Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

—The Decrees of the Cartenon Temple

1.Praise the gods.

2.Worship the gods.

3.Prove your faith.

Those who do not abide by the word shall die.

[“Blessing of the Itarim: Decrees of the Cartenon Temple” has activated.]

The air in the chapel suddenly seemed to shift.

“It’s a trap!This has to be—”

Beru and Esil tried to warn Suho, but they were cut off.

“Praise be to the Itarim!” cried out Kim Chul in a loud voice. The believers in the chapel all began a strange chant.

“It’s a place where non-believers are offered as sacrifices!” Esil said.

“Praise and worship!”

“Prove our faith!”

System messages continued to appear one by one as the believers chanted.

[The Blessing of the Itarim limits the mana of the nonbelievers.]

A mysterious power suppressed Suho’s mana.

[The Blessing of the Itarim allows those who have proven their faith to use mana.]

[The Blessing of the Itarim imbues those who have proven their faith with divine power.]

“Kill Vulcan!” Chul commanded.

Every believer grinned as they began to attack Suho at the same time.

“Hahaha! Who knew a demon noble would walk in of his own accord?”

“Not even a demon noble can resist when their mana is sealed away—”

Suddenly, Suho swung his fist.

The believer in the lead, who had been rushing at Suho, found his head spinning away from the blow. At the same time, his body was sent flying backward far faster than he had been running. It crashed into the wall.

Chul and the other believers went wide-eyed.

[Pain Tolerance - Level 7]

Suho was grinning, his teeth showing. He did not look at all injured.

“Now that I have confirmed that my grandfather isn’t here…” Suho balled his fists and walked forward. Checking the face of every believer who had attacked him, he continued with burning eyes, “There will be more questions!”

He lunged forward at an incredible speed. Even if his mana had been sealed away, he had skills that did not consume mana. That also applied to the stats that he had applied to his body directly and Vulcan’s Horns, which he’d already put on.

[Effect “Destructive Desire”: Increases physical damage by 300%]

“Gah!”

The devotees of the Church of the Outer Gods were sent flying off like dried leaves in the wind. Now that Suho was attacking them in earnest, nobody seemed to be able to stand in his way.

Chul decided to get personally involved. “Hahaha! Look at them struggle! That’s what I would expect of a demon noble like you, Vulcan! Fresh and sprightly!”

Blue energy shot out of the stone in Chul’s forehead as he swung a massive shield at Suho. Fist and shield collided, and intense shockwaves spread in every direction.

Suho met Chul’s eyes. This isn’t the power of an ordinary A-rank hunter! he thought.

Is this the power of a demon noble? Chul wondered.

But this standoff did not last long.

I will crush him! Suho followed up with a vicious series of attacks.

“Argh!” Chul gritted his teeth, withstanding every blow. At the same time, he swung his sword with his other hand.

Suho immediately grabbed the horns on his head and swung them. The horns instantly reverted to swords and cut through the air.

Ruler’s Authority! This also did not consume mana. The two Vulcan’s Horns flew out of Suho’s hands.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

“N-no!” Chul cried out, backing away with his eyes wide open. Every time he avoided an attack from Suho, it was the devotees who got hurt instead.

“Arrrgh!”

The believers who were attacked instead vomited blood as they died, but something shocking happened. The Star Fragments embedded in their foreheads began to give off a blue energy. This energy surrounded their bodies and soon burned like fire. Moments later, a ghostly aura took over their bodies, and they stood up like zombies.

“Mist burns?” Suho said. These were similar, but also different. These believers were being controlled by the stones even after their deaths.

“Argh!”

Possessed by the energy, the dead believers flew through the air, attacking Suho.

“Young Monarch!You must go for the fragments themselves!” shouted Beru.

“I think the stones must be what connects them to the Itarim!” Esil cried.

“So there might be something like a shaman here?” Suho asked, his eyes flashing. “Someone like me…”

[Rakan smacks his lips.]

[Querehsha opens her eyes viciously.]

[Sillad is watching you.]

Even if Suho’s mana was sealed away, that did not affect the souls of the Monarchs, who were dead and wandering in the sea of the afterlife. He could do something similar to what the Itarim were doing as they used Star Fragments to carry energy to their believers from the Outer Universes.

“Come out, Gray and Esil,” Suho commanded.

A massive wolf surrounded in silver light burst out of his shadow and attacked the devotees. Esil, who had been residing in a Vulcan’s Horn, popped out and swung her spear as well.

“Wh-what in the world?!” Chul was shocked to see that Suho suddenly had companions fighting for him.

“Welcome, Iron,” someone whispered from behind him.

Chul shuddered and quickly turned around, but he saw no one there.

I-is it a ghost? he wondered in shock. He turned around again, adjusting his stance. Did the voicejust welcome me? But somehow, he felt glad to hear that voice…

What the hell?I don’t get it! Chul felt incredibly confused. His subconscious had welcomed that ghostly voice for some reason.

“E-everyone, stay alert! There are only a few of them! For the glory of the Itarim!” Chul shouted, speaking to himself as much as the devotees.

“For the Itarim!”

“For the Itarim!”

The believers raised their voices and drew upon their power.

“We can die!”

“We shall serve the Itarim in death!”

“As we did while we were alive!”

“Kill Vulcan! With the blood of the demon noble, we can make many Star Fragments!”

Both the living believers and the deceased that were controlled by the stones joined in attacking Suho. He smiled despite the huge disadvantage in numbers. Grinning, he said, “Bring it on, all of you.”

Of course, Suho could not use mana, but that didn’t matter. None of his shadow powers required it.

[Skill: “Monarch’s Domain” has activated.]

[The stats of shadow soldiers who fight in the shadow of the user are now 50% higher.]

Suho’s shadow spread out around him in all directions. The shadow soldiers who served him rose from the ground. “Scatter and destroy the Star Fragments!” he commanded.

“Yes, Master!” Que turned into a spear and flew out faster than anybody else, running through the devotees.

“Gaaah!”

As the spear passed through the stones embedded in their foreheads, blue fragments scattered in all directions. The energy of the Itarim that controlled the believers spread out as well, and their bodies collapsed.

“Wh-what in the world?” Chul, the priest of the Church of the Outer Gods who had been leading them, looked even more deeply confused. “O Itarim! Save us! Save… Save… Huh?”

Wait a second, Chul thought. Why do I feel this way?Something is off… Veryoff.

Suho’s shadow had spread out in the chapel with the effect of Monarch’s Domain, and ever since Chul found himself standing in that shadow, he’d been fighting the urge to run up to the young man and kneel at his feet.

Wh-why?Why is this happening?Has that demon noble Vulcan gotten into my head? If this was really true, it was a truly demonic ability indeed.

“Argh! How dare you try to confuse me, a priest! I will not fall for your trickery!” Chul cried, charging at Suho. He was focusing all his power into a single point.

Explode! “Vulcan! Time to die!”

“Iron,” a voice whispered from behind him again.

“Who the hell is that?!” Chul screamed, spinning around and whacking whatever was behind him.

This time, he actually hit the ghost. It was a dark shadow, an evil spirit shaped like an ant, grinning cruelly at him.

“Welcome,” Beru said. And that was the final thing that Chul saw before his death.

“Hmm… Why did someone so strong suddenly become distracted?,” Que said, tilting his head. “Though I was faster than him, of course.” He had just run through the back of the man’s head, destroying the Star Fragment as well.

Beru snickered and looked down at the body. “No doubt Iron has been eager to return to the Monarch’s Domain. Young Monarch! Go on and—”

However, Suho was already at the body.

[Target is eligible for shadow extraction.]

So he was one of my father’s soldiers. Perhaps because of that, Chul’s shadow was already rippling before Suho even got there. He hadn’t extracted the shadow, but it looked like it would rise at any moment.

“Hmm… Arise?”

[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]

“Hahaha!” No sooner had Suho spoken than Chul’s shadow burst into being, rising into the air. “Hahaha! I’m back!”

“Kieeeek!” Beru screeched. “You’re finally back, Iron!”

“Hahaha! I remember everything! Everything!”

“Ehehe!”

Chul, now Iron, was laughing along with Beru the moment he became a shadow soldier. He then turned to face Suho. Iron had served Jinwoo as a shadow soldier, and so he instinctively knew Suho’s relationship to his master. “Young Monarch, so you are my new master…”

Suho’s sense stat suddenly gave him a warning. He turned around with a grim look on his face. The massive idol which had been sitting on the throne was in front of him, glaring.

“Watch out—!” Iron urgently began.

Suho twisted aside instinctively.

At almost the same time, blue rays shot out of the statue’s eyes. They nearly hit Suho, causing a massive explosion. They swept over the scene, melting the bodies of the believers whole.

“Aaagh!”

“Arrrgh!”

Where the rays passed, only burning remains were left behind. The screaming had come from other believers who had seen them die, not the ones affected themselves.

“I guess these particular gods are not very merciful, are they?” Suho quipped, glaring forward.

The idol, which had just killed the believers who prayed to it, was smiling at Suho. It was such a violent smile.

“Who knew I would see shadow power here?” The voice seemed to ring bizarrely from the inside of the statue’s mouth. Suho detected clear malicious intent inside the voice, as well as hunger. It was as if it had detected a delicious meal.

“Laughable indeed. You seem so proud of yourself because you killed a single priest,” said the idol, laughing at Suho. “But I have plenty more priests who serve me—ones who are much stronger.”

The statue smiled knowingly and turned its head. More rays shot from its eyes and destroyed part of the chamber’s wall. A gate was hidden inside, leaking out blue mist.

“Come, my high priest.”

A silhouette appeared from inside the gate.

“Oh no!” Iron, who was now Suho’s shadow soldier, suddenly recalled something from his time as a priest. “Greed!” he shouted. “The high priest of the Church of the Outer Gods is Hwang Dongsoo, the S-rank villain!”

Suho and Beru stiffened. They hadn’t expected to hear that name at this juncture, and certainly not as a High Priest of the Itarim. Dongsoo had already been an S-rank hunter, and with the power of a Star Fragment added to his abilities, he would be a formidable opponent indeed.

“Ahaha!” Unhinged laughter came from the idol as Dongsoo, striding out of the gate, soon revealed himself.

Suho gaped in shock. Much to his surprise, Dongsoo wasn’t alone. An old man with white hair was dragging him out.

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