Chapter 158

Shadow Dungeon.

A silent world of respite composed of black and white.

At this very moment, an unexpected buzz of wings filled the stillness.

Bzzzzzz—

[…Truly remarkable.]

Queen Bee Arsha murmured in admiration as she wandered through the Shadow Dungeon.

[So this is the world ruled by the Shadow Monarch?]

Surprisingly, she was now inside the Shadow Dungeon in her true form.

Although her conversation with Suho had been briefly interrupted by Baek Yunho’s sudden intrusion, Suho had eventually summoned Arsha’s true form before him.

Since she had no means to defy Suho’s command, she had no choice but to obey.

As a result—her true body was now confined within the Shadow Dungeon.

In other words, she was a hostage.

Or rather, a prisoner.

Essentially, unless Suho granted her permission, she could no longer leave the Shadow Dungeon.

However, she still had her avatar outside. Through it, she could observe the outside world to some extent.

But that was all.

With her true body trapped here, she could no longer exert her full power.

At best, she could only carry out reconnaissance.

‘…But perhaps this isn’t entirely bad.’

While she had felt oppressed under Suho’s authority, Arsha found herself unexpectedly content with her new situation.

‘It’s definitely oppressive, but the benefits aren’t half bad.’

Her ultimate goal, of course, was to inherit the power of Querehsha, the Plague Monarch, and become the ruler of all insects.

But before that, her highest priority was simply survival.

And in that regard, the Shadow Dungeon was the safest place she could be.

‘More than anything, I like that I don’t have to pretend anymore.’

That fact alone made her current situation feel tolerable.

In the past, she had drifted through dimensional rifts until she stumbled upon Earth. To blend in, she disguised herself as a human and assimilated into human society.

She played the role of a human, catering to their whims.

But it wasn’t adaptation—it was parasitism.

It was humiliating.

She, a queen bee, had to stoop so low as to impersonate mere humans.

No matter how powerful she was, she couldn’t take on the entire human race.

So, she had sought to build an army—one strong enough that she would no longer have to hide.

She had aimed to reign as a true queen.

But now, none of that mattered.

Inside the Shadow Dungeon, she no longer needed to put on an act.

That alone was enough to make her satisfied.

Of course, there was one unsettling issue.

Suho.

With her true body imprisoned here, he could kill her at any moment if he wished.

— I can kill you whenever I want. But as long as you don’t displease me, I won’t.

[…This should be fine, right?]

A highly unfair and one-sided agreement.

Remembering Suho’s words, Arsha felt a slight tremor of unease in her gaze.

But what choice did she have?

At this point, all she could do was make sure she never got on Suho’s bad side.

After all, even when she was outside, she had been running for her life, trying to avoid him.

[Hmm. This place should do.]

After wandering around the Shadow Dungeon for a while, Arsha suddenly halted.

She had arrived at a spot a little away from Ammit’s Pyramid, at the farthest corner of the Shadow Dungeon.

Surveying her surroundings with a satisfied smile, Arsha stretched out her hand.

[Take flight, my worker bees.]

Bzzzzzz—

At her command, the swarm of bees that had entered the dungeon with her took off from her body.

Then, Arsha solemnly declared to them,

[By the name of Queen Bee Arsha, I command you. Work diligently, my workers. Let us build our new kingdom here.]

Bzzzzzz—

Since things had come to this, Arsha decided she might as well build a comfortable palace for herself in the corner of the Shadow Dungeon.

After all, beehives were primarily made from her own magic, and she could gather the remaining materials from the surrounding area.

And so, before long—

The foundations of a beehive began to take shape.

However, perhaps due to her long years of living as a human—

Rather than resembling a simple beehive, her royal chamber was beginning to look more like an elegant princess’ bedroom.

[Hehehe. This is good. Very good. Let’s put the bed here. A queen-sized one should do. And over here, we need a tea table and a sofa…]

Her worker bees buzzed energetically, working hard to fulfill her very detailed orders.

Arsha couldn’t hide her delight.

Then, a sudden thought crossed her mind.

‘Maybe… living like this wouldn’t be so bad… Wait, what am I thinking?’

Realizing she was having thoughts unbefitting of a queen, Arsha quickly shook them off.

But deep down, she knew the truth.

A queen bee’s entire life revolved around staying in a safe place while leaving all the tedious and dangerous work to her workers.

Feeling unexpectedly grateful to Suho for providing her with such a comfortable haven, Arsha extended her consciousness to her worker bees scattered across Korea.

And the message she sent them was the very task Suho had assigned her.

— My worker bees! Find Hwang Dongsoo at once!

Yes.

Suho hadn’t entrusted the search only to the Baekho Guild—he was also utilizing Arsha’s worker bees to track down Hwang Dongsoo.

Bzzzzzz—

At their queen’s command, Arsha’s worker bees intensified their search, spreading out across every corner of the country.

While Arsha was busy constructing her beehive—

Suho had just finished his daily quest and was stepping out of Ammit’s Pyramid.

[You have worked hard, my lord.]

As Beru greeted him, Suho’s Shadow Soldiers gathered behind him.

Suho’s gaze turned toward them.

Aside from Beru, Suho had currently stored a total of five Shadow Soldiers.

– Shadow Lancer Quay.
– Shadow Minotaur Mino.
– Shadow Minotaur Tau.
– Shadow Assassin Kira.
– Shadow Shaman Harmakan.

Among them, the strongest was undoubtedly Harmakan, who was ranked as an Elite Knight.

However, based on Suho’s own experience fighting him, Harmakan’s specialty was primarily sorcery.

That meant if he wanted to maximize Harmakan’s usefulness, he needed to have a thorough understanding of his abilities.

“Harmakan, tell me about your powers.”

[Yes, my lord.]

Harmakan’s response followed, neatly summarized into three major categories:

1) Necromancy.
2) Curses (Debuffs).
3) Instance Dungeon Activation.

[However, the necromantic arts only work when the souls of the dead are present in the vicinity.]

“So, there’s a situational restriction to its usage.”

[That is correct.]

Suho recalled the time when Harmakan had used the spirits of the dead in Yamiri Village to unleash devastating attacks.

Back then, he had utilized human souls.

But in dungeons, it seemed plausible to use beast-type monsters as materials for his necromantic spells.

‘Still, necromancy overlaps with Shadow Extraction.’

Strictly speaking, the Shadow Authority was a far superior power compared to necromancy.

“In that case, I’ll just convert strong beasts into Shadow Soldiers, while using the leftover small fry as fodder for necromancy.”

[I will keep that in mind. Also, regarding the curses I use—]

“Ah, I’d rather see them for myself.”

[……?]

Harmakan sensed something ominous in Suho’s grin and quickly scanned his surroundings.

That’s when he realized—

The other Shadow Soldiers had already formed a circle around him.

[M-My lord?]

“Everyone, attack.”

[……!]

ROOOOAAAR!

The moment the command was given, the Shadow Soldiers rushed at Harmakan in a coordinated assault.

[Th-This is absurd!]

Panicking, Harmakan immediately retaliated with his curses.

As soon as he did, system messages flashed before Suho’s eyes.

[Harmakan has used ‘Skill: Damage Amplification.’]

[Harmakan has used ‘Skill: Drain.’]

[Harmakan has used ‘Skill: Thorns of Agony.’]

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to see.”

Suho nodded as he confirmed the effectiveness of the curses he had personally faced before.

‘Damage Amplification is a debuff. Drain absorbs HP. Thorns of Agony reflects damage.’

These were quite interesting abilities no matter how many times he saw them.

In a game-like analogy, Harmakan was a debuff-focused necromancer.

And just like in games, a debuffer was only effective when paired with allies who could capitalize on his effects.

Right now, however, his debuffs were practically useless—because there were no undead minions to attack his opponents.

[Kuaaaahk!]

As a result, Harmakan was left completely defenseless, taking an unrelenting beating from the Shadow Soldiers.

It was a pitiful sight for someone of Elite Knight rank.

However—

Among the curses, one in particular stood out.

[All pain and damage received by Harmakan will now be shared with the attacker.]

BOOOM!

[……!]

At that moment, Kira, who had been relentlessly attacking, was suddenly blown back, his body partially exploding from the impact.

Although Harmakan also suffered from the effect, Kira—being relatively weaker in defensive power—was the one who collapsed first.

Seeing this, Suho let out a chuckle.

“This doesn’t seem like a necromancer… more like a tank?”

But what if…

Suho suddenly thought of a new approach.

“Harmakan, can you cast Thorns of Agony on everyone?”

[K-Kuaargh! Y-Yes! I can!]

Even as he was being pummeled, Harmakan earnestly responded to Suho’s question.

“Then apply it to all the soldiers!”

[Harmakan has used ‘Skill: Thorns of Agony.’]

The moment the skill was activated, a dark aura enveloped every Shadow Soldier.

This time, instead of focusing their attacks on Harmakan, Suho gave a different command.

“Now, attack each other.”

[……?]

KRAAAAH!

SHAAA!

SLAASH! SLASH!

BOOM! BOOM!

The battlefield erupted into complete chaos.

It seemed the Shadow Soldiers had plenty of pent-up grudges, as they immediately turned on each other with full force.

And since every soldier was under Thorns of Agony, the moment they attacked, they also took damage themselves.

What unfolded was an absolute bloodbath—

Even as their bodies exploded from the reflected damage, they continued attacking without hesitation, resembling berserk warriors rather than soldiers.

[What a bunch of cockroaches.]

Watching this madness unfold from afar, Queen Bee Arsha clicked her tongue before retreating to continue building her hive.

Swish!

Meanwhile, Suho’s mana was rapidly draining.

However, as fast as the Shadow Soldiers broke apart, they were just as quickly restored.

Seeing this, Suho’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

“This is really useful.”

Since Thorns of Agony inflicted reflected damage, it had exceptional synergy with the Shadow Soldiers.

After all, the Shadow Soldiers could recover infinitely as long as Suho had enough mana.

Of course, there was one major condition—

Suho needed to have sufficient mana to sustain them.

“……Looks like I need to invest in Intelligence Stats.”

Without hesitation, Suho immediately allocated all of his Daily Quest rewards into Intelligence.