Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 130

This dream again? Thomas Andre thought. He was dreaming, locked in a blue mist. It was the same nightmare that had tormented him all his life.

“I’m Thomas Andre!Do you think this will defeat me?” In it, he was shouting at the top of his lungs while he took a thorough beating. This was not a fight—it was a thrashing. The blows rained down upon him, and there was absolutely nothing he could do against them. Despite trying to resist with all his might, all he could do was endure a one-sided assault that he could not stop. There was no way for him to defeat this man in his nightmares.

“I told you…” The words were followed by a resounding thud. In the nightmares, his lines were always accompanied by an uppercut to the chin. “I don’t care who you are.”

The icy words and the empty eyes that seemed to look down at him from an unreachable height—Thomas could not recall the face, but those eyes were imprinted on his retinas so clearly that he would shudder even after he woke. In front of those eyes, he was nothing but a weakling.

Thomas never could understand that dream. He was once the UFC’s Openweight Champion and known as the Demon of the Ring, the strongest human alive. In his career, he had never once experienced defeat. His role had always been that of the tyrant, looking down upon his kneeling opponents.

That is who I am.And yet…How on earth… The dreams in which he always lost came without end. Now it had become impossible for him to believe that he had ever been truly strong, not even for a moment. In fact,I am weak. The thought took hold deep inside him.

Anyone who learned that he had these thoughts was likely to laugh in his face, writing it off as modesty or even deceit. But surprisingly enough, he really believed it.

I am weak. Thomas truly believed himself to be deficient in strength. No matter how much he trained his physique and technique, no matter how many times he multiplied his strength, he was still a weakling. Even reaching the summit of his power and looking down on everyone else from those heights was not enough.

I will always be weak. No matter how much progress he made, he was always hungry for more. He was anxious and afraid, even though it was clear that nobody in the world could defeat him. This obsessive mantra replayed in his head without rest, even after he awakened as an S-rank hunter.

Hunters were monsters, inhuman beings with strength that far surpassed that of ordinary humans. And now he was the monster among monsters, the best of the best among the S-rank. So why? Why am I so lacking? He was still afraid. Not even Thomas himself understood the source of his affliction.

Who the hell is that man? The man in the nightmare returned every time Thomas felt he was about to forget. Even if it was just a dream, the undefeatable man continued to haunt him.

How absurd is this? He had become an S-rank hunter, the pinnacle of humanity, and yet he was swayed by a silly dream.

Perhaps she knows something. Unable to bear it, he sought advice from his old friend, Norma Selner. She was a prominent seer and sorcerer, so perhaps she had something to tell him. Her response, however, only confused him more. She looked at him somewhat pityingly.

“Thomas, your emotions come from an emptiness in your heart.”

“What does that mean?”

“Something that filled your vessel in the past is now gone, and you’re feeling the effects.”

“That doesn’t explain anything!”

Seers were always like this. Though he would try as he might to get a straight answer, she would respond with omens and riddles that were impossible to figure out.

She did teach him one thing, however—he really did feel empty. That was why he’d sought strength all his life. And after fighting the magical beasts who came at him inside the Glacier Dungeon, he had slowly become satisfied. It had happened so gradually that he didn’t even notice.

That emptiness is gone.Yes!This is it! Thomas realized it then. That something he’d sought all his life now filled him inside! Is this true strength? he wondered. He finally had the final puzzle piece he’d been missing.

I,Thomas Andre… “I am now complete!” Thomas woke, no longer floundering in his dream Almost by instinct, he realized the identity of his power. “O Itarim! Give me strength!”

An instinct guided his body and his soul. These weak humans, failing to recognize how powerful he had become, were recklessly coming at him. He would drive real fear into their hearts.

He completely opened the floodgates of the power that now filled him, destroying everything in sight. The shadow soldiers who rushed at him, trying to stop him, melted away before his unmatched strength. But oddly enough, a fragile but strangely disturbing little human moved through the shadow soldiers and rushed at Thomas without stopping.

Thomas roared, letting his energy out in a wave. The human refused to give way even before that overwhelming power, glaring back with burning eyes and muttering, “Esil…”

That voice reached Esil, who had been with the hunters of the Scavenger Guild.

“Get in here,” Suho said.

[Vulcan’s Horns devour the demon’s soul.]

Esil’s spirit transformed the two swords and made them into horns on Suho’s head.

[Item: “Vulcan’s Horn” has been equipped.]

[Buff: “Destructive Desire” applied, increasing physical damage by 300%.]

“We’re going all in,” Suho said.

[Skill: “Meadow Wind” has activated.]

[Movement speed is temporarily increased by 30%.]

[Attack speed is temporarily increased by 30%.]

[Skill: “Giant’s Armor” has activated.]

Suho’s silver hair fluttered in the cool, snowy wind. As Suho ran at Thomas—or rather, the Ice Dragon—his body began to grow bigger with every step. And this wasn’t all.

[Skill: “Iron Body Technique” has activated.]

A dark energy wrapped around both of his arms. He gathered all his power and rammed into the Ice Dragon’s gigantic body with a deafening noise.

“How dare you!” Thomas roared, enraged. How dare he try to fight me with brute strength, of all things! It left him flabbergasted. “You want a test of might with me? Do you think the likes of you could really oppose me?” Who dares to think so little of the one, the only, Thomas Andre?

Responding to his will, the Ice Dragon slammed into Suho’s body with potent force. The intent was to crush Suho entirely, but his eyes gleamed as he defended himself against the attack.

Ruler’s Authority! The dark energy that had wreathed his arms shot forward with a loud bang. The unseen hand—the Ruler’s Authority which he’d had since level one and which, according to Beru, he’d been able to use deftly since he learned to walk—slammed into the side of one of the Ice Dragon’s legs. The leg cracked and broke, and the dragon lost its balance, unable to keep its huge body upright.

Suho followed this up by turning the dragon’s momentum against it, throwing it as hard as he could. “Mother!” Now!

Haein’s eyes flew open. “Yes!” She fired the Sword of Light, containing the sum of her energy, at one point—Thomas Andre, within the dragon.

However, Thomas stared right into the blinding light. The ghostly energy burst into flames as he roared, “A laughable attempt!”

The Ice Dragon wrapped its wings around itself, blocking the attack. The light pierced the thick ice, but Haein, at the center of the halo, gritted her teeth. Still too shallow! she thought. Fighting Thomas on his own was difficult in itself, but now he had all this ice protecting him. Still, this would be enough to satisfy her son’s plan.

“I’ve arrived.” While the Ice Dragon had endured being overturned and the follow-up attack by the Sword of Light, it had been pushed back toward the spring. The moment its back leg splashed into the hot water, the countless ice spirits that had formed its body balked and scattered in all directions.

“Argh! What the hell—” The ice melted away rapidly, and Thomas was revealed. He looked taken aback for a moment, but was otherwise unfazed.

“A petty trick!” The ice was gone, but Thomas was still as strong as before—in fact, he had far surpassed his former self. “Hahaha! What are you going to do now? You think I’ll be defeated by an S-rank hunter that has lost all her power, with some small fry as support?”

Thomas stepped down near the spring with an arrogant smile on his face. He released his power immediately, shouting, “Enhance!” This skill was a basic one that many tanks used, but when Thomas activated it, his opponents were normally seized by fear as if they had seen the gates of hell opening.

However, Suho’s plan was all but complete the moment he reached the spring. The young hunter had asked Sillad something from the start.

“Does the spring water work on a Monarch, too?”

There were three ingredients that went into making the Life-Giving Elixir—the Purified Blood of the Demon King, the Fragment of the World Tree, and Echo Forest Spring Water. Suho wasn’t sure what the Fragment of the World Tree was, but he knew exactly what the Echo Forest Spring Water did. If it can purify the blood of a demon Monarch, then what will it do to the follower of the Itarim controlling Thomas’ mind?

Suho recalled what Beru had once told him—namely, that the “god” of their world was also Itarim, and that this god had used the fragments of light and darkness to create the Rulers and the Monarchs. Suho wondered what the followers of Itarim were made out of. What if they’re like the Rulers and the Monarchs?

When Suho asked what would happen if he used the spring water on a follower of the Itarim, Sillad had a precise answer.

[Sillad smiles sinisterly and nods.]

[Sillad activates “Sanctuary: Echo Forest Spring Water.”]

There was a massive noise as the steam above the spring suddenly froze, trapping Thomas inside it. “You haven’t given up, have you?” He tore away the frozen steam like it was nothing, but even those bits of frost were made of Echo Forest Spring Water.

[Item: Echo Forest Spring Water]

[Acquisition Difficulty: ??

Type: Consumable

Mysterious spring water from Echo Forest. It has antidotal effects when drunk or applied to one’s body.]

“What the…?!” Thomas was now unwittingly covered in the stuff. His eyes bulged and his body shook. He curled up in pain. “Gah! Wh-what did you do to me?”

“It’s purification,” Sirka said, coming up from behind Suho moments later. She watched the spirits of the forest moving away from the spring and muttered, “This divine water will awaken your soul, which was possessed by an evil spirit. That’s why this spring exists so deep in the sanctuary.”

“Goddamn you! How dare you compare me to a mere spirit!” A follower of Itarim was obviously far superior to a spirit. But this water existed inside the sanctuary of the Monarch of Frost, who was of equal strength to the followers of Itarim. It was so divine that it could even purify the blood of the demon Monarch.

Unable to contend with the water, the ghostly energy was finally flung from Thomas’ body. At the same time, Haein had her power restored as she gulped down mana potions from Suho. “So, is that our enemy?” she said, summoning her mana as she glared at the being floating in the air.

Thomas’ sanity had returned, and he was also glowering at the same being. “Did you try to possess me, you asshole?” He gritted his teeth, looking furious.