Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 128
‘Shwaaaak!’
In the blink of an eye, Suho returned to reality.
The first thing he saw was a white lotus—no, a frozen flower made of frost.
A single ice flower bloomed above the steaming hot spring.
From within it, Sirka’s quiet voice emerged.
“…Suho, I think I just saw my grandfather.”
“What?”
‘Could Sirka really be the granddaughter of the Monarch of Frost…?’
As Suho pondered in confusion—
‘Crack!’
The ice flower surrounding Sirka suddenly bloomed, shattering into pieces that scattered in every direction.
At the same time, the shards of ice swirled and condensed in Sirka’s hands.
‘Ding.’
[The King of Yetis, Monarch of Frost, passes on the item: “Spear of the Ice Tree” to his successor, Sirka.]
‘Krrrack!’
In that instant, a long length of ice extended from Sirka’s hand.
It formed into a trident made entirely of ice.
[Kieek! This energy… Could it be?!]
Beru, entirely unaware of what Suho had just experienced, quickly stood in front of him to protect him.
“It’s okay.”
Suho gently picked Beru up and patted him on the back.
“She’s on our side.”
[Kiek?]
Beru tilted his head in confusion, staring at Suho’s face.
But when Beru saw the unwavering confidence in Suho’s eyes, he immediately realized the situation.
Just then, the vacant look in Sirka’s eyes returned to focus.
She glanced in a specific direction and spoke.
“I can see now.”
Sirka swung the Spear of the Ice Tree, pointing past the blizzard that was obstructing their view.
“…Where Cha-cha is.”
‘Whoooosh.’
At that moment, the blizzard swirling in the forest wrapped around the Frost Trident.
The energy engulfed both Sirka and Suho, lifting them gently into the air.
With a sparkle in her eye and a confident smile, Sirka said:
“Hold on tight. We’re flying straight there.”
‘Fwoooosh!’
A single streak of light cut through Echo Forest.
—
‘Kuwaaaang!’
The Scavenger Guild hunters floundered in terror and despair.
It was as if a natural disaster had struck right before their eyes.
The earth roared, and the sky seemed to collapse as the Frozen Forest quaked violently.
The Scavenger Guild was renowned as America’s strongest guild, having cleared countless dungeons so dangerous that other guilds wouldn’t dare attempt them.
But what was happening in front of them now couldn’t be compared to any dungeon they had ever faced.
There wasn’t a single thought of survival among them.
The despair they felt was beyond description.
‘A dragon…?!’
In the middle of the forest, dragons had suddenly appeared and were fiercely battling each other.
The hunters, caught in the aftermath of their clash, were like shrimp caught between whales, doing nothing but fleeing desperately.
“What in the world is going on?!”
“Oh, please! Guild Leader! Where are you, Guild Leader?!”
“If only Thomas Andre were here…”
Clinging to a sliver of hope, they waited for one person.
The strongest hunter in the world—Thomas Andre.
If he arrived, he would undoubtedly put an end to this chaos.
But there was nothing they could do but pray fervently for his arrival.
However, Thomas Andre showed no signs of coming.
Even with the forest in total upheaval, there was no sign of him.
If an S-rank hunter like him were nearby, he should have already sensed the disturbance.
“Oh, please, Thomas! Thomas!”
But what they didn’t know…
Was that Thomas Andre was not absent.
He had been there from the beginning.
None of them could have guessed it.
And only one person had noticed this fact from the start.
“Ugh!”
It was Cha Hae-in.
“How could ‘he’ be here…?!”
Throughout the battle, Cha Hae-in’s expression remained conflicted.
She had been exploring Echo Forest alongside Kaisel, investigating the strange phenomena they’d sensed.
But then, they had encountered something unimaginable—a massive ice dragon.
The creature was grotesque, a monster resembling an ice golem crafted by spirits.
This Forbidden Being of the ice elves…
The Echo Forest was also known as the “Forest of Trials.”
The spirits within the forest imposed trials on intruders that matched their strength.
The stronger the intruder, the more spirits would gather to challenge them.
Those who failed these trials would have their bodies taken over by the spirits, their souls eternally frozen—neither alive nor dead, doomed to endless suffering.
This fate applied only to ice elves, who were naturally attuned to spirits. While they could command spirits, they were also more vulnerable to being possessed by them.
Humans, on the other hand, were different.
From Cha Hae-in’s experience, humans lacked an affinity with spirits. At the very least, they didn’t have to worry about their bodies being taken over.
Of course, they still had to face hordes of spirits proportional to their strength.
‘But why…?’
Cha Hae-in had been deeply unsettled for a while.
Fighting near the ice dragon, she had sensed something odd.
No, she had ‘smelled’ something odd.
As she squinted at the ice dragon, she noticed something unbelievable.
Within the hardened, frozen body of the enormous ice dragon…
Was a man.
A man whose body had been overtaken and frozen.
An old man with white hair.
Despite his age, he had a towering, muscular physique—the strongest man on Earth.
Cha Hae-in immediately recognized his face.
‘Thomas Andre! Why is he here… transformed into an ice dragon?!’
‘Kwaoooooo!’
The Ice Dragon, harboring Thomas Andre near its heart, roared ferociously, swiping at Kaisel, who carried Cha Hae-in.
‘Kuquaaang!’
[Grooaaaarrr…!]
A strained growl escaped Kaisel’s mouth, revealing his exhaustion.
“Kaisel…!”
Cha Hae-in looked at Kaisel with concern.
This was bad.
She could feel Kaisel’s strength waning rapidly.
Even before today’s battle, Kaisel had been weakening over time due to the vast distance from Sung Jinwoo, leaving him with no way to replenish his drained power.
But now, as he engaged in a battle against an equal foe, the rate at which Kaisel weakened had accelerated drastically.
‘If this drags on any longer, Kaisel will disappear entirely!’
If Sung Jinwoo were nearby, Kaisel wouldn’t return to nothingness. Instead, he would be resummoned into the Shadow World to recover. But that wasn’t an option now.
‘The only answer is to finish this quickly. I’ll have to do it myself.’
Jumping off Kaisel’s back, Cha Hae-in wielded two daggers radiating sword aura and began slashing mercilessly at the massive Ice Dragon.
‘Kagagagagak!’
With each strike, the Ice Dragon’s body cracked and splintered loudly.
But each wound was immediately healed by the swirling snowstorm around it.
New spirits merged with the Ice Dragon’s body, rapidly restoring it.
‘If this goes on, it’ll just become a war of attrition! I’ll have to attack Thomas Andre directly!’
The problem was that even this wasn’t simple.
The colossal Ice Dragon’s body wasn’t ordinary ice. It was composed of thick, magically-infused ice with overwhelming durability.
No matter how much she broke or destroyed, the empty spaces were promptly filled by more spirits.
If it were just a normal ice golem, destroying its entire body before new spirits could merge would have been sufficient.
But this one was simply too massive. Attacking one side only gave the other side time to recover.
‘That means I need to pierce its heart in one decisive blow.’
Cha Hae-in climbed back onto Kaisel and quickly crossed her two daggers.
She gathered every ounce of mana she could muster.
‘Gooooooo!’
[Skill: Blade of Light.]
A skill so mana-intensive that it could only be used as a last resort.
The two daggers in her hands began to radiate a dazzling light.
‘This is my one and only chance!’
Her eyes gleamed coldly with determination.
“Kaisel! Create an opening!”
[Kyahoooo!]
Having fought alongside Cha Hae-in for years, Kaisel understood her command instantly.
‘Kwaduduk!’
Kaisel clung tightly to the colossal Ice Dragon, ignoring the injuries inflicted by its freezing breath.
The Ice Dragon’s frosty breath left deep wounds on Kaisel’s body, but he didn’t retreat.
He endured it all to ensure that Cha Hae-in’s all-out attack wouldn’t miss its mark.
[Kyaaaaah!]
‘Thank you, Kaisel.’
In sync with Kaisel’s roar, Cha Hae-in unleashed her skill, aiming for the Ice Dragon’s heart—where Thomas Andre lay frozen.
‘Kuquaaaang!’
The concentrated energy rippled outward in massive waves of mana.
‘I’m sorry, Thomas Andre.’
In that moment, countless emotions surged through Cha Hae-in’s mind.
Thanks to Sung Jinwoo, she retained memories of the erased timeline, which meant she knew who Thomas Andre was.
Once, he had been a hunter of unmatched strength, a national-level power in America.
He was among the strongest humans on Earth, fighting valiantly to protect it from otherworldly invaders.
But that was all in the past—stories from an erased timeline.
Now, he should have been an ordinary man.
Yet, here he was, transformed into this monstrosity.
The heavily armed hunters nearby hinted at what had happened.
‘These people wield mana. Could it be that Earth has reverted to the way it was back then, while I was here?’
If that was true…
What had become of her husband, Sung Jinwoo?
In an instant, Cha Hae-in’s thoughts flashed to the last time she saw him—his back turned to her as she was transported here.
Was he…
‘Is he still fighting?’
Still.
Fighting alone.
‘Kagagagak!’
Even now, her Blade of Light was carving into the massive Ice Dragon, inching closer to its heart—where Thomas Andre lay encased in ice.
Just a little more.
‘Just a little more!’
But then—
‘Flash!’
Suddenly, the frozen eyes of Thomas Andre, buried within the ice, snapped open.
“…!”
Cha Hae-in’s eyes widened in shock as she met the eerie blue glow of his gaze.
The Ice Dragon’s body shuddered, and Thomas Andre’s lips curled into a sinister smile as he looked at the brilliant aura of Cha Hae-in’s attack closing in on him.
[Itarim, guide me.]
――――――――!
At that moment, a deafening sound reverberated, and a blinding light erupted.
The light spread rapidly, rippling outward and consuming everything in its path.