Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

The world was thrown into chaos.

“Wh-what?!”

“What the hell was that?”

“Is it a dungeon break?”

“Can someone explain what’s going on?”

People across the globe, glued to their screens, were left speechless as the live broadcast cut off abruptly.

The last image burned into their retinas was overwhelming. An army of thousands had risen out of the ground. Even through the screen, the shadow soldiers, shrouded in dark vapor, were extremely intimidating.

“A-are those the mutants Siddharth created from humans?”

“Mutants? Maybe… They had wings like dragonkin!”

“Stupid Chinese servers! How could they go down now?”

Screenshots of the final scene flooded social media, sending shockwaves through the global community. The news quickly reached the ears of many prominent figures around the world.

***

“Hmm? What’s this? Something from China?”

“It reportedly happened in Manipur, India, Prime Minister.”

“Hmm.”

Yuri Orloff, Russia’s strongest S-rank Hunter and the nation’s de facto leader, squinted at the screen his secretary had presented. Thousands of dark, shadowy figures filled the frame—none of them resembling ordinary magic beasts.

Yuri’s eyes glimmered like a snake’s as he stared at the screen, his mind racing. “If it’s in Manipur, it’s unlikely to reach our borders, correct?”

“Yes, sir. The distance is significant, and with China between us, the odds of it threatening Russia are slim.”

“Still… What if this isn’t a dungeon break?” Yuri mused.

“W-well…” The secretary hesitated, caught off guard by the sharp guess. “If these dark things are not ordinary magic beasts… There’s a possibility they’re summons.”

Even as he spoke, the secretary found the idea absurd. A single hunter commanding that many summoned creatures? Impossible.

Summoners were an unimpressive lot, their abilities limited to supporting roles in battle. Even if some extraordinary summoner had shown up, it would take an inhuman amount of mana to summon that many creatures. How could any human body bear such a large amount?

Of course, there was one faint possibility.

Could it be…? The secretary, now silent, realized that the man standing before him was living proof of the improbable.

“I-if this is truly a hunter’s skill, they might be drawing mana from an external source,” he stammered.

“External mana?” Yuri chuckled. “That’s my specialty, isn’t it?”

The secretary flinched as Yuri’s eyes settled on him. The cold, predatory gaze made sweat drip down his back.

No amount of exposure to this old man made standing in his presence any easier. Though Yuri’s current demeanor was calm, his gentle smile did little to hide the predator beneath.

Yuri Orloff, Russia’s prime minister, had risen to power seemingly overnight after having abruptly been appointed minister of defense a year ago.

Despite his complete lack of political experience, no one dared question it at the time. As an S-rank hunter—a living weapon—his appointment was actually welcomed by the public. Who better to protect the nation?

In addition, barrier magic was Yuri’s specialty. This was extremely useful in Russia, which suffered from frequent monster field outbreaks because of its large landmass. His barriers maintained themselves by absorbing mana from their surroundings, growing stronger and larger as the mana around them intensified. In other words, the stronger his opponent, the more powerful his barriers became.

As soon as he became minister of defense, Yuri immediately etched massive magic circles around Russia’s major cities, erecting large-scale barriers. The process consumed an enormous stockpile of mana stones collected by other hunters, but Yuri alone was praised as the savior of the nation, earning him the full support of the people.

In hindsight, however, an S-rank hunter was a superhuman, and it had been a mistake to give such an individual political power. Even a support-class S-rank hunter’s strength was unimaginable.

With overwhelming public support, it took Yuri less than a year to “voluntarily” assume the position of the second most powerful person in the country, the prime minister. Conveniently, the previous prime minister had been found dead only the day before. Everyone knew who was responsible, but nobody could speak if they valued their lives.

After the prime minister’s death, Yuri had immediately declared he would take the man’s place. Even though he was so brazenly exposing his ambitions, no one opposed him.

And as he took the post, the promise he made was enough to silence dissent.

“Don’t worry, my people!Russia will forever be safe as long as I’m here!”

Indeed, there was no other choice. As the Russian people were already living under the protection of his vast barriers, they had no alternative.

If he had aimed for the presidency, there might’ve been backlash, thought the secretary. That would have been an outright coup.

A hunter taking up dictatorial rule was worthy of social criticism and international censure. If Yuri had done such a thing, the World Hunters Association would have intervened to stop him.

But strangely, he didn’t aspire to be president. What he wanted was the post of prime minister, right below the president. That had kept the displeasure of the public to a minimum. He had already been in charge of national defense, after all.

Yuri’s secretary, however, had recently learned a secret no other country was aware of yet: The president is already this man’s puppet.

The president had a lot to lose, and all that he held dear could be used against him. Even his own life had been turned into leverage.

Yuri, on the other hand, had nothing to lose. He had been single all his life, and his parents had died of old age prior to the Great Cataclysm. Thus, there was no stopping his ambitions—not by force nor by strategy.

Russia already belonged to Yuri Orloff. As long as no one spoke out about the president, no one would ever know. Physical power had been the dominant coin in Russia for a very long time, though on the outside, it was just as peaceful as ever.

Nothing will change as long as I keep my mouth shut…

“So,” Yuri said, pulling the secretary back to the present, “you think someone like me has appeared?”

“It’s… only a theory, sir.”

“And the odds that they’re Russian?”

“Nearly zero. This happened in China, as you know, and there are rumors that the man is either from China or South Korea. Judging by the circumstances, I would say it’s more likely the latter.”

“South Korea… Hmm. Right below our own country,” Yuri muttered, finishing his wine in one gulp before smashing the glass against the floor.

The secretary flinched at the sharp shattering of glass.

“Leave. Keep me updated on any developments.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the secretary left, Yuri uncorked a fresh bottle of wine. He drank straight from the bottle, gazing out the window over the city skyline with an ominous grin.

“Should I kill him…?”

The thought of an army challenging his barriers intrigued him. A legion versus a barrier, spear versus shield—it would be the greatest possible matchup. The man would make the perfect ally if he could be won over, of course, but if they were on the same side… It was obvious who’d end up as the subordinate.

“I’ll have to gather more mana crystals,” Yuri said, his eyes gleaming with malice.

***

Meanwhile, in the United States, Thomas Andre leaned back in his chair. He was watching the same footage on a tablet.

“Hah! Would you look at that? He’s really stirring up trouble now, huh?”

His secretary shook her head with a sigh. “It’s a first. A man causing more trouble than you.”

“Oh, come on, Laura! That stings. I may be old, but I haven’t lost my touch yet!”

“Please don’t feel the need to compete.”

Ignoring Laura’s exasperation, Thomas flashed a mischievous grin as he returned his gaze to the tablet. “He’s had a hell of a debut thanks to China. Whether it’s a blessing or a curse remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure…”

Though he spoke casually, his eyes gleamed with predatory intent.

“This is going to flush out all the cockroaches hiding in the shadows.”

Whether intentional or not, Sung Suho had effectively declared war on the world—or more precisely, on the Church of the Outer Gods and the followers of the Itarim who had been working secretly all over Earth.

Thomas cracked his knuckles, baring his teeth in a feral grin. “Right. Challenge accepted.”

“Again, this isn’t a competition…” Laura said, sighing once more.

Thus, the hunt for vermin began in America as well.

***

At the same time in North Korea, Woo Jinchul turned at the sound of his secretary’s voice.

“Mr. Woo! You need to see this!”

“What is it?”

Behind them, the deafening sound of an explosion echoed as a massive rock golem collapsed. It was a scene reminiscent of a building demolition, yet no one seemed surprised. After all, it was South Korea’s strongest hunter, Choi Jongin, who was leading the charge against the magic beasts here.

“Something seems to have happened in India,” said the secretary.

“What?!”

Jinchul took the tablet, adjusting his sunglasses to get a better look. His sharp, hawk-like eyes were revealed, now displaying an uncharacteristic emotion: shock.

“W-wait… This can’t be!”

“Mr. Woo…?”

Jinchul’s colleagues, used to his composure, exchanged uneasy glances. None of them had ever seen him so rattled.

Woo Jinchul was so well-regarded in South Korea because he was a man who seemed to be living his life twice over, almost uncannily predicting and preparing for every possible outcome. His foresight was so accurate that it bordered on supernatural. More than a few suspected he had the power to read the future.

Among his many accomplishments, his greatest was undoubtedly recruiting Choi Jongin to the association the moment he awakened. Jinchul had also calmly established hunter laws to prevent villains from running rampant in the absence of order during the Great Cataclysm. He had drafted those laws with the poise of a seasoned politician, taking the necessary steps one by one.

Yet here he was, looking utterly shaken and lost.

“H-how is this possible? Is he back? But that can’t be right… Wait, could it be…?”

Jinchul, who had been rambling while studying the footage, suddenly froze. There it was—the face of the hunter who had crushed a massive beast in one blow before summoning thousands of shadow soldiers.

“Hah!”

A laugh of disbelief escaped him.

Too bad.

Unfortunately, this was not the man Jinchul had been waiting for. However, the young hunter in the video bore an uncanny resemblance to him, and nearby was a tiny, ant-like creature, so small it was almost invisible without zooming in multiple times. Jinchul could gain quite a lot of information from such small details.

He slid his sunglasses back into place. “Secretary Jung?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Jinchul handed the tablet back to his now tense secretary and said, “Look into a hunter registered with the association. I want every piece of information you can find on him.”

“Understood, sir. Who is it that you—”

“Sung Suho.”

The name carried weight. Suho was the only son of a man Jinchul deeply admired—a comrade-in-arms and a trusted friend he had been yearning to see again.

As he uttered the young hunter’s name, a flicker of melancholy crossed Jinchul’s face, but it was tempered by a glimmer of catharsis.

“It seems we’ve been away from home for far too long,” he murmured, his tone heavy with meaning. Clearly, much had changed over the past few months.

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