Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 42

“There were guests who arrived first.”

As soon as he appeared, Suho, who had secured hostages, glanced at the focused gazes on him.

After reading Kim Secretary’s memories and immediately coming to the Star Powder Research Institute, he found that a fierce battle was already taking place here.

“There are about 30 hunters for 10 hostages.”

Every time Suho’s gaze landed on them, the hunters trembled.

The air around them seemed to have stopped, perhaps due to his somewhat shocking appearance.

“Groan….”

The only sound that pierced through the heavy silence was Park Jong-cheol’s groans as he crawled on the ground like a bug, having lost his arms and legs.

“Groan. What are you doing, you bastards! Don’t just stand there like idiots, fight! Fight…!”

Thud!

The hunters from the S-rank guild, who regained their senses only now from Suho’s attack, rushed towards him.

“Yeah, that’s right! He’s just one person!”

“Let’s all attack together!”

“Aaah!”

The attacks that were originally aimed at the association hunters now turned towards Suho in unison.

A 30 vs. 1 battle.

Since the minimum unit of an attack squad was 10, it meant that three attack squads were rushing towards Suho to kill him.

However, Suho had no intention of just taking it quietly.

Suho raised his head and looked at the ceiling.

“The Authority of the Ruler.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Invisible hands exploded the fluorescent lights on the ceiling one by one.

“What, what’s going on!”

Suddenly, when their vision was plunged into darkness, the hunters who were attacking Suho panicked and stopped their steps.

Even for hunters, it took some time to adapt their eyes to the darkness when their vision was suddenly plunged into darkness.

“But I don’t need it.”

Suho immediately pierced through the darkness and flew towards them.

He had come in with the Crow Mask that would illuminate his vision in anticipation of this situation.

Thud! Slash! Slash! Slash!

“Scream!”

“Gah!”

“Kuk!”

Screams erupted from various places in the darkness.

“Be careful! He’s attacking… Ugh!”

In an instant, five of them were drenched in blood and collapsed.

“Use fire!”

Whoosh!

At that moment, someone conjured a fireball that illuminated the surroundings.

However, the figure of the guardian was already gone from that place.

The eyes of the hunters sharpened.

“Find them immediately!”

This laboratory was a sanctuary cherished by Vice President Lee Min-seong.

It would be a waste to let it be plundered by just one intruder from the Assassin Guild.

“Healers, tend to the wounded immediately! Don’t scatter, regroup and fight!”

They moved according to their manual even in this unexpected situation.

After all, they were the minority, and as long as they focused on taking out individual opponents, they had the advantage in numbers.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fireballs continued to rise, pushing back the darkness.

But…

“You are already my prey.”

The eyes of the guardian flashed from the end of the darkness.

“Rise.”

Swoosh!

Shadows stretched out from behind the guardian, with eight legs branching out in all directions.

And the figure that stood up from the ground behind the guardian was…

[Arachne Lv.1]

Knight-class

A massive body with a spider’s abdomen.

Dozens of eyes.

A grotesque mouth.

A pair of giant pincers.

The ‘Tomb Spider Arachne’ that they had captured in the magic field had returned as a shadow spider after death.

[Kkkroaaa!]

Shoaaaak! Shoak-shoak!

Black spider silk spread in all directions.

Shoak-shoak! Shoak-shoak-shoak!

The spider silk stuck to the walls and ceiling, reassembling the entire container building into a spider’s nest.

“What, what is this sticky stuff!”

Suddenly, the spider silk extended to the hunters, reaching out to ensnare them.

[Arachne uses skill: Puppet Show]

“Oh no! My body is moving on its own…!”

Swoosh!

“Snap! Why am I…?”

In an instant, the hunter who had become a puppet of the Arachne unintentionally moved his arm and stabbed his nearby colleague.

Splat.

“Uh-oh?”

The hunter who had become a puppet of the Arachne, bleeding and falling, panicked and waved his arms frantically.

“No, no! It’s not me! This sticky thread is controlling my body…!”

However, his body was already swinging his sword towards another sacrifice.

“What are you doing attacking your own side all of a sudden?”

“It’s not me moving!”

And that’s how it started.

Slash, slash! Slash, slash, slash!

[Arachne uses ‘Skill: Puppet Show of the Marionette.’]

[Arachne uses ‘Skill: Puppet Show of the Marionette.’]

“Ack! I’ve been caught too!”

“Aaah! Scatter!”

“No, don’t scatter! This is their plan!”

“What are we supposed to do then, damn it!”

Dozens of hunters suddenly started swinging their swords at each other.

It was a true melee.

“Cut those damn spider webs first!”

“Don’t be fooled by their skills!”

Snap.

[You have purchased ‘Lesser Healing Potion.’]

In the meantime, Suho purchased a potion from the store and poured it into the mouth of the kindergarten child he was holding.

To think that the one-sided violence of hunters would spread to this small body.

Suho glared fiercely at Park Jong-cheol, who was lying on the ground.

Then a small shadow descended lightly from above.

[To anger the Sovereign Lord….]

Ber’s hand tightly grasped the man’s head.

“Gargh?!”

Park Jong-cheol’s eyes widened as Ber’s expanded pupils transformed into the mouth of a black demon.

[You will not die easily.]

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

“……!”

A silent scream escaped from Park Jong-cheol’s mouth.

Meanwhile, the effects of the potion began to take effect, noticeably improving the condition of the child.

Suho’s gaze turned back to the enemies.

“Arachne.”

[Kruk?]

Arachne, who was flicking hunters away with her large pincers, turned to Suho at his call.

“Capture the healers first.”

The healers were the top priority to eliminate.

Many of them had annoying buff skills in addition to healing skills, which is why Suho intentionally only inflicted critical injuries on the hunters during the first attack, in order to weed out the healers.

As a result, the healers were diligently moving around and generously using their magic on the injured.

[Kku-roa-ak!]

Arachne immediately started attacking the healers she had targeted.

“Protect the healers! Don’t let them harm the healers!”

“Let’s use this opportunity to rescue the other hostages.”

With that thought in mind, Suho turned his gaze towards the prison.

However, the guild hunters were already moving inside.

Their objective was to rescue the hostages from the beginning, so they rushed into the prison without even bothering to find out Suho’s identity.

The problem was that the members of the Reaper Guild also noticed this fact.

“The prisoners are trying to escape! Stop them!”

“Capture the hostages first!”

Roar!

They surrounded the prison.

“Ugh!”

The guild hunters were trapped in the prison with the hostages.

And as if things couldn’t get any worse…

Clang!

“What is this?!”

Just then, the door of the laboratory burst open and reinforcements arrived.

The problem was that the reinforcements were not from the Association, but from the Reaper Guild.

Several dozen hunters who were in another container building heard the commotion and rushed over to this location!

“Ha.”

A sigh escaped from Han Jae-hyuk, the team leader, as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

He murmured in disbelief.

“Can we get out of here alive?”

“Of course.”

“…!”

In response to the sudden answer, Han Jae-hyuk was taken aback and looked sideways.

The crow mask, which had approached outside the iron bars without them realizing.

Suho, who was holding the little kid in his arms, extended the child towards Han Jae-hyuk.

“What kind of power do you have…”

Han Jae-hyuk, who was flustered by Suho’s incredible strength, received the child awkwardly.

Suho restored the bent iron bars to their original position and said to Han Jae-hyuk.

“It’s better this way. Please protect the hostages for now. You can cover any attacks from outside with your shield skill, right?”

“Who are you…”

Before Han Jae-hyuk could finish his sentence, a black spider web flew towards the prison door and bound it tightly from the outside.

Making it impossible to open from both inside and outside.

Han Jae-hyuk looked startled and turned to Suho again.

But Suho was already looking at the approaching enemies with his back turned.

“Just rest here for a moment.”

A wide and sturdy stance.

“It will all be over soon.”

Suho spoke calmly, walking slowly towards the enemies who were now twice as numerous and charging towards him.

If it was just about escaping, it could have been done at any time.

But should he really let these guys live?

Hunters who killed their own kind to protect themselves.

They were no longer human in Suho’s eyes.

Monsters.

No, looking at the villains, Suho vowed.

“I will uproot them from here today.”

That thought was conveyed to someone far away.

“The King of Beasts, Lord Fangtooth, is pleased that the time for hunting has come.”

“Gangshin.”

As soon as Suho spoke.

Swoosh…

Grey, who was in the shadow dungeon, suddenly floated up and began to gradually turn transparent.

“Growl?”

“Huh? Corporealization?”

Esil, who was next to him, immediately recognized the nature of this phenomenon and widened her eyes.

“The spirit of ‘Pet: Grey’ is reincarnating in the body of the priest.”

Grey’s spirit settled on Suho’s body, riding on his shadow.

Shuhwaaack!

At that moment, Suho’s hair turned into a silver-white color, and a beastly energy surged from his entire body.

“…!”

“What, what is that?!”

The messenger guild members were startled by Suho’s sudden transformation.

The imprisoned association hunters had the same reaction.

“Gasp. That’s…!”

“The White Tiger Guild’s…!”

“The King of Beasts, Lord Fangtooth, nods in satisfaction at the transformed appearance of the priest.”

“So this is how it feels.”

Suho looked down at the wild energy surging through his body.

A divine wind filled with magic power wrapped around his body.

“Well, let’s see the power of the priest that you boasted about.”

Suho growled towards Lakan, and at that moment,

“Roar!”

Suho shot out towards the enemies with explosive speed, roaring like a beast.

Kuquaclang!

“Ah!”

…

Gulp.

Team leader Han Jae-hyuk swallowed involuntarily, mesmerized by the scene unfolding before him from behind.

A memory came to his mind.

“Not an ordinary beast.”

He had seen the battle scene of Baek Yun-ho, the guild master of Baekho Guild, from a distance once.

Of course, the aura he felt from the masked man in the crow mask was not on the level of Baek Yun-ho, who was an S-class hunter.

Baek Yun-ho was formidable, like a mountain, and the overwhelming pressure was too terrifying to even recall.

But why…

Why did that memory keep coming back now?

“Beast King Crow…”

“Yes?”

As the name slipped out of Team Leader Han’s mouth, his subordinates looked at him.

Yes, that’s right. Why did it only come to him now?

It was the article he read last night.

The Magok Field.

The Crow Mask.

“…The one who inherited the power of the Beast King.”

Was that the author?

Crunch!

A fierce roar of a beast echoed, shaking his heart.

Beast King Crow was ruthlessly hunting down prey with a giant spider right in front of the hunters from the Association.