Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 27

*Ding!*

Just in time, the quest was also completed.

[‘Quest: Rescue the Survivors’ has been completed.]

[Number of Survivors Rescued: 7]

‘Looks like they made it out of the dungeon safely.’

Su-ho nodded, recalling the hunters who had carried the survivors out first. They had agreed to reach the surface as quickly as possible to avoid being caught by the demons, so now it was up to Su-ho to make his own escape.

‘But before that…’

[A reward for completing the quest has arrived.]

[Would you like to check the rewards?] (Y/N)

“Check rewards.”

*Ding!*

[The following rewards are available.]

Reward 1: Stat Points +3

Reward 2: Random Box x1

“Random Box?”

Su-ho’s eyes lit up with curiosity.

A normal random box without the “Cursed” prefix? He had no idea what might be inside.

Su-ho accepted all the rewards. He invested all the stat points in strength, and soon, a small random box appeared in his hand.

‘What’s inside?’

He quickly tore open the wrapping and found, unexpectedly, a few shiny gold coins.

*Clink.*

[You have obtained ‘700 Gold.’]

“Gold coins?”

Could it be that he received 700 gold for rescuing 7 survivors?

Receiving gold that could be used in the shop right after the shop function was activated seemed too convenient.

‘This isn’t… just a coincidence, is it?’

Su-ho was beginning to vaguely realize that there was a sense of “goodwill” aimed at him within the leveling system he had inherited from his father.

‘…Thank you for the allowance, Dad.’

The gold coins were stored in his inventory, and the display at the bottom showed a total of 700 gold.

“Open shop.”

A newly opened shop window appeared in front of Su-ho.

[Shop]

Purchase / Sell

The shop interface was quite simple.

As Su-ho was about to check the list of items he could buy—

[My Liege.]

Beru suddenly appeared and asked,

[What do you intend to do with that demon?]

At those words, Su-ho’s gaze turned to the female demon lying on the ground, near death.

‘Come to think of it, there was her.’

The enemy of my enemy is a friend. Earlier, she had been fighting fiercely with the low-class demons, so he hadn’t killed her yet. But now it was time to make a decision.

There was something he needed to confirm first.

“I noticed earlier, you were talking to her, Beru. Do you know each other?”

[Yes, we do. The Radir family was the only one that did not challenge my Lord during his conquest of the demon realm.]

The Radir family had acknowledged their weakness and willingly became Sung Jinwoo’s slaves. But even that submission would not have been accepted if not for Sung Jinwoo’s unpredictability. In the war against the Monarchs, most demons who faced Sung Jinwoo perished. The only ones who survived were cowards who had fled the battlefield early, like the low-class demons they encountered today, hiding from Sung Jinwoo’s sight.

[And my Lord had forcibly captured that demon, Esil, and used her as a guide.]

“Um….”

At that moment, Esil, who was lying on the ground, called out to Su-ho in a dying voice, her blood flowing profusely.

“Sorry to interrupt, but could you save me first? I really feel like I’m going to die.”

Then it happened.

*Grrrroooowl…!*

A loud noise echoed from Esil’s stomach.

“Huh?”

As Su-ho and Beru focused their attention, Esil rubbed her hollow belly with an embarrassed look.

“I’ve been on the run for a few years and haven’t eaten much…”

Ah.

Apparently, when she said she felt like she was going to die, she meant she was starving.

* * *

To get straight to the point, Su-ho ended up saving Esil.

There were several reasons, but one of them was to test the effects of a ‘potion’ he bought from the shop.

[Item: Low-Grade Healing Potion]

Acquisition Difficulty: E

Type: Consumable

A potion that can restore health.

Restores 500 HP slowly when consumed.

Can be stored in inventory but cannot be transferred to others.

‘It can’t be transferred to others? Then maybe feeding it directly is possible?’

Su-ho approached Esil and poured the potion into her mouth.

“Ah…!”

As Esil drank the potion, her wounds slowly began to heal.

“What the… Are you a healer? By the way, what’s your relationship with Jinwoo…?”

But Su-ho ignored Esil’s gaze, which was staring intently at his face with wide eyes, focusing only on the potion’s performance.

‘Hmm. The healing speed is a bit slow. It would be difficult to use it urgently during a battle. Leveling up is definitely the best option.’

After some time, Esil’s condition improved to the point where she could move.

However, the rumbling in her stomach was still loud.

“I’m so hungry I have no strength left…”

‘You were fighting well just a while ago.’

And the second reason Su-ho decided to save Esil.

The energy he felt from her wasn’t particularly impressive.

In other words, she was not a significant threat.

Even after consuming the potion and recovering, the energy he felt from Esil was at best around C-rank.

According to Beru, demon nobility should typically have power equivalent to S-rank.

But for various reasons, Esil’s strength had been reduced to a fraction of its original state.

‘But no matter how weakened she is, I can’t just let a demon out of the dungeon.’

With that reasoning, the method Su-ho chose was—

[Do you want to enter the Shadow Dungeon?]

“Enter.”

*Swoosh!*

Su-ho took Esil into the Shadow Dungeon.

The Shadow Dungeon is a space where free entry and exit are impossible except for the shadow soldiers.

It was a perfect prison to confine a demon.

But once they entered the Shadow Dungeon, Esil’s reaction was rather surprising.

“Oh, I can’t believe I’m back in the World of Rest!”

Seeing the monochrome world, Esil began to exclaim with a look of ecstasy.

Then, she turned to Su-ho and asked,

“How can you have the World of Rest inside your shadow when you’re not even the Shadow Monarch? What’s your relationship with Jinwoo?”

“I’m his son.”

“Son? Ah! Are you Su-ho?!”

Esil exclaimed in surprise.

“Oh my! The little baby has already grown this much? Humans really grow fast.”

“You know me?”

Su-ho tilted his head at Esil’s words.

Even though his sealed memories had returned, he didn’t remember every face he had seen when he was young.

Besides, there were so many soldiers living in Sung Jinwoo’s shadow world.

Su-ho turned his gaze away from the excited Esil and asked Beru.

“So, what is the World of Rest?”

[It’s another name for the Shadow Dungeon.]

Beru explained.

There were many ways to refer to the world ruled by the Shadow Monarch.

The Shadow World.

The World Beyond Death.

And the Realm of Rest.

The other Monarchs, who were now dead, also had their worlds they ruled over.

But the Shadow Monarch was the only one who carried an entire world within his shadow.

“So, this Shadow Dungeon is a world I rule over?”

[Strictly speaking, it’s a world that my Lord rules over. However, somehow, when you were born, the world split in two. Or rather, it multiplied.]

“So, one of them became my shadow.”

Su-ho nodded.

Enough small talk; it was time to get to the point.

Su-ho looked at Esil and asked bluntly.

“You’re Esil, right? Anyway, I saved you, so now tell me everything you know. What are the demons plotting on Earth? What happened in the demon realm?”

“Well…”

Esil began to speak with a bitter expression.

“After the war ended, things were good at first. Because Jinwoo killed all the other nobles, our Radir family became the top rank in the demon hierarchy. Plus, he let our family, who had nowhere to go, stay in the shadow world.”

At that time, the demon realm had already lost its Demon Lord and was drifting in pieces in the cracks between dimensions.

In such a situation, Sung Jinwoo allowed the demons of the Radir family who had helped him to reside in his world.

But it was only for a short time.

“We couldn’t remain residents of the Shadow World after all.”

“Because of your corrupted souls?”

“You know well.”

As Su-ho had experienced, demons couldn’t be extracted as shadow soldiers because their souls were corrupted with mana.

“So, we had no choice but to return to the demon realm. No, to be precise, the demon realm called us back.”

“The demon realm?”

“Yes. A Red Gate leading to the demon realm suddenly opened in front of us while we were in the shadow world. And it started sucking us in.”

At that time, the demon realm, having lost its Lord, was drifting in pieces in the cracks between dimensions.

A world without its Lord seeks one.

It was only natural that the demon realm would call upon the last existing demon nobility, the Radir family.

However, the demon realm was a world maintained by the law of survival of the fittest and the strong ruling the weak.

Without Sung Jinwoo’s help, the Radir family, which had barely been ranked 20th, lacked the strength to dominate the demon realm.

So, demons who had been hiding to avoid the Shadow Monarch throughout the war crawled back out after it ended and began challenging the seemingly weak authority of Radir.

‘If only the Radir family disappears!’

‘We can become nobility too!’

‘Let’s eat the nobles and suck their pure blood!’

‘Consuming pure blood will amplify our demonic energy!’

…And so, all the demons united to attack the Radir family.

The Radir family had always been among the weakest of the nobles, and they lacked the strength to suppress the rebellion.

“A weak demon has no right to live. We were devoured and drained of our blood. I’m the only demon noble left alive.”

[So that’s why you’re so weak?]

“…Yes. I almost died several times, and they drained a lot of my blood. That’s why my strength has diminished.”

Beru, listening from the side, added a comment to Su-ho.

[Demons are a race whose hierarchy is determined by strength from birth. It’s not without reason they talk about purebloods and mongrels. Since the foundation of their power lies in their innate blood, they are obsessed with consuming it.]

‘It’s similar to the situation with Grey.’

Su-ho nodded.

It was similar to the situation with Grey from the Fang Clan.

Esil eagerly nodded at Beru’s words and added,

“That’s right. Because of that, demons are extremely afraid of becoming weaker. It’s a world where, whether noble or mongrel, the weak get devoured. So it’s even stranger that those who summoned me did something so un-demon-like.”

“Un-demon-like?”

“Yes. They crossed over to Earth by possessing the bodies of humans weaker than themselves. Making themselves weaker is such an un-demon-like thing to do.”

An un-demon-like behavior.

Su-ho sensed what Esil was trying to imply.

“Are you suggesting that there’s someone else behind the demons?”

“Yes. Actually, the way they summoned me was strange too. Demons are good at destroying and killing, but they can’t perform magic that forcibly opens the dimensional walls.”

“Then? Are you saying someone taught the demons? Who?”

Beru, listening to their conversation, sighed deeply.

[…Could it be the Illusory World?]

“Illusory World?”

[Gate magic was originally a method often used by the Monarch of the Illusory World, Yogmunt.]

“The Illusory World…”

Su-ho pondered over Beru’s words, drawing a mental picture.

“So, the remnants of the demon realm and the Illusory World have teamed up behind the scenes.”

And one more thing.

‘Star Dust.’

One of the ingredients of Star Dust is Mistborne. No, the main ingredient of Mistborne, “Blue Mist,” is an extraterrestrial power that dissolves the boundaries of dimensions.

“…It seems like the Outer Gods are using these remnants to plot something.”

[Yes, I think so too.]

Beru nodded with a grim expression at Su-ho’s conclusion.

[Perhaps… the Outer Gods may have already infiltrated Earth.]

It seemed the invasion had already begun.