Chapter 100

Level Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 99

Outer Gods (外神)

Ancient deities who have created countless universes since time immemorial.

Etarim

[...Once, the ‘gods’ of our world were also among them.]

A conversation he once had with Ber flashed through Suho’s mind.

The god who created the world to which this Earth belongs was also one of the Etarim.

However, even such absolute beings could not escape one thing: death.

And his end was truly tragic.

The Rebellion of the Angels

The angels, born as messengers of the god, one day realized the truth.

The god they served was neither good nor just, but a cruel being who enjoyed creation and destruction.

Realizing this, the angels eventually rebelled against the god and succeeded.

[Thus, the god ultimately died, at the hands of the angels he created.]

But the problem began from there.

A world without a god.

Land without a master.

The vast mana left in this world became a matter of who claimed it first.

The other Etarim, scattered across distant dimensions, noticed this.

[From then on, the Outer Gods began to turn their eyes to our world.]

At first, it was a race to claim the land.

The key was who arrived first and planted their flag.

No matter who lived there.

No matter what the dead god had created.

It was a simple race to destroy and consume everything.

But upon arrival, they encountered an unexpected variable.

That variable was...

[Our king, the young lord’s father.]

The god of this land was dead, but a new king who governed even death was present.

A fragment of the greatest Radiance, the Shadow Lord Seong Jin-woo.

In other words, Suho’s father led a great army into the universe to begin blocking the Etarim’s forces.

...Thus began the prelude to the ‘Outer God War.’

[Our war was fierce and endless, even at this moment.]

No one could predict the outcome of this war.

On one side were beings who endlessly created, and on the other, an army that could rise again no matter how many times they were killed.

No one knew how long this precarious balance would last.

They just kept fighting.

[To break this precarious balance, the Etarim side tried a different approach.]

A detour.

Since the front door guarded by Seong Jin-woo was too strong to break through, they decided to take a long way around and attack the back door.

[That place was Earth.]

In fact, Earth was the least desirable area for the Etarim.

Compared to other dimensions, the residual magic power was too weak, offering little to consume.

But at the same time, it was a place with many vulnerabilities to exploit.

Thus, the Etarim’s messengers immediately began to melt the dimensional barriers to create a path to Earth.

As a result, the already imperfect dimensional gaps began to twist, and gates started to appear on Earth one after another.

But the invaders who emerged from these gates were unexpectedly not the Etarim’s army, but dimensional refugees.

The races of the dead lords, who had been torn apart and wandered after losing the Lord War, began to invade Earth.

[Though I thought the Etarim’s messengers were secretly manipulating things...]

"Is this what it looks like?"

Suho glared at the Bloodthirsty Tyrant with a chilling gaze.

Mist Burn.

A flaming magic hand that burns with a human corpse as its wick.

The corpse of a dead demon was burning in exactly the same way.

Of course, there was a clear difference from Mist Burn.

A wick made of a human burns quickly and turns to ash, but a wick made of a demon is far more durable than a human.

Flame!

A face-like shape appeared above the neck cut by Suho’s sword, with flames flickering.

It looked as if the flaming magic hand was wearing a full-body armor made of ‘demon’s corpse.’

[What a snail-like creature.]

Ber clicked his tongue in derision.

"O Tyrant King!"

"O Tyrant King!"

The demons around them trembled and bowed to the Bloodthirsty Tyrant, creating an atmosphere like fanatics meeting a cult leader.

But the Bloodthirsty Tyrant seemed to ignore the noise, showing interest only in Suho, the only one not bowing to him.

"...This is interesting."

After a while, the Bloodthirsty Tyrant, who had been looking at Suho with interest, opened his mouth, and a strange, resonant voice emerged.

"I never thought I'd find someone like you in such a place."

Gulp.

Suho’s expression tensed.

‘Could he have figured out my identity?’

It would not be good if the Etarim’s messenger knew that the son of the Shadow Lord existed here.

‘I am my father’s only weakness.’

Suho swallowed hard, sensing that the Bloodthirsty Tyrant had noticed something.

If the true nature of the power he used was revealed to the ‘Etarim,’ the consequences were obvious.

He never imagined he would encounter an Etarim’s messenger here, so he was understandably flustered.

"Kukuk!"

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant burst into a wide grin.

"I never thought there would still be a living demon noble!"

...Huh?

Suho’s tense expression suddenly relaxed.

Ber, too, whispered from within Suho’s shadow.

[Hmm. It seems the young lord is feeling the presence of Volcan and Eshil too strongly. Perhaps it’s for the best...]

At that moment,

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant’s eyes gleamed maliciously.

"Amazing. You are even the successor who inherited the power of a lord."

[...!]

"…!"

Suho and Ber’s eyes widened simultaneously.

Pah!

Suho prepared to rush out and cut the creature down immediately.

His mind had already come up with 13 ways to kill the creature as quickly as possible.

[Young lord! We must kill this creature here! If we let him go, the young lord’s information might leak to the enemy...!]

At that moment,

"How could a demon become the successor of the Fang Lord?"

[Keek?]

"How did you know? You have a good sense."

[...Young lord?]

Suho nodded promptly in response to the Bloodthirsty Tyrant’s question.

He could feel Ber’s incredulous gaze from within the shadow, but he ignored it.

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant smiled meaningfully.

"Do you think I’m a fool? I can’t miss the smell of a beast coming from your body."

[The Fang Lord, the king of beasts, looks at the Bloodthirsty Tyrant with a disdainful expression.]

Suho maintained a bold expression, though he could hear Lakan’s tongue clicking from a distance.

And he confidently revealed his identity (or so he claimed).

"You’re right. I am a demon noble who inherited the power of the Fang Lord."

"Indeed. Kukuk. Good, good! I never thought I’d find someone like you in such a remote place!"

His confident demeanor seemed to work, as the Bloodthirsty Tyrant burst into a satisfied laugh.

The laughter echoed throughout the Colosseum, making the demons cower even more.

In fact, Suho was currently in a state where Gray was possessing his body.

Additionally, he held Volcan’s horn in his hand rather than on his head, but it was natural to think of him as a demon who could weaponize his horn like Eshil.

‘Good. I managed to hide my true identity.’

[Is, is this really okay?]

Eshil’s incredulous voice reached Suho, who was smiling with satisfaction, but he pretended not to hear it.

Although Quina and Ber’s forms appeared during the battle, fortunately, the Bloodthirsty Tyrant did not seem to notice.

[So, what’s your plan?]

When Eshil whispered from within Volcan’s horn, Suho repeated the question to the Bloodthirsty Tyrant.

"So, what’s your plan?"

Suho glared at the Bloodthirsty Tyrant with an extremely arrogant and haughty gaze, as if he were a real demon noble.

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant looked at Suho with a derisive expression.

"Did you come here from the start to target me?"

"Stop talking nonsense and tell me why you’re gathering slaves in such a remote place to mine hell iron."

Many demons were being used as slaves here, but their only task was to mine hell iron from the mines.

What could they be planning to do with so much hell iron?

The only thing that came to mind was:

"Are you preparing for a war?"

As Eshil had mentioned, hell iron was the most commonly used material for making weapons in the demon realm.

Hell iron, tainted with magic, was not only extremely hard but also the best-reacting ore to magic, capable of significantly amplifying magical power.

In response to Suho’s question, the Bloodthirsty Tyrant spread his flaming arms and pointed to the demons in the vast Colosseum.

"Look! This place is already under my perfect control. But as you know, this is just a fragmented part of the demon realm."

The reason this place was called a remote area.

There were countless demon realms scattered and drifting aimlessly in the dimensional gaps, and this was just one of them.

"I plan to train these creatures to conquer all the demon realms. And... "

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant’s expression grew even darker as he looked at Suho.

"I will bring all other dimensions under my feet. I will kill and consume them all."

That was it.

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant, or the Etarim’s messenger, intended to use this place as a starting point to bring the demon realms under his control.

And then, step by step, conquer other dimensions until...

‘He will reach Earth.’

Suho, who now understood the Etarim’s messenger’s plan, narrowed his eyes.

Meanwhile, the Bloodthirsty Tyrant raised his wicked aura and licked his lips.

Then he focused that aura on Suho.

"That’s why I was looking for someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Yes. If I wear the body of a demon noble like you as armor, how much stronger will I become? Kuk. Just thinking about it is thrilling."

It was intoxicating.

The Bloodthirsty Tyrant, who was already wearing the body of a demon warden like armor, looked as if he had already obtained Suho’s body.

This was not just a boast or a delusion.

All the demons in the Colosseum were his slaves.

But even in this overwhelmingly dangerous situation...

‘Ber.’

Suho was silently asking Ber a question with a calm gaze.

‘Father... has he been fighting these creatures alone? By himself?’

[Yes.]

Ber answered solemnly.

[The king has always fought alone. In places no one knows, in times no one remembers.]

And even at this moment...

Suho’s father, Seong Jin-woo, was still continuing his lonely and solitary battle.

At the farthest edge of the universe, where no one could reach.

‘...I see.’

Suho nodded silently.

His eyes began to burn calmly.

"Father must be incredibly bored."

So...

"I need to go and meet him."

Honestly, he didn’t know if he could be of any help.

But as his only son, he should at least go to massage the shoulders of his father, who was struggling alone in a distant land.

"…I should bring some gifts when I go."

Suho’s gaze turned to the Bloodthirsty Tyrant, who exuded a threatening presence.

Yes, gifts.

Gifts.

First, he would start by dealing with the creature in front of him.

"Stand up."