Chapter 65

All day long, Baek Miho had remained at the guild, checking on the guild members at regular intervals.

A surprising number of field dungeons in urban areas had cell reception. Signals often failed where the blue mist lay thick, of course, but she had avoided those places as much as possible when sharing field locations with the C-rank hunters today.

"Vice President! We've received a call from Times Square!"

"Is it Lee Minsung?"

"They say they aren't sure yet! But there have been phenomena that aren't in the guild's records..."

"Not in our records?"

Baek Miho's expression hardened at the employee's report. The Baekho Guild had considerable intelligence-gathering capabilities. In particular, every field they had shared with the C-rank hunters today had been vetted several times.

Yet something unrecorded had happened? Now, of all times, with a villain running rampant?

Her eyes flashed keenly.

"What sort of phenomena?"

"Well... poisonous mist and bees..."

Bees?

That one word was enough. In the security footage, Lee Minsung had transformed into something resembling a bee. Whether it was a skill or something else, if bees had suddenly appeared in the field, they had to be connected to him somehow.

"Let's head to Times Square."

At Baek Miho's order, the guild members on standby rose as one.

She went straight to Times Square, then held her breath the moment she entered the field.

"Hup."

A thorn labyrinth shrouded in poisonous mist.

'I never imagined the poison would be this potent.'

Naturally, hunters were far more resistant to poison than ordinary people. Most poisons had no effect on them in the first place. Even if they were poisoned, healers could treat them, so poison rarely put them in danger.

But it was a different story when poisonous mist filled an entire field like this. With only a finite supply of mana, the healers would inevitably reach a point where they could no longer use their detoxification skills.

"Everyone, put on your gas masks."

At her instruction, the hunters under her command swiftly donned the gas masks they had brought.

Just as Baek Miho put on her own mask—

BZZZZ!

Her hand darted out, snatching something from the air: a Contaminated Hornet that had crept up like an assassin, hidden in the poisonous mist.

Her expression hardened as she saw the droplet of venom clinging to the tip of its stinger. An insect-type magic beast imbued with mana—and a venomous one that could fly unharmed through mist this toxic.

She feared for the hunters who had gone in ahead of them.

"Vice President..."

The Baekho Guild members looked at her with grim expressions.

"Let's find... as many survivors as we can."

Gritting her teeth, Baek Miho walked into the thorn labyrinth thick with poisonous mist.

'I have to save them, whatever it takes.'

Good intentions did not always lead to good results. She was the one who had sent them here. If anyone died, the responsibility would be hers alone.

'Please... don't let us be too late.'

But then—

"Huh?"

"Ah!"

She found them far sooner than she had expected.

"Vice President Baek Miho?!"

"We're saved! Reinforcements are here!"

"...!"

Baek Miho was a little bewildered to find the hunters resting together in one place. Contrary to her fears, they looked perfectly safe. Their grimy appearance certainly showed how much they had been through, but the healer she had sent along had treated all their injuries.

What surprised her most, however, was the gas masks they were wearing.

"How did you get gas masks...?"

There had been no information whatsoever about poison in this dungeon. They had no reason to bring gas masks that would only add to their load. Yet somehow, every one of them was wearing one.

"Oh, these? Hunter Sung Suho suddenly brought them over. I don't know where he got them..."

"Sung Suho...?"

At that, Baek Miho scanned the group for Suho. But he wasn't there. Nine of the ten members of the raid party she had sent in were present. Everyone was safe, but the C-rank hunter named Sung Suho alone was missing.

"Where is Hunter Sung Suho? Don't tell me he's dea—"

"N-no! Hunter Sung Suho is safe! No, I'm sure he's safe!"

The hunters hastily answered her question about whether he had died. Yet each wore a slightly odd expression. Noticing this, Baek Miho's face hardened, and she turned to the Baekho Guild members she had sent in with them.

"What on earth happened here?"

"Vice President, well..."

"Hunter Sung Suho saved us."

"... Excuse me? Saved you? Who saved whom?"

What on earth were they talking about? A C-rank hunter had saved a raid party with no fewer than three B-rank hunters?

But even when she asked again, their answer remained the same.

"Hunter Sung Suho saved us, then disappeared. He even left us these gas masks, though we have no idea where he got them."

Until just a short while ago, the hunters gathered here had been on the verge of death. The poisonous mist blanketing the field had been steadily paralyzing their bodies. Thornvine Scarecrow Woodvines had kept coming from every direction. And whenever they showed an opening, Contaminated Hornets had appeared without a sound to sting them.

None of those enemies could be taken lightly, but the hornets' stingers had been the most terrifying. Whether they struck an arm or a leg, the venom would spread through the entire body in an instant, rotting it away.

There was only one treatment: cut off the poisoned part as quickly as possible, just as Suho had done for Gu Dongjae, and have the healer regenerate the severed part immediately afterward. But that treatment consumed so much of the healer's mana that it couldn't be used repeatedly.

That was when Suho, who had been separated from them by a suddenly rising thorn wall, returned.

The problem was the way he looked when he came back...

"His hair had changed color?"

"Yes. To a silvery gray..."

Baek Miho's expression hardened as she listened. Few known skills caused someone's hair to change color suddenly. Naturally, the most famous among them was the Beast Transformation skill. It allowed the user to transform part of their body, or even more.

'Could this Sung Suho have a Beast Transformation skill too? Ah! Come to think of it, back then...!'

Why had she only remembered now? A recent memory suddenly surfaced. She had thought he looked familiar, and now that she considered it, today wasn't the first time she had seen Hunter Sung Suho.

'Magok Field.'

It was hardly an exaggeration to say that nearly every Beast Transformation hunter in the capital region had gathered at Magok Field—that strange dungeon that claimed to be choosing the King of Beasts.

'Hunter Sung Suho was there too!'

The hunter who had given off an unusual scent unlike the others, drawing her attention, had been Sung Suho!

'Only Beast Transformation hunters gathered there, so naturally, he must have...'

It certainly seemed that Hunter Sung Suho possessed a Beast Transformation skill.

... But why?

For some reason, another thought was taking shape in her mind. Besides herself and her father, wasn't there one other person famous for silvery-gray hair? An unidentified hunter who had been making quite a name for himself lately.

'Beast King Crow.'

Whatever his reasons, that man who always hid his face behind a mask was also...!

'Wait. This isn't the time for that.'

Baek Miho snapped out of her thoughts and questioned the guild members waiting for her orders.

"So what do you mean he disappeared again? Where did he go?"

"He said he was going to where the queen bee is."

"The queen bee?"

Things were taking a strange turn. An unforeseen situation had arisen, and its cause was a queen bee rather than the A-rank villain Lee Minsung? This dungeon hadn't had a boss monster to begin with. Had a new one suddenly appeared?

'Could it be Lee Minsung?'

The security footage had shown something like insect wings attached to Lee Minsung's back. Whatever that ability was, if he was behind all this, everything fit.

The hunter speaking with Baek Miho pointed to one side. A staircase led underground.

"In any case, Hunter Sung Suho went downstairs."

"So this queen bee is underground."

Baek Miho nodded, her expression fierce. She would have to go down there to find out exactly what was happening. Turning to the reinforcements she had brought, she gave her orders.

"A few of you, escort these people outside. The rest, come with me to take down the queen bee."

* * *

Meanwhile, Suho had followed the stairs down to the basement level of Times Square. His expression was fierce.

"Was it you?"

Those cold words seemed to still the very air around him. At that moment, twenty black lancers rose from his shadow as one.

["Krrrk!"]

Now transformed into stalwart defenders of Suho, the Shadow Lancers took stances as though ready to charge at any moment.

Yet even at that menacing sight, the woman remained composed. Sitting cross-legged at a table in a cafe overgrown with thorny vines, she leisurely sipped her tea.

"Would you care to sit for a moment?"

Her clear, calm voice offered Suho the empty seat across from her.

"Sure."

Suho sat in the chair opposite her. Amid that hostile atmosphere, the space immediately around them fell quiet, as though cut off from the rest.

"Would you like a cup of tea? It's sweetened with honey. Special honey I made myself, in fact."

["Kieeeek! How dare a mere flying insect try such tricks!"]

At that, Beru thrust his face forward and roared fiercely.

Though he was still only the size of a fist, his forceful presence seemed to genuinely startle the woman.

"My goodness. I see you have quite an impressive bodyguard."

["Ahem. I am impressive, indeed."]

Beru folded his arms, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

The woman couldn't take her eyes off him. A fist-sized ant, his entire body seething with black vapor. But an insect's power had nothing to do with its size. In the insect world, the smaller and weaker something appeared, the less one could afford to underestimate it.

'I haven't encountered an insect with such a presence since Lady Querehsha...'

The woman was confused. Beru's condition was extremely strange. His presence was undeniably immense, yet the energy emanating from him felt unstable.

"What are you two doing? Having a blind date?"

Watching them regard each other with peculiar looks, Suho sniped from beside them, thoroughly unimpressed.

His words brought the woman to her senses, and she greeted him politely.

"Oh, my apologies. My name is Arsha. May I ask your name?"

"Sung Suho."

"Then I'll call you Lord Suho."

"Lord?"

"Yes. I feel this esteemed ant might scold me if I were presumptuous."

["Ahem. You're perceptive for a bee."]

Beru puffed up with pride, wearing an utterly wicked expression.