Chapter 95

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 94

That night.

"…You killed three in a row?"

An old voice pierced the silence of the night, reaching Suho's ears.

Suho, who was sitting in the prison, turned his head in that direction.

An old man, or rather, a dirty and old demon.

He was still lying with his back turned, far away in the darkness.

As Suho silently stared at him, a voice of disapproval soon came from the old demon.

"Tsk. Occasionally, there are demons like you who are well-suited to the Blood Venom. But you'll eventually regret eating the food, ignoring my warning."

As the old demon said, Suho had indeed killed three Blood Demons in a row, sent by the demon guards.

The audience was in a frenzy of excitement at this astonishing sight.

For the slaves who had lived in oppression, the sight of a seemingly weak demon executing much stronger demons provided an extreme sense of catharsis.

However, this was not the scenario the demon guards had hoped for.

What they had wanted was for the strong to cruelly kill and toy with the weak, and then eat them.

This would firmly engrave the absolute truth of 'submitting to the strong' in the slaves' minds.

But what Suho showed was the complete opposite.

"…Still, it was a good thing you didn't eat the Blood Demons."

The old demon's words to Suho continued.

As he said, at the execution ground, Suho killed the demons but did not eat their bodies.

Demons usually become stronger by consuming the magic power contained in the blood of other demons they hunt.

But Suho was not a demon, so he had no reason to drink their blood.

Apart from Volcan's horn devouring their souls.

The demon guards, who did not understand these reasons, eventually stopped Suho's execution when it did not go as they had hoped.

Continuing would only result in the precious Blood Demons dying in vain.

"Demons eating other demons is a natural thing. But the blood of demons poisoned by Blood Venom must never be consumed."

"…Why is that?"

Finally, Suho spoke.

"Because the more Blood Demons you eat, the more the Blood Venom accumulates in your body. You will become stronger, but the pain will also increase."

"That's not what I asked."

Suho was curious about something else.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"…I've told all the others too. They just didn't listen."

That was to be expected.

After all, while the Blood Venom brings pain, it also amplifies strength.

Telling someone not to consume Blood Venom before an execution is essentially telling them to die willingly.

And that was why the other demons here mocked and criticized the old demon.

"Once you become a Blood Demon, your end will be a miserable and painful death."

"Like you now?"

Cough.

The old demon spat out black blood instead of answering.

[The King of Insects, the Lord of Plague, is watching the blood of a demon completely poisoned by Blood Venom.]

"…At first, I ate whatever was given. I fought and won countless battles in the execution grounds, and by consuming the blood of countless bodies, I gradually became stronger. But eventually, I saw it. The end of the Blood Demons who survived like me, with the Blood Venom reaching their bone marrow."

The old demon coughed for a while before chuckling.

"The Tyrant King waits for the moment we are most deliciously ripe before eating us. It's the most efficient way."

Realizing this, the old demon began to fast.

Even after winning in the execution grounds, he never ate the bodies of the defeated.

Because the moment the concentration of Blood Venom in his body reached its peak, the Tyrant King would eat him.

"This Colosseum is a feeding ground and a food storage for the Tyrant King. Hehe."

[Now I understand why this old man is so skinny.]

Eshil muttered.

[Suho, it seems the food you ate today might be your last meal here. From now on, if you're hungry, you'll have to kill and eat your opponents in the execution grounds.]

"Really, it's so devilishly cruel. I don't like this."

Shaking his head, Suho, taking the opportunity to talk, asked the old demon a question.

"More importantly, sir. Where does the Tyrant King usually hide?"

"Hide? Hehe. That's a very accurate expression. It's scary to think who might hear it. Clearly, the young ones these days are full of energy."

At this, the old demon, for the first time, turned his body and faced Suho.

With a hollow gaze, he looked directly into Suho's eyes and whispered in a low tone.

"No one knows where the Tyrant King lives. He is a coward."

"A coward?"

"Hehe. Yes. The Tyrant King is not only the absolute ruler here but also the most delicious prey. If I ate his body, I could instantly become stronger."

As he said this, the old demon's eyes gleamed with intense greed.

Slurp.

Even if it was an impossible future, the mere thought seemed to bring him joy as he licked his lips like a snake.

[Let me tell you in advance.]

Suddenly, Eshil spoke to Suho.

[This mutual eating and being eaten is something that only happens among weak demons. Don't misunderstand and think that noble demons like me do the same.]

‘I didn’t ask, did I?’

[No, really. You've seen me eat often, haven't you? We don't crudely tear into corpses. Absorbing bloodstones is much cleaner and more efficient.]

‘Bloodstones?’

This reminded Suho of the mid-level demon he had hunted before entering the demon world.

‘Now that I think about it, he said he ate bloodstones to amplify his power. What exactly are bloodstones?’

[They are highly condensed crystals of the magic power contained in a demon's blood. Sometimes, low-class nobles directly eat demons, but high-class nobles like the Radir family eat bloodstones.]

‘Is that the same thing?’

[No, completely different! We can collect a little bloodstone without necessarily killing our opponent. If a noble became a demon and ate all the demons under them, who would serve us?]

‘Ah, that makes sense.’

Eshil, worried that Suho might view him negatively, defended himself enthusiastically.

[So, here, a non-noble is foolishly trying to imitate a noble by raising and eating his own kind. This is not only inefficient but also reduces the number of demons.]

While Eshil was talking, Suho summarized what he needed to do in his mind.

"So, in the end, to catch the Tyrant King, I need to make myself as delicious as possible."

"Wh-What did you say? You're saying you're going to catch the Tyrant King? Hahaha! What a lunatic!"

Suho's words were so absurd that the old demon burst into hearty laughter.

The loud laughter woke up the other demons, who began to complain.

"Ah! What's so noisy?"

"Is this old man going crazy in the middle of the night?"

The quiet prison was suddenly filled with curses.

But the old demon's laughter showed no sign of stopping.

Since the demons were locked in separate cells to prevent them from harming each other, there was no way to stop his laughter.

In the noisy atmosphere, Suho looked directly at the old demon, who was laughing at him from afar, and asked.

"Sir, can I ask one more question?"

"Hehehe! Sure, sure! What's so curious?"

"What do I need to do to make myself delicious to the Tyrant King?"

"Hahahaha!"

This time, not only the old demon but also the other demons burst into laughter.

"What is that lunatic saying now?!"

"What? He wants to be delicious to the Tyrant King?"

"This time, a truly mad demon has come! Hahaha!"

The events of Suho's execution the previous day were already widely known among the demons in the Colosseum.

But since most were locked in their cells, none had actually witnessed it.

Even though Suho had killed three Blood Demons in one day, to the demons locked here, he was still just a young and inexperienced one.

"You've gone mad from getting lucky once!"

"Your arrogance has reached its peak!"

"Want to attract the Tyrant King's attention? Do you want to become his subordinate?"

"That's too easy!"

"Keep eating! In the execution grounds, endlessly eat us, and thoroughly poison your brain with Blood Venom!"

"Then the Tyrant King will appear before you!"

"Ah."

Suho regretted it a bit.

If he had known they would be so helpful, he should have asked earlier.

"…If that's the case, I shouldn't have skipped my meal today."

At Suho's mutter, a presence somewhere was shocked.

[The King of Insects, the Lord of Plague, is startled by your ferocity.]

[The King of Beasts, the Lord of Fangs, chuckles, saying the world is a place of the strong preying on the weak.]

"Then, let's see…"

Crack.

He slowly rotated his wrists and smiled meaningfully.

"Maybe I'll do a proper eating show."

* * *

Suho's eating show began the next day.

"Yesterday was the first day, so we only sent weak ones."

"But today will be different."

The demon guards sent Suho to the execution grounds with a sinister smile.

"You'll regret not eating those bodies yesterday."

"Right. I regretted it all night."

"…What?"

"So, from today, I'll eat."

The guards were puzzled by Suho's unexpected response.

"Arrogant one-horned demon…"

"Putting on a useless show of strength."

"That will be the end of you today."

The guards firmly believed that Suho, who they thought was already poisoned by Blood Venom, would be weaker today after using his strength yesterday.

It made sense.

Blood Venom burns a demon's blood with each use of magic.

After all, the reason Eshil, who was a demon noble, had become so weak was because he had been drained of blood by many demons.

"…In that sense."

Suho, looking up at the more fearsome opponent in the execution grounds, grinned.

He shot forward like a cannonball and plunged his hand into the demon's body.

Crash!

The demon's body was slammed into the ground by the immense force.

"Try to eat well and gain some strength, Eshil."

[That's a welcome sound.]

The demon noble inside Volcan's horn gleamed with excitement.

Squish!

At that moment, a black aura began to be sucked out from the demon's body through Suho's hand.

The aura condensed into small points and floated in the air like beads.

"Wait, what?"

"What is that?"

The audience was shocked by this strange sight.

"Unbelievable! Could it be…!"

"Bloodstones?!"

Even the demon guards were wide-eyed with shock.

More so than yesterday.

It was natural for them to be shocked.

Extracting bloodstones from a body before killing the opponent.

Such a feat was only possible by…!

"A noble?!"

"A demon noble!"

"Such madness! Could there still be a living noble?!"

Swoosh!

At that moment, the bloodstones floating in the air flowed into Volcan's horn.

Precisely into the mouth of the real demon noble inside.

"Is the one-horned demon a demon noble?!"