Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 104

“Do you know how to open this warehouse?”

At Suho’s question, Beru promptly nodded.

[This kind of magic circle? Just tearing it apart with force will do.]

Saying so, Beru darted over to the magic circle and slashed at the blue flames with his claws.

‘Sizzle.’

At that moment, the flames of the circle extinguished, and the hidden space beyond opened with a creaking sound.

“It’s open.”

Suho immediately gripped both of Vulcan’s Horns and assumed a combat stance.

He couldn’t be sure what might suddenly pop out of this place.

But to his surprise, there was no enemy waiting inside.

In fact, it was the opposite.

[‘Item: Essence of Demons’ has been acquired.]

“Essence of Demons?”

With a puzzled expression, Suho picked up a fist-sized orb.

—

[Item: Essence of Demons]
Acquisition Difficulty: ??
Type: Jewel
A sealed orb containing countless demon souls.
Breaking it will release the demons.

—

While Suho was inspecting the item’s details, the Vulcan’s Horns in his hands vibrated slightly, as though disappointed and hungry.

Suho clicked his tongue regretfully.

“That’s too bad. If I had found this earlier, I could have used it to enhance Vulcan’s Horns more easily.”

Now that Vulcan’s quest had ended, demon souls held no value for Suho.

“I should ask Esil about this.”

Suho stored the Essence of Demons in his inventory for the time being.

But the warehouse didn’t just hold the Essence of Demons.

[Young master, I’ve found something important.]

Just then, Beru, who had been rummaging through the warehouse, came over with something in his hands.

[‘Item: Itarim Slate’ has been acquired.]

—

[Item: Itarim Slate]
Acquisition Difficulty: ??
Type: Slate
A slate engraved with the language of the Itarim.
It contains a special enchantment.

—

Beru spoke up, trying to show off his knowledge.

[I know what this enchantment is. During the war, I saw the Itarim army use these to communicate with one another.]

“You mean they use a slate to communicate?”

[Yes. The problem is that these slates come in pairs. Since only one is here…]

“The other one must be with someone else. Maybe the one who sent the Blood-Crazed Tyrant here.”

[That is highly likely.]

Suho stared intently at the Itarim Slate, contemplating how to use it, but he didn’t have much success.

“Well, I’ll keep this too. Someday it might come in handy, or maybe they’ll try to contact us first.”

Suho stored the Itarim Slate in his inventory.

“Looks like there’s nothing more to gain here.”

It seemed the Blood-Crazed Tyrant had been using this meteor as a secret base to store demon souls and communicate with other apostles.

“Let’s head back.”

—

“W-Where did you find this?!”

Esil was stunned as soon as she saw the Essence of Demons that Suho handed over.

“I picked it up on my way here. Do you need it for something?”

“I can feel a tremendous number of demon souls inside this! Don’t tell me this belonged to the Blood-Crazed Tyrant?”

Seeing Esil’s sharp intuition, Suho nodded.

“Seems like it. They say breaking it will release the demon souls. Do you know what happens if I do that?”

“They’ll literally be released. Demons don’t die just because their bodies perish. Their souls will linger and eventually possess weak creatures or monsters nearby, allowing them to be reborn as new demons.”

“And if I kill them at that point, does it mean I level up?”

“Ugh, you’re obsessed with leveling up…”

Esil sighed in exasperation, shaking her head.

“Newly born demons are too weak to help you level up. Instead, it would be much more useful to recruit them as my people and use them to rebuild this land.”

“Really? Then I should break it right away.”

‘Crack.’

Suho immediately shattered the Essence of Demons.

Countless demon souls burst out like fireworks from within.

‘Shooaaah!’

‘Kihehehehe!’

‘Kyaaaah!’

Eerie laughter echoed all around them.

The many spirits trapped within the Essence of Demons swirled around Suho and Esil, radiating malevolent energy.

With sinister glints in their eyes, they began salivating as they searched for a tasty body to possess—

[Kiiee…?]

But the souls quickly hesitated.

The closest body belonged to none other than Esil, a demon noble. Recognizing this, the souls began backing away cautiously, looking for an easier target.

Their eyes landed on Suho.

After all, he was just a human.

[…]

But the moment they saw Suho, they realized the truth.

As spirits, they could sense it more acutely.

That “human” was nothing but a shell.

From Suho’s shadow stretched an unfathomable abyss—deep and vast, like a bottomless chasm.

[Hiiiiiik!]

The souls shrieked far more fearfully than when they had noticed Esil. They scrambled to flee, terrified.

If they got dragged in there, they wouldn’t just die—there was a very real chance their very souls would be devoured.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Don’t mind them. They’ll soon find weak creatures to possess on their own.”

“Hm. Is that how demons are normally born?”

“Yes. As long as our souls remain, demons can possess other bodies and be reborn. That’s the essence of spiritualization.”

Even the demons that had possessed Suho’s sword in the past were a result of this same ability.

“Demons never truly die. We’re just reborn. However, when we gain a new body, most of our previous memories are lost, so it’s pretty much the same as dying.”

Esil muttered as she watched the demon souls scatter in all directions.

“Those were probably demons who fought against the Blood-Crazed Tyrant. For them to be sealed like that, they must have been quite valuable even to the Tyrant. If they’re reborn as demons, they’ll become a great strength for us.”

That was certainly welcome news.

After that, Esil focused on uniting all the demons of the land around the Colosseum.

The slaves who had been mining ore for war gained their freedom overnight.

However, though their ruler had changed, their daily lives didn’t alter much.

“The Outer Gods are invading, aren’t they?”

“They say the Blood-Crazed Tyrant was a pawn of those gods.”

“I knew it. That guy was no ordinary demon.”

“So what happens to us now?”

“What else? If enemies invade, we just fight back.”

“Then we’re going to need weapons.”

Without anyone prompting them, the demons picked up their pickaxes again.

They began mining ore of their own will, despite no longer being whipped by demon overseers.

This wasn’t because of Esil’s orders.

Demons were never a race that feared battle.

On the contrary, they enjoyed fighting strong opponents, and even if they were weak and ended up being devoured, they wouldn’t regret it.

This was because they believed that even if they died, their souls would remain and be reborn someday.

However, even for such demons, the Blood-Crazed Tyrant had been a terrifying entity.

The tyrant burned their very souls with blue flames and even took over their bodies completely.

“We can’t let another tyrant like that torment us again!”

“Kuhuhu. War! War!”

“Let’s prepare for war!”

“For Radir!”

“For Esil Radir!”

Pureblood.

The appearance of Esil, a demon noble, was enough to unite the demons completely.

Such was the tremendous value of a pureblood in their eyes.

Watching all this, Suho turned to Beru out of curiosity and asked,

“What exactly is a pureblood that makes them follow her so eagerly? Is it what I’m thinking?”

Beru nodded.

[That’s correct. Only purebloods have the right to become demon lords. They hope that one day Esil will become a new lord. Without a lord, the fragmented demon realm cannot reunite as one world again.]

When Suho first met Esil, she had been pursued by other demons.

But even then, those demons simply wanted to devour her and claim the status of a demon noble for themselves.

Their ambition likely went even further—to become a demon lord and rebuild the demon realm.

“This is all thanks to you, Suho.”

Esil expressed her gratitude to Suho.

“I still haven’t regained my full strength. Right now, if all those demons attacked me at once, I’d surely be eaten alive. But no one dares think such things anymore—and that’s because of you.”

Every demon in the Colosseum had witnessed Suho defeat the Blood-Crazed Tyrant with overwhelming power.

As long as Suho stood as Esil Radir’s protector, no demon would dare challenge the Radir family.

But peace had not truly arrived.

The reason the demons were preparing for war was their fear that another Blood-Crazed Tyrant might appear with a falling meteor at any time.

To prepare for that…

“I need to regain my original strength first.”

“With Bloodstones?”

“Yes. Now that I’ve become the ruler of this land, I’ll start extracting a little bloodstone from the lower demons. You could call it ‘tribute.’”

Bloodstones served various purposes, but their primary use was for demon nobles to maintain their power by continuously absorbing the blood of lower demons.

“If I absorb too much at once, my followers will die, and their numbers will shrink. So the trick is to absorb it slowly and steadily. Like this.”

Esil spread her arms wide toward the demons who had begun to follow her.

Then—

‘Shooooook!’

“…!”

Small amounts of blood were drawn from the demons’ bodies, coalescing into tiny orbs.

‘Shwaaaak!’

The black orbs, numbering in the dozens and hundreds, flew toward Esil and were absorbed into her body. The sight was truly a spectacle.

“Hah…”

As Esil accepted that power with a look of bliss, Suho noticed that the energy emanating from her had grown slightly stronger.

“See? That’s how it works. Now it’s only a matter of time before I recover my original strength. But I can’t absorb bloodstones like this every day, so for now, I don’t have much to do.”

Though she had begun ruling the demons, Esil had delegated all the minor tasks to the demon servants.

Even the old demon, who had once been Vulcan’s servant, had been taken in as Esil’s servant, further reducing her workload.

Realizing what Esil was implying, Suho grinned and held out his hand.

“That works out perfectly. Then you can work hard as a member of my guild for now.”

“Yes, Guild Master. You’ll pay me well, right? I may not look like it, but I was a noble in my homeland, so I’m quite expensive.”

Esil smiled brightly and shook Suho’s hand.

“Let’s head back. To Earth.”