Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Chapter 12

 

“Argh…!”

The ghost looked down at his own body with an incredulous expression.

Two axes were stuck in his chest.

“So, this is what it means to have a weak human body…”

Kwung.

Kim Cheol-ho’s body collapsed backwards, his eyes rolling up.

[Number of enemies to be defeated: 0]

[Number of enemies defeated: 1]

The quest was completed.

[You have completed the “Urgent Quest: Defeat the Enemy.”]

[Your level has increased!]

Whoosh!

The exhausted tank’s health was instantly restored to optimal condition.

However, the tank didn’t let his guard down.

Although he killed Kim Cheol-ho, it was the sword he was holding that controlled his body.

“Authority of the Ruler!”

Crack!

One of the stone axes fell from the air and chopped off Kim Cheol-ho’s arm holding the sword.

[Well done! This sword is the real body!]

Verger flew over and lifted the sword Kim Cheol-ho was holding, wagging his tail.

At that moment, a sharp voice rang out in Verger’s head.

“Who dares to covet the Lord of Fangs’ sword?”

[My Lord, may I eat this sword?]

“Just a moment.
Can’t we solve this through conversation?”

The sword’s voice suddenly became friendly.

There was so much sincerity in the way it looked at Verger.

Meanwhile, the tank couldn’t answer Verger’s question.

Growl!

Although the ghosts were eliminated, the wolf monsters that had lost their focal point were all attacking him.

But thanks to the recent level up, the tank’s health and mana were fully restored, and all of his stats had increased by 1, making his movements much sharper than before.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

One by one, the attacking monsters were defeated, and the tank shouted to Verger.

“The weapon is too short! Can I use that sword?”

“Who dares to covet the Lord of Fangs’ sword?”

“It’s okay!”

The tank took the sword from Verger as if waiting for it.

[You have acquired the “Fang of Lycan” item.]

At that moment, the sword’s ghost growled fiercely.

“Who dares to covet the Lord of Fangs’ sword? I’ll take your flesh…”

“What, what is this energy!”

The voice of the startled ghost grew fainter and fainter.

“Is this, by any chance, the Shadow Lord’s…!”

The ghost couldn’t believe it.

He was the great fang lord’s sword.

Not just any sword, but a puppet made from the Shadow Lord’s own fang.

It was unbelievable that there existed humans whom he, who inherited the great power, could not control.

And moreover, doesn’t this human look strong at first glance!

“Heh.
Even if the Lord of the Fangs were to weaken, there is no way he would let himself be controlled by a mere insect like you.
Ah, whose bloodline are you from!”

“What, what did you say! You dare call me an insect! Cancel that right now…!”

“Ah, so noisy.”

Ignoring the ghost’s scream, Suho swung his sword at the wolves the ghost was commanding.

Slash, slash, slash!

With that sword stroke, the wolves were mercilessly cut down.

It was a different level of sturdiness compared to pickaxes and stone axes that were smashed to pieces by their steel teeth!

“Still, weapons are good.”

“Of course they are! Whose sword do you think I am wielding!”

The ghost showed his pride even in this situation.

Although the situation was still thoroughly surrounded, Suho had a little bit of leeway and immediately checked his rewards.

“Anything that can help me, with good stats!”

[Completion reward has arrived.]

[Do you want to check the reward?] (Y/N)

“Check it!”

[The following rewards are prepared.]

Reward.
Rune Stone: Storm Blade

“A skill!”

It was the best reward.

Suho immediately checked the reward.

[Rune Stone: Storm Blade]

When the rune stone is broken, the skill will be absorbed.

Crack!

[“Skill: Storm Blade” has been learned.]

When Suho broke the rune stone, a storm’s power was imbued in his entire body.

Whooooosh!

“What is this…?”

Suho instinctively realized.

How to use this skill.

How to use it properly.

Because the situation was urgent, Suho immediately used the skill.

“Haat!”

[“Skill: Storm Blade” is being used.]

Kuwaahh!

At that moment, a fierce wind swept through Suho’s sword.

That blade storm struck all the wolves in front of Suho at the same time.

“Crack! Bang!”

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

[You have defeated the Steel Fang Lycan.]

….

Numerous messages popped up.

“Wow.”

Suho was amazed.

With one skill, more than ten wolves died simultaneously.

Even the surviving wolves who barely escaped the tremendous destructive power were frightened and ran away in all directions.

Suho didn’t have any intention of chasing them.

His mana was completely depleted after using this skill once, which had been brimming with power.

[Skill: Storm Slash Lv.1]

Active skill.

Required mana: 50.

The power of whirling wind is imbued in the sword.

Multiple enemies can be attacked simultaneously.

The required mana was a whopping 50.

But the effect was equally amazing.

Suho stared at the skill window as if entranced.

Vern’s reaction was incomprehensible.

[What nonsense! The power of the Shadow Ability is thousands, if not tens of thousands, times greater than that!]

“What are you talking about! It’s not the skill, it’s because my sword is so great that it has this much power!”

Even the phantom of his sword was not inferior to Vern in pride.

“Both of you quiet down.
This is a historic moment when I finally acquired an attack skill.”

[No way!]

“Well, I’m even better…!”

Ignoring the bickering pair, Suho returned to the miners who had been hiding in the distance.

“Are you okay?”

“Hey, rookie…!”

The miners were amazed by Suho’s swordsmanship that they witnessed right before their eyes.

A swordsmanship that causes storms.

“If you had that skill, why didn’t you use it until now…?”

‘Ah.’

Suho made a rueful expression at the uncles’ reaction.

It would be unbelievable to say that a new skill appeared during a battle and expect them to believe it.

“If you use it once, your mana will be completely depleted.
That’s why I saved it until the last moment.”

“Oh, I see.”

The miners were even more impressed by his explanation.

Suho was undoubtedly a hunter who awakened just a few days ago.

Moreover, today was his first time entering a dungeon.

And yet he had been waiting until the decisive moment, hiding his fangs until the end?

This was like the image of a seasoned hunter who had attacked countless gates.

“It’s impossible.
Does that mean that everything he’s shown us so far has been carefully calculated?”

“Even the actions of hiding and running away…?”

“Where are you drawing the line?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.
It’s not necessary to say it.”

“Thank you for rescuing us.
We wouldn’t have been able to see the light of day tomorrow if it weren’t for you.”

The miners expressed their gratitude to Suho.

“But the miners who barely survived there had already left a long time ago.”

“Haha.
Let me tell you.”

Of course, Assistant Lim was still working in the assistant’s office.

With his running skills, Assistant Lim had managed to escape the intense situation without a scratch, and he looked to be in good condition.

“Good.
This is an opportunity to repay Suho.”

Assistant Lim told the reporters everything he knew about the incident in the dungeon, especially Suho’s contributions, in more detail.

However, whether to believe it or not was up to the reporters.

“What? An E-rank hunter?”

“A summoner? Does that even make sense?”

“I heard that even a C-rank hunter died in this incident.
How can someone with the lowest rank…?”

“No! What about an E-rank hunter? What about a summoner? Are you ignoring them just because they’re minor?”

Assistant Lim became angry at the reporters’ nervous reactions.

“I will write down all of your statements and post them on the E-rank hunter community!”

“Hehe.
Why are you getting angry like that?”

“Come on, calm down.”

The reporters started to soothe Assistant Lim, sweating profusely.

The E-rank hunter community was a very picky place for reporters.

Since the number of E-rank hunters was so high and there was no guild without E-rank hunters, the community was a place where all kinds of insignificant information circulated.
If reporters ever offended them, it could be a huge hassle for the reporters.

“Ahem.
Anyway, this hunter named Suho made the biggest contribution, right?”

“He distracted the attention with his summons and cut off the arm of the berserk hunter?”

To summarize, it seems like a very summoner-like battle strategy.
Although some journalists dismissed the idea of a summoner being skilled in close combat as biased favoritism from their art department instructor.
“Anyway, we’ve got the gist of the story.”

That evening, an article was posted on the internet stating that an E-class Hunter had resolved the incident by utilizing summoning skills.
However, the public’s reaction was lukewarm.

“Summoning? And an E-class at that?”

“Minor of the minors.”

“Is this summoning Hunter viral or something?”

“Don’t journalists have any better news to report these days?”

“Anyway, that E-class Hunter turned out to be a summoner.
Didn’t they save some students here a few days ago too?”

“Seems like they used summoning skills to save them back then too.
They’re a viral summoner after all.”

“And some of the guilds who saw the article also showed interest in Suho.”

“He’s only E-rank, though?”

“Even if the reporters exaggerated a bit, they’re saying he’s one of the best in the E-rank.”

“It’s about time we hired a few of our own hunters, right?”

“They actually asked for more people for the cleanup team.”

“That’s great.
There aren’t many freelancers left that are worth hiring, even among E-rank hunters who are getting picked up everywhere.”

“That’s why we need to hire a few E-rank hunters as regular employees.”

“As regular employees? Hmm, am I being too old-fashioned? Still, I think contract or part-time work would be perfect for E-rank hunters.
Anyway, they’re all young these days.”

“Ahem.
Anyway, we’re going to send a scout offer to this Hunter named Suho.”

“That’s right.
How happy would he be if we called him? That lucky bastard.”

Thus, a regular job scout offer was sent to Suho from Hyunmu Guild, a fairly large guild in Korea.

“A rookie who has just awakened to such an incredible opportunity.
Other E-rank hunters would be envious if they found out.”

***

And after a while.

“…What?”

The head of the second management department of Hyunmu Guild, Lee Young-ho, doubted his own ears.

“He, he rejected us? Hyunmu?”

“Yes…”

“Does that make sense? That a mere E-rank rookie would reject Hyunmu’s offer? Is this a joke? Didn’t he accept first from Baekho?”

“It’s possible.”

“Ha, that makes sense.
Baekho guys could definitely do that.
Even so, isn’t it overkill to offer better conditions than us to an E-rank hunter? Is our money rotting away?”

Lee Young-ho could only curse at the inexperienced Baekho Guild.