Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Title: “Solo Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 25”

Beru remembered something from his past.

The demon world had faced annihilation twice at the hands of the Shadow Monarch, Sung Jin-Woo.

First, in the Demon’s Castle dungeon.

Then again after everything had been reset.

Demons were just experience points for Sung Jin-Woo as he went through them in his war against the Monrachs.

The demons died again and again…

Only one family survived the demon world in the end.

The Radir family, which was ranked 20th among the many demons, had sided with Sung Jin-Woo.

But now, that family has perished?

“It appears that something happened in the demon world at the time.”

Beru narrowed his eyes and stared at the lesser demon’s corpse, attempting to read its memories in order to discover the truth.

[May I, My Lord, consume this demon in order to learn its memories? ]

Suho’s gaze shifted to the demon’s body in response to Beru’s inquiry.

[It’s impossible to recover memories from corrupted mana.]

Suho raised an eyebrow in response to the message in front of him.

“Can’t we use shadow soldiers to extract memories from demons?”

[That’s right.]

It appeared that a demon’s corrupted soul made it impossible to extract memories using the power of shadows.

Suho gave a nod.

“Then go ahead and eat it.”

[Chomp!]

Beru’s mouth split wide open as soon as he was given permission, and he tore into the corpse.

He wished he could eat everything in one bite, but his mouth was too small.

Yum nom nom!

Yum nom nom nom!

…It seemed like it would take a while because his mouth was so small.

[Hehehe!]

Ignoring the slightly gruesome scene that might require mosaic treatment, Suho focused on the stares directed at him.

All of the hunters, including the scavengers and the assault team, looked at him in awe.

“That…!”

“H-how did…?”

In this perplexing situation, where he didn’t know what to say first,

Assistant Professor Lim took a step forward. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Suho in this condition.

“Are you okay with your wounds, Suho?”

Even though all of his wounds had healed by the time he leveled up, there was still blood on his body.

Suho appeared to be covered in blood and on the verge of collapsing right now.

“Ah, yes.”

In response to Assistant Professor Lim’s concern, Suho casually wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand.

“Um… there?”

At that point, the assault team leader approached him with caution.

“It’s not necessary to go to the association for re-examination right now…”

Suho, who had hunted a C-rank demon on his own, could not be ranked as an E-rank hunter, regardless of his summoning ability.

There was definitely a big mistake somewhere.

“That doesn’t matter right now.”

Assistant Professor Lim spoke up, holding an empty potion bottle that the demon had eaten and discarded earlier, and carefully examining it.

“Have you heard of stardust?”

The assault team leader’s face became solemn. He thought it was strange as well.

Assistant Professor Lim nodded.

“Well, because many low-ranking hunters use it a lot; just a few days ago, the scavengers who went diving today were bragging about how they managed to get stardust with difficulty…”

Stardust was preferred by lower-ranking hunters over higher-ranking hunters.

Why did lower-ranking hunters use stardust more frequently?

It was because Stardust’s amplification effect had limits.

While stardust was a fantastic drug that could instantly transform an E-rank hunter into a D-rank hunter, it wasn’t enough to turn a D-rank hunter into a C-rank hunter, as it had previously.

Of course, hunters who advanced to D-rank from C-rank could have slightly lower magical power than C-rank, but they were the primary customers of stardust.

“They ate stardust and went to the association instead of the dungeon, and they would frequently try to increase their amplification power by taking multiple doses of different potions at the same time, or try to consistently increase their luck, and they all failed and squandered money.”

There were also rumors that the development team was always looking for ways to boost the amplification power.

But no one knew who was producing stardust.

“However, just earlier, how did…”

[Of course. Stardust was created by demons, so it is naturally more effective for demons.]

“What?!”

“Demons created stardust?”

The hunters were astounded by the shocking truth.

“Is that true?”

[Yes, it is.]

Beru nodded seriously in response to Suho’s question.

“But the problem is not that.”

Beru himself couldn’t read all the memories of the prey he ate.

But even those snippets of information were too shocking and horrifying.

“It appears that the ingredients used in the production of stardust were…”

Beru’s subsequent explanation was both shocking and terrifying.

The process of making stardust was as follows:

The charred lump was then pulverized into powder, which was then turned into stardust.

“And that diluted solution of stardust mixed with water is what’s distributed in these potion bottles?”

[Yes.]

The hunters trembled as they listened to Beru’s explanation.

“This is unbelievable.”

“Stardust was created by burning humans alive?”

“Then why are demons here…?”

It seemed like they didn’t even need to ask that question.

Beru moved his gaze to the tunnel where the demons first appeared, piercing through it.

[There appears to be a ‘factory’ of demons along that path. They kidnapped civilians in order to use them as sacrifices to create stardust.]

It was the moment.

Ding!

[Quest: Save the Survivors]

There are people nearby who are waiting for your rescue.

Save as many of them as you can.

The reward will be determined by the number of people saved.

Current number of survivors: 7

Current number of rescues: 0

“There are still 7 survivors?”

There was no reason to wait any longer now that the quest had appeared.

Suho’s eyes flashed.

“I’m going to save them.”

Step.

Suho took a step towards the tunnel.

“Wait, Suho!”

Assistant Lim grabbed Suho’s shoulder urgently from behind.

Suho turned to face him.

“Assistant, you should leave first.”

“No, this time I want to go with you.”

“Hmm?”

What’s gotten into this coward now?

Assistant Lim trembled in fear, but he spoke up bravely.

“With my abilities, I can carry at least one person while running.”

Just like before, there would be a lot more demons where Suho was going.

It was obvious that Suho would require more help to rescue the people who had been imprisoned there.

“Heh, carrying and running… That’s an excellent plan.”

Suho picked up the crow mask lying on the floor and turned his gaze to the hunters who were looking at him.

“All right, let’s plan our operation.”

***

The railway at Seoul Station extended for a long distance.

Along the length of the tunnel, there was a massive air raid shelter ready for wars or natural disasters.

Normally used as a construction site, this location was now occupied by a demon-run factory.

“Why is the youngest so late?”

The demons in the factory became irritated when the youngest demon, who had gone out to dispose of the trash, did not return.

“Perhaps he came across some monsters along the way.”

“Those pathetic lizards…”

That’s when it started.

The youngest, wearing a crow mask and pushing a cart, walked into the factory as the iron door opened.

A haphazardly piled-up group of humans was inside the cart.

The demons’ eyes glowed.

“Oh, what’s this?”

“How did you come across these prey?”

“I ran into them on the way here.”

The youngest shook his head and parked the cart in a factory corner.

Thump.

The hunters, who were covered in blood and pretending to be dead, didn’t even flinch as the cart shook.

The demons were curious.

“Did you kill them? It’s less effective if they’re already dead.”

“They’re still alive.”

“Oh, I see; our youngest is quite skilled.”

For a brief moment, the demons discussed how fortunate they were that the prey had fallen into their laps.

Suho was the identity of the ‘youngest one’ who stood in front of the cart, observing their conversation while wearing a crow mask.

He had come here disguised as a demon, covering his face with the mask of a demon he had killed, and had entered this place on his own feet.

And the ones lying in the cart, pretending to be dead with blood smeared all over them, were the members of the assault team of hunters.

They were able to attempt such a daring infiltration because of the information Suho had gleaned from the memories of the demon he had killed about the situation in the factory.

“The demons recognize each other’s identities by wearing crow masks; they aren’t concerned with details like appearance or voice.”

This was possible because the demons in the factory were not in their original bodies.

“Demon souls wandering through dimensional rifts possessed humans and took control of their bodies.”

According to Suho, even the Monarchs and Rulers were said to have hidden on Earth in the past by possessing human bodies.

To enter Earth directly with their original powerful bodies, they would need to create a massive hole in the dimensional barrier, which was a much more difficult method.

However, it appeared that the demons disliked the weak human bodies they had taken over.

“Alright, enough chit-chat,” said the crow-masked demon with the most powerful aura of the demons, clapping once to get everyone’s attention. “Get ready, everyone; the gate is slowly opening.”

“What?” Surho exclaimed, widening his eyes and looking at the gate.

Even the hunters who had pretended to be dead in the luggage were forced to open their eyes and stare in astonishment at the gate.

Crackle! Crackle!

Red energy tore apart the space where there had previously been nothing.

“This is insane.”

Even the youngest member had no recollection of such information. He didn’t know if his memories had been erased or if he simply didn’t know what was going on until now because he was the youngest.

“Oh, my goodness.”

They all realized everything at that moment.

What the demons had been up to in this factory the entire time.

“Stardust’s final component.”

A demonic gem, the blood-stained demon stone!

However, because the demons here had possessed human bodies, they had summoned the demon to extract the blood from within.

Crackle! Crackle!

The terrifying Red Gate!

A dimensional rift had been created between the demon realm and Earth at this time.

“These crazy bastards!”

“Everyone, prepare for battle; we don’t know what kind of enemy will appear, but we must kill them all at once!” declared the crow-masked demon.

Kwaaaah!

The demons took their battle stances as they watched the red light pour out of the Red Gate.

And finally.

In front of them, an unidentified demon who had been wandering the demon realm was summoned.

“….”

Thud.

Glossy purple hair.

Slender arms and legs.

“A woman?”

The female demon who had descended in front of them looked pitiful as the red gates closed once more, covered in blood and looking as if she might collapse at any moment.

Despite the flow of blood, her eyes shone brightly, as did her purple hair.

“Who has the audacity to summon me?”

The purple demon looked arrogantly at the demons surrounding her with a sharp glint in her eyes.

She curled her lips in response to the obvious hostility emanating from them.

“Are you all after my life as well?”

Clang!

The purple demon displayed the spear she was holding and pointed it at the other demons.

“All right, come at me! My name is Ysill, the eldest daughter of the Radir clan, and we will fight until my life is forfeit!”