Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 144

The old man who had been relaxing on the sofa suddenly tutted and turned toward the window. “Some idiot has broken the barrier.”

“What?!” Hwang Dongsuk, who was drunk and sitting on the opposite sofa, suddenly felt wide awake. “F*cking hell! Don’t tell me they’re after us already?”

Dongsuk shot to his feet and carefully studied the scenery outside the window. The sky was red, and the road was covered with blood and bodies. The undead that had stood and were walking along the road were all moving in the same direction, proof that an outsider had entered the village.

Dongsuk gritted his teeth and glared at the old man. “This isn’t what you promised! You said you’d erased all traces! What the hell is this?”

“Don’t make such a fuss. Only two men entered the village. They discovered the demonic spirit who was the medium for the illusion, and the spell has come undone.”

The old man’s explanation soothed Dongsuk’s agitation. “What? Only two?”

“Yes. Probably hunters who discovered the place by accident.”

“Hehe. Is that right?” Dongsuk smiled with satisfaction, licking his lips. “That’s good. If they’re hunters, they must have weapons with them.”

Dongsuk had managed to escape the prison, but it was too early to let down his guard. They’d stolen as many of the guards’ weapons as possible, but most of his men were still unarmed. Their priority was to arm themselves as best they could before they were discovered and the real chase began.

“And how strong are these two?” Dongsuk asked.

“Well, I don’t know. They destroyed the demonic spirits planted in the bodies of your men. That means at least one of them is a mage. And they’re B-rank, minimum.”

“B-rank? And a mage?” Dongsuk’s brain began to churn. Hmm.Well, they wouldn’t be S-rank, of course. S-rank hunters were their own walking mega-corporations. They didn’t have so much free time that they would waltz through a remote region out of the blue. They were expensive to employ, and only a few of them even existed in South Korea. The odds that one would come all the way out here to capture some small-time villains was close to zero. Even A-rank hunters were worth their weight in gold. None of them would voluntarily become bounty hunters.

“Heh. That means two B-rank hunters at best. Mages are a bit of a hassle to deal with, but not even they can overcome sheer numbers.” Dongsuk summoned one of his men, who had been standing by outside. “Hunters have invaded the village,” he said. “Collect all the men that are taking breaks. They’re two B-rank hunters, most likely. We’ll ambush them together.”

“Y-yes! I’ll pass down your instructions!” The man stiffened at Dongsuk’s words and rushed outside.

Dongsuk gave a nasty smile and muttered, “There, now. Finally looking all sprightly, are we? Nothing like seeing one of their own die to put the fear of god into them.”

Hwang Dongsuk, who was only a C-rank, still reigned over the prisoners as king. But such a hierarchical relationship was fragile, and there was no knowing when the status quo would be broken. The villains still did as he commanded only because he was the brother of the S-rank villain Hwang Dongsoo, and for no other reason.

Dongsuk was about to go outside himself, but he suddenly turned to the old man. “Hey, you! Aren’t you going to help?”

The man, who was still seated on the sofa, didn’t even look at him. He simply responded nonchalantly, “As you know, I don’t like to get involved in the physical work. Call me when you’ve dealt with the outsiders. I’ll cast the illusion over the village again.”

“Whatever you say…” Dongsuk said. He looked slightly unhappy, but he didn’t say any more.

He heard his men gathering outside according to his instructions. “Get your weapons! There’s only two of them!” a man shouted.

After Dongsuk left, the old man continued to look out the window, his eyes unreadable. A honeybee flew toward him and perched on the windowsill. “There you are,” he murmured as a smile finally appeared on his lips.

***

“Blerrrrgh!”

“Huh? What the—”

Suho was taken aback as ghostly energy suddenly gushed out of the demonic spirit’s—that is, the villain’s—body. The villain screamed, then fainted, slumping to the ground.

Beru muttered gravely, “The demonic spirit that occupied his body has been destroyed.”

“What? Just like that?”

“No. It seems that some higher spirit was in control of it. Beings from mystical worlds are skilled with such sorcery.”

“So that means a stronger demonic spirit is somewhere nearby,” Suho said, nodding carefully.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it a sorcerer from a mystical world who made my level-up system? The creator had been the Great Spellcaster Kandiaru, and the system he had designed could be seen as a type of sorcery. A high-ranked demonic spirit might not be capable of the same level of power, but it could certainly kill someone if it ever performed a particular action. I was just after some villains, but it seems we’ve encountered something much bigger.

“Sung Suho!” Taeshik shouted urgently, still fighting the undead out in front. “Get out here and help me! There are more and more of them!”

With the illusion banished, the village had become the site of a true apocalypse. Ordinary undead would not have flustered a B-rank hunter like Taeshik, but these were unusual. Their body parts simply reattached if they were cut off, and that wasn’t all.

“I think these undead were originally residents of this village! The villains must have killed them all off as soon as they took over.” Taeshik sounded puzzled even as he spoke. He had believed that the villains would not harm the citizens, since civilians could be used as hostages later. But that had been a naive and commonplace way to think.

“Goddamn it. They’re far more unhinged than I realized. Now these are some proper villains.” Muttering that all villains deserved the death penalty, regardless of the severity of their crimes, Taeshik smiled viciously and glowered at the undead in front of him. As he continued slicing off their limbs, he shouted, “Usually, there’s some bastard controlling them from a hiding spot nearby! Use your summon to find him!”

That wasn’t necessary. The enemy in question revealed themselves without being asked. Non-possessed villains appeared out of nowhere, attacking Suho and Taeshik from all directions.

“Hahaha! So you were all hiding together, were you?” Taeshik’s eyes gleamed with excitement despite the danger that had come upon them. At the same time, he turned a cool gaze toward Suho, then grinned. “Good work. Your role ends here. From this point on, it’s every man for himself.”

Suho didn’t even have a chance to react before the man simply vanished. His eyes widened. “Concealment?”

“That traitor!” Beru said, gnashing his mandibles angrily.

No wonder he’d seemed so calm. He’d been hiding his stealth abilities, Suho realized. Taeshik hadn’t used them to run away, however.

“Gah!”

“Wh-what the hell? Argh!”

The villains who had joined the undead in the attack began to scream one by one as blood spurted violently from their bodies.

“I-it’s an assassin!”

“Goddamn it! Nobody said anything about an assassin!”

“I thought they were mages?”

Seeing what Taeshik could do seemed to instantly shake the villains’ confidence.

“Tsk. It’s just a sneaky assassin.” A villain mage standing toward the back of the group suddenly launched an exploding fireball at the others, who had begun gushing blood.

“Aaaagh!”

“Why are you attacking us, too?”

Though the villains had escaped together because their interests had temporarily aligned, there was no such thing as trust between them. The villains unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast tumbled to the ground, covered in flames. The spell found its intended effect instantly, however.

“Ugh!” Taeshik gave a short shout, and his translucent silhouette came into view.

“Over there! Kill him!” shouted the mage who had cast the spell, triumphantly pointing in Taeshik’s direction.

The other villains sneered wickedly and lunged. In the confusion that had ensued after seeing the assassin use his concealment ability, however, they had forgotten about their second opponent.

“Sillad…” Suho said quietly as undead closed in around him. At his call, a being that had been dormant in the sea of the afterlife opened his eyes.

[Sillad is watching you.]

Suho felt Sillad’s gaze and said confidently, “Sillad’s Aegis.”

[Blessing: Sillad’s Aegis]

[The blessing of the Monarch of Frost and the King of the Snow Folk. The Monarch of Frost, Sillad, has chosen you as a shaman. The shaman can sacrifice their mana to raise up a Blistering Blizzard.]

An icy white wind began to spin around Suho.

[Skill: “Blistering Blizzard” has activated.]

[Required Mana: 100 per second.]

The ice storm that had frozen Facade Island whole overtook Yami Village.

“Th-the hell?”

“What in the world?”

“A blizzard?”

The villains shouted in alarm as a powerful blast of cold washed over them. The ground froze, encasing their feet in ice and trapping them.

“D-damn it! My feet!”

The legs of the villains and the undead alike began to freeze.

“What…?” Taeshik, whose concealment skill had deactivated, turned to Suho in bewilderment. The cold wind had put out the flames on his body. “Nature magic? So he is a druid after all.” He nodded to himself, thinking that this confirmed his guess.

The moment Taeshik turned toward the villains again, his eyes became violent and cruel. Some of them had managed to break the ice encasing their legs, but they were a precious few. Most of the villains here were only low- or mid-ranked.

“And now you’re my prey.” He dashed forward, licking his lips, and cut only their vital points with merciless swipes of his blades. The windpipe, the jugular—everywhere his daggers passed, blood erupted.

The villains screamed.

“Aaaah! Run!”

Those who had belatedly freed their legs began to scramble away.

[“Debuff: Curse of Extreme Cold” has been activated.]

[Attack speed decreases by 30%.]

[Movement speed decreases by 30%.]

They could not go far, however, as they were still floundering in the blizzard. Taeshik was free from the effects of the debuff, as Sillad had taken him to be Suho’s companion. The assassin killed every escaping villain, laughing cruelly.

“This is why I like fighting humans.” Unlike the monsters of the dungeons, humans were easy to kill. His enjoyment at his peak, he shouted at Suho, “Hey, let me give you an important lesson as the one here with more experience! Remember one thing—all humans die at some point! No matter how strong the hunter, that is an unchanging truth—”

Taeshik’s head suddenly exploded.

“You think you know it all, don’t you? Well, not anymore!” Grinding his teeth, the villain who had just blown Taeshik’s head off scrambled forward to trample the man’s corpse. He continued to stomp on the body, crying, “That’s right, you bastard! Everyone dies, and that includes you! You hear me? Hahaha!”

With vicious eyes, the villain then turned to Suho, the one who had caused the blizzard. “Now, that leaves just one. Everyone, get—”

But Suho didn’t let him finish. “Arise.” With that word, Taeshik’s shadow began to ripple ominously into view behind him.