Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 167

Looking back, school life was terribly boring for Suho. The rectangular desks, blackboards, and classrooms… The way everyone had worn the same clothing as they gathered to learn exactly the same things… That was mostly all that Suho remembered.

The simmering boredom was torture for young Suho. He was often yawning as a student. There had been a wistful feeling in his younger heart, like he knew that there was more to life than this, that there were exciting surprises in life he had forgotten about. He had been unable to endure the ennui whenever he felt this way.

He now found himself back at his old school, but soon, everything abruptly halted. Time itself seemed to stop, and an unbelievable scene unfolded before him. The students walking out the gate, the students playing sports, the cars in the road, the people on the sidewalk, and even the soccer ball in midair had all frozen in place. Then, a gate appeared—a round, dark hole that emerged out of nowhere in the back of his classroom. It was a dark door that seemed about to suck away anyone who went near it.

Any ordinary boy would have been scared, but Suho didn’t cry or scream. Instead, he put his hand on his heart. His heart was excited, beating rapidly. Perhaps this was what he’d been waiting for all along.

My mother always told me I take after my father…What would he have donein such a situation? he wondered.

The answer was simple. Suho jumped into the gate without hesitation. Thus began the most intense, fierce, and terrible dream that he ever had.

Monsters screamed and roared incessantly.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

In the dream, Suho was injured and killed more times than he could count, but he defeated the countless monsters who lunged at him as he continued to rush forward.

Then, toward the end of the dream, he was able to meet him—a man wearing a hood that obscured his face, a mysterious individual whose presence was so overwhelming that one was hardly able to breathe in front of him. In his youth, this man was a mystery, but now, Suho knew exactly who he was.

Father…? Suho was confused by the appearance of his father, Sung Jinwoo. He knew, of course, that this was simply a hallucination. His father was in space, and there was no reason for him to show up here all of a sudden. This man had to be fake.

But at the same time, Suho was worried. Can I defeat my father in my current state? he wondered. He gulped. In the dream, he had been knocked out with a single blow, even though he’d been level ninety-nine. But his level was much lower than that now.

No.My father can’t be as strong as he was then.This is a fake version of him. Suho was certain that no demonic spirit illusionist could completely copy the powers of his father, who was the Monarch of Shadows.

So I can easily defeat him…But even so, he’s giving off too much energy! The merciless energy that pressed down on Suho made his sense stat run wild, so impressive was the illusion. Even though Suho knew it was fake, the pressure he felt forced him to sweat.

“Who knew you would have a memory like this one?The Monarch of Shadows, of all people!” Jarvier burst out into mad laughter, pulling himself together moments later. He had finally realized what was happening. The demonic illusionist pointed at Suho and shouted in a confident tone, “You!You must have encountered the Monarch of Shadows at some point!I see. The Monarch of Shadows is a nightmare in his own right!”

Jarvier had once glanced at the Monarch of Shadows from afar. He had turned tail immediately, which was why he was still alive. But the accursed memory of that mere glance terrorized him to this day. At the same time, he had been extremely shocked by the deadly energy the man gave off.

If I can draw the terror I felt that day from my memory, fully intact, it means I can control even the Monarch of Shadows as my servant! Jarvier thought. Reenactment of Memory was a spell that he had once dedicated his entire life to mastering. The memory could not be completely the same as the real Monarch of Shadows, but getting close enough would net his soul immense growth. Sadly, this research originally failed in the end—or rather, it achieved only half the success that he’d wanted. He’d completed the illusion, but his glance of the Monarch of Shadows had been too brief. Such a flimsy memory was not enough to recreate him.

“Who knew I would find my source in such a way!” Jarvier knew that the Monarch of Shadows had lived in the human world for a very long time, but who knew that a human could remember him so well?

The illusionist smacked his lips, looking at Suho greedily. “Hehehe!You are now mine!I will bind your soul and use it as material for my illusions forever!” He commanded the Monarch of Shadows from the memory, who gave off immense amounts of terrible energy, in a cruel voice. “Hear me,Monarch of Shadows!I am Jarvier, your master!Kill the human before you right now and bring me his soul!”

Suho tensed, drawing up all the mana he could. I’ll fight at my full potential from the start.

The most effective way of dealing with an illusionist was to ignore the illusion and go after the creator directly. Naturally, an illusionist never exposed their body to danger. Jarvier was hiding somewhere, with only his voice audible. Suho expanded his senses, trying to detect him, but the illusionist’s energy strangely seemed to be coming from all directions at once.

“Honey…”

“I-I’m sorry… I… I killed you with my own hands…”

Taegyu was being tormented by the illusion of his wife. The other hunters were also in agony because of the images they were seeing respectively. Even Suho was struggling with the fake Jinwoo before him that was giving off Jarvier’s energy.

“Hehe! You’re a quick one.That’sright, all these illusions are me.And even the Monarch of Shadows, whom you summoned yourself, is—” Jarvier’s evil laughter echoed through the air, only to stop short. “Huh?”

Suho noticed something strange. His father—that is, the fake Jinwoo—had seemed like he was about to unleash a merciless attack, but he suddenly grinned at Suho. It was as if he thought Suho was cute. “You are still weak,” the illusory Jinwoo said.

An odd feeling washed over Suho. This illusion certainly was impressive. Its voice, its presence—it really looked like his father. The only problem was that this was probably the same illusion that had attacked him in his dream.

“Wh-whatis going on?Why aren’t you moving according to my command?” Jarvier seemed quite confused for some reason.

“Hmm.” The illusory Jinwoo moved his eyes away from Suho and looked around him, seemingly relaxed. The sandstorm raged on violently, and the hunters stood within it, each facing a different hallucination. Jinwoo nodded and spoke again. “Hmm, I see.So I must be an illusion.”

“Huh?”

“Wh-what?!” Jarvier was astounded. This was simply unheard of. An illusion had become self-aware. “Th-this is impossible!”

“Nothing is impossible,” said the illusion. “At least not for me.”

Jarvier shuddered, feeling a chill in the air.

The fake Jinwoo was looking directly toward the illusionist’s eyes, hidden in the sandstorm. He grinned and asked, “Do you have any idea how many demonic spirits have become shadow soldiers?”

“W-wait,” Jarvier said, a sense of foreboding coming over him.

The illusory Jinwoo did not want an answer to this question. The illusionist understood his intent immediately. So many of his kind had been incorporated into the shadow army, dying to the Monarch of Shadows in the fierce war. What if they had continued their calling, researching sorcery even after becoming shadow soldiers—as shadow demonic spirits, serving the Monarch of Shadows?

“Yes.That allowed me to become quite familiar with the sorcery of your kind,” the illusion said, seemingly grateful. “So I compliment you.Your illusion is quite useful,especially in a situation like this.” He looked up at the sky, though nothing was visible because of the sandstorm. Regardless, his eyes seemed to watch the sky beyond, looking toward his real self somewhere in the vast space.

A faint grin appeared on the illusory Jinwoo’s lips. He looked at his son again and said a name. “Beru.”

The shadow ant, who had disappeared, suddenly popped up in the storm with a screech. He burst into tears when he recognized his liege. “M-my king!” It was just an illusion, but Beru’s eyes were connected spiritually to his master. He had located Jinwoo’s will in this illusion.

“Beru, you have weakened,” the illusion said, recognizing Beru’s state immediately and tutting. “Though I suppose it hardly matters.” He put a hand on the shadow ant’s head. “Remember this. Shadow soldiers share all their senses with the Monarch. This is the second level of the Shadow Preservation skill.” He then muttered, as if for Suho’s benefit, “And mixing it with the sorcery of the demonic spirits makes something like this possible.”

A dark energy moved out of the illusory Jinwoo’s hand and seeped into Beru. The shadow ant closed his eyes, relishing the touch that he hadn’t felt in so long.

Then a notification appeared.

[A quest has arrived.]

“Wh-what?” Suho’s eyes widened. He looked at the image of his father before checking the quest, only to find Jinwoo grinning at him.

“Yes.It’s a rather basic method, but this is how quests were originally made.” The leveling system was an advanced sorcery made by the Great Spellcaster Kandiaru, a demonic spirit, with one goal in mind. “The reward is the next shadow power,” Jinwoo continued, smiling slightly mischievously at his son. “So try and prove yourself worthy, why don’t you?”

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