Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 337

What were the odds of getting on a plane and ending up being seated next to someone you knew? A stewardess showed Thomas Andre to his first-class seat, only for him to stop short in surprise when he saw the man beside him.

“You’re not going to pretend this is a coincidence, are you?”

“I’d appreciate it if you did... but I suppose that’s asking too much.”

It was a foreigner with blue eyes—Adam White, a high-ranked agent of the Federal Bureau of Hunters of the United States. He smiled politely at Thomas and bowed his head.

“It’s an honor to see you again, Sung Jinwoo #2.”

[Sung Jinwoo #2]

A second Sung Jinwoo... 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Thomas let out a short laugh at the name Adam called him. It had happened right after clearing the job change quest. Until then, he hadn’t had a face, let alone a name—but now, he’d been granted both.

The name seemed particularly significant. Despite being the very first to enter the Tower of Tribulation, he was still the “second” Jinwoo, likely meaning that the real Jinwoo was the first. This meant, of course, that others who accessed the game after him would be numbered #3, #4, #5, and so on. Thomas found that extremely satisfying.

It means I’m the one closest to him in terms of rank.

Feeling proud of having logged in first, Thomas was grinning to himself. At the same time, his competitive streak flared—he couldn’t allow himself to fall behind those who came after.

He turned his head and glanced to the side. There, reflected in the airplane window, was his new face. The image of a powerfully built man stared back at him from the glass. This avatar, which had been featureless at first, had only gained a face after the job change quest—and the face was his own, not Jinwoo’s.

It had started with just the face, but as he leveled up, his body began to change too. It was no longer the weak and scrawny form he’d begun with. It was now as strong as he’d ever been, matching the peak of his physical prime.

It never ceases to surprise me.

The deeper he went into this game, the stranger it felt. Beating the job change quest had been the trigger that gave him the name “Sung Jinwoo,” but his body was that of his original self. This could only mean one thing. It pointed to the real goal of this game, created by Jinho and masterminded by Suho.

You want people to experience what your father has been through, seeing his life for themselves.

It was an arduous path that could never be understood just by watching from the sidelines, a lonely road where no one even remembered the name of the one who walked it.

You really intend to force that memory back into every soul that’s long since forgotten your father. Wow. Talk about a dutiful son.

Thomas couldn’t help but laugh.

Jinwoo, I always thought your only talent was fighting. Turns out, you’re a pretty good father too.

It wasn’t surprising, in hindsight, after all he’d gone through—and what Thomas was currently going through—to save his family. Thomas, now sucked into Suho’s bold scheme, continued to level up faithfully. He snickered to himself, thinking of both Suho and Jinwoo.

Suho’s plan had worked brilliantly. Thomas was the first player to get this far. He had never once taken a break, pushing ahead at breakneck speed as the second Jinwoo. Now, there was something he could say with complete confidence.

There’s no way I’m doing this hellish grind a second time. I like the fact that I’m becoming stronger, but it just doesn’t feel fair that I have to endure all this hardship by myself.

In particular, the phase right before a job change was the most difficult. In this game, he was a teenage boy who’d lost his father and had to keep food on the table for his younger sister. All the while, his mother lay in a coma, racking up hospital bills. The psychological burden was immense, even though he knew it was just a game. It probably had something to do with the level of synchronization between soul and avatar.

However, as a result, it allowed Thomas to fully immerse himself in Jinwoo’s life, struggling desperately to grow stronger. The other players were likely no different. Still, the results born of their effort and willpower would vary greatly from person to person, as would the results of the job change quests.

Jinwoo, what kind of life have you been living?

Experiencing it firsthand, Thomas had no choice but to admit something.

I can just come back to life in this game if I die... but you only had one shot. That means you were even more desperate than me.

Jinwoo had been unwavering in his resolve not to die. A heavy sense of duty had settled on him, the need to survive and protect his family. A wry smile came to Thomas’ lips as he thought about the Jinwoo he had seen long ago, his back turned, both shoulders bearing the weight of the world.

Just then, Adam’s voice broke into Thomas’ thoughts from the seat beside him.

“I understand it wasn’t polite of me to show up without warning, but there is something you need to know. And fast.”

“If you know it’s rude, then keep it short.”

At that, Adam White quickly pulled out his laptop. On the screen, thick black smoke billowed into the sky as if a massive wildfire had broken out. Firefighters struggled against the growing blaze, clearly overwhelmed. Thomas stared intently at the footage.

“What’s with this fire? It won’t go out!”

“This isn’t a normal fire!”

“You there! Get back! If the fire so much as grazes you, you’ll turn into charcoal!”

“That fire contains mana,” Thomas noted.

“That’s right.”

The firefighters were in complete panic. No matter what methods they tried, the flames showed no signs of dying down. If anything, the blaze was spreading, slowly creeping toward them. Charred trees toppled over, and as they fell, they collided with others, spreading the flames even further. The fire surged forth like the waves of an angry sea.

“Dear god!”

“Where is our backup?”

“When is the support coming?”

A helicopter arrived, and magic users stepped out. They unleashed water-based magic in full force. Dozens of blasts of magical water pounded the forest, and only then did the flames slowly begin to die down. Judging by the strength of their spells, they were top-tier hunters. It took a coordinated effort from multiple high-ranking hunters, going all out, to finally subdue the blaze. This all pointed to one fact: Whoever caused this disaster was no ordinary hunter.

It can’t be...

As an old memory stirred, Thomas furrowed his brow. Though he was following the storyline within the game, everything unfolding here had once truly happened. Much of it had blurred with time over the decades, but looking back now, he realized even this very incident had once existed in his memory.

“Here... If you look at the end of the footage...” Adam said, fast-forwarding to the end of the video.

The lingering haze of acrid smoke still rose in the air as people entered the scorched forest. Slowly, the origin of the fire came into view. There seemed to have been some kind of violent explosion, as everything had been blown outward from a central point. At the center of that destruction, a corpse lay face down, a gaping hole in its chest.

“We mobilized 1,800 firefighters and fourteen hunters capable of magic to put that fire out.”

All of those hunters had been top-tier as well. Fourteen of them had to give it their all just to put out the remaining flames after the caster had already died. Thomas knew only one person capable of such a thing.

“Chris.”

“Yes. I knew you’d recognize him. Christopher Reed,” Adam confirmed.

The unthinkable had happened. One of the world’s best hunters—a previous holder of the title of National Level Hunter—had been murdered.

“We can hardly believe it ourselves, but he was undeniably killed,” Adam continued.

“I killed him myself once.”

“I’m... sorry? What was that?”

“Forget it. Just a joke.”

Thomas rubbed his chin and lapsed into thought.

At this point in time, Christopher had been a National Level Hunter. A person with a Ruler’s power within him wasn’t someone to take lightly. But he hadn’t known back then that even such incredible power was nothing compared to the Monarchs. It was like being impressed by a ripple in a pond, never having stood before the ocean. If the opponent seemed formidable, the naive ones often convinced themselves they stood a chance. That they mattered. That they could win.

But Thomas had defeated Christopher in this very timeline, and at that point, Christopher hadn’t even been a National Level Hunter. He had been an empty vessel, one that had lost the power of the Rulers. He’d become a member of the Church of the Outer Gods to fill the void with the power of the outer universes, but even then, when Thomas faced him directly, he had been far weaker than he was in his prime.

Thomas, too, had been weaker than in the past, but he had fought with everything he had—and in the end, he’d won.

I feel somewhat bad for him. Killed here, killed there, no matter where he goes...

It really was a cruel twist of fate. Of course, given how notorious he was for his terrible attitude, no one had mourned him. Not then, and certainly not now. In the past timeline, his body had at least been intact after his death. This hadn’t been the case the second time. His entire form had crumbled into ash and collapsed, falling apart where he stood, as though it had truly been nothing more than a vessel.

“Or maybe... Some of him was left behind.”

Thinking back, Thomas remembered there had been some remains, though barely enough to call it a corpse. Christopher’s body had turned to ash and scattered. Only a few crumbly fragments like dried clay had remained at the site. Thomas wondered belatedly if he should have gathered those bits and given the guy a proper burial. After all, Christopher had been a companion, a friend on the battlefield. They had fought together against the monster Kamish.

But right after Thomas had killed him, the same Adam who sat beside Thomas now—though many decades older—had shown up out of nowhere and arrested him. He never got the chance to collect the body.

“Hmm?”

As he sat back in his seat, reminiscing about that day, Thomas’ expression suddenly stiffened.

“Hold on.”

Something wasn’t right. Somewhere in his mind, a fragmented memory rose to the surface, a small detail he hadn’t noticed back then.

As he walked alongside the agents of the Federal Bureau of Hunters, passing by the pile of crumbled ash that had once been Christopher, a single butterfly had fluttered lazily down and landed atop the remains. A cold shiver ran down Thomas’ spine. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time and let it pass. But what if it had been something?

How?

Back then, that place had been the epicenter of a battle where two S-rank hunters had unleashed their full strength in a fight to the death. So how could a mere butterfly have wandered in so casually? Shouldn’t it have been torn to shreds by the overwhelming waves of mana?

“No...”

A creeping unease washed over him, and Thomas found he could no longer focus on the game. He had to get out and warn Suho immediately. If the Church of the Outer Gods had somehow found a way to utilize what remained of Christopher, then they would have in their hands the greatest possible vessel for the Outer Gods. A National Level Hunter’s body was strong and resilient, capable of containing even the power of the Rulers. Now, it was empty. What if someone could make use of it?

In fact, Christopher being dead might make squeezing out his power even easier. It doesn’t matter to them anymore if the vessel breaks!

As someone who had once fought beside him, Thomas knew Christopher better than anyone. And unfortunately, his former comrade’s skill set was the perfect counter to Suho’s.

***

Black flames burst from Suho’s mouth.

[Skill: “Breath of Destruction” has activated.]

He aimed straight at the Apostle of Domination, who now took the form of Christopher Reed. The overwhelming fire, like the breath of a dragon, turned the entire cave into a molten red hellscape. However, the moment the flames reached Christopher, something unexpected occurred.

Rather than recoil in pain, the Apostle of Domination spread his arms wide and absorbed the fire in its entirety. His body, now engulfed in searing flame, began to swell and grow. The laughter erupting from Christopher’s lips did not belong to a single person. It was the ominous sound of thousands— No, tens of thousands of voices overlapping. His eyes flared with a crimson flash, and fire surged violently from every part of his body.

“I must thank you for this! Such exquisite fire. A most delightful gift!”

His fire-cloaked form now radiated the wrath of a vengeful deity. He had become a towering monster, easily four meters tall, eyes flickering with sparks. The four butterfly-like wings on his back now blazed like the brilliant wings of a burning angel. The effect of Suho’s attack was the exact opposite of what he’d intended.

However, there was one who found even this disastrous outcome entertaining—Antares, the Monarch of Destruction.

“Christopher Reed. The National Level Hunter who wields the power of the fire spirit Ifrit.” Antares spoke to Suho as he recalled a past memory. “Take a look. That’s what we call spirit transfer. It’s a way to summon our power into this world regardless of the state of the vessel.”

The results were staggering. Countless butterflies had gathered the remnants of Christopher Reed, sowed them as fertilizer into the roots of the Elvenwoods, and cultivated them into fruit. Nurtured over a very long period of time by those fruits, Christopher was reborn, hatched from his cocoon as a colossal flame spirit clad in golden armor. His power was so immense that he had absorbed Suho’s Breath of Destruction entirely. It was no wonder Antares was so happy.

“This is the final trial, Suho, Son of the Shadow, inheritor of the Heart of the King of Dragons.”

A ding rang out.

[Job change quest: The Trial of the King of Dragons 4]

Antares snickered, gladly offering Suho his final trial.

“Devour those flames and prove to me once and for all that you possess my power of destruction.”