Chapter 49

“Don't tell me... you're planning to hunt that centipede?”

Rio Singh's eyes went wide. He had seen Suho suddenly smack his lips at the sound of the sand centipede's screech. His expression carried the intensity of a hunter eyeing his prey.

“Suho, are you really going?”

“Inside here, I think we might just manage it.”

As he spoke with Esil, Suho had already made up his mind.

“W-wait! Fighting those centipedes is even more dangerous than fighting the Scavenger Guild!”

Rio Singh hurriedly tried to stop him. Recklessness was always what got hunters killed. He had seen plenty of gifted hunters like Suho throw their lives away in displays of bravado.

“Why not do this instead? Give our healers a few hours to rest, and they'll recover their mana. Then we can join forces against Scavenger.”

“We don't have time for that.”

Suho firmly rejected his suggestion and looked up at the ceiling, where fragments of stone were falling.

“At this rate, there's no telling when the pyramid might suddenly collapse.”

Instead, Suho made the Asura Guild an offer.

“You should get out now. Leave this place to me.”

“I can't do that. I can't go back empty-handed either.”

Rio Singh rose to follow Suho, only to grimace and stagger.

“Urgh.”

His body was still suffering the full impact of Randolph's earlier blow.

Beru clicked his tongue at the sight.

[What a feeble worm. Recklessness gets hunters killed.]

Rio Singh flushed. He couldn't understand Beru's words, but he understood the meaning of that gaze, as though Beru were looking at something utterly insignificant. To be looked at that way by a mere summon... For someone who had always borne high expectations as a rising talent, it was nothing short of humiliating.

“Just stay here and rest. We'll go on ahead.”

“How embarrassing.”

At Suho's words, Rio Singh finally sank to the floor to catch his breath. For all his stubbornness, he had finally realized it. Not only he but every one of his guildmates was injured and struggling to move.

“Tch.”

Rio Singh ground his teeth as he thought of Randolph, the cause of all this.

'Just you wait. I'll get my revenge...!'

Burning with vengeance, he looked at Suho.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“What is it?”

“If you run into Scavenger on the way, could you land a blow for me?”

“I could make it two.”

“That's reassuring.”

Pleased by Suho's unhesitating answer, Rio Singh took a ring from inside his clothes.

“Take this.”

“...?”

A gleam appeared in Suho's eyes as he accepted it.

[Item: Ring of Horus]

Acquisition Difficulty: B-rank

Type: Accessory

Intelligence +10

-Effect 'Wisdom of Horus': Mana recovery speed increased by 30%

“It's a relic I found while exploring this labyrinth. I don't know if it'll help.”

Unable to inspect item information the way Suho could, Rio Singh seemed unaware of just how extraordinary an item he was handing over.

'This is exactly what I need right now.'

Fighting the sand centipedes had made Suho painfully aware of what he lacked: mana.

Pouring all his available stat points into Strength had given him tremendous power, but as his other skills grew increasingly important, he had begun to feel the need for Intelligence. And this Ring of Horus was an incredible treasure that raised Intelligence by a full ten points.

'Besides, higher Intelligence means more shadow soldiers.'

Ultimately, overwhelming numbers were the answer to taking down a sand centipede. Even with as many shadow soldiers as he could muster, victory would be a close thing. The Ring of Horus would improve his odds.

“Thanks. I'll put it to good use.”

Suho quickly slipped on the ring before Rio Singh could change his mind.

'Status window!'

He checked his status window immediately.

[Status Window]

Name: Sung Suho

Level: 26

Class: None

Title: Wolf Slayer

HP: 6,350/6,350

MP: 1,235/1,235

[Stats]

Strength: 54 Vitality: 35

Agility: 35 Intelligence: 35(+10)

Perception: 35(+5)

(Available Stat Points: 0)

'Jackpot.'

Suho's eyes widened. His mana had shot from 635 to 1,235 in an instant. It had doubled! That meant he could maintain Giant’s Armor twice as long.

And on top of that...

[Number of Extractable Shadows: 1/20]

'Now I really have a shot, don't I?'

Smiling, Suho immediately turned toward the presence of the sand centipede.

“Let's go.”

[I sense other magic beasts along the way.]

Beru twitched his short antennae as he guided Suho. Since Suho needed more soldiers anyway, the more magic beasts he encountered on the way, the better.

With that, Suho bade the Asura Guild farewell and plunged into the labyrinth.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Scavenger Guild members who had fled deeper into the labyrinth to escape the sand centipede were having their own share of trouble.

“Hold them off! More mummies are getting up out of the coffins!”

True to the pyramid setting, even the magic beasts took the form of mummies. At first, the Scavenger hunters had thought little of the creatures shuffling toward them. Once they clashed, however, they proved anything but easy opponents.

BOOM!

“Randolph! No matter how many times we beat these things to death, they get back up!”

“Then break their limbs so they can't get back up!”

“B-but... Urgh!”

“...!”

Randolph was startled. One by one, his men fighting the mummies began to turn deathly pale and collapse.

“Poison?!”

Now he saw it. Every blow to a mummy's body released putrid poison from beneath its bandages.

'What's going on?'

Randolph had encountered all sorts of monsters during his time with Scavenger, but he had never seen anything like these.

'Monsters that revive endlessly! Usually there's a summoner controlling creatures like this from behind. So why isn't there one?'

He had been searching for the summoner for some time, but couldn't find so much as a trace.

“Find them! We have to find the caster, whatever it takes! They must be hiding somewhere nearby to control these things!”

Randolph was growing desperate.

SKITTER, SKITTER, SKITTER!

He could hear the sand centipede drawing closer by the moment right behind them, while the mummies surrounded them ahead.

“Healers! Haven't you recovered your mana yet?!”

“S-sorry. If you could just wait a little longer...”

“You useless bastards!”

CRASH!

The healers paled as Randolph furiously kicked an oncoming mummy in the stomach. But no amount of impatience would replenish their depleted mana any faster.

“That's it! Ignore everything and charge straight through!”

“Randolph! Wh-what about the poison?”

“Just hold your fucking breath and run, you bastards!”

CRASH!

Randolph's relentless charge sent mummies flying like bowling pins.

“We're not wasting time on these small fry! Just run!”

The sand centipede pursuing them would eat the mummies anyway. Better still if it died from their poison in the process.

In the end, driven by Randolph's bellowing, the Scavenger Guild members gritted their teeth and began running to break out of the mummies' encirclement.

* * *

[Rotting Mummy]

[Rotting Mummy]

Suho and Esil, who had plunged into the labyrinth, were also surrounded by countless mummies. Attacking them with her spear, Esil soon recognized the problem.

“Suho! These things don't have a weakness! They won't die no matter how many times I kill them!”

[That's because they're already dead bodies.]

Floating in the air and watching the battle, Beru drawled mockingly.

“And they release poison, too!”

[That's because they're rotting corpses.]

Why did his ready explanations make him look so infuriating? Beru flitted among the mummies, looking utterly fascinated.

[Young Monarch, these aren't normal magic beasts.]

“Then what are they?”

[Someone created them artificially through shamanic arts.]

“Shamanic arts?”

Those words brought a name to mind: Grand Shaman Kandiaru.

[Very few could create monsters of this caliber. Soldiers that remain undying even in death... Doesn't it seem as though they were modeled after shadow soldiers?]

Beru stroked his chin, thinking of the Architect who had created the leveling system.

[Kandiaru was a Grand Shaman who dreamed of eternal life. Perhaps this place was his laboratory. Though it seems he ultimately failed and produced nothing more than an incomplete imitation.]

Suho nodded at Beru's words and looked at the mummies.

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

[This target is eligible for Shadow Extraction.]

...

These messages had been appearing before his eyes ever since he encountered them.

That was right. These creatures had existed as the dead from the outset. And the Shadow Monarch's power was the power to command death and rule over the dead.

Grinning, Suho stretched out a hand toward the mummies swarming him.

“Arise.”

At that moment, black shadows began to writhe beneath the approaching mummies' feet. The shadows wound around their pure white bandages, staining them black.

WHOOOOSH!

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

...

New name tags appeared above the mummies wrapped in black bandages.

[Shadow Mummy Lv.1]

Normal Grade

“Hah.”

At the sight, Esil's face briefly went slack with disbelief. All the effort she had put into fighting alone had amounted to nothing.

Matchups. It was simply a matter of matchups.

“Arise.”

Suho strolled leisurely among the mummies still lunging at him, extending his hand.

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

“Arise.”

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

[Kyaaaah!]

The mummies wrapped in black bandages began screeching in reverence toward Suho, who had bestowed upon them the baptism of true death. As their numbers grew, their cries became like the hymn of a magnificent choir.

At the wondrous spectacle, Beru smiled sinisterly.

[Life born from death... I really do like that prophecy.]