Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Black steam rose toward the sky, and a massive shockwave spread outward from the spot where Suho’s fist had made contact. Jarvier’s roar of pain split the air, the sound arising from his massive, rippling body.

Suho began his offensive in earnest. Each of his blows was heavy and deadly. His hands, wrapped in huge gauntlets, were dishing out merciless power.

“Y-you!” Jarvier did not just sit there and take it, however. Dozens of enormous tentacles lashed out angrily at Suho, but the hunter didn’t bother to block them. Instead, he took all the blows with his body, focusing solely on counterattacks.

It’s a head-on-head battle, Suho thought. However, no matter how much injury Pain Tolerance allowed him to take, it did not reduce the pain entirely. Blows to his body still hurt and shook up his insides. Blood welled up from inside of him, and he tasted its metallic tang on his tongue. His health points were diminishing rapidly as well.

Suho did not stop, however. He had no intention of doing so at all. This was a test, and his father was watching. He’d been given permission to fight at maximum capacity and leave the consequences to his father. So I’ll show himthat I can pass this test with flying colors.

Suho tore apart the tentacles that wrapped around his body, sticking closer to his enemy. He lashed out again.

Suho’s powerful strikes were equally matched by his opponent’s stubbornness. They traded blows without holding back. This was completely different from a raid undertaken by ordinary hunters—it was more like a battle to the death between two monsters.

Suho and Jarvier had one thing in common—neither of them was alone. Skeletons rushed in from all directions in order to hinder Suho, but he ignored them, focusing his attacks on the illusionist alone. Jarvier was also purely focused on Suho.

Que’s spear flew through the air, landing squarely in Jarvier’s eye.

“Gah!” Extremely angry, Jarvier grabbed Que’s body and crushed it. As he did, the tentacle that reduced the shadow spear to a soupy mess was destroyed instantly.

[Harmakan used the skill “Thorns of Pain” on all shadow soldiers.]

[All the pain and damage Que receives is shared with the attackers.]

The damage suffered by the shadow soldiers was reflected in the attacks. There were differences in the forces’ defense and health that resulted in slightly different outcomes, but this still led to Jarvier losing a tentacle.

And that wasn’t all. Jarvier’s wound was forced open, suddenly spouting black blood like a fountain.

[Skill: “Amplify Damage” increases the damage taken by Jarvier.]

Jarvier scrambled to staunch the bleeding, grinding his teeth. In the meantime, Harmakan mocked him with an extremely evil smile, his emotion completely opposite of the illusionist’s.

“You traitor to the demonic spirit race!” Jarvier yowled. “You’re a great sorcerer yourself. Aren’t you ashamed—”

There was a crash as Suho’s attack landed on Javier’s jaw.

Jarvier growled, gnashing his teeth angrily. “Ugh! You’re… quite strong, but it’s not good enough!” He’d been distracted by the confusing series of events, but this changed nothing in the end. Jinwoo’s apparition had advanced his spells even more, and he was brimming with confidence. “Hehehe! Try everything you can! You’ll only tire out, but as for me, I’m filling to the brim with mana even as I speak! Hahaha!” His maddened laughter echoed through the sandstorm. “Within this illusion, I am invincible!”

“Invincible, huh?” Suho said, grinning with his teeth bared. He didn’t know sorcery as well as his father, but he could understand some of it. “You’re drawing mana from the hunters who have fallen for your illusions, aren’t you? They are like batteries.” He grinned. “But I’ll take care of that.” I’ll just get rid of the batteries.

***

Many hunters were still under the control of the illusions. Even Taegyu, the strongest among them, still embraced his burning wife and sobbed. His hot tears evaporated as soon as they appeared, however. The heat was intense, and he had already suffered burns all over his body and was close to passing out. He would have liked nothing better than to die with his wife right now, but the S-rank mana inside of him was keeping him alive.

“Honey, I want to live. I need mana,” said his wife, standing in his arms and whispering with an even more affectionate smile. “I need mana…” She gripped the arms that held her even more tightly, as if determined not to let her go until his energy was gone. “Honey, let’s die together this time.”

Taegyu told himself that it was a relief he had so much mana inside of him. As long as his energy lasted, this vision would not end. He knew that death awaited him at the end of this vision, but even that was comforting when he chose to think of it as a form of atonement for what he’d done to his wife. The physical pain of his burning body seemed beautiful to him.

Taegyu’s wife continued to whisper in his ear, loving and kind. It had been so long since he’d heard that voice. “Honey, let’s die together—”

“Die, my ass. Tsk.” There was a tutting sound, seemingly coming from empty space, and the impossible happened before Taegyu’s eyes. His wife’s head was sliced right off.

“Oh,” she said as it happened.

“Huh?” Taegyu’s eyes filled with consternation.

The head rolled along the ground, and suddenly it was gone with a burst of blue flame. At the same time, the body of his wife, still in his arms, began to fill with countless tiny cracks. Before long, it began to simply scatter and disappear. “Oh… Oh, no… No!” Taegyu kneeled, scrabbling to grab the fragments.

Someone entered his empty gaze—the shadow assassin, Kira. He was holding the dagger that had killed the illusion, looking down at Taegyu and clicking his tongue. “You should be ashamed of yourself. An S-rank hunter like you, obsessed with an illusion from your past? What’s the big deal with love, anyway?”

“You…!” Taegyu’s shocked eyes grew bloodshot as soon as he saw the man who had killed his wife. He felt a surge of malice, and his hand shot out, grabbing Kira’s neck.

Kira could not resist, his neck snapping from the impact. He didn’t die, however. “Hmm. Oh, you’re an S-rank hunter, all right.” Still alive, he mocked Taegyu with a calm tone. “If you have the energy left, go look for your son instead of attacking me.”

Taegyu’s eyes bulged.

“If things are this bad for you, how do you think your son feels?” Kira continued.

The mention of his son quickly brought Taegyu’s maddened eyes back to reality. “O-oh no! Dogyoon!”

“That way,” Kira said, pointing.

Taegyu dashed off immediately. Kira shrugged nonchalantly as he watched him. “Well… Parents come in all sorts of varieties.” Seems that I’m the only onewho had a bad draw with mine. “In any case, go after him. I can’t seem to chase him down at all.”

Kira vanished into thin air again. He moved on to the other apparitions and killed them off, too, not at all caring for the feelings or torment of the hunters who were suffering from the visions. He showed no mercy.

***

At the same moment, Dogyoon was running away, as he usually did. His mother was chasing him.

“Dogyoon…”

“Aaaaaah!”

“My son…”

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

He ran and ran, as hard as he’d done when Ammut had trained him. His speed had far surpassed that of an E-rank hunter already, but the apparition of his mother was following at a similar pace. This was a reflection of his memory of being chased down and almost seized by his mother, a memory that had taken root deep inside him.

Kira had watched the seemingly endless chase go on within the sandstorm. He had given up trying to catch up early on, deciding it would be more efficient to save the other hunters during that time. Instead, he left the job to Taegyu, the man’s father.

“N-no!” However, Taegyu, having discovered Dogyoon as intended, was in despair. “Why…”

His son was being chased again, like on that day. Dogyoon was running from his mother, Taegyu’s wife. And just like before, Taegyu was left with a choice—whether or not to kill his wife with his own hands to save his son.

Taegyu knew in his head, of course, that the right thing to do hadn’t changed. In fact, this was not even really his wife, which should have made things much easier. In fact, even the apparition had already turned into a magic beast, just as she had back then. Sometimes, however, emotion overruled logic, and an easy decision was hard to come by.

“Dogyoon…!” Just as before, Taegyu did not hesitate. His body shot forward, chasing after his son, who was running into the distance. However, he was promptly shocked to realize that it was not easy to keep up with them, given the speed they were running.

How is this possible? Dogyoon is only an E-rank hunter! The distance was slowly diminishing, but even so, this speed was far from normal.

“Ugh!” Fearing that Dogyoon might be caught, Taegyu ended up taking up his bow. He aimed for the heart of the apparition of his wife, who was right behind Dogyoon.

No, that is not my wife.That’s a mist burn. A person who turned into a mist burn was no longer human, but a magic beast. That was all. The mana arrows flew forward, piercing the monster’s heart.

Dogyoon finally stopped running and turned around, breathing hard. “F-Father?” His eyes widened when he spotted Taegyu.

Taegyu, finally relieved, sank to the ground. His eyes were still on his son, however. “Are you hurt anywhere?” Tears of relief filled his eyes, and another figure looked down at all of this from above.

“Hmm…” Jinwoo was watching Dogyoon with an amused look on his face. Who knew I’d see something like this? the Monarch thought. “An E-rank hunter?That strikes a chord.”

Jinwoo smiled. His hands moved, creating a new magic circle in the air. Then he opened a door.

[Would you like to enter the Shadow Dungeon?] (Y/N)

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