Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 323

My god.

As a new Monarch who had proudly inherited a fragment of the primordial darkness, Esil was doing everything in her power to lead the demon race and hold off Nidhogg. However, Nidhogg possessed no less than five instances of primordial darkness. To face such a monster, they had to throw everything they had at it, stopping at nothing.

The shadow dwarves had built a formidable fortress with high defensive walls, and the mana cannons they’d installed in advance now provided crucial support. Then there were the webs of the shadow spiders. The rear support was flawless. With this foundation, the demons were fighting bravely, and they were truly a sight to behold.

Yet, all of it served just one purpose: to allow Esil to face off against just one of Nidhogg’s heads. Despite all her efforts, she wasn’t capable of facing more than a single head at once. It was extremely shocking, therefore, for her to see Ammut facing Nidhogg all by himself.

He’s not like us. I can’t compare to the likes of him.

Esil’s succession ceremony had been the worst, in hindsight.

“You’re weak, aren’t you?” the mocking voice had said the moment she attempted the succession for the first time. “You are unworthy.”

Even now, remembering that voice made her break out in a cold sweat. Esil Radiru had been the last living noble of the demons, and she’d believed herself more than qualified. After all, there was no one else left.

But she had been wrong. She hadn’t been good enough, and her body had not been prepared to receive the primordial darkness. Instead of accepting it, she had nearly been consumed by it. Had Suho not been there to fight with her as the shaman...

I would have died that day.

She swallowed hard. She knew all too well how lacking she was. Ammut, on the other hand, was different. He hadn’t needed any ceremony, or even a shaman for that matter. Laughing thunderously, he clashed against Nidhogg using nothing but his own strength.

Ammut’s relentless attacks didn’t seem to inflict any lasting damage, naturally. Nidhogg was akin to a force of nature. A mere created being could not hope to accomplish anything meaningful against it. Not that Ammut seemed to mind. If anything, the impossibility of victory only seemed to spur him on. In the brutal tug-of-war that followed, Ammut suddenly leapt into one of Nidhogg’s open jaws. There was no sign he meant to claim the primordial darkness for himself.

That wasn’t surprising. That’s no succession ceremony... Esil swallowed again. He doesn’t need a reason to fight. If there was any motivation behind his actions, it was simply that an enemy was present. That alone had driven him to throw himself at Nidhogg and the primordial darkness—purely out of a lust for battle, laughing all the while.

Then, the head that had swallowed Ammut suddenly froze in place. The succession ceremony had begun, even though Ammut had not intended it.

A succession ceremony without a shaman!

Esil had never imagined such a thing was possible. She could only watch, stunned. The Monarch inside her, however, did not forget her task. Ammut had effectively reduced the number of heads they needed to stop from five to four. It was an opportunity she couldn’t miss.

“Hear me, all of you!” she commanded her demons. “Hold your ground! That is a direct order! We fight until Ammut returns!”

She was already looking forward to seeing the results. If Ammut truly succeeded, then perhaps a succession could occur without a shaman.

“If we hold out, this will be our victory!”

With rallying cries ringing in the air, the fierce battle raged on.

There was a problem, however, that lay elsewhere.

***

With Arsha clinging to his back, Gray ran, constantly on the edge of danger. Thankfully, the dwarves had built many platforms in advance, giving him room to maneuver. One of the heads had begun to ignore all the attacks leveled at it and focus solely on Gray. It didn’t even try to dodge the mana cannons being fired at it, taking the hits head-on as it lunged toward him. It seemed to recognize that Gray was the most delicious target of all.

Gray let out a furious roar, darting to the side and slashing at the massive serpent’s body. His claws ripped through the air and managed to leave scratches on the creature’s hardened scales.

“The attacks are working!” Arsha shouted, clinging tightly to Gray’s fur.

Gray was of the same race as the Monarch of Fangs, after all, and the designated future successor. That was likely why Nidhogg was so determined to devour him. However, unlike with Ammut, Nidhogg didn’t seem interested in simply swallowing Gray whole.

“It wants to kill us and chew us to pieces!” Arsha had figured it out. “That way, it can absorb us completely! If it swallowed you like it did Ammut, the succession ceremony would begin!”

Gray gave a low growl in response, signaling that he understood. He fixed his gaze on the serpent’s jaws with grim determination, as though imitating Ammut.

“No!” Arsha shouted sharply.

Gray growled in confusion.

“Wait! Just until Suho arrives! We need a shaman for the succession ceremony!” she insisted.

Gray, who had looked just about ready to launch himself straight at the creature, twisted his body midair to avoid an incoming attack instead. He retaliated with a sharp strike of his own.

Enraged, Nidhogg thrashed wildly, and the fortress that the dwarves had built began to take damage.

“Repair it right away!”

“Let’s see who can do it faster!”

Riding on the backs of the shadow spiders, the shadow dwarves rushed to patch up the broken structures the moment the destruction occurred.

In the meantime, Nidhogg’s wild, sweeping movements caught Gray’s body, sending him hurtling in the opposite direction. Thankfully, Gray was able to dig his claws into the dwarves’ fortified wall and break his fall before he hit the ground.

But, Nidhogg had already emerged on the other side, its jaws stretched wide open like a ravenous crocodile. Gray moved swiftly, but the problem was Arsha.

“Oh, no...”

In the moment of impact, she had lost her grip on Gray’s fur. Fortunately, she had wings and could stay airborne, but the wings of a bee were not nearly powerful enough to carry her far from Nidhogg’s attack range.

Then she saw one of the serpent’s heads charging toward her, completely filling her field of vision. Inside it was the primordial darkness, licking its lips in anticipation. The moment she saw it, her instincts screamed the truth.

I... I’m not worthy.

Overwhelming despair swallowed her.

Unworthy.

Just because she considered herself the heir of a Monarch didn’t mean she could possess the power. Even if she had somehow reached the primordial darkness, that fact alone would not grant her the right. Arsha’s heart was breaking.

I see. I was never worthy.

She’d known all along that she was weak. Her title of “queen bee” was worthless to anyone but her worker bees. She was the frog in the well, the frog who would only be eaten upon escaping the walls. Her natural enemy was upon her, a darkness far deeper than that inside the proverbial well. She had just warned Gray not to get eaten without a shaman, but she wasn’t in any position to give that advice.

Even if I had a shaman with me... I was never the right vessel.

The mouth began to close around her, and all she could see was the abyssal void within.

I nearly forgot... Arsha drowned in despair. I am simply an insect.

She was nothing more than a little fly, utterly helpless before the giant snake. And she knew very well what happened to insects who weren’t strong enough to survive.

They are eaten.

She had no right to refuse. She knew how the world worked—only those fit to survive got a chance. With this undeniable truth in mind, she accepted her death with quiet resolve. She felt the darkness closing in.

This is the end—

“Oh no you don’t!”

Someone had appeared behind her, grabbing her by the scruff of the neck. The jaws snapped shut just inches from her face. It hadn’t eaten her after all! Belatedly, it dawned on her that she was still alive. Startled, she twisted around.

A small gate had opened in midair, and a human arm had reached out from within it. Then, all at once, the gate widened, and the rest of the person crossed over into this dimension. It was Suho.

“S-Suho?”

“You’re spacing out now of all times? You’re usually good at running.”

Suho, who had saved her by a hair’s breadth, chuckled and looked down at her.

“You’re an insect, remember? Struggling to survive is what you do best.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Suho glanced up at the towering form of Nidhogg and smirked. He placed the tiny Arsha on his shoulder and jeered at the great snake.

“Kind of late, aren’t I? Well, the shaman’s here.”

Upon recognizing Suho, Nidhogg let out a furious roar. The air trembled with a surge of malicious energy, but Suho neither flinched nor stepped back.

“Wondering why I’m late? Sure, I’ll tell you. I’ve been rather busy. With a lot of things.”

Suho hadn’t come alone. The gate he’d passed through grew even larger, and a procession of ice elves began stepping through. They were Sirka’s young friends from the sanctuary of the Monarch of Frost, led by Sirka herself.

“You don’t seem to like the cold very much,” Suho remarked.

The ice elves immediately readied their bows, aiming at Nidhogg. A storm of arrows infused with the power of ice spirits flew toward the creature. Sirka, their Monarch, stood at their center.

“Ice take you! Where I go, my sanctuary follows!”

Sirka was, quite literally, the World Tree’s worst nightmare—and to Nidhogg, she was no different. The Trident of the Ice Tree lengthened as it left her hand, the weapon soaring straight into one of Nidhogg’s gaping mouths.

“Now then,” Suho said, “I guess it’s time to get started on our succession ceremony.”

Arsha began to speak, her voice tinged with sadness.

“Suho, I—”

“Oh, not you. Gray.”

Of course. She wasn’t even surprised.

Gray had been fighting Nidhogg bravely even in Suho’s absence. Faced with Suho’s casual reply, Arsha silently sat hunched on his shoulder, looking miserable. She already understood her position, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

The Queen of Insects, the Monarch of Plagues, Querehsha...

She felt ashamed of all the things she’d said and done in her pursuit to become Querehsha’s successor.

“So, Arsha,” Suho said, picking the dispirited Arsha up gently between his fingers. “First, you need to evolve.”

“I’m sorry?” she asked, blinking at him.

He met her gaze. “We’ve been able to gather quite a lot of material from all over the world thanks to your worker bees. I was only late because I was putting that stuff together to make a little something with Harmakan.”

“Huh...?”

Arsha didn’t know what to think.

My worker bees? What did I tell them to do out there again? Gather the pollen from the Elvenwoods?

What had Suho done with the pollen?

Speaking of which...

She had lost track of time after lunging into the dark pillar above the pyramid and wandering the Sea of the Afterlife, where day and night had no meaning.

“S-Suho? I-I’m not sure I understand...” Arsha stammered, her eyes fixed on a woman standing beside Suho. She bore a striking resemblance to Experiment Forty-Seven, the greatest of the experiments fashioned by the Apostle of Evolution. Arsha was certain that experiment had been destroyed.

“You can thank your bees later. They’re the ones who gathered up all the scattered cells for you.”

“What...?” she asked.

They did what? For whom?

The beautiful woman, eyes vacant and devoid of a soul, stood quietly. She looked eerily similar to the human form Arsha often transformed into when mimicking others. Arsha still couldn’t quite grasp what was going on. To help her understand, Suho gave her a knowing smile and offered a gentle explanation.

“I’ve named her Avatar Number One, at least for the time being.”

“Y-you don’t mean...!” she exclaimed.

“That’s right. She’s going to be the new vessel for your soul.”