Suho, Baek Miho, and Lim Taegyu managed to break through the rain of arrows and enter the beehive.
The moment they hit the floor…
Thud!
No matter who came first, Suho and Miho jumped forward at a tremendous speed.
They cut the throats of the archers who were shooting arrows at them.
Slash!
"Ack!"
[You have killed the contaminated ghoul.]
[You have killed the contaminated ghoul.]
They were the same as the mutants on the ground.
"Damn it. They are all our guild members."
Lim Taegyu recognized their faces and gritted his teeth. Even though they were mutated, a little bit of what they were like before remained.
"These are all the guild members he took with him?"
Baek Miho muttered with a serious expression.
"Somehow, all the other hunters were killed and only the members of the Reaper Guild were kidnapped… 'Could it be that Lee Minseong wanted to become a guild leader?'
"Anyway, since we've entered the beehive, let's find its owner. Beru, give me directions."
[Yes, Young Master. Please follow me.]
Beru took the lead, flicking his antennae.
One of Suho's twin swords, 'Rakan's Sword', spoke to Suho.
-Be careful. This beehive is now a sanctuary.
"This is a sanctuary?"
Suho looked at Rakan's Sword and asked again to confirm.
[The King of Beasts, Fang Monarch, shrugs that it was not his.]
"Then it must be the sanctuary of Querehsha."
-It seems to be like that.
"Were sanctuaries originally just created out of nowhere like this?"
-No. The sanctuary is, after all, the realm of the monarchs. Now that all the monarchs are dead, it has become a place where ancestral rites are held for the monarchs.
Sanctuary.
Suho recalled the sanctuary of Rakan he had been to.
"That means there could be relics in it."
-No one knows. There could be relics, descendants, or pontifex.
"Well, if we meet Lee Minseong, we'll find out."
Anyway, it looked like a beehive from the outside, but when they went inside, there was a new space completely separated from the outside.
Ominous sky.
Thick clouds moved as if a big storm was about to come.
The air, covered with fear, smelt of rotting corpses.
"It feels like entering a gate. Is it a new dungeon?"
Lim Taegyu muttered as he looked around.
To that, Suho replied.
"It seems different from a dungeon."
To be precise, it was a sanctuary.
However, with those words, Lim Taegyu felt uncomfortable.
"Different from a dungeon? What do you know to say that?"
Lim Taegyu, who was suppressing the royal jelly's toxicity with mana power, was anxious.
As the guild leader of the Reaper Guild, he had to take responsibility for all of this.
Public opinion has already been against them.
Even if he solved this problem this time, he was at a loss on how to solve the mood.
He didn't know what Lee Minseong did, but the fact that the person who was the Vice President of the Reaper Guild even opened a dungeon in the middle of the city was sure to deal a huge blow to the guild.
It would be enormous to pay compensation for accidents to those who died today.
However, when Suho, who seemed to have only C-Class magic at a glance, suddenly said something strange, Lim Taegyu was dumbfounded.
What does a C-Class hunter know to throw such words to an S-Class hunter?
"If not a dungeon then what?"
Baek Miho hurriedly intervened between the two.
"There is no time for us to be like this. President Lim Taegyu, are you unable to use magic right now?"
"…"
Lim Taegyu flinched and shut his mouth as he was stabbed by those words.
"… That's right. Poison is spreading in my body right now, so I'm countering it with mana."
"Didn't you receive a 'heal'?"
"Heal didn't work. I think it will be solved by a more advanced healer later, but there is no suitable healer nearby right now…"
"Then why did you follow us here?"
"… Even if you can't use magic, your power should be enough."
The excellent physical ability of an S-Class hunter was able to exert tremendous power by itself.
"Ah, it can be used as a shield. That's fortunate."
"…"
[Stop. He will cry.]
Beru could't bare watching them so he stepped out.
'Are you kidding?'
Lim Taegyu was at a loss for words.
A small ant floating beside Suho was looking at him with sincere pity.
But, why?
Lim Taegyu, who met Beru's eyes, felt an instinctive rejection.
Reluctance? No, this is more…
Chills.
'Am I afraid? Why?'
Beru looked at Lim Taegyu's face with a strange expression.
[Hmm. You are pretty old too.]
"…?"
Lim Taegyu felt puzzled by the way Beru spoke as if he knew him.
But that feeling didn't last long.
"Everyone, get ready for battle."
Suho focused his senses and looked around and looked up at the sky.
Grumble!
A swarm of jet-black bees was swarming in the ominous rolling clouds.
Now that he saw it, it wasn't a cloud.
"This is crazy."
Lim Taegyu thought it was absurd.
"Could it be that all those clouds were swarms of bees?"
[This really seemed to be a beehive. I've collected a lot of information well.]
Beru wiggled his antennae.
[The greatest energy is felt beyond the clouds.]
"After all, we'd have to fly again."
They came through the rain of arrows, and this time they had to fly through that enormous swarm of bees.
Ring!
['The Sanctuary of Insects' is activated.]
"…!"
Suho suddenly felt a chill.
It felt just like 'then'.
When he entered the sanctuary of beasts…
Ring!
[Passive Skill '(Unknown)' is activated.]
Swoosh-!
In an instant, Suho's shadow spread in all directions and colored the whole world.
And…
Time has stopped.
No, everything stopped.
* * *
'… Are you here again?'
Suho stood alone at the edge of the empty horizon.
A world of complete blankness.
'It's the Realm of Eternal Rest.'
However, the feeling he felt there was completely different from when he met Rakan, the Beast Monarch.
'Is it a bug?'
Suho looked at the ground he was standing on.
That whole land, no, that entire white world was made of pure white bugs gathered one after another.
Suho lifted his head and looked forward.
At the end of that empty horizon, a woman sat cross-legged and looked down proudly at him.
Suho realized her true identity at once.
'Are you Querehsha?'
At the question, the corners of the woman's lips curled wickedly.
[Yes, that's right. My name is Querehsha. The ghost of eternity that was killed by your father.]
The system urgently popped up a message in front of Suho.
[The Queen of Insects, Plague Monarch, Querehsha, is watching you.]
…!
At that moment, the woman's presence began to grow enormously.
It wasn't just a surge of energy.
Krrrk! Krrrk!
Kyaaaagh!
The white worms that had been forming this land gradually united into one, and the size of the woman changed to a gigantic one.
[… At one time.]
Then, looking down at Suho, who had grown relatively small, she licked her lips.
[I wanted to try the taste of the same monarch.]
The giant bug queen giggled and smirked.
[But in the end, it was me who was eaten.]
That moment.
The ground where Suho was standing turned into a giant hand that grabbed Suho's body.
The hand slowly lifted Suho up to Querehsha's face.
Querehsha slowly scanned Suho's figure and remembered the time.
[You know that? Your father was a poison worse than any bug I've ever met.]
It was as if she was trying to find the shadow of Sung Jinwoo who killed her on Suho's face.
[You look like him. A lot.]
'Really? I heard that there are many people who said I look more like my mother.'
At Suho's reply, Querehsha's eyes flashed with mischief for a moment.
[What would you taste like if I ate you now? Would you be just like your father?]
She had an innocent child's expression like that of a kid who unintentionally killed small insects with his hands.
In that reversed situation, Suho was much smaller in front of the enormously large queen of insects.
But he was resolute.
'You're bragging about a ghost that died a long time ago.'
[… That cheeky way of speaking is exactly like your father.]
Querehsha glared at Suho with a terrifying look and lowered Suho's body to the ground.
[Yes, you are right. I'm already dead but…]
Ring!
An ominous system message suddenly appeared in front of Suho.
[A quest has arrived.]
Before Suho could even check the message, Querehsha's smile turned into a cruel one.
[I am originally one and a colony.]
Querehsha was born as a small bug, and was the Queen of Insects that grew up by swallowing countless ones of her kind.
All the bugs she swallowed formed Querehsha's body.
The bugs that filled that world were Querehsha's corpse and soul.
[From the moment you stepped into my world, you were already swallowed up by me.]
A shady venom felt outside filled the pure white world.
No, that whole world started to reject Suho.
The quest window automatically opened in front of Suho.
[Urgent Quest: Querehsha's Solitude]
The King of Insects, Plague Monarch, Querehsha has dragged you into 'solitude'.
All the bugs that made up Querehsha were hostile.
Prove yourself worthy by surviving the required time.
Required time: 4 hours
Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds
An arrogant smile appeared on Queresha's lips as she looked down at Suho from a high place.
[Struggle well. Like a bug, and just like I did in front of your father!]
At the same time, all the bugs that made up that world started attacking Suho.
Kyaaaaagh!
Kyaaaaaaa!
'…'
However…
Querehsha felt something strange.
Even when he saw the endlessly swarming insects, Suho's expression did not change at all, let alone get bewildered.
Regardless if that was a Realm of Rest, it was a place where even the Suho's shadow soldiers could not be summoned.
[W-Wait.]
Rather, it was Querehsha who was taken aback.
[What is that power? No way…]
An ominous black aura was entwined around Suho's arm.
The energy was not just one.
Swoosh!
A divine wind was blowing from somewhere, dyeing Suho's hair silver.
Querehsha, who was well aware of those energies, couldn't help but be perplexed.
[You bastard… How many monarchs have you inherited powers from?!]