Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 320

Suho had actually been fully aware of the anomaly that had appeared in the Shadow Dungeon after the visit of his father’s apparition. It would’ve been strange not to notice. Ammut’s pyramid had suddenly grown in size, as had Ammut. To top it off, a strange black current had begun to shoot up into the sky from the pyramid’s summit. All of these changes taking place just beyond his shadow naturally concerned him.

The first two changes, Suho could tell, were intended to make the Iron Body technique training with Ammut more effective. The dark pillar, however, puzzled him.

“What in the world is it? I can’t even touch it.”

He had even once climbed to the top of the pyramid himself and put his hand inside the pillar. Unfortunately, he’d felt nothing. Despite the fact that the massive flow of energy was shooting into the sky, he couldn’t grasp the substance of that power, no matter how hard he tried. He’d tried asking Beru, but Beru hadn’t been able to provide much insight either. All he could say was that it consisted of many demonic spirit spells meshed together.

“Don’t worry, Young Monarch. My liege would never act without reason,” Beru had told him.

In the end, Suho gave up on trying to figure out more. Since it was something his father had done, he believed he would eventually understand the intent behind it.

And to be honest, he was also just busy. Despite everything he was doing, he was still going to Ammut every day to endure the Iron Body technique training—which he saw as torture, pure and simple—and that took enough of a toll on his mind. The training had only grown more brutal after the pyramid and its resident had increased in size.

But there was one individual who had recognized the pillar’s purpose the instant he saw it. It was none other than the always dopey-faced, toddling Ragna. Through Ragna’s bright and innocent eyes, the Monarch of Destruction constantly kept watch on the outside world.

Just like Jinwoo, Antares had controlled many demonic spirits in his time. He had even forced Yogumunt, the Monarch of Transfiguration and the king of the demonic spirits, to follow him around like a servant. In that sense, his experience was not much different from Jinwoo’s. So it was no surprise that he recognized the purpose of the pillar immediately.

However, that didn’t mean he had any obligation to tell Suho. Antares wasn’t exactly the type to be generous. Besides, even if he explained it, there was nothing Suho could do about it right now anyway.

He’ll learn someday. All in due course.

As it happened, today was someday.

As the successors of the Monarchs rushed into the dark, abyssal flow, Antares simply clicked his tongue from within the innocent Ragna, returning to his usual cold and indifferent expression.

“If they cannot survive it, then they were never worthy.”

The words were cold and matter-of-fact. While it was true he had given them a slight nudge, the decision had been their own. They alone were responsible for the consequences.

“Besides, I am not nearly as merciful or soft as you, Sung Jinwoo.”

Antares clenched his jaw at the thought of the man.

Through Ragna and Suho, he had been keeping track of everything happening in the outside world. That was precisely why he had chosen this moment to give them a nudge. It may have been a little early, but if they weren’t up to the challenge now, they never would be. He didn’t particularly care if such fools died.

“If they’re not strong enough, I’ll have to start searching for replacements anyway.”

It didn’t suit the Monarch of Destruction’s temperament to extend a caring hand to the weak as a war with the Outer Gods approached. He wasn’t Jinwoo.

But then again...

Even if he felt a bit swindled, it was true that he’d come back to life thanks to Jinwoo. He had been killed by Jinwoo and was now living within his shadow world. Although he had the excuse that he was helping Jinwoo’s son as repayment, Antares’ life was too valuable for this action to be enough.

“I suppose I should make sure his efforts weren’t wasted, at least...”

He was Antares, the King of Dragons and the Monarch of Destruction, after all. This was a matter of pride.

“I really don’t like this at all. I am not cut out to be a nanny.”

He clicked his tongue unhappily and sent a brief message to Suho, who was currently busy outside the shadow. It wasn’t anything elaborate—just a passing piece of advice that wouldn’t change the outcome.

“If they die, then so be it.”

Ding!

[The Monarch of Destruction says...]

With that, a single line of a system message was delivered to Suho.

* * *

At that moment, Ammut and Arsha were writhing in agony as they were pulled into the dark pillar. A crushing pressure had greeted them immediately upon entry. The black energy churned violently around them.

“Aieeee!”

“Grrr...”

Arsha screamed endlessly. Ammut, on the other hand, gritted his teeth and forced himself to be silent. Blood trickled from his clenched jaws, but his resolve did nothing to dull the pain. If anything, the oppressive force closed in tighter, ripping and contorting their bodies with even greater cruelty.

I never imagined it would be like this...!

Ammut had steeled himself for an ordeal, but there was no preparing for this level of pain. The dark current that had seemed nothing more than an intangible shadow to Suho was, to others, death itself.

Arsha’s screams began to fade. Ammut forced himself to turn his head and saw that she was disintegrating, unable to withstand the pressure. Arsha was on the verge of death, just as Antares had foretold. This was no ordinary demise—it was the dissolution of her very soul. Not even Suho could have pulled her back from such a fate. Even the power of the Monarch of Shadows, which countered death itself, would not be able to retrieve her.

Ammut recalled what Jinwoo’s apparition had told him.

“A safety measure, if you will. It has nothing to do with you, so don’t worry about it.”

Well, one thing was clear: Jinwoo had been telling the truth. This torrent of darkness had never been meant for them. It was there to protect his son, Suho.

Their souls were being flung upward into the sky by the immense current within the black pillar, like they were vegetables in a grinder. Arsha’s scream, caught in that maelstrom, echoed faintly as it drifted farther away. Ammut had no choice but to grit his teeth again and reach out.

Something came into contact with his hand at the edge of the darkness—a fragment of Arsha, moments from being completely lost. Unlike Ammut, who had been dead from the beginning, Arsha was still a living being. That made her all the more fearful. She had pledged herself to Suho out of a primal instinct not to die. But as she now knew firsthand, this black current was a place far more unbearable for living beings.

He growled, “Why did you follow me in, anyway?”

“Th-thank you...”

Arsha’s spiritual body managed to say. But her pain didn’t lessen. She was still completely disoriented.

Then from within the endlessly spiraling black vortex, monstrous teeth suddenly emerged from all directions.

Sharks? Whales?

Unidentifiable creatures roared through the abyss, mouths agape, ready to devour them.

Arsha screeched, clinging to Ammut’s arm.

“W-watch out! They’re—”

But the creatures reached them before she had even finished speaking. It had already been a struggle to survive the crushing pressure, and now unidentified predators had appeared as well.

Ammut simply smiled, baring his teeth.

“Excellent!”

His fist decimated one of the monsters right before it reached him, like popping a balloon. Its body became a foothold as he launched himself upward. Grabbing the jaw of the next beast above him, he slammed it downward. The monster screamed as it was ripped in two from its forcibly opened jaws all the way to its tail.

Using that recoil, Ammut propelled himself further up. The sounds that came after were a desperate cacophony of screams. Ammut relentlessly tore apart the toothy monsters that sprang from the current. Using their corpses as platforms, he crawled his way up the endless black stream. It was by no means an easy task. Each time he killed one of the monsters of the deep, he sustained new injuries.

As for Arsha, she was already torn nearly to pieces. There was no time to dwell on whether they should have heeded Antares’ warning. All she could do was concentrate her entire being to avoid vanishing.

“Oh no!”

As Ammut launched himself with another burst of momentum, Arsha, who was barely hanging onto him, lost her grip on his arm and was sucked into the violent storm of the abyss. She was moments away from having her very soul shredded in a blender.

Ammut quickly reached toward her. The bandages around his body lashed out and wrapped themselves around her like a whip. But even that wasn’t enough. The current was far too strong for mere bandages to withstand it. They tore apart, and Arsha was hurled beyond Ammut’s reach. She was carried so far that even her screams faded into silence.

In that moment, instead of shutting her eyes in fear, Arsha looked into Ammut’s eyes as he watched her from afar. Only at the moment of her death did she realize how she felt about him.

“I wanted to be like him too...”

Even within this maelstrom, he was tearing apart abyssal monsters and pushing upward. His power was real. To Arsha, who was about to die without accomplishing anything, that dazzling, glorious power was beautiful.

“I wanted such power too...”

He was so much more than some queen bee whose only ability was increasing the number of worker bees who served her. Her struggle had merely been for survival, but Ammut was someone who sought strength even after death. She envied him so much. In that instant, she envied everyone who wasn’t her. Even the little lizard who seemed to do nothing but wave its tail and ask for food seemed deserving of her envy.

A sudden growl broke through her thoughts. Just then, a familiar barking came from behind Arsha as she was swept away by the current. Something caught her in its jaws.

“Y-you...”

Arsha was stunned to see a wolf holding her in its mouth. There was another low growl.

“Gray?! How did you get in here?”

It was Gray, the last living descendant of the King of Beasts and the Monarch of Fangs. She had no idea how, but Gray was now far larger than she remembered. Suho had used Divine Possession with him countless times in battle, and that had given Gray more direct and indirect combat experience than any other successor. He was always by Suho’s side. As a result, what had once been a young wolf pup had undergone explosive growth.

Gray howled and tossed Arsha onto his back. He then showed her just how he’d made it this far. The immense pressure saturating this place caused pain to all—to Ammut, Arsha, and Gray alike. But Gray had one unique trait the others lacked. A true hunter fed on the weak, using them as fuel for growth.

Gray had devoured every corpse Ammut left behind, and with each meal, he became stronger, just as he had grown with every moment he fought beside Suho. He howled again.

“Haha...”

Ammut gave a quiet chuckle. He was watching Gray, who now surged through the black current, howling proudly behind him.

Who sent him? Suho? Antares?

Surely that dumb mutt hadn’t come here of his own free will. Still, the timing couldn’t have been better. Thanks to him, they managed to survive this place.

At last, when the vortex spit them out, they came face to face with death—true death.

“Wait, can this be...?”

An endless expanse spread before them, a black ocean of melted abyss stretching far and wide across the horizon.