Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 67

“Lee Minsung, you bastard...”

Taegyu finally realized why the villain wasn’t killing the hunters but kidnapping them. He was seething with anger from head to toe.

Minsung’s usual antics always aimed to raise his standing within the Fiend Guild, and Taegyu knew he wanted surpass him, his friend and guild master. It was clear that his latest antics were another attempt at achieving his ultimate goal.

I don’t know what kind of skill he bought, but I can’t believe he turned our hunters into these monsters. He made them his subordinates. Why the hell are you doing all of this?

Watching the mutants, creatures that had already lost all of their human features, Taegyu clenched his teeth and drew his bow. With a twitch of his fingers, he aimed at the mutants and fired.

A blue aura formed, and magical arrows were generated by the S-rank weapon that he held: the Fiend’s Bow.

Whoosh!

Five magical arrows flew in different trajectories, piercing through the scattered mutants. His former guild members emitted roars from their monstrous mouths. The roars sounded like pitiful cries to Taegyu.

Despite the attack, the mutants still moved with the arrows embedded in their bodies.

Faced with their resilient stamina, Taegyu’s face stiffened. The mutants’ physical abilities were formidable, likely due to their past as high-ranked hunters. Moreover, they were still wearing the armor they had on when they were kidnapped, making it seem impractical to defeat them with just a couple of arrows.

Taegyu looked back at the guild members he had brought with him. They were hesitant to attack their former colleagues, who they had shared stories and laughed with only a few days ago.

The guild master pulled the bowstring again and shouted, “Don’t hesitate! These mutants are not human anymore! They are no longer the guys we knew!”

“Yes, got it!”

“Since they’re already in a zombie-like state, hitting their hearts is useless! Aim for the legs to slow their movement, and cut off their arms and legs!”

The command was brutally specific, but Fiend Guild hunters steeled their resolve and raised their weapons. His clear judgement under pressure demonstrated the S-rank hunter’s true mettle.

Stirred to action by his thunderous command, the hunters regained their composure and began a full-fledged assault on the mutants.

“So, this is the Fiend Guild...”

The hunters from the association were engaged in rescuing civilians, but they were deeply impressed by the prowess of the Fiend Guild hunters. Despite the recent issue with their vice guild master and their numerous past controversies, their reaction to the dire situation proved their quality as one of the top guilds in the country. It seemed like they were at their best under pressure.

But the problem was that the mutants were also members of the Fiend Guild. Even though they had lost their humanity and turned into magic beasts, the experiences engraved in their bodies hadn’t disappeared.

“The mutants are scattering! Chase them!”

The mutants, avoiding the attacks of the Fiend Guild, scattered in all directions and took refuge inside the buildings. Soon, the civilians inside those buildings became their unwitting sacrifices.

“Aaah!”

“S-save me...!”

The actions of the mutants caught the Fiend Guild hunters off their guard.

“Stop them!”

“Don’t let them into the buildings!”

In the end, they too scattered in all directions, chasing the screams emanating from various parts of the buildings. But as they rushed inside, they couldn’t help but feel like they’d been led into a trap.

Buzz!

“What’s going on?!”

“There’s a swarm inside the building!”

Contaminated Hornets had been waiting inside the building for hunters to enter, and they promptly launched their attack.

“Hornets?!”

“They’re not ordinary bees! They’re insect-type magic beasts!”

“They’re venomous! Don’t get stung by them!”

The situation became chaotic. The hunters had to deal with both the mutants and the swarms of black bees waiting inside the buildings. Even the best-trained and disciplined Fiend Guild hunters were taken aback by the sheer scale of the task at hand.

At that moment, Taegyu noticed that something was odd. Despite their initial impressions, the mutants were moving in an orderly manner, strategically placing themselves. He deduced that someone had to be controlling them from behind, and it was obvious who.

“Lee Minsung!” A scream infused with magic erupted from Taegyu’s mouth. “Where are you? Where are you hiding?”

The booming voice of the S-rank hunter resonated like a shockwave, shaking the air and shattering the windows of the buildings into pieces.

“Ears! Cover your ears!” a hunter from the association shouted as they continued to rescue the civilians.

Amid the chaos, Taegyu raised the Fiend’s Bow to the sky, firing multiple shots.

Magical arrows flew into the sky, forming graceful arcs as they descended to the ground.

One arrow shot straight into the forehead of a mutant wandering the streets. Another arrow pierced through a shattered window and into the body of a mutant attacking people inside. Not a single arrow harmed a civilian.

“Oh my God...” Jaehyuk couldn’t close his mouth, in awe of Taegyu’s astonishing skill. “He should used the skill from the start...”

But it was easier said than done as the skill left the user vulnerable, so Jaehyuk ultimately understood Taegyu’s choice to save it until now. More importantly, its impact was undeniable.

Mutants struck by the arrows from the Fiend’s Bow struggled on the ground helplessly. The arrows had penetrated their bodies, pinning them to the ground.

The Fiend Guild hunters charged at them with relentless speed, swiftly cutting off their limbs.

“I’m sorry, Jaeseop.”

“Augh...!”

Just like that, the incapacitated mutants were disposed of.

The association hunters breathed a sigh of relief. Thanks to the Fiend Guild’s efforts, the number of mutants was noticeably decreasing.

Great. At this rate, things should be sorted out here soon, Jaehyuk thought.

But the moment of relief was all too brief. He heard a sharp cry come from the distance. He turned and saw a sword sticking out of Taegyu’s abdomen.

The guild master looked down in astonishment, his vision spinning. It’s poisoned.

What surprised him more than the poison was the fact that he had been ambushed. Not many people could sneak up on an S-rank hunter from behind.

Turning around immediately, Taegyu confirmed the identity of the assailant, and his mind went blank. “W-why...”

The assailant didn’t need to deceive Taegyu’s senses. He had been standing behind him since the beginning.

“I apologize, sir.”

“Secretary Oh...”

A creepy grin appeared on the secretary’s face. “It’s still too early to end this. The vice guild master needs more time to play.”

***

Suho asked Arsha, “You don’t really seem all that fazed despite the commotion.”

Minsung was out in the streets mimicking her by creating his own legion, but Arsha, the real queen bee, seemed composed.

“On the contrary, I’m quite taken aback by this. I told you, he’s a worker bee I took great care to nurture.”

“Then, you should have sent your lancers to capture him as soon as he fled.”

“I did, but no matter how many I sent, none of them were a match for him.”

The Contaminated Lancers were once C-rank or lower-ranked hunters.

Even if she had sent an army of them to end Minsung, capturing an A-rank hunter like him was impossible from the start. After all, Suho had defeated all the lancers and reached their queen unscathed.

Arsha delicately furrowed her brow, crossed her legs, and adjusted her posture. “I find all this to be extremely cumbersome. Originally, I planned to live here in peace and follow in Querehsha’s footsteps, and I did everything I could to do exactly that.”

“Live quietly? That doesn’t make much sense considering how many lancers you created.”

“But I was very quiet. I was being discreet to avoid attracting the attention of the Hunters Association. I could have amassed a hundred times more than this if I wanted to. ”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Suho came to agree with her words. It sounded like the method for creating lancers was simple—all you needed was royal jelly. It also needed some luck too. The hunter’s body had to accept the royal jelly to become a lancer, otherwise, the experiment resulted in death.

“Despite saying that, it is a terribly labor-intensive task. I had to individually tame the bees living on Earth and coax them into my service, allowing them to be imbued with my royal jelly.”

“You may call yourself a queen bee, but aren’t you basically just a beekeeper?” Beru mocked her with a honest smile, trying his best to look innocent.

Arsha looked slightly wounded by his words. “I had no choice. Crossing the dimensional rift resulted in losing all of my worker bees, so I had to acquire new ones, one by one.”

“That must’ve been tough. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I killed all those lancers you worked so hard to make. It must suck that Minsung ran away too...”

“Your words mean nothing when your face is telling me you have no trace of remorse...” Arsha was astounded by Suho’s soulless apology, but she soon recovered her composure and smirked with her arms crossed, exuding an air of arrogance. “Well, it’s fine. Although Minsung has become a rebellious bee and escaped, his instincts are still faithfully at work for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even now, he’s diligently moving to make me the Queen of Insects. Of course, he might not be aware of it himself.”

Suho felt uneased by Arsha’s words. According to the briefing from the White Tiger Guild, all Minsung had done in the past few days was attack and kidnap hunters.

If he was kidnapping hunters to create his own army, why did he kill some of them? What if killing people was one of the goals? Suho came to a startling realization. She’s trying to succeed the deceased Monarch by becoming a new one. I’ve seen this ploy before.

[Rakan chuckles with amusement as he looks at his shaman.]

Rakan’s message hinted that he was heading in the right direction. Suho observed Arsha, who sat calmly despite having lost her entire base.

“You need to make a sacrifice. You need as many tributes as possible for the ritual dedicated to Querehsha. Right now, Minsung is probably going on a killing spree without knowing it’s all a part of your plans. Judging by the hunters he has killed, it seems like your sacrifices needed to be imbued with mana, correct?”

Arsha’s face slowly soured in response, proving his deduction. “Well, it’s not strange that you know all this. Our methods may differ, but you must have done something similar to follow in the Monarch of Fang’s footsteps.”

Suho was his shaman, not his successor, but he decided against correcting her.

“But do you think your plan will work? The Fiend Guild is going after Minsung with everything they have, Waiting for it all to work out might leave you stranded. Moreover, capturing an A-rank hunter would undoubtedly require the guild master, an S-rank hunter, to step in and—”

Suho stopped himself from continuing. He realized that Arsha couldn’t possibly be unaware of the consequences, having targeted and then nurtured Minsung for a long time. It was only a matter of time before an S-rank hunter would have Minsung cuffed and behind bars. Yet, her composure was as cool as ever.

“You planted someone inside the guild, didn’t you? A traitor like Minsung.”

A genuinely terrifying expression appeared on Arsha’s face for the first time during their conversation.