Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 315

An untimely winter descended upon the Sea of the Afterlife.

Driven by the raging blizzard centered around the World Tree, a layer of white frost began to form along the tree’s bark. Cracking sounds echoed as the frost spread, racing down the massive trunk and reaching all the way to its deepest roots.

At the same time, a thin layer of ice radiated across the black waters of the abyss. It spread like spider webs, or rather, like countless crystalline snowflakes forming across the dark sea. The ice patterns grew more intricate with each passing moment, vast crystals blooming into frozen flowers above the water’s surface. The geometric shapes glimmered and shifted, moving and dancing as though they were alive.

It was a kaleidoscope of ice, a true sight to behold. A world of white was unfolding around the World Tree, forming an icy garden that seemingly had no end.

Winter had truly arrived on a sea of death—all thanks to the new Queen of the Snow Folk and Monarch of Nightmare.

“Let’s see how you endure it,” Sirka said to the World Tree. “Such is the winter we’ve suffered through.”

For a moment, Sillad’s figure seemed to overlap with hers. The former Monarch of Frost, watching through Sirka’s eyes, recalled an ancient memory of his people—some fleeing from the cold while others were consumed by the rampaging Elvenwood. The tree itself had frozen to death in the end, unable to endure the cold any better than the elves. He briefly wondered how long the World Tree would last, if it would last at all. What would become of the Sea of the Afterlife if the World Tree froze over like the Elvenwoods of old?

However, Sillad already knew the answer to this.

“Spring will come.”

The World Tree had died long ago. Whether it was because Nidhogg had gnawed away at its roots or because the Absolute Being who had planted it here had died, he couldn’t say. He knew only one thing for certain. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

“Life sprouts anew with the coming of spring.”

Knowing this, Sillad realized the blizzard was no longer a nightmare.

After the cold passes, this place will also be...

Suddenly, Nidhogg squirmed, breaking free from Beru’s grip with a mighty roar.

“Kiek!”

Beru reacted in surprise as the snake, trying to escape the cold, raced up the trunk of the World Tree.

The shadow ant clicked his tongue as he watched the beast flee. His body, still inflated with nightmare energy, was slowly shrinking. He couldn’t chase after Nidhogg, as the nightmare was weakening.

[The Sanctuary of Nightmare is collapsing.]

[Debuff: “Nightmare” is dispersing.]

Cracks split the air as the nightmare domain began to crumble like the walls of a sandcastle.

“N-no!” the Apostle of Nightmare bellowed.

His plan had failed. He had been certain it was perfect, taking into consideration every little contingency, but an unimaginably powerful variable had brought everything tumbling down.

“I... simply lacked information,” the Apostle said, gritting his teeth and glaring viciously at Suho. “If only I’d had more time... If only I’d studied you a little more!”

Suho met the Apostle’s furious gaze and simply shrugged. There was no need to attack anymore. As the nightmare crumbled, the Apostle’s physical form—the dark elf he had conjured in mimicry of Sirka—was also beginning to unravel.

Watching the Apostle fume helplessly, Suho grinned. “What? I thought you loved evolution. Sometimes failure is just a stepping stone to progress.”

The Apostle froze. For a moment, he opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out. Eventually, he lowered his head and murmured weakly, “So this too is part of the process of evolution...”

There was no more anger or resistance in his voice. He took a long, quiet look around him, his eyes calm. Sirka’s blizzard was slowly overtaking his nightmare, closing in from all sides.

“I suppose your words make sense.”

Habit was a frightening thing. Even as he died in complete failure, the Apostle’s mind continued to race, still processing the research he had been buried in for so long. He had been so focused on evolution, but what exactly was evolution? Only now, as death closed in, did he see it from a new perspective.

He grinned. “Well... I suppose the evolution of the world itself should take precedence over that of any individual entity. Especially if a dying world like this, bereft of its god, is to survive.”

“Instead of muttering to yourself, how about explaining it in a way I can actually understand?” Suho said.

“I’m telling you that I’ve lost.”

The Apostle continued to smile. It was a face that looked somewhat hollow, yet oddly liberated.

“My goodness,” he said. “Who could’ve predicted it? To think that I would become the very fertilizer that feeds the machine of evolution.”

With those words, his body crumbled completely, like it was all just a dream. He slowly disintegrated into dust and disappeared.

Ding!

[Apostle of Paradise has been defeated.]

As if waiting for that moment, system messages popped up in front of Suho.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level...]

“Kiek!”

Beru grasped for the scattering remains of the Apostle of Nightmare. He snickered, smacking his lips.

“Wouldn’t want all that power to go to waste.”

He had already devoured the mind of the Apostle of Nightmare—or rather, the Apostle of Evolution—and absorbed part of his memories. Thanks to that, he understood that once they left this place, the nightmare power could no longer be used.

Beru didn’t really care about some meaningless, abstract skills, however. His power had worked against Nidhogg, but in the end, it was fundamentally weak, something he could only use to stall for time at best. The real prize was something else entirely—all of the Apostle’s research, all of his knowledge, that remained intact in Beru’s mind. With those unfinished studies, many new possibilities lay ahead.

With a sharp crack, the last remnants of the Apostle’s power began to condense in Beru’s claw. The Apostle’s knowledge, research, and the results of his experimentation coiled together, becoming compressed into a single form. A crunching sound echoed as the remains grew smaller and more solid.

Beru was using Devour to tightly pack the energy together before the nightmare completely faded. After scraping together the last traces, a small crystal was eventually formed. It gleamed with a pinkish light, purer and denser than a Stone of the Outer Gods.

“Young Monarch,” Beru said, politely offering the crystal to Suho. “I give to you the essence of all the Apostle’s research and knowledge.”

Ding!

[Item: “Seed of Evolution” has been acquired.]

A seed?

Suho accepted the special seed extracted from the Apostle of Nightmare. It was an unexpected reward, but he didn’t have the time to take a closer look at it. The succession ceremony had come to an end.

With a sudden, audible whoosh, time resumed its flow, and Suho and Beru were ejected from Sirka’s dream.

At the very last moment, Suho caught a glimpse of the World Tree, now completely encased in ice. He grinned.

I think I could make use of that.

When his eyes opened again, he and Beru found themselves standing in a snowy field. They had returned to the real world.

At the same time, the battle raging across the land came to an abrupt halt. The villains who had been under the control of the Outer Gods, the power of nightmare emerging from their blood, and even the harsh cold swirling over the snowy fields—all of it vanished in an instant.

The hunters of the association, who had been fighting fiercely, looked around in confusion.

“Wh-what the hell?”

“What was that?”

“Is it over? That was so sudden!”

“Don’t let your guard down, everyone!”

They stayed alert, but no further threats appeared. It almost felt like it had all been a dream.

The only one who instinctively looked for Suho was Jinchul. In the distance, he saw that Suho and Beru were already making their way toward Sirka, who remained trapped within the ice pillar.

With a soft crack, the solid ice crumbled, and from within, the ice elf strode out confidently. On the surface, she still looked like a small, vulnerable elf, but there was now a shocking darkness inside of her.

My god, Jinchul thought.

It was enough to leave him stunned. He felt his survival instinct rise up in warning. Having once witnessed the appearances of Monarchs in the past, he instinctively recognized that this small elf had become one.

Sirka, now fully empowered with the primordial darkness, smiled at Suho. “I’m back,” she said.

He answered her smile with his own. “Good work,” he replied, his large hand patting her head proudly.

Sirka laughed shyly, her eyes sparkling with happiness as her long ice-elf ears folded backward. But she wasn’t finished.

“And...”

Having been reborn as the Queen of the Snow Folk and the Monarch of Nightmare, Sirka thanked Suho again from the bottom of her heart, her voice filled with utmost reverence.

“Thank you for your help, Young Monarch.”

The system chimed again.

[The Monarch of Nightmare swears loyalty to you.]

[The Monarch of Nightmare offers you the “Nightmare of the World Tree.”]

[Blessing: Nightmare of the World Tree]

[The blessing of the Monarch of Frost and the Queen of the Snow Folk.

Sirka, the Monarch of Nightmare, swears loyalty to you.

Winter has come to the Sea of the Afterlife, with the World Tree at its center. This cold will spread to the entire Sea of the Afterlife over time.

- Effect “Nightmare of the World Tree”: Weakens the effects of “Death” in the Sea of the Afterlife.]

“Wow,” Suho said, his eyes widening at the surprising reward.

The debuff “Death” reduced HP in real time while in the Sea of the Afterlife. Now the cold would weaken its negative effects.

“Wait, the colder the sea gets, the less dangerous it becomes?” he asked. “That seems ironic.”

“That is a nightmare as far as the World Tree is concerned,” Beru explained immediately. Having absorbed the knowledge of the Apostle of Nightmare’s research, he had “evolved,” so to speak, and was now able to explain things in even greater detail.

He continued, “It seems to me that the debuff exists to protect the World Tree as it grows in the Sea of the Afterlife.”

“Is it to keep it from being found?” Suho asked.

“I would say so. It certainly is an important organism.”

“So in other words, it’s become much easier to find it.”

“Surely, you don’t intend on going there yourself, Young Monarch?” Beru asked. “It’s still dangerous. Perhaps you should wait until the cold has spread throughout the entire sea...”

“No. It’s only meaningful if we do it now. And I won’t be going by myself.”

Suho grinned happily. Immediately, he summoned Harmakan and ordered him to spread the news to the demons wandering on the sea.

The message traveled quickly. Esil Radiru, commanding the largest ship roaming the Sea of the Afterlife, soon heard it.

“Some good news for a change,” Esil said with a chuckle. “I was sensing a breeze from over there for some time. No wonder.”

The Sea of the Afterlife had always been quiet and unchanging, save for the attacks from the hungry souls lurking under the surface. A while before, however, a faint draft had begun to stir. It wasn’t strong enough to be called a “chill,” but it carried a familiar scent, one Esil recognized. Even from far away, the smell was enough to make her mouth water.

“At last... we have a direction.”

She pointed toward the source of the breeze and issued a command to the demons scattered across the sea.

“All of you! Turn your ships that way!”

The demon vessels immediately changed course, heading toward the World Tree.