Chapter 28

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 27

Ding!

Just in time, the quest was completed.

[Quest: Rescue the Survivors has been completed.]

[Number of rescued survivors: 7]

'They must have made it out of the dungeon safely.'

Suhwo nodded, recalling the hunters who had carried the survivors out first.

They had promised to get to the surface as quickly as possible to avoid being caught by the demons, so now Suhwo only needed to escape on his own.

'Before that.'

[Quest completion rewards have arrived.]

[Would you like to check the rewards?] (Y/N)

"Check rewards."

Ding!

[The following rewards are available:]

Reward 1: Stat points +3

Reward 2: 1 random box

"Random box?"

Suhwo's eyes sparkled.

A normal random box without the 'cursed' descriptor?

He had no idea what could be inside.

Suhwo accepted all the rewards.

He invested all the stat points into strength, and a moment later, a small random box appeared in Suhwo's hand.

'What's inside?'

He eagerly tore open the packaging, and to his surprise, a few glittering gold coins were inside.

Jingle.

[You have obtained 700 gold.]

"Gold coins?"

Could it be that he received 700 gold for rescuing 7 survivors?

It was quite coincidental that he received gold for use in the shop right after the shop function was activated.

'But it can't be a coincidence, right?'

Suhwo was now beginning to realize.

The level-up system he inherited from his father seemed to have a 'benevolent' intention.

"Thank you for the allowance, Father."

The gold coins were all stored in his inventory.

At the bottom of the inventory, the number 700 gold appeared.

"Open the shop."

A new shop window unfolded in front of Suhwo.

[Shop]

Buy / Sell

The shop window was extremely simple.

Just as Suhwo was about to check the list of items he could buy, Berga suddenly appeared and asked.

[Young Lord.]

[What will you do with that demon?]

Suhwo's gaze turned to the female demon lying on the ground, dying.

'I almost forgot about her.'

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

He had left her alive for now, as she had been fighting fiercely against the lower demons, but now it was time to make a decision.

Before that, there was something he needed to confirm.

"But I saw you talking to Berga just now? Do you two know each other?"

[Yes, the Radir family is the only family that did not attack Lord Seong Jin-woo when he was purging the demon realm.]

The Radir family, recognizing their own weakness, had volunteered to become Seong Jin-woo's slaves.

However, if not for Seong Jin-woo's whims, their surrender would never have been accepted.

In fact, most of the demons who encountered Seong Jin-woo during the war of the lords were killed.

Or, like the lower demons he met today, they fled early from the battlefield and hid out of Seong Jin-woo's sight.

[And Lord Seong Jin-woo forcibly captured this demon, Eshil, and used her as a guide.]

"Um..."

At that moment, Eshil, lying on the ground, called out to Suhwo with a dying voice, bleeding profusely.

"Sorry to interrupt, but could you save me first? I really feel like I'm going to die."

At that moment,

Rumble!

A loud noise came from Eshil's stomach.

"Huh?"

As Suhwo and Berga's attention focused on her, Eshil, with an embarrassed look, patted her sunken stomach.

"I've been on the run for years and haven't eaten..."

Ah.

When she said she was going to die, she meant she was starving to death.

* * *

To cut to the chase, Suhwo ultimately decided to save Eshil.

There were several reasons, one of which was to test the effects of the potion he bought from the shop.

[Item: Low-grade Healing Potion]

Acquisition difficulty: E

Type: Consumable

A potion that can restore health.

Drinking it slowly restores 500 HP.

It can be stored in the inventory but cannot be transferred to others.

'Cannot be transferred to others? Then can I feed it to someone directly?'

Suhwo approached Eshil and poured the potion into her mouth.

"Ahh!"

As Eshil drank the potion, her wounds began to heal.

"What, are you a healer? And what's your relationship with Seong Jin-woo..."

But Suhwo, ignoring Eshil's wide-eyed stare, focused only on the potion's performance.

'Hmm. The healing speed is a bit slow. It would be difficult to use it in the middle of a battle. Still, leveling up is the best.'

After a while, Eshil's condition improved to the point where she could move.

But the rumbling in her stomach was still loud.

"I have no strength because I'm so hungry..."

'You were fighting well just now.'

And the second reason Suhwo decided to save Eshil was because the aura he sensed from her was not very impressive.

In other words, she was easy to handle.

Even after drinking the potion and recovering, the aura Suhwo sensed from Eshil was at best C-grade.

According to Berga, a demon noble should normally have S-grade power.

However, due to various complex reasons, Eshil's power had been reduced to a fraction of its original strength.

'But even if she is weak, I can't just take a demon out of the dungeon.'

For that reason, the method Suhwo ultimately chose was:

[Would you like to enter the Shadow Dungeon?]

"Enter."

Whoosh!

Suhwo took Eshil into the Shadow Dungeon.

The Shadow Dungeon was a space where only the Shadow Soldiers could freely enter and exit.

It was the perfect prison for a demon.

However, when they actually entered the Shadow Dungeon, Eshil's reaction was quite flustered.

"Ah, to return to the world of rest!"

Seeing the black-and-white world, Eshil began to exclaim in awe.

Then she turned to Suhwo and asked.

"How can you, who is not a Shadow Lord, contain the world of rest within your shadow? What is your relationship with Seong Jin-woo?"

"I'm his son."

"His son? Ah! You're Suhwo?!"

Eshil was startled and began to exclaim.

"Wow! That little baby has grown so much already? Humans really grow fast."

"Do you know me?"

In response to Eshil's words, Suhwo only tilted his head.

Even though his sealed memories had returned, he didn't remember every face he had seen as a child.

Besides, there were so many soldiers living in Seong Jin-woo's Shadow World.

Suhwo turned his gaze from Eshil, who was greeting him happily, and asked Berga.

"By the way, what is this 'world of rest'?"

[Another name for the Shadow Dungeon.]

Berga explained.

The world ruled by the Shadow Lord had many names.

The world of shadows.

The world beyond death.

And the realm of rest.

Even the other lords who are now dead had their own worlds.

However, the only one who could carry an entire world within their shadow was the Shadow Lord.

"Is this Shadow Dungeon the world I rule?"

[More precisely, it is the world ruled by Lord Seong Jin-woo. However, for some reason, the world split into two when you were born. To be more accurate, it proliferated.]

"So one of them became my shadow."

Suhwo nodded.

Enough chitchat; it was time to get to the point.

Suhwo looked at Eshil and asked directly.

"You're Eshil, right? Since I saved you, tell me everything you know. What are the demons planning on Earth? What happened in the demon realm?"

"Well..."

Eshil began to speak with a bitter tone.

"After the war, things were good at first. Since Lord Seong Jin-woo killed all the other nobles, the Radir family became the top demon. Plus, he allowed our family, who had nowhere to go, to stay in the Shadow World."

At that time, the demon realm had already lost its lord and was torn apart, drifting in the dimensional gaps.

In that situation, Seong Jin-woo allowed the demons of the Radir family, who had helped him, to live in his world.

But it didn't last long.

"We ultimately couldn't become residents of the Shadow World."

"Because of the tainted souls?"

"You know."

As Suhwo had experienced, demons, being tainted souls, could not be extracted as Shadow Soldiers.

"So we eventually had to return to the demon realm. Or rather, the demon realm called us back."

"The demon realm?"

"Yes. Suddenly, a Red Gate leading to the demon realm opened in front of us in the Shadow World, and it started to pull us in."

At that time, the demon realm, having lost its lord, was torn apart and drifting in the dimensional gaps.

A world without a lord would call for a lord.

It was natural for the demon realm to call the only remaining demon noble family, the Radir family.

However, the demon realm was a world maintained by the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest.

Without Seong Jin-woo's help, the Radir family, which had been only 20th in rank, lacked the power to dominate the demon realm.

Then, the demons who had hidden from the Shadow Lord during the war began to crawl out and challenge the seemingly weak authority of the Radir family.

'If we get rid of the Radir family!'

'We can become nobles!'

'Let's eat the nobles and drink their pure blood!'

'Drinking pure blood will amplify our demonic power!'

...Thus, all the demons united to attack the Radir family.

The Radir family, being one of the weakest among the nobles, lacked the power to suppress the rebellion.

"Those who are weak have no right to live. We were eaten and our blood was drained. Now, I am the only surviving demon noble."

[So that's why you're so weak?]

"...Yes. I almost died several times, and I lost a lot of blood. That's why my power is so weak."

Berga, who had been listening, added.

[Demons are born with a predetermined hierarchy of power. It's not just about pure blood or mixed blood. The foundation of their power lies in their inherited blood, which is why they are obsessed with drinking blood.]

'It's similar to the situation with Gray.'

Suhwo nodded.

Thinking about it, it was similar to the situation with the Gray of the fang clan.

Eshil, nodding vigorously, added.

"That's right. Demons are extremely afraid of losing their power. Whether they are nobles or mixed blood, if they are weak, they will be eaten. That's why it's so strange that those who summoned me did so."

"Strange?"

"Yes. They possessed human bodies, which made them weaker, to come to Earth. It's not a very demon-like action."

Not a very demon-like action.

Suhwo realized what Eshil was trying to say.

"Are you suggesting that there's someone else behind the demons?"

"Yes. The way they summoned me was also strange. Demons are good at destroying and killing, but they don't know how to forcibly open dimensional barriers."

"Then? Someone taught them? Who?"

Berga, who had been listening, sighed deeply.

[...Could it be the Illusionary Realm?]

"Illusionary Realm?"

[The Gate magic was often used by the lord of the Illusionary Realm, Yogmunt.]

"Illusionary Realm."

Suhwo pondered over Berga's words.

"Then, are you saying that the remnants of the demon realm and the Illusionary Realm are working together?"

And one more thing.

'Stardust.'

One of the ingredients of stardust, Mist Fern.

No, the main ingredient of Mist Fern, 'Blue Mist,' was an extraterrestrial magic power that could dissolve dimensional boundaries.

"...It seems the extraterrestrial beings are using the remnants on this side to plan something."

[Yes, I think so too.]

Suhwo's conclusion was met with a solemn nod from Berga.

[Perhaps... the extraterrestrial beings have already infiltrated Earth.]

It seemed the invasion had already begun.