Chapter 62

Level Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 61

During this time, there were mainly two ways for Suho to summon Shadow Soldiers.

One was to extract a defeated monster on the spot and use it as a soldier.

The other was to store the bodies of previously defeated monsters in the Shadow Dungeon and extract them when needed.

However, now there was one more addition.

The 'Corrupted Mummies' swarming in Ammut's pyramid.

These creatures were essentially moving corpses, so Suho could easily extract and use them without having to fight them, much like convenience store triangle rice rolls.

[Shadow Mummy Lv.1]

Common Tier

Thus, 20 of these Shadow Mummies were created.

Their stats were quite powerful, enough to make the Scavenger Guild and Asura Guild struggle.

Strength, agility, and a zombie-like tenacity.

Most importantly, the corruption poison seeping through the bandages continuously tormented nearby enemies.

And this corruption poison was precisely why Suho wanted to stay away from other hunters.

[Keheee!]

Crack! Bang! Thud!

The Shadow Mummies began tearing and breaking the Woodbine's thorny vines.

Paralyzing poison from the thorns?

It wouldn't work on mummies.

On the contrary, the thorny vines started to rot and decay due to the Shadow Mummies' corruption poison.

“Keeeee!”

The Woodbines retaliated with a menacing force.

The Shadow Mummies couldn't remain unscathed either.

Their bandages were torn by the thorns, and their limbs were entangled and ripped off by the vines.

But.

Swish!

New black bandages quickly wrapped around them.

The death warriors, with all their injuries restored, rose to their feet again.

Their momentum was like that of demons rising from hell.

[Keaaaa!]

The hunters were in shock.

“...Oh my god.”

“What am I seeing right now?”

“Surely, these aren't all summons...?”

Their preconceived notions about summoners were shattered.

Especially, Gudongjae, who had personally provoked Suho earlier, was pale.

“M, Mad... What's going on here?”

It wasn't just about summoning creatures that gave strength buffs, right?

No, at this point, he couldn't even be sure if they were strength buffs.

In fact, the initially summoned Ber was just yawning and watching the battle from the air.

‘Huh! Come to think of it?’

Gudongjae suddenly realized something.

His gaze fell on the bandage still wrapped around his wrist.

“This bandage...”

The healer from Baekho Guild, who had treated his wrist earlier, reacted to his words.

“Ah!”

The bandage item that had wrapped around his wrist on its own.

And the mummies in front, fighting like demons, wrapped in bandages!

“This bandage, it wasn't an item but a summoning spell!”

Several mysteries finally fell into place.

Suddenly, Gudongjae, perhaps thinking of something, started frantically unwrapping the bandage from his wrist.

“Ugh! Ughhhh!”

‘I should have known! He gave me medicine and then a disease! It felt off from the start! Have I already been cursed? Ughhhh!’

He was afraid that the bandage might turn him into one of those black mummies.

Suho, seeing this from a distance, tilted his head.

“...Why is he doing that?”

[That's what I'm saying. A worm-like guy who's just scared. Tsk tsk.]

Ber clicked his tongue and flew over to Suho.

Then he looked around seriously.

[But, Young Lord. The atmosphere is strange.]

“I noticed it too.”

Suho had been observing the surroundings ever since he left the battle to the mummies.

He finally found something odd.

Wing!

A very faint sound of flying insects could be heard if one listened closely.

Suho and Ber's gazes simultaneously turned upward.

‘Bees.’

Far in the sky, a very ordinary... tiny bee was flying.

Of course, it was just one bee.

But does that make sense?

“Would a normal bee live in such a dungeon? There are no flowers here?”

[There's no way honey could come from those thorny vines.]

“Indeed.”

Suho and Ber looked at each other with a knowing glance and nodded.

A-grade villain, Im Myung-sung.

And the 'bee' wings on his back.

‘Could he be hiding somewhere around here?’

If so, it would be quite a coincidence.

But looking at the surroundings with new eyes...

‘A giant beehive.’

The central courtyard structure, with a large open space in the middle.

Does this Times Square building look like a beehive?

In that case, they had already stepped into the beehive.

Wing!

The number of flying bees was gradually increasing.

Of course, no matter how many bees there were, they posed no threat to the superhuman hunters.

“Maybe hornets could be a bit dangerous...”

Squish!

“...!”

Suddenly, Suho's sensory stat sounded an alarm.

He turned his head, looked at the spot, and opened his mouth.

“Wow, it's a hornet.”

Hornets.

Wingwingwingwingwing!

Hundreds, no, thousands of hornets were swarming towards them, black as night, from all over Times Square.

“Those are dangerous.”

[These are not ordinary hornets! Each one is filled with mana!]

[Contaminated Hornets]

[Contaminated Hornets]

What exactly was contaminated?

The name sounded very ominous, even if they didn't know what it meant.

Suho quickly looked around at the hunters and shouted.

“Everyone, be careful! These are not ordinary hornets!”

“...!”

The hunters, who had just raised their heads, had their eyes widen in shock.

The Baekho Guild members, with their more developed senses, noticed it faster and immediately took action.

“Don't panic! They're just a lot of flying insects!”

“Use defensive skills to block their approach!”

“Summoners, intercept them with Flame Bugs!”

“Yes, yes!”

The hunters clenched their teeth and responded.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Flame Bugs quickly took to the air.

“Wow! I've never seen anything like this before!”

They were already busy dealing with the thorny vines, and now hornets!

But for Suho, who had experienced all sorts of things in just two days, this wasn't particularly shocking.

Swish.

Calmly, Suho drew his dual swords from his inventory.

In the midst of the chaos, no one found it strange that a sword suddenly appeared in Suho's hand.

If anyone had seen it, it wouldn't be strange for a summoner to summon something.

Suho calmly observed the situation and then shouted to the summoners.

“Make the Flame Bugs explode in front of them all at once!”

“Huh? What if they dodge...!”

As seen earlier, it takes time to resummon Flame Bugs, so they had to be used wisely.

“I'll take care of it!”

“Understood!”

The summoners, convinced by Suho's confident words, moved the Flame Bugs without hesitation.

Having seen Suho's abilities as a fellow summoner, they couldn't take his words lightly.

“Now!”

As soon as Suho's words fell, numerous Flame Bugs exploded in the air.

Boom!

Just as the hornets were about to scatter to avoid the explosions.

[Skill: Storm Slash activated.]

Whoosh!

The timely sword strike enveloped the red explosions caused by the Flame Bugs and the hornets in one go.

[Contaminated Hornets defeated.]

[Contaminated Hornets defeated.]

[Contaminated Hornets defeated.]

...

A significant number of the black swarm of hornets turned to ash and scattered.

“Done, done!”

The hunters cheered.

But the more experienced Baekho Guild members were wide-eyed for a different reason.

‘How can a summoner use such a skill?!”

The sword technique Suho just used was on par with any combat hunter.

Even if he had a skill, it was still impressive.

To use such a powerful skill while summoning twenty mummies meant he had a lot of mana.

Gudongjae's expression was indescribable.

‘What, what, what, what! Who is this guy?!”

His wrist, which had just been healed, suddenly felt itchy.

Whyaaa!

But not all the hornets were gone.

They continued to swarm from all directions, continuously harassing the hunters.

Eventually, the hornets started hiding in the gaps of the Woodbine's thorny vines.

This made the situation even more complicated.

Every time they fought the Woodbine, the hornets would silently jump out and attack.

Pain.

“Gah!”

In the end, Gudongjae, who was fighting at the forefront, was stung on the back of his hand.

At that moment, his arm stiffened, and the true nature of the 'Contaminated Hornets' was revealed.

“Gahhhh!”

Green veins, turning green, prominently bulged and wriggled up his arm.

Clearly a suspicious phenomenon.

Gudongjae shuddered, looking at his arm, which seemed about to burst.

“Healer! Healer!”

Unfortunately, he was at the front, and it was too far to get to the healer.

Eventually, the green veins spread from his arm to his shoulder...

Then.

Swoosh!

“...!”

Gudongjae's entire arm was cut off.

Suho, who suddenly appeared, mercilessly severed his arm.

“Emergency treatment.”

“...Ughhhh!”

Pshh!

This damn guy! What kind of emergency treatment is this!

Gudongjae, pale, fell to the ground, blood gushing from his shoulder like a fountain.

Snap.

[Item: Mummy's Bandage purchased.]

[Item: Mummy's Bandage used.]

Whirr!

A white bandage flew from Suho's hand and tightly wrapped around Gudongjae's shoulder.

Squeak!

Surprisingly, the bleeding stopped immediately.

‘The item effect is amazing.’

The rest would be handled by the healer.

He could use a potion, but there was no time for that. Besides, a B-grade healer from the Baekho Guild could regenerate a severed arm.

‘More importantly.’

Suho quickly examined the severed arm.

The arm, ominously contaminated with dark green.

“Explain. Explain it.”

[Yes, sir.]

Ber had been looking at Gudongjae's arm with a knowing expression.

[The King of Insects, the Lord of Plague, had a similar ability. Perhaps... he is related to the Lord of Insects.]

Suho asked Ber.

“The King of Insects also died in the war, right?”

[Yes, all the lords are dead.]

“What's his name?”

[The King of Insects, the Lord of Plague, Queresh.]

Ber answered immediately, his eyes flashing.

[A very strong... madwoman.]

“Hmm. What kind of ability does he have?”

[The ability to inject poison into the body, turning it into a host for poisonous insects.]

“Host?”

[To put it nicely, a host. Just a zombie infested with maggots. However, when the maggots grow, they are reborn as more of these poisonous insects.]

“Worst case.”

Suho raised his head and glared at the swarm of bees still flying.

He looked around again.

The worst part was that this area was gradually turning into a maze.

The Woodbine was just a small part of the thorny vines covering Times Square.

The remaining numerous vines were wriggling, intertwining, and merging, transforming into tall and complex thorny walls, separating the hunters.

“Scattering is dangerous!”

“Quickly, come over here!”

The hunters, startled by the thorny walls rising from the ground, hurriedly moved.

‘The dungeon situation is getting worse.’

A maze.

A living, moving maze was being born.

If this continued, the hunters would eventually lose their way and scatter.

The thorny walls could suddenly turn into Woodbines and attack at any time.

And the only beings that could move freely without getting lost in such a complex maze were...

‘These bees.’

His initial thoughts were correct.

They had stepped into a giant beehive, the kingdom of bees.

Suho suddenly recalled the ecology of bees.

Bees were mostly workers following orders.

So, that meant...

“There must be some master controlling them somewhere.”

[That's something I know.]

Ber quickly answered Suho's muttering.

“Huh? How do you know?”

[Can't you tell by my antennae?]

“...!”

Indeed, Ber's antennae had been twitching non-stop since earlier.