Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 304

“W-wait, I’m... an experiment?”

As Haseul spoke, the scythe in her hand trembled slightly. It dawned on her that something was off.

The woman who had introduced herself as the 47th doll looked entirely different from Haseul. She had European features, while Haseul was distinctly East Asian. But despite their obvious visual differences, Haseul felt that there was something vaguely familiar about her. Her indifferent gaze, monotonous voice, and overall atmosphere—there was something about her that Haseul subconsciously recognized.

That realization was followed by a flood of doubts: When did it all begin? Since when have I been like this? What kind of person am I supposed to be in the first place?

To Haseul, everything felt confusing. But while she reeled, Suho remained calm.

“What exactly are you thinking?” he asked, holding his hand toward Haseul immediately. The scythe floated into the air, leaving her grasp.

“Ah...?”

By the power of Ruler’s Authority, the scythe lifted into the air and flew toward Suho’s hand. Caught off guard by the accusation of being an experiment, Haseul’s grip on the weapon had already weakened.

Suho caught the Harvest Scythe with one hand, giving it a quick spin to gauge its energy.

“Young Monarch, that is a tainted object. Let me carry it,” Beru said, fearing the scythe might bear some sort of corruption. He quickly took it from the hunter.

Beru had felt a mysterious, unpleasant sensation from the moment he had seen Haseul holding the scythe. This odd feeling couldn’t simply be explained by the fact that Stones of the Outer Gods had been used to make it.

The shadow ant glared at both the Harvest Scythe and the 47th doll with narrowed eyes. “I had no idea...” he muttered.

“Neither did I,” Suho said, glowering at the woman. “By Experiment Thirteen, you’re referring to this scythe, right?”

“That’s right,” the woman replied with a nod.

Haseul’s eyes went wide with surprise.

Beru’s entire body burned with malice, his arms swelling as if he would crush her skull at any moment. “You dare to insult us like this?!” he demanded.

“I apologize. I meant no offense. I simply answered the questions I was asked,” the woman replied, bowing gracefully despite the ant’s malignant energy.

Then pointing at the Harvest Scythe, she continued, “That scythe, Experiment Thirteen, is one of the Doctor’s countless masterpieces. It is designed as a weapon to extract corruption.”

“Extract corruption, not cause it?” Beru asked.

“Correct. Experiment Thirteen was created to secretly siphon the energy of the ‘fruits’ being collected by the Apostle of Paradise. That is why we handed it to a suitable individual among the humans wandering the Apostle’s territory.”

“Steal the energy?” Suho repeated, his eyes gleaming.

This was far more surprising than he had anticipated. The followers of the Itarim weren’t just trying to keep each other in check—they were actively stealing power from each other as well.

“Yes. I am sure she was vaguely aware of what was happening,” the woman continued, turning her gaze to Haseul and looking her over. “Surely, you noticed something strange. You must have eaten countless fruits of the Elvenwood by now, but you were not corrupted like the others. Not even a trace.”

“Oh...”

Haseul’s mouth dropped open. Now that it had been pointed out, she didn’t know how she hadn’t realized it sooner.

During the recent brutal winter, the city of villains had witnessed Álfheimr losing control. The power contained in the Elvenwood fruits had run rampant within the city’s inhabitants, turning them into mutants with bark-like skin. In other words, they had become “tainted.”

At this point, Suho also realized something. The information window that had appeared when he’d held a fruit for the first time had definitely described it as “tainted” as well.

It was true, in hindsight, that Haseul was the villain who had consumed the most fruits by far. She was a harvester. With no proper medicine or healers in North Korea, eating Elvenwood fruits was the only way to heal wounds and restore strength.

Haseul must have eaten countless fruits just to survive. Even as an S-rank hunter, as long as she lived in a land teeming with villains, danger was always near. But Haseul, and only Haseul, was still herself. No matter how many fruits she had eaten, her skin never turned into wood or hardened like the others’.

“Do not tell me you did not know,” the woman said. “Well, I suppose it is not surprising. After all, the Doctor’s purpose was to extract the fruit’s power in the most discreet way possible, a way that even the Apostle of Paradise couldn’t detect.”

Her voice brimmed with immense pride as she spoke of her “Doctor.”

Simply put, anyone who wielded the Harvest Scythe would not be corrupted, no matter how many Elvenwood fruits they ate, since the scythe absorbed the energy from the fruits instead of letting it build in their body. However, the fruit’s temporary regenerative boost still occurred, which kept everyone in the dark about the scythe’s ability.

“So this scythe is basically like a water filter, huh? Something that just filters out the impurities?” Suho asked.

“I am... not sure if that is an adequate analogy, but yes. It is something like that,” the woman said. “So would you please let go of me? Your hand is rather heavy.”

At some point, Beru’s large, dark claw had clamped down on the woman’s head. He looked ready to crush her skull at any moment.

Despite the doll’s words, she did not seem frightened in the least. She referred to herself as a toy, after all. Experiment Forty-Seven didn’t care about her own safety.

Calmly, she continued to explain, “If it were not for that scythe, she would have become a puppet of the Apostle of Paradise long ago due to the corruption in her system.”

“The Apostle of Paradise, huh... So what’s Haseul’s status now? Has she become your puppet instead?” Suho asked.

“Of course not. The ability to extract corruption cannot coexist with the ability to impart it. If one experiment had featured both abilities, the Apostle of Paradise would have noticed. The Doctor did not want a fight with the Apostle. He simply wished to extract the power for research purposes. Of course...”

A note of uncertainty crept into the woman’s voice.

“Humans are very receptive. I think she might have been influenced, just a little, but I do not think there will be any major issues.”

“Receptive?” Suho repeated.

“Yes. The Doctor said... you are not a race with distinct traits.”

“Are there any side effects?”

“If there is anything that could be considered a side effect, it is that her personality and demeanor have become somewhat similar to mine. Experiment Thirteen was only designed to extract the energy of the fruits, so there should be no other issues.”

“Does the extracted energy go to the Doctor?”

“It does.”

“Perfect. How about this, then?” Suho grinned, flashing his teeth. He produced a delicious-looking fruit and asked, “If Haseul eats this now, will the energy go to the Doctor?”

“Yes...”

The woman’s face, which had remained expressionless until now, finally showed a hint of unease at Suho’s mysterious smile.

“Beru.”

“Yes, Young Monarch.”

“You eat it.”

For the first time, the doll’s eyes visibly widened.

Beru chuckled wickedly at her reaction. He seized the fruit and opened his ferocious mouth to devour it.

“W-wait—!”

Before the woman could stop him, he chewed and swallowed the fruit, still holding the Harvest Scythe in a claw.

This wasn’t Haseul consuming the fruit—it was Beru, and the dynamic of the situation shifted instantly. Now that he understood how the Harvest Scythe functioned, he could track the energy from the Outer Universes that flowed from it. He could pinpoint the direction the energy was being siphoned in.

“Found it, Young Monarch.”

Sinister grins spread across Suho and Beru’s faces as they exchanged glances. The sight sent a chill down the woman’s spine.

“W-wait!”

Before she could finish protesting, they turned their gazes toward her.

“Is it that way?” Suho asked Beru.

“Judging from the look on her face, I would say yes.”

“We have plenty of fruits. We’ll keep on eating as we follow.”

“Yes, Young Monarch.”

“N-no! Wait!”

But it was too late to stop them. The woman only realized her mistake after the fact, and by then, Suho and Beru were already dashing off, following the trail of energy leading to the Doctor.

“Damn it!” cursed Experiment Forty-Seven, seemingly more perturbed than she’d ever been. She desperately set off after them.

***

Things had gone terribly wrong. The plan was completely derailed. As Experiment Forty-Seven chased after Suho and Beru, she frantically tried to persuade them to stop at once.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Suho said. “He’s given us a gift! It’s only right for us to thank him in person.”

“But he does not like meeting people!” the woman shouted.

Suho wasn’t someone who would listen. “Still, it would be rude for us to simply ignore his courtesy. Look, we aren’t looking to fight him. We just want to talk.”

“Please! I beg of you! If you wish to talk to him, you can always ask me to—”

“Ask you?”

Suho, who had been running ahead with Beru, turned to face Experiment Forty-Seven for the first time.

“That means your master is surveilling us through you right now, doesn’t it?”

“Th-this... is not surveillance. A connection between a creator and a created being is a natural phenomenon!”

“So he did send you to keep an eye on me,” Suho said.

“He’s a sneaky one. All the more reason to find him,” Beru commented, nodding.

The pair obviously had no intention of listening. From the moment the initial plan had gone awry, there was nothing Experiment Forty-Seven could do.

“The son of the Monarch of Shadows? He is still only a human. A young man of his age will welcome a beautiful female body. Experiment Forty-Seven, I choose you. From now on, you will belong to Sung Suho.”

As those words echoed relentlessly in her mind, Experiment Forty-Seven raced desperately after Suho and Beru, who were charging forward at a terrifying speed.

Finally, somewhere in the cold, snowy plains of Russia, a hidden wall of the Apostle of Evolution’s secret lab shattered with an earth-shaking crash, and a group of unwelcome intruders stormed in.

“Kiek! Get out here, buddy!”

In one claw, Beru held a juicy, luscious-looking fruit that he was gnawing on. Meanwhile, he had the Harvest Scythe slung over his shoulder like the scythe of the Grim Reaper. Like a wrathful demon, he screeched into the lab.

“Kieeeeek!”