Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 121

Chapter 121

That was the beginning of the War of the Outer Gods. At that time, Sung Jinwoo led his soldiers into the far reaches of space to confront the enemies that had come from the Outer Universes. A full-scale battle ensued shortly thereafter.

“And on that day…” Beru continued, recalling the intense battle, “Lady Haein departed on Kaisel’s back. But the dragon never returned, even after several years.”

Jinwoo had ordered Kaisel to ensure Haein’s safe return home. Yet, time passed and Kaisel never rejoined the shadow army.

At the time, Jinwoo had not dwelled on this. They had already traveled too far from Earth in preparation for the war against the Itarim. As the distance between dimensions grew, the connection between the Jinwoo and the shadow soldiers weakened, eventually severing entirely.

It was the case for Beru, as well. The reason Jinwoo could not re-summon Beru, even after directly recalling him, also lay in the distance between their dimensions. If the distance was too great, not only could mana not be recharged, but recall was impossible as well.

“As you know, Young Monarch, summoning shadow soldiers is akin to opening a ‘gate.’ It’s a method whereby one draws those waiting in the World of Shadows through a dimensional gate, delivering them to our dimension.” However, opening such a gate essentially meant piercing the walls of their dimensions. “As the distance between dimensions becomes excessively vast, so too does the distance between gates. One must break through countless dimensional walls and pass through dimensional rifts.”

The quintessential example was surely the Monarchs War, a conflict lost to time. Even the Rulers, endowed with formidable powers, spent years traversing from their dimensions to Earth. During that time, the Monarchs who had arrived on Earth first were already preparing for war. This showed just how great the distance was between Earth and the dimension where the War of the Outer Gods was unfolding.

Having listened to Beru’s explanation, Suho wore a gravely serious expression. “Then, could it be… Since that time, my mother…”

“Yes. It seems likely that Lady Haein encountered an unavoidable mishap while returning on Kaisel, which prevented her from ever reaching home. Perhaps she was caught in a dimensional breach along the way.”

Indeed, that would have been an unavoidable mishap. Surely, neither Haein nor the dragon she rode could have evaded such a fate.

“At that time, dimensional breaches were opening all over the sky.” Beru nodded solemnly, concluding his statement with a serious expression.

However, Sirka, who had been listening to their conversation but was oblivious to their somber mood, nodded with a bright expression. “Exactly! That’s why the black dragon is always by Cha Cha’s side! That makes Cha Cha the Dragon Maiden!”

Hearing this, Suho suddenly turned to Sirka. “So, where is my mother?” he asked. His voice cracked slightly. It was as if his throat had tightened with emotion after having not mentioned her for so long.

* * *

Whooooosh!

As they emerged from the cavern’s maw, they were immediately engulfed by a mana blizzard, obscuring all visibility.

Sirka ventured forth without regard for the bitter cold. “Just follow me. I will lead you to where my tribe resides,” she said.

Suho walked silently behind her, a contemplative expression on his face. Meanwhile, Sirka beamed with delight, having finally met Haein’s son, who she had heard so much about.

“I was born in this forest,” Sirka told them. “To us ice elves, this weather is but a daily affair.” As if to prove that her claim was no mere bragging, she adeptly navigated through the blizzard, finding her way with remarkable ease. Her steps were astonishingly light, showcasing her ability to bound gracefully over the thickly snow-covered ground.

Suho, on the other hand, found his feet sinking into the snow repeatedly. Sirka looked back at him and laughed cheerily. “Just like Cha Cha! Even your current actions prove you are her son! If your feet keep sinking, try spreading mana thinly under your soles.”

“Mana? Really?”

“Yes. Cha Cha struggled at first, too, but quickly got the hang of it. Being her son, you’ll surely manage the trick as well.” The elf’s face was filled with mischievous glee. She watched Suho struggle as one might view a toddler taking their first steps.

Cha Cha didn’t master it immediately either, Sirka thought. While she described it as a mere trick, this technique was far from simple for any being that was not an ice elf. It required precise and careful mana control with every step, and Haein had dedicated considerable effort to learn it.

“Yes, it is quite simple.” With a smirk, the elf began to instruct Suho. “We ice elves crawl on snow before we learn to walk. Instinctually, we distribute mana throughout our limbs, then gradually reduce the distribution…”

“Ah, I see. I think I got it.”

“Eh?” In a moment, Sirka’s expression turned from focused instruction to bewildered surprise as Suho effortlessly stood atop the thick snow, a feat she hadn’t anticipated him achieving so quickly.

“What’s the matter? Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“Hmm, well… Your form is still a bit off.” Caught off-guard, Sirka tried to save face and critiqued his stance. “Look. You’re still crushing the snow under your feet. You’re not supposed to leave footprints. See?”

“No footprints?” Turning, Suho saw only one set of footprints. That’s right!Only mine are visible!

As he marveled at how the elf was able to walk on the snow without leaving a trace, she crossed her arms smugly. “See? It might be tough at first, but with enough effort—”

“Ah, there we go.” Before she could finish speaking, Suho had mastered moving without leaving footprints.

[Skill: “Elven Footstep” has been learned.]

A new skill? Suho’s eyes lit up. Sirka’s instruction had seemed to be merely a tip, but it was indeed a formidable skill.

Momentarily speechless, the elf stared at Suho. “No wonder Cha Cha always bragged about her son.”

Suho tilted his head, puzzled. “My mother boasted about me? That doesn’t sound like her.”

Hearing Sirka talk about his mother felt surreal. His mother, as he remembered her, was not stingy with praise—yet she was not one to boast about her child either. She always wanted to raise me like a normal kid. A life of normalcy…

Other than the fact that his physical prowess was far beyond that of his peers, Suho’s childhood was about as normal as it could get. And my parents seemed oddly pleased with that, he recalled. Perhaps their contentment had driven him to embrace normalcy even more. While it seemed natural then, it felt peculiar upon recalling it now, considering most parents delighted in their children outshining others.

Reminiscing about Suho’s childhood, Beru cleared his throat and interjected, “Indeed, Young Monarch, that was a gesture of consideration from your parents, who only wished for you to lead an ordinary life…”

But there was no time for nostalgia, because they had arrived. When they halted, a scene was revealed before them—the village of the ice elves. The first thing that captured their attentions was a magnificent and astonishingly-shaped ice sculpture standing at the village’s entrance.

“Mother?”

“Lady Haein?!”

Suho and Beru’s eyes widened. The sculpture, crafted by the ice elves, depicted the great dragon Kaisel and Cha Haein. It was a sight to behold.

* * *

Five years prior, the shadow dragon knew it couldn’t deliver Haein to safety. The ground below was damaged due to the sudden emergence of dimensional breaches, proliferating wildly as the Itarim invaded.

Whoosh!

A sudden, powerful dimensional wind forced Kaisel to flap its wings erratically, dramatically changing their course.

Haein, then merely a human, clung tightly to the dragon’s wobbling back, screaming in terror. Kaisel exerted every effort to prevent her from falling, but once they were entangled in a dimensional breach, escape was impossible. Turning back was not an option either, as massive battles were already underway in the direction they had come from.

In that moment, Kaisel recalled the command handed down by Sung Jinwoo: Safely bring Cha Haein home. Prioritizing her safety was paramount, as Kaisel knew how important her well-being was to Jinwoo.

With no hesitation, the dragon plunged toward the dimensional breaches. It was a decision made under duress, but the other options were bleak. Whether they dove in willingly or they were sucked in while resisting, they would ultimately be drawn in. Choosing to dive allowed the dragon to select the most mana-stable breach to enter.

Kaisel steered itself toward a breach that seemed safest for Haein. Crossing it, they witnessed a swirling snowstorm and the frozen forest below.

“And that’s how Cha Cha came to our forest.” As Sirka reminisced about that day, she looked dreamily at the ice sculpture of Haein.

At each moment—when she passed through the dimensional breach, arrived in the frozen forest, and encountered the ice elves—Haein gradually awakened more and more to an immense power long forgotten. She had once been an S-rank Hunter, and her mana was among the strongest in South Korea.

“And she saved our tribe.”

“From whom?”

“The ice spirits of Echo Forest.” The forest was a sacred place, said to be inescapable once entered, even for ice elves.

At that moment, a system message appeared before Suho.

Ding.

[A quest has arrived.]

Pix612, Catherine Stewart, Jiwon Yu, Hannah Shin’s Thoughts

Localization Credits

Kiwi Vine

Translator Gom

Editor Andie Luk

Linguist Archie, Sara Liddell

Head Linguist Hannah Shin

Kakao Entertainment

Head of Language Quality Letitia Wells

Head of Localization Jaewon Lee