Chapter 61: Chapter 61
So far, there have been two main ways in which Suho summoned shadow soldiers.
One is releasing the monsters he just killed on the spot and using them as soldiers.
The other is storing corpses that have been killed in advance in the Shadow Dungeon and releasing them when needed.
Now, he has got one more type of shadow soldier.
It was the 'corrupt mummies' that infested the pyramid of Ammut.
They were basically moving corpses, so to Suho, they were like triangular kimbap at convenience stores that he could easily take out and eat right away without having to fight.
[Shadow Mummy Lv.1]
General Class
That was how 20 shadow mummies were created.
Their stats were quite strong enough that the Scavenger Guild and Asura Guild had a hard time.
Strength, agility, and zombie-like tenacity.
Above all, the poison leaking through the gaps in their bandages constantly corrupting nearby enemies.
The corrupting poison was the reason why Suho tried to stay away from other hunters.
[Kiyaaah!]
Slash!
The shadow mummies began tearing and breaking the Woodvine's thorny vines.
Paralysis poison of thorns?
That kind of thing didn't work on the mummies.
Rather, it was the opposite. The thorny vines were contaminated with the shadow mummy's poison and began to rot.
"Khiiiikk!"
The Woodvines fought back with strong force.
Even the shadow mummies couldn't be safe.
The bandages were torn from being caught on the thorns, and their limbs that were entangled in the vines were ripped off.
But...
Swoosh!
Immediately, a new black bandage moved around.
The messengers of death, who had all their injuries restored, rose again.
Their momentum was like a demon that had risen from hell.
[Kihyaaah!]
Hunters were in great shock.
"... Goodness."
"What are we seeing?"
"I can't believe they are all summoned monsters..."
They began to doubt everything they knew about summoning hunters.
In particular, Gu Dongjae, who personally argued with Suho earlier.
"T-That's crazy... What happened?"
Didn't he just use summoned beasts to give him strength buffs?
At that point, Dongjae wasn't even sure if it was a simple strength buff.
Beru, who Dongjae thought had been summoned from the beginning, was just watching the battle while yawning in the air.
'Ha! Come to think of it...'
Go Dongjae suddenly realized something.
His gaze moved to the bandage still wrapped around his wrist.
"This bandage can't be..."
The one who responded to those words was the healer of the Baekho Guild who had treated his wrist earlier.
"Ah!"
A bandage that moved and wrapped itself around his wrist and bandaged mummies fighting like demons.
"Could it be that the bandage wasn't an item, but a summoning technique!"
It was only then that things came to fit into place.
Gu Dongjae suddenly thought of something and hurriedly began to loosen the bandage wrapped around his wrist.
"Aww! Aaaagh!"
'No wonder he injured me then healed me as well! Something was wrong from the start! This isn't cursed is it? Aww!'
He was afraid that because of the bandage, he would become like those black mummies.
Suho tilted his head when he saw Dongjae at a distance.
"... What's wrong with him?"
[That's what I'm saying. He's only a worm-skinned scaredy fellow. Tsk tsk.]
Beru clicked his tongue and jumped to Suho.
He looked around with a serious expression.
[More than that, Young Master. The atmosphere is strange.]
"I felt it, too."
Leaving all the battles in the hands of the mummies, Suho himself had been observing the surroundings from earlier.
Eventually, he found something strange.
Wiiiing-
There was a very slight buzzing of a fly that could be heard if he paid attention.
Suho and Beru's gazes turned upward at the same time.
'Bee.'
Far away in the air, extremely ordinary... a tiny bee was flying around.
It was just one bee.
But it didn't quite make sense.
"A normal bee lives in a demon cave like this? Where there are no flowers?"
[There is no way honey will come out of those thorny vines.]
"You think so too, right?"
Suho and Beru looked at each other with confident eyes and nodded.
A-level villain Lee Minseong... and the wings of a 'bee' attached to his back.
'Could he be hiding here somewhere?'
If so, what a coincidence indeed.
However, when he thought so and looked at the surroundings once again...
'Is this a giant beehive?'
Courtyard structure with a hole in the middle.
Was it because of the vibes that the entire Times Square building looked like a beehive?
In that sense, they had already entered the beehive on their own feet.
Wiiiing-
One by one, the flying bees were increasing.
No matter how much the bees increased, it was not a threat at all to the hunters with superhuman strength.
"A wasp might be a bit dangerous, but..."
Chills!
"...!"
Suddenly, Suho's senses stat sent a warning.
He turned his head to look around.
"Wow, my words came true."
It was a wasp.
Wow-!
Hundreds, no, thousands of wasps were swarming all over Times Square.
"This would be a bit dangerous."
[It's not an ordinary wasp! Each of them have magical powers!]
[Contaminated Wasps]
[Contaminated Wasps]
What the hell was it contaminated with?
Suho didn't know what it meant, but it was a very ominous name.
He hurriedly looked back at the hunters and shouted.
"Everyone, beware! This is not an ordinary swarm of bees!"
"...!"
The eyes of the hunters who raised their heads at those words widened.
The Baekho Guild members, who have more developed senses than normal hunters, must have noticed it sooner than that, and immediately took countermeasures.
"Don't panic! It's just because there are so many of them, but after all, they're just flying insects!"
"Block the approaching ones with your defense skill!"
"Summoning hunters, intercept with flamethrowers!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Hunters grit their teeth and respond.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The flamethrowers hurriedly flew up.
"Woah! This is the first time this has happened!"
They were busy dealing with the thorny vines rushing in, but suddenly wasps appeared!
However, for Suho, who had been through all sorts of things in just two days, this wasn't particularly surprising.
Swook.
Suho calmly took out the twin swords from his inventory.
No one thought strangely about the sword that suddenly appeared in Suho's hand because everyone was busy.
Even if there were people who saw it, it wouldn't be strange for a summoning hunter to summon something.
After calmly observing the situation, Suho shouted at the other summoning hunters.
"Please detonate the flamethrowers in front of them all at once!"
"Eh? What if they try to avoid it...!"
Flamethrowers take time to be resummoned. It had to be used where it was possible.
"I will do something about it!"
"Alright!"
At Suho's confident words, they prepared to fire flamethrowers without a word.
Since they had already seen Suho's ability, his words could not be taken lightly.
"Now!"
Numerous flamethrowers exploded in the air.
Just as the wasps were about to scatter to avoid the explosion...
[Use 'Skill: Storm Slash'.]
Swish-!
The timely sword strike engulfed the red-hot explosions and wasps caused by the flamethrowers all at once.
[You have killed a contaminated wasp.]
[You have killed a contaminated wasp.]
[You have killed a contaminated wasp.]
...
Many of the wasps that had been coming in were turned to ashes and scattered.
"It worked!"
The hunters were delighted.
However, the Baekho Guild members were surprised at what they witnessed which was a lot different than what they knew.
'How could a summoning hunter use such a skill?!'
The swordplay that Suho had just demonstrated was to the extent that even a mere combat-type hunter could not have done.
Even if it were his skills.
How could he have enough mana to use such a powerful skill while summoning those 20 mummies?
In particular, Gu Dongjae's expression was hard to describe in words.
'W-What...?! Who the hell is that person?!'
He felt like his wrists, which had received all of the treatment, were suddenly sore.
Wiiiiing-!
But not all wasps died.
Even after that, the wasps continued to flock from all sides and attacked the hunters.
Eventually, the wasps hid themselves through the cracks of the Woodvines thorny vines.
Then, the situation got even more complicated.
Every time the hunters attacked Woodvine, wasps came out silently from inside and started attacking.
Sting.
"Ack!"
Gu Dongjae, who was fighting at the forefront, was stung on the back of his hand.
At that moment, his arms stiffened, revealing the true effect of the 'contaminated wasp'.
"Aaaacckk!"
His veins had turned green along the back of the hand and bulged as if they were going to burst.
It was suspicious just by looking at it.
He was then fed up with seeing his arm bulging as if it was going to burst at any moment.
"Healer! Healer!"
It was too far to go back to where the healer was because he had to fight in the frontline.
Eventually, those green veins ate into his arms and then to his shoulders...
Then...
Slash!
"...!"
Gu Dongjae's entire arm was cut off
Suho suddenly appeared and mercilessly cut off his arm.
"First aid."
"... Aaaagh!"
'Damn it! What kind of first aid was that!'
Blood gushed out like a fountain from Dongjae's shoulder.
Swish.
[You purchased 'Item: Mummy Bandage'.]
[Use 'Item: Mummy Bandage'.]
Whirl!
A white bandage flew from Suho's hand and wrapped around Gu Dongjae's shoulder.
Whoop!
It squeezed hard, and miraculously, the bleeding stopped quickly.
'Item effect is amazing.'
Now, the healer would take care of the rest.
Suho could use a potion, but there was no time for that. Besides, the B-Class healer from Baekho Guild would be able to regenerate even a severed arm.
'Also...'
Suho's gaze quickly examined Gu Dongjae's cut off arm.
An ominously dark green forearm.
"Explainer."
[Yes.]
From earlier, Beru had been staring at Gu Dongjae's forearm with an expression that seemed to know something.
[The Queen of Insects, Monarch of Plagues, had a similar ability. Perhaps... it may have something to do with her.]
Suho looked at Beru and asked.
"Didn't you say that the Queen of Insects also died in the war?"
[Yes. The monarchs are all dead.]
"What is her name?"
[Queen of Insects, Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha.]
Beru's eyes flashed and he answered immediately.
[A very crazily strong woman.]
"Hmm. So, what kind of ability is it?"
[It's the ability to inject poison into one's body and make it into a host for poisonous insects.]
"Host?"
[Parasitism. To put it nicely, it's just a zombie infested with maggots. However, when those maggots grow, they will be born again as poisonous insects.]
"That's horrible."
Suho raised his head and glared at the swarms of bees that continued to fly.
He looked around again.
The worst thing was that the area was gradually becoming a maze.
Woodvines were just a small part of the brambles that covered Times Square.
As the remaining countless vines wriggled and merged with each other, they turned into a tall and complicated thorn wall that began to separate the hunters.
"It is dangerous to scatter!"
"Come over here quickly!"
The hunters move in a hurry, shocked by the thorn wall that suddenly rose from the floor.
'The situation in the dungeon is getting more and more dire.'
Labyrinth.
A living labyrinth emerged.
The hunters would eventually get lost and scatter from each other.
They never knew when that wall of thorns would suddenly turn into Woodvines and attack them.
In that complex labyrinth, the only one free from getting lost was...
'Those bees.'
Suho's first thought was correct.
They have set foot in a huge beehive, the kingdom of bees.
Suho suddenly thought of the ecology of bees.
The bees were mostly workers who moved under orders.
So that means...
"There must be a main culprit behind them somewhere."
[I think I know.]
Beru responded quickly to Suho's muttering.
"Huh? How?"
[I could actually understand what they're saying.]
"...!"
For some reason, Beru's antennae had been bobbing non-stop since earlier.
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