Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 10

“Who dares covet the Fang Lord’s sword?”

“Yongjun? What are you talking about?”

Kim Yongjun, who had grasped the sword’s handle, muttered something strange. The squad leader, who had tried to stop him, felt a sudden chill.

At that moment, the sword was pulled out by Kim Yongjun’s hand.

“Who dares covet the Fang Lord’s sword?”

Repeating the same words, Kim Yongjun’s eyes turned red.

“Yongjun? Are you alri—”

Slash!

The squad leader’s head was severed instantly. A fountain of blood erupted. In that incomprehensible scene, time seemed to momentarily stop.

And then.

“What the hell!”

“S-Squad Leader!”

The hunters behind screamed in terror and rushed forward.

“Yongjun! Why are you—!”

Slash!

Another head flew off.

“Yongjun!”

Finally, they realized. Kim Yongjun, whose eyes were bleeding, was rampaging.

“Who dares covet the Fang Lord’s sword?”

Amidst the unreal spectacle of bloodshed, Kim Yongjun laughed wickedly.

Grrrr!

A sinister wolf howl began to echo from the center of the ruins.

***

Beru’s eyes suddenly changed.

Then he turned his head, staring intently into the darkness of the dungeon.

“What’s wrong?”

Su-ho asked, but Beru kept his eyes fixed as he spoke.

“I suddenly sensed the presence of a lord.”

“Lord? You mean my father?”

“No. Originally, there was more than one lord-level entity in this universe.”

Beru explained. In this universe, there were not only the Shadow Monarch but other lords as well. However, they had invaded Earth, the world where the Shadow Monarch, Sung Jinwoo, lived, and eventually met their end at his hands.

“So, it’s not my father?”

“If it were, my power would have been recharged instantly. But my mana remains the same, and this presence… I recognize it well.”

At that moment.

Awooooo!

Somewhere, a wolf’s howl echoed. It was followed by simultaneous howls from all directions.

Grrrr!

Rooar!

“What… what’s going on?”

“Why is this happening all of a sudden?”

The miners’ faces turned pale as they nervously looked around.

-Aaah!

Eventually, screams were heard. They came from deeper within the dungeon where people were mining.

-Someone save me!

The screams increased in number and got closer by the second.

And then.

“Rooar!”

A wolf monster suddenly lunged at Su-ho from behind.

“Su-ho, behind you!”

“I see it!”

Su-ho thrust the pickaxe he was holding into the wolf’s jaws.

Crunch!

“Damn it?”

The wolf’s teeth were so hard that the pickaxe shattered like tofu. But it bought some time.

Spit!

As the wolf spat out the pickaxe pieces, Su-ho ordered the shadow goblins.

“All of you, attack!”

“Kekeke!”

The three shadow goblins simultaneously attacked the wolf monster.

“Grrr!”

But it wasn’t enough. The shadow goblins wielded the same mining pickaxes as Su-ho, and the wolf monster easily chewed them up.

It even bit through the goblins’ bodies, tearing them apart.

But then.

Swoosh.

Mana from Su-ho’s body flowed into the shadow goblins, restoring their forms.

“Heh! Shadow soldiers are an immortal army. They can be restored as long as the Shadow Monarch’s mana flows!”

Beru seemed to be enjoying himself as the battle began.

“Kekeke!”

The revived shadow goblins clung to the wolf’s body.

They mercilessly stabbed the broken pickaxe pieces into the wolf.

Crunch, crunch, crack!

“Yelp! Yelp!”

The once ferocious wolf whimpered and collapsed to the ground.

“You’ve defeated a Steel Fang Lycan.”

“No wonder it chewed up the pickaxe so easily.”

But there was no time to rest. There were dozens of wolves, and their steel fangs were mauling the miners one by one.

“Ahhh!”

“These teeth are…!”

The miners’ pickaxes were useless in battle.

‘Inventory!’

Su-ho hastily pulled out the goblins’ stone axes he had stored in his inventory, handing one to each shadow goblin.

“Su-ho, even these stone axes will shatter if the wolves bite them!”

“Then we’ll use more axes!”

Su-ho shouted, throwing a stone axe at a wolf attacking a miner.

Thwack!

The stone axe flew straight into the wolf’s side.

“Yelp!”

“It’s not dead yet!”

[‘Ruler’s Authority’]

A transparent hand extended from Su-ho’s grasp, picking up the fallen stone axe and striking the wolf’s head.

Thwack!

The wolf let out a final cry and died.

[You’ve defeated a Steel Fang Lycan.]

It was only the beginning.

“Everyone, gather here!”

Su-ho yelled at the panicked miners, making sure they could all hear.

Then, to save them, he grabbed a stone axe in each hand and charged into the wolves.

“Kekeke!”

The three shadow goblins followed him, raising their axes high.

But the command Su-ho gave them was different.

“Don’t attack, just keep getting bitten!”

“Keke?!”

The shadow goblins were taken aback.

“And lure all the wolves into that tunnel over there!”

“Kekeke!”

There was no time to kill the wolves one by one to save the people.

Following Su-ho’s orders, the shadow goblins started shouting and luring the wolves. They constantly got bitten and torn apart but kept reviving to taunt the wolves.

“Growl!”

“Awooo!”

Eventually, most of the wolves were obsessed with chasing the shadow goblins into a tunnel.

Once all the wolves were inside.

“Block the tunnel quickly!”

At Su-ho’s shout, the wounded miners got up in a hurry.

They pulled all the magic stone carts they had gathered and piled them up at the tunnel entrance.

“Huff, huff.”

They collapsed to the ground after blocking the tunnel.

“What the hell? How did the monsters get here?”

“What happened to the attack squad up ahead?”

The miners looked anxious.

It was unusual for monsters to get this deep into the mining area. It only happened in one scenario.

“Could the attack squad have been wiped out?”

“But they seemed so confident, saying there were only wolves.”

“And this is just a D-rank dungeon.”

Grrrr! Rooar!

At that moment, the wolves behind the blocked tunnel growled.

“What do we do now?”

There was no guarantee that the path to the exit was safe.

“Beru?”

Su-ho called Beru, who had been staring intently into the depths of the dungeon.

Beru’s expression was grave.

“My Lord, I think we’re in big trouble. This is definitely the presence of the Fang Lord.”

“Fang Lord?”

“The king of beasts who was slain by the Shadow Monarch. Someone must be controlling these wolves from behind.”

“So, a dead lord has come back to life?”

“I can’t say for sure. Only the Shadow Monarch has the power to resurrect the dead in this universe. And even with the Shadow Authority, he couldn’t resurrect a lord-level entity because they were not just dead but erased from existence.”

So, a resurrected lord was impossible.

“This presence is likely just a remnant of the Fang Lord seeping through a dimensional rift.”

Beru concluded his explanation and looked firmly at Su-ho.

“My Lord, we should escape.”

“Escape?”

Su-ho’s expression was puzzled. Beru, who usually shouted about fighting and killing, was now suggesting retreat.

“I’ve said it many times, but you’re weaker than an ant larvae. You’re too weak, and a lord-level entity can kill you with a flick. We need to get out of here as fast as possible.”

“…You’re not upset because I fed you mana stones, are you?”

Su-ho remembered clearly. Until this morning, he was a ant larvae, but now he was even less than that.

At that moment.

Rumble!

The blocked tunnel suddenly exploded.

“The tunnel is breached!”

The miners, who had barely relaxed after thinking they had trapped the wolves, grabbed their pickaxes in a panic.

But instead of the expected swarm of wolves, a familiar face emerged from the tunnel.

“Kim Yongjun!”

A miner recognized him and called out with a relieved expression.

“What’s going on inside? We almost died out here!”

“…”

Kim Yongjun remained expressionless as he approached.

Then, his sword moved.

Slash!

“Watch out!”

Su-ho’s Ruler’s Authority grabbed the miner by the scruff and pulled him back.

Kim Yongjun’s sword narrowly missed the miner’s neck, leaving a thin red line.

“W-what?”

The miner, pale and fallen backward, looked up at Kim Yongjun’s red eyes in terror.

Kim Yongjun spoke.

“Who dares invade the sanctum of the Fang Lord? This is the sacred ground of the king of beasts.”

Boom!

“Ugh.”

An overwhelming killing intent filled the space, making it hard to breathe.

[Aura of Fear activated.]

[All player stats reduced by 50% for one minute.]

Su-ho felt his body grow heavy.

[We must escape immediately.]

Beru urgently whispered.

“Damn it. If only my power were fully restored, this wouldn’t be a problem…”

Beru muttered in frustration but then noticed Su-ho’s burning eyes fixed on Kim Yongjun.

At that moment.

[A quest has arrived.]

A quest window appeared before Su-ho.

[Emergency Quest: Eliminate the Enemy!]

An entity with murderous intent towards the player is nearby. Eliminate them to secure safety.

Enemies to be eliminated: 1

Enemies eliminated: 0

Beru urgently said.

“My Lord! Ignore this quest. The weak have their own way of fighting. Let’s use the shadow goblins as shields and escape like before.”

“Got it.”

Su-ho muttered quietly.

Beru’s eyes brightened.

“I’ll guide the retreat!”

“…We’ll fight.”

“Kieek?!”