Chapter 37

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 36

[Guardian: Lakan's Blessing]

The blessing of the king of beasts, the Fang Lord.

The Fang Lord Lakan has chosen you as the Shaman of the royal family.

A Shaman can imbue their body with the spirit of a beast.

-Effect 'Possession': Imbues your body with 'Pet: Gray'.

'Shaman? Possession?'

Guardian looked at the information window that appeared before him with a puzzled expression. Lakan smiled contentedly and said,

[Hehe. Yes. You are now the Shaman of our clan. Since I am already dead, you have become the Shaman who serves the only royal family member, Gray.]

'You want me to serve Gray?'

Guardian had a bewildered look on his face.

Gray was his pet.

The idea of a Shaman serving a pet as a king was a bizarre situation.

'Is it like being a cat caretaker? If I think about it that way, it kind of makes sense...'

Guardian nodded, somewhat convinced.

In any case, gaining a new ability was a welcome development.

And ultimately, Lakan's goal was for Guardian to dream more often.

To do that, Guardian needed to spend more time with Gray, but the problem was that Gray was too weak and young to be of any use.

But what if he used the Shaman's ability, 'Possession'?

[By using this ability, you can borrow the strength of a beast for a short time. As Gray grows, the strength you can borrow will become stronger.]

'Are you indirectly asking me to take good care of Gray?'

[Something like that.]

Guardian and Lakan looked at each other and chuckled simultaneously.

Guardian found Lakan even more intriguing.

'You said you were killed by my father, but you seem cooler than I expected.'

[What, now? It's only natural for a weak beast to be eaten by a stronger one.]

Lakan chuckled, recalling the moment.

[Your father was extremely strong, and I struggled in fear before being eaten. That's all there is to it.]

Survival of the fittest.

The king of beasts, who reigned at the pinnacle of the ecosystem, accepted his death with resignation.

[Oh, it seems my allotted time is up.]

Lakan suddenly looked up at the sky and smacked his lips regretfully.

The world, once filled with whiteness, was gradually turning black.

A profound sense of emptiness was approaching.

The space in which he could move was becoming narrower, and Lakan's body shrank accordingly.

Eventually, Lakan, who had returned to the giant man he initially showed, approached Guardian and handed him something.

[Here, take this and leave this place. This is my death and my rest, so go back and live your life.]

In Guardian's hand, 'Lakan's Fang' was placed.

'But why just one?'

[I combined them. The fangs were so small when I pulled them out as a young beast, making them too pitiful to be a royal artifact. Now that they are combined, they should be more useful.]

Swish.

At that moment, the black shadow completely engulfed the world.

Lakan's lips, visible through the shadow, curled into a grin as he offered his final words.

[See you again, Shaman.]

Time, which had stopped, began to move again.

* * *

“...Ah.”

The scenery changed instantly.

Guardian was still standing, stepping on the corpse of Arachne.

The events of just a moment ago felt like a dream.

However, the proof that his meeting with the Fang Lord was not a dream remained in Guardian's hand.

The two fangs of Lakan, which he had held in both hands, had merged into one, becoming a more robust and sharper form.

Moreover, the stats had changed dramatically compared to before.

[Item: Lakan's Fang]

Acquisition Difficulty: ??

Type: Sword

Attack Power +60

A sword made from the fangs of the king of beasts, Lakan.

Lakan's spirit is imbued in it, and a person of lower rank may have their body taken over when possessing it.

-Effect 'Contempt for the Weak': Puts a designated opponent in a state of fear for 1 minute. (All stats -50%)

-Effect 'Critical Strike': Has a 20% chance to deal over 3 times the critical damage.

'He said the stats would be boosted after combining them, and they really are.'

The attack power, which was +30, had changed to +60, and the critical strike effect had increased from 15% to 20%, and from 2 times to 3 times.

[Young Lord?]

Berg, who had just arrived, looked at Guardian curiously and tilted his head.

[Your aura has changed a bit.]

-Did you, by any chance, meet the spirit of the king? I can sense the power of a Shaman from you.

The Lakan's Fang in Guardian's hand spoke.

“Yeah.”

[What?! You met the Fang Lord? How, how did you do that?]

Berg was shocked by Guardian's answer.

Meeting the spirit of a king who had fallen into eternal rest was impossible.

Even the Shadow Lord Seong Jin-woo, who had transcended death, could not do it.

Guardian looked at Lakan's Fang and said,

“You were the fang I originally had.”

-That's right. I devoured the artifact here.

Perhaps because he had become a Shaman, Guardian could recognize the identity of the voice just by hearing it.

‘Maybe it’s time to go back.’

Guardian suddenly looked around.

The hunters who had been controlled by the web were mostly unharmed.

However, they all sat on the ground with vacant expressions, staring at him.

‘He’s the king.’

‘That hunter has obtained the power of the king.’

They had all witnessed Guardian killing Arachne.

Even the act of extracting the artifact from her body.

But no one dared to approach Guardian.

The overwhelming presence was too intimidating.

Guardian, having achieved his goal, paid them no mind.

Turning his head, he saw the Shadow Jackals had killed all the small spiders and were sitting upright on the ground.

Perhaps at Berg's command, the extracted mana stones from the dead spiders were piled up in front of their neatly arranged paws.

Praise, praise, praise, praise.

Praise, praise, praise, praise.

The Shadow Jackals, like hunting dogs, looked at Guardian with eager eyes, hoping for something.

“Y-Yeah, good job.”

[Hehehehe!]

The Shadow Jackals, pleased by Guardian's reluctant praise, wagged their tongues and smiled widely like sunflowers.

They were truly cunning creatures.

Not at all like when they had tried to tear his throat with their teeth at first.

“Let's go back.”

[Yes, sir.]

Guardian left the botanical garden without hesitation.

The hunters, who had been watching him blankly, let out a collective sigh of relief the moment he disappeared from their sight.

“Phew...”

“We, we survived.”

There was a reason the hunters had been so tense and unable to breathe properly.

Even though they had been controlled by the web, they had all attacked Guardian. Especially at the moment when he was in the greatest danger.

If he had sought revenge, they would have been unable to defend themselves, being utterly exhausted.

But Guardian had only killed the giant spider Arachne and then calmly left.

Someone finally spoke up.

“Was that person the one who ultimately obtained the power of the king?”

“Probably.”

“Wow, I’m really envious. What kind of amazing skill did he get?”

“Is that the issue now? We should be grateful that he saved us.”

The hunters, finally realizing they were alive, sighed in relief again.

Then a question arose.

“But who was that hunter in the end?”

“That’s right. He was wearing a strange mask, so we couldn’t see his face.”

“It was also quite dark. He seemed to be leading a few animals, maybe a summoner?”

“Nonsense. What summoner fights so roughly? Didn’t you see him kill the spider with his bare hands? He probably just tamed a few hunting dogs.”

All the hunters gathered there were beast transformation skill users.

Since some of them had good rapport with animals, they didn’t pay much attention to the Shadow Jackals.

Moreover, the darkness made it difficult to see the Shadow Jackals clearly.

“Then why did he hide his identity?”

“Maybe he’s a criminal?”

Of course, Guardian, the person in question, had no intention of hiding his identity. He had used the item because it was dark inside the botanical garden and had taken it off immediately upon leaving.

But this made the hunters even more curious about his identity.

Then, suddenly,

“...Huh?”

Someone looking around tilted their head.

“Where did all the spiders go?!”

The corpse of the giant spider, which had been lying dead in the darkness, had vanished without a trace.

Even the bodies of the small spiders were all gone.

“Do they melt away when they die?”

The hunters, who had planned to collect the monster corpses, sighed deeply.

They had worked hard and ended up with nothing.

[Hehe.]

Berg was laughing somewhere.

* * *

At that moment, outside the botanical garden.

“What, what is this?”

“The smell suddenly disappeared?”

The hunters wandering the jungle to become the king simultaneously sniffed the air with puzzled expressions.

The smell that had guided them, stimulating their instincts, had vanished completely.

“Oh.”

They all realized at the same time.

‘The king has been chosen!’

They had been outdone by someone else.

Realizing this, extreme disappointment and jealousy welled up in their hearts.

“Sigh...”

The hunters, greatly disheartened.

The White Tiger Guild hunters, watching from a high place, asked White Miho.

“Vice President, what will you do now? Will you go back?”

“I want to see with my own eyes who became the king before going back.”

“But in this vast place, how can we find out who it is...”

“I can identify it by smell. The smell of a strong beast is instinctively...”

Sniff.

At that moment, White Miho's superhuman sense of smell detected something.

Turning her head, she saw the man she had seen earlier coming back the same way.

But unlike before, his body reeked of blood.

Sniff, sniff?

‘...It’s not the smell of human blood. The color is different too.’

White Miho could distinguish between the smell of monster and human blood.

The smell coming from the man was that of a monster.

‘Huh?’

Then she noticed something odd and tilted her head.

‘Was there a monster in this forest?’

A forest where only plants and ghosts existed, and he fought a bleeding monster?

‘Are there a few deeper in? Or could it be that he... the king’s...’

At that moment, Guardian, sensing a gaze, turned his head and looked this way.

His eyes met those of White Miho, who was watching him from a distance.

For a moment, their gazes intertwined in the air.

‘...No. It’s different.’

White Miho, who had been staring intently at Guardian with her superhuman vision, stopped her speculation.

This place was for choosing the 'king of beasts.'

But the man did not have the smell of a beast.

White Miho finally turned her gaze away from Guardian.

“Let’s... wait a bit longer.”

“Yes, Vice President.”

The White Tiger Guild continued to stand guard there for a considerable amount of time.

Even as Guardian took a bus home, showered, and ordered chicken, they continued to watch.

‘...But why did that woman look at me?’

While tearing at a chicken leg, Guardian suddenly recalled White Miho’s face from earlier.

‘I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere. Maybe she’s a famous hunter?’

He turned on the internet to search.

And his eyes widened.

“What, what is this?!”

The internet was burning with news about the Beast King Field.

The problem was that the main character of all the issues was Guardian himself.

-(Hot News) Beast King Crow!

-The mysterious hunter who obtained the power of the king, Crow!

-Why did Crow (Crow) wear a crow mask?

-(Ad) This year's hot item, crow mask

-(Related search) Power Sleep

“Hey, Beast King Crow? Power Sleep?”

All kinds of embarrassing nicknames were attached to him.

“No, this is like a middle schooler’s syndrome...”

Guardian, feeling ashamed, covered his face.

At that moment, a message appeared as if waiting for it.

[The Fang Lord, the king of beasts, thinks the nickname 'Shaman' for the Fang Lord is just right and chuckles.]