Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

[The quest has been completed.]

Power filled Suho’s entire body. He had leveled up no less than five times. It seemed that all the mana Jarvier had absorbed from the other hunters had counted toward the experience points.

[You’ve received rewards for completing the quest.]

[Would you like to accept the rewards?] (Y/N)

Suho quickly turned, looking for his father’s apparition instead of immediately checking the rewards.

“Father…!”

The sandstorm that had covered the region, along with the illusions that Jarvier had created, were disintegrating into light particles now that he was dead. Jinwoo’s apparition was largely suffering the same fate. Even as his body vanished, however, he looked relaxed.

“No need to make such a fuss.I’m just an apparition,” the illusory Jinwoo said, glancing up at the sky. “The real me is doing perfectly fine up there.Though a certain absence has made me busier than usual.”

“Oh, Your Majesty! I am the cause of your discomfort! Pray forgive me…” Beru dashed up to him and began to wail. “I would like nothing better than to return, but I just don’t have the mana!”

The current Jinwoo was just an illusion, but its soul was connected to the real Jinwoo’s, and their minds were one. He had used Jarvier’s spell to his advantage and turned the illusion into something of an avatar. This allowed the real Monarch of Shadows, who was out in space, to learn that Beru had managed to break Suho’s seal after being sent to Earth. He had been worried that someone might have intercepted Beru, but it seemed he could lay that worry to rest now.

“More importantly…” Jinwoo’s eyes moved to the tiny Beru, who lay face-flat on the ground. “I think you should stay on Earth for the time being.”

“Huh? D-do you think so?” the shadow ant said, his eyes widening. The war with the Outer Universes was intense, and the balance precarious. The fact that a commander was missing from Jinwoo’s ranks had to be a huge burden on the Monarch. “Without me, the balance of the war—”

“Oh, that’s fine.I recently recruited quite a useful soldier.”

Jinwoo’s shocking response froze Beru completely. His jaw went slack.

“The faster you can come back, the better, of course. But it seems to me that Earth isn’t in such a good position, either,” Jinwoo added. His body was already half gone. “I don’t have much time…”

He turned to look at the remains of Jarvier, whom Suho had just killed. Nothing was left but a Skeleton with its ribs destroyed. There was a message on top of it that read:

[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]

Jinwoo explained calmly for Suho’s benefit, “There are some among the demonic spirits, like this one, that cannot be extracted.”

Suho looked disappointed. As his father’s image had said, Jarvier’s soul appeared to be unavailable for extraction, much like the souls of demons. The illusionist couldn’t be turned into a shadow soldier like Harmakan.

“In any case, you won’t be able to use this one.” Jinwoo reached out with his vanishing hand and grabbed Jarvier’s soul. “So I’ll make use of him instead.”

The contaminated soul of Jarvier was pulled upward by force. It soon began to scream shrilly, perhaps having realized the fate that awaited it. “Eeeeeeek!How dare you!This can’t be possible—”

“I told you that nothing is impossible,” Jinwoo said, smiling as he watched the dark shadow struggling to escape his grasp.

Javier’s soul quivered from intense humiliation. An illusion born of his magic had just turned the tables and grabbed onto his soul.

“You, of all people, should know,” Jinwoo continued. “Demonic spirits like you who have trained in sorcery for a long time can be excellent material for creating new sorcery.”

With that, Jinwoo used Jarvier’s soul to perform a final spell. A magic circle shaped like a net exploded outward from his hand, binding the soul tightly. As it screamed, the net tightened and compressed the soul inside. The screaming grew fainter and fainter until it wasn’t audible at all. Jinwoo now had a fist-sized gem in his hand.

“Here. It’s a gift for you,” Jinwoo said, tossing the gem to Suho.

[Item: “Jarvier’s Soulstone” acquired.]

Suho looked puzzled. “What’s this?”

[Item: “Jarvier’s Soulstone”]

[Acquisition Difficulty: ??

Type: Gem

A gem made by compressing a demonic spirit.]

“Think of it as insurance. Keep it in your inventory,” Jinwoo said.

“Insurance?”

“Yes.Seeing you fight has made me a little… worried.” The illusion smiled wryly and looked at his son. He would have liked to explain further, but no explanations left his lips.

Nobody could predict the future. The son was following in the steps of his father, but their paths simply were not the same. Suho’s future was for him to decide. I should encourage him instead of trying to teach him what to do, Jinwoo thought, erasing all the words that came to his mind.

“So, Suho.” Jinwoo gripped Suho’s shoulder with a disintegrating hand. “I leave this place in your care.”

“Yes, Father,” Suho responded, nodding heavily. His eyes burned with quiet resolve.

Jinwoo seemed satisfied. His body suddenly collapsed, and the hand that had been patting Suho’s shoulder scattered into countless points of light.

Suddenly, the sky itself seemed to cave in.

[Instance dungeon has been deactivated.]

Harmakan’s barrier shattered and disappeared, and the civilians who had been outside it finally came into view. They, in turn, could see the hunters who had been swallowed up by the storm. Moments later, the civilians began to cheer.

“The magic beasts are all gone!”

The shouting made the hunters realize that the terrible battle was finally at an end. Their expressions were filled with relief, but also with a deep sense of defeat. They knew all too well that they had done absolutely nothing worth mentioning today. While they had been struggling with the illusions, a single person—a very young hunter—had taken on the boss monster and seized victory.

Sung Suho… They had all seen it with their own eyes. Sung Suho of theWoojin Guild.

The hunters all turned to look at Suho, who stood in the center of the beach. Naturally, the civilians who had been outside noticed and stared at him as well.

Beru seemed very satisfied with the looks of admiration on everyone’s faces. “Young Monarch, why don’t you wave to them? They are all looking upon you with respect.”

“Forget it.” Suho seemed lost in thought. He had been reunited with his father for the first time in a while, only for him to vanish again. He couldn’t be expected to feel good about that.

Suho did not intend to let his emotions drag him down forever, however. There was work to be done. “Esil!”

Esil, who had disappeared for quite a while, waved from somewhere on the shore. “Suho! I found it!”

After the boss monster appeared out of nowhere, everyone had forgotten why they were there, but the Woojin Guild hadn’t.

“I found the gate!” Esil called.

People finally turned around with shocked looks on their faces.

Oh, right!

I nearly forgot!

We were looking for a gate!

While the boss had been defeated, Suho’s guild was the first to have been sent out to find the gate. That was their primary goal. So as everyone fought the boss, Esil had wandered off alone, determined to find the gate hidden somewhere on this beach.

“Well done,” Suho said, grinning at the sight of the demon noble, who was waving in the distance. He searched his surroundings, looking for the other guild members.

“Are you all right?”

“Healers! This way!”

“Medical staff! Medical staff!”

The healers and medical personnel from the Hunters Association were already racing to treat the wounded.

Taegyu, the S-rank hunter, had suffered extremely bad burns, though he himself didn’t seem too concerned. “Please heal my son first,” he said.

“This man is your son, Mr. Lim?” asked the surprised responder who was seeing to him.

Taegyu patted Dogyoon, who lay tired beside him, on the back. There was a warm look in his eyes. “Yes… My son. I’m very proud of him.” He was so relieved that he had been able to save Dogyoon amid the terrible catastrophe.

Things were different from that terrible day in their past. Dogyoon was not wailing and looking at his father with fear as before. He was not running away, either.

“Are you all right?” Suho asked as he approached Dogyoon.

“No, I’m not,” he said, taking Suho’s hand and getting up. He looked thankful to be alive. He held out his other hand to his father. “How are you feeling, Father? That must really hurt.”

“You…” I won’t take worried looks from you. Taegyu grinned and let his son pull him up.

***

The gate that Esil had located was already empty. It seemed that Jarvier had probably devoured all the lifeforms that had been inside. Even so, there was quite a bit of ore there, and it was now the property of the Woojin Guild. This was not part of the contract, of course, but Taegyu had relinquished all his rights to Suho.

There was one conundrum, however—a matter of time. Now that all the magic beasts were gone and even the boss was dead, the gate would not be around for long. Harvesting all the ore inside and getting out before it vanished would require a massive amount of manpower. This was not a problem for the Woojin Guild, however.

“Arise.”

Countless shadow miners rose from Suho’s shadow. They ran into the dungeon with their pickaxes and shovels and began to dig at a furious pace.

“Incredible…” Taegyu said, his mouth falling open. He had known Suho was a summoner, but he hadn’t expected the hunter to be able to call forth so many creatures at once.

Suho walked over to him with an attempt at a real negotiation. “Does the Fiend Guild have any extra dungeons it doesn’t need? The more, the better.”

“No wonder Dogyoon seems to be so fleet-footed now…”

“Oh, I think you’ve misunderstood,” Suho said. I’m not the vicious taskmaster who pushed him that far.

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