Solo Leveling : Ragnarok - Chapter 94
That night.
“…You killed three of them in a row?”
Cutting through the silent night, a raspy voice reached Suho’s ears.
Sitting in his cell, Suho turned his head toward the source of the voice.
An old demon, shabby and frail.
As always, the elder demon lay in the far corner of the dark, facing away.
When Suho silently stared at him, the sound of the demon clicking his tongue echoed softly.
“Tsk tsk. Occasionally, there are demons like you who adapt well to Bloodburn Venom. But mark my words—you’ll regret ignoring my warning and eating that food.”
As the old demon predicted, Suho had defeated three Bloodburn Beasts released by the guards, one after the other.
The incredible spectacle sent the audience into a frenzy.
For the enslaved onlookers, witnessing what seemed like a weak demon execute much stronger ones was an exhilarating catharsis.
However, the scene was far from what the demon guards had hoped for.
What they desired was for the strong to torment, kill, and devour the weak, reinforcing the absolute truth of “submission to power” in the slaves’ minds.
But Suho’s actions defied that narrative entirely.
“…At least you did well not to eat the Bloodburn Beasts,” the old demon continued.
As the elder noted, Suho had slain the beasts but refrained from consuming their corpses.
Demons typically grew stronger by hunting other demons and consuming the demonic energy infused in their blood.
But Suho wasn’t a demon. He had no reason to drink their blood.
Instead, the “Horn of Vulcan” had devoured their souls.
The demon guards, baffled that things were not going as planned, eventually halted Suho’s execution trial.
If they had let it continue, it would only result in more wasted Bloodburn Beasts.
“It’s natural for demons to devour one another,” the old demon explained, “but you must never drink the blood of demons intoxicated by Bloodburn Venom.”
“…Why not?”
Suho finally spoke.
“The venom accumulates in your body each time you consume it. Sure, it makes you stronger, but the pain grows unbearable.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
What Suho truly wanted to know was something else.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“…I’ve told it to others before,” the elder replied. “They just ignored me.”
Of course they did.
Bloodburn Venom might come with pain, but it also boosted strength.
Telling someone not to consume it before an execution trial was akin to telling them to submit to death.
This was why other demons mocked and scorned the elder.
“The path of a Bloodburn Beast always ends in a wretched, painful death,” the old demon muttered.
“Like yours, I presume?”
*Hack!*
The elder coughed up black blood instead of replying.
[The King of Insects, the Plague Monarch, watches with interest as the blood of a demon fully addicted to Bloodburn Venom is spilled.]
“…I ate whatever they gave me at first,” the elder admitted. “I fought countless battles, drank the blood of countless foes, and grew stronger each time. Then, eventually, I saw it—the inevitable fate of Bloodburn Beasts like me, consumed by venom down to their very marrow.”
After a bout of coughing, the elder chuckled grimly.
“The Tyrant King waits for the moment when we’re perfectly ripened, then devours us. It’s the most efficient way for him to feed.”
Once he realized this, the elder began fasting.
No matter how many victories he claimed in the arena, he refused to consume the corpses of his opponents.
The moment his body reached peak venom saturation, he knew the Tyrant King would come for him.
“This colosseum is nothing more than a breeding ground and pantry for the Tyrant King,” the elder said with a dry laugh.
[Now it makes sense why that old demon is so emaciated,] Esil murmured.
[Suho, I think the meal you had earlier might’ve been your last in this place. From now on, if you get hungry, you’ll have to kill your opponents in the arena and eat them.]
“How utterly demonic,” Suho muttered, shaking his head. “I hate this sort of thing.”
Seizing the opportunity, Suho asked the elder a question.
“By the way, old man. Where does the Tyrant King usually hide?”
“Hide? Heh heh. That’s a good way to put it. You’re bold, but be careful who hears you. It’s true, though—the Tyrant King is a coward.”
“A coward?”
“Ha ha ha. Yes. He may be the absolute ruler of this place, but he’s also the most coveted prey. Even I, in my current state, would become immensely powerful if I consumed his corpse.”
As he spoke, the old demon’s eyes gleamed with intense greed.
*Lick.*
Even the slightest thought of such a possibility seemed to excite him, his serpent-like tongue darting out as if savoring the idea.
[Let me clarify something,] Esil suddenly interjected.
[This grotesque feast of devouring each other is something only lowly demons engage in. Don’t mistake noble demon aristocrats like me for such savages.]
‘I wasn’t asking.’
[No, seriously! You’ve seen me eat. We don’t tear into corpses like barbarians. Absorbing bloodstones is much cleaner and more efficient.]
‘Bloodstones?’
Suho recalled the mid-level demon he had hunted before entering this realm.
‘Now that I think about it, that demon used a bloodstone to amplify its strength. What exactly are bloodstones?’
[They’re highly condensed crystallizations of demonic energy found in demon blood. While some uncultured aristocrats do eat other demons directly, noble houses like my Radir family prefer bloodstones.]
‘Isn’t that basically the same thing?’
[No, it’s completely different! Unlike eating corpses, bloodstones can be extracted without killing the donor. If an aristocrat devoured all their subjects, who’d serve them?]
‘Fair point.’
Concerned that Suho might view her poorly, Esil passionately defended herself.
[This place, on the other hand, is a mockery of nobility. The demons here mimic aristocracy by raising and consuming their own kind indiscriminately. It’s inefficient and just reduces their numbers.]
As Esil rambled on, Suho mentally sorted through the information and came to a simple conclusion.
“So, in the end, to catch the Tyrant King, I need to make myself look as appetizing as possible.”
“W-What did you say? Did you just imply you’re going to hunt the Tyrant King? Ha ha ha! You’re insane!”
The elder demon burst into laughter, unable to contain himself.
His boisterous cackling woke the other demons in the prison, who began grumbling.
“Ugh! What’s with all the noise?”
“Has that old geezer lost his mind in the middle of the night?”
The once-quiet prison filled with curses and complaints.
But the elder demon showed no sign of stopping, his laughter echoing unabated.
In the midst of the clamor, Suho locked eyes with the laughing elder and calmly spoke.
“Old man, can I ask you one more thing?”
“Keh heh heh! Sure, go ahead! What’s gotten you so curious?”
“How can I make myself look delicious to the Tyrant King?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
This time, not just the elder demon, but even the other demons burst into laughter.
“What did this lunatic just say?!”
“He wants to look tasty to the Tyrant King?!”
“We’ve got a real nutcase in here this time! Ha ha ha!”
News of Suho’s exploits during the execution trial had already spread throughout the colosseum demons.
However, as most of them were locked in their cells, none had actually witnessed the spectacle.
Despite hearing that Suho had defeated three Bloodburn Beasts in a single day, the demons imprisoned here were survivors who had consumed countless Bloodburn Beasts themselves.
To them, Suho was still just an insignificant rookie with no real value.
“You survived by sheer luck today and now you’ve gone mad!”
“Your arrogance knows no bounds!”
“You want the Tyrant King’s attention? Hoping to become one of his underlings, are you?”
“That’s easy!”
“Just keep eating! Kill and devour endlessly during the execution trials, and let your brain soak completely in Bloodburn Venom!”
“Then the Tyrant King himself will appear before you!”
“Ah, I see.”
Suho briefly regretted not asking them earlier.
If he’d known they’d be this helpful, he would have inquired sooner.
“…I shouldn’t have skipped the meal earlier,” Suho muttered to himself.
At that, a certain being recoiled in shock.
[The King of Insects, the Plague Monarch, is startled by your audacity.]
[The King of Beasts, the Fang Monarch, chuckles, agreeing that survival is a game of the strong devouring the weak.]
“Well then…”
*Crack.*
Suho rolled his wrists and flashed a meaningful smile.
“Let’s put on a proper feast.”
—
The next day marked the beginning of Suho’s “feast.”
“Yesterday was just the first day, so we sent up weaker opponents.”
“But today will be different.”
The demon guards smirked wickedly as they prepared to send Suho to the execution trial.
“You’ll regret not eating those corpses yesterday.”
“Yeah, I spent all night regretting it.”
“…What?”
Suho’s unexpected reply left the guards momentarily baffled.
“A mere One-Horn…”
“Stop bluffing.”
“This ends today.”
The guards, convinced that Suho was already affected by Bloodburn Venom, believed he had grown weaker after using so much power the previous day.
It was a reasonable assumption.
Bloodburn Venom consumed the user’s blood with every use of magic.
After all, wasn’t Esil significantly weaker now than when she was a noble demon? That was due to countless demons draining her blood over time.
“…In that sense,” Suho mused, glancing up at his opponent for the day—a much fiercer-looking demon than before.
With a sly grin, he launched himself forward like a cannonball, plunging his hand straight into the demon’s body.
*Boom!*
The overwhelming force drove the demon into the ground.
“Eat your fill this time, Esil,” Suho said.
[Music to my ears.]
At those words, the demon noble residing within the Horn of Vulcan’s depths gleamed with anticipation.
*Swwwoosh!*
From the demon’s body, black energy began to flow along Suho’s embedded hand, condensing into small orbs that floated in the air like beads.
“Wait, hold on!”
“What the hell is that?!”
The spectators erupted in shock.
“No way! Is that…?!”
“Bloodstones?!”
Even the demon guards widened their eyes in disbelief.
They were more astonished than the day before.
It was understandable.
Extracting bloodstones from a demon’s body before even killing them—such a feat was only possible for…
“A noble?! A demon noble?!”
“Impossible! A noble demon is still alive?!”
*Swoosh!*
The bloodstones floating mid-air were drawn into the Horn of Vulcan.
More accurately, they were absorbed into the mouth of the true demon noble hidden within.
“The One-Horn is a demon noble?!”