Chapter 149
Weeeeng—
A swarm of bees descended from the sky, merging into a single cluster atop Suho’s palm.
It was Queen Bee Arsha.
As soon as she appeared, she gently placed a hand over her chest and bowed in greeting.
[It has been a while, Lord Sung Suho. Have you been well?]
“You’ve gotten smaller since the last time I saw you.”
At Suho’s remark, Arsha responded with a wry smile.
[Yes. My main body has already left this village.]
At present, Arsha was hovering before Suho in a doll-sized form.
[This form is merely a clone, created by gathering the reconnaissance bees that remained in the area.]
“Reconnaissance?”
[Kieeek! I knew it! You’re with the Maeryung Clan!]
Suho’s gaze sharpened as Beru immediately grabbed hold of Arsha’s tiny waist with his powerful grip, growling menacingly.
Due to Arsha’s diminutive size, Beru’s massive figure appeared all the more overwhelming.
Feeling intimidated by Beru’s menacing aura, Arsha hastily defended herself.
[Ah, no! I did consider aligning with them at one point, but our interests did not align, so I severed ties just moments ago.]
“Severed ties?”
[Yes. I never had any intention of being hostile toward Lord Sung Suho…]
“What? She’s one of Querehsha’s kin?!”
At Arsha’s sudden appearance, Esil Radir’s eyes widened in shock.
However, the one most taken aback at this moment was Arsha herself.
While still restrained by Beru’s hand, Arsha gasped upon recognizing Esil.
[…I had my suspicions from afar, but you truly are a Noble Demon. It is an honor to meet such an esteemed figure.]
“Hmph. Well, it should be an honor.”
Esil responded with an air of satisfaction, her lips curling into a smug grin.
She then lifted her chin and haughtily introduced herself.
“I am Esil Radir, eldest daughter of the Radir Family. And who might you be?”
[Ah, so you hail from the Radir Family. I am Queen Bee Arsha.]
“…What are you two doing?”
Suho gave them an exasperated look.
Arsha felt uneasy watching how familiar Suho and Esil seemed with each other.
‘To think that a Noble Demon was still alive…’
This meant that the demon before her was highly likely to become the heir to the Demon King someday.
And that such a significant figure was currently allied with Sung Suho, the heir of the Beast Monarch.
Not only that, but the heir of the Beast Monarch had somehow gained the power of body strengthening…
‘I can’t even begin to comprehend what’s going on.’
It was almost ironic.
How was it that so many different races had all gathered in this tiny remote village?
And among them, Arsha was keenly aware that she was currently the weakest.
‘This village is more trouble than it’s worth.’
She deeply regretted stepping foot in this place in the first place.
Yet, given the circumstances, she had only one option left.
To submit.
Even if her main body had already left this place, it was crucial that she avoided making an enemy of Suho, especially if they were to cross paths again in the future.
[Lord Sung Suho, I truly have done nothing here other than reconnaissance.]
Arsha desperately pleaded her innocence.
And so, she began to recount everything that had happened to her.
[After ‘that day,’ I wandered, trying to stay as far away from you as possible. But that turned out to be much harder than I anticipated.]
The problem began when Suho suddenly declared his intent to become a Guild Master, traveling far and wide to build up his dungeon experience.
By sheer coincidence—or perhaps cruel fate—wherever Arsha moved, Suho happened to visit a dungeon nearby.
For Suho, it was merely a brief stop before moving on, but for Arsha, it was an alarming sign to leave the area as soon as possible.
Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and made a decision.
She would leave for another country—anywhere that Sung Suho was not.
However, there was a problem.
Korea was surrounded on three sides by the sea.
With the fragile wings of bees, crossing the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean to another country was an impossible feat.
[…And sneaking onto a plane was out of the question, as modern aircrafts have heightened security measures to prevent villains from stowing away.]
With no other choice left, Arsha settled on a single remaining option.
North Korea.
[I was simply heading north in an attempt to reach another country. That was when I happened to encounter Harmakan.]
“Harmakan?”
[Yes. Harmakan, the Grand Chief of the Maeryung Clan. At the time, he was executing a plan to strengthen his power using the villains imprisoned at Jisan Penitentiary, and he proposed that I assist in reconnaissance.]
“So you did help him, then.”
Beru tightened his grip around Arsha’s waist, prompting her to hurriedly continue her explanation.
[At first, I thought he was merely planning to use the villains—who deserved death anyway—as sacrificial materials for his sorcery. If I had known things would escalate like this, I never would have gotten involved!]
Arsha was genuinely distressed.
She had already been unfortunate enough to run into Sung Suho while he was dealing with the villain crisis.
And now, if another incident were to arise involving villains, there was no doubt that Suho would come after her again.
[Harmakan initially told me that his plan was to kill the villains at Jisan Penitentiary and use their corpses as materials for his rituals.]
Villains killing innocent civilians was one thing, but the execution of imprisoned criminals? That was something she believed Sung Suho wouldn’t care about.
So she had agreed without hesitation.
What Harmakan wanted from her was simple: to gather intelligence on the prison’s internal situation and monitor the movements of any escaped villains.
[I was only supposed to assist in reconnaissance. In return, he promised to hand over a few villains for me to use in creating new Lancers. But then, it turned out…]
Arsha had assumed that once the villains escaped, Harmakan would slaughter them all.
Some of the villains weren’t killed immediately. Instead, they were kept alive and force-fed Royal Jelly, transforming them into Lancers for a new queen bee.
However, that plan fell apart the moment the villains escaped en masse.
[Harmakan prefers souls that are even more corrupted by evil.]
To make his sorcery even stronger, Harmakan sought to further taint the villains’ souls.
And accomplishing that was incredibly simple.
Since Hwang Dongseok, their leader, was an exceptionally greedy villain, all it took was a little whispered temptation to push him into action.
The moment Hwang Dongseok and his gang of villains escaped and reached the nearby village, they unleashed their long-suppressed desires without restraint.
The scene that followed was utterly horrific.
The moment Awakened Beings—people with supernatural abilities—freed themselves from the constraints of the law…
It was nothing short of hell on earth.
[This village is already steeped in Harmakan’s sorcery. And that spell only served to further ignite the villains’ desires.]
Hearing Arsha’s words, Suho slowly turned his head to the side.
The villains who had not yet been executed averted their eyes in fear.
At first, they were intrigued by Arsha’s sudden appearance.
But the moment she started recounting their atrocities in detail, a deep sense of dread settled over them.
Of course, these villains had managed to avoid execution by Kang Taeshik, the Shadow Assassin, meaning they weren’t the ones who had directly committed the worst of the atrocities in this village.
But that didn’t mean they were innocent.
They had still wreaked havoc and destroyed property.
The only reason they hadn’t committed outright murder was simply because…
Instead of killing, they had spent their time gorging themselves at local restaurants and bars, indulging in all the food and alcohol they had been deprived of while imprisoned.
_Swish._
[Shall I just kill them all?]
Noticing Suho’s gaze, Kang Taeshik smirked and raised his dagger, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
The villains’ faces instantly drained of color.
“Wait.”
Suho raised a hand, stopping Kang Taeshik.
“From now on, no more killing.”
[…Understood.]
Kang Taeshik immediately lowered his dagger, complying without question.
But Suho’s decision wasn’t made out of mercy.
“It seems that the more people die in this village, the stronger the Maeryung Clan’s sorcery becomes.”
[As expected, Lord Sung Suho is truly remarkable! To see through the core of Harmakan’s sorcery so quickly!]
Arsha was genuinely impressed.
The evil sorcery of the Maeryung Clan, which played with souls like toys, was extremely complex magic that other races found difficult to decipher.
Even Arsha only knew about it because Harmakan explained it to her—simply witnessing it wasn’t enough to understand its full mechanics.
But for Suho, it wasn’t difficult.
From earlier, he had been seeing unfamiliar system messages floating above the corpses of the fallen villains.
> [Soul extraction is impossible. No soul detected.]
> [Soul extraction is impossible. No soul detected.]
> [Soul extraction is impossible. No soul detected.]
Their missing souls had undoubtedly fallen into Harmakan’s hands.
And considering Arsha’s earlier statement—that Harmakan was harvesting the villains’ souls for his ritual—
It didn’t take long for Suho to reach a conclusion.
‘The more people who die in this place, the stronger Harmakan’s sorcery will become.’
[Lord Sung Suho, if you trust me, I can lead you out of this village safely.]
Sensing the danger, Arsha quickly offered to guide him to an escape route.
Even if the village was shrouded in Maeryung Clan’s illusions, Arsha had already evacuated her main body from here. She knew the way out.
But—
“No.”
Suho firmly rejected her offer.
It wasn’t that he distrusted her.
“It’s times like these when you should push straight through.”
Suho’s eyes gleamed as he gazed ahead.
There, he could already see Harmakan’s soldiers approaching.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
A battalion of hollow suits of armor marched forward, filled with an eerie, flickering dark aura.
Just looking at them sent shivers down one’s spine.
“W-What the hell are those?!”
The villains who had surrendered to Suho turned pale at the sight of the oncoming army.
But—
Suho was the opposite.
> [Death Knight]
> [Death Knight]
> [Death Knight]
> …
Seeing the names hovering above their heads, Suho’s lips curled into a grin.
“Harmakan… turns out, you’re not such a bad guy after all.”
[A rather considerate fellow, indeed.]
Beru also let out a sinister chuckle.
Suho suddenly gave Esil a brief glance.
Noticing his signal, Esil swiftly withdrew.
She knew that from here on, this was no longer her fight.
“Creating monsters from the souls of villains who weren’t even good for EXP…”
Suho grinned meaningfully as he raised his dual blades and charged forward alongside Gray.
“Krurgh!”
It was time to level up.
CRASH!
At that moment—
Two massive hands erupted from the ground beneath Suho’s feet.
They tore through the surrounding buildings and swung down at him with immense force.
KWAANG!
“What a fascinating trick.”
Suho had made his choice.
And that is, to break straight through.
