Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 339

The moment Suho saw the Apostle of Domination use spirit transfer, he instinctively understood that he could do the same exact thing himself. He even knew how he could do it, by drawing the power of the soul outside the vessel. Still, the vessel would break if it couldn’t handle the soul’s power.

What of my own vessel, then?

Suho felt confident it was more than up to the task. He was Sung Suho, the very person who had conquered the Sea of the Afterlife, discovered the World Tree, fought Nidhogg several times over, and helped bring many Monarchs into being. The moment he grasped the concept of spirit transfer, he also came to understand what Antares had meant by when the time comes.

Up until now, he had helped other successors take their primordial darkness. Despite that, he alone had never been able to claim it for himself. Primordial darkness did not reside in the body, but in the soul. To receive it, one had to wield the power of the spirit and prove themselves worthy and deserving of the primordial darkness. This was the final piece of the puzzle that Suho had been missing.

The Apostle roared and unleashed a cataclysm of destruction toward him.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Suho bared his teeth in a grin. To him, this felt like child’s play, and he was not impressed. Such small amounts of fire couldn’t hope to burn him. He clenched his hand into a fist, and every last flame was sucked into his grasp.

The Apostle of Domination’s eyes widened.

“Wh-what?”

He was visibly confused. It was evident he had never seen anything like this before. The transformation overtaking Suho was fundamentally different from any spirit transfer the Apostle had known. The ominous pressure now bearing down on him sent the Apostle lashing out again with renewed intensity. Even then, the fire failed to reach Suho. It was swallowed up by an even greater blaze.

From deep within his chest, Suho’s second heart began to pound violently. A scorching heat surged like a volcano from the Heart of the King of Dragons, passed down to him by Antares. The destructive flames crawled up his body, threatening to incinerate him the moment he lost focus. He had kept them suppressed until now, but at that moment, he let go.

You have my full permission. Go ahead and run wild.

As though it had been waiting for those very words, the devastating flames consumed him whole. Like lava bursting through some unseen dam, this fire held a destructive power leagues above anything the Apostles of the Outer Gods could ever conjure. It exploded all at once, rampaging across Suho’s body like it meant to tear him apart.

[Skill: “Iron Body Technique” has activated.]

Suho held firm. His vessel did not shatter. He had been through too much already to let that happen. All of that training—perhaps it was more like forging. He’d been crushed and battered over and over without end, beaten and broken more times than he could count. The pain tempered him, like hammering metal until it glowed red and became stronger. The relentless daily training under Ammut’s guidance had refined his vessel to its maximum potential. Now, not even the power of destruction could tear it down.

That very power now seemed confused by this turn of events. It was eager to lose control, to reduce Suho to ashes, but his vessel was too strong. The impact bruised Suho’s insides, but this time, his soul turned into a shadow in response and wrapped around the flames. This was also spirit transfer, imitating exactly what the Apostle of Domination had done just before.

A jagged, razor-sharp suit of shadowy armor encased his body, its joints hissing with pure white vapor. The mist rose from compressed destructive fire, swirling around him and spreading out in all directions like a volcano on the brink of a violent eruption.

Antares muttered as he watched, “White flames instead of dark?” There was a hint of pride in his voice. “So this is the fire you’ve forged for yourself.”

Suddenly, a conversation he’d had with a certain someone long ago came to mind.

“Isn’t it funny?”

On that distant day, the King of Dragons had gazed down with a smirk at his captured foe, utterly confident in his victory.

“A flame born of darkness fighting a darkness born of light.”

Indeed, in that moment, the “flame born of darkness” had been Antares, and the darkness born of light had been a shadow created by the Fragment of Brilliant Light, reborn as a Monarch after death. All that power had gone to a simple human being by the name of Sung Jinwoo.

But this time, things were different.

“Now, a flame is born containing both the darkness and the light. You truly are his son.”

Suho was an anomaly, an irony and contradiction in the flesh. Much time had passed, and now, Antares was witnessing firsthand how Jinwoo’s son inherited his power, growing in real time.

As he recalled that long-ago conversation, he murmured again, “Now, the end is in sight.”

Even now, Suho’s body was undergoing a fierce change. Kamish’s daggers were a blur in his hands, seemingly sharper with every swing. White shadows danced around the blades, flaring as if they’d turned into two full-length swords.

[Skill: “Mutilation” has activated.]

A barrage of strikes slammed into the Apostle of Domination’s body.

Again! Suho thought, following through.

The Apostle growled, “Damn you!”

Despite the onslaught, the Apostle continued desperately absorbing Suho’s flames. He then threw the power right back at Suho, who chose to attack instead of defending. Both of them cast defense aside and traded nothing but blows.

However, there was a key difference between the two. The Apostle was screaming in pain, while Suho’s lips stayed firmly sealed. They must have been experiencing a similar level of pain, but not even a groan escaped Suho’s lips. It wasn’t that it didn’t hurt. Even Pain Tolerance, which usually protected Suho, only reacted to physical damage. Right now, he was just enduring it. What did it matter if it stung a little? He could return the pain many times over.

With a great ripping sound, the wings of the Apostle were severed. He howled in agony, wracked with pain, as golden energy spilled from the stumps where his wings had been. Even so, his body was soon wreathed in flame and began regenerating. The droplets of blood he had splattered turned into fire spirits of various sizes, scattering around him. Each one shouted in fury.

“You think this is enough?”

“You thought you could bring me down with that?”

“I spit on your arrogance!”

In a rage, the Apostle raised both hands. The rocky ceiling melted. Clumps of lava poured down on Suho from above, giving him the impression he was standing beneath a scorching lava flow.

“I shall show you!”

“You’ll see what I can do!”

“I will prove my worth!”

“The primordial darkness is mine!”

Christopher Reed was no longer recognizable in this creature. In his place was pure fire spirit, blazing in golden splendor. Enormous pairs of wings sprouted once more, and in the midst of the flames, countless faces were writhing with distorted expressions.

“Collective intelligence or no...”

Suho just smiled. In a situation like this, a hunter simply had to choose between two options—take out the strong ones first, or pick off the weaklings. His choice was the former, though he would get around to both eventually.

He lashed out with his daggers, his blades driving into the belly of the largest of the Apostle’s entities so deeply they buried up to the hilt. The Apostle shrieked, spewing golden blood. Even that blood burst apart and attacked Suho with potent divine power. In response, Suho released a dagger, leaped into the air, opened his palms, and swung them downward.

Ruler’s Authority!

A massive, transparent hand slammed down on the Apostle from above, crushing him. The sound of the impact echoed as it came down, only to rise up and repeat the process. The strikes continued, over and over.

“Th-this power!” the Apostle choked out.

The nonstop attacks left the Apostle dazed, unable to react. He couldn’t understand it. This was the power of the Rulers, beings he’d encountered in the outer universes. How was it being used here? They were different from the Monarch of Shadows, whose power was rooted in darkness. To think a human being was wielding a Ruler’s power!

Ruler’s Authority wasn’t simple telekinesis. This was true power, authority in every sense of the word. It was not born of the divine power of the outer universes, but a divine power born within this universe. It was this power which had killed the creator of the world itself—potent enough to kill a god.

Suho closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Raising his one remaining dagger into the air, he thrust it downward into the Apostle’s eye. It tore through the eyeball and sunk deeply into the brain.

Deeper! Stronger!

Finally, the Apostle’s spirit transfer began to falter. A crack spread across his body, then another. Like a shattered porcelain vase, his body began to fall apart. In that instant, all the heat stored inside him exploded outward like a firework aimed at Suho. However, Suho accepted it all without evasion. He sucked it in, absorbing it all.

“W-wait...!”

“No!”

“Stop that!”

The scattered fire spirits cried out in panic.

“We worked so hard on that vessel!”

“After everything we did!”

“It was perfect for us!”

Their voices rang with regret. They weren’t pleading for their lives. It was pure disappointment in their voices, with an undertone of rage and hatred. But there was nothing they could do. All their gathered power flowed into Suho, and the Heart of the King of Dragons inside him devoured it greedily.

A series of quick notifications followed.

[Job change quest: You have met the completion requirements of “The Trial of the King of Dragons 4.”]

[Ending job change quest.]

Antares appeared in the form of Ragna and burst into laughter, clearly satisfied with Suho’s performance. Suho’s focus was elsewhere, however, his attention squarely on the message before his eyes.

[Your job will be determined shortly.]

[Depending on your acquired promotion points, you may be able to change your job to a higher class.]

“My acquired promotion points?”

It sounded like something out of a video game. The thought reminded him of something Beru had once told him. The leveling system given to him by his father was a creation of Kandiaru, the Grand Spellcaster of the arcane world, as a means to turn a human vessel into one capable of holding a Monarch’s power. For that purpose, the rules were designed to resemble human video games, making them easier for humans to understand.

Ding!

[Analysis of player actions complete. Assigning suitable job.]