Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 36
[Divine Blessing: Blessing of Rakhan]
The blessing of the Fang Monarch, king of the beasts.
Fang Monarch Rakhan has chosen you as the royal shaman.
As a shaman, you can embody the spirit of a beast within your body.
-Effect ‘Possession’: Possess your body with ‘Pet: Grey.’
“A shaman? Possession?”
Su-ho, puzzled, stared at the message window in front of him. Rakhan, pleased, laughed as he looked at Su-ho.
[Heh heh. Yes. You are now the shaman of our tribe. Since I am no longer alive, you have become the shaman serving Grey, the sole remaining royal.]
“You want me to serve Grey?”
Su-ho’s face was filled with disbelief. Grey was his pet. Serving a pet as a king? This was absurd.
“Like being a cat butler? When I think of it that way, it kind of makes sense…”
Accepting it in his own way, Su-ho nodded. Regardless, having a new ability was something to welcome.
Ultimately, Rakhan’s goal was to appear more frequently in Su-ho’s dreams. For that, Su-ho had to spend more time with Grey. The problem was that Grey was too young and weak to be of any use right now.
But with the shaman’s ability, ‘Possession’?
[If you use that power, you can borrow the strength of the beast for a while. As Grey grows, the power you can borrow will also increase.]
“Isn’t this just a roundabout way of asking me to raise Grey well?”
[Well, yes, that’s exactly it.]
Su-ho and Rakhan exchanged glances and chuckled. Su-ho found him fascinating.
“You said my father killed you, but you’re more laid-back than I expected.”
[Why dwell on it? It’s only natural that a weaker beast is devoured by a stronger one.]
Recalling the past, Rakhan let out a laugh.
[Your father was overwhelmingly strong, and I struggled in fear, only to be devoured. That’s all there is to it.]
Survival of the fittest.
Rakhan, the king of beasts who had reigned at the top of the food chain, had accepted his death calmly.
[Oh my, seems like my time is already up.]
Rakhan glanced at the sky with regret as the once white world began to be engulfed by dark shadows. A deep emptiness began to creep in.
As the space around them shrank, Rakhan’s body grew smaller as well. Eventually, he returned to the form of the massive man he had shown initially and approached Su-ho, handing something to him.
[Take this and leave. This is my resting place in death, but you must go back and live your life.]
In Su-ho’s hand was ‘Rakhan’s Fang.’
“Why is there only one?”
[I fused them. They were from when I was young, so they were too insignificant to be considered royal relics. Now that they’re combined, they should be more useful.]
Swoosh.
At that moment, the black shadow completely swallowed the world. Rakhan’s lips curled into a sly smile as he gave his final farewell.
[See you again, shaman.]
Time, which had been frozen, resumed once more.
* * *
“…Ah.”
The scenery around Su-ho shifted instantly. He was still standing atop Arachne’s corpse.
What had just transpired felt like a dream, but the proof that the encounter with the Fang Monarch was real remained in Su-ho’s hand.
The two blades of Rakhan’s Fang, which he had been holding in both hands, had merged into one, now stronger and sharper than before.
Above all, the stats had changed dramatically.
[Item: Rakhan’s Fang]
Difficulty to Obtain: ??
Type: Sword
Attack Power: +60
A sword made from the fang of Rakhan, king of the beasts.
Rakhan’s spirit dwells within, and those unworthy of it may have their bodies taken over.
-Effect ‘Contempt for the Weak’: For one minute, inflict fear upon a designated target. (All stats -50%)
-Effect ‘Critical Strike’: 20% chance of dealing triple the critical damage.
“So merging them really did increase the stats.”
The attack power, which was +30, had risen to +60, and the critical strike effect had increased from 15% to 20%, with the multiplier going from 2x to 3x.
[Young Lord?]
At that moment, Beru approached Su-ho, examining him with a curious look.
[Has your energy changed slightly?]
-You… Did you meet the spirit of the king? I can sense the power of a shaman in you.
Rakhan’s Fang, which Su-ho held in his hand, suddenly spoke.
“Yes.”
[Eeeeek! You met the Fang Monarch? H-how?]
Beru was shocked by Su-ho’s answer. Meeting the spirit of a monarch in eternal rest was considered impossible, something even the Shadow Monarch Sung Jinwoo could not achieve.
Su-ho glanced at Rakhan’s Fang and said,
“So, you were the fang I originally had.”
-Indeed. I devoured the relics that were here.
Perhaps it was thanks to becoming a shaman, but Su-ho could now identify the voice’s origin with just a glance.
‘Time to head back.’
Su-ho looked around. The Hunters who had been controlled by the spider webs seemed mostly unharmed. But all of them were sitting on the ground in a daze, staring at him.
‘He’s the king.’
‘That Hunter gained the king’s power.’
They had all witnessed Su-ho defeating Arachne and pulling out the relic from its body. But none dared to approach him, overwhelmed by the intimidating atmosphere.
And Su-ho, having achieved his goal, paid them no mind.
Turning around, he saw the Shadow Jackals sitting upright after defeating the smaller spiders. Oddly, piles of magic stones extracted from the dead spiders were gathered neatly before their paws.
Praise, praise, praise, praise.
Praise, praise, praise, praise.
Like hunting dogs eagerly awaiting their reward, the Jackals stared at him with shining eyes.
“Uh, yeah. Good job.”
[Pant, pant, pant!]
In response to Su-ho’s reluctant praise, the Shadow Jackals wagged their tongues and grinned broadly like sunflowers. Truly sly creatures. When had they shifted from attacking him with bared fangs?
“Let’s head back.”
[Yes, sir.]
Without hesitation, Su-ho left the botanical garden.
The Hunters who had been watching Su-ho in awe let out a collective sigh of relief once he disappeared from sight.
“Phew…”
“We… survived.”
They had been holding their breath, filled with tension, because despite being controlled by the spider webs, they had attacked Su-ho during his most critical moment. If he had sought revenge, there was nothing they could have done to stop him.
But Su-ho had only taken down the giant spider Arachne and left without a word.
Someone finally spoke.
“Does that mean he really gained the king’s power?”
“Probably.”
“Man, I’m so jealous. I wonder what kind of incredible skill he got.”
“Is that really what matters? We should be grateful he let us live.”
Feeling the weight of their survival, the Hunters let out another sigh of relief.
But then, curiosity crept in.
“But who was that Hunter?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t see his face with that weird mask on.”
“It was so dark in there, too. He seemed to have some animals with him—maybe he’s a summoner?”
“That’s nonsense. What kind of summoner fights that viciously? Didn’t you see him punch the spider to death with his bare hands? He probably just tamed a few hunting dogs.”
All the Hunters present were Beast Masters, some of whom had strong affinities with animals. Because of that, they didn’t pay much attention to the Shadow Jackals. Plus, the dim lighting had reduced them to mere silhouettes.
“So why was he hiding his identity?”
“Good question. Maybe he’s a criminal or something?”
Su-ho, for his part, had no intention of concealing his identity. The mask was just an item he wore because the botanical garden was dark, and he had taken it off as soon as he stepped outside.
But because of that, the Hunters became even more curious about Su-ho’s true identity.
And then, someone spoke up.
“…Huh?”
One of the Hunters, looking around, tilted their head in confusion.
“Where did all the spiders go?!”
The massive corpse of the giant spider, which had been lying dead in the darkness, had completely vanished, along with the smaller spider bodies.
“Did they dissolve after dying?”
The Hunters, who had hoped to collect monster corpses, sighed in disappointment. They had worked themselves to the bone, only to come up empty-handed.
[Heh.]
Somewhere, Beru snickered.
* * *
Meanwhile, outside the botanical garden…
“What the…?!”
“The scent suddenly disappeared?”
The Hunters wandering the jungle in search of the king all sniffed the air in confusion.
The scent that had been guiding them along the path to becoming king had vanished without a trace.
“Ah.”
At the same moment, they realized.
‘The king has been chosen!’
Someone else had beaten them to it.
As they grasped this truth, a wave of disappointment and jealousy washed over them.
“Phew…”
The disheartened Hunters sighed heavily. From her vantage point above, Baek Mi-ho, a Hunter from the White Tiger Guild, observed this with a calm expression.
“Vice Guild Master, what should we do now? Should we return?”
“Before we leave, I’d like to confirm who became the king.”
“But how will we identify them in such a vast area…?”
“I can do it by scent. A strong beast’s scent is instinctively—”
Sniff.
At that moment, Baek Mi-ho’s superhuman sense of smell picked up something. She turned her head and spotted the man she had seen earlier walking back along the same path.
Unlike before, his body was now drenched in the strong scent of blood.
Sniff sniff?
‘…Not human blood. And the color is off, too.’
Baek Mi-ho’s sharp senses could distinguish between the blood of monsters and humans. The scent coming from the man’s body was from a monster.
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, she noticed something odd and tilted her head.
‘But… are there even monsters in this forest?’
A forest filled with nothing but plants and ghosts—was it possible that he had fought a bleeding monster?
‘Could he be… the king?’
Sensing that she was being watched, Su-ho turned his head and locked eyes with Baek Mi-ho from afar. For a moment, their gazes connected across the distance.
‘…No. It’s different.’
With her extraordinary vision, Baek Mi-ho stared into Su-ho’s eyes and dismissed the notion.
This place was meant to crown the ‘King of Beasts.’ But that man didn’t carry the scent of a beast.
Baek Mi-ho eventually turned her gaze away from Su-ho.
“Let’s wait a little longer.”
“Yes, Vice Guild Master.”
The White Tiger Guild remained there for quite some time, even as Su-ho took a bus back home, showered, and ordered chicken.
‘…Why was she staring at me?’
Su-ho, tearing into a chicken leg, suddenly recalled Baek Mi-ho’s face from when their eyes had met earlier.
‘She seems familiar. Is she a famous Hunter?’
He wondered if searching online might reveal more, so he opened his internet browser.
Immediately, his eyes widened in shock.
“What… what is this?!”
The internet was ablaze with articles about the Magok Field.
The problem was that all the headlines were about Su-ho himself.
-(Breaking News) The Beast King Crow!
-The mysterious Hunter who gained the power of the king, Crow!
-Why does Crow wear a raven mask?
-(Advertisement) This year’s hottest item, the raven mask!
-(Trending Search) Hidden Power Enthusiast (힘숨찐)
“What… Beast King Crow? Hidden Power Enthusiast?”
Countless embarrassing nicknames were being thrown at him.
“This is ridiculous… What am I, a middle schooler?”
Cringing, Su-ho covered his face in embarrassment. Just then, a message appeared, as if waiting for this moment.
[The Fang Monarch, king of beasts, chuckles, saying the nickname suits a shaman perfectly.]