Chapter 67

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 66

"Are you the queen bee?"

In response to Suho's question, Arsha smiled and nodded.

"Yes. I am the queen bee you were looking for."

"What is your relationship with Queressa?"

At Suho's straightforward question, Arsha's smile wavered.

"You seem to know a lot about the ruler. Should I say, you are indeed the successor of the Fang Ruler?"

"……"

"Oh my, what's that look for? You're reeking of the scent of a beast. Did you really think I wouldn't know? I'm not a fool."

"……?"

At Arsha's, or rather, Boshasha's meaningful expression, Suho was momentarily at a loss for words.

Whoosh.

At that moment, a divine wind swept through Suho's white hair.

[The King of Beasts, the Fang Ruler, holds his belly and laughs.]

The true successor of the Fang Ruler was currently possessed by Suho.

"But, I feel a bit disappointed that the successor of the Fang Ruler took away the worker bees I worked so hard to create. Is this the famous 'Contempt for the Weak' power of the Fang Ruler? The power to control weaker beasts? Am I right?"

"……"

No, you're wrong. Nothing is right.

Why does she keep babbling with that fatalistic expression?

[The King of Beasts, the Fang Ruler, holds his belly and laughs.]

'Stop laughing. It's just a lack of information; she's not that much of a fool.'

Why is the embarrassment all mine?

Feeling awkward, Suho instead defended Arsha.

[It's natural to be confused.]

At that moment, Berga directly transmitted a voice to Suho's mind, making sure Arsha couldn't hear.

[As I mentioned before, for a successor to exist, the ruler must first die, leaving a vacancy. But the Shadow Ruler, the victor of the war, is still very much alive...]

'No one will think of me as the successor of the Shadow Ruler. Not in reality, either.'

Although Berga often calls Suho 'Little Ruler,' strictly speaking, he is only the son of the Shadow Ruler, not the official heir.

In fact, the successor of the Shadow Ruler cannot exist in the world.

The ruler of death, Seong Jin-woo, will never die.

The clear evidence is Suho's status window.

[Status Window]

Name: Seong Suho

Level: 28

Job: None

If Suho were the official heir, the job field would not have remained blank.

There was more evidence.

The shadow soldiers standing firmly behind Suho.

Since Suho is not a ruler, he cannot command an army.

So, even if he tries to summon shadow soldiers, they are only temporary workers.

They return to dust after a day.

But there was no need to explain all this to Arsha in detail.

If she's willing to make a mistake, it's best to take advantage of it.

'Let's see how this plays out.'

Instead of answering, Suho asked Arsha a question.

"So, are you the successor of Queressa?"

"Hmm. Well, in fact, all of us insects are her successors. Queressa is one and many. She is the mother of all insects."

"If you keep dodging, you'll die."

[Actually, it's you, Little Ruler, who is dodging...]

Let's ignore Berga's whisper for now.

"Oh my. How scary."

As Suho's aura grew stronger, Arsha exaggeratedly raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

Then, an astonishing scene unfolded.

Whirr—

Suddenly, Arsha's two hands split into countless bees and scattered.

[Keke! How dare you...!]

Berga's hand quickly snatched at the air in anger.

Crack.

A few small bees fell onto the table from the attack.

The remaining bees reformed and turned back into Arsha's hands.

Berga's eyes narrowed.

[Impersonation. A common trick weak bees use to protect themselves.]

"Hehe. Struggling to survive is the essence of insects."

"Where is the main body?"

"Oh my. You're not surprised at all?"

Despite the situation, Suho maintained his composure.

And for good reason...

'I couldn't see the name tag from the beginning.'

From the start, Suho saw something other than Arsha's name.

The name tags of the numerous [Polluted Hornets] swarming on Arsha's body.

"Yes, that's right. I left here a long time ago. One of the worker bees I recently raised rebelled against me, so I decided to move the hive."

"Worker bee? Could it be...?"

"Yes, that's right. The current vice president, Im Myung-sung."

Sighing softly, Arsha answered.

Her gaze suddenly turned to the shadow paladins standing behind Suho.

"Did you know? These paladins were once humans. I fed royal jelly to men who approached me with ill intentions after coming to Earth, evolving them into worker bees."

"Royal jelly? What is that?"

"It's the power of the queen bee."

Queen bee Arsha was born with a 'poison' in her body.

A special poison called royal jelly.

This poison is sweet like honey, but the moment it enters the host's body, it transforms the host into a loyal worker bee that follows only the queen bee.

"However, the conditions to turn someone into a worker bee are quite strict."

"Conditions?"

"Yes. Those who cannot withstand the toxicity of the royal jelly die immediately, and those with some immunity rot alive."

Rotten...

Like Gudong-jae's arm.

'Good thing I cut it off.'

Not everyone who eats royal jelly evolves into a worker bee.

At first, Arsha had to go through many trials and errors.

"So, I opened a bar and kept feeding royal jelly to different people. That's when I realized something."

Those who willingly accepted the queen bee's power and readily gave up their humanity to become worker bees.

They had one thing in common.

"Desire."

Arsha's eyes gleamed wickedly.

"The stronger a person's desire compared to others, the more easily they gave up their humanity."

"......"

Everyone has desires.

But the size of those desires varied, and the types were diverse.

Among them, especially those who desired 'strength.'

Hunters.

"So, I found hunters who were not satisfied with their own power and wanted to become stronger. It was easy to find them. They gathered on their own when I offered bait."

Suho immediately understood the method.

"Stardust..."

"Yes, that's right. When I fed royal jelly to hunters who used stardust, the healthiest worker bee was born. Coincidentally, I also received stardust from Vice President Im Myung-sung."

The more he thought about it, the more Im Myung-sung was a good worker for Arsha.

He was very helpful even when he was human, but the most promising part was when he became a real worker bee.

He had A-class strength but yearned to become S-class.

"So, I really took care of him."

If he turned out to be unsuitable, his body would necrotize, so she spent time gradually adapting him to the royal jelly.

Like a vaccine.

She fed him small amounts of the poison every day.

"But I might have fed him too much. The vaccine was too strong. He eventually ran away from me."

[He ran away?]

Berga reacted first to this statement.

A worker bee running away from the queen bee?

For an ant serving a great king, it was an unimaginable act.

"Yes. He became a worker bee but refused to be one of my subjects."

Arsha sighed deeply with a troubled expression.

"Even worse, he started gathering his own army, trying to imitate me. A failure, indeed."

"......!"

Army.

The familiar yet ominous word made Suho's expression stiffen.

* * *

At that moment, outside Times Square.

Unusual signs were appearing throughout the city.

"Grghhh..."

Had he drunk a lot?

Citizens murmured as they saw a staggering pedestrian clutching his throbbing head.

"What's wrong with that guy?"

"Don't know. He looks like a hunter? He's wearing armor."

"Hey, hey. Let's not get involved and just stay away."

There were often hunters like this.

Those who suddenly awakened to a higher class, became rich overnight, and lost their self-control.

If you got involved in their drunken brawls, you could really be in mortal danger.

People began to keep their distance from the hunter, whispering among themselves.

At that moment.

The hunter, walking in a strange posture, suddenly turned his head toward the crowd.

At that moment.

Chill.

"......!"

A face decaying like a corpse.

"M, M...!"

The people who saw it turned pale rapidly.

Grin.

The hunter's mouth opened wide, and he lunged at the citizens.

"Grghhh!"

"Ah!"

"Monsters!"

The sudden appearance of human-like monsters spread screams like wildfire.

And those screams were also heard from other alleys.

It wasn't just one.

* * *

The Association was on high alert.

-Dozens of villains are indiscriminately attacking citizens! Mobilize the nearest combatants immediately!

Just then, an order from the upper ranks reached Team Leader Han Jae-hyuk, who was tracking Im Myung-sung.

"These crazy bastards! Why are there so many villains these days!"

Han Jae-hyuk immediately led his subordinates to the location where the villains appeared.

"Grghhh!"

The scene was a mess.

Bodies lying in gruesome conditions.

Villains stepping over them.

'No, they're not villains.'

Han Jae-hyuk shuddered as he finally saw the creatures' appearance upon arrival.

Villains referred to awakened individuals who turned to crime.

But the moment he saw them, his instincts strongly warned him.

'These are not human.'

Like Mistborn, they were once human but had transformed into monsters.

The Association recently gave them a new name.

Mutants.

"Grghhh!"

At that moment, the decaying mutants noticed the Association hunters and began to attack.

The battle started abruptly, and Han Jae-hyuk deployed a defensive skill while urgently speaking into his radio.

"Reporting! They are not villains but mutants! They seem to be in a state where communication is impossible, and our forces are woefully inadequate...!"

"Ah!"

Just then, an Association hunter trying to evacuate citizens was attacked and fell.

The mutants immediately pounced on the fallen hunter.

"What the hell are they so strong for!"

Han Jae-hyuk, who was sending a report, saw the scene a moment too late and rushed in.

At that moment.

"Fire at will."

Swish!

Suddenly, a rain of arrows fell from the sky.

"Grghh!"

It was a spectacular sight.

The arrows, falling indiscriminately, avoided people and hit the mutants' bodies accurately.

Han Jae-hyuk, startled, turned around.

There, the famous Death Guild hunters were all aiming their bows.

"Im Myung-sung isn't showing up, but what's this situation?"

Among them, Lim Tae-gyu stood with a fierce expression.

He examined the mutants one by one and roared.

"Why are our guild members in this state here!"

The mutants appearing on the streets were all Death Guild members who had been kidnapped by Im Myung-sung.