Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 66

“Are you the queen bee?”

Arsha smiled brightly and nodded. “Yes. I believe I am the queen bee you are looking for.”

“What’s your connection with Querehsha?”

Suho’s straightforward question caused a flicker in Arsha’s smiling eyes. “You seem well-informed about the Monarch. You’re sharp, how fitting as a descendant of the Monarch of Fangs.”

Suho didn’t offer a response.

“Oh my, why the long face? The scent of beasts is pouring out of your every pore. Did you think I wouldn’t know? I’m no fool.”

Suho was momentarily at a loss for words due to Arsha’s stupidity. A gentle breeze swept by, tousling his white hair.

[Rakan is shaking with laughter at Arsha’s mistaken assumption.]

The spirit of the King of Beasts’ true descendant was currently inhabiting Suho’s body.

“I’m sad that the descendant of the Monarch of Fangs took away the bees I worked so hard to create. Is this the famous power of ‘Scorn of the Weak?’ The ability to lead creatures weaker than oneself? Am I correct?”

No, you’re wrong. You are getting everything wrong. Why does he keep spouting nonsense with such a deadly smile? Suho lamented inwardly.

[Rakan continues to shake with laughter.]

Stop laughing. She’s just lacking information, I’m sure she’s probably not that stupid. But why does it feel like I’m the only one feeling ashamed?

Feeling awkward for her, Suho decided to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Misunderstandings are inevitable.”

But before he could, Beru directly transmitted his voice to Suho’s mind to prevent Arsha from overhearing.

“As I mentioned before, a new Monarch can only exist if the incumbent dies to create a vacancy. So, her reasoning isn’t so terrible when you consider that the victor of the war, the Monarch of Shadows, is clearly still alive...”

No one would think of me as the new Monarch of Shadows. It’s also the truth.

Beru addressed Suho as the Young Monarch, but strictly speaking, he was merely the son of the Monarch of Shadows and not his official successor. In truth, the Monarch of Shadows could never have a successor since the Monarch ruled over the dead and could never die.

The indisputable evidence was shown in Suho’s status window.

[Status Window]

[Name: Sung Suho

Level: 28

Job: None]

If he were the legitimate successor, there would be no vacancy in the job category.

There was more evidence—the shadow soldiers standing behind Suho. He couldn’t lead a legion because he wasn’t a Monarch. The shadow soldiers he extracted were only temporary labor. They disappeared after just one day. However, there was no need to explain these nuances to Arsha. If she was making her own assumptions, it was best to take advantage of her flaws.

Let’s see how it goes for now. Instead of answering, Suho threw a question at Arsha. “So, are you saying that you’re Querehsha’s heir?”

“Maybe? You see, all insects are her descendants. Querehsha is both an individual and a collective entity. She is the mother of all insects.”

“Change the subject and you die.”

“Actually, it’s the Young Monarch who is changing the subject...”

But Beru’s whisper was ignored.

“Oh dear. How frightening.” Arsha raised both her hands in an exaggerated gesture of surrender.

Then, an astonishing scene unfolded. In an instant, Arsha’s hands turned into a swarm of bees.

“How dare you pull such a trick?” Beru’s enraged hand swiftly punched the air, which made several bees fall from the table.

The remaining bees clustered together again and transformed back into Arsha’s hand.

Beru’s eyes narrowed. “Mimicry. It’s a common trick used by weak insects to protect themselves.”

“Struggling to survive is the essence of insects, don’t you know?”

“Where is your main body?”

“Oh my. Not surprised at all, are we?”

Despite the situation, Suho maintained his composure. I figured as much. Her name tag wasn’t visible from the beginning.

From the beginning, numerous system name tags for Contaminated Hornets swarmed around Arsha’s body.

“Yes, that’s right. I left here a long time ago. One of my bees I worked so hard to raise recently showed signs of disloyalty, so I decided to relocate the hive.”

“One of your bees? I can’t be...”

“He’s the name on everyone’s lips. Mr. Lee Minsung,” Arsha answered with a soft sigh. Suddenly, her gaze turned toward the Shadow Lancer standing behind Suho. “Did you that those lancers were once humans? After arriving on Earth, I fed royal jelly to the men who harbored indecent desires for me and turned them into Contaminated Lancers.”

“Royal jelly? What’s that?”

“It’s a special ability of queen bees.”

Queen Bee Arsha was capable of creating a poison from birth. It was a special poison known as royal jelly. This poison, sweet as honey, transformed the host into a loyal worker bee that blindly followed the queen bee the moment it entered the host’s body.

“However, the work that goes into turning someone into a worker bee is more demanding than you think.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Those who can’t withstand the toxicity of the royal jelly die instantly, and those with some degree of immunity rot away while still alive.”

Rot away... Just like Gu Dongjae’s arm. Cutting it off was the right decision.

This meant that not everyone was capable of becoming a worker bee, despite being force-fed royal jelly.

In the beginning, Arsha went through much trial and error.

“I set up a bar and continuously fed royal jelly to every person I could. By doing so, it all became clear.”

Those who willingly accepted the power of the queen bee readily gave up their humanity and became worker bees. They all shared one common trait.

“Desire.” Arsha’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Humans with stronger desires than others easily give up on being human.”

All humans were ambitious. However, the degree of desire varied from person to person, and so did the type of desire. Many desired strength in particular, namely hunters.

“So, I sought out hunters who weren’t satisfied with their own strength. They wanted to become stronger no matter what. Finding them was so easy. All I had to do was throw some bait, and they gathered on their own.”

Suho immediately understood what she meant by bait. “Stardust...”

“Yes, that’s right. I fed royal jelly to hunters who use Stardust, and ta-da! The healthiest worker bees were born. Conveniently, I was able to get a hold of Stardust through Minsung.”

Knowing how she operated, Minsung was, in many ways, a valuable worker to Arsha. He had helped her a great deal as a human, but she was most excited about his transformation into one of her bees. Despite being an A-rank hunter, he wanted nothing more than to become an S-rank.

“I took a lot of care with him.”

In case he was unsuitable, she had taken the time to gradually acclimatize him to royal jelly. He ingested a small amount of the poison every day.

“But it seems like I’ve fed him too much. The poison was too strong, and in the end, he ran away from me.”

“He ran away?” Beru was the first to react to her words. A worker bee ran away from the queen bee? Having been a mighty Ant King, it was an unimaginable betrayal.

“Minsung became a worker bee, but he ultimately refused to become part of my family.” Arsha sighed deeply. “To add insult to injury, I heard he has begun gathering an army of his own. He has some nerve for a failed pet project.”

An army. The familiar yet ominous word caused Suho’s face to stiffen.

***

Meanwhile, outside the Times Square Field, unusual incidents were occurring throughout the city.

A man was clutching his head and swaying as if he was drunk.

People in the streets whispered among themselves as they watched the man struggle.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know. But he looks like a hunter. He’s wearing armor.”

“Let’s not get involved needlessly. It’s best to avoid trouble.”

Some hunters who had awakened with a high rank couldn’t handle their newfound success. They were drunk on their new riches and were prone to lose self-control. They were drunk and extremely dangerous, and anyone brave enough to step up against them was genuinely at risk of death.

People began to whisper discreetly as they distanced themselves away from the hunter.

But the hunter, who was walking in an odd posture, suddenly turned his head toward the crowd—revealing his face decaying like an exposed corpse.

“He’s a b-beast...!”

The complexion of those who saw the sight rapidly paled.

The hunter’s mouth widened into a sinister grin before he lunged into the crowd of innocent bystanders.

“It’s a magic beast!”

The sudden appearance of a humanoid magical beast triggered screams that spread like wildfire. More screams were echoing from other alleys, which meant there were more creatures out in the open.

***

An emergency alert was sent by the Korean Hunters Association.

—Dozens of villains are indiscriminately attacking citizens! Dispatch the nearest combat units to the scene immediately!

Han Jaehyuk, who was currently tracking Lee Minsung, read the alert. “These lunatics! Why are there so many villains these days?” He immediately led his team to the location of the reported villains.

The scene was a mess. Fresh corpses littered the streets, and villains stepped over them as they passed by.

Wait, they’re not villains. Jaehyuk shuddered after he had confirmed their identities.

The term “villain” referred to awakened humans who had become criminals. However, the moment he saw the enemy ahead, his instincts strongly warned him that they weren’t human. They reminded him of mist burns—humans who had transformed into magic beasts. The association had recently given such creatures a new name: Mutants.

“Grrraaaaaah!”

The mutants, once human but now decaying corpses, spotted the association hunters and began to attack.

The battle commenced, and Jaehyuk deployed his defensive skills before urgently grabbing his radio and shouting, “This is Team Leader Han reporting! They’re not villains, they’re mutants! They seem completely incapable of communication, and we’re severely lacking personnel to deal with them!”

Hunters helping citizens to safety were being hunted down and attacked by the mutants. One of them fell, and the mutants swarmed over him.

“Why are they so strong!” Jaehyuk said on the radio. He had witnessed the scene a step too late and urgently leaped into action.

“Commence fire.”

Suddenly, a cascade of arrows poured from the sky just in the nick of time.

It was a sight to behold. It looked like the arrows were raining down on the beasts indiscriminately in a chaotic fashion, but they were avoiding people and striking the mutants with precision.

Startled, Han Jaehyuk turned around to find the renowned hunters of the Fiend Guild aiming their bows.

“Instead of finding Lee Minsung, we end up with this situation?! What’s going on?”

Taegyu stood with a fierce expression next to his hunters. After examining each mutant, he suddenly shouted, “How on Earth have my hunters ended up like this?”

The mutants terrorizing the streets were all hunters of the Fiend Guild who had been kidnapped by Lee Minsung.