Chapter 48

“Where do you think you're going?!”

Randolph wasn't about to let Suho slip past. His voice brimming with murderous intent, he ordered his men after him.

“Raaagh!”

RUMBLE!

At his command, the Scavenger Guild members charged toward Suho like rhinoceroses.

[How dare those bastards?]

Beru's eyes blazed with fury. Suho, by contrast, watched the men charging at him with perfect composure.

'They really are all tanks.'

He'd suspected as much when every Scavenger hunter guarding the entrance turned out to be a tank. Those inside were all tanks, too.

Normally, a raid party consisted of a balanced mix of damage dealers, tanks, and healers. But that was by no means mandatory. If the tanks had enough offensive power to double as damage dealers, as they did here, there wasn't necessarily a problem.

However, an unbalanced lineup inevitably left weaknesses exposed.

“Arise!”

[Graaak!]

With a shadowy rush, a giant shadow spider rose out of Suho's shadow. Then it began moving at his command.

FWOOSH!

Black webs sprayed throughout the narrow labyrinth, sticking fast.

“Wh-what the hell?!”

The Scavenger Guild members' headlong charge slowed as their feet and clothes caught in the webs.

At that moment, Suho and Esil moved as well.

WHOOSH!

“A summoner? So petty tricks are all you've got!”

Randolph snorted and drew up mana throughout his body.

It was only natural for the Scavenger Guild, which worshipped strength alone, to mock summoners.

'Summoners are cowards who hide behind their summons and follow them around!'

All he had to do was ignore the summon and kill the hunter behind it.

RIP!

His overwhelming strength tore through the webs. But Arachne's webs were a kind of skill made of mana. It could simply spray more whenever it needed to.

And those webs came with a particularly troublesome property.

[Arachne uses 'Skill: Puppet Show.']

“Huh?!”

One Scavenger Guild member, charging at the front as he tore away the webs, swung his massive arm and knocked down the comrade beside him.

THWACK!

“Ow! Have you lost your fucking mind?!”

The guild member whose nose was bleeding from the punch shouted in outrage. But then his own leg suddenly bent at an odd angle.

“Huh?!”

He tripped another comrade running past him.

CRASH!

“What are you doing?!”

The Scavenger Guild members tumbled to the floor, their momentum sending them rolling. Randolph's face flushed scarlet at the utter chaos.

“How dare you!”

BOOM!

He stamped his foot in fury, cracking the floor as though an earthquake had struck.

Losing to overwhelming strength would have been one thing. But being made fools of by cheap tricks like these!

“Get a grip! Grab that bastard right now!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Randolph's thunderous reprimand snapped the Scavenger Guild members back to their senses. This time, they cautiously began surrounding Suho.

“Forgot about me?”

Esil had already circled around to their flank, and now her spear came hurtling toward them.

WHOOOSH—BOOM!

“Gah!”

Dodging a spear flying straight at them in such cramped quarters was no easy feat. Esil's thrown spear unleashed an explosion of mana. Even those who barely evaded it found the wall behind them exploding and collapsing on top of them.

“Hehe.”

The spear was already back in Esil's hand. She threw it again, keeping the pressure on them.

Meanwhile, Suho had a target in mind.

'Go for the leader!'

He sprang forward. Randolph's eyebrow twitched as he saw Suho charging straight at him.

“Ha! You dare come for me first? Do you really think that little of me?”

Randolph curled his lips in a contemptuous smile and unleashed his power as he faced the oncoming Suho.

BOOM!

His attack, laden with immensely powerful mana, hurtled toward Suho.

Just then—

'Ruler's Authority!'

Suho stepped on empty air and leaped, twisting acrobatically through the air to land behind him.

“Huh?”

“Well, we'll be on our way, then.”

Suho smiled and casually raised a hand toward Randolph. That smile made Randolph's eyes blaze.

“Who the fuck do you think you're messing with?!”

'He's easy to provoke.'

A gleam appeared in Suho's eyes. His Perception stat had already told him Randolph was an A-rank hunter—a powerhouse he couldn't hope to match with his current strength.

But if the man was as simpleminded and brutish as he looked, there were countless ways to deal with him.

'First, piss him off.'

Using Ruler's Authority, Suho lifted a brick lying near Randolph.

Then he smacked him in the back of the head.

“... You little shit.”

Of course, a mere brick sneaking up behind Randolph and giving the back of his head a little tap(?) couldn't possibly hurt him.

But it worked beautifully.

“I'll kill that bastard myself.”

Ignoring his men, he charged at Suho. Despite the murderous fury bearing down on him, Suho only grinned.

'Now!'

[Arachne uses 'Skill: Puppet Show.']

At that instant—

KABOOM!

“... Huh?”

The ceiling exploded above their heads. A giant centipede appeared through the gaping hole.

“SKREEEE!”

“Gah?!”

“Wh-what?!”

Everyone there recoiled in horror.

[Venomfang Sand Centipede]

The grotesque, repulsive giant monster that should have been out in the red desert had suddenly barged in!

“Wh-why is that thing here?!”

“I thought they couldn't come anywhere near this place!”

Everyone's gaze immediately swung toward Suho. As it happened, he was a summoner. And wasn't he a summoner who called forth creepy-crawlies like spiders, at that?

“D-don't tell me...”

But this was no time to ponder that.

“SKREEEEE!”

“Aaagh! Run!”

At the shrieks of the sand centipede struggling desperately to force its way into the labyrinth, the terrified hunters began scattering in every direction.

Amid the confusion, Esil came up beside Suho and asked,

“Suho, did you do that?”

“What are you doing? Aren't you going to run?”

“...”

* * *

Meanwhile, the town was in an uproar. Sand centipedes had suddenly descended upon it.

“H-have these things gone mad?!”

The inevitable had finally happened. The sand centipedes that had only prowled around the town until now had invaded at last.

Yet instead of immediately attacking the town's hunters as everyone had expected, they were focused solely on the pyramid.

“The centipedes are heading for the pyramid!”

“Get out of their way!”

“They're not after us!”

The quicker-witted hunters swiftly backed away, clearing a path for the centipedes. These were never monsters they could fight in the first place.

The sand centipedes clung to the pyramid and began gnawing through its stone walls to get inside.

“What in the world is happening...?”

The bizarre sight left the hunters gaping.

“Looks like there really is something in there.”

“Never mind that...”

“The hunters inside are as good as dead.”

Having been kept out of the pyramid by the Scavenger Guild, the other hunters secretly found the sight rather satisfying.

At the same time, a good idea occurred to them.

'Let's watch for now.'

Once things settled down and all the Scavenger Guild members were dead, they could enter the pyramid themselves.

The eyes of Kamura's hunters gleamed in unison.

* * *

The sand centipede's sudden intrusion had thrown everything into chaos. Suho retreated with Esil in the opposite direction from the Scavenger Guild.

Naturally, that brought them face-to-face with another group: the Asura Guild.

“Hm?”

“Oh.”

Suho and Rio Singh ran straight into one another at a fork in the passage. Rio Singh addressed him.

“I'm Rio Singh of the Asura Guild. Which guild do you belong to?”

“What's he saying?”

Suho looked to his interpreter, Esil. She gave a small sigh and answered Rio Singh for him.

“We're independent. We're from Korea.”

“Korea? I see. Given the situation, would you be willing to cooperate for the time being?”

Rio Singh studied Suho sharply, trying to get a read on him.

'He won't reveal his affiliation, but he must be a promising talent from a famous guild.'

Rio Singh had watched Suho's entire performance against Randolph. His quick judgment and combat instincts were certainly no worse than Rio Singh's own.

Suho had no reason to refuse his offer. With a sand centipede on the scene, this was no time for humans to be fighting among themselves.

“Sure, let's do that.”

Seeing Suho nod, Rio Singh sighed in relief.

'Good timing. I've got plenty of questions.'

With Esil interpreting, Suho spoke to him.

“What's been happening in here?”

As they kept moving to avoid the sand centipede, Rio Singh answered his questions.

“This pyramid wants us to prove our worth.”

“Our worth?”

At those familiar words, Suho's and Beru's eyes lit up simultaneously.

'Well, now.'

Seeing Suho's intrigued expression, Rio Singh was inwardly impressed. Normally, being told to prove one's worth in a dungeon like this would make a person fear for their life.

And why wouldn't it?

The Cataclysm had struck without warning two years ago. Countless scientists had questioned the phenomenon since then, but none had yet uncovered its true nature.

The unknown meant fear.

Yet Suho's response was anything but ordinary.

'He's smiling? This young man is genuinely enjoying this ordeal. He has the innate temperament of an asura.'

Of course, that was entirely Rio Singh's misconception.

“This is what we think it is, right?”

[It appears so, my liege.]

What they had recalled, naturally, was the test of worth at Magok Field. The trial that had demanded Suho prove himself worthy of being a king was taking place here, too.

'If this is a test...'

Ultimately, there was only one way to prove himself: go deeper.

The problem was the men blocking the way.

'Looks like I'll have to deal with those Scavenger bastards before I can get any farther.'

Suho stared intently down the passage where the Scavenger Guild members had fled from the sand centipede. That was probably the way to the labyrinth's depths. They would have been exploring that area in their efforts to prove their worth.

“Suho, what are you planning?”

Esil had noticed what he was thinking.

“I don't think we can take all of them on by ourselves.”

“Hmm.”

Suho agreed. Arachne alone probably wouldn't be enough to handle them.

'I'll need more soldiers to stand a chance...'

But those soldiers would have to be at least as strong as Arachne.

SKREEEEE!

“Oh, there's one.”

Suho's eyes sparkled as a sand centipede's shriek rang out in the distance, right on cue.

An open desert would have been another matter, but in this confined space, couldn't he take them on one at a time?