Chapter 38

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 37

Bang!

“What the hell is this kid doing!”

Lee Min-sung, the vice president of the Death Guild, was so furious that he smashed the table.

-(Hot News) Beast King Crow!

-Unknown Hunter Crow, who obtained the power of the Beast King!

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

Internet articles were all about the incident in the Beast Field.

Knock knock.

“Vice President.”

At that moment, Secretary Kim, who had just knocked, entered and delivered a report.

“The Hyena Guild members who entered the Beast Field were all found dead. They just finished recovering the last body.”

Crack!

Upon hearing this, Lee Min-sung clenched his fist and shattered the armrest of the chair he was holding.

“I knew it would come to this.”

Lee Min-sung ground his teeth with a terrifying expression.

“Now everything fits into place.”

The remnants of the Hyena Guild, whom he had brought in as subordinates.

Just two days ago, these werewolves had disappeared, saying they would go to the Beast Field.

-We will check if there is a factory in the Beast Field and come back.

It was a good excuse.

After all, he had pressured them to find a new stardust factory by any means.

But Lee Min-sung, who did not trust them at all, had a few hunters with stealth skills follow them.

He told them to observe from as far away as possible, given their keen sense of smell.

And indeed, it turned out as expected.

Their lie was quickly exposed.

It turned out that there were already beastified hunters roaming the Beast Field, seeking the '资格 of a King,' in addition to the werewolves.

“They seem to have gone to the Beast Field not to find a factory, but to obtain the power of the Beast King or something.”

And after obtaining that mysterious power, they might have tried to break away from Lee Min-sung.

In any case, their goal was ultimately successful.

They achieved freedom in the form of 'death.'

Secretary Kim continued the report.

“Upon examining the bodies of some of them, it was found that they were killed by hunters' weapons, not by monsters.”

“No. They weren’t hunters.”

“Excuse me?”

Lee Min-sung bit his lip and glared at the internet article with a confident look.

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

“The ones who killed them were demons. The crow mask is like a symbol of the demons.”

The moment he saw the words 'crow mask,' Lee Min-sung immediately thought of the demons from the factory.

For some reason, the demons always wore crow masks on their faces.

Just like 'Crow'!

“Crow is definitely a demon. The demons killed the Hyena members and stole the power of the king.”

“Is that so?”

“Definitely. Only those with the beastification skill had the qualification to be a king. How could the demons obtain that power?”

“...”

“Don’t you get it? Your brain isn’t working?”

Seeing Secretary Kim's bewildered expression, Lee Min-sung clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Having such a stupid secretary is my mistake. Don’t you remember how the Hyena members became werewolves in the first place?”

“They awakened by drinking the blood of the wolf monster... Ah, blood!”

Secretary Kim, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly realized and shuddered.

Lee Min-sung nodded with a gleam in his eyes.

“Yes, blood. Humans become beasts by drinking blood, so why can’t demons? The demons killed the Hyena members and drank their blood. Then they fulfilled the qualification to become the king and stole the king’s power.”

“Wow...”

After hearing his words, Secretary Kim looked up at Lee Min-sung with a greatly moved expression.

“Indeed, Vice President’s insight...! How can you have such a broad perspective, Vice President? I couldn’t even imagine this picture with the same information.”

“Tsk. It’s not that big a deal. It’s just a matter of a quick glance.”

Lee Min-sung's expression softened slightly at Secretary Kim's sincere flattery.

“Anyway, now that we have a complete understanding of the situation, it’s important to use this information. Since all the Hyena members are dead, we need to take the lead in trading stardust with the demons. Got it?”

“Yes. Then we should first find the location of the factory, and the clue is...”

“Beast Field.”

Lee Min-sung pointed at the internet article with an exceptionally sharp and wise look.

“How could demons, who don’t even have the beastification skill, know about the king’s test and go to the Beast Field? There are no coincidences in this world. It makes logical sense to assume that the demons were there from the beginning.”

“Oh, that makes sense! Then the Hyena members weren’t completely lying when they said they were going to the Beast Field to find the factory.”

“That’s how we should see it.”

“I understand. Then I will take responsibility and thoroughly search the Beast Field.”

“Yes. And to trade with the demon who obtained the power of the Beast King, you should prepare a lot of meat.”

“Oh! That’s right, the werewolves also ate a lot of meat. Indeed, Vice President is wise!”

“Hmph.”

Secretary Kim, deeply impressed by Lee Min-sung’s wisdom, bowed deeply.

...Of course, the reality was completely different.

“By the way.”

Finally, Lee Min-sung checked on another task he had entrusted to Secretary Kim.

“What about the doctor?”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t been able to persuade him yet. He’s a very stubborn person.”

“Hey, you...! What the hell are you doing with your high salary? If money doesn’t work, you should bring him by force!”

“Oh, I understand. I will do it immediately...”

After answering, Secretary Kim hurriedly left the vice president’s office.

Seeing this, Lee Min-sung clenched his teeth and put down the phone he had been about to throw at him.

“Having such an idiot as a secretary is my mistake.”

Hunters were problematic for this reason.

They ranked themselves based on fighting ability, not intelligence.

But he had been an elite in management even before becoming a hunter.

‘I am different from other hunters. From the very beginning.’

Thinking of the hunters who boasted of their meager magic power, Lee Min-sung clenched his teeth.

* * *

[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]

At that time, Suho returned to the Shadow Dungeon with ten chickens.

The Shadow Dungeon was still quiet because the goblins for the daily quest had not respawned yet.

It was probably because a day had not yet passed.

“Wow! What’s that delicious smell?”

“Grrr?”

Esil and Gray, who had caught the smell of chicken, quickly approached Suho.

Suho handed all the chickens to Esil.

“Eat.”

“Thank you!”

“Grrr?”

“Gray, even if you look at me like that, you won’t get any.”

“...”

Gray, looking dejected, lowered his head.

Of course, Gray didn’t get any this time either.

At that moment, a message from Rakan appeared in front of Suho.

[The King of Beasts, Fang, grumbles that you are being too mean by not sharing.]

Suho defended himself, feeling wronged.

“Who’s being mean? Fang said that Gray needs to eat what he hunts to grow strong. He won’t get strong if I feed him like a mother bird.”

Besides, there were still a mountain of goblin corpses that he had caught this time.

The enormous amount was enough to keep Gray from starving for a while, even if he shared with Esil.

[The King of Beasts, Fang, argues that it’s pitiful for Gray, who has never eaten chicken in his life.]

“Hmm.”

Hearing this, Suho suddenly felt like a very bad person.

In the end, Suho gave in.

“Esil, give one chicken to Gray.”

“Ah...”

Esil, looking like he had lost his country, finally handed the lightest chicken box to Gray with trembling hands, a pitiful sight.

Of course, Esil still had nine chickens left.

However, Gray, who had received the chicken box, crouched low with a fierce look and bared his teeth.

“Grrr!”

[No. Don’t hunt. You’re not fighting the chicken.]

Ver, looking at him with a disdainful expression.

And someone, watching from afar, sent a message, enjoying the scene.

[The King of Beasts, Fang, nods in satisfaction, calling Gray a truly brave successor.]

“Damn. He’s really something.”

Suho chuckled.

And leaving Esil and Gray, who were sitting together and sharing the chicken, he decided to check his newly leveled-up stats.

“Status window.”

Then a long status window unfolded in front of him.

[Status Window]

Name: Seong Suho

Level: 25

Job: None

Title: Wolf Slayer

HP: 5,860/5,860

MP: 586/586

[Stats]

Strength: 53

Endurance: 34

Agility: 34

Intelligence: 34

Senses: 34 (+5)

(Available Stat Points: 0)

[Skills]

Passive Skills: Toughness Lv.2, Dual Wield Lv.2

Active Skills: Dominance Lv.1, Shadow Extraction Lv.1, Storm Slash Lv.1, Power Strike Lv.1

[Items]

Fang of Rakan

Horn of Volkan

Ashen Ring

“Wow...”

Suho looked satisfied.

A huge level-up and stat boost!

He had also gained many new skills.

“It’s worth all the effort.”

He then checked the new skill he had obtained this time.

[Skill: Power Strike Lv.1]

Active Skill

Required Mana: 300

Amplifies attack power by overlaying 'Dominance' on the body.

This was the skill he had learned while delivering the final blow to the tomb spider Arachne.

“The required mana is 300. No wonder it felt so powerful.”

With his current mana, he couldn’t use it twice in a row.

‘Dominance.’

Suho decided to try the skill as an experiment.

The process was as follows:

First, he floated 'Dominance' in the air.

Then, he overlapped the invisible hand with his own hand.

Whoosh!

A black aura enveloped Suho’s hand.

“Wow.”

Suho examined his hand, which now looked like it was wearing a translucent, large black gauntlet.

‘The principle is to combine the power of the Dominant Hand with my own hand.’

He suddenly remembered the proverb that even a white sheet of paper is stronger when held together.

If he was going to hit with one hand, hitting with two hands would result in more than double, even triple or quadruple the attack power.

Suho glanced at his mana.

[MP: 586]

Compared to the 10 mana he had at level 1, this was an enormous amount.

‘If I level up once more, I’ll exceed 600. Then I can use this skill twice in a row.’

Just imagining it was thrilling.

Suho clenched his fist, baring his teeth.

And this time, he realized something for sure.

‘To level up, I really need to enter a real dungeon.’

His level had long surpassed the goblins in the Shadow Dungeon.

To become stronger, he needed to find a place with stronger monsters, like the Beast Field this time.

To do that...

‘I need to raise my hunter rank.’

Currently, as an E-rank hunter, he could only participate in dungeon raids as a miner or collector.

Since there were many field-type dungeons like this one in the country, raising his rank would give him more opportunities to enter higher-level dungeons.

Suho suddenly remembered what the association hunter he had met before had said.

It seemed that the initial measurement had an error, and he was invited to visit the association for a re-measurement.

‘Should I go?’

Suho decided to visit the association.