Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 146
—Slice!
—Slick!
“Guh?!”
“Urk!”
In that instant, thin crimson lines appeared on the necks of the villains nearby.
—Splurt!
Blood spurted from their throats.
“…Stealth skill!”
“Aaagh! He’s alive!”
—Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Amidst the cascading fountains of blood, an invisible assassin’s daggers mercilessly butchered the villains.
“N-No! His corpse is right there…!”
For a brief moment, the villains, who had been celebrating Kang Taesik’s death, looked at his lifeless body on the ground in horror.
But even in that fleeting moment—
“Urk!”
Another throat was slit.
“Aaagh!”
Another leg was severed.
“S-Spare me!”
As they fled in terror, an invisible assassin, grinning silently, chased them down.
[Stealth].
The skill Kang Taesik had possessed in life still remained with him as a shadow soldier.
“There! Over there!”
Then—
—Whoosh!
The mage-class villain who had burned Kang Taesik earlier clenched his teeth and conjured another massive fireball.
“You useless fools! Panicking over a single assassin!”
A confident smirk spread across his face as flames blazed in his hands.
“He’ll die in one hit anyway!”
It wasn’t an exaggeration.
Assassin-class Hunters, for all their overwhelming offensive power, were notoriously fragile.
Many didn’t even wear armor, fearing it would slow them down.
That’s why assassins always hid behind tanks, relying on them to create openings.
But mages?
Unlike assassins, they didn’t need to fight up close.
They could wear heavy armor for protection.
And even if hordes of monsters or invisible enemies appeared—
All they had to do was unleash wide-area magic!
“Move, you idiots!”
—Whoosh!
“Aaagh!”
“Get out of the way!”
Hearing the warning, the villains scattered in a panic.
Even as they fled, the unseen assassin continued claiming lives, but the last of his victims had no time to react before the massive fireball engulfed them.
—BOOM!
[…!]
The explosion swallowed Kang Taesik whole.
As his body melted within the raging flames, the only emotion he felt was…
[…Ah.]
An overwhelming sense of devotion and euphoria toward Suho, who had resurrected him as a shadow soldier.
And at the same time—
[So this is what it means to be a shadow.]
He finally understood the true essence of the power he had been given.
Life and death.
The boundary between light and darkness.
An assassin was one who dictated that balance.
[Truly, this power suits an assassin best.]
Suddenly, he recalled the gaze of the man who had sentenced him to his first death.
The way that man moved—his every action steeped in the deepest of shadows.
Mimicking his movements, Kang Taesik gripped his twin daggers in a reverse grip, his eyes gleaming.
In that moment—
—Whoosh!
The molten remnants of his body coalesced.
The black mist that composed his form reassembled.
Like a vengeful specter, he surged forward.
And then—he stepped onto the mage’s foot.
—Crunch!
“Ugh!”
The mage yelped, startled by the sharp pain shooting up from his foot. He tried to retreat, but—
[Too late.]
—Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
“…!”
His movements were completely sealed for a brief moment.
And in that instant, his body was torn to shreds.
Faster.
Even faster.
Faster still!
Countless slashes carved into his flesh.
His agonized screams filled the air.
A crimson mist of blood burst forth in a grotesquely beautiful display.
And beneath it—
The silhouette of the ruthless assassin emerged, drenched in blood.
His eyes and lips…
Curved into a delighted smile.
[Struggle all you want. Today, I am invincible.]
B-rank assassin Kang Taesik.
The moment he became a shadow soldier—
He had erased the only weakness an assassin possessed.
‘…He’s like Quay.’
Watching Kang Taesik fight, Suho compared him to his shadow spearman, Quay.
A-rank villain Lee Minseong.
After being forcibly modified by the Queen Bee, he lost all his skills, but in return, his body became optimized for speed and piercing power, making him an unparalleled spearman.
He had abandoned defense entirely, evolving into a pure agility-focused dealer.
But Kang Taesik—
As a B-rank assassin, he had become a shadow soldier in a completely different way.
He was slightly slower than Quay, but he had something even more valuable—[Stealth].
Quay was fast—so fast that the eye could barely follow.
But Kang Taesik wasn’t merely fast.
He was truly invisible.
Both were knight-rank shadow soldiers, but even at the same rank, their strength wasn’t identical.
However—
A knight’s duty was to fight for their king.
It didn’t matter which of them was stronger.
Each had their own role based on their abilities in life.
It was Suho’s job to utilize them effectively.
But there was one clear advantage that set Kang Taesik apart from the other shadow soldiers.
[With this one, we need not fear exposure of our abilities, my liege.]
“I agree.”
Hearing Beru’s comment, Suho smirked and nodded.
“He’s… quite a useful one.”
And then—
Something changed.
――――――――!
“…!”
A deafening roar shook the village of Yamiri.
And at that moment—
—Rumble!
Reality itself distorted.
The ground and buildings warped and shifted, twisting together into towering walls that rapidly rose all around them.
“What… What the hell is this?!”
“Aaagh!”
Even the villains were panicked, meaning this wasn’t their doing.
—Splat!
Just then, Kang Taesik, who had been slaughtering the villains, hurriedly reappeared in front of Suho and spoke.
[Master! I must report something! The moment I died, an old man tried to corrupt my soul!]
“An old man?”
[Yes! I didn’t see his face, but I believe the ritual that trapped me was spread across this entire village!]
[Why didn’t you mention this sooner?!]
Beru roared in frustration, making Kang Taesik flinch.
It was difficult to admit that he had been too absorbed in the pleasure of killing to remember.
[Young Lord! This must be the sorcery of the Maeryung Clan!]
Beru had encountered their magic firsthand during the Monarch War.
The problem was that their sorcery was so vast and varied that each encounter introduced new, never-before-seen techniques.
[The Maeryung Clan loves capturing, torturing, and experimenting on their enemies! That’s why they’ve mastered countless bizarre forms of magic and sorcery!]
Their insatiable curiosity and ruthless experimentation were infamous across all dimensions.
Among them, the most notorious sorcerer was none other than High Shaman Kandiaru.
His breakthrough in designing a level-up system that transcended human limits had only been possible through countless sacrifices and relentless experimentation.
One such experiment was the Body Strengthening Technique, developed within Ammit’s Pyramid.
Considering all these facts—
Suho was beginning to understand the old man’s intentions in trying to corrupt Kang Taesik’s soul.
“…Could it be that the Maeryung Clan is conducting experiments in this village? Just like Ammit’s Pyramid?”
As the ground and buildings twisted and tilted at sharp angles, Suho observed the villains desperately fleeing for their lives.
And then he noticed it—
The ankle monitors still attached to them.
“…Maybe the one who orchestrated the villain breakout at Jisan Prison was a member of the Maeryung Clan.”
Ammit’s Pyramid had been a place where countless challengers had willingly entered, only to be captured and tortured under the guise of Body Strengthening training until they perished.
Through those cruel experiments, the artifact [Mummy’s Bandages] had been created.
And even after its creation, many more had perished, their corpses mummified by the unforgiving training.
What about this place, then?
[I think so too! It’s possible the Maeryung Clan freed the villains to use them as test subjects…!]
Before Beru could finish speaking—
Something terrifying happened.
—Rumble!
Suho and Beru instinctively looked up.
A massive shadow was descending from the ominous sky above them.
Then, from the heavens—
A giant hand reached down toward them.
Recognizing it, Kang Taesik shouted in alarm.
[That hand! It’s the same one that tried to take my soul!]
The skeletal hand that had once tried to snatch Kang Taesik’s soul had now manifested in the physical world.
And once again, it was reaching for him.
[Kehehe. I cannot let such a delectable spirit slip away.]
The old man’s voice boomed from above, sending shivers through Kang Taesik, despite him already being a shadow soldier.
The Maeryung Clan’s twisted nature, their obsession with manipulating souls, was now fixated entirely on him.
And if Kang Taesik, even as a shadow soldier, were to be captured—
No one knew what would happen.
But the moment the enemy revealed itself, Suho immediately took action.
“Gray!”
“Grrr…!”
—Thud, thud, thud!
At Suho’s call, Gray sprinted across the walls toward him.
Despite its adorable appearance, its fangs were drenched in villain blood from its relentless pursuit and slaughter.
Beru instantly grasped Suho’s intention and activated a skill.
[Little one! It is time to unleash your newfound strength!]
[Beru has activated ‘Skill: Harsh Command.’]
[‘Skill: Harsh Command’ increases Gray’s stats by 50%.]
[Due to ‘Skill: Harsh Command,’ Gray has entered a state of Berserk Frenzy.]
In that instant—
Gray’s eyes changed.
“Grrr…!”
But this wasn’t the end.
The spirit of Rakan’s Fang, the relic of the Fang Monarch, awakened within Gray.
Gray was now walking the path of Rakan’s true successor.
—Whoosh!
As Gray charged toward Suho, a radiant silver aura enveloped its body.
It began to grow larger.
The once small, wolf-like creature started to resemble a massive, ferocious tiger.
And within its mouth—
The aura of Rakan’s Fang and Kasaka’s Venom Fang began to manifest.
—ROOOOAAAARR!
Gray’s mighty roar shook the world.
Meanwhile, Suho pulled out a mana potion, swiftly replenishing his depleted mana after using [Blizzard of Frost].
Then—
—Leap!
He launched himself off the tilted ground and landed directly on Gray’s back.
“Gray! Charge straight ahead!”
“Grrraaargh!”
With a thunderous roar, Gray, now larger and stronger, kicked off the tilted walls, soaring toward the giant hand.
Their target—
The ancient sorcerer’s grotesque grasp.
[Skill: Body Strengthening Technique activated.]
“No matter if it’s illusion or sorcery—”
Dark energy shrouded Suho’s fist.
He threw a devastating punch forward.
“—A man’s answer is always his fist.”
—BOOOOOOOM!
A massive shockwave erupted, obliterating the giant hand into fragments.
[W-What is this power…?!]
A panicked cry echoed from above.
[The Monarch of Body Strengthening…?!]