Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Crack! Rumble!
The storm of white flames neared.
‘Lightning…….’
in the eyes of Suho looking up towards the sky were the reflection of gray clouds.
“Son, make sure you pay attention.”
Cha Haein smiled as she approached the center of it step by step.
“Back when your mom was young…….”
No, maybe it should be called in her past life.
She couldn’t put a finger on what she felt.
It’s been a while since seeing her son, so she wanted to show him the cool side of her.
Bzt! Bzzzzt!
Blue electricity gathered along the blade of smiling Cha Haein.
And she moved.
Skil, ‘Sword Dance’
-Storm of White Flames
Fwoooosh-
The ray of light from the tip of her sword separated into hundreds of individual lights to cover the surroundings.
And it rained down on the apostle of Itharim.
Suho watched that scene before him as if he was bewitched.
The mother that he hasn’t seen in such a long time…… was worth the reverence.
‘She’s strong.’
That was the only thing that could describe what was before him.
The countless lightning shooting towards the apostle.
Crack!
Rumble!
Each individual lightning was filled with overwhelming power, and each time it hit, the forest trembled with a loud sound.
[Graaah! You insolent creations dare!]
The apostle of Itharim writhed in pain and swung its blue wings.
Boom!
It was not a simple movement of wings.
The sudden gust of wind ripped through the atmosphere and the spirits let out screams of agony.
The freezing wind turned into huge spikes of ice to attack Cha Haein like a tsunami.
Natural Disaster
It was the type of disaster that humans couldn’t fight against.
However,
Rumble!
[……!]
The apostle widened its eyes.
The longsword that Cha Haein lifted.
At the end of that sword, the hundreds of lightning merged into one to shoot out into the skies.
And
‘Cut.’
Skill, ‘Sword of Light’
-Storm of White Flames
The single lightning became an enormous sword to strike down vertically.
A single cut.
The blinding light split the skies into half to swallow up the world and cut the giant ice tsunami into two.
But that power did not end there.
Slash!
And even cut the giant with blue wings.
* * *
“…….”
“…….”
A heavy silence fell on the frozen forest.
The giant of blue wings that got split in half from Cha Haein’s sword.
The huge corpse was dissipating along with the freezing blizzard.
Not death, but perishment.
Since the apostle was in the state of spirits, the moment of its death made it disappear without a trace.
Suho then saw the message before him.
[The Apostle of Itharim was defeated.]
[Your level increased.]
[Your level increased.]
‘I didn’t do much this time…….’
This battle did not require too much from Suho.
Since his contribution is small, the reward would also be small.
And yet he leveled up twice.
It was proving the strength of the apostle that just died.
But such a creature was killed in a single cut.
Despite seeing it with his two eyes, he still couldn’t believe it.
Unlike himself, who inherited a part of his father’s powers and received the blessings of other monarchs to become strong.
His mother reached this level just from her own efforts.
‘So this is what an S ranked hunter is.’
Suho was still feeling the excitement of seeing every part of his mother’s battle.
Clench.
‘One day, I too…….’
Suho firmly clenched his two trembling fists and looked on with determination.
But Suho wasn’t the only one feeling such a sentiment.
THomas Andre was making a serious expression with furrowed brows.
[Kiek]
Beru noticed the change in Thomas’ body.
A part of the dissipating energy from the apostle of Itharim got absorbed into Thomas’ body.
And Suho also caught on to that fact.
“Did he level up like me?”
[Most likely not. But rather he recovered some of the power that he lost.]
“Power that he lost?”
[in the nonexistent timeline, Thomas Andre used to be a national level hunter beyond a S rank.]
The first S ranked gate, and the worst raid of history, Kamish Raid.
The raid that almost destroyed the United States was led to victory by 5 people. And those 5 were given the authority to be as equal as other nations with the title of ‘living nations’.
And that became the start of the label ‘national’ level hunters.
But there existed a secret to the power of the national level hunters.
That they were vessels that got chosen by the rulers to be bestowed strength.

In simple words, Thomas Andre, who used to be especially stronger than the other S ranked hunters, was because of the power of the rulers.
[But not anymore.]
Thomas Andre of now was not a national level hunter but a typical S ranked hunter.
To recover everything that would’ve been lost from the battle.
Sung Jinwoo used the ‘Cup of Reincarnation’ to turn back time,
And took upon all the sufferings alone to erase the trace of monarchs and rulers from this world.
Therefore, in this new timeline, no monsters nor hunters existed.
And the occurrence of national level hunters such as Thomas Andre receiving the power of rulers disappeared.
But that meant that the filled vessel now became empty.
The vessel itself did not disappear.
And that was the cause of the ‘emptiness’ that Thomas Andre felt all his life.
[But the energy of Itharim’s apostle flowed into the empty vessel. It was a vessel that could hold the power of a ruler, so it could also hold the power of the apostle.]
Suho nodded after understanding the situation.
“So the power that others couldn’t accept and let flow got absorbed by Thomas Andre because he had the vessel for it? Then was my mom also a national level hunter?”
[Kiek?]
Beru’s eyes widened after turning towards Cha Haein’s direction.
Cha Haein’s body was also absorbing the energy of the apostle, just like Thomas Andre.
“……What is this energy?”
[Cha Haein-nim! A, are you okay?]
“I am. Way too fine actually. Feels odd.”
Beru hastened to check on Cha Haein, but she was fine.
The national level hunters that got chosen from having the appropriate vessel to contain the power of rulers.
If a normal person were to accept the power of a higher entity, their body would be unable to withstand it to perish.
But surprisingly, Cha Haein was able to accept the energy of the apostle without any issues.
It was bizarre.
At that moment.
[King of the Snowmen, the Blizzard Monarch is clicking their tongue, remarking that this is normal.]
“You know something about this, Sillad?”
The blizzard monarch replied to Suho’s question.
[King of the Snowmen, the Blizzard Monarch said that as the power of rulers dwelled in the body of those humans, a similar being had been inside of her body.]
Suho asked, surprised.
“Huh? Someone similar to rulers have been inside of my mother’s boyd? Who’s that?”
[Ah.]
“Ah.”
“……?”
Beru and Cha Haein both looked at Suho at his question.
And then looked back towards each other with an understanding nod.
“hm?”
Suho felt confused by their expressions.
Then he suddenly understood and pointed at himself.
“Is it me by any chance?”
Beru nodded with conviction.
[Young master is the son of the great Shadow Monarch. It’s natural for Cha Haein-nim’s vessel to grow larger whilst holding young master within her.]
Cha Haein nodded.
She understood better than anyone else that her son was an irregular existence.
“Sure was. Suho was definitely different. He kicked inside of me non stop. I thought I was going to give birth to a dinosaur.”
Cha Haein let out a mischievous grin and looked at her son with a warm gaze.
“As expected of my son.”

»»————-　★　————-««
Soon after.
Once the enormous body of Itharim’s apostle disappeared completely, the glacier dungeon settled as if it wasn’t on the verge of collapse.
Most of the dimension itself was in shambles, but the scars left behind were healing rapidly.
It still had some fragilities to it.
Sirka was acknowledged as the next monarch, but her vessel was lacking.
[King of the Snowmen, the Blizzard Monarch is lamenting that Sirka is not ready to accept the darkness of the beginning yet.]
The darkness of the beginning was the fundamental power that the now dead god used to create the monarchs.
In order to receive that power, their vessel had to be appropriate for it.
“The vessel thing again? We need a big one no matter where we go it seems like.”
“You need a big vessel? I’ll go buy you one from the store, Suho!”
“…….”
Leo Xing appeared right next to Suho and took out his company card.
……No wonder he never got promoted.
Unlike the relaxed Leo, the remaining scavenger hunters were following Thomas Andre’s commands to work diligently.
They came to clear the dungeon so they couldn’t return empty handed.
And since they couldn’t hunt down the ice elves from the town, all they could do was to take the ‘Springwater of the Echo Forest’.
“Don’t waste a drop! It’s one of the best detoxifying potions that we have!”
“Yes boss!”
Since the springwater was groundwater, no matter how much they took, it didn’t get reduced.
This would go straight into the benefits of the scavenger guild, so they were all elated that their efforts were being repaid.
And since Sirka managed to find the gate that the ice spirits used to cross into Earth, the way back home was also secured.
Furthermore, all the injured hunters recovered fully thanks to the potions that Suho gave out. A perfect ending.
‘It’s exactly like the granny’s prophecy.’
Thomas Andre recalled back to Norma’s prophecy of requiring the presence of Sung Suho for the glacier dungeon and nodded.
Thomas, who was commanding his underlings with a satisfied look, approached Suho to chat.
“I plan to take this water and distribute it to all the ones that used to be the national level hunters.”
“Ah, that’s a good idea.”
Suho nodded, agreeing to his plans.
There was a high chance that those who used to hold the vessel for ruler’s powers would be targeted by more apostles of Itharim.
They’d most likely be a S ranked hunter this time as well, and if they stood on the side of Itharim, it would be dangerous.
If Thomas Andre forcibly (?) made them drink the springwater, the issue could be prevented.
But there was one issue.
“Ah, but there could be some that got taken over already so make sure…… huh?”
Suho suddenly realized something during his conversation and widened his eyes.
“What’s up with those puppy eyes?.”
“Thomas, don’t tell me…….”
Thomas grinned at Suho’s expression.
“Yes, I remember everything now.”