Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

A drove of bees descended from above and came together above Suho’s palm. It was Arsha, the Queen Bee. As soon as she revealed herself, she bowed with a hand on her chest. “A pleasure to see you again, Sung Suho. How have you been?”

“You’ve gotten smaller.”

Arsha smiled wryly. “Yes. My body has already left this village.” She floated before Suho, the size of a small doll. “This is just a copy of myself, made with the scouting bees that remained in the vicinity.”

“Scouts?”

“Aha! You’re in cahoots with the demonic spirit, then!” Beru spat, snatching Arsha’s waist with a powerful grip. Because she was so small, even Beru looked much bigger in comparison.

Terrified, Arsha quickly replied, “N-not at all. I did intend to side with him at one point, but we parted ways a moment ago. We did not see eye to eye.”

“Parted ways?” Suho asked.

“Yes. In fact, I had no intention of fighting against you at all—”

“Wait, she’s one of Querehsha’s!” said Esil, her eyes going wide.

It was actually Arsha who was more taken aback when she heard Esil. With Beru still gripping her, she marveled. “I doubted my eyes when I saw you from afar, but you’re really a demon noble! I’m honored to meet someone so great.”

“Ahem… Well, I suppose you might be,” Esil said, trying not to smile. She raised her nose in the air and said haughtily, “I am Esil, the eldest daughter of the Radiru Clan. Who are you?”

“Ah, the Radiru Clan. I am Arsha the Queen Bee.”

“What are you two doing?” Suho said, bewildered.

Arsha was shocked to see that Suho and the demon noble seemed so close. I didn’t know any demon nobles survived, she thought. This demon was likely to succeed the King of Demons one day. How is such an amazing being the companion of Sung Suho, the heir of the Monarch of Fangs?And how did he gain the Iron Body Technique?I have no idea what is going on here. Arsha found it quite odd that so many races were represented in this out-of-the-way village. Most frustrating of all was the fact that she herself was the weakest of all the races gathered here.

I knew I had more to lose than to gain from coming to this village. She felt belated regret for having come here at all. In this situation, she was left with only one choice—to fall flat on her face and humble herself. Even if her body had left this place, it was paramount that she not anger Suho, just in case she encountered him again.

“Sung Suho, I promise you that I did nothing in this place other than scout.” Arsha claimed her innocence in a pleading tone, confessing what happened to her in the past. “Ever since that day… I’ve been wandering about, seeking out a place where you were not to be found. It was harder than I had expected.”

The problem began when Suho suddenly decided to become a guild master and started visiting various places to build up dungeon experience. As it happened, no matter where Arsha went, Suho would visit a dungeon nearby. Whether this was fate or a curse remained to be seen. In any case, these had been single-day visits for him, but they made Arsha too afraid to stay anywhere. In the end, she decided to head to an entirely different country where Suho would never show up. Of course, the Korean peninsula was surrounded by sea on three sides, and bees could not hope to cross the Pacific or the Atlantic to fly to a different continent.

“We couldn’t hide on a plane, either, since airlines these days have tightened security to prevent villains stowing away.” Given the situation, Arsha’s only choice had been to head toward North Korea. “I was simply moving north to get out of this country when I encountered Harmakan nearby.”

“Harmakan?” Suho asked.

“Yes. He is the Supreme Chief of demonic spirits. He planned to use the villains of Jisan Prison to grow his power, and asked me to help by providing scouts.”

“So you were in cahoots,” Beru said, tightening his grip around Arsha’s waist even more.

She hurriedly continued, “I only helped him a little at first, thinking that he was simply using villains who deserved to die anyway! If I’d known things would get out of hand, I would never have complied!”

Arsha found this all truly unfair. She had encountered Suho once again while he was dealing with the villains, of all things. Wherever they made trouble again, she could only conclude that Suho would come and find them once more.

“All Harmakan told me at first was that he would kill the villains from Jisan Prison and use them as material for a magic circle,” she said. Arsha had decided that Suho wouldn’t care if the villains were killed. They weren’t innocent citizens, after all. That was why she had quickly agreed to help. Harmakan wanted her to scope out the situation in the prison and use her abilities to watch the villains after they escaped.

“He promised to give me a few villains to turn into new lancers if I helped with the reconnaissance. But as it turned out…” She had expected Harmakan to kill the villains as soon as they’d escaped. At that time, she could spare a few and feed them royal jelly, turning them into new lancers for their Queen Bee. But that plan failed as soon as the villains escaped the prison.

“Harmakan liked his souls to be as evil as possible.” In order to make his magic circle stronger, he’d wanted to sully the villains’ souls further. That was a simple ask. As it turned out, Hwang Dongsuk, their leader, was a very greedy man who could be made to commit crimes with minimal encouragement. He led the villains to a nearby village, where they enjoyed their freedom to the fullest, giving in to their repressed urges.

The result was terrifying. These superhuman villains, now free from the law, created a true hellscape. “This village is already deeply affected by Harmakan’s sorcery. It only made the villains greedier,” Arsha concluded.

Suho’s eyes traveled to the villains who remained alive. They tried to evade his gaze. They had been intrigued by Arsha at first, but as soon as she began to speak of their crimes, they felt that their lives were now threatened.

These men, of course, had not had any direct involvement in what had befallen the village—which was why Taeshik had spared them. However, they had also contributed to its destruction. The only reason they hadn’t killed anybody was because they’d been busy eating and drinking at nearby restaurants and pubs, since they’d longed for outside food while inside their cells.

Taeshik raised his daggers as if on cue, noticing Suho’s gaze. “Shall I kill them?”

The villains paled and Suho raised his hand. “No, wait. Don’t kill anyone else,” he said firmly.

“Right…” Taeshik lowered his daggers without a word of complaint.

But Suho wasn’t sparing the villains out of pity. “It seems that the more people die in this place, the stronger the sorcery becomes.”

“Yes. You’re astonishing as always, Sung Suho! You saw through the workings of Harmakan’s magic circle right away!” Arsha was taken aback. The evil magic of the demonic spirits, who treated souls like toys, was complicated and could not easily be understood by other races. Arsha herself wouldn’t have realized the existence of the magic circle had Harmakan not told her.

It was easy enough for Suho, however, since he’d seen the system messages floating above the dead villains’ bodies. He’d never seen anything like them.

[Extraction impossible. This body has no soul.]

[Extraction impossible. This body has no soul.]

[Extraction impossible. This body has no soul.]

The souls had probably been taken by Harmakan. After hearing the chief had intended to use the dead villains for his sorcery, the answer had been clear. The more people died in this place, the stronger Harmakan’s spell would become.

“Sung Suho, if you can trust me enough, I will show you a way out of this village,” Arsha said tactfully. Even if this place was affected by the demonic spirit’s sorcery already, Arsha had managed to find a way out.

“No,” Suho said, refusing outright. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust her. “Direct confrontation is the way to go in situations like this,” he said, his eyes gleaming.

The death knights that Harmakan had sent were already coming this way. Empty suits of armor clanked loudly as they approached. The ominous energy that rippled inside them was chilling to see.

“Wh-what the hell are those?” The villains who had surrendered blanched at the terrifying sight. Suho did not feel that same fear at all, however.

[Death Knight]

[Death Knight]

[…]

They had name tags over their heads, bringing a smile to Suho’s lips. “Harmakan… Quite useful, isn’t he?”

“Indeed, Young Monarch. Quite useful, indeed,” Beru said, smiling evilly.

Suho glanced at Esil, who immediately took a step back. The hunter could not be interrupted at a moment like this.

“He created monsters with villains that aren’t even worth experience points…” Suho said, grinning with anticipation. Holding out his two swords, he dashed forward, a growling Gray by his side. It was time to level up.

Harmakan’s giant hands suddenly rose out of the ground, uprooting the surrounding buildings, lifting them whole, and slamming them down toward Suho.

“An interesting ability…” Suho murmured. He had chosen to tackle the problem head-on.

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