Chapter 362

The thousands of barriers created by Kandiaru were impregnable. They were his greatest work, powered by the infinite divine power of the Outer Gods, a true “eternal fountain.” However, all of it was torn apart as Suho’s daggers cut through them with ease. The black flames, infused with Antares’ destructive power, and the blades that followed his father’s combat patterns sliced through the barriers like a hot knife through butter.

[Skill: “True Mutilation” destroys every barrier.]

“Ugh...!”

Kandiaru clenched his teeth. The monster birthed by the very system he had designed was now turning on him—and it wasn’t even the man himself, but his son. For some reason, the son was able to pinpoint and exploit every weakness in his spells with perfect precision.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Th-this cannot be!”

Kandiaru gripped the net of spells desperately as it fell apart, but it was useless. Backed into a corner, he finally played his last card.

“Very well! I will make you destroy, with your own hands, the very things your father fought so hard to protect!”

In that instant, a jet-black surge of cursed energy burst from Kandiaru’s body and spread across the entire planet. It was the most dreadful curse he could muster as the Monarch of Transfiguration, and it targeted the soul directly.

[The Monarch of Transfiguration has activated the power: “Echoes of Despair.”]

The moment it was activated, an overwhelming, inescapable feeling of despair and terror took hold in every human heart. True to its name, the curse instantly rippled across the planet like an echo.

“Aahhh!”

“Eeek!”

Horrific screams erupted from people’s mouths without warning, all across the globe. Soon, people began vomiting and collapsing on the spot. It was a fundamental despair that pierced deep into the soul, a plague that spread without pause. Those who had looked to the skies and cheered for Suho were now overwhelmed by a fear of death.

“S-save us...”

“Please...”

It was a curse in every sense of the word. In their eyes, they saw visions of the end of the world. In their ears, they heard the screams of their loved ones dying, phantom sounds that felt entirely real. It was the worst-case scenario—humanity itself had been taken hostage.

Kandiaru grinned triumphantly and shouted at Suho, “See that, Suho? Your father always fought to protect those pathetic creatures! They were saved only because of his noble sacrifice, and now they will die because of you! The fault is yours, and they will despise you for it! Will you continue to fight me all the same? Will you let your father’s sacrifice be for nothing?”

Kandiaru was certain that Suho, as Jinwoo’s son, could never abandon the humans that Jinwoo had sought to protect. He planned to use the situation to his advantage to seize Suho’s powerful body and soul as his new vessel. In the end, Suho would yield.

“You underestimate us humans.”

Even in the face of Kandiaru’s threats, Suho didn’t so much as flinch. In fact, his eyes held only scorn and mockery.

“What... What did you say?” Kandiaru demanded.

It was then that he witnessed an unbelievable sight. The instant Suho spoke, the humans who had collapsed in despair around the world suddenly began to rise, one by one. The curse that had bound their souls was now breaking apart like a mirage.

“What is this...? Why is my curse not working?” Kandiaru cried out.

The truth soon revealed itself.

Those who had been cursed had, almost instinctively, thrown themselves into VR game capsules, even as they screamed. At the exact moment Kandiaru’s curse spread, a notification had appeared on every phone on Earth. However, it wasn’t a government emergency alert, but something else entirely.

[Emergency Patch Notice

- Please enter the nearest capsule immediately and evacuate to the Tower of Tribulation.]

The message had come from none other than Ahjinsoft, the game development company that had created the world’s first virtual reality game and made the capsules a global phenomenon. Jinho, its CEO, had ensured the alert reached everyone. No one hesitated.

“Ugh...!”

Even under the weight of the curse, people forced themselves toward the capsules, dragging their bodies inside.

Kandiaru had remained hidden from Jinwoo for nearly twenty years—and twenty years was a long time for humans, unlike other races that lived far longer. In that time, the VR game had spread across every generation, and now the capsules were as commonplace as smartphones, where everyone owned at least one. They were in homes and offices, and the streets were lined with PC cafés that had even more. Because of all this, people rushed to the nearest capsule and lay down inside.

The result was a notification.

[Accessing “Solo Leveling: Ragnarok.”]

Ding!

[Entering Tutorial: “Tower of Tribulation.”]

Their souls left their bodies instantly, drawn into the avatars prepared for them in the Tower of Tribulation. The curse, which targeted their souls, lost its effectiveness the moment the souls were transported to another dimension. Countless people opened their eyes in the Tower of Tribulation as their avatars, all sharing a single name: Sung Jinwoo.

“We did it. Most of humanity has taken refuge in the Tower of Tribulation!” said Ammut from within Nidhogg.

Everything was going according to plan. Suho smiled faintly at Kandiaru. Though his lips curved, his eyes glared with seething rage.

“Thanks. Because of the system you created, now everyone has the power to fight back. Just like my father did.”

A chill of dread ran through Kandiaru as his eyes widened. He knew very well what the Tower of Tribulation was. How could he not? Across the globe, black pyramids rose across the Earth, planted in every major city. The tower had originally been created by none other than Kandiaru himself.

It had once been a laboratory to research the Iron Body Technique, where he had conducted various experiments to create a vessel worthy of the Monarch of Shadows. It was a relic of Kandiaru’s own past. A mere experiment from that lab, Ammut, was now a Monarch, having taken the primordial darkness for himself. He had escaped Kandiaru’s prison and turned the tower into a power of his own, with astonishing results.

[Ammut activated the power: “Tower of Tribulation.”]

The power, remarkably, managed to evacuate people’s souls into another dimension, freeing them from the curse. The game capsules, which acted as gateways, had already been built to extract the soul from the body and were infused with spells from the shadow demonic spirits who served Jinwoo. They were so advanced that they could even prolong the lives of those suffering from Eternal Slumber—cases where souls had already drifted into the debuff-imbued Sea of the Afterlife. If the capsules could withstand the Sea of the Afterlife, then removing people from Kandiaru’s mere Monarch-level curse was nothing.

Suho’s plans didn’t end there, however. Ever since he had begun to level himself, he had known quite well who his true enemies were: gods. No matter how much his level rose, that fact did not change. Even while growing stronger, his sights had always been set on the distant edge of the universe. Everything happening now was part of a larger plan Suho had been building since level one.

At that moment, Kandiaru saw it for himself. The curse he had unleashed let him witness what was occurring across the planet. The dark pyramids that stood in every major city sent pillars of radiant light shooting into the sky from their peaks. Each one twisted upward until they converged into a single river of light that surged toward Suho, locked in battle with Kandiaru.

“Don’t tell me you...”

Kandiaru started with shocked eyes. What he was seeing defied all expectations.

That towering beam of light racing toward them contained a countless number of souls, every one of them bearing the name Sung Jinwoo. They were the avatars grown from the cells of an Apostle, and they were rushing headlong in their direction.

“What... What have you done?”

Kandiaru couldn’t understand. Power had always belonged to a chosen few. That was always how it had worked. Lowly creatures could not be allowed to gain it and threaten the seats of the strong. Suho, however, hadn’t chosen to grow strong alone. Instead, he had chosen the most foolish method: to raise all the weak ones alongside him.

In that instant, Suho’s eyes met Kandiaru’s panicked gaze. His dagger pierced straight into Kandiaru’s heart.

“All humans are capable of growth. No matter how weak or clumsy they start out, they can grow endlessly stronger through trials. And the strongest among them is my father.” His eyes gleamed, sharp and cold. “And I will never be the one who stands in his way.”

Nidhogg, now fused with the pillar of light that contained humanity’s fervent will, pierced straight through Kandiaru’s body. It didn’t stop there. In a single line, it tore through the enormous eye of the Outer God looming behind him.

The Outer God let out a scream so terrible that space and time themselves began to twist. It was a pure white trajectory, containing Suho and the entire human race, which broke through the infinite wall between dimensions and raced toward the realm ruled by the Outer Gods.

“We did it,” Suho said.

Looking up at the Outer God, now trembling in rage and missing an eye, he smiled brightly. That smile did not last long. Gasps rose from every human who had crossed into this new dimension.

The wrath of the wounded Outer God roared across the sky as thunder and lightning, flooding the people with bone-deep terror. This was the true beginning of war. The wrath of absolute beings now rained down from above.

Suho reached out his hand toward Kandiaru’s tattered body and used Ruler’s Authority. An invisible force dragged Kandiaru toward him.

[Power: “World Tree’s Shadow” has activated.]

Suho ripped the unclaimed primordial darkness from Kandiaru’s body with his bare hands, right then and there.

“Beru!” he shouted to the tiny Beru, who had returned to his miniature form after spending all his strength. “Eat this, now!”

“Kieeeek!”

Beru obeyed without hesitation and swallowed the body of Kandiaru—or rather, of Yuri Orloff. He used the skill Devour, which allowed him as a commander of the shadow army to absorb fragments of power and memory from those he consumed. The small Beru swallowed, and system messages, which had never worked for Beru before, began to pour forth notifications about him.

Ding!

[Commander Beru has devoured “Yuri Orloff.”]

Ding!

[Commander Beru has absorbed the abilities of the “Apostle of Infinity” and has gained the skill: “Eternal Fountain.”]

The results were incredible.

The project Yuri had completed in secret was designed to siphon limitless power from the Itarim. To make that possible, the main challenge of the project was to create a direct gate through which that power could travel across the vast universe. Through countless spells and wards, the project had succeeded. Now, Beru had just claimed a portion of that power for himself.

[Commander Beru is now connected to “Sung Jinwoo, the Monarch of Shadows.”]

More notifications followed.

[Commander Beru used the skill: “Eternal Fountain.”]

[Commander Beru has recovered all mana.]

Despite the immeasurable distance between them, Jinwoo’s vast reservoir of mana now flowed freely into Beru.