Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 61

So far, Suho had two main methods of summoning shadow soldiers. He’d either extract fallen magical beasts as soldiers on the spot or extract the corpse of a defeated enemy he had stored in the Shadow Dungeon when needed.

However, now there was a third option: calling on the mummies wandering around Ammut’s pyramid. These creatures were moving corpses, which was very convenient for Suho. He could easily extract them like vending machine snacks without any combat.

[Shadow Mummy – Level 1 - Normal Grade]

Using his new method, Suho summoned twenty shadow mummies. The creatures were quite powerful, having provided plenty of trouble for the hunters of both the Scavenger Guild and the Asura Guild. They possessed impressive strength and agility, and a zombie-like persistence. But above all else, the seeping poison from their bandages relentlessly tormented nearby enemies, which was why Suho kept his distance from other hunters.

The shadow mummies began to grab and tear apart the woodvines. The woodvines’ paralyzing poison had no effect on the mummies, whereas the poison from the mummies’ bandages tainted the woodvines and began to rot their bodies.

The woodvines counterattacked with terrifying force in response, inflicting significant damage to the shadow mummies. Their bandages were torn apart, caught in the thorny vines, and their entwined arms and legs were subsequently ripped away.

However, enveloped in shadow, the new bandages quickly regenerated and wrapped around the woodvines once more. Despite the injuries, the undead creatures rose time and time again with all their injuries fully healed, rallying back as if they were demons risen from hell.

The hunters were stunned by the fight unfolding before them.

“Unbelievable...”

“What am I witnessing right now?”

“Those mummies are all summoned creatures?”

The hunters’ perceptions about summoners instantly crumbled into pieces.

Gu Dongjae, who had challenged Suho earlier, looked particularly troubled by the developments. “Th-this is insane... What the hell is going on?” I thought he could only summon creatures that give him buffs.

Dongjae was no longer sure if the ant creature was giving Suho buffs in the first place as he saw Beru watching the action in midair, yawning like a bored spectator.

Wait!Come to think of it... Realizing something, Dongjae’s gaze turned to the bandage still wrapped around his wrist. “Could these bandages be...”

“Aha!” the healer from the White Tiger Guild exclaimed, having come to the same conclusion.

The item that had wrapped around Dongjae’s wrist on its own was identical to the bandages that covered the mummies.

“This was not an item but a summoning spell?! Ahh!” Dongjae cried.

His doubts suddenly all made sense, and with a deadly pale complexion, he hastily started unwinding the bandage wrapped around his wrist, fearing the bandages could force him to transform into the shadow mummies. I knew there was something off about this!I hope I’m not cursed.

Suho, observing from a distance, chuckled at the sight. “Geez, talk about being dramatic.”

“Indeed. The foolish insect husk is all bark and no bite.” Beru clicked his tongue and fluttered over to Suho. He then scanned the area with seriousness. “Regardless, I sense something strange, Young Monarch.”

“I feel it too.”

Having left the mummies to take care of the woodvines, Suho had been surveying the surroundings for a while. He eventually sensed something unusual: a very faint buzzing sound. The sound could only be heard with the utmost concentration.

Suho and Beru simultaneously lifted their heads, gazing upward.

It’s a bee.

Far up above, an ordinary bee was buzzing in the empty air. It was merely a single bee, but its presence made little sense to the two of them.

“Why would a common bee live in a cave like this? There’s not a single flower in sight,” Suho said.

“There’s no way those thorny vines can make honey,” Beru added.

“Yeah, that’s right...” The villain had wings similar to that of a bee...

Suho and Beru nodded at each other confidently, having reached the same conclusion: A-Rank Villain Lee Minsung was most likely somewhere in the building.

Is this where he’s been hiding? What a great coincidence, Suho thought.

He scanned the building again with his new theory in mind. Then, is this a giant beehive?

The cylindrical hole running through the Times Square Mall suddenly made the building feel like a beehive—one that Suho and the others had voluntarily walked into.

One by one, more bees began appearing, but they posed no threat to hunters with superhuman strength.

“Hornets would have been troublesome...” Suho said.

But as luck would have it, Suho’s senses suddenly sounded an alarm. He turned around and saw that his fears had turned into reality. He was rooted to the spot with his mouth agape.

“I guess I jinxed myself...”

A dark swarm of hornets, thousands in number, were now swarming toward them from all directions of the Times Square building.

“This might get ugly. ”

“They’re not ordinary hornets, Young Monarch! Every one of them carries mana!” Beru shouted.

[Contaminated Hornet]

[Contaminated Hornet]

Contaminated by what? Suho pondered. Despite not knowing, the name still felt ominous to him. He urgently looked around at the hunters and shouted, “Everyone be careful! It’s not an ordinary swarm of hornets!”

Belatedly turning their heads, the hunters’ eyes widened in surprise. The White Tiger Guild hunters, who had better senses than the rest, seemed to have identified the situation faster and quickly devised a countermeasure.

“Don’t panic! There are many of them, but in the end, they’re just flying bugs!”

“Please block them with defensive skills! Summoners, intercept with them flame insects!”

“Yes, copy that!” one of the summoners said.

The hunters had no choice but to confront the incoming swarm. As they steeled their resolve, flame insects urgently soared into the air.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before!” a hunter shouted.

In addition to the thronging woodvines, the swarming hornets compounded their struggle. But for Suho, who had experienced a rollercoaster of difficulties in the last two days, this level of chaos was no longer something to be flustered about.

Suho calmly took out his swords from his inventory, suddenly appearing in his hands like magic. He was able to withdraw them without anyone noticing due to the ensuing chaos. But even if someone had seen it, they would have thought that it was a summoning skill.

After coolly assessing the situation, Suho shouted at the other summoners, “Please detonate the flame insects in front of them. All at once!”

“Huh? But what if they dodge the attack?”

Having seen the time it took to summon flame insects earlier, Suho knew that they had to use them strategically. “Don’t worry! I’ll take care of the rest!”

“Okay, understood!”

The summoners began summoning flame insects without complaint. As fellow summoners, they respected Suho’s summoning capabilities and decided to follow his commands.

“Now!” Suho commanded.

As soon as the words left his lips, countless flame insects simultaneously exploded in the air, and the hornets scattered desperately trying to avoid the explosion.

[Skill: “Storm Slash” has activated.]

The timely tornado of sword strikes swallowed both the fiery explosion and the hornets all at once.

[Contaminated Hornet has been defeated.]

[Contaminated Hornet has been defeated.]

[Contaminated Hornet has been defeated.]

Many of the swarming hornets had now been reduced to black ashes.

“Wow, that worked!” the hunters shouted with great relief.

However, the more seasoned eyes of the White Tiger hunters were widened for a different reason.

No way, how can a summoner possess such a skill?! one of them thought.

Suho’s display of swordsmanship could have easily been mistaken for that of a fighter hunter. The skill alone was impressive, but what struck them most was the mana he used to pull it off after having already summoned twenty mummies. They weren’t alone with this assessment as Dongjae looked beyond flustered.

Wh-what the heck!Who or what exactly is that guy?! he thought, feeling a slight tingly sensation in his healed wrist.

Despite the successful move, not every hornet had been annihilated. Hornets continued to swarm from all directions, persistently harassing the hunters. Eventually, the nasty bugs stealthily hid between the thorny vines of the woodvines.

As a result, the situation became even more challenging. The hornets darted forward, emerging from the woodvine’s bodies, and began to attack the hunters.

“Ouch!” Dongjae, who was leading the charge, was stung on the back of his hand, and his arm suddenly began to feel stiff. “Ahhhhhh!”

His veins turned green and throbbed as if they were about to burst, writhing along the back of his hand and twisting down his forearm.

Gu Dongjae looked at the ungainly sight traveling up his arm and shivered in fear. “Healer! I need a healer!”

Being on the front line of the battle, he was too far away from the healer to reach him. Eventually, the green veins traveled up to his shoulder after having devoured his arm.

At that moment, Dongjae’s arm was cut off in one stroke.

Suho had appeared out of the blue and ruthlessly severed his arm. “Emergency treatment.”

“Aah!” Screw this guy! What kind of emergency treatment is this?

Blood spurted out like a fountain from Dongjae’s shoulder as he tumbled to the ground.

[Item: “Mummy’s Bandages” has been purchased.]

[Item: “Mummy’s Bandages” has activated.]

A white bandage flew from Suho’s hand and tightly wrapped around Gu Dongjae’s shoulder. Squeezing tightly, the bleeding miraculously soon stopped.

This item is incredible. The healer can take care of the rest, Suho thought.

Using a potion was an option, but it wasn’t necessary. Moreover, a B-rank healer from the White Tiger Guild was likely capable of regenerating a severed arm.

But more importantly... Suho swiftly examined Dongjae’s severed arm—now a piece of severed flesh tainted with a sinister dark green poison.

“All right, bookworm, explain this.”

“Certainly.” Beru had been studying Dongjae’s forearm as if he had previously seen something similar. “The Queen of Insects and the Monarch of Plagues had a similar ability. Perhaps... Everything here might be connected to the Monarch.”

“But didn’t the Monarch of Plagues die in the Monarch War?”

“Indeed. All the Monarchs perished.”

“What was her name?”

“Querehsha, The Queen of Insects and the Monarch of Plagues,” Beru answered with a glint in his eyes. “She was one powerful, crazy lady bug. ”

“Hm... So, what abilities did she have?”

“One of her skills injected poison into the enemy and turned them into a host for venomous insects.”

“A host?”

“That’s the nice way of putting it. They’re basically zombies with maggots feasting on them. When those maggots grow, they transform into venomous insects like the ones we’re up against.”

“Sounds like hell.” Suho raised his head and fixed his gaze on the incoming swarm of hornets before scanning his surroundings once more.

Much to his disdain, he noticed that the building was beginning to turn into a labyrinth. The woodvines were only a small extension of the jungle of thorny vines inside Times Square Mall. The remaining nests of vines wriggled and twisted, and they eventually merged into a tall and intricate thorn barrier that began to separate the hunters.

“Don’t get separated!”

“Quick, come over this way!”

The hunters, bewildered by the sudden wall of thorns rising from the ground, hurriedly moved around.

The situation in this dungeon is getting worse. A living, moving labyrinth is being born. At this rate, the hunters will surely becoming disoriented and scatter, Suho thought.

He also couldn’t rule out the possibility of the thorn wall turning into an army of vicious woodvines. The hornets were the only beings free to roam, knowing every knook and cranny of the intricate labyrinth.

His hunch had been proven correct. They had unknowingly stepped into a vast hive—a kingdom of hornets.

Suho suddenly recalled the ecology of bees, Most bees are workers moving under strict orders. That means... “There’s someone controlling them from somewhere.”

“I think I might know the answer,” Beru responded promptly

“Huh? How would you know?”

“I can understand what they’re saying,” the ant said as his antennae twitched nonstop.