Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 23

“Captain!”
There was an urgent call for the raid leader in front.
“I found a human body!”
“A corpse?”
The raid leader, who was talking to Suho, hurriedly returned to the hunters.
His eyes widened when he saw the body.
“Is it a real corpse?”
“But this… doesn’t look like an ordinary corpse.”
Their expressions became serious.
The condition of the body was certainly strange.
A corpse that was burned like black charcoal.
It was an unnatural corpse to be found at Seoul Station.
“I’ve never heard of a monster who used fire here.”
“That’s what I’m saying.“
Just in time, Suho came to see the condition of the body with the collectors.
’Huh?’
Suho’s eyes widened.
The state of the body was very familiar.
He turned his head to the side and looked at Assistant Lim.
“Suho, this corpse…”
“Yes. It looks like a Mist Burn.”
Suho nodded to confirm.
The raiders turned their attention to Suho all at the same time.
“Mist Burn?”
“That blue fiery demon?”
“Are you sure?”
Unless it was a large guild, hunters didn’t know all the types of monsters.
“I am sure.”
After Suho digged through the Korea University incident, he had been looking for information about Mist Burn on the Internet.
And he found out one surprising fact.
Mist Burns… weren’t naturally monsters.
Suho calmly muttered the information he had read then.
“Mist Burn self-ignites when a non-awakened person inhales a certain amount of blue mist.”
“W-What?!”
“Mist Burns were originally humans?”
Among the hunters with a short career, there were people who didn’t even know about it.
That’s also because it wasn’t long before the Hunter Association revealed the truth about Mist Burn.
It was a well-known fact that Mist Burns attacked humans and increased their clones.
However, there was hardly any way to assert how the first Mist Burns were formed.
One of the hunters realized something and murmured.
“Wait. If that’s how Mist Burn first appeared, what about the rumor that you can awaken by drinking blue mist?”
“Obviously, it is nonsense. Or, the information about Mist Burn has been misrepresented.”

-You can awaken by drinking blue mist?

It’s already been over a year since this rumor started circulating on the Internet like an urban legend.
However, no one has yet been able to uncover the truth of the rumor.
‘… Everyone who drank it as an experiment would have burned to death.’
But, that didn’t matter now.
“Then this corpse… How the hell did it get down here?”
This was exactly what the hunters were curious about.
This place was on the 4th basement floor of Seoul Station.
It didn’t make sense for a non-awakened person to have gone through the lizards all this way by himself.
Also, it was even more strange that he walked down here on his own after becoming a Mist Burn.
If he had gone out of the station to burn other people, it would have made sense. But, he would not have come down to this place where there were only monsters.
“Captain! Here too!”
At that time, a new body was found some distance away.
The condition of the body was the same as before. It was the charred remains of Mist Burn.
“Over here too!”
Even after that, the hunters were able to find several more bodies.
The more this happened, the more serious the raid leader’s expression became.
‘… Something’s wrong.’
As a person responsible for the safety of the hunters, it was difficult to just ignore this strange situation.
However, the matter was too personal to stop hunting just because of it. Besides, they only found a few corpses.
Also, with this amount of people gathered, even if dozens of Mist Burns appeared, it would be manageable.
“Let’s keep hunting first.”
The raid resumed.
“Suho.”
Professor Lim approached Suho with an uneasy expression.
“I’ll tell you in advance this time.”
“What?”
“If there is danger, can I run away first?”
“…?”
[Huh, what’s with this coward?]
Suho and Beru looked at Assistant Lim with ridiculous expressions.
But, Professor Lim was really sincere.
“You know I have escaping skills, right? If something happens, you can use your summoning skill to run away. I will run away on my own, too.”
Assistant Professor Lim kept looking around like something was unsettling while he was talking.
Suho looked at his face and asked.
“Teacher… You seem sure that something will happen.”
“No, it’s not that. Of course, it’s a lot better if nothing happens. But, just in case…”
In response to Suho’s words, Assistant Professor Lim finally let out a deep sigh and confessed his thoughts.
“In fact… My mother was killed by Mist Burn.”
“…”
“She herself became Mist Burn and tried to kill me.”
“…”
“That’s why I’m so scared of Mist Burn. It feels like my mother is trying to kill me again.”
Suho couldn’t say anything against that.

* *

Right then.
“Aaaaaaccckkk!”
From the depths of Seoul Station, a loud scream erupted.
“Hot, hot…!”
“Aagh! Aaaagh! Aaaaagh!”
Screams!
A group of people chained together were struggling in agony.
Their bodies were wrapped in blue mist.
“Help! Please spare me! I’ll say I didn’t see anything! Really nothing…!”
Behind them, people who weren’t burned yet were begging for their lives, sobbing in despair.
Pure fear.
Madness.
It didn’t make sense.
Why did they have to suffer in a place like that?
No one could answer the question.
It was obvious.
Because there was no reason for it in the first place.
They were just terribly unlucky.
For just that reason alone, they were being burned alive.
“Is it that hot?”
There were people in front who were calmly watching their screams.
“Hmm. It should have been hotter. The firepower is not good.”
They were a group of people wearing masks and black robes.
Their faces were covered with crow masks, like something out of a medieval movie.
“Hey, can we not increase the firepower?”
“We are running out of fuel.”
“Tsk. The fuel is always the problem. Can’t we get more?”
“Since all the Hyena Guild members were caught this time…”
“Argh. How can something like this happen?”
The crow-masked babbled.
Meanwhile, the screams that seemed to go on forever were suddenly cut off.
While they were tied in that place…
[Roooaaar!]
Mist Burn.
The blue mist monster, burning with the black corpse as its wick, was roaring ferociously.
[Grrrrr!]
“Oh, hey. Nice to meet you, too.”
A crow-masked waved his hands nonchalantly while wearing thick gloves.
“Okay then, let’s start working before the firewood goes out.”
“What should I do when I’m done?”
One crow-masked in the corner raised a hand and asked.
Next to him lay the remains of a Mist Burn that had cooled off.
“Oh, that one. We will be doing the work ourselves, so throw it away and come.”
“Yes, Sir.“
“You know you can’t throw it away nearby, right?”
“Of course.”
The crow-masked loaded the remains of Mist Burn onto the cart one by one.
He grumbled as he dragged the cart outside.
“Ugh. So bothersome. Where should I throw it away this time? If I could, I’d just like to pile them all up near the factory.”
“Hey, haven’t you heard about this location? Throw it away as far as possible!”
“I know.”
The crow-masked shrugged and disappeared into the darkness, pulling the wagon as it creaked.
The other crow-masked who were watching from behind clicked their tongues as if they didn’t like it.
“He keeps on being lazy.”
“Even though he says that, he is a good guy. Now, let’s start slowly.”
“Yep. The 13th star dust work will begin.”
The eyes of the crow-masked became extremely cautious.
Meanwhile, the eyes of those chained behind them were full of desperation.
’Please save us.’
‘Anyone please…’
They begged and begged.
But their voices did not reach anywhere.

* * *

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[Ehhh?]
Beru’s antennae pricked up.
He turned his head and stared into the darkness of the subway tunnel.
[Young Master.]
“I felt it, too.”
Suho was also looking in that direction.
’Is it because my senses stat have increased?’

In the darkness of long subway tracks, somewhere in that deep tunnel, he felt a gloomy aura.
’It’s creepy.’
He could tell without looking.
There must have been something powerful lurking at the other end.
The first thing that came to his mind was the existence of the boss.
However, Seoul Station Field was an old dungeon that had already been there for a year.
That means other hunters have already been wiping out monsters that make money like boss mobs.
As a result, the only monsters left were lizards with high numbers and excellent fertility.
’If it’s not a boss, what is this energy?’
Suho looked at the raiders who were hunting the lizards.
’Has no one else noticed but me?’
Something was glaring their way from the dark.
Like… Like an eagle watching its prey from afar in the sky.
Its target was the raiders who were making noise in the area.
Also…
“The fuel came to me.”
Suddenly, a voice muttered in the dark.
“…!”
Suho and Beru’s eyes widened and shouted at the same time.
“Avoid that!“
[An enemy!]
Bang-!
“…!”
An explosion occurred.
Then, there appeared something wearing a black robe.
An unidentified man wearing a crow mask.
But no one thought of him as human.
The monster’s forearm, abnormally swollen, was sticking out of the black robe.
“It’s a humanoid monster!“
The hunters quickly regrouped.
“Oh. Avoid?”
The monster slowly stood up and pulled out his fist stuck in the tunnel floor.
“Great.”
Crack.
A piece of cement crumbled in his truly bizarre-looking hand.
Then…
Swoosh.
In an instant, his figure disappeared from everyone’s sight.
“…!”
The eyes of the surprised hunters became busy looking for him.
But it was already too late.
’The troublesome healer first.’
Wedge-!
Suddenly, his bloated fist appeared from behind, aiming for the defenseless back of the raid leader.
The raid leader’s eyes widened when he realized he was a step later.
Then.
Swish-!
“…!”
The eyes of the monster widened.
Someone jumped in front of him and blocked the attack.
Slash!
Black blood gushed out like a fountain.
“Argh.“
Suho blocked the fist with the ‘Vulcan’s Horn’ and glared at the monster.
“Look who’s this?”
The corner of the mouth of the monster rose wickedly.