Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 17

[Title: “Wolf Slayer” buff effect has been activated.]

Suho’s foot slammed into the ground, and the resulting shockwave extended in a straight line.

Broki’s expression turned into one of astonishment. “What is this...?”

The beast couldn’t believe what was happening. Suho’s strength and speed, the momentum bursting from his entire body—everything had changed in an instant. Leveling up had increased all of his stats by one point. And he had also gained five additional ability points from the quest rewards. On top of that, his new title amplified all stats by a whopping +40% when facing beast-type monsters. The synergy of enhancements focused on Suho’s swords. Dual blades. Storm Slash.

[Skill: “Storm Slash” has activated.]

Shoom!

Suho became a storm. With his two swords crossed, a fierce whirlwind of blades swept through the air.

[Skill: “Dual Sword Mastery Level 1” has been acquired.]

It was truly merciless violence. A one-sided massacre by a ruthless butcher.

Slice, slice, slice!

“Argh! You foolish human!” Broki attempted a counterattack but all that came of it was a futile struggle.

Crash!

The guard posts built by the Hyena Guild collapsed and were torn apart by the beast’s thrashing.

“How dare you!? I—” Before the hyena could finish its words, a straight red light burst forth from its gaping mouth. Suho pulled Rakan’s Fang through using Ruler’s Authority. As soon as the sword returned to him, he instantly swung it down with a thundering flash.

[Merciless Commander Broki has been defeated.]

Finally, the colossal beast collapsed on the spot.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Phew. Suho landed safely down to the ground.

“He’s vanquished! You slayed the beast! The Young Monarch has defeated this enormous beast!” Beru darted toward him like an arrow as if he had been waiting for the moment the entire time.

“Unbelievable. How is this possible? A human defeating Broki?”

Beru chuckled and replied, “Didn’t you know? The world is ultimately determined by the survival of the fittest. The strong get eaten by the strongest. The Young Monarch is only going to get stronger from now on. By the way, would it be okay to have a bite of this?” The ant looked down at Broki’s corpse, his appetite returning.

Suho also turned his attention to the dead hyena.

[Target is eligible for shadow extraction.]

Black smoke billowed above its body, and Suho’s eyes caught a strange light. Is it possible to extract this one too? I can’t give it away now, can I?

“Just one bite. You can eat the rest after I’ve extracted its shadow.”

“Yes!” With Suho’s permission, Beru eagerly flew to the body. The giant hyena was a valuable source of mana.

“Hehe. Just a bite.” The ant’s mouth twisted into a sinister grin. He only had one bite, so he wondered which part would be the most delicious. It has to be the brain! “‘Survival of the fittest.’ I like that phrase,” Beru murmured as he began to drill through Broki’s brain.

***

Suho released all the bound humans.

“We’ve reported this to the Hunter Association. The rescue team will arrive soon. Since there are still monsters roaming the mountain, please don’t go anywhere else. Stay here for a while.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Having been held captive for so long, they were a pitiful sight. Their faces were streaked with tears and mucus as they sobbed loudly.

“Young Monarch, all of them were debtors to the Hyena Guild. They couldn’t repay their debts, so they wrote body forfeiture contracts and were captured.”

“How did you know that, Beru?”

“My skill is predation. I ate Broki’s brain and stole some of its memories.”

“You’re more useful than I thought.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m a species with many uses.” Beru placed both hands on his hips and stood upright with his chest puffed out with pride. “Oh, by the way. I looked into Broki’s abilities and it seems its blood didn’t possess any power to turn people into werewolves.”

“What? Then how did they...” Suho stared down at the lifeless werewolves on the ground.

“I found it peculiar from the very beginning, too,” Rakan’s Fang said. “The Hyena Clan was just one of many minor clans that followed the Fang Clan. Feeding blood to create pawns is something only the Fang Clan can do.”

“Then that means...”

“It seems like there might be real Fang Clan members inside.”

Their eyes drifted toward the gate Broki had appeared from.

“There might be a separate boss monster.” Suho tightened his grip on the sword with a determined look.

But then Beru shrugged and said, “It’s probably not a boss monster.”

“Not a boss monster?” Suho was puzzled.

“That’s right. If Broki’s memories are correct, there won’t be another battle.” Beru wore a slightly melancholic expression. “You’ll know once you go in.”

***

Suho entered the gate. Inside was a small, delicate creature. “This is...” His expression hardened.

A bloodstained wolf pup lay weakly. It had bedraggled, ashy fur and was haphazardly wrapped in bandages. It was a tiny wolf, barely the size of a hand. And scattered in front of it were syringes that had been used to draw blood.

“Broki... That lunatic!” Rakan’s Fang trembled with intense rage. “Are you saying that they tied up a descendant of our clan and forcibly drew their blood?”

Perhaps the tiny wolf pup had heard the fury coming from Rakan’s Fang as it meekly lifted its head, its body bound by a leash. The pup’s unfocused pupils stared blankly into the empty space where Suho stood. Then, it sniffed the air with its little nose. It smelled the scent of a stranger, and the blood soaked into his clothes.

A single weak whimper crept out, and the wolf cub lowered its head again. There was no trace of vitality—there were no signs of hope or will left in its exhausted little body.

The enraged sword cursed the dead hyena beast. “Broki, that senseless bastard!”

Recollecting Broki’s memories, Beru calmly murmured, “Immediately after the defeat in the war against the shadow army, Broki was one of the first to leave the battlefield. He was more of a deserter than a defeated soldier.” The monster’s subsequent actions were truly deplorable. “He sought refuge in what it considered the safest place, the Fang Clan’s sanctuary, where it stumbled upon the young wolf of the clan.”

All of the adults had been away at war, leaving the young wolf to fend for itself there. Based on the memories, the young wolf had wagged its tail in delight when Broki entered the sanctuary.

“Seeing the young wolf, Broki had only one thought in mind.”

“Yes, this is it! By using the blood of the Fang Clan, I can create as many guardians as I want! Let’s make these guardians to protect me! My own army! Creating a clan here that serves only me! You like the sound of that too, don’t you?” Broki had a sinister smile as the wolf pup wagged its tail.

“After the discovery, the sanctuary shattered into several pieces, wandering through the dimensional rift. One day, a hole connected to Earth appeared in front of Broki. There, it found a group of humans. Broki didn’t hesitate to extract the blood of the young wolf and feed it to them.”

The last part was familiar to Suho. The werewolves Broki created, so-called “guardians,” became its army, the Hyena Guild. They hunted down fellow humans and offered them as food to their creator for a whole year.

However, there was one major issue—the source of Rakan’s Fang’s rage.

“The power of guardians is not eternal. At most, it lasts for ten days. Once that period passes, the abilities carved into the guardians’ bodies through blood magic disappear, and they return to their original state. Which means...”

“Once every ten days, they would extract blood from this pup and feed it to the guild members. For a whole year, no less.”

“Ughhh...! Broki! Broki!!”

Suho lifted the limp wolf pup with one hand. He was a bit surprised by how light it was.

“Huh? Are you thinking of taking it with you?” Beru’s eyes widened. While this young wolf may not have been a direct descendant of the Monarch of Fangs, it belonged to the lineage that carried his blood. “Saving it could result in it growing into another Monarch of Fangs, posing a future threat to Earth once more.”

“What would be the problem? Didn’t you say we won the first time around?”

“Well... That is correct. Hmm...” Beru closely examined the young wolf held in Suho’s hand. The wolf was in a pitiful state, unable to breathe properly due to the amount of blood drained from it. “With the threat of invaders from outer universes looming over us, there’s no reason for us to be at odds with one another.”

In war, the surviving children from the defeated side were not guilty. If anything, the pup deserved to be praised for surviving thus far with such a small, lightweight body. But Suho wasn’t about to take the wolf based solely on a sentimental reason.

Somehow, it seems like it might come in handy later on. Besides... “If this pup were to die right here, wouldn’t its last memory be too tragic? Captured by a distant kin it trusted, and drained of blood for a whole year.” Suho cradled the little wolf in his arms. “So, let’s at least feed you first, and then think about the rest.”

***

Suho returned home, carrying the wolf pup. As for the Hyena Guild and the Gwanaksan field-type dungeon, they had reported it to the Hunters Association. The matter was no longer a concern of his since the survivors could provide much more concrete testimony than he could. He was more worried about the wolf. Its condition was so bad that it seemed like it might not make it through the day.

“Beru, you’re a healer, can’t you do something about this?”

“A healer’s recovery magic only works on injuries. I can’t do anything about a lack of blood or hunger.”

“Even recovery skills aren’t all-powerful, it seems. Well then...” Suho turned on an electric heater and placed it in front of the young wolf, and the pup growled. “What’s that boy? Do you like it because it’s warm?”

The young wolf seemed quite puzzled. Despite shivering all over, he was fixated on the red glow of the electric heater, his gaze unwavering.

“Well, this might be the first time you’ve seen fire since you were born.”

Suho left the little one alone and immediately started boiling some seaweed soup. He then cooled it down to a comfortable temperature before ladling it into a small bowl.

“You’re really in for a treat today. I used the recipe my mom used for my birthdays.” He excitedly extended the bowl of seaweed soup and presented it in front of the pup’s short snout. “Give it a try. They say that seaweed soup is good when you’re low on blood.”

Sniff, sniff. As the scent of the seaweed soup reached his nostrils, the young wolf’s tail flickered with excitement.

“Yes, it’s okay. You can eat it.” When Suho purposely hovered the soup over the young wolf’s snout, he instinctively stuck out his tongue.

“Wow, I didn’t know wolves could make the same surprised expression as humans.”

Munch, munch, munch.

The young wolf began to enthusiastically lap up the seaweed soup from the bowl. His scruffy tail, lacking fur and looking rather unimpressive, weakly swayed.

Rakan’s Fang took in the scene and mumbled with a somber tone, “Thank you. In many ways.”

The sword was experiencing complex emotions. It and the wolf had been reduced to being dependent following their defeat in the war. Even though they had lost the war, the surviving children were still innocent. They needed to rise from the ashes of the past to forge a new future. The thought saddened the sword as the young wolf was likely the last remaining survivor of the Fang Clan.

As warned by Beru, the young wolf was destined to grow and become the clan’s future leader, thus continuing the lineage of the Monarch of Fangs. For the young wolf to receive help from the Monarch of Shadows’ successor was truly unexpected. It was quite an ironic situation.

“Is it tasty?” Sitting down and chuckling, Suho watched the little wolf enjoying the warm broth.

Seeing the two bonding, Rakan’s Fang had to finally accept that the war had ended. “That’s right. You’ve won. We’ll entrust all of our recruits to you.” The sword let out a deep sigh. The determination of Rakan, the King of Beasts and the Monarch of Fangs, was now passed down to Suho.

Ding.

[Pet: “Fang Wolf Level 1” has been acquired.]