Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 265

Beru was startled by the sudden shift in the battle. The shadow soldiers’ attacks were now infused with slicing wind.

Boom! Boom!

In addition, each step they took summoned powerful whirlwinds. It was reminiscent of the attacks of the Biting Wind Jackdaws which had been flocking outside of the city of Elvenwood.

The spirits scrambled to scatter and escape, but Sirka’s enormous ice hammer crashed down on them, blocking any attempt to flee.

Terrified, the spirits screamed. Their cries were abruptly silenced as they froze solid, forming jagged icicles in midair. The sight was breathtaking.

“Young Monarch!” Beru cried, turning to Suho in admiration. “How did you come to learn such an incredible skill?”

He immediately understood the mechanics of this newly acquired skill. It temporarily enhanced the attack power and defense of the shadow soldiers.

“A buff?!” Haein exclaimed, eyes wide.

She had been on the front lines, sending lightning in all directions with the Demon King’s Longsword, when she noticed the elemental enhancement to the soldiers’ attacks. Just like Beru, she immediately recognized just how valuable Suho’s new skill could be.

Buffs were generally wielded by supporting hunters such as healers who stayed at the rear of a party to aid their allies. There were countless types of buffs. The bigger the assault team or the more challenging the dungeon, the more critical it was to use them strategically for a party’s safe and efficient progress.

Among all buff skills, the most universally valued were undoubtedly elemental buffs.

A buff that adds elemental damage to allies? Haein marveled. That’s the most efficient type of buff under these circumstances!

In chaotic battles and especially when multiple magic beasts had to be fought at once, elemental damage could drastically increase attacks’ effectiveness when applied against enemies’ weaknesses.

Beru, however, saw things from a different perspective. He analyzed Suho’s Spirit Armament skill, weighing its strengths and weaknesses.

“Kieeeek! This is truly incredible! You’re enhancing the soldiers by consuming spirits instead of mana!”

It was a major advantage that the skill did not consume mana. Mana was the core resource Suho used to maintain his shadow army, so preserving it meant greater efficiency.

There was also another advantage: Spirit Armament was fundamentally different from Monarch’s Domain, allowing the two effects to stack. In addition, the buff became even stronger as Suho used more spirits as resources.

This last benefit, however, was also a drawback. Since it was a skill that relied on spirits, not mana, it had clear limits.

“It’s a pity,” Beru grumbled. “It’s a very useful skill, but we can only use the spirits that this young elf kills as ingredients. The moment the spirits are consumed, the effect will end. In that sense, it’s a far cry from Monarch’s Domain.”

He quickly figured out who had given Suho this skill. He turned his piercing eyes toward Sirka, Sillad’s successor.

“How insidious! It is very clear that he intends for you to continue aiding this young elf’s growth if you wish to access more spirits for consumption!”

This was why the dead Monarchs could never be trusted. They pretended to help Suho, but in the end, all they really wanted was to prop up their successors. The Monarch of Fangs had used a similar tactic by allowing Gray to use Divine Possession on Suho.

Of course, Suho wasn’t oblivious to this either.

“But no one loses out with this arrangement,” he countered. “There’s no reason to think of this as a bad thing.”

“You, Young Monarch, are too soft to— Kiek!”

Beru stopped himself mid-grumble as he caught a glint in Suho’s eyes.

“Young Monarch, is it possible you hope to...”

Suho was looking right into the ant’s eyes, grinning. It reminded Beru of the triumphant look Sirka had worn after she successfully imitated Sillad’s power, albeit incompletely.

“Yes. This should be of use to my father too,” Suho declared.

“You are such a wonderful son!”

Beru couldn’t hold back his tears as he was overcome with emotion.

Unfazed, Suho dashed forward with his weapons in hand. Alongside his soldiers, he slashed at the enemies from Elvenwood, slicing them apart.

Beru trailed behind, still weeping.

“Beru, I told you before, didn’t I?” Suho called out. “No matter how strong I become, I can never be as strong as my father. The same goes for my soldiers.”

The shadow ant choked on a sob. “Yes. Sad but true! The shadow power you inherited is simply a skill. It is nothing compared to my liege’s power!”

“You don’t look sad at all. Pretending to cry like that isn’t going to make me feel any better.”

“What can I say? It’s the truth.”

“Oh, please.”

Suho chuckled dryly as he cleaved through a root rising from the ground.

Beru was only speaking the objective truth, with no touch of empathy or human feeling. Still, he was always right.

Suho often thought about this fact himself. Even if his efforts to grow stronger actually led him to his father, he wondered how much help he could be or if his shadow army would really be of any use. He was only strong by Earth standards, so how effective could he be in his father’s fight against the real Outer Gods?

“That’s why...”

After acquiring the power of destruction from Antares and witnessing Sirka’s abilities today, Suho had found his answer.

“This is it,” he declared. “In the end, this is the most effective way I can support my father.”

He would help him through buffs.

He grinned as he continued, “It’s a war, isn’t it? In war, strength matters, but strategy and tactics can turn the tide. It was my father who taught me that.”

We were only playing a video game then, but still.

Suho’s smile grew more determined.

Yes, his role was clear. Buffs were the key.

If he was going to protect the Earth—currently beset only by the followers of the Itarim and not the Itarim themselves—all he needed to do was continue gaining experience points.

But his final goal was not limited to Earth. Once he resolved this world’s problems, he would venture into the cosmos to join his father in the war against the Outer Gods. He wanted to stand alongside Jinwoo in battle, which was why he had named his own guild Woojin, meaning “venture forth into space.”

Of course, it would be a problem if he made his way there only to find that he was no help at all. What if he arrived only to become a burden? Even now, he was his father’s only weakness.

But how long would that remain true? How long would he have to live as a child who needed someone’s protection?

“My father had already saved the world by himself when he was my age.”

Grinding his teeth, Suho wrenched the roots of the Elvenwood from the ground with a rough hand. The flames of destruction spread along the roots, traveling swiftly to the tree’s massive trunk.

He extended his other hand toward the tree and unleashed his power.

[Skill: “Breath of Destruction” has activated.]

The blast of flames drilled a burning hole through the Elvenwood.

As Suho watched the tree burn, he thought back to what he had seen today—the lives of the elves taken advantage of by the Elvenwoods, as well as the struggle endured by the Monarch of Frost, who had eventually perished in battle against Jinwoo.

Sillad, that noble Monarch of the elves, had remained alone in the bitter cold while all others had fled. He had gritted his teeth, fought the entire world... and emerged victorious.

“It wasn’t only my father. Sillad also fought—he fought the cold and won. Even Sirka...”

Indeed, she was a child of the frost who had learned to walk through the blizzard from the moment she was born. Because she met all his conditions, Sillad had chosen her as a successor as soon as he saw her.

But what about me? Suho wondered.

He did not overestimate himself. No matter how high his level climbed, he wasn’t foolish enough to be blinded by his own strength.

“I fought your son for quite a while. He provided some entertainment. Has peace lulled the blood of the Monarch of Shadows into stagnation?”

The words of Antares, the Monarch of Destruction and his father’s rival, remained etched in his mind. They were carved deep into the Heart of the King of Dragons, which now beat within his chest.

As long as the flames gifted by Antares roared through his veins, Suho would never allow himself to be mistaken.

I’m just an ordinary human who was raised in a peaceful world. That is who I am.

The only things that made him different were his parents and the extraordinary blood they had passed down to him.

But Suho had learned too much to let that inflate his ego, and Sirka was a perfect example of why. She wasn’t chosen as a successor because of her bloodline—she earned her place through her life and her actions.

In that sense, one could say Suho had taken this buff from the Monarch of Frost only by sheer force.

“This ability enhances my soldiers, but it can also be used with my father’s shadow army,” Suho said.

Beru’s eyes glinted with approval. “Indeed. Though the effects are limited, it is entirely separate from the authority over shadows. Oh, by the way, my liege can also use the energy of dead soldiers to buff the others, though he does not use spirits.”

“Huh...?”

Suho’s confidence faltered, replaced by a hollow sense of disappointment.

“What? He uses angels, of all things, as sacrifices for buffs?” he asked.

“You could call it recycling. The World Tree no longer produces any new angels. However...”

Beru’s grin widened with pride.

“I believe your buffs can be combined with his. In other words, this will help.”

Suho smiled as he realized Beru was acknowledging him.

Yes, he still had a long way to go. He was still his father’s only weakness.

But at the same time...

“I’m a wild card, the one and only variable in this war. And I will stop at nothing to stay that way.”

Suho’s confident declaration made Beru’s eyes widen with joy.

The hunter bared his teeth in a grin and added, “So watch me. I’m going to do everything it takes to be of use to my father.”

With that, the massive Elvenwood, engulfed in flames, collapsed under Suho’s power.

The heat was overwhelming. The flames consumed the green city in a fiery blaze. White lightning struck from above with deafening cracks, while below the tree, the high elves had frozen and shattered into icy shards.

It was nothing short of a calamity. The city, which had thrived by using humans as fertilizer to maintain its beauty, was reduced to ruins in a single day.

“Rescue the survivors.”

At Suho’s command, the shadow soldiers moved in unison. They began pulling out the surviving humans trapped underground.

Beru silently observed the scene, recalling a certain memory.

“My lord, wouldn’t it be all right for you to return the power to the Young Monarch now?”

It was a conversation between Jinwoo and Igris regarding Suho’s sealed power.

“We’ve done a few tests in the past, but this is the first time that the Young Monarch has managed to reach your level. I believe he has more than passed.” 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Igris’ words had caused Jinwoo to firmly shake his head.

“Do you think we could have won against Antares if I had relied solely on my power?”

There was something that had worried Jinwoo the most as he tested Suho over and over again in the dreams: The boy was reckless. While some would call it bravery, it looked different to a father who was worried about his son.

“No matter how strong you are, you need to know when to retreat if victory isn’t guaranteed. Charging blindly at a powerful enemy without a plan is a reckless and foolish thing to do.”

“It’s foolish to charge blindly at a powerful enemy without a plan. I need a strategy,” Suho said.

Beru’s eyes widened.

As the young hunter rescued the survivors, the words his father had wanted him so badly to understand had come from his lips—entirely of his own volition.

This new wariness wasn’t because Suho feared death. Having lived alongside the shadow soldiers since he was born, he knew that death wasn’t the end. Perhaps that was what had made him so reckless, and the reason he did not fear dying.

But after witnessing the story of Sillad’s life—a constant battle for survival against the odds—he had realized something crucial.

“Dying is fine. But I don’t want to die with regrets because I made foolish mistakes. I need a clear plan.”

With those words, Suho opened his inventory. He took out the object he had discovered after killing the Mad Blood Tyrant, a follower of the Itarim, in the demon realm.

[Item: Tablet of Itarim]

[Acquisition Difficulty: ??

Type: Stone Tablet

A stone tablet engraved with the language of Itarim. It’s bound with a special spell.]

Back then, Beru immediately recognized the item’s significance.

“I know of this spell! I’ve seen the Itarim’s armies use it to communicate during war.”

“They communicate using tablets?”

“Yes. But they are generally utilized in pairs, and there seems to be only one here.”

“Someone else must have the other one. Maybe it’s whoever sent the Mad Blood Tyrant here.”

“Harmakan, I want you to analyze the hell out of this tablet,” Suho commanded. “From here on out, we will track down the followers of the Itarim, and we’ll do whatever it takes to find them.”

The true hunt had now begun.