Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 361

The Itarim remained composed as Nidhogg hurtled toward them at full speed—momentarily confused, but nothing more. Their opponents were simply created beings. No matter how much these creations combined their strength or worked together, in the face of absolute power, they could be wiped out just the same.

“That was sufficient amusement. Now, it’s time you disappeared.”

In that instant, countless blades of gazes poured out from his massive eye. These were the same attacks that had forced Beru to expend all his energy just to block and deflect them, and now, they rained down like a torrent. All the Outer Gods were doing was simply watching. Just a single gaze had the power to cut through space itself, exerting overwhelming power. Such was their fearsome nature as beings who had created and ruled over worlds.

However, Nidhogg, still barreling forward with unrelenting force, began to strike back.

“I’ll handle the defense,” Ammut said from inside Nidhogg’s third head, revealing his power.

[The King of Monstrous Humanoids and the Monarch of Tribulation activated the skill: “Iron Body Technique.”]

Every single scale that coated Nidhogg’s massive body grew tougher. Through the Iron Body Technique, the soul’s power was pushed to its limits, now covering and shielding Nidhogg’s entire form as it charged directly through the attacks, shattering them like glass.

The eye widened in shock, its confusion quickly giving way to fury, which triggered a second attack. This time, the blades transformed into a storm of flames, burning across the cosmos from every direction.

Hellfire Domain.

The wrath of a god was, in itself, a kind of hell. A searing, unparalleled heat surged forth as if to consume Nidhogg whole, but the second head of the creature now opened its mouth.

“My turn?”

It was Sirka, and now she unleashed her power from within.

[The Monarch of Frost and the Queen of the Snow Folk activated the skill “Blizzard of Disaster.”]

A pale-white breath of disaster burst from the Nidhogg’s gaping jaws. A blizzard at absolute zero swept through the firestorm that had erupted from the Outer God’s rage in a flash. There was a massive explosion as the cosmic flames and the snow collided. But Nidhogg did not stop. It drove straight through, continuing its flight toward the eye.

“No...!”

The Outer God quickly blocked its path with divine power, just as the blizzard was on the verge of reaching them.

At that very moment, Nidhogg’s sixth head opened its jaws wide, and this time, Arsha made her move. What poured from that mouth wasn’t just another breath attack. Void Insect after Void Insect burst forth. A swarm of them erupted like a plague of locusts sweeping across the plains, piercing through the divine barrier as one massive mass. There came a strange noise along with it—the sound of uncountable Void Insects eating through the Outer God’s barrier. To them, a dimensional wall was just another meal. The barrier was soon riddled with holes. Nidhogg broke through even that and pressed onward.

“Don’t you dare!”

The Outer God was enraged. At last, they revealed their final card—releasing the many followers of their own world.

“Onward, my Apostles!”

Terrifying, otherworldly creatures took to the skies, damaging the planet by their very presence. If so many crossed the dimensional boundary at once, the very dimension Earth belonged to might collapse. Yuri Orloff had opened a narrow channel through which the Outer Gods could peer in, and it no longer limited the passage to just a handful of followers. Now, hundreds of savage Apostles rose into the air. They stood to block the Nidhogg’s path, determined to protect their god.

But then Nidhogg’s fourth head, Gray, let out a ferocious roar. The howl of this wolf was no ordinary cry. It was the battle roar of the true ruler of the Primeval Beastwood and the King of Beasts.

[The King of Beasts and the Monarch of the Hunt activated the skill “Roar of the Battlefield.”]

The roar of the apex predator who had hunted every creature in the wild swallowed all of the Outer God’s followers like a raging storm.

[The King of Beasts and the Monarch of the Hunt activated the skill “Scorn of the Weak.”]

The Apostles, struck by the roar, were paralyzed by instinctive fear. There was a power gap between the followers and the Monarchs that could never be filled. Whereas countless Apostles had been created, there were only eight Monarchs in existence. Even including the Rulers in that number, there were no more than sixteen. There was a limit to how much power the Itarim could give their creations, and the more there were, the less power each held.

In other words, Gray, the Monarch of the Hunt, had no concern for the number of prey. He was the kind of Monarch who could reign with even greater fear over the weak.

“Well done, Gray!” Ammut’s voice called out from inside Nidhogg, proud of Gray.

Ammut, as it turned out, didn’t even need to use his powers.

Ammut, Gray, and all the other Nidhogg heads bared their savage fangs. They bit into the paralyzed prey still frozen in fear, ripping them apart and devouring them. Nidhogg feasted, the lesser beings nothing but a supply of food. Even as it fed, Nidhogg did not slow its progress toward the eye.

All across Earth, those who witnessed this unbelievable scene were left speechless.

“What... What is that...?”

All of humanity held its breath, watching the grand battle unfolding beyond the sky. With a mix of awe, terror, and hope, every gaze was fixed on Nidhogg as it flew. On a deep, instinctual level, they understood who stood on their side, and what was taking place in that moment. Their very souls recoiled from the invaders from the outer universes.

“Please...”

“Just a little more... Hang in there...!”

Prayers of desperation rose from every corner of the world.

“O Itarim! I have come.”

Someone stepped forward before the eye and stood in Nidhogg’s path—the traitor of humanity, Yuri Orloff.

“Wh-who is that?”

“There’s something off about him...”

People watched in alarm. Yuri was now no more than a gruesome corpse, mangled beyond recognition. Even so, he somehow maintained his human form. The spells and barriers that wrapped around his entire body served as his armor, his fish tank, and his garden, sustaining his shape from falling apart.

“Heh. Behold and despair, you pitiful humans,” Yuri sneered, breaking into a twisted laugh.

Each chuckle released bursts of immense, overwhelming divine power. He was nothing more than a puppet of the gods, animated by divine power on a scale beyond comprehension, but in this moment, he couldn’t have been happier. He believed he had become a great being, revered across the world. He saw himself as the strongest of the Outer Gods’ followers, an existence blessed with limitless power.

“You creations who dare to fight the gods... Try getting through my infinite barriers first,” he spat.

Thousands of layers unfurled from Yuri’s body, forming a vast net. Sticky and resilient, these barriers began to slow Nidhogg’s charge. The barriers were powerful—powerful enough to justify Yuri’s arrogance.

Nidhogg thrashed, but the net only grew tighter.

“Struggle all you want! The more you fight, the stronger my web becomes!”

Yuri burst into a mad laugh, gripping the web’s edges tightly with both hands, holding Nidhogg in place.

“I knew you’d show up in the end,” came Antares’ cold voice. He had remained a spectator until now, but now his sharp gaze fell upon Yuri, seeing straight through the Apostle of Infinity.

The complicated spell barrier was saturated with divine power from the Outer Gods, almost to the point of overflowing. However, deep within it lay a familiar presence.

“The Architect.”

Antares had spotted the being who had concealed himself from everyone.

“I see. I had been wondering where you vanished to during the war. Turns out, you fled to the outer cosmos to escape the Shadow Monarch, didn’t you, Kandiaru?”

At those words, a chilling gaze glared at Antares from within Orloff’s corpse.

“Fled?”

The voice that answered did not belong to Yuri. It was cold and analytical, an unnatural blend of male and female tones.

“I merely wanted to accomplish my purpose.”

Suddenly, a powerful barrier unique to the demonic spirits constricted even tighter around Nidhogg, and Yuri let out a triumphant laugh.

“Do you see that? I, Kandiaru, have finally achieved immortality!”

Kandiaru, the Architect, the Grand Spellcaster of the demonic spirits, was the very being who had created the leveling system designed to prepare a vessel for the Monarch of Shadows. He had died by Sung Jinwoo’s hand, but the moment Jinwoo used the Cup of Reincarnation to turn back time, that death was undone. It revived every Monarch who had been defeated and killed, along with everyone else who had been wiped out. However, unlike the Monarchs, who resumed their war against the shadow army, Kandiaru made a different choice.

“You ran... Kandiaru.”

Kandiaru, the grand architect of it all, had fled without hesitation. He was clever, and he knew that once the Monarch of Shadows regained his full strength, the war was already lost. That left him with only one option—to put as much distance as possible between himself and the Monarch of Shadows.

No matter how he looked at it, Sung Jinwoo would never forgive him. Still, escaping the Monarch of Shadows, who now ruled every dimension, was no easy feat. That shadow would eventually cover the universe, and to escape it completely, there was only one path.

“What else could I do? If I was to get away from the Monarch of Shadows, I had to escape to an entirely different universe.”

Kandiaru’s lips curled into a strange grin. He knew he’d made the right call. He’d made his decision the very moment the Cup of Reincarnation turned back time. He had fled a dying universe whose god was already dead, entered a new one, and submitted to a new god who had created it.

“Yes. It all makes sense now. So you were the one who alerted the Outer Gods to what was happening here.”

“Hehe. I am but a wanderer. I naturally had to offer up a gift to receive the good graces of the Outer Gods.”

Kandiaru had undoubtedly been cunning. As a masterless creation from another universe, he was little more than an outsider, as well as potential prey. To earn the favor of the Outer Gods who ruled this universe, he had offered them information that was nothing short of irresistible. That information was the state of the universe he had fled from—the priceless detail that its god had been killed by his own creation, leaving the universe masterless.

His plan had been a resounding success. Though he came from another universe, he had still become a follower of the Outer Gods. Once that first god moved in earnest, the others began to catch on, all of which led to the current war of the Outer Gods. Having betrayed his home universe, Kandiaru now basked in the favor of the Outer Gods, returning like a triumphant conqueror. He was no longer a fugitive, but an invader.

Even so, that didn’t mean he no longer feared the Monarch of Shadows. After all, Kandiaru himself had designed the vessel for his power. He knew better than anyone just how terrifying the Monarch of Shadows could be. Even as a follower of the Itarim, he would be doomed the moment Jinwoo found out he was alive. So he did everything he could to hide, embedding himself in a human body, and then surrounding that body with layers upon layers of barriers to completely conceal his presence. It was all just to stay hidden from Jinwoo.

The moment the Monarch of Shadows left for the outer universes to stop the Outer Gods, Kandiaru began his succession.

“Yes. Nidhogg was meant to have eight heads, not seven. That last one was you, wasn’t it?”

“Correct, Antares,” Kandiaru laughed with eerie delight.

He was the Grand Spellcaster, the most powerful of the demonic spirits aside from Yogumunt, the Monarch of Transfiguration. He was more than qualified to become the next Monarch, and doing so had long been Kandiaru’s ambition. A Monarch was immortal, exactly the kind of being he had always wished to become. So long as he wasn’t stupid enough to be killed by someone, like that damned Yogumunt had been, he would be able to live forever as a being of unparalleled power.

That had been the entire point of creating the system for the Monarch of Shadows. He had been ready to assume the mantle as soon as someone killed Yogumunt for him. Sacrifices, rituals, and such things were no obstacle to someone like him.

When Suho first encountered Nidhogg, it had seven heads instead of eight. This was the reason.

[“Kandiaru,” King of Demonic Specters and the Monarch of Transfiguration, regards you as an enemy.]

And so, Kandiaru had returned to this universe, evading Jinwoo’s notice and inheriting the Primordial Darkness. He hid inside Yuri and slowly maneuvered him, laying the groundwork for Project Eternal Fountain for this precise moment. The King of Dragons now knew about him, but that didn’t matter. The plan had already succeeded.

“I am already on an entirely different level from the other Monarchs. As an Apostle of the Outer Gods, I have surpassed you all!” Kandiaru shouted.

As the name Project Eternal Fountain implied, the divine power of the Outer Gods he served flowed into him in an endless stream. It further enhanced the Monarch of Transfiguration’s abilities, and the net of barriers now bound Nidhogg completely, despite its having reached the eye.

Kandiaru gave a mocking smile.

“Heh. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m sure you all thought you got this far on your own, but I orchestrated every step. My next plan is to move on to a stronger vessel, since this one is no longer viable.”

Kandiaru’s eyes locked onto the nearest head—to Suho, who was inside it. He licked his lips like a person staring at a delicious meal, saliva pooling in his mouth.

“So, Antares, what do you think? How would Sung Jinwoo react if I entered his son’s body while he was away? What if our souls became one? Do you think he could bring himself to kill me?”

“Not a bad plan. You’ve clearly done your research on humans,” Antares said with a nod.

He had fought Jinwoo longer than anyone and knew him well. Jinwoo fought to protect. That meant that everyone he sought to protect was also his weakness, all potential hostages. If the soul of the human he loved most was threatened, if Kandiaru and Suho fused like Jinwoo had done with Ashborn, Jinwoo would never be able to hurt him. It was a clever, albeit vile, plan.

[Digestion complete.]

Esil’s voice rang out from within Nidhogg.

“Suho, we’ve absorbed the power of the followers we consumed.”

At those words, Kandiaru felt an odd sense that something was off. The very system he had designed himself was reacting.

Ding!

[Blessing: “Blessing of Gluttony” has amplified your experience gain.]

Now, it was activating before his eyes for an entirely different purpose than he’d intended. Messages chimed, one after the other.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[...]

Until now, Esil, the Queen of Demons, had focused solely on digesting the followers Nidhogg had devoured. The moment all that energy was fully absorbed inside the creature, that power was converted entirely into experience points for Suho.

From the leading head, Suho emerged.

“Hello, Kandiaru.”

He gripped Kamish’s Wraths in both hands, and he looked very much like the father Kandiaru had once known.

“I am Suho, my father’s son.”

His eyes gleamed coldly over the blades he held crossed in front of his face. He bared his teeth.

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

The frontmost head of Nidhogg opened wide and unleashed a breath of black flame, while Suho’s daggers tore mercilessly into Kandiaru’s barrier.

[Skill: “Mutilation” has activated.]

The attacks gradually shifted, drawing from the techniques Beru had passed down, mirroring Jinwoo’s method of exploiting his enemies’ weaknesses.

[Skill: “True Mutilation” has activated.]

Every motion was laced with the destructive flame of the King of Dragons—and in that moment, no being in the universe could have stopped him. A rumble shook the air.

“Wh-what is this?”

Kandiaru, now the Monarch of Transfiguration, stared in wide-eyed disbelief.