Solo Leveling: Ragnarok

Ali Hassan was thirty years old. Once a pauper roaming the back alleys of Imphal, he had held onto hope.

Inshallah!

Though he had nothing to his name, his life took a drastic turn when the Great Cataclysm struck, and he awakened as a B-rank hunter.

From that moment, his life completely changed. He was now Ali Hassan, the master of the Imphal Guild, representing the city where he was born and raised. Of course, he still occasionally had nightmares about those bleak days when he’d begged on the streets, but reality brought bliss whenever he opened his eyes.

Yet for some reason, Ali had an uneasy feeling that today might prove to be the longest day of his life.

“Rio, please interpret,” Suho said.

“Oh, namaste. Nice to meet you. Please, don’t panic! Allow me to explain who I am,” Rio said, appearing from behind Suho as though he’d been waiting for his moment. He stepped toward Ali with the ease of a practiced salesman and handed over his business card.

Ali’s eyes widened upon reading it. “The Asura Guild? You’re from Asura?”

Emblazoned in the center of the card was the name of the same guild that had taken control of Imphal. This business card represented the honor and noble pride of the group that had staunchly supported Rio.

Rio swiftly tore the card in half. “Haha! Never mind my old title. Just remember my name,” he said.

Ali was speechless.

Rio had handed over the card purely out of habit, but had ripped it to pieces a heartbeat later without hesitating. He had found a new job.

Having already persuaded Suho on the way there, he folded his hands politely and introduced himself like a dignified yet humble celebrity. “Let me try that again. My name is Rio Singh. I’m an A-rank hunter, formerly of the Asura Guild. I am now an interpreter and new recruit with the Woojin Guild. I’ll become a vice guild master soon, though, if all goes well.”

“The… Woojin Guild?”

“I don’t remember a guild with that name.”

The hunters of the Imphal Guild exchanged murmurs. None of them had ever heard the name “Woojin” in India.

Rio explained with practiced smoothness, “Of course, it’s not surprising that you haven’t heard of us. We’re from South Korea.”

“South Korea?” Ali’s curiosity was piqued.

“Yes. As you can see, we’re the strongest guild in South Korea.”

Rio emphasized this last line, stealing a quick look back at Liu, who stood with arms crossed.

The effect was immediate. The strongest?!Wait a second… Ali, still reeling, cast a wary glance at Liu. A cold sense of dread ran through him. “S-so that old lunatic—I mean, Liu Zhigang—is also a member?”

“Shh. That’s a secret I’m not at liberty to confirm or deny. I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

Rio’s playful wink spoke volumes, and Ali, drawing his own conclusions, covered his mouth while trembling. Seriously?Liu Zhigang joined a guild?And in another country?My god!

He felt like he had stumbled across a massive secret. This aged madman was none other than a veritable sword demon. Liu was the pride of China, a national hero adored by the government, and the only hunter with a prestigious six-star rating. Yet now he had apparently joined a guild—one that belonged to another country, no less.

Is the Chinese government aware of this? Ali wondered. No, that was impossible—no country would sit idly by while another stole away their strongest hunter.

But wait!That’s not the important thing here! As the true weight of this revelation sank in, Ali’s eyes quickly traveled to Suho. Then that would mean… this young man has Liu Zhigang working for him?!Who in the world is he?!

Suho, bewildered by the guild master’s reaction, merely looked back at him. The man was acting as though he had seen a ghost.

Liu, who understood a fair amount of conversational Arabic, shot a disapproving glare at Rio. “Look here. When did I ever say I would join—”

“Oh, my, Mr. Zhigang! Haha! When did I ever suggest such a thing? But surely, working this way would make things easier?” Rio deflected with a mischievous grin.

Liu clicked his tongue. “Crafty snake. You’d make a better politician than a hunter.”

“Haha! I’ll take that as a compliment. That means I’m good at my job.”

“No, quite the opposite. If you’re going to use my name, at least do it right.”

“Pardon?”

Liu, who had until now been observing quietly, suddenly unfolded his arms and stepped forward, his aura growing more intense.

All of the hunters of the Imphal Guild, including Ali, looked up at the old man. They shivered as if a giant stood before them.

Liu, accustomed to this kind of reception, smirked arrogantly as he stated, “I will ask you a question. Those unwilling to answer may step forward. Be warned, however, that your disrespect will come at a price.”

Rio felt a chill at those words. He’d momentarily forgotten what Liu’s reputation truly entailed. He was known not just for his strength, but his notoriously fierce personality. No one, not even the Chinese government, had ever dared to oppose his will, and now a command as good as a death sentence had come from his mouth.

“You will tell me everything you have done in this land so far. If there’s even a hint of deception in what you say…”

Liu left the threat hanging ominously. His words weren’t empty. He turned to Suho with a faint smile, then looked forward once more. “Well… It doesn’t matter if you lie. The truth will surface eventually, even if you perish before speaking it.”

The sheer menace in Liu’s words sent a cold sweat down the hunters’ spines. They too saw it—the fleeting look Liu gave Suho and the long, dark shadow stretching from the young hunter’s feet. In the abyssal darkness within, a swarm of black specters gazed up at them, shrieking and shedding mournful, ominous tears.

***

While interrogating Ali Hassan, Suho had uncovered quite a bit about the Asura Guild’s activities.

“I was expecting to meet Siddharth Bachchan here. But nobody is even related to the Church of the Outer Gods,” Suho remarked.

“They seem to be nothing but ignorant errand boys,” Beru replied.

The shadow soldiers that Suho had collected were the victims of experiments that had turned them into creatures called “Mutant No. 8s.” Guided by the soldiers, they had stormed the location of the experiments, only to find the Imphal Guild was rather ordinary.

“The Asura Guild has been controlling the smaller guilds in Imphal like their servants,” Ali explained with a sigh. “You could call us subsidiaries, but in truth, we do all their work unpaid. Since they had the noble excuse of ‘protecting the city,’ we had no choice but to obey their orders,” he admitted bitterly.

One of the most significant “tasks” the Imphal Guild performed was distributing Stardust necklaces to the citizens. With too many civilians to oversee, the Asura Guild preferred not to handle them directly, instead enlisting the hunters to do their bidding. Still, there was something strange about all this.

“But you know…” Ali spoke again carefully. He and the other members of the Imphal Guild had been cautiously but eagerly responding to Suho’s relentless questions. “It just doesn’t seem like the necklaces are a hundred percent effective.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m familiar with the slums, having been on the streets myself. Most of the beggars who got their hands on Stardust suddenly disappeared one day.”

Suho’s eyes narrowed coldly. “People went missing?”

“Yes. The city hall couldn’t care less about missing beggars, but it bothered me. I wondered if there might be side effects to using the necklaces…”

Ali trailed off, unnerved by a strange sensation. The dark spirits which had been gazing out at him from Suho’s shadow for some time now seemed strangely familiar. Am I just imagining things? he wondered.

Suho, however, knew better. The shadow foot soldiers were too low-level to speak, but he had already realized what their gazes meant. “The beggars were secretly kidnapped and experimented upon…” he murmured. “They led me here because…”

“I believe they see him as trustworthy, as an individual also from the slums,” Beru noted.

“So in other words, we can’t trust any guilds subcontracted by Asura?” Suho mused. With that thought, he nodded, rising from his seat. “All right. Now we have a starting point.”

He turned to Liu and Rio, who awaited his decision. “We should probably find out what exactly the Asura Guild was planning before we meet Siddharth Bachchan.”

“And by that, you mean…”

“From now on, we’ll attack every hunter guild active in Imphal.”

Liu cracked his knuckles, a menacing grin spreading across his face. “We’ll split up, then. Am I allowed to kill anyone who resists?”

“I leave that to your judgment, but make sure to leave the bodies intact,” Suho answered.

“All right.”

Rio swallowed nervously as the two men exchanged intense looks during his interpretation.

Thus began the nightmare that would descend upon the city of Imphal.

***

It’sraining…

Rain pattered down in a shadowed alley. A small boy was limping through Imphal’s backstreets, drenched and exhausted, but he didn’t try to escape the downpour. The rain was welcome—it would wash away the scent of his blood. He had spent his life cursing the gods, but at least in this moment, he felt a flicker of gratitude.

If I can just get a little farther… The boy forced his weary body to stand. Pain radiated from his injuries, almost enough to make him cry, but he gritted his teeth and held back his tears.

Oh, gods… Please… Swallowing tears, he prayed with more desperation than ever before. Please help me.I don’t care who’s out there.Somebody save me!

With that, the boy hobbled away, limping slowly into the dark alley.

Soon after, a splash sounded. Multiple sets of horrific, reptilian feet splattered through the puddles and entered the alleyway. Sniffing the air, the creatures looked around, muttering under their breaths.

“His trail ends here.”

“Lucky kid. The rain’s masked the smell of his blood.”

Just then, lightning flashed, briefly illuminating their faces under their hoods. They were lizard men—or rather, a mutated variety that bore a vague resemblance to humans. Their mouths stretched into sinister grins, flicking out grotesque tongues as they licked their lips.

“He couldn’t have gotten far. Find him!”

“Found you.”

“You found… Wait, who was that?”

Startled by a sudden voice, the creatures turned their heads without thinking. There, along the wall of the dark alley, an impossibly malevolent black shadow was watching them. Its grin split its maw, and it let out a piercing screech.

“Kieeeeeeeeek!”

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