Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 23

“Captain!”

A voice called out urgently from the front of the raiding party.

“We found a human corpse!”

“A corpse?”

The raiding party captain, who had been conversing with Su-ho, quickly returned to his hunters.

Upon seeing the body, his eyes widened.

“It’s really a corpse?”

“But this… it doesn’t look like an ordinary corpse.”

The hunters’ expressions grew tense.

The state of the body was indeed unusual.

It was completely charred, blackened as if it had been turned into charcoal. This was particularly unnatural for the Seoul Station Field.

“I’ve never heard of any beasts that use fire here in Seoul Station…”

“Exactly.”

At that moment, Su-ho also approached with the collectors to examine the state of the body.

‘Huh?’

Su-ho’s eyes glinted with recognition.

The condition of the corpse seemed very familiar to him.

Then, he turned to look at Instructor Im, who also had a serious expression, as if he had thought of the same thing.

“Su-ho, could this corpse be…?”

“Yes. It looks like a Mistborne.”

Su-ho nodded confidently.

Hearing this, the raiding party hunters all turned their attention to Su-ho simultaneously.

“Mistborne?”

“The blue-flaming beast?”

“Are you sure?”

Unless they were from a major guild, hunters weren’t familiar with every type of beast.

“I’m certain.”

After the Korea University incident, Su-ho had looked up information on Mistborne on the internet.

And he had discovered something surprising.

Mistborne… was not an ordinary beast.

No, it wasn’t even a beast to begin with.

Su-ho calmly repeated the information he had read back then.

“Mistborne. A phenomenon where non-awakened individuals ignite after inhaling a certain amount of the blue mist.”

“W-what?!”

“Mistborne were originally humans?”

Some of the less experienced hunters were unaware of this fact.

It made sense since the Hunter Association had only recently uncovered the truth about Mistborne.

It was well-known that Mistborne attacked humans to create more of their kind.

But how the first Mistborne came to be had been a mystery.

Suddenly, one of the hunters seemed to realize something and muttered to himself.

“Wait. If that’s really how Mistborne are created, then what about the rumor that you can awaken by inhaling the blue mist?”

“Obviously a false rumor. Or the information about Mistborne might have been distorted.”

– “You can awaken by inhaling the blue mist.”

This rumor had been circulating the internet like an urban legend for over a year now.

But no one had yet proven it to be true.

‘…Probably because everyone who tried it as an experiment burned to death.’

In any case, that wasn’t the issue at the moment.

“So, how did this corpse… end up down here?”

That was the real question the hunters had.

They were currently on the fourth basement level of Seoul Station.

The idea that a non-awakened individual could have made it down here, past all the lizards, was ridiculous.

Similarly, the idea that someone turned into a Mistborne on the first floor and then walked all the way down here seemed equally unlikely.

If anything, they would have gone outside the station to burn living people, not descend into this monster-infested area.

“Captain! Over here, too!”

A short distance away, another corpse was discovered.

Its state was the same as the first—charred remains of a Mistborne.

“Here, too!”

The hunters continued to find several more bodies.

The more they found, the grimmer the captain’s expression became.

‘…Something’s off.’

As the person responsible for the hunters’ safety, he couldn’t just ignore such strange occurrences.

But stopping the hunt over something like this seemed excessive; after all, they had only found a few corpses.

Moreover, with their current numbers, they could handle dozens of Mistborne if they appeared.

“For now… let’s continue hunting.”

With that, the hunt resumed.

“Su-ho.”

Instructor Im approached Su-ho with a worried expression.

“I’ll tell you this now.”

“Tell me what?”

“If things get dangerous, I’m going to run first.”

“…?”

[Ha, what kind of honorable coward is this?]

Both Su-ho and Beru looked at Instructor Im in disbelief.

But Instructor Im was completely serious.

“You know I have a sprinting skill, right? If anything happens, use your summons to escape. I’ll run on my own.”

Even as he spoke, he continued to glance around nervously.

Su-ho looked at him and asked, “So, Instructor… you’re certain something is going to happen?”

“No. It’d be great if nothing happened. But…”

Instructor Im eventually let out a deep sigh and shared his thoughts.

“The truth is… my mother was killed by a Mistborne.”

“…”

“And then she became a Mistborne herself and tried to kill me.”

“…”

“So, I’m terrified of Mistborne. It feels like my mother is trying to kill me again.”

Su-ho had no words of comfort to offer for his lament.

—

**Meanwhile.**

“Aaaahhhhhhh!”

From deep within Seoul Station, a horrific scream echoed out.

“It’s burning…!”

“Aaaaah! Aaaaahhh! Aaaahhhhh!”

Whoosh!

A group of people writhed in agony, chained down, their bodies engulfed in blue flames.

“Please, save us! We swear we didn’t see anything! We didn’t see a thing…!”

Behind them, those who had not yet caught fire were sobbing, begging for their lives.

Pure terror.

Desperate pleas in the face of madness.

None of it made sense.

Why did they have to suffer like this?

…But there was no one to answer their questions.

Naturally.

There was no reason to begin with.

They were just incredibly unlucky.

For that reason alone, they were being burned alive.

“Does it hurt that much?”

A group of onlookers was watching their suffering with a detached curiosity.

“Hmm. It should be hotter, actually. The flames aren’t as strong as they should be.”

Men dressed in pitch-black robes and wearing masks observed casually.

Their faces were hidden behind raven masks, like something out of a medieval movie.

“Hey, can’t we make the flames stronger?”

“We’re running low on fuel.”

“Ugh, it’s always the fuel that’s the problem. Can’t we get more?”

“Since the Hyenas got caught, it’s been tough…”

“Man, nothing’s going right.”

The raven-masked men grumbled leisurely.

Meanwhile, the screams, which seemed like they would never end, abruptly stopped.

In their place, something was tied up…

[Kraaaa!]

A Mistborne.

A monstrous blue smoke creature roared menacingly, its core a charred corpse.

[Kyaaah!]

“Oh, hello to you, too.”

The raven masks waved nonchalantly, donning thick gloves with practiced ease.

“Alright, let’s get to work before the fire goes out.”

“What should we do with the spent ones?”

At that moment, a raven mask standing in the corner raised a hand.

Next to him were the remains of the Mistborne whose fire had already burned out.

“Ah, right, those. We’ll handle the work here, so take them far away and dump them.”

“Understood.”

“You know not to dump them nearby, right?”

“Of course. Heave-ho.”

The raven mask loaded the Mistborne remains onto a cart.

As he pulled the cart out, he grumbled to himself.

“Ugh. What a hassle. Where do I dump these now? Honestly, I’d love to just pile them up near the factory.”

“Hey, if you do that, they’ll find this place! Dump them as far away as possible!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

The raven mask shrugged his shoulders and disappeared into the darkness, dragging the cart with a squeak.

The other raven masks watched him leave and clicked their tongues in disapproval.

“Always trying to cut corners.”

“Even so, he’s good at his job. Alright, let’s get started.”

“Yes, sir. Commencing the 13th Stardust operation.”

At that moment, the raven masks’ eyes turned exceedingly cautious.

And behind them, the eyes of the people chained up were filled with desperation.

‘Please save us.’

‘Anyone, please… save us…’

They prayed and prayed.

But their voices never reached the heavens.

—

[Eh?]

Suddenly, Beru’s antennae twitched.

He turned his head and stared intently into the dark subway tunnel.

[Young Lord.]

“I feel it too.”

Su-ho was also looking in the same direction with narrowed eyes.

‘Is it because my Perception stat has increased?’

—

**Information**

**Perception**: A stat that enhances the five senses. Increases danger detection ability.

—

In the darkness of the long subway tracks, they could feel an eerie presence lurking somewhere deep within the tunnel.

‘This is chilling.’

Even without seeing it, he knew.

Something powerful was hiding in that darkness.

The first thought that came to mind was the presence of a boss.

But the Seoul Station Field was an old dungeon, having existed for over a year.

This meant that any profitable bosses had long been hunted by other Hunters.

As a result, the only beasts left were the lizards, numerous and prolific.

‘If it’s not a boss, then what is this presence?’

Su-ho looked at the raiding party Hunters, who were busy hunting the lizards.

‘Could it be that I’m the only one who’s noticed this blatant malevolence?’

And that malevolence was watching them from the darkness.

Like an eagle eyeing its prey from high above.

And its target was the noisy raiding party Hunters.

And then…

“The fuel has come right to us.”

A voice suddenly muttered from the darkness.

Whoosh!

“…!”

Su-ho and Beru’s eyes widened as they shouted in unison.

“Get down!”

[Enemy attack!]

Boom!

“…!”

An explosion erupted.

And something cloaked in a black robe appeared there.

A figure wearing a raven mask.

But no one thought it was a human.

Protruding from beneath the black robe was the grotesquely swollen arm of a monster.

“A humanoid beast!”

At the captain’s shout, the Hunters quickly reformed their line.

“Oh, you dodged that?”

The raven mask slowly stood up, pulling his fist from the tunnel floor.

“Not bad.”

Crack.

His grotesque hand crushed the cement debris.

And then—

Whoosh.

The figure disappeared from everyone’s sight.

“…!”

The startled Hunters frantically searched for the figure.

But it was too late.

‘Deal with the troublesome healer first.’

Swoosh!

The figure suddenly reappeared behind them, his enormous fist aiming for the captain’s unguarded back.

Realizing it too late, the captain’s eyes widened in shock.

And then—

Flash!

“…!”

The raven mask’s eyes widened in surprise.

Suddenly, someone had jumped in front of him to block the attack.

Splurt!

Black blood spurted like a fountain.

“Heh.”

Su-ho, who had blocked the attack with ‘Horn of Volkan,’ glared at him from beneath the blood spray.

“Well, what do we have here?”

The raven mask’s lips twisted into a wicked grin.