Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

‘I can’t spare him some time!‘
Suho immediately jumped at Secretary Kim.
The opponent was a B-Class hunter.
He had to be driven without rest before he could recover from the shock.
‘You’re kidnapping people for stardust? How is that different from being a demon?!‘
The effect of ‘Skill: Strike‘ on Suho’s fist had already disappeared.
Instead, in Suho‘s hands were Rakan‘s Sword and Vulcan’s Horn.
Swoosh!
“Wait a minute! Why me…!“
Secretary Kim, whose legs were still loose, hurriedly avoided Suho‘s attack and took a backward step.
He continued to try to talk with Suho through his mouth.
“Hold on a second! Stop the attack! I am part of the Reaper Guild!“
“…“
However, Suho remained silent and continued to attack him.
Secretary Kim didn‘t know what to do and continued to backtrack.
‘W-What the hell! Why is a demon attacking me? How did he find out about this place?!‘
Numerous questions tangled in Secretary Kim‘s mind.
Over the past year, Vice President Lee Minseong of the Reaper Guild and the demons of the factory have been making a closed deal.
Of course, there was almost no direct contact with the Hyena Guild in the middle, but if the name of the Reaper Guild was mentioned, at least the crow-masked guy should stop attacking!
Suho‘s intent was successful.
It was because he had appeared wearing a crow mask with the intention of causing confusion.
“I am part of the guild that…!“
Thud.
‘Oops!‘
He kept walking backwards until eventually his back hit the wall.
He hurriedly turned around and saw a transparent glass window.
‘I should get out of here for now!‘
Secretary Kim threw himself without hesitation.
Swoosh!
He broke through the window and escaped from the building.
‘It went well.‘
Suho‘s eyes lit up.
To wield a sword, the open air was more advantageous than indoors.
Perhaps Secretary Kim felt the same way.
If a B-Class hunter used his strength properly, the building could collapse, so he must have saved himself.
‘Okay, let‘s fight properly!‘
Thud!
Suho jumps out of the window in pursuit of Secretary Kim.
After that…
“Ah…“
Min Byeonggu, who was confused and did not know what to do, was left alone.
[Ehem.]
At that time, a small shadow quietly approached him.
Beru coughed awkwardly and spoke to him.
[Don‘t worry too much. Young Master can…]
“Aaaaaaagh! A-Ant?!“
[Ehh?]
Thud.
Min Byeonggu passed out at the sight of Beru.
[No, even with my protection…]
Beru felt frustrated.

* * *
Translator: Anom

Swoosh!
Citizens who were walking in the city center lifted their heads at the sudden noise.
Their eyes widened.
“W-What is that?!“
“Someone jumped!“
On the 5th floor of a building, someone broke a window and jumped down.
“Kyaaaah!“
“Move out!“
Fearing that they might get hurt by the shards of broken glass, the citizens scattered in confusion.
But soon after, another person jumped through the window.
The second person swung his twin swords in the air before the person who had jumped prior landed on the ground.

[Use ‘Skill: Blade Storm‘.]
“Ohh?!“
The first person to jump was hit by the fierce blade storm and fell to the ground.
Blag!
“Kyaaaagh!“
“Hunters are fighting!“
Citizens who sensed the seriousness of the situation screamed and ran away.
“Ouch…“
On the other hand, Secretary Kim tried to get up.
A look of despair was evident on his face.
But now was not the time to think of that.
Slash.
Suho, who landed right in front of him, swung his sword without even giving a break.
“Damn it!“
Secretary Kim hurriedly stood up and raised magic in both hands.
“Fire!“
Roar- Bang!
A red fireball exploded in front of Suho.
Suho crossed his twin swords to block his magic.
‘Mage Hunter!‘
Suho had already expected that Secretary Kim would be a mage hunter, so he reacted quickly.
He wasn’t able to counterattack properly indoors.
Instinctively, the movements of stepping back to keep the distance were all characteristics of mage hunters.
Suho, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
‘Do not give space for him to move!‘
Swish!
Suho followed closely and launched an onslaught.
However, secretary Kim‘s response was also quick.
“Fire!“
Bang!
“Fire!“
Crackle!
Numerous fireballs exploded, accumulating damage on Suho‘s body.
Suho‘s HP gradually decreased.
‘It‘s still okay!‘
Suho believed in his total HP and continued to attack Secretary Kim.
After all, he was already at his limit.
The first time was when he attacked with Strike Skill, and when he even fell from the height of the 5th floor with Blade Storm.
It was a miracle that he was still standing on his own two feet.
“Ahh! Please let me know! Why are you attacking me?!“
Secretary Kim‘s voice, screaming out of frustration, resounded desperately throughout the city.
Gulp.
Suho drank the mana potion, and his MP gradually rose to over 300.

[Use ‘Skill: Strike‘.]
Swoosh!
Black energy was wrapped around Suho‘s fist and forearm.
“No, wait…“
Secretary Kim‘s complexion turned pale as the ominously burning fist came closer to him.
He exclaimed urgently.
“Stop doing this, let‘s negotiate! Whatever you want, I‘ll take care of it!“
“Whatever? What do you think I really want?“
Suho asked him as he strode closer.
Even with those meaningless words, Secretary Kim found hope and his eyes lit up.
“I know that one of your factories was destroyed this time! Because of that, we are also having a hard time supplying stardust!“
“So?“
Suho raised his fist.
Secretary Kim closed his eyes tightly and shouted out loud.
“So we built a new factory!“
Stop.
“…What?“
Suho stopped for a moment.
‘It worked!‘
He knew this would work, and Secretary Kim urgently started talking to Suho.
“Stardust Lab! That was the reason we tried to appease Min Byeonggu in the first place! We have all the facilities and materials, but we don‘t know how to make them!“
Dr. Min Byeonggu was the only stardust researcher in Korea.
As long as a stardust doping test was developed, it would be possible to manufacture stardust if there were facilities and materials.
However, since the demon appeared in front of him like this, he had no reason to cling to Min Byeonggu any longer.
“That‘s why we‘re going to hand over the entire facility we built to you! Make it on your own! We will take responsibility for the supply of materials from now on!“
“Supply of materials?“
“That’s right! About 10 people have already been prepared! I was thinking of having Min Byeonggu perform an experiment today! Let me know if there is any material shortage. I‘ll catch any number of people right away!“
“…“
Suho‘s expression grew colder and colder.
Secretary Kim didn’t know the fact that his fate was decided because of those words he just said.
From the moment he talked about humans being the material for stardust, he was already a demon in Suho‘s head.
Suho asked for the last time.
“So, where is the factory located?“
“T-That’s…“
Secretary Kim, noticing Suho‘s hints, felt reluctant.
“If you let me go, I will contact you separately.“
“You mean, spare you?“
“Yeah, of course…“
“Don‘t worry.“
“What?“
“Because there are many ways for me to find out even if I kill you.“
The conversation was over.
Suho mercilessly punched him down.
Bang-!
“…!“
Strike.
In the end, Secretary Kim couldn‘t even scream and just died.
Ring!

[A quest has arrived.]
A message arrived just in time.

[Quest: Rescue]
Rescue people kidnapped by Stardust Lab.
-Number of kidnapped: 10
-Number of rescued: 0
Suho stared at the quest window in front of him and opened his mouth.
“Beru.“
[Yep.]
Beru appeared in front of Secretary Kim‘s corpse.
“You know what to do, right?“
Beru smirked.
His smile was more sinister than a demon‘s.

* * *
After a while.
“…A-Are they gone?“
“Probably?“
As Suho dragged Secretary Kim‘s corpse away, people hiding from the battle began to come out one by one.
“Whoa. That was scary.“
“What happened? Why did those hunters fight?“
“Why are the police so late again? When did you report it?“
“It hasn‘t even been 10 minutes since I reported it. They will come soon…“
It really happened in an instant.
Suddenly, windows broke and then there was an explosion…
In less than 10 minutes, both of the hunters disappeared.
Citizens tried hard to figure out the situation with frantic expressions.
“But, wasn‘t he Crow?“
Someone remembered Suho‘s appearance.
People murmured at those words.
“What? Crow?“
“Are you talking about Beast King Crow?“
“Yeah. Didn‘t you see he was wearing a crow mask?“
It was just last night that articles about Magok Field came out.
Even today, people were talking about him and all of a sudden, a person wearing a crow mask appeared in the middle of the city.
Beast King Crow.
The one who overcame the King’s Trial and took the power of the Beast King.
According to the testimony of survivors of Magok Field at that time, he wore a crow mask on his face.
“Oh my God. That‘s right! Crow mask!“
“That person must have been Crow!“
“He was very strong somehow!“
They couldn‘t even hear the hunters’ conversation from a distance, but there were many people who witnessed the sight of Crow fighting.
With normal eyesight, the trajectory of his sword swing was too fast to follow.
There was one thing though.
The huge fist that overflowed with black energy was clearly imprinted in everyone‘s eyes.
“… Could that be the power of the Beast King?“
Those who had witnessed that powerful blow muttered the name of Beast King Crow, making their own guesses.
And after a while, new articles began to appear on the Internet.

* * *
“Hey, what is this again!“
Lee Minseong was enraged by the news articles that came up every minute.

-(Breaking news) Beast King Crow appeared in Seoul!
-(Breaking news) Clash between the two hunters!
-(Breaking news) Those who witnessed the power of the Beast King.

Unlike Magok, this article also included photos taken with the cellphones of witnesses.
The hunters moved so fast that most of them were out of focus, but Lee Minseong was particularly familiar with the face of one of the two hunters.
The problem, however, was that in the last photo, Crow carried his limp body on his shoulder.
Lee Minseong immediately called Secretary Kim.
Dialing…
However, no matter how much he waited, Secretary Kim did not answer the phone.
“Secretary Kim! Secretary Kim! Pick up the phone!“
Lee Minseong nervously yells into his cell phone.
It was then.
Ring!
An urgent message arrived on his cell phone.
-Vice President, please contact me. We‘re having some problems with the facility right now.
“…!“
The moment he saw that message, an ominous feeling crept into Lee Minseong‘s mind.
The word ‘facility‘ was a slang term for the stardust research institute he had worked so hard to create.
He also ordered Secretary Kim, who was caught by Crow to capture the most important element of the institute, Dr. Min Byeonggu.
Lee Minseong urgently called the institute.
Calling-
Fortunately, his call got answered right away.
“What? What‘s wrong with the facility…“
-V-Vice President! The… aaaaaaah!
“…?!“
Lee Minseong was startled by the sudden scream and looked at his cell phone.
-Ahh! Aaaagh!
There were all kinds of terrible screams over the phone.
“W-What‘s going on there?!“
-Monster, monster…! Aaaaaaagh!