Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 363

Beru’s roar shook the heavens and the earth. This was no ordinary cry—it was the ecstatic outpouring of a loyal servant, reunited at last with a liege he had longed for across dimensions, and the most ferocious declaration of war imaginable against what he now faced. Suho grinned.

Beru had regained his full strength, expanded once more, and taken to the skies. Behind him loomed the form of a vast Monarch of Shadows, as if death itself had descended.

“That’s more like it,” Suho said.

The injured eye of the Itarim burned with unrestrained fury.

“How dare you!”

Here stood an inferior being, a created being, and it had dared to wound an eye. It was an unbearable humiliation.

“I will annihilate you!”

This was no mere fit of emotion, but the wrath of gods who had created and ruled over this dimension. The divine killing intent of the gods soon took form.

The blood and hatred spilling from Itarim’s torn eye began to coalesce in the air, transforming into horrific creatures. They were a divine army born with a single purpose—destruction.

[The Apostle of Annihilation]

Thousands upon thousands of Apostles of Annihilation screamed as they were born, descending on Beru like a tidal wave. Their eyes gleamed with nothing but destruction and slaughter. A cursed legion acting on the Itarim’s will swept over the dimension, aiming to erase Beru—and all of humanity standing behind him. It was a terrifying sight, but Beru didn’t retreat even a single step. On the contrary, the eyes of the loyal commander shone with delight.

“This is not Earth!” Beru shouted.

This was not a fragile dimension that would shatter under his full power. They were in the heart of enemy territory, the stronghold of his master’s greatest foe. With his full strength restored, Beru was no longer a mere shadow soldier.

The dreadful Itarim, seething before him, were the very ones the greatest and most resplendent Monarch of Shadows had once fought alone, and still fought today. Not just one, but many. Beru had been the strongest commander in his employ, fighting many battles to the death on the front lines of that same war.

“Look, my king! Your servant, Beru, shall...” Beru let out a roar, and a storm of black mana erupted from his form. “...conquer this place and present it to you!”

The limitless mana flowing from Sung Jinwoo, beyond the dimensions, surged through Beru’s body. Razor-sharp claws forged of pure mana unfurled from his hands, black as an abyss, exuding an ominous energy that seemed capable of slicing through the dimension itself.

“I will cut off your heads, you wretched minor gods!”

Without hesitation, Beru hurled himself into the midst of the Apostles of Annihilation as a streak of black lightning. Wherever Beru passed, Apostles of Annihilation were torn apart and burst. He unleashed the killing instinct he had long kept buried and dove into a murderous trance. This was the true Beru.

The dying cries of the Apostles rang in his ears like a thrilling melody. Beru cried out in glee, weaving through the enemy with the rhythm of a dance. His black wings spread wide, he slew in every direction, following pure instinct. There was no pattern to his movement. He slashed, shredded, devoured, and consumed all who stood before him, a black tempest reducing the army of the Outer Gods to nothing.

His power was overwhelming. Today, he was a predator, and he had leapt alone into a field of sheep.

“How dare you!”

Enraged by the helpless resistance of their creations, the Itarim finally intervened directly. Beyond his torn gaze, the sky of the dimension split open as a membrane veined with blood peeled back. From beyond, a torrent of vicious, destructive energy poured toward Beru. It was a divine light of annihilation, an energy that twisted the very laws of the universe to erase all in its path.

Now, alongside the Apostles swarming the air, the world-shattering strikes of the Outer Gods joined the battle. Beru let out a wild laugh. He was enjoying every moment. How could he not? The more power he spent, the more flowed into him from his liege beyond this dimension! This was truly an eternal fountain.

“I am so grateful, my lord! As your devoted servant, I shall rampage without restraint!”

Beru charged straight into the divine light.

In that moment, space and time themselves screamed. The collision of the light of the Outer Gods and Beru’s darkness split the ground and tore the heavens apart. The land, slick with mucus, came apart like a sheet of paper, and rivers of waste reversed course and shot skyward. The entire dimension writhed, shaken by the destructive melody of their clash. Beru felt only ecstasy amidst the devastation, and launched another assault.

It felt like a reward for all the time he’d spent restrained, unable to wield his power. He wasn’t using just the immense mana granted to him—he had another weapon, one Devoured from Yuri Orloff, the power of barriers.

A great dome formed behind him as he fought the Outer Gods. It was a vast shield, an umbrella that protected Suho and every human on Earth from the wrath of the Outer Gods descending from above. This dimensional barrier, powered by the infinite mana flowing from Jinwoo through Project Eternal Fountain, was strong beyond measure.

It halted the gods’ fury before it could reach the surface—but another kind of hell had already begun to unfold down below.

***

As Beru, having regained all his strength, clashed with the Outer Gods with everything he had, Suho looked up at the sight and smirked.

“Thanks, Yuri. The plan you devised will come in very handy for the human race.”

Yuri was a traitor to humanity who had attempted to sell out Earth to outside invaders in pursuit of his own ambitions. However, with Norma Selner’s prophecy, the information gathered by the World Hunters Association, and the full scope of Yuri’s plan Suho had uncovered during his direct assault on the Arctic, Suho had crafted a plan.

The eye of the Itarim, a dimensional tunnel deep enough for the Itarim themselves to cross over, the home of the Itarim that existed beyond, and all of Yuri’s abilities... They had formed a bigger picture that was coming together only now.

“Young Monarch! I will take care of the injured Outer Gods here! In the meantime, please deal with the small fry on the surface!” Beru cried, confidently holding off the Outer Gods entirely on his own.

“Good old Beru,” Suho replied, nodding.

As he looked around, he realized he wasn’t the only one facing the nightmare they’d arrived in. Every human fused with their game avatars had journeyed to this strange dimension.

This was, without question, a living hell. Black rain poured from the skies, and the stench that assaulted their noses wasn’t just the foul odor of decay. It was the stench of rotting corpses, the metallic tang of blood, and something else, something not of this world—a revolting smell that twisted through the brain. The ground was coated in grotesque mucus. Beneath it flowed a river of dark violet sludge. The sludge itself pulsed and gurgled as if it were alive, and overhead, the sky was shrouded in a layer that resembled bruised skin, with veins visible just beneath its surface. At the center of it all was the wounded eye of the Outer Gods, still burning like a red sun, weeping bloody tears.

It wasn’t just the environment that was unnatural. The things that grew on this polluted land were not quite normal, either. The trees resembled twisted slabs of flesh reaching up toward the sky, and the tips of their branches opened and shut with mouths full of jagged teeth. They seemed hostile, poised to shred anything they touched. Even the blades of grass blanketing the ground were sharp as knives. Some of them moved like writhing tentacles, slithering toward the players’ feet.

This was well and truly a den of demons, a nightmare given form, where everything was alive and each one a predator.

Screeches echoed. Wails rang out.

The inhabitants roaming this infernal realm were even more horrific. Some crawled about, their arms and legs strangely tangled. Others had nothing but a mouth on their face, screaming without end. Monstrous beasts roamed whose armor-like shells fused with gelatinous flesh. The wrath of the gods above was one thing, but the ground below was overrun with followers of the Outer Gods, each more twisted and revolting than the last. They devoured one another, locked in an endless war for survival even now.

One massive follower ripped apart a smaller demon, and within moments, a swarm descended to feast on its innards. It was a scene of pure savagery, survival of the fittest. The same infernal realm glimpsed through the tear in the sky was now laid bare before mankind. The enthusiastic cries of the humans who had arrived in their avatars had already died away. The scenery around them could never be replicated in a game. It was overwhelming, soul-crushing horror and revulsion.

Then, someone spoke.

“Look. New prey.”

The natives of this hellscape had finally noticed them. Billions of hideous eyes turned as one toward the uninvited guests from Earth.

“I wonder how they taste...?” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Saliva dripped from jagged fangs. Without hesitation, they closed in, lunging toward the humans.

The murderous aura that radiated from them carried the stench of blood. The rotting breath that spilled from their mouths made the humans gag, and a primal fear surged through them. Faced with these terrifying enemies, every human who had followed Suho involuntarily stepped back.

Then, a calm but arrogant voice broke the silence.

“Is it finally my turn to step in?”

It was Thomas Andre, restored to his original form. The Monarch of Domination stepped forward.

“Gigantification.”

He took a single step.

[The Monarch of Domination has activated the skill: “Gigantification.”]

The moment his foot struck the ground, the body of the white-haired old warrior began to expand at an explosive rate. The sound of bones cracking and his roaring filled the air as his body grew exponentially. Muscles swelled like mountains. His bones shook the earth as they grew enormous. Within seconds, he had become a giant hundreds of meters tall. As he rose to full height, the earth trembled beneath his feet. He was a cataclysm incarnate. Then, the foot of that giant cast a massive shadow over the heads of the beasts charging toward humanity.

A deep, thunderous impact followed as he crushed them all without mercy. In a single stomp, hundreds, perhaps thousands of demons and Apostles burst apart without a trace, reduced to nothing more than black-purple sludge. It was a staggering display of strength, and a clear signal that war had begun.

Thomas’ laughter rumbled through the air.

[The Monarch of Domination declares war!]

A notification flashed in front of every player—a system alert from Jinho, still back on Earth. Alone, it seemed like nothing—just a game message that felt absurdly out of place amid the fear and tension. However, the effects were staggering.

[A new server has opened.]

[In Server: “Outer Universe Dimension 1,” experience gain is increased by 200%.]

It was a double experience point event!

For a brief moment, it made the humans forget just how real the horror around them was. After all, they were avatars. Even if they died, they could simply come back. Now, this hellish battlefield was seen as the greatest hunting ground ever created. One of the many players blessed with Sung Jinwoo’s name overcame his fear and gripped his sword.

“Well... It’s not like we can actually die, right?”

That single line lit the fuse.

“Y-yeah! It says twice the experience points!”

“Let’s kill those disgusting freaks!”

“If we die, we’ll just log back in!”

Their fear transformed into frenzied resolve. These were no longer terrified civilians. They were players trained by the Tower of Tribulation and the many deaths they had experienced within.

[Solo Leveling: Ragnarok]

The moment the game logo appeared before their eyes, humanity’s courage returned.

The roar they let out together shook the very dimension. They were no longer prey for the Apostles. They were hunters, and they had entered this realm by choice! Every human there raised their weapon and struck back at the monsters closing in. They were hunters now, not victims, and at their head stood Thomas, the greatest of them all.

Suho looked on at the inspiring scene and smiled.

“Guess it’s our turn now.”

His eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

Esil Radiru, like Thomas, had returned to her usual form. She immediately lifted one hand high and shouted, “All of you, hear my voice! I am Esil, the eldest daughter of the Radiru family. The Queen of Demons and the Monarch of Gluttony commands you!”

[The Monarch of Gluttony has activated the power: “Hell’s Army.”]

“All demons! Gather before me! Your queen is here!”

Hell’s Army was a power that allowed her to summon every demon under her command, no matter where they were.

Dozens of magic circles formed above her head, warping the dimensional breach to summon her legions to the Queen of Demons’ side. From beyond the many gates in the sky, the demon fleet, Álfheimr, made a grand appearance. Their warships were packed with demons shouting battle cries.

As every available force crossed into the enemy’s base, Suho finally raised his head. He fixed his eyes on the Outer Gods that Beru still battled with unwavering force, and unleashed his power in full.

“Arise.”

Shadows surged.