage could never have stopped at this.

'They held an interview here! He was testing Sung Suho's strength!'

What sort of interview was that brutal? Considering Thomas Andre's usual temperament, it made perfect sense.

Feeling as though someone had cut in front of him by a hair's breadth, Rio Singh grew anxious.

'Surely he hasn't signed a contract already? From the way he's acting, I don't think so.'

He swallowed hard and asked Suho outright.

"Sung Suho, you join Scavenger Guild?"

"No? Why would I?"

"You didn't!"

Rio Singh's face immediately brightened. Then, looking determined, he thumped his chest.

"Understood! I tell you Glacier Dungeon!"

At the answer he had finally extracted, Suho's eyes lit up.

'Yes!'

He was in luck. Dungeon information was worth more than a fortune in gold. Information about somewhere as little known as the Glacier Dungeon was especially difficult to put a price on.

For Rio Singh, this was sensitive material: carelessly leaking it could cause his guild direct or indirect financial losses. But now was no time to play it safe.

'I can't let another guild snatch talent like this right out from under my nose!'

After quickly checking that no one else was within earshot, he confidently began listing everything he knew, one item at a time.

"There very cold. Breathing, eating, sleeping, walking, all dangerous."

"Well, it's a glacier. That goes without saying. What else?"

"Really very cold. So cold, movement slows. Debuff area!"

"A debuff area?"

["Young Monarch, it would seem the place is afflicted with a widespread slowing curse."]

This was important enough that even Beru chimed in. It wasn't merely a matter of weather—the dungeon was covered by a curse that directly hampered people in combat.

But...

'That doesn't affect me.'

Fortunately, Kandiaru's Blessing made Suho immune to all curses. That blessing applied only to him, however. It would certainly pose a danger to the other hunters accompanying him.

"Okay. What else?"

"Hmm."

As Suho nodded and pressed him again, Rio Singh hesitated briefly. What came next was the truly important information.

"This secret. Promise?"

"Yes. I promise. What on earth is it? Why all the suspense?"

"Glacier Dungeon, ice elves live there. Very many."

"What? Ice elves?"

A curious light entered Suho's eyes. Ice elves were rare magic beasts seldom encountered in dungeons. But what Rio Singh was telling him differed considerably from the descriptions of their behavior on Hunter Net.

"Don't ice elves usually travel in pairs? And just shoot arrows from a distance?"

"Correct. But Glacier Dungeon different."

To ensure there was no room for misunderstanding, Rio Singh even used his translation app to answer Suho's question, enunciating every word.

"A tribe of ice elves lives there. Their known numbers alone are at least several hundred."

"Several hundred?"

This was the high-value intelligence the Asura Guild possessed.

"Yes. Glacier Dungeon, ice elf country."

* * *

Meanwhile, even at that very moment, hunters who had recklessly ventured into the Glacier Dungeon were being pursued, helpless to escape.

"Hah! Hah!"

A snowfield of pure white.

FWOOSH, FWOOSH, FWOOSH!

Arrows rained down on winds so frigid they could freeze one's breath.

WHOOOOSH!

Pouring in from every direction, the arrows relentlessly sought their lives.

THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!

"Aaargh!"

"My leg...!"

Dozens of arrows already protruded from the fleeing hunters' backs and legs. Yet even in this state, they crawled along the ground, desperate to survive, their faces filled with nothing but desperation.

"Hah, hah. Those relentless bastards...!"

"They're going to wear us down until we die!"

There was no hope left here. Who could have imagined that they, the hunters, would be reduced to such wretched prey...!

And high above them, hundreds of hunters gazed impassively down on their despair.

Ice elves.

With frigid eyes, they aimed their bows at the outsiders who had invaded this land.

Hundreds of bows. A rain of arrows pouring from them.

"This is impossible! Ice elves forming a pack?!"

"I-I never would've come if I'd known it was like this!"

As far as the public knew, ice elves were "relatively docile" magic beasts encountered only very rarely. They always traveled in pairs, carrying crude wooden bows and arrows.

Curiously, they were what people called "non-aggro mobs": they would never attack first unless someone approached them. Even as hunters cleared a dungeon, right up until its Gate closed, they would simply remain hidden far away in its depths, quietly observing.

That was how they had earned their nickname...

[The Watcher]

...the one who watches.

But hunters who had ever tried to hunt them never called them that.

Ice elves. The instant someone showed hostility toward these supposedly docile creatures, they transformed into merciless sharpshooters, hunting their enemies with elusive movements.

Despite their beautiful appearance, ice elves were in truth exceedingly cruel and warlike. Thus they had earned another nickname...

White Ghosts.

It meant white specters that appeared and vanished without a trace.

Even so, White Ghosts were still considered relatively safe magic beasts. Their archery was superb, but since they only traveled in pairs, their numbers posed little threat. Above all, they didn't attack first.

But that information was now worthless. At least here, in the Glacier Dungeon.

A land where hundreds of sharpshooters lived together. Even if they had known beforehand and come prepared, could they truly have escaped alive?

"Aaaah! Stay away! I said stay away!"

A man scrambled along the ground, arrows embedded in both legs and his back.

STEP.

A chilling shadow fell across his face, pale with terror.

"You're the last one."

Trembling with fear, the man looked up at the ice elf who had approached and spoken to him. Through vision clouded by heavy blood loss, he could barely make out the figure before him.

White hair, white skin, and silver eyes. Pointed ears. She was a small, youthful girl who looked barely ten by human standards.

"Outsider who has invaded our land. I am Sirka, guardian of the Baruka tribe."

The ice elf girl, a fur hat pulled low on her head, introduced herself proudly, her gaze as cold and pitiless as frost.

But the man gave no response to her words. Naturally. A human could hardly understand the language of magic beasts.

Sirka continued as though it made no difference.

"I'll ask you just one thing. Answer carefully if you want to live."

After a brief, deep breath, Sirka enunciated her question clearly.

"Do you know the Shadow Monarch?"

"W-what the hell are you saying?!"

Faced with this girl speaking to him in an incomprehensible language, the dying man screamed in fury.

"I'll ask one last time. Do you know 'Sung Jinwoo'?"

"Fuck, just kill me! Kill me already!"