Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 148

Chapter 148

“Kwaaack!”
Hwang Dongsuk fell where he stood from the sheer surprise.
But no one here had the time to worry about him.
“……Arsha, Care to repeat what you said?”
The old man mercilessly glared at the queen of the bees.
Buzzzz-
Queen bee Arsha.
The alluring woman that revealed her form after the bees disappeared met the gaze of the old man to speak.
[I said, that I’ll no longer involve myself in this.]
“Why? Don’t tell me…. Did the queen get scared?”
[Hmph, scared you say……?]
Even at the words of the old man, Arsha scoffed and crossed her arms.
Her gaze fell outside of the window.
Currently, the bees under her command were buzzing throughout the city.
And even in this moment, they were all sending a warning signal.
Arsha scoffed and confidently replied back at the old man.
[Why can’t I be scared? It’s the laws of nature to be scared and hide away from their predator.]
“Predator? Are you scared because a being that can use spiritualization? This much injury is nothing to me.”
The old man revealed a displeased expression after noting that Arsha’s gaze fell on his completely charred hand.
“Restore.”
The old man muttered a spell while shaking off the charred hand.
And a screaming demonic spectre’s disfigured expression got absorbed above the hand.
The old man moved his completely restored hand while attempting to convince Arsha with a relaxed look.
“Queen bee Arsha, It is true that there was an unexpected occurrence, but it does nothing to my plans. In fact, it’s being accomplished even faster.”
[Even though your illusion got broken by the power of spiritualization?]
“……while it is true that the illusion of demonic spectres are weak against the power of spiritualization, but that also applies in reverse.”
Tarnark, the monarch of iron body that ruled everything related to goblins and orcs.
His ‘SBM’ trained the physical body to the limits to transcend the level of the spirit.
Surpassing the laws of physics and even affecting the spirit.
On the other hand, the illusions of demonic specteres used souls as the ingredient to manipulate the physics.
In other words, the aforementioned abilities were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
“The illusion broke because I was caught off guard, but it won’t happen again. As you can see, that intruder is currently trapped in the maze, still looking for me.”
[And what if he ends up finding you?]
“And what if? I just have to cast another illusion. They’re already trapped in my area, so escaping is impossible.”
[Impossible you say……. Having pride is good, but impossibility is not absolute in this world. Even those monarchs and absolute gods can die.]
The old man rose from his spot at Arsha’s unfiltered sarcasm.
“Haha. That’s why the world is evermore the most perfect.”
An old and thin body.
This body was originally the body of the ‘chief’ of Yamiri village.
There was a reason why such a frail body was chosen despite the options of healthier bodies.
“I am the Great Chief of the demonic spectres, Harmakan. And the great demonic spectre next in line for the throne.”
Harmakan let out a cruel smile to raise his frail arms.
Kwaaaaaaack-
The echoing screams of despair from the thin air.
At the end of Harmakan’s hands, transparent and wispy demonic spectres were screaming in agony.
Harmakan let out a vile smile at that and laughed.
“Look at this. Do you think that ‘m on the same level as those fools that only rely on their body?”
……Hiccup.
Hwang Dongsuk, who looked at that scene, cowering in the corner paled.
Among the demonic spectres were one of his underlings that got killed by the intruder.
Yes.
Harmakan’s illusions were using the souls of the dead from this village.
Considering the number of the people who died here, his pride was warranted.
The frail fingers bullied the semi transparent demonic spectres while Harmakan snickered.
“Haha. a great demonic spectre always plans for an intricate ploy to fight from the rear. There’s plenty of pieces to be sent at the forefront.”
[……Tsk. I can’t tell who’s the scared one here.]
Arsha shook her head sideways.
But Harmakan was shameless.
“Of course it’s you. You gave up even before fighting. I’ll give you another chance. Remain here and help me.”
[I decline. If I knew that ‘He’ would be here, I would’ve never set foot in this place.]
The trembling movement of bees that formed the body of Arsha revealed the panic that she felt.
[……I still lack the strength to face ‘Him’ nor the power.]
At this point, Harmakan was intrigued.
“Just who is ‘Him’ that you’re so scared of? If he inherited the progress of the Monarch of Iron Body, then you’re the heir of Plague Monarch. I alone should be enough to face him, let alone both of us…….”
[He is not the heir of Iron Body Monarch, he is the heir of the Fang Monarch.]
“What? The Fang Monarch? What does that mean?”
Arsha’s words brought forth even more confusion for Harmakan.
He recalled the giant wolf that the boy was on.
If he was the heir of the Fang Monarch, then it wasn’t surprising to control such a huge wolf.
But it was still unclear.
“If he is the heir of the fang monarch, then how is he using SBM?”

[I don’t know yet. But one thing is for sure. He…… is much stronger compared to the last time I saw him.]
Arsha nervously bit on her lips.
After being defeated by Suho before, she had no intention to oppose him at all.
Even more so now.
She lost all of her soldiers back then and lost a considerable amount of power, and yet Suho returned more powerful.
[My plans to reconstruct my soldiers using the villains here is cancelled. With him here, all of them will end up dying anyway.]
With that sentence, Arsha’s body started to disfigure into countless bees.
And escaped through the window as if time was being wasted by exchanging another word with the old man.
Harmakan let out a laugh at her unhesitating actions.
“……such a scaredy cat, and yet she’s following the steps of Querehsha. The position of king of insects will be vacant for a while.”
Harmakan completely took his attention off of Arsha at that.
“This works out better for me. The leeches trying to suck blood off of my spoils are gone now. All the souls here will be completely mine.”
Then reached out to Hwang Dongsuk on the floor with cold eyes.
“……Koff?!”
At that hand, Hwang Dongsuk’s body froze to float to the air.
He screamed in fear after losing control of his limbs.
“O, old man! S, sir! Why are you doing this? Our contract……!”
“Haha. right. There was that contract.”
Harmakan’s eyes glinted with a sly smile.
After approaching Hwang Dongsuk, the leader of Jisan prison to commit a massive jailbreak. There was only a single reason behind it.
“Out contract was having you lead your underlings after the jailbreak, and that I’d get to keep the souls that you kill.”
“R, right! So why are you……!”
“What do you mean why? Are you really asking?”
Harmakan cocked his head in question.
“Can’t you lead your underlings even after your death?”
“……Aacck!”
Craack!
Once Harmakan’s frail hand clenched, Hwang Dongsuk’s floating body crushed.
Hwang Dongsuk drew his last breath with every bone of his body turned to dust.
And Harmakan’s eery voice whispered to his soul.
“You may rejoice. I will make your soul into a Death Knight of demonic spectres.”
Kwaaaaaaack-
The sound of Hwang Dongsuk’s soul crying out in agony elicited a satisfied smile.
“I like evil souls like yours.”

»»————-　★　————-««
“I surrender! surrender!”
“I’ll go back to prison!”
“…….”
Esil was flabbergasted at the villains giving up their fights.
“Wait, all of a sudden? Shouldn’t you try to resist at least?”
“It can’t be helped, their leader was the first to run away.”
Suho let out a laugh and shrugged.
However, just because the villains stopped their fight didn’t mean that the battle was over.
Fwosh!
Pssh!
“Gurgle!”
“Koff!”
“S, spare me! Please stop this!”
Even at this moment, a transparent someone was traveling between the surrendering villains to mercilessly cut them down.
To the shadow soldier Gang Taesik who loved the thrill of murdering, the moment of surrender was the best opportunity to kill more people.
[He’s rather good.]
Beru nodded towards Gang Taesik with a look of a proud parent.
[He’s not just killing anyone but only those who have a thick scent of blood..]
“Scent of blood? Are you saying that he’s only killing those who have experience killing people?”
[……Yes, that is correct.]
Suddenly, Gang Taesik emerged before Suho to kneel before him.
[Even before my death, I could see who’s killed before. Especially those who enjoyed murdering.]
Gang Taesik, as someone who enjoyed killing, could recognize his own kin in a way.
[but after my death, I can see even better than before.]
“So in a way, you’re an evil person detector.”
Suho nodded, agreeing that it’s a cool ability.
He switched his gaze towards the villains to ask.
“Then what of the remaining villains?”
[they’ve never killed using their own hands at least. They’re most likely minor criminals.]
“R, right!”
As if they were waiting for that word, the villains started to shout together.
“I’m just a swindler!”
“I’ve only threatened……!”
“I’ve beat up people but……! Cough?!”
Splash-
Streams of blood spluttered.
Gang Taesik approached the last one within a blink of an eye to cut through his neck then returned to Suho.
[Apologies. He was on the fence, but it’d seem best to just get rid of him.]
“…….”
“…….”
Suho and Esil silently observed that scene then met each other’s eyes.
Then, Suho saw.
The demon noble Esil mouthing words towards him.
‘He’s kinda scary.’
Suho answered with his eyes.
‘But you’re a demon…….’
At that moment.
“……!”
Suho’s eyes glinted and caught something mid air.
Gwreaaack-!
“Look at this?”
The corners of Suho’s mouth twitched looking at the resisting bee on his hand.
But his eyes remained cold.
[King of Insects, the Monarch of Plague makes a pleased face at the encounter.]
“Come out, Arsha.”
The bee on Suho’s hand trembled at his command.