Chapter 52: Chapter 51

[Shadow release is possible on this target.]

A black shadow began to wriggle from the Poisoned-Tooth Sand Centipede's corpse.

[Tries to release shadow.]

[Attempting to release...]

Kihyaaaaa!

In the shadows, the fangs of a giant centipede moved to reach out.

However.

Ring!

A notification popped up with the sound of metal snapping.

[Shadow release failed.]

[You have two more chances left.]

'Failed?'

Suho gritted his teeth.

'Is it because I'm lacking?'

The shadow fragment skill had a chance of failure.

It was clearly stated in the skill window that the probability of release failure increases in proportion to the target's ability level, and in fact, the poisonous sand centipede was far stronger than Suho.

'Honestly, I didn't even kill it myself.'

In order to catch this one, Suho used all the means and methods he had.

He was even more desperate.

'Two chances left...'

After taking a deep breath, Suho calmly attempted the second release.

"Arise."

Ring!

[Shadow release failed.]

[You have one more chance left.]

"..."

Suho gulped.

Now one last time.

Kihyaaaaa!

The sand centipede was struggling to get out of the black smoke with its countless legs even at that moment.

'Do you want to come out too?'

Suho's eyes softened.

'Do it.'

'Let's defeat the enemies side by side.'

Suho solemnly stretched out his hand in front of the giant corpse.

"Arise!"

Krrrk!

The sand centipede roared and stepped out of the black smoke.

That was just the beginning.

Numerous legs came out to stand on the ground and raise its body.

The black smoke began to weave the unfinished body.

[Shadow release succeeded.]

"Nice!"

Suho was delighted.

[?? Lv.1]

Knight Class

Soon, a huge sand centipede made of black steam appeared in front of Suho.

[Kiyaaaaaaah!]

[...!]

Esil had escaped from Vulcan's Horns before she knew it. She trembled and took a step backward.

Gray, who also just in time fell from Suho's body, curled up and hid behind Esil.

Suho recalled the memory of the battle and swallowed hard.

'Now, this monster is mine.'

Ring!

[Names can be given to soldiers of knight class or higher.]

[The given name will be maintained until the shadow disappears.]

[Please specify the soldier's name.]

Giving it a name was not the important thing at that moment.

They still had a job to finish.

[Shadow Centipede Lv.1]

Knight Class

"Let's go."

Suho roughly decided on the monster's name and got on its back.

"W-Wait...! Me, too!"

"Hnnggg!"

Esil hurriedly hugged Gray and jumped onto the shadow centipede following Suho.

Suho smiles at that.

He turned his gaze and glared at the depths of the labyrinth.

"Good. Should we go now?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Randolph continued to run through the labyrinth with a small group of men.

"M-Mr. Randolph!"

"No more mummies are following us...!"

Chuck.

Randolph stopped walking and looked at his men who were running out of stamina.

"Tsk. Weak things."

He kicked his tongue at his subordinates who fell behind.

"Well, they're strong guys anyway, so they'll come after me somehow. Let's keep moving!"

"Y-Yes!"

Their speed slowed down.

They were now moving carefully step by step.

Randolph walked down the endless hallway, staring in all directions.

"... Why did the mummies disappear?"

"Maybe we are almost at the end?"

"Hmm."

A small smile crept across Randolph's lips.

They found writing in the pyramid.

Let there be light in the future of the challenger.

"Now, we are the only challengers left."

He surely believed that the artifact will be theirs.

"Search all over!"

"Yep!"

"There's surely something."

The Scavenger Guild was famous for having a strong body.

Their strengths shined especially in rough terrains.

"Endure the traps with your body! Just break and smash everything, find any clues!"

No one dared to stand in their way.

The walls collapsed, and if they saw even the slightest suspicious object, they smashed it. They proceeded towards the end of the labyrinth little by little.

At the end...

"It's a door!"

A huge door appeared in front of them.

"We found it!"

"We're here!"

Joy spread across their faces.

They opened the door without hesitation.

"...!"

"C-Crazy!"

Their eyes opened wide.

There was huge circular space.

In the middle of it, a huge crocodile man was chained.

'He' opened his eyes to look at the uninvited guests.

Chills!

"...!"

They saw the vertically split eyes of the reptile and felt fear.

He was the only one there.

"Ha!"

Randolph plastered a cruel smile on his lips and had extreme energy in his whole body.

"Found it! Boss Mob!"

Armed with all his skills, he prepared.

"Listen!"

His subordinates flinched and looked at him.

"Don't be afraid, let's all come together! Remember the prophecy! If we defeat him, all the wealth and glory will be hours!"

They knew about it.

The shaman's prophecy.

-Sooner or later, life born from death will awaken from its seal. And that power will raise the dead.

Power that can defy even death!

The prophecy that seemed absurd planted conviction in their hearts as they wandered the labyrinth.

'Those mummies! The power to raise the dead must lie dormant here!'

They knew that the power would surely become theirs the moment they caught that crocodile monster.

Just like how it was in all the dungeons they've been through so far!

"Alright, let's go!"

"If we fight all at once, we have a chance!"

"I believe in you, Randolph...!"

Swak!

At that moment, the heads of the hunters who were running valiantly exploded.

"W-What!"

What attacked them was none other than the thick tail of the crocodile man.

Although bound by chains, he arrogantly looked down at the ridiculous humans who attacked him like moths.

"Krrrr..."

White smoke flowed from his mouth and he flashed a terrifying smile.

In an instant, the heads of ten hunters were blown away.

The Scavenger Guild tanks who were known for their robustness...

"S-Save us..."

The hunters who barely survived began to walk backwards with pale faces.

Eventually, they turned around and started running to where they came from.

"Oh no! S-Save...!"

Swak!

Another life was lost.

Randolph...

"That's right! Mr. Randolph! If it's Randolph...!"

The surviving hunters urgently looked for Randolph and turned their attention towards him.

However, he had already fallen out from the first attack and was pinned to the wall.

"Ack..."

Randolph gets up again after being covered in blood.

His eyes were still burning hot.

"T-This is fun. I finally met someone worth fighting against."

He filled his mana again and charged forward.

Swak!

"...!"

Something moved past him.

Nothing was visible.

"Aaaarrrghh!"

Blood gushed out like a fountain.

Randolph let out a scream, clutching his missing arm.

"Hey, healer...!"

Randolph frantically turned his head to find a healer, as he was already darkly defeated.

'I can't win.'

It was an unmatched fight in the first place.

'Insanely strong...!'

At that moment, what came to his mind was the guild leader of the Scavenger Guild.

Only 'Goliath', Thomas Andre, made his body tremble just by making eye contact.

He suddenly felt that fear of facing an overwhelmingly strong man equal to Goliath.

"R-Retreat..."

He said with a trembling voice

A terrifying roar escaped the mouth of the chained giant crocodile.

"Grrrrr!"

"Accckkk!"

The guild members began to flee with all their might.

Right then.

Clack!

The chains that bound the crocodile giant's body broke off.

Hell began.

* * *

"Hey!"

Randolph ran away.

It was the first time in his life he ran that hard.

As a result, he was able to save his life.

"Shit! Shit!"

The problem was that Randolph was the only one who survived.

He had lost all his men and he was muttering the same words incessantly, with an expression stained with fear and anger.

"It is a monster. A monster, a monster!"

He could never win.

No, if it was a person who could communicate, he would have lied down and begged for help.

He didn't even know why such a strong demon beast was confined in that place, tied to such a pitiful chain and couldn't even move.

His brain was a mess.

'What the hell is this place?!'

Grumble!

The walls of the labyrinth collapsed and Suho appeared in front of Randolph.

"Huh?"

Through the hole in the wall, Suho recognized Randolph.

All of Randolph's suppressed anger burst out at Suho.

"You...!"

Randolph's eyes were burning with rage and thoughts were creeping in at the same time.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

'Okay, I'll catch him and use him as bait when that baby crocodile comes to catch me. Then, I could probably survive!'

Randolph jumped at Suho with a face full of joy.

No matter how much he was injured, it was not hard to catch that summoning hunter.

He was an A-Class tank of the Scavenger Guild!

If his opponent wasn't someone like the Boss Mob from earlier, he wouldn't be defeated no matter who he fought!

Grumble!

A thunderous roar erupted from his body, and an explosive aura focused on his fists.

It was so powerful that it could crush even one insignificant hunter to death like a worm.

"This is all because of you! If it wasn't for you, we would have pushed through with our plan, step by step...!"

Grumble!

"An attack...?"

The wall collapsed, revealing the huge shadow Suho was riding on.

"... Huh?"

Suddenly, Randolph's expression changed.

'What the hell happened?'

[Kiyaaaaaa!]

Poisoned-Tooth Sand Centipede.

It was the giant monster that took the lives of many hunters who came to Kamaru's pyramid.

'This is nonsense...'

How could he do something like that with summoning magic?

As an A-Class hunter, Randolph was also very familiar with summoning techniques.

With such techniques, one could never summon a beast with the level of a boss mob like that.

Otherwise, the summoner could have been eaten by the summoned beast.

But now...

"Damn..."

A horrible demon from the Red Desert appeared in front of him.

It was brought by Suho.