Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 297

Things were already unfolding just as Suho and Jinchul had expected.

“Target sighted!” shouted a helicopter pilot.

A group of helicopters and jets carrying special forces soldiers from France were en route to a region where an Elvenwood had been found.

“This is HQ. Commence attack immediately.”

“Copy that!”

Whooosh!

A missile launched and struck the massive tree directly in the trunk, and part of it exploded.

Boom!

“Perfect hit!”

The Elvenwoods no longer had the strength to resist now that the Apostle of Paradise was dead. This would not have been the case under normal circumstances—these were the sacred, divine trees of the elves, and they had maintained their energy by feeding off the elves for centuries.

However, the Elvenwoods on Earth, outside the land of the elves, were slightly different. They had been tainted by mana from the Outer Universes, mutated and cultivated by the Apostle of Paradise himself. Now that he was dead, they had no master, no clear direction. They didn’t know who to attack, nurture, or feed on. The result of this chaos was visible now.

Boom!

“Another hit! No reaction from the tree!”

Countless fighter jets bombarded the trees that had mysteriously appeared. The missiles they fired were no ordinary weapons—they had been specially crafted and infused with ground mana stones and mana crystals discovered in dungeons. These missiles could inflict meaningful damage even to magic beasts.

Each unit was costly, but the hefty investment in R&D had clearly paid off. The tree began to disintegrate from the explosions, releasing a wailing sound not so different from a monster crying out in pain.

The helicopter pilot, who had been tense this whole time, finally exhaled in relief. “Phew. It’s nowhere near as dangerous as I—”

But it was too early to let down his guard.

“W-watch it! Twelve o’clock!”

The pilot immediately swerved right. Hundreds of magic beasts, beings that had been hiding within the Elvenwood, had emerged from the debris of the tree.

The winged creatures flew directly toward the helicopters. One of them collided with a helicopter’s rotor, sending the helicopter spiraling out of control.

“Sh*t!”

Below, human figures, also hostile, emerged from the wreckage. These were villains who had been hiding in the Elvenwood.

“HQ! This isn’t just a tree! This is an enemy stronghold!”

“All units, perform a joint attack with the men on the ground!”

The battle intensified. The Elvenwood had fallen easily, but the beings hiding inside were no pushovers.

Similar scenes were unfolding all over the world. In the U.S., strategic bombers were deployed to destroy the Elvenwoods, but the magic beasts and villains emerging from them created havoc. Soldiers stationed at an Elvenwood in the U.S. were caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events.

“Did we just kick a hornet’s nest?”

Just as some of them were beginning to wonder if it would have been better to let things be, there was a massive explosion. Scores of the magic beasts and villains charging from the Elvenwood were wiped out.

“What nonsense is this?! You should deal with the hornets before they become a bigger problem!”

All it had taken was a single blow for the newcomer to clear out the enemies in the vicinity. The man smiled mischievously like a child enjoying a prank, and the soldiers who recognized him went wide-eyed.

“Thomas Andre!”

“I thought he was arrested for murder!”

“What? Not happy to see me?” Thomas asked.

The old man, his body packed with muscle and his long white hair fluttering like a lion’s mane, stood confidently with his huge fists held forward. Dressed in casual shorts and sunglasses, he looked more like a man on vacation than a warrior on the battlefield.

“W-we’re saved!”

The initial shock at his appearance gave way to relief.

Thomas’ enormous muscles and the mana radiating from him made him a terrifying figure for their enemies, but no one was more reassuring as an ally. Only recently, he had been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Hunters for killing Christopher Reed, an S-rank hunter of the United States. Yet here he was, fighting alongside the Bureau’s hunters instead of being locked up in a cell.

“Guild Master! We’ve handled the ones on the other side!” a man shouted to Thomas.

The old man had even brought all the members of his Scavenger Guild.

In China, Liu Zhigang’s leadership was proving invaluable in quickly controlling the situation. However, the country had far more Elvenwoods than most others, which created a unique set of challenges. The affected region was vast, essentially a super-sized field touching the borders of North Korea and Russia. Even the Chinese authorities had previously abandoned the area, neglecting it after it turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

With the sudden appearance of the Elvenwoods, ignoring the area was no longer possible. From the information coming in from across the globe, China had realized that these trees were essentially buzzing hornet nests. They were ticking time bombs waiting to detonate, overflowing with villains and magic beasts. The trees couldn’t be left standing. As a result, armies and hunters everywhere were fighting fiercely against the Elvenwoods.

“How interesting...”

In the Kremlin, Russia, Yuri Orloff sat comfortably as he watched the world’s chaos unfold on a monitor. Everything that had been hidden inside the Elvenwoods was now pouring forth at once.

“Who knew that stubborn apostle would actually die?”

It seemed he wouldn’t even need to confirm the death himself. The Apostle of Paradise was gone, and the current state of the world was proof enough.

“Hmm. That means the anti-detection magic around our own country must have lifted too. What a hassle.”

Yuri stroked his chin, looking troubled. He wasn’t mourning the death of the Apostle of Paradise, who had cooperated with him. The apostle loved to make big promises, but in the end, he had simply died in the middle of nowhere, and all Yuri could do was tut in mild frustration.

Every Elvenwood he had cultivated might have been suddenly exposed, but the fruits of those forests had already been harvested and added to Russia’s assets. The real concern was what came next.

“At this rate, they’ll make their move.”

Yuri was speaking of the followers of the Itarim. Each one served a different god. They were all invaders of Earth, yet they were rivals—constantly watching, competing, and maneuvering against each other. It was inevitable that they would begin to flock to Russia, China, or North Korea to seize the remains of what Yuri and the Apostle of Paradise had built. They would come to take the fruits of the Elvenwoods, the trees which no longer had an owner.

And then...

“Actually, no.”

After a brief moment of thought, a cold smirk formed on Yuri’s lips.

The apostle was dead, so there was no need to think about him any longer. Humans would need to turn their attention to their own kind. By now, other nations might have already begun piecing together the truth—that Russia had been working alongside the Apostle of Paradise. Of course, proving it would be difficult.

After considering all the possibilities, Yuri took a long sip of red wine and stood up. The glass shattered in his hand.

“Given the circumstances... this might be a good opportunity to make some new friends.”

***

Suho pressed forward without hesitation, and the gardens that had lost their tender fell helplessly before his army. Suho uprooted each and every Elvenwood and cast the trunks and branches into the Shadow Dungeon.

“Kiek! I can see your hands! Work faster!” Beru screeched. “The lumber must be processed immediately and sent to the Sea of the Afterlife!”

The shadow ant moved in and out of the Shadow Dungeon, delivering the Elvenwood logs to the shadow dwarves. As the dwarves watched the endless flood of lumber rolling in, they let out shouts of joy.

“Hahaha! I never saw one of these trees while I was alive. Who knew I would get to see so many of the legendary sacred trees of the elves, and all at once?”

“Who grew so many of these precious trees?”

“Who was it again? The Apostle of Paradise, I think.”

“The Apostle of Paradise? Well, he’s got an amazing ability, to be sure! If he weren’t some filth from the Outer Universes, we’d have captured him and made him plant trees for the rest of his life!”

The dwarves clicked their tongues in regret, lamenting that such a talent had already died. However, their disappointment lasted for only a moment.

“Wh-what? Why do they keep coming?!”

“There’s no end to them!”

“I had no idea there were so many Elvenwoods!”

The incredible amount of wood that poured into the Shadow Dungeon pleased the shadow dwarves to no end.

Under Beru’s harsh direction, they got to work. The dwarves’ regret about the Apostle of Paradise was long gone. There weren’t enough hands to process all the trees already in the dungeon. Only the minimum number of workers had been left there while the rest of the dwarves sailed on the Sea of the Afterlife.

“M-my goodness! Our master seems to be picking up his pace! We can’t afford to fall behind!”

“Hiya!”

The dwarves feverishly processed the Elvenwood logs, transforming them one by one into keels for the great ships that would sail across the Sea of the Afterlife. As soon as any Elvenwood keel was ready, it was immediately sent to the sea through a “hell gate” that Harmakan had opened.

“Wh-whoa! I don’t believe it!”

The demons and the dwarves in the Sea of the Afterlife were the next to be shocked. Even one keel would have been a great boon, but they were being sent over in huge numbers.

Esil, the Monarch of Gluttony, had been aboard the ship made with the best keel so far, but she quickly switched vessels. Her new ship would have the largest and thickest keel of all, crafted from none other than Álfheimr.

The Shadow Dwarves surrounding Esil erupted into a frenzy. In a mad rush, they began expanding the ship at breakneck speed, using Álfheimr as the centerpiece. The keel was the most important component of a ship, and with Álfheimr, they would be able to put together a vessel much bigger and more powerful than any they had dared imagine.

Of course, a proper ship required far more than just a keel. A great deal of additional material was necessary to match the quality of the keel, but there was more than enough of that coming in.

“Hahaha! Bring it on, you dregs of the sea!”

Now the creatures that had lurked within the sea found themselves slaughtered at the hands of the demons they had eyed as prey. One by one, they were torn apart and repurposed as materials around the Álfheimr.

[Álfheimr, War Ship of the King of Demons]

Unbeknownst to everyone, a legend was beginning to take form on the Sea of the Afterlife.