Chapter 75

Lee Minseong managed to escape from Queen Bee Arsha, but after that, he had to run away while being hunted by contaminated lancers.

The lancers were obviously weaker than Minseong, but it was impossible to kill them.

Every time he tried to kill them, a powerful message resonated in his head, causing him to suffer from a tremendous headache.

-Be loyal to the Queen!

-Be loyal to the Queen!

[Ack! Shut up! Shut up!]

He really seemed to almost lose it.

If he didn't try to counter his mind for even just for a while, his desire to return to the Queen Bee on his own and kneel down to swear allegiance surged up.

-Be loyal to the Queen!

[Stop! Stop! Please get out of my head!]

He tried everything to get the voice out of his head, but to no avail.

Even when he plugged his ears and banged his head on the floor, the voice didn't stop.

That was natural.

It wasn't a voice in the first place.

It was the instinct of a worker bee reborn for the Queen Bee. For Lee Minseong, who always reigned over others, it was a very humiliating feeling.

-Be loyal to the Queen!

[I refuse! I'm not a worker bee!]

He gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed his instincts.

Ironically, the place where he managed to avoid the pursuit of the lancers was the Vice President's Office of the Reaper Guild.

[Whew. Yes, my place is right here. It's not like a beehive.]

He was breathing heavily and was about to take a bottle of wine from the cellar and drink it as usual, but his expression changed.

[… It was because of this!]

The wine in his hand was the culprit of that situation he was in.

A high-quality wine and royal jelly that the 'Lady' always gave him as a gift whenever he went to Queen Bee.

That was the Queen Bee's poison!

[I drank this every day, that was why I'm like this…!]

Lee Minseong held the wine bottle high to throw it, but hesitated for a moment.

[… Hold on a second.]

When he thought of the Queen Bee's poison, he suddenly had a good idea.

He came up with a way to suppress the worker bee's instincts.

By using that…

[Maybe I can create my own corps.]

Lee Minseong poured his mana energy into the royal jelly.

He changed the properties of royal jelly to his own preferences.

[Great. Now, if you are poisoned by this, you will turn into a soldier loyal to me, not the Queen Bee.]

Lee Minseong absorbed the newly prepared royal jelly into his stinger.

Then, he went outside and attacked the lower level hunters and injected them with royal jelly.

Somehow they died right on the spot.

[Tsk. Weaklings. Can't even stand this much poison.]

Lee Minseong clicked his tongue and went to find stronger intermediate hunters.

However, the results were the same for intermediate hunters.

They all vomited blood and were poisoned to death.

[Why do you keep dying?]

He was confused.

Was there something wrong with the royal jelly?

Until he found out why, he continued to attack the hunters over and over again.

Then, finally, he saw a positive light.

His target was… the Reaper Guild he belonged to.

[… Coincidence?]

At first he thought it was just a coincidence.

But it wasn't.

No matter how many times he tried it, the only ones who survived the royal jelly without dying were the hunters of the Reaper Guild.

[How is this possible?]

Eventually, Lee Minseong found the reason.

[Could it be that they were the ones who followed me from the beginning?]

Royal jelly was a poison for worker bees.

The object of that loyalty was, of course, the Queen Bee.

[But, I am not a queen.]

Even if they were forced to be loyal to Lee Minseong, who was at most the same worker bee, there was no worker bee to devote their allegiance to.

However, only the members of the Reaper Guild, who were originally his subordinates, were an exception.

Loyalty to "Vice President Lee Minseong" was basically engraved in their heads.

The reason for that loyalty was only a thin master-servant relationship tied to annual salary and rank, but ironically, it was the most tightly bound master-servant relationship among humans.

With that logic, Lee Minseong bursted into laughter.

[Then, the royal jelly with my magic could only be eaten by the members of the Reaper Guild? That's funny. Really interesting.]

Somehow, he thought that the appearance of the slaves he made with his own royal jelly was very different from the ones who resemble soldiers.

The slaves of Lee Minseong were reborn as 'contaminated ghouls' that looked more like humans than bees.

[This may also be destiny.]

It was better.

Using that ability, he might be able to steal everything from Lim Taegyu, that lucky bastard.

The position of guild leader was not suitable for such a guy like him from the beginning.

[Lim Taegyu looked better when he was my driver. I'm going to poison him and make him my slave.]

Minseong had no idea if even an S-Class would be affected by his royal jelly, but if he succeeded, it would be a jackpot.

Taegyu was once a driver who obeyed his words, so the possibility was high enough.

He felt better when he thought of enslaving Lim Taegyu.

Being reborn as a worker bee wasn't all bad.

Except for the instinct to be loyal to the Queen Bee, there were many more good things.

The Queen Bee suppressed all of Lee Minseong's nature as a human, reinventing him as a highly evolved form of a fighter.

It's a little disappointing that all the skills he had when he was a human disappeared because of that, but after all, skills were for combat anyway.

By condensing all that power, he obtained a transcendent body specialized in combat, so the gains were rather large.

He wondered if he could beat Lim Taegyu if he was in his current state now.

[Although he is S-Class, Lim Taegyu is nothing more than an archer who shoots an arrow from behind. If I poison him first and then disable his weapon, I stand a good chance…]

… That was how Lee Minseong came that far.

All of his plans have been successful so far, and as a result, Lim Taegyu was now standing in front of him looking exhausted.

'I can win now!'

Lee Minseong was confident.

He would beat Lim Taegyu with his own hands, trample on his face, and spit on him.

And, like before the cataclysm, he planned to make him his slave and use him for the rest of his life…

'Who the hell is that human next to him?'

Lee Minseong felt an ominous feeling when he saw Suho next to Lim Taegyu.

It was like having the Queen Bee in front of him…

No. Kf that person were the Queen Bee, he would have felt more of a forcing loyalty, but he felt the opposite from Suho.

Fear.

As if facing a natural enemy, pure fear welled up.

'Why? Does he seem to look very strong?'

After becoming a worker bee, Lee Minseong's sense of estimating the opponent's level was extremely developed.

Judging by the mana power that he felt from Suho, he was clearly a C-Class hunter.

No matter how well he attacked, it would only be at the level of a B-Class hunter.

In fact, the more threatening being than him was Baek Miho, an A-Class hunter next to Suho.

But why?

Why did he want to run away from there right now?

Why did he become as stiff as a frog in front of a snake?

'Natural Enemy of Insects'

The uneasy feeling touched Lee Minseong's ego.

[… He gives off a very bad aura.]

He worked hard to shake off the anxiety he felt and showed his strength.

A tremendous energy surged from him.

On the other hand, Suho felt the opposite.

'He's obviously stronger than me. I don't think he'll ever lose.'

Suho immediately opened the shop window.

[You purchased 'Item: Quiver (100)'.]

[You purchased 'Item: Quiver (100)'.]

In an instant, two heavy quivers were in Suho's hands.

"If you can't use magic arrows, use these instead."

"…!"

Lim Taegyu, who was suddenly handed a quiver, looked at Suho with his eyes wide open.

"From where did-?!"

"Summoning hunter."

Suho shrugged his shoulders, skipping over the explanations.

"Of course it's not free. You'll be billed for it later, so maximize its use. I will give you some again when you have used it all."

"Oh, yes! Thank you!"

Lim Taegyu nodded with a bright expression.

Now, it didn't matter if Suho was a healer or a summoning hunter.

Such concerns can be dealt with later.

Immediately, Lim Taegyu turned his head toward the enemies, and his expression suddenly changed.

The 'Reaper's Bow' was an S-Class weapon that could kill mages with an ordinary arrow.

The moment Korea's strongest S-Class archer held it, he truly became a hunter.

Swoosh-!

Lim Taegyu's arrows pierced the heads and hearts of the ghouls attacking from all sides.

"Leave all these to me, and you guys catch Lee Minseong!"

He wanted to beat Lee Minseong directly, but he had already confirmed that it was impossible now that he does not have mana power.

An all-out battle began.

"Let's go!"

"Y-Yes!"

Suho and Miho went after Lee Minseong.

[Krrrk!]

At that moment, the wings of the shadow lancers sprouted from Suho and Miho's backs.

Swish-!

They flew towards Lee Minseong at breakneck speed and launched an onslaught.

Swoosh!

[Slow.]

However, Lee Minseong laughed at them and easily avoided the attacks.

'How can he have that speed?!'

Baek Miho hurriedly gave a warning to Suho at Lee Minseong's movement.

"Suho, be careful! Based on his speed alone, he's far beyond A-Class!"

Lee Minseong was delighted at those words.

The corners of his mouth twitched with an ecstatic expression.

[Haha! That's right! I'm already beyond human. Your slow bursting attacks can't even touch my body!]

"Oh, really?"

Flinch.

Suho's trivial reply made Lee Minseong feel uncomfortable.

No matter how much he tried to ignore it, Suho's existence itself is so strong.

[… I can't do this. I'll kill you first!]

Lee Minseong flew towards Suho in full momentum.

The moment the sharp spear in his hand is about to pierce Suho's heart…

Swish.

Suho laughed.

'I've been waiting for this moment.'

Suho's thoughts raged with his eyes shimmering.

"Come out!"

…!

Swoosh-!

Suddenly, numerous black beams of light emanated from Suho's body and rushed toward Lee Minseong at the same time.

[I-Is this…?!]

Lee Minseong's eyes widened as he was taken aback.

It was visible to the perspective of a worker bee that transcended humans.

The identity of those beams of light.

Lancers.

The Queen Bee's lancers who had been chasing him so tenaciously had appeared!

[This is ridiculous…]

Lee Minseong was frightened and hurriedly changed direction just before attacking Suho.

Besides, his speed was much faster than those guys.

Even if they were too close, he could escape…!

"…!"

Suho suddenly grabbed the tip of Lee Minseong's spear, which was about to pierce his heart.

"Caught it, you bastard."

[Let go!]

Lee Minseong tried with all his might to defeat Suho.

But it's already too late.

"Kill him."

[Krrrk!]

[Krrrk!]

The spears of the shadow lancers flying from all sides began to mercilessly slaughter Lee Minseong's body.