Chapter 64

Dozens of Contaminated Lancers immediately launched their attacks.

“Strike! Our numbers are plenty!”

“Don’t spare those who dared to betray our queen!”

The first group of lancers Suho had slain may have underestimated him and let their guard down, but the situation was entirely different now.

[Shadow Lancer – Normal Grade]

Regardless, they were now reborn as Shadow Lancers. The fallen lancers were identical to the incoming enemy except for their color.

The host of Contaminated Lancers saw that their former comrades had sided with Suho. The insects steeled their resolve to avoid such a fate, knowing that there was no room for complacency.

“Go ahead and resist all you want.” Suho’s eyes shone intensely as he stood between his new shadow soldiers. “I’ll make you betray your queen too.”

The Shadow Lancers strode past their new master, crossing their two spears. They clashed with their living counterparts in a battle at the end of the labyrinth. Their tremendous speeds sent staggering shockwaves in all directions, and eerie roars of beasts echoed through the air.

The thorn walls repeatedly crumbled and rose again, unable to withstand the impact, but new vines continuously encircled Suho’s lancers at every turn. Being an evenly matched contest, the scene was indescribably gruesome and brutal.

The lancers were created solely for offense, so the concept of defense was nonexistent from the start. They wielded not one, but two spears, and they used them to ruthlessly pierce and slaughter their foes. Being faster than the opponent meant dealing with death while being a step late meant losing their own life. The spear itself embodied both of these outcomes.

But Suho’s Shadow Lancers were different. Their evolution had reached a point of combat perfection. They were now indestructible spears that no longer needed defense, regenerating after every critical blow. Of course, their regeneration depended on Suho’s mana, but they no longer needed to fear death.

Their holes from the other lancer’s spears were filled by a dark shadow, and any detached heads returned in a wisp of smoke and reattached themselves to their bodies.

As the battle continued, the Contaminated Lancers couldn’t help but be astonished.

“What in the world...!”

Hovering over the Times Square field, the Contaminated Hornets had been communicating the activities of all hunters who had entered the field through their intricate signals to the lancers. Thanks to that, the lancers thought they had sufficient information about Suho’s capabilities, but they now realized that they were mistaken.

They were aware of his ability to summon unusual creatures, but his lack of experience, having awakened only a month ago, made them confident of victory. They expected the rookie to crumble in an unexpected situation and were ready to swoop in and sever his vulnerable neck.

Throughout the day, Suho was repeatedly told that he was a rookie who had awakened less than a month ago. But unbeknownst to the others, he had faced more real battles than anyone else, so he knew how to get the most value out of his skills.

His strategy for the battle was extremely simple—concentrated strikes with maximum efficiency.

Take them down one by one.

His five lancers rushed toward a single enemy simultaneously and thrust their spears.

It was a reckless move, one that was open to significant damage, and his lancers couldn’t escape unscathed. But they had gained far more than they had lost.

[Contaminated Lancer has been defeated.]

“Arise.”

[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]

The sixth soldier emerged, rising before Suho.

“Now there’s six.”

With one more soldier, the Shadow Lancers launched another coordinated attack in search of new comrades.

[Contaminated Lancer has been defeated.]

[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]

“Seven.”

Another one.

“Eight.”

[Contaminated Lancer has been defeated.]

[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]

[Contaminated Lancer has been defeated.]

[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]

“Ack! Stop getting up!” one of the enemy lancers cried.

Suho chuckled as he extracted more shadow soldiers to do his bidding. “Fifteen.”

The living lancers looked around in astonishment. Before they knew it, the number of Shadow Lancers surrounding them had become equal to their own.

The largest and most powerful knight leading the Contaminated Lancers glared at Suho, grinding their teeth. “What kind of sorcery is this? How can you control insects? Have you come here seeking the relic?”

“The relic?” Suho repeated.

“You disgust me! Don’t play dumb with me, boy!”

Suho was genuinely confused.

So... there’s a relic, huh?

I wonder what kind of relic it is...

Suddenly, the name Beru had mentioned came to mind.

The Queen of Insects and the Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha.

“Are you talking about Querehsha’s relic?”

“You even know her name! There’s no doubt you’ve come to claim the relic. Do you wish to become the queen bee?”

“Um... Why would I want to become a queen?”

He was happy his guess was right, but he couldn’t fathom why the beast thought he’d want to be the queen bee when he was obviously a man. But he decided to play along with the lancer’s story rather than deal with the inconvenience of explaining it to him.

“Fine, I guess I could be queen. Anyway, where is Querehsha’s relic? Does your current queen have it?

“You call that a question?! No one but our queen can inherit Querehsha’s legacy!”

“I guess lover boy here has been hit by Cupid’s arrow.” Beru chuckled.

Bees and ants shared many similarities, including a society centered around a queen. Devoted workers, willing to gather food even at the cost of their lives, obeyed the queen’s commands.

However, the existence of a queen held a slightly different meaning for Beru. While he was born from a queen ant, Beru was not a worker but a king, destined to rule from the beginning. He wasn’t one of the humble workers loyal to the queen. He was the Ant King, capable of standing tall beyond the queen’s influence.

Of course, he was now serving a greater, more noble king—Sung Jinwoo. But Beru never forgot his identity as the Ant King, and this was why he didn’t see the value of toiling under a queen bee.

The insects had felt his aura and left him alone. So, Beru, who was barely the size of a palm, had been leisurely floating in the air even before the start of the battle, seemingly enjoying the spectacle. None of the Contaminated Lancers dared to approach his vicinity, despite looking defenseless and fragile. The insects’ instinct for survival warned them that bothering the ant was likely to lead to sinister consequences.

“Young Monarch,” Beru said.

As the ant approached Suho, all of the lancers suddenly began trembling with hesitation and to an abrupt halt.

For a while now, Beru had been eavesdropping on information from the hornets buzzing around, tapping into their conversations with his feelers.

“It seems that the hunters on the other side are in danger.”

Currently, Suho could summon a maximum of twenty soldiers and half of them had been guarding the other hunters. However, as Suho started summoning new soldiers on his side, the number of shadow mummies on the other side diminished accordingly. But that wasn’t the only problem.

Suho had also noticed that an unknown green mist was slowly emanating from the thorny vines forming this intricate labyrinth—the release of the paralysis toxin in their thorns.

The toxin was mixing with the existing blue mist that was already permeating throughout the entire field. Eventually, the green mist began to poison Suho with his every breath.

At that moment, a system message appeared in front of him.

[Harmful substances have been detected.]

[Blessing: Effect of “Immortality” has initiated Detoxification.]

[3, 2, 1... Detoxification has been completed.]

What a great effect.

Suho felt he owed the Grand Spellscaster Kandiaru some words of gratitude.

However, the toxic mist was extremely fatal for the other hunters

I’ll stop by to the other side before facing the queen bee.

Fortunately, gas masks were being sold in the store window, and being a fairly ordinary item, the price was reasonable. Also, there were enough magic beast corpses to sell for Suho to recoup the gold spent on the masks.

Meanwhile, seeing Suho inhale the toxic fog without any apparent difficulty left the lancers confused.

“Who in the world is this guy...?!”

But they aimed their spears at Suho with a confident gleam in their eyes.

“What’s your relationship with the Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha?!”

“We’re complete strangers, as far as I know...”

The awkward misunderstanding deepened, somehow, regardless of Suho’s intentions.

He knew better not to judge a book by its cover, but the insect beasts before him didn’t seem like the sharpest tools in the shed.

Seeing the funny side of things, Beru deliberately fueled their misunderstanding. “And what are you going to do if there is a relationship? Our Young Monarch is impervious to any venom you might have!”

“Wait... He’s a Monarch too?”

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Does that mean you have already acquired a relic?!”

They wondered if there were other relics out there besides the one their queen had obtained. But they questioned how a mere human had come into possession of a relic of the Monarch of Plagues. However, they concluded that Suho was no ordinary human due to his display of unexplainable power.

They realized that the information about him being a novice hunter, who had awakened just over a month ago, was clearly wrong. Nothing else explained why they were being dominated by a C-rank hunter—and a summoner at that. The answer was simple: the human had been concealing his identity and power from the start.

Their conclusion was full of misconceptions, but the lancers didn’t know any better. They aimed their spears fiercely at Suho and began channeling all of their power into their bodies with determination.

“There’s no turning back...” a lancer said.

“We’ll stop you! Even if it means we must sacrifice our lives!” another shouted.

In their eyes, if the human had obtained another relic, they had to find a way to kill him immediately before he reached their queen. His existence posed a significant obstacle to her quest to become a Monarch.

“You and all the other hunters who have come!”

“You will all die!”

The tremendous aura they projected was intense enough to make Suho’s skin prickle as they charged viciously toward Suho.

But there was something amiss. They stared intently into the poisonous mist, but it was so thick that nothing could be seen beyond it. Their spear tips, exhausted from the effort, came to a halt as they encountered a solid barrier they were unable to pierce through.

What’s going on?!

That was their last thought as their consciousness was abruptly ended.

***

Meanwhile, the hunters on the other side of the vine wall were in a dire situation.

“I’m starting to lose feeling...”

They couldn’t escape the poisonous mist.

If only we knew about this mist! I would have brought a gas mask at least,

a hunter thought.

Everything had been a miscalculation. They had become complacent due to the three B-rank hunters protecting them in a C-grade dungeon.

“Hold on just a little longer! I’ve already contacted the guild!” a hunter shouted.

Not too far away from their location, the reinforcements from the White Tiger Guild finally arrived at the Times Square Field.

“Is this the place?” Miho furrowed her brows.