Chapter 71

Suho, Baek Miho, and Lim Taegyu barely managed to break through the barrage of arrows and enter the hive. The instant they landed...

THUD!

Suho and Baek Miho shot forward at tremendous speed, neither waiting for the other, and slashed through the necks of the archers who had been firing at them.

SLASH! SLASH!

"Kraaagh!"

[You have defeated a Contaminated Ghoul.]

[You have defeated a Contaminated Ghoul.]

They were the same creatures as the Mutants on the ground.

"Damn it. They're all our people!"

Recognizing their faces, Lim Taegyu gritted his teeth. Even after their transformation, traces of their former appearances remained.

"These are all Reaper Guild members?" Baek Miho murmured, her expression grave. "So that's why he killed all the other hunters but only abducted Reaper Guild members... Did Lee Minsung want to become guildmaster so badly that he'd resort to this?"

"Anyway, now that we're in the hive, let's find the owner. Beru, show us the way."

[Yes, Young Monarch. Follow me.]

At Suho's words, the navigation system—no, the Beru-vigation system—twitched his antennae and took the lead.

Just then, Rakan’s Fang, one of Suho's twin swords, spoke to him.

-Be careful. This hive has become a sanctuary.

"This is a sanctuary?" Suho asked, looking at Rakan’s Fang.

[The King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs, shrugs, saying it wasn't their doing.]

"Then it must be Querehsha's sanctuary."

-It would seem so.

"Do sanctuaries normally just spring up anywhere like this?"

-Of course not. A sanctuary is, in essence, a Monarch's domain. Now that all the Monarchs are dead, they have become places where rites are held in their honor.

A sanctuary.

Suho recalled the sanctuaries of Rakan he had visited.

"So there could be a relic in here."

-There's no telling. It could hold a relic, a successor, or a shaman.

"Well, we'll find out when we meet Lee Minsung."

It had looked like a hive from outside, but once they entered, an entirely new space unfolded before them, completely cut off from the outside world.

An ominous sky loomed overhead. Thick clouds churned as though a great storm were about to break. A dank stench like rotting corpses permeated the air, frozen with terror.

"Feels like we've entered a Gate. Has a new dungeon formed?" Lim Taegyu murmured, looking around.

Suho answered, "I don't think this is a dungeon."

To be precise, it was a sanctuary.

But his remark brought an irritated look to Lim Taegyu's face.

"Not a dungeon? What do you know about it?"

Lim Taegyu was on edge, using his mana to suppress the surging royal jelly toxin. On top of that, as the Reaper Guild's guildmaster, he had to take responsibility for this entire disaster.

Public opinion had already turned against the Reaper Guild. Even if he resolved the situation, he had no idea how to repair its reputation.

He had no idea what Lee Minsung had done, but the fact that the guild's former vice president had even opened a dungeon in the heart of the city was certain to deal the Reaper Guild a devastating blow. The compensation for those who had died today alone would be astronomical.

So when Suho, whose mana clearly seemed no higher than C-rank, suddenly made such a strange remark, Lim Taegyu found it absurd. What did a C-rank hunter know that entitled him to contradict an S-rank hunter?

"Then what is it, if it isn't a dungeon?"

Baek Miho hurriedly stepped between them.

"We don't have time to argue among ourselves. More importantly, Guildmaster Lim, are you unable to use your mana right now?"

"..."

She had hit the mark. Lim Taegyu flinched and fell silent.

"... That's right. Poison is spreading through my body, and I'm suppressing it with mana."

"Haven't you received a Heal?"

"It didn't work. I think a higher-level healer could deal with it later, but there weren't any suitable healers nearby..."

"Then why did you come along?"

"... Even without mana, I can still contribute plenty in combat."

Indeed, even without mana, an S-rank hunter's exceptional physical abilities alone could exert tremendous force.

"Oh, so we can use you as a shield. That's a relief."

"..."

[Enough. You'll make the boy cry.]

Unable to bear watching any longer, Beru finally intervened.

Boy?

Lim Taegyu bristled. A tiny ant floating beside Suho was looking at him with genuine pity.

But why?

When his eyes met Beru's, Lim Taegyu felt an instinctive aversion.

Aversion? No, it was something more...

A chill ran through him.

'I'm afraid? Why?'

Under Lim Taegyu's gaze, Beru studied his face with a peculiar expression.

[Hmm. You've aged quite a bit yourself.]

"...?"

Lim Taegyu was puzzled by the way the ant spoke as though he knew him. But that feeling did not last long.

"Everyone, prepare for combat."

Suho, who had been extending his senses to survey their surroundings, looked up at the sky as he spoke.

RUMBLE!

A pitch-black swarm of bees was surging out of the ominously churning clouds.

No. Looking closer, those weren't clouds at all.

"Holy shit." Lim Taegyu looked incredulous. "Don't tell me those clouds were all bees?"

Everything they had thought was cloud had been bees.

[It does appear to be a hive, all right. They've gathered quite a number.]

Beru twitched his antennae.

[I sense the strongest presence beyond those clouds.]

"So we have to fly again."

They had fought their way through a rain of arrows, and now they had to fly through that staggering mass of bees.

Just then...

DING!

[Sanctuary of Insects activates.]

"...!"

A sudden chill swept through Suho. This was the same sensation as before—the one he had felt upon entering the Sanctuary of Beasts...

DING!

[Passive skill '(Unknown)' activates.]

WHOOOOSH!

In an instant, Suho's shadow spread in every direction, staining the entire world.

And then time stopped.

No, everything stopped.

* * *

'... Here again?'

Suho stood alone at the edge of an empty horizon.

A world of absolute blankness.

'The eternal Domain of Repose.'

But what he sensed here was completely different from when he had met Rakan, the Monarch of Beasts.

'Insects?'

Suho looked down at the ground beneath his feet. All of it—no, this entire white world—was made of teeming masses of pure-white insects.

He raised his head and looked ahead. At the end of the empty horizon sat a woman with her legs crossed, gazing down at him haughtily.

Suho immediately realized who she was.

'Are you Querehsha?'

The corners of the woman's lips curled into a wicked smile at his question.

[Yes, that's right. My name is Querehsha. I am an eternal specter, slain by your father.]

The system urgently displayed a message before Suho.

[The Queen of Insects, Querehsha, the Monarch of Plagues, is watching you.]

...!

At that moment, the woman's presence began to swell enormously. It wasn't merely her aura growing stronger.

CHITTER! CHITTER!

SCREEECH!

The white insects forming the ground gathered into a single mass, making the woman grow larger and larger.

[... Once,]

She looked down at Suho, now minuscule by comparison, and smacked her lips.

[I wanted to devour a fellow Monarch, just to see how one would taste.]

The enormous insect queen chuckled with a self-mocking smile.

[But in the end, I was the one devoured.]

At that instant, the ground beneath Suho transformed into a gigantic hand and seized his body.

RUMBLE...

The hand slowly rose, lifting Suho to Querehsha's face. Her gaze traveled slowly over him as she recalled those days.

[Do you know? Your father was a more vicious, tenacious creature than any insect I ever encountered.]

She seemed to be searching his face for a trace of Sung Jinwoo, the man who had killed her.

[You resemble him. Very much.]

'Really? Plenty of people say I look more like my mother.'

At his reply, a playful glint briefly entered Querehsha's eyes.

[What would you taste like if I ate you now? Would you taste like your father?]

It was the sort of expression an innocent child might wear while crushing tiny insects with their fingers.

Only now, the situation was reversed. Before the gigantic insect queen, Suho was the smaller one by far.

Yet he remained unshaken.

'That's a lot of bluster for a specter who's been dead for ages.'

[... Even that insolent tongue is exactly like your father's.]

Querehsha glared at him with chilling eyes, then lowered him to the ground.

[Yes, you're right. I am already dead. But...]

DING!

An ominous system message suddenly sounded before Suho.

[A quest has arrived.]

Before he could even check the message, Querehsha's smile took on an utterly cruel cast.

[I am, by nature, both one and a colony.]

Querehsha was the Queen of Insects, born as a tiny insect who had grown by devouring countless others. Every insect she had swallowed formed part of her body. Thus, all the insects filling this world were her corpse—and her soul.

[From the moment you stepped into my world, you were as good as swallowed by me.]

The dank, poisonous aura he had sensed outside suddenly filled the pure-white world.

No, the entire world had turned hostile toward Suho.

A quest window opened before him on its own.

[Emergency Quest: Querehsha's Venom Crucible]

Querehsha, the Queen of Insects and Monarch of Plagues, has drawn you into her Venom Crucible.

All the insects that formed Querehsha are hostile toward you.

Survive for the required duration to prove your worth.

Required Duration: 4 hours

Time Remaining: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds

High above him, Querehsha looked down at Suho with an arrogant smile.

[Go on, struggle with all your might. Like an insect. Just as I did before your father!]

At once, every insect that made up this world began lunging at Suho.

SCREEECH!

SKREEEEEE!

'...'

But then Querehsha felt something was wrong.

Despite the endless tide of insects, Suho's expression hadn't so much as flickered, let alone shown panic. And this was the World of Repose, where he couldn't even summon his shadow soldiers.

[W-wait.]

It was Querehsha who was flustered instead.

[What is that power? Don't tell me...]

Ominously rippling black energy was gradually coiling around Suho's arms. And it wasn't just one kind of energy.

WHOOOOSH!

A spirit wind blew in from somewhere, turning Suho's hair silver.

Querehsha knew those energies all too well, and she could not help her shock.

[You... Just how many Monarchs' powers have you inherited...!]