Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 326

With its jaws forcibly snapped shut by Ammut, Nidhogg let out a guttural growl and began to thrash violently. Then, against its will, it swallowed Gray whole. The succession ceremony had begun. Ammut recognized this and finally let go.

At once, the beast scrambled up the trunk of the World Tree in a frantic retreat, Gray sealed within it. It was a far cry from the imposing creature that had, just moments ago, boldly descended to devour the tree’s roots.

Beru was shocked to see Ammut let the now four-headed Nidhogg go. He barked, “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“No need to worry. He’ll manage just fine,” Ammut replied with a casual shrug. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Though he had thrown Gray into the primordial darkness himself, Ammut was clearly confident.

“Did you really think I did nothing to prepare that wolf pup?”

Beru blinked, stunned.

“W-wait, what...?”

Suho was just as taken aback. He recalled that Gray usually remained in the Shadow Dungeon. The wolf would appear when summoned, but what had he been doing the rest of the time? As far as Suho knew, Gray merely hunted the prey they defeated and quietly grew stronger within the dungeon’s depths. Rakan had once told him that good food and proper rest were essential for Gray’s development.

But really... Could that have been all? Especially when right beside him lived a deranged crocodile who couldn’t stand to leave a weakling unbothered?

“Yes, that’s right.”

A nasty grin spread across Ammut’s face as he stared up at Nidhogg’s retreating figure, now escaping skyward with Grey still inside. He seemed immensely pleased with himself.

“That wolf was much more fun to torment— I mean, more fun to train than that weakling human, Lim Dogyoon.”

He said “torment.” That’s what he really meant. No doubt about it, Young Monarch.

Suho and Beru exchanged a glance in midair and swallowed dryly. The “training” was just a thin veneer. Ammut clearly had a maddened fascination with picking on those weaker than him. Realizing this, they finally understood the look Gray had made just before he vanished into the darkness.

I think he must have...

“So just wait. There is no need to worry. He will return, and the primordial darkness with him. Now that I’ve gone through the succession ritual myself, I can say it’s not so bad.”

After providing some consolation—if it could be called that—Ammut watched the tree into which Nidhogg had vanished and slowly crossed his arms.

“From this point on, I will watch Nidhogg. You go about your business.”

His eyes were locked on Arsha, who was steadily building her own massive hive. She was using the Void Insects to form a vast kingdom of her own on the trunk of the World Tree. As it grew, so did her presence.

“If that’s how insects grow, then there isn’t much for me to do at the moment.”

He smacked his lips in faint disappointment, and at that quiet murmur, Arsha’s entire body shuddered inside her hive. She had never felt so grateful to be a bug.

“The Monarch of Tribulation, huh? Not a bad name,” Suho said with a smile, looking relieved as he gazed down at Ammut.

“Suho. I am sincerely grateful to you. It’s thanks to your role as the shaman that I became a Monarch.”

“I thought you said earlier you didn’t need one.”

“Not anymore. Now that we’re here, the shaman’s role is redundant.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Suho said, nodding.

As the shaman for the dead Monarchs, his role had been to find appropriate successors, nurture them, and help them inherit the primordial darkness. In that process, Suho had sometimes experienced time itself coming to a halt, and meetings with Monarchs who were now dead. He had even entered a dream to aid with a succession ceremony. But none of those mystical events had been the most important part of the job.

In truth, his most vital task had been to deliver the successors to the primordial darkness itself—a force no one had been able to locate on their own. Just as Ammut had said, the cumbersome methods he had employed were no longer necessary, since they’d now found the primordial darkness. He’d sent a fleet over the endless spiritual dimension that was the Sea of the Afterlife and found the World Tree itself. And with that, the shaman’s role had come to its natural end.

“Do you see it now?” Ammut asked, smiling contentedly at Suho. “You have done your job as a shaman to perfection. I doubt even your father foresaw you would do so well. Proof of this is the shortcut he made above the pyramid that led directly here.”

It had been backup, just in case his son failed to find the Sea of the Afterlife, but Suho had managed just fine on his own. Of course, it had required a great deal of work, but in the end, everyone had achieved what they desired: growth.

As a result of this, Ammut was now the Monarch of Tribulation, but he did not overestimate his accomplishment. What he’d done was nothing amazing.

“Now that I’ve experienced it, I know that receiving the primordial darkness is something that is bound to happen as long as the person going into it is worthy. The hardest part was getting here.”

The Sea of the Afterlife.

The World Tree.

Nidhogg.

All of these trials had to be overcome on the path, and it was the shaman who served as the guide through the endless abyss. Suho hadn’t been content to walk the path of an ordinary shaman. He had carved his own way forward, pushing through the dimensional rift and discovering an entrance to the Sea of the Afterlife. He’d even sent out demon fleets aboard ships crafted from the divine trees of the elves to explore the sea’s vast expanse, and those ships eventually found the World Tree. As if that weren’t enough, Suho had also subdued the deadly energy of the Sea itself, countering it with a surge of extreme cold.

“Suho—shaman of the Monarchs, son of the Monarch of Shadows.”

Ammut had witnessed everything Suho had endured, and a seriousness filled his gaze.

“Without you, I would never have gotten this far. I’d never have even touched the primordial darkness without your help.”

Had Suho not prepared the demon fleet in advance, Ammut would have wandered the sea endlessly, just another soul doomed to dissolve into the abyss. Even if he had managed to locate the World Tree on his own, Nidhogg would’ve been a far more daunting adversary without the slowing chill Suho had inflicted on it, especially if the serpent had sported a few more heads. Ammut wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Never.

He knew it better than anyone, and he honored Suho’s efforts with deep, heartfelt gratitude.

“Thank you... I’ve finally fulfilled a long-held wish because of you.”

“What wish?”

“I always said I’d give my pupil a proper beating after dying in that war. I never gave him permission to go out like that. Ehehe.”

“Tarnak. You are the King of Monstrous Humanoids, but you are also my pupil. If you let anybody defeat you, I’ll kill you myself.”

Those had been his final words as Tarnak left for battle. Tarnak had seemed confident enough at the time, but today Ammut had given him the punishment he’d promised—giving the poor soul a thrashing even after death.

“And so I gladly chose to be the Monarch of Tribulation, so I could be of service to you. I will be your teacher for as long as you need. To help you grow, I will give you trials to endure.”

“Oh,” Suho said, flinching.

[The Monarch of Tribulation swears loyalty to you.]

[The Monarch of Tribulation offers you the Tower of Tribulation.]

[A daily quest has arrived.]

A chill ran down Suho’s spine. Ammut was swearing loyalty, but his offering was more hardship than help. Suho’s eyes darkened at the sight of the daily quest that had shown up. Knowing that the daily quest was going to be a lot tougher from now on made him a bit afraid to open the quest window.

But then, a mischievous grin crept onto his face.

“I’m not going to suffer by myself,” he said.

The Tower of Tribulation was not Ammut’s prison, but now an extension of his own power, a concentrated masterpiece of ritual magic that could be controlled at will. There was a far more effective way to put it to use.

***

There was a pause. Then, a voice.

“Understood.”

Jinho nodded calmly after receiving Suho’s message. Then he turned to the team of secretaries standing by and issued his next orders.

“We’re going to need to acquire some land. Immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Which region, sir?”

It wasn’t a difficult task to purchase real estate for the company’s use. Even with the added urgency, it was nothing that couldn’t be done with more money. However, as the secretaries prepared to record his orders, they froze in shock at his next words.

“The capitals of every country. On the outskirts of each city’s most densely populated area.”

“I... I’m sorry, what?”

The staff all blinked, unsure they’d heard correctly. All the capitals in the world?

Of course, not even Jinho was demanding that entire cities be bought whole. That would have been excessive, even for him. He simply wanted land to the tune of hundreds of thousands of square meters.

Ahjinsoft was a global corporation. It had the financial means to accomplish that much. The real issue wasn’t cost. It was the purpose of the purchases.

“You need to move fast. It’ll begin soon.”

Not long after that, simultaneous earthquakes struck capital cities around the globe.

“Aaaah! A gate—!”

Panic erupted everywhere. It was a worldwide phenomenon. But oddly, there were no casualties. These were no ordinary earthquakes. It wasn’t the actual earth that was shaking. It was the dimension itself. Dimensional tremors pushed nearby people safely away from the epicenter. Then, they opened into instant dungeons. Above those strange tremors, gigantic black pyramids began to rise from the earth. They ascended slowly, ominously, throwing onlookers into stunned disbelief.

“Wh-what the hell is that?”

“A pyramid?”

“A pyramid just rose out of the ground!”

While the world reeled in confusion, Ahjinsoft acted swiftly. The company immediately moved to purchase the affected plots of land and stabilize the chaos. Then, they made their official announcement: the names of the pyramids.

[Tutorial: Tower of Tribulation]

Thus marked the worldwide launch of Ahjinsoft’s colossal new project—Solo Leveling: Ragnarok.