Chapter 62

The Baekho Guild members were genuinely rattled. They had been assigned to this raid party to protect it against a possible attack by Lee Minsung. Yet once they entered the field, they found themselves in an unexpectedly chaotic battle.

“What the hell? Wasn't this a C-rank field?”

“There was nothing about bees in the intel!”

In a dungeon, where anything could happen at any time, information was as valuable as life itself. Wasn't that one of the reasons hunters preferred large guilds?

Naturally, the Baekho Guild, one of the foremost large guilds, had extensive data on uncleared dungeons. Field dungeons outside Gates were especially easy to enter and leave, allowing the guild to gather more detailed information on their environments and the types of monsters that appeared there. Times Square Field was no exception.

They had assigned this raid party here precisely because they knew the monsters were Woodvines, and the party included two experienced Flame Bug summoners. Flame Bugs didn't deal much damage individually, but C-rank summoners could summon a fair number of them, making them highly effective against plant-type monsters.

With the three of them, all B-rank hunters, added to the mix, they had never dreamed they would have this much trouble in a mere C-rank field.

'If we'd known, we'd have brought a mage-type hunter...'

With a magic-type awakened person who possessed fire skills, they would never have struggled against mere hornets like these. Or perhaps...

KABOOOOM!

“... A skill like that would work too.”

Up ahead, the storm of blades raging from Suho's twin swords was already showing tremendous synergy with the Flame Bugs' combined attack. Watching the hornets' remains drift through the air as ash, the Baekho Guild members were left speechless.

“... Seriously, who is that guy?”

Wasn't he far too skilled in combat for a rookie who had awakened less than a month ago? Suho was ordering summoners with far more experience around as naturally as if they were his subordinates. And he didn't stop there—he was giving the other hunters appropriate instructions too.

“Leave the hornets to us! Everyone else, focus on the thornvines! My mummies will tank, so damage dealers, concentrate on attacking! Tanks, stay right in front of the damage dealers!”

“Y-yes!”

“Understood!”

The hunters moved in perfect coordination at Suho's commands. Their briefly disrupted formation regained its structure in an instant.

That left Gu Dongjae, the supposed raid leader, suddenly unsure of where he belonged. Spotting him, Suho glared fiercely.

“What are you doing here? Stop getting in the way! Get to the back and have your arm treated!”

“Y-yes!”

Dongjae flinched at Suho's shout and hurried toward the healer. As the Baekho Guild healer cast Heal on him, he watched Suho's dependable back with a peculiar expression.

“This was the party I was most worried about...”

Yet it was functioning far better than expected, all thanks to that one rookie hunter named Sung Suho. The problem was that the dungeon seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

WHOOOOSH!

SHRRAAASH!

Suddenly, thornvines on the walls and floor began intertwining tightly, separating the hunters. This, too, was absent from the Baekho Guild's intel.

“It's dangerous to split up!”

“Hurry! Get over here!”

Startled by the thorn walls rising from the floor, the hunters scrambled to move. Suho was the problem. He had been far away from the beginning, and now thorn walls surged up in front of him, completely cutting him off from the place where the other hunters were gathering.

“No...!”

The urgent cries of the hunters abruptly separated from Suho grew more and more distant.

* * *

SLAAASH!

Suho swung his twin swords, ruthlessly slicing through the thorn wall, but neighboring vines crept into the gap and filled it again in an instant. He stood before it with a displeased expression and muttered.

“It's definitely trying to isolate me, isn't it?”

[Clearly.]

“So, what are they saying?”

Suho looked at Beru, who had been watching the hornets circling overhead and twitching his antennae all this time. One twitch, inquisitive. Then two more.

[Oh?]

Another questioning twitch. Then a brisk pair of twitches!

[Oh, really?]

Beru kept nodding as though he had learned something, then finally spoke.

[They're cursing me out. Telling me to fucking die.]

“...”

As Suho's expression turned distinctly unimpressed, Beru chuckled and continued.

[Still, I overheard everything they were saying to one another.]

Beru narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze in one direction.

[That way.]

“Let's go.”

Suho turned without hesitation. He would find out what was waiting there when he met it.

As if waiting for him, the thorn walls swept apart to either side, revealing a path that hadn't been there before. Suho gave a short laugh and bared his teeth in a savage grin.

“Looks like they're waiting for me too.”

[An exceedingly insolent insect.]

Beru's expression was far more murderous than Suho's. Suho ran down the path without hesitation. And at its end...

STEP.

“Aren't you an interesting-looking one?”

Suho chuckled at the magic beast waiting for him at the end of the labyrinth.

[Contaminated Lancer]

It had a grotesque form, as though an insect and a human had been mixed together. The humanoid magic beast stood there clad in a full suit of yellow-and-black armor.

“A lancer? Are those things on your hands stingers?”

Long, sharp lances extended from both its arms in place of hands.

“Krrrk! Indeed. I am a lancer in service to the great queen.”

FLUTTER.

The lancer spread its wings wide and took flight. Just then, Beru suddenly murmured beside Suho, sounding intrigued.

[What a curious insect. It speaks the human tongue.]

“...?”

[Why are you looking at me like that, Young Monarch?]

Suho stared at Beru silently for a moment before looking away again. There was plenty he could say, but he would let it go for now. He turned his glare back on the lancer and asked,

“So why did you invite me?”

“Krrk. You were being a bit of a nuisance, so I simply locked you away on your own. Consider it an honor. I, the queen's lancer, will deal with you personally.”

CLANG.

The lancer crossed its pointed arms—no, its lances—and stared arrogantly down at Suho. Suho smiled faintly at its words.

“Locked away? Me?”

His smile widened, as though he found the notion absurd. As it did, his shadow spread farther and farther in every direction.

“You're the one who's trapped.”

[Kreeee! ]

[Kyaaaah!]

The Shadow Mummies, which had already returned to Suho's shadow, rose all at once. Ten mummies remained with the hunters, while the other ten were here. Even as the labyrinth separated them, Suho had coolly adjusted his troop deployment to suit the situation.

Yet the lancer showed no sign of alarm at suddenly being surrounded by Shadow Mummies. Instead, it sneered at Suho as though he were laughable.

“Krrrk. You're awfully full of yourself for a mere summoner. I know a summoner's weakness well. I was once a hunter myself.”

'Once?'

Just as a curious gleam entered Suho's eyes at those last words—

FLUTTER!

The lancer's wings beat rapidly, and its body vanished from the spot.

'Here it comes!'

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

[Kyaah...!]

Fast! In the blink of an eye, the lancer broke through the Shadow Mummies and charged straight at Suho. A summoner's weakness was the summoner himself.

'Once a hunter, huh...'

Turning those words over in his mind, Suho twisted slightly and evaded the attack.

BOOM!

The awl-like lance missed Suho by a hair and punched a massive hole through the thorn wall behind him. It was a truly tremendous attack.

'At least C-rank. Maybe higher.'

The aura he sensed from it was C-rank. Its speed, however, was close to B-rank, and combined with a body evolved to pierce a single point, it was formidable indeed.

“Krrrk! Not bad! Let's see you keep struggling!”

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

KABOOM!

Its attack speed was truly astounding. In the blink of an eye, countless straight-line strikes rained down on Suho. Every attack targeted his blind spots, coming so quickly that it felt as if countless enemies were attacking him at once. It was an endless hell in which space itself seemed to be slashed to pieces.

At its center, Suho simply kept dodging the attacks by a hair rather than counterattacking, his eyes constantly tracking the movements. Then, suddenly—

“You really are an interesting one. A magic beast that knows how to play tricks.”

Suho chuckled as he addressed it.

“I guess your opponents usually let their guard down and die when you pretend there's only one of you?”

“Krrrk.”

The lancer stopped dead in midair. With its secret exposed, a cruel smile spread across its lips.

“They said you were an inexperienced rookie, but you're surprisingly sharp.”

That voice, however, came from a different direction. Suho was now surrounded by five lancers. Each looked slightly different, but all resembled a mixture of insect and human, equipped with full-body armor and sharp lances reminiscent of stingers.

“Not that noticing will change anything.”

At that moment, the lancers took flight together and charged at Suho. But speed battles were actually something Suho was quite confident in himself.

“Spirit Possession.”

[‘Pet: Gray’ is possessing you.]

WHOOOOSH!

The instant Suho's hair turned silver—

ZIP!

“...!”

Suho vanished from the spot and reappeared some distance ahead, his twin swords crossed.

SLAAASH!

Behind him, one lancer stood with its head severed, unable even to let out the usual death cry.

THUD. RUMBLE.

[You have defeated a Contaminated Lancer.]

“Now four.”

“...!”

As the lancers stared in horror at their comrade's head rolling helplessly across the floor, Suho vanished from their sight again.

SLASH!

At that instant, another head rolled across the floor.

[You have defeated a Contaminated Lancer.]

“Now three.”

“...!”

Only then did the lancers' consistently relaxed expressions change drastically. Soldiers whose bodies had evolved to increase their attack power? So what?

Suho, too, had poured every unallocated stat point he earned as a reward into Strength. The resulting power and speed, boosted further by Spirit Possession, put his movements far beyond anything mere flying bugs could hope to match.

“Don't worry.” Suho smiled at them. “I'll leave one of you alive.”

Whether it was a king or a queen of insects, one of them would have to spill its location.