Chapter 41

Leveling Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 40

‘I can’t give him any time!’

Suhwo immediately lunged at Secretary Kim.

The opponent was a B-rank Hunter.

He had to relentlessly press the attack before the man could recover from the shock.

‘Kidnapping people for stardust? What’s the difference between that and a demon?’

The effect of the ‘Skill: Strong Punch’ that had been attached to his fist had already disappeared.

But in its place, Suhwo held Lakan’s fangs and Volcan’s horn in his hands.

Swish!

“Wait, just a moment! Why are you...!”

Secretary Kim, whose legs were still wobbly, stumbled backward, trying to evade Suhwo’s attacks.

At the same time, he continued to attempt to engage Suhwo in conversation.

“Wait! Stop the attack! I’m from the Death Messenger Guild!”

“...”

But Suhwo remained silent, continuing to press the attack.

Secretary Kim, unsure of what to do, kept stepping back.

‘What is this! What’s going on! Why is a demon attacking me? How did he even find me here?!”

Numerous questions swirled in Secretary Kim’s mind.

Over the past year, the Death Messenger Guild’s Vice President Lee Min-sung and the demons of the Factory had maintained a close relationship.

Of course, the Hyena Guild was involved in the middle, so there was almost no direct contact, but still, if he had revealed that he was from the Death Messenger Guild, the attack should have at least stopped, and a conversation should have started, right?

And Suhwo’s plan had succeeded.

He had appeared wearing a crow mask precisely to create this confusion.

“I’m from the Death Messenger Guild...!”

Chin.

‘Oh no!’

Continuing to step back, Secretary Kim’s back finally hit the wall.

Turning around in a panic, he saw a transparent glass window.

‘I, I need to get out of here first!’

Without hesitation, Secretary Kim threw himself forward.

Crash!

Thus, Secretary Kim escaped through the broken window and out of the building.

‘This might actually be for the better.’

Watching his retreating back, Suhwo’s eyes gleamed.

A wide-open outdoor space was more advantageous for swinging a sword than this indoor setting.

Secretary Kim probably felt the same way.

A B-rank Hunter could potentially bring down a building if he used his full strength, so he had been cautious.

‘Alright, let’s have a proper fight then!’

Thud!

Suhwo immediately chased after Secretary Kim, leaping out the window.

And behind him,

“Ah...”

Min Byung-gu, left behind, was at a loss, standing there in confusion.

[Cough.]

At that moment, a small shadow approached him quietly.

Berg awkwardly cleared his throat and spoke to him.

[Don’t worry too much. Young Lord will handle...]

“AAAAAAH! A, A, A, Ant?!”

[Chirp?]

Click...

Seeing Berg, Min Byung-gu had another seizure and fainted.

[Well, even after receiving my protection...]

Berg felt wronged.

* * *

Crash!

Citizens walking through the city streets looked up at the sudden noise.

Their eyes widened simultaneously.

“What, what is that!”

“Someone jumped out!”

From the fifth floor of a building, someone had broken through the window and jumped out.

“Ah!”

“Get out of the way!”

Citizens scattered in panic, afraid of being injured by the shattered glass.

Then, another person jumped out of the same window.

But the second person swung a pair of swords in mid-air even before the first person had landed.

[‘Skill: Storm Slash’ activated.]

Boom!

“Ah?!”

The first person, hit by the fierce blade storm, plummeted to the ground.

Bang!

“Ah!”

“The Hunters are fighting!”

Realizing the severity of the situation, citizens screamed and ran away.

“Huh...”

Meanwhile, Secretary Kim, who had just picked himself up, looked defeated.

But now was not the time to complain.

Thud.

Suhwo landed right in front of him and immediately swung his sword.

“Damn it!”

Secretary Kim hastily got up and summoned mana in both hands.

“Explode!”

Whoosh- Bang!

A bright red fireball exploded in front of Suhwo.

Suhwo crossed his swords to block the magic.

‘A Magic Hunter!’

He had already anticipated that Secretary Kim might be a Magic Hunter, so his response was quick.

The reason he hadn’t been able to counterattack properly indoors.

And the instinctive movements of stepping back to maintain distance were all characteristics of a Magic Hunter.

In contrast, Suhwo was the opposite.

‘I can’t give a Magic Hunter any distance!’

Thud!

Suhwo pressed the attack, relentlessly pursuing Secretary Kim.

But Secretary Kim’s response was also quick.

“Explode!”

Bang! Bang!

“Explode!”

Boom!

Numerous fireballs exploded, dealing damage to Suhwo’s body.

His HP was gradually decreasing.

‘Still okay!’

Believing in his total HP, Suhwo continued to press the attack on Secretary Kim.

After all, Secretary Kim was already at his limit.

He had been hit by the initial surprise attack with the Strong Punch skill, and then by the Storm Slash and the fall from the fifth floor.

The fact that he was still standing was a miracle in itself.

“Gah! Just know why you’re attacking me! Why are you attacking me?!”

Frustrated, Secretary Kim’s voice echoed desperately through the city.

“That’s your last words.”

Swallow.

Just then, Suhwo’s MP, replenished by a mana potion, rose above 300.

[‘Skill: Strong Punch’ activated.]

Goo!

A black aura enveloped Suhwo’s fist and forearm.

“Wait, just a moment...”

As the ominously burning fist approached, Secretary Kim’s face turned pale.

He desperately shouted,

“Don’t do this! Let’s negotiate! I’ll solve whatever you want!”

“Whatever? What could I possibly want?”

As he asked, Suhwo stepped closer to him.

Even from such a meaningless statement, Secretary Kim saw hope and his eyes lit up.

“I know one of your Factories was destroyed! We’re also struggling with the supply of stardust!”

“So?”

Suhwo raised his fist.

Secretary Kim closed his eyes tightly and shouted,

“So we’ve created a new Factory!”

Suhwo paused.

“...What?”

Suhwo’s movement stopped for a moment.

‘It worked!’

Sure enough, Secretary Kim, feeling elated, started to talk to Suhwo.

“A stardust research facility! The reason we tried to persuade Dr. Min Byung-gu was precisely for that! We’ve prepared all the facilities and materials, but we don’t know the production method!”

Dr. Min Byung-gu was the only stardust researcher in the country.

Given that he had developed the stardust doping test, it was entirely possible that he could produce stardust if he had the facilities and materials.

But with a demon appearing right in front of him, there was no longer any need to obsess over Dr. Min Byung-gu.

“So we’re willing to hand over the entire facility we’ve created to you! Use it as you wish! We’ll also take responsibility for the supply of materials!”

“Supply of materials?”

“Yes. We’ve already prepared about ten people! We were planning to start experiments on Dr. Min Byung-gu today! If you need more materials, just let us know. We can capture more people right away!”

“...”

Suhwo’s expression grew increasingly cold.

Secretary Kim probably didn’t realize it, but his fate had been sealed by those words.

The moment he referred to other humans as materials for stardust, Suhwo saw him as no different from a demon.

Suhwo asked one last question.

“So where is the Factory located?”

“T, that...”

Sensing Suhwo’s intentions, Secretary Kim’s eyes darted around nervously.

“If you let me go, I’ll contact you separately.”

“You’re asking to be spared.”

“Of course...”

“Don’t worry.”

“What?”

“I have many ways to find out even if I kill you.”

The conversation ended there.

Suhwo mercilessly punched him.

Bang!

“...!”

Skill: Strong Punch.

Secretary Kim died without even a scream.

Ding!

[A quest has appeared.]

The message arrived just in time.

[Quest: Rescue]

Rescue the people kidnapped at the stardust research facility.

-Current number of kidnapped: 10

-Current number rescued: 0

Suhwo looked at the quest window and spoke.

“Berg.”

[Yes.]

Berg appeared in front of Secretary Kim’s corpse.

“Do you know what I’m going to ask you to do?”

At Suhwo’s words, Berg’s mouth stretched into a long, wicked grin.

Perhaps it was... an even more evil smile than a demon’s.

* * *

A while later.

“...G, gone?”

“Seems like it.”

After Suhwo disappeared with Secretary Kim’s body, the people who had hidden to avoid the battle began to emerge one by one.

“Phew. That was scary.”

“What was that? Why were those Hunters fighting?”

“Why is the police so late? When did we report it?”

“We reported it less than ten minutes ago. They’ll be here soon...”

It had all happened so quickly.

Suddenly, the window shattered, followed by explosions...

They were fighting fiercely, and within ten minutes, both had vanished without a trace.

The citizens, with bewildered expressions, tried to piece together what had happened, but the puzzle was too incomplete.

“But wasn’t that person Crow?”

Someone remembered Suhwo’s appearance and muttered.

The crowd buzzed.

“What? Crow?”

“Beast King Crow?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you see the crow mask?”

The article about the Beast King Field had just appeared last night.

Today, people were still talking about it, and suddenly, a person wearing a crow mask appeared right in the middle of the city.

Beast King Crow.

The one who overcame the trials and obtained the power of the Beast King.

According to the survivors of the Beast King Field, he wore a crow mask on his face.

“Wow. It’s true! The crow mask!”

“Amazing! That was Crow!”

“No wonder he was so strong!”

From a distance, they couldn’t hear the conversation, but many people had witnessed Crow’s battle.

Of course, the speed of his sword movements was too fast for the average person to follow.

But at least the last blow.

The massive fist enveloped in dark energy was etched clearly in everyone’s mind.

“...Could that be the power of the Beast King?”

People who had witnessed that powerful blow speculated and muttered the name of Beast King Crow.

And soon, new articles began to appear on the internet.

* * *

“What, what is this!”

The vice president of the Death Messenger Guild, Lee Min-sung, was shocked by the news articles appearing one after another.

-(Breaking News) Beast King Crow appears in Seoul!

-(Breaking News) Clash of two Hunters!

-(Breaking News) People witness the power of the Beast King.

Unlike the Beast King Field, this time the articles included photos taken by witnesses on their phones.

Most of the photos were blurry due to the speed of the Hunters’ movements, but Lee Min-sung recognized one of the Hunters’ faces.

The problem was that in the last photo, the man’s limp body was slung over Crow’s shoulder.

Lee Min-sung immediately called Secretary Kim.

Ring...

But no matter how many times he called, Secretary Kim didn’t answer.

“Secretary Kim! Secretary Kim! Answer the phone! Answer it!”

Lee Min-sung shouted into his phone irritably.

Then,

Ding!

A message arrived on his phone.

-Vice President, please contact me. There’s a problem at the facility.

“...!”

The moment he saw the message,

A foreboding feeling overwhelmed Lee Min-sung.

The term ‘facility’ was a code word for the stardust research facility he had carefully created.

And it was the same facility he had ordered Secretary Kim to capture Dr. Min Byung-gu for.

Lee Min-sung urgently called the facility.

Ring- Click.

Fortunately, the call was answered quickly.

“What? What’s the problem at the facility...”

-F, Vice President! It’s, ah!

“...?!”

Lee Min-sung was startled by the sudden scream and looked at his phone.

-Ah! Ah!

All kinds of terrifying screams were coming from the other end of the phone.

“What’s going on! What’s happening there?!”

-Monster...! Ah!