Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 122
“Wow! It’s Sirka!”
Cheerful voices echoed from various corners.
“Sirka!”
“Sirka is back!”
The Ice Elves sprang out from every part of the village, welcoming Sirka as she returned unharmed after her sudden disappearance.
But the celebration was brief.
The moment they spotted the unfamiliar outsider standing next to Sirka, their expressions turned hostile, and they quickly assumed battle stances.
“An intruder!”
“There’s an intruder!”
“An intruder has entered the village!”
‘Swoosh swoosh swoosh!’
Bows, arrows, and sharply honed daggers were swiftly aimed at Suho.
Sirka jumped in between them, frantically waving her hands.
“Stop! Everyone, stop fighting! He’s not an intruder! Look carefully! He’s Cha-Cha’s son!”
“What?”
“Cha-Cha?”
“Cha-Cha’s son?”
Puzzled expressions spread across their faces as they stared at Suho.
“Huh?”
Then, one by one, realization dawned on them, and their eyes widened in shock.
“Uh…?”
“Uhhh? Is it really true?”
The Ice Elves, who had been wary of Suho, hurriedly turned to compare his face with the “ice statue” standing at the village entrance. Their jaws dropped in astonishment.
“Wow! He really looks like Cha-Cha!”
“Now that you mention it, even his eyes resemble hers!”
“And his nose!”
“Even his scent!”
“What was her son’s name again? Sung-Sung?”
“You idiot! Cha-Cha’s son is Sung Suho!”
“Sirka! Is it true? Is he really Cha-Cha’s son? Where did you find him?”
The tense, hostile atmosphere dissolved in an instant, replaced by a lively commotion.
The preparations Suho had made to face the Ice Elves before entering the Glacier Dungeon now felt pointless amidst the cheerful mood.
Sirka, basking in their attention, proudly claimed credit for finding Suho.
Standing amidst the buzzing crowd, Suho quietly observed the Ice Elves one by one.
‘…They’re all so young.’
While the lifespan of Ice Elves likely differed from that of humans, their appearances suggested they were mostly in their early to late teens. Very few looked older than their twenties.
‘There are no adults here.’
Something else struck him as odd.
‘They’re weaker than I expected.’
Even Beru, who stood beside Suho, whispered with a puzzled expression.
[The Ice Elf warriors I’ve encountered were typically at least A-rank, with even the weakest being B-rank. But these ones…]
“The strongest here are at best B-rank, with most ranging from C to D. There isn’t a single A-rank among them.”
[Far too weak.]
Overhearing their conversation, Sirka nodded solemnly.
“That’s to be expected. All the capable warriors of our tribe were summoned to war and perished. Those left in the village were too young or too weak at the time.”
In the ancient war between the Rulers and Monarchs, the ‘King of Yetis, Monarch of Frost,’ who governed this land, would take all the newly grown Ice Elves deemed capable and send them to the battlefield.
For the Ice Elves, becoming a soldier under the Monarch’s command was an honor, and dying heroically in battle was a source of pride for any warrior.
But those left in the village were not without their own important role.
Their duty was to nurture the newly born children, ensuring the next generation was strong enough to fight in future wars.
Raising these children to become outstanding warriors ready for the next battle was crucial to continuing the war against the ancient enemies.
“…That’s us—the children born during the war.”
Those infants had now grown, carrying bows and arrows, and holding daggers in their hands.
Following in their parents’ footsteps to become proper warriors.
However, Suho noticed a contradiction in Sirka’s words.
“But if only the weak were left behind, that means not all the adults were strong. Why are there only children here?”
“…It wasn’t like this from the start. On the day the spirits of Echo Forest went berserk, most of our elders perished. Now, there’s only one elder left alive.”
Echo Forest.
Suho’s gaze naturally shifted to the ice statue carved with his mother’s likeness.
There, Cha Hae-in was depicted wielding dual daggers, her hair flowing as if performing a battle dance.
Behind her, a massive wyvern spread its wings, as if guarding her.
The intricacy and craftsmanship of the ice sculpture left Suho, who had some knowledge as an art student, deeply impressed.
“So, my mother used daggers.”
“Yes. Since she didn’t have her own weapon, we lent her the daggers our tribe uses. That’s when it all started—when Cha-Cha became our savior.”
One day, Cha Hae-in had suddenly descended through a snowstorm, riding a black wyvern.
It was when she had just arrived in this frozen forest.
At that moment, the Ice Elves faced a dire crisis.
“The spirits of Echo Forest all surged out of the forest and poured into our village.”
—
[Echo Forest]
This forest was considered sacred by the Ice Elves, a place where one would never return if they ventured too deep.
In the past, it had another name: the ‘Forest of Trials.’
Echo Forest was where young Ice Elves underwent the ‘Warrior’s Trial’ to prove themselves as brave warriors.
However, the trial only took place on the forest’s outskirts, never in its depths.
Anyone who ventured deeper risked being bewitched by the spirits of Echo Forest and losing their sanity.
“Bewitched by the spirits?”
“Yes. The spirits of Echo Forest have no physical form, which makes them even scarier. They can take any shape, but it’s nearly impossible to discern their true form.”
“…That explanation doesn’t make any sense at all.”
While Suho was listening to Sirka recount the legends of Echo Forest, the surrounding atmosphere remained lively and bustling.
The Ice Elves were preparing a small welcoming party for Suho.
“Today’s a party!”
“A welcome party for Seong-Seong!”
“Who keeps calling him Seong-Seong? It’s Sung Suho!”
The grim hostility from earlier had completely disappeared, replaced by cheerful expressions on their youthful faces.
One of the elves was already crafting an ice sculpture as a piece of art for Suho in a corner.
Another had brought out fruits they had been saving, especially for him.
And yet another…
[Oh-ho! The Young Lord enjoys meat! Also, do you happen to have any mana stones I might find palatable?]
Beru had somehow inserted himself into the preparations for the welcome party, enthusiastically giving his input.
Meanwhile, Sirka continued her story, oblivious to Beru’s antics.
“You see, the spirits of Echo Forest usually never leave their territory.”
The Ice Elves’ forest and Echo Forest were adjacent to each other.
But as long as the Ice Elves didn’t trespass into the spirits’ domain, the spirits posed no danger.
“At least, that was true until ‘that day’.”
The day when the frozen sky was torn apart, and dimensional fissures appeared without warning.
Perhaps due to the impact, the spirits of Echo Forest suddenly went berserk.
They surged out of the forest, attacking every Ice Elf in sight indiscriminately.
For the young Ice Elves left behind in the village without their skilled warriors, it was nothing short of a catastrophe.
“That was years ago, and we were much weaker back then.”
“And my mother saved you?”
“Yes. Cha-Cha was incredible.”
Cha Hae-in had suddenly appeared, riding a wyvern, and asked the Ice Elves to lend her a weapon.
As soon as she held a pair of daggers in her hands:
“Skill, ‘Sword Dance’.”
Sirka murmured the skill Cha Hae-in had taught them.
Cha Hae-in moved as though dancing, her dual daggers tracing dazzling arcs with incredible speed.
‘Pop! Pop! Pop!’
With the rhythm of a fast-paced dance, she skillfully and gracefully cut down the spirits, her movements both awe-inspiring and overwhelming.
At first, the Ice Elves had considered giving her the nickname “Dancer.”
But she had forbidden it, saying it was embarrassing, and another nickname had been born instead.
“And that nickname became ‘Dragon’s Priestess’.”
“…That’s not embarrassing?”
“Kaisel liked the name. She reluctantly let us call her that.”
True to the name, Cha Hae-in was always accompanied by the black wyvern, Kaisel, in battle.
Seeing Suho’s unfamiliar expression, Beru quickly offered an explanation.
[Kaisel was once known as the wyvern Kaiselin and was a remarkable creature ridden by Baran, the Monarch of White Flames. For the record, Kaisel was an S-rank magical beast.]
“An S-rank magical beast?”
Suho’s eyes widened in disbelief.
His mother, who he had always known to live a peaceful life at home, had suddenly awakened the power of an S-rank hunter and ridden an S-rank magical beast? The image didn’t match at all.
“Anyway, thanks to Cha-Cha and Kaisel, the spirits that attacked us fled back into Echo Forest. Cha-Cha stayed with us for a while and taught us swordsmanship.”
“She taught you swordsmanship?”
“Yes. The village elders who raised us had all been killed by the spirits. So, to protect us from future invasions, Cha-Cha became our guardian.”
This was why Cha Hae-in was called the savior of the Ice Elves.
She not only protected the survivors but also personally taught them how to fight.
“Cha-Cha is a mother to all of us.”
Sirka’s bright smile as she said this brought a sense of longing to Suho.
“So, after that, where is my mother now…?”
“As I mentioned earlier, she suddenly rode Kaisel into Echo Forest not long ago. She said there was a strange scent and hasn’t returned since.”
“A strange scent?”
“Well, how should I explain it…? Like us Ice Elves, Cha-Cha can sense the smell of magic very keenly.”
Sirka sniffed at Suho as she spoke.
“Suho, you have a very pleasant scent. That’s how I knew you were Cha Hae-in’s son right away.”
During her time with the Ice Elves, Cha Hae-in had often talked about her family.
“Cha-Cha told us that her son inherited his father’s pleasant scent. She asked us to pass on a message in case her husband came looking for her while she was in Echo Forest.”
“What message?”
At Suho’s question, Sirka adopted a serious expression.
“…‘I’ve found where the Grey Eyes descend.’”