Chapter 75

Leveling Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 74

The effects of becoming the high priest of Queresh immediately became apparent.

Now, thanks to the blessing of Candialu, I am not only immune to poison but can freely handle and use it in attacks.

And...

‘If I can handle it freely, that means... this is also possible, right?’

Shuhu immediately extended his hand toward Baek Mihwa and Im Tae-gyu.

Whoosh!

[Using ‘Blessing: Poison Technique’.]

“...!”

Baek Mihwa and Im Tae-gyu's eyes widened.

The poisonous mist that had been sprayed by the exploding bees began to dissolve and disappear upon contact with the light Shuhu emitted.

“Detoxification skill?!”

“Seong Shuhu Hunter, were you a healer, not a summoner?”

Even as she asked, Baek Mihwa wore a confused expression.

This was because none of the abilities Shuhu had shown so far had anything to do with a healer.

However, Im Tae-gyu's eyes lit up as if this was a good thing.

“If that's the case, you should have said so earlier! Can you detoxify the poison that's affecting me?”

Im Tae-gyu had been unable to use his magic to suppress the poison that Oh Secretary had injected into him earlier.

The healer from the Death Guild had failed to detoxify it, but if Shuhu had a special skill, it might be possible.

However...

Ding.

[Cannot detoxify a poison that has not been ingested.]

“Hmm.”

It was a failure.

It seemed that the poison Im Tae-gyu was affected by was not ‘Im Min-sung’s Royal Jelly’ but Arsha’s Royal Jelly.

‘I should have drunk some of the poison Arsha gave me.’

It was too late to regret it.

“I don’t think I can detoxify it right now. Let’s deal with them first.”

Swish!

Just then, arrows flew from all directions.

The contaminated ghouls that had been hiding everywhere suddenly leaped out and began attacking Shuhu and his party.

“I’ll take care of the ghouls!”

Baek Mihwa rushed forward and slammed her fist into the ground.

Boom!

Skill: ‘Provocation Vibration’.

A circular wave of magic power spread from her fist embedded in the ground.

The contaminated ghouls, as if bewitched, all turned and charged at Baek Mihwa.

Baek Mihwa fought the ghouls with an overwhelming aura.

With that, Im Tae-gyu also rushed out and joined the melee combat beside her.

The problem was that each of these ghouls was a familiar face.

They were the ones who had followed him since the founding of the Death Guild, like younger brothers.

To have to kill them with his own hands...

“Im Min-sung! What do you want! What is it that you want so badly?!”

Im Tae-gyu shouted angrily at Im Min-sung, who was hiding somewhere and watching.

At that moment,

[All I want... is for everyone to return to their original places.]

Im Min-sung’s voice echoed loudly from all directions, as if all the bees in the area were Im Min-sung.

“Im Min-sung!”

Im Tae-gyu shouted, looking around angrily.

“Where are you! Stop hiding like a coward and come out!”

At that moment,

Whirr-

[I...]

The bees that filled the field swirled together, forming a human shape.

[...am not hiding.]

Thud.

As the human-shaped Im Min-sung landed on the ground, the area became eerily quiet, as if time had stopped.

“Im Min-sung!”

Im Tae-gyu’s shout met Im Min-sung’s emotionless gaze.

“I’ll take care of this guy!”

Im Tae-gyu clenched his teeth and charged at Im Min-sung.

“Be careful!”

Baek Mihwa, who was fighting the ghouls, shouted urgently.

Even so, Im Tae-gyu did not stop.

Without any skills, he was confident that he could easily knock out Im Min-sung with sheer strength.

That was the difference in class.

The difference between S-rank and A-rank, which Im Min-sung had envied so much.

However,

[Arrogant fool.]

Im Min-sung sneered and split back into countless bees.

Bang!

Im Tae-gyu’s punch cut through the air futilely.

Im Min-sung reformed into a human shape behind Im Tae-gyu.

Whoosh!

Im Tae-gyu, with his incredible reflexes, turned and attacked Im Min-sung again.

Im Min-sung scattered once more.

“Damn it!”

Whoosh! Bang! Bang! Bang!

In a few seconds, numerous exchanges of attacks and defenses occurred, and the same situation repeated.

Suddenly, Im Tae-gyu realized that dozens of Im Min-sungs were surrounding him.

“What...?!”

The ‘Im Min-sungs’ attacked Im Tae-gyu simultaneously.

Sharp spears extended from their hands, and they began to transform into something resembling the Queen Bee’s Lancer Knights.

Squish!

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

The more the battle continued, the more Im Min-sung transformed into a Lancer Knight, and Im Tae-gyu narrowly avoided the endless attacks.

[Not bad.]

[To be able to do this much while suppressing your magic power.]

[Even a broken S-rank is still an S-rank, I see.]

The Im Min-sungs mocked Im Tae-gyu from all directions, continuing to toy with him.

[Young Master.]

In the midst of this intense battle, Berga looked at Shuhu.

“Right.”

Shuhu, who had been observing the situation without joining the battle, nodded.

He raised his head and glared at something, muttering to himself.

“They’re all illusions.”

Or, more accurately, they were all ‘mimics’.

As a mere drone, Im Min-sung did not have the ability to create Lancer Knights like Queen Bee Arsha.

If he could, the ghouls that Baek Mihwa was fighting would not be ghouls but Lancer Knights.

Clearly, these ghouls were failed attempts by Im Min-sung to mimic the Queen Bee and create Lancer Knights.

And the Lancer Knights that Im Tae-gyu was fighting were likely just illusions formed by bees.

“Berga, where is the real Im Min-sung?”

[Unfortunately, the bees are confusing my senses by moving around chaotically.]

Berga had been tracking the real Im Min-sung’s location non-stop, flicking his antennae.

“Then I need to make them stop for a moment.”

Shuhu raised his head and glared at the bees that filled his field of vision.

Then, he smacked his lips.

‘What do these guys taste like?’

He had just been eating Queresh’s insects non-stop, and now even these guys looked like delicacies.

At that moment,

[‘Title: The Bane of Insects’ buff effect activated.]

...!

The bees, which had been moving chaotically, suddenly jolted and swayed violently.

It was as if their survival instinct had been awakened by the tension of facing their natural enemy.

[Title: The Bane of Insects]

A title given to the predator of insects. All stats increase by 40% when facing insect-type monsters.

Shuhu immediately crossed his dual swords.

A tremendous aura of killing intent erupted from the ‘Lakan’s Fang’ in his right hand.

[Using ‘Skill: Contempt for the Weak’.]

Whoosh!

...!

[‘Effect: Fear’ activated.]

[All stats of the targets decrease by 50% for 1 minute.]

The debuff skill of ‘Lakan’s Fang’, which puts weaker opponents into a state of fear.

When combined with ‘The Bane of Insects’, it created an incredible synergy.

A wind edge was imbued in Shuhu’s dual swords.

[Using ‘Skill: Storm Slash’.]

Whoosh!

‘Stronger than usual.’

The whirlwind that formed was so powerful that even Shuhu could feel it.

Shuhu twisted his body and swung both swords like a windmill.

Boom!

A fiercely intense typhoon engulfed all the bees that filled the field, including the Lancer Knights that had been surrounding and pressuring Im Tae-gyu.

[Defeated contaminated hornet.]

[Defeated contaminated hornet.]

[Defeated contaminated hornet.]

[Defeated contaminated hornet.]

...

The countless bees were shredded like in a grinder.

Numerous messages flooded the screen.

Along with them,

[‘Skill: Storm Slash’ level increased.]

Shuhu became even stronger.

‘Good heavens. How can he have such power?!”

Im Tae-gyu, who had hastily moved out of the typhoon’s range, looked at Shuhu in shock.

‘He’s not a healer either?’

Shuhu’s current appearance was clearly not that of a summoner or a healer.

What kind of summoner or healer could use such a powerful attack skill?

Im Tae-gyu felt as if his common sense was shattering.

The reality was that the synergy of the title effect and the item debuff had amplified Shuhu’s power, but Im Tae-gyu, unaware of this, could only be astonished.

“Im Min-sung? What happened to Im Min-sung?”

He suddenly came to his senses and urgently looked at where the Im Min-sungs had been.

All the Im Min-sungs had been scattered by the typhoon.

In the aftermath of the typhoon, Berga shouted, breaking the momentary silence.

[Found him!]

Zap!

As soon as Berga finished speaking, Shuhu’s sword slashed through the air.

Squish!

The space where the sword struck shattered, and...

Crack! Crack!

Rumble!

It began to crumble.

[...Hmph. Well done, finding me.]

A menacing gaze stared from beyond the hidden space.

And through the cracks in the shattered space, ‘Im Min-sung’ slowly walked out.

However, his appearance was...

[Queen’s Lancer Knight]

‘Not contaminated.’

Shuhu’s eyes sparkled.

Was it because the material was an A-rank Hunter?

Unlike the ‘Contaminated Lancer Knights’ he had encountered so far, this was the first one that was not contaminated.

A human-shaped soldier bee, fully armored.

It was emitting the most powerful aura of any Lancer Knight he had encountered.

“You said you weren’t hiding, but you were hiding quite well?”

[It’s unseemly for a king to personally intervene in what’s meant to be a servant’s job.]

Shuhu sneered, and Im Min-sung smiled mockingly.

And it was true.

‘...Strong.’

Shuhu’s sensory stats were sending frantic warnings the moment he faced the creature.

‘The strongest among the demons I’ve encountered so far.’

However,

‘...Compared to the dead lords, he’s ridiculously weak.’

Having already faced the insect queen Queresh, Shuhu was not intimidated by the overwhelming pressure Im Min-sung emitted.

But Baek Mihwa and Im Tae-gyu were different.

“It’s... impossible...”

“How could Min-sung have such power...”

The powerful aura emanating from the strongest soldier bee, created by Queen Bee Arsha with great effort, brought a sense of intense despair.

Especially to Baek Mihwa, whose wild senses were highly developed, Im Min-sung felt like an overwhelmingly large presence.

But for the S-rank Hunter Im Tae-gyu, it was a sense of humiliation.

“Grr. If I could use my magic...”

Even if Im Min-sung had become stronger, Im Tae-gyu was confident he could handle him with his usual strength.

But it was impossible now.

At that moment,

Shuhu casually spoke to the frozen group.

“Let’s team up.”

“...What?”

“Huh?”

“What are you looking at? Are you suggesting we run?”

The idea of retreating and calling for fellow Hunters was pushed aside by Shuhu’s words.

“We’re a mess right now, so let’s not divide into tank and damage dealers. Let’s all attack at once.”

Shuhu’s strategy was simple.

“Since he’s good at hiding, let’s tear off his wings first so he can’t run, and then beat him to death together.”

[Heh.]

Shuhu’s words made Im Min-sung genuinely sneer.

[Foolish. You think you can face me, the future king of insects, with just you guys?]

“Ah, the king of insects?”

Shuhu also sneered.

Genuinely.

Smack.

“Not very tasty, though.”

...Creepy.

Why?

Suddenly, Im Min-sung felt an eerie feeling towards Shuhu.

[The king of insects, the lord of plagues, shakes his head at a particularly nasty creature.]

“What does your poison taste like?”