Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

After the battle had wrapped up, Suho left with Rio, letting Gordon, the shadow Naga, carry the battered remains of Jackson’s truck. This “stupid but useful creature,” as Greed called him, seemed to have no trouble hauling the truck with its load of South Korean weapons. Gordon slithered along on his sea-serpent lower half, following Suho.

On their way, more magic beasts appeared, but the shadow Nagas—temporary mercenaries in Suho’s service—dispatched them with ease.

As they moved through the Loktak field, Rio explained the area’s significance.

“What…?” Suho’s face grew serious as Rio wrapped up the explanation. He had used Shadow Exchange to cross over into India without thinking, but the information revealed a situation far more dire than he’d expected.

In short, the region’s troubles were deeply rooted in the geopolitical landscape of Manipur, where Loktak was located. Manipur laid in northeastern India, bordered by Myanmar, Bangladesh, and China. Because of this, there had been various serious conflicts over time due to political, religious, and tribal tensions.

“But the main problem,” Rio continued, “is that several dungeon breaks happened here at once, causing the field-type dungeon to spread out too far.”

“Don’t tell me. The field has extended past national borders?” Suho asked.

“Exactly. Didn’t expect you to grasp that so quickly. Smart as always.”

“Things aren’t so different in South Korea. We’ve always had problems with North Korea.” Despite Rio’s admiration, Suho’s expression remained grim.

Field dungeons, if left unchecked, spread slowly, expanding with a misty blue haze. Though they could usually be contained within certain limits, multiple overlapping dungeons changed the rules entirely. The most prominent example was North Korea, which had turned into a massive monster field the moment the Great Cataclysm occurred. Left unchecked, the mist would push past the Chinese border, unleashing North Korea’s monsters on China and creating an international crisis.

“Right,” Rio said. “If Korea fails to clear out the monsters on time, and they spill into neighboring countries, it creates serious issues. Compensation is one thing, but the bigger issue is…”

“There would be no way to stop foreign hunter guilds from crossing the border to fight them,” Suho concluded.

Rio nodded gravely. “Exactly.”

“It could lead to war,” Jackson added, echoing their fears.

A hunter guild made up of countless powerful hunters could easily rival an army. In fact, when it came to combat, a guild could be even more dangerous than conventional military forces. If a guild invaded another nation, it was almost a declaration of war, as their power was enough to overthrow governments and level entire cities. To prevent such a scenario, President Woo Jinchul was putting all his efforts into purging North Korea.

“Wait,” Suho murmured, struck by a sudden thought.

Loktak Lake was a popular tourist spot in India, exactly as beautiful in person as it was famed to be. It was now blanketed in the dungeon’s ominous blue mist, which blended naturally into the stunning scenery.

However, the mist’s true nature would terrify any ordinary person who ventured near. A normal human exposed to it would be reduced to a charred corpse and return to life as a horrible monster known as a mist burn, fueled by the magical energy within them.

“Rio, how many people live here?” Suho asked.

“Three million.”

“That many?” Suho’s expression grew even more serious at the immediate answer. “It can’t be possible that all those people became hunters. Are you saying that they turned into mist burns?”

“No, not at all. That was my first concern too, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.” As he spoke, Rio held up his necklace, adorned with an “Asura Guild” token, and showed it to Suho.

“That’s a Stardust necklace!” Suho exclaimed, wide-eyed.

The stone in it was larger than what was typically called a Stardust necklace, and only slightly smaller than the Fragments embedded in the bodies of Greed and Sung Ilhwan. It seemed more accurate to call it a Star Fragment necklace.

Suho snatched the necklace and asked, “Where did you get this?”

“It’s apparently a token that proves membership of the Asura Guild,” Rio explained. “They started issuing them recently, and I looked into the matter. There seems to be a specific reason that this necklace came to symbolize our guild. Have a look.” He pulled out another necklace with a smaller stone, this one resembling the smaller Stardust necklaces distributed in Korea. “These are Stardust necklaces. My guild is handing them out to Indians for free.”

“Stardust necklaces? Why?”

“It turns out they protect ordinary people from the blue mist.”

“What?!”

***

The Asura Guild was the largest in India and committed to defending its people. Its leader, Siddharth Bachchan, was an S-rank hunter admired for his positive influence, having earned the respect of everyone in the country.

Siddharth had reportedly developed these necklaces to protect people during dungeon breaks, since many locals had nowhere else to go if they were forced to evacuate. For the poor, abandoning the land they had occupied for generations was not an option. However, they couldn’t stay either, since being exposed to the blue mist for too long would eventually cause them to succumb and become mist burns. The Stardust necklaces became their lifeline.

“People actually live here…” Suho murmured, astonished.

They soon arrived at one of the villages scattered throughout the dungeon field, where countless ordinary people went about their lives, all wearing Stardust necklaces. Suho looked on in disbelief.

“Young Monarch, it seems to me that the Church of the Outer Gods is spreading far more quickly in this country.”

“Yes. At this rate, it could become their national religion.”

Greed and Iron, who had been a High Priest and a priest of the Church of the Outer Gods, poked their heads out and added their own comments.

“When worn for long enough, these necklaces create a deep-rooted loyalty to the Itarim in the heart of the wearer.”

“Of course, it’s not really faith—it’s more like a pollution of the mind, caused by a higher being.”

“Incredible… I cannot believe they would give these out to the people. The priests here in India are much bolder than those in Korea…”

“Are you admiring them right now?” Suho asked. “Both of you. Heads on the ground.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What? What did I—?! All right. I’ll do it.”

Greed and Iron obediently dropped their heads to the ground.

Curiously, none of the villagers reacted to the shadow soldiers’ presence. They should have at least looked surprised or whispered among themselves, yet they continued their work, their expressions as blank as ever. It felt unsettling.

It also seemed that there had been a magic beast attack recently, as corpses of monsters littered the ground. Again, no one paid them any attention.

“Suho, everyone in my guild office looked like that, too. Is this a side effect of wearing the necklaces?” Rio asked.

“I think so,” Suho said.

Rio had looked concerned ever since he had been informed about the incident surrounding the necklaces in Korea. The thought of this phenomenon spreading across India was a nightmare.

Looking around the village, Suho made up his mind to seek out the mastermind behind the situation. “We should start by finding Siddharth, your guild master. If he’s connected to the Itarim, we might have an answer. We just have to give him Echo Forest Spring Water.”

“Good idea. But where do we look?” Rio asked. “The last location I got from the guild was a dead end.”

“Hmm. I guess we should consult the experts.” Suho looked back at his “experts” and called, “Greed. Iron.”

“Yes!”

“How may we assist?”

“Do you think you can find the location of the void gate?”

Greed and Iron began chattering with eager expressions, talking over each other.

“That’s our Young Monarch for you! Excellent plan!”

“There should be a temple nearby, as the Church of the Outer Gods always sets up near a dimensional rift. That’s why—”

“Keep it short. Just the main points,” Suho cut in.

“A void gate forms when the fields created by ordinary gates overlap.”

“If we map the surrounding gates, we’ll find the void gate where they intersect.”

“Can you find it?”

At Suho’s question, Greed and Iron smiled confidently, their eyes glinting.

“Leave it to us!”

“If we spread out and search with the soldiers, we’ll find it soon enough.”

“Master! Let me help too!”

Que had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, eager to beat them to it. Greed smiled disdainfully.

“I don’t care who finds it. Just start searching.”

At Suho’s command, the shadow soldiers scattered, already in fierce competition. Only Gordon remained by Suho’s side, still carrying the truck.

“Now then, let’s move on to the next village—”

Suddenly, Suho felt a chill. In an instant, his and Rio’s expressions changed sharply, and they turned their gazes in the same direction.

“Young Monarch! It’s a battle!” Beru warned.

A series of deafening explosions erupted from the direction where Greed had flown, shaking the ground as if struck by an earthquake. Considering this was a field swarming with magical beasts, such a phenomenon might be expected, yet the energy radiating from it felt far from ordinary.

Beru’s antennae twitched, sensing the energy of Greed’s opponent. “That’s an S-rank at least, judging by its aura…!”

Even Ragna chirped in alarm, giving them a clue to the enemy’s identity.

“The dragonkin!” Suho exclaimed. Immediately, he pushed off the ground and sprang forward. An S-rank? Could it be Siddharth?Why is he with the dragonkin?

Countless possibilities flashed through Suho’s mind as he ran. However, when he arrived at the battlefield, the scene was unlike anything he’d expected. There were blinding flashes of light, and an intense crash shook the ground, filling the air with magic beasts’ dying screams. At the center of the chaos, Greed was locked in combat with a single opponent.

A three-way battle?

The most surprising thing of all was that this man didn’t seem to have any trouble fighting Greed, who had been an S-rank villain in life. In fact, the man was pushing the shadow soldier back.

“Interesting…”

Greed’s opponent was an old man, his white hair fluttering in the wind, immense reserves of energy radiating from his body. A vicious smile spread across his lips throughout the battle, as if he found it thoroughly enjoyable. The language he spoke, however, was not any language from India.

“I didn’t know a magic beast could be this powerful.”

He was speaking Chinese. This wasn’t Siddharth Bachchan, who had been a National Level Hunter in the past. It was someone completely different.

Recognizing his face from long-buried memories, Beru shouted his name. “Liu Zhigang!”

Indeed—standing before Suho was China’s Liu Zhigang, another former National Level Hunter who was once counted among the strongest on Earth, right alongside Thomas Andre.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!