Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 260

Chapter 260

Are you not going to answer?

Or maybe I’m not in a position to answer.

No answer came from Fores’ soul, which had already become a worthless ice flower.

[Even if you don’t answer, I need to know.]

Silad stretched out his hand with a fearful expression and grabbed the ice flower.

[Even if it squeezes your soul.]

Whioooo-

A blast of frosty wind blew from Scylla’s mouth. 1

[The King of the Snowmen, the Lord of the Cold, uses ‘Skill: Illusion of the Ice Flower.’]

The fantasy of ice flowers.

Silad’s spirit magic that showed the appearance of Cha Hae-in, who was in the tomb of the dragons in the past, before Su-ho’s eyes.

This time, the creepy wind wrapped around the ice flowers of Fores like a rope.

Then, a system message appeared in front of Suho.

Tiring!

[Calls out the traces left on the spirit body.]

[Do you accept?] (Y/N)

‘What is this?’

Silad’s firm voice was heard towards Suho, who was looking at the message.

[Accept it quickly. This idiot was a considerably strong man among the high elves who were competing with me for the throne. For him to end up like this is by no means a small matter.]

‘A trace left on the spirit body… … Are you trying to steal my memories?’

[Yes. Even though I’m dead, I can still exert this much power against the elves I ruled.]

Extreme cold.

An aura of majesty emanated from Silad, one that seemed to be that of a once lord of a dimension.

Seeing that majestic appearance, Suho’s gaze naturally turned to his side.

In this world, there were not only him and Silad.

The successor chosen directly by Silad.

Sirka had also been dragged here with him.

Whioo-

In the midst of this raging storm, Sirka was trapped in transparent ice, her eyes closed and still.

Even Sirka’s time seemed to be frozen along with the ice.

[Don’t worry. I froze that guy for a while, so he’ll be safe for the time being.]

The storm of these spirits was not targeting Suho, but Sirka.

It was a second-best option after failing to take over Suho’s body, but in reality, the spirits were much more familiar with Sirka than Suho.

Sirka was an elf of the same race as the original hosts, the high elves, and her bloodline was a direct descendant of the previous monarch, Shilad.

[Sirka can’t handle this amount of spirits yet. The moment the ice breaks, Sirka will eventually be eaten by the spirits. Accept it quickly.]

Silad urged Suho to come.

The answer was already decided anyway.

‘acceptance.’

As Suho nodded, a mirage-like illusion bloomed from the ice flower that Silad was holding.

Swaaaah!

‘…uh?’

When he came to his senses, Suho’s spirit was no longer in the middle of a storm, but was standing in a beautiful forest.

A green forest filled with the fresh scent of grass and flowers.

Above it, the fantasy of ice flowers drew a new picture.

Then, one by one, images of elves peacefully running through the forest and beautiful tree houses were added to the fantasy.

Shwaak-

And the last thing the Ice Flower’s fantasy drew was a giant tree towering in the middle of the forest.

Suho muttered while looking at the tree.

‘Elvenwood?’

[Yes, this is Elvenwood where I lived.]

Suddenly, a cold blizzard swept over Suho and Silad’s face appeared in the air.

Silad muttered, looking back at the forest with a longing expression.

[Originally, ‘Elvenwood’ was the name given to the tree you see in the middle. And we elves were nomads who lived around Elvenwood.]

Suho tilted his head.

There was a mistake in the words.

‘You live in groups centered around trees? If you’re a nomad, shouldn’t you be able to move around to live?’

[Wandering around. After this land becomes desolate.]

‘It’s devastated? What do you mean?’

[Watch. It’s about to start.]

Shwaak-

As soon as Silad finished speaking, a chilling wind blew through the forest.

And as time passed several times faster, the beautiful forest landscape began to become noticeably desolate.

Spring, summer, fall, winter.

As the four seasons passed by in order, all the beautiful scenery that had spread out before my eyes crumbled and withered away.

Accordingly, the elves’ clothes became thicker and thicker. in result.

Whioooo-

In the end, what was left was ‘bitter cold’.

But even in these moments, there was still something that hadn’t changed at all since the beginning…

It was none other than ‘Elvenwood’.

[Elvenwood is a spirit tree that provides the optimal environment for elves to live in. The power of the spirits grows stronger near Elvenwood, and the elves’ spirit magic also grows stronger.]

But nothing in this world lasts forever.

There could be no such thing as an inexhaustible force.

[Elvenwood sucks up all the nutrients around it.

Then, when all the nutrients in this land are gone… … .]

Swish!

[Use the elves as nutrients.]

Ugh!

Just then a scream was heard.

The Elvenwood, which was becoming increasingly withered due to lack of nutrients, suddenly began to spread its roots and attack the elves.

Suho frowned.

‘When the land is fertile, they are friends of the elves, but when the land is lacking nutrients, they use the elves as emergency food?’

[Emergency food… …. That’s an appropriate expression.]

Silad muttered bitterly.

[Yes, that’s right. I hate to admit it, but our elves may have been bred as food for Elvenwood from the beginning.]

Elves were being brutally killed right before my eyes.

It was drying up, with all its nutrients being sucked out by the sharp roots of the Elvenwood tree poking into its body.

[At times like this, even the spirits won’t help us. The spirits are friends of the elves? Hehe. Those who say such nonsense are one of two things.]

Silad’s eyes flashed with anger.

[either a young elf who has never experienced this before, or… ….]

‘It must be the spirits themselves.’

[okay.]

Swish.

At that moment, the corpses of the elves that had withered to death from lack of nutrients were writhing and rising again right before Suho’s eyes.

Like a zombie.

[If Elvenwood sucks the nutrients out of the elves, then the spirits are after the husks that have had all the nutrients sucked out. Because we have been friends for so long, our elves’ corpses are full of spirit affinity.]

In order to use spirit magic, you must have a high affinity for spirits.

To put it the other way around, a corpse with high affinity for spirits is the perfect vessel for the spirits.

and.

[??]

Suho saw.

The name tags floating above the heads of the elf zombies had question marks on them, just like in Fores.

‘I get it now.’

Suho finally understood.

Perhaps the question mark means that the system is an entity whose identity cannot be determined.

They have already become something that is neither elves nor spirits.

Even at this very moment, other spirits were competing to enter

the shell, pushing aside the spirits that had already settled in.

‘The kernels were constantly turning over, so it was impossible to give them a name.’

[Name. Now that I think about it, you humans seem to call us ice elves ‘White Ghosts.’]

At Suho’s words, Silad stroked his chin and muttered.

[If that’s what it means, then it would be appropriate to call those guys ‘fallen ghosts.’]

Tiring.

[??] → [Fallen Ghost]

At Silad’s words, the name tag that had been a question mark changed to ‘Fallen Ghost’.

But what does it matter what you call it?

Things like names weren’t important.

More important than that was the purpose of those ‘fallen spirits’.

Oh my!

The zombie elves, possessed by the spirits, moved about staggeringly, and began to slaughter every living thing they could see outside the dead forest.

And then he dragged the corpses back to Elvenwood.

‘Are you sure you’re going to gather the nutrients for Elvenwood yourself?’

[Yes. It’s called symbiosis. A relationship where each side uses and is used for their own benefit. If you think about it, our elves are the same. Look at that.]

‘… … !’

Now that I think about it, not all the elves were wiped out and turned into corrupted demons.

In the place where Silad pointed, the elves who had survived Elvenwood’s rampage were desperately running away.

At that moment, through Suho’s sight, he spotted ‘Fores’ running away in a panic, mixed in with the survivors.

Since this illusion itself was a mirage that arose from Fores’s memory, among the elves who were scattered and running away in all directions, Fores’s running away was the closest one.

But the reason Suho was surprised wasn’t because he discovered Fores.

Including Fores, who was running away in a panic, all the surviving elves had a ‘fruit’ in their arms.

‘Could that fruit be?’

[… … Yes. It’s the fruit of Elvenwood. To be exact, it’s a ‘seed.’]

‘Are you really going to raise Elvenwood again after being treated like that?’

[That’s why I said symbiosis.]

Silad was also looking at Fores’ back with a bitter look in his eyes.

[No matter what, elves need Elvenwood to survive. The same goes for the spirits. At least until the nutrients in the area dry up, Elvenwood and the spirits pretend to be ‘friends of the elves.’]

‘… … .’

Fores, who barely managed to escape the rampage of Elvenwood, arrived in a new land.

And finding the most fertile land, he dug into it and planted the fruits of Elvenwood.

And as he practiced his magic on that land, a new Elvenwood sprouted.

The sprout quickly sucked up the fertile nutrients and grew rapidly, and a new elven village was born around that place.

Suho nodded.

‘So that’s why they’re nomads.’

[Yes. To grow Elvenwood, you always have to wander around fertile lands.]

In the meantime, the fantasy again made time pass quickly.

The new land that was acquired after much hardship dried up again at a rapid pace.

And the same thing happened again.

Elvenwood attacked the elves again.

A fallen ghost was born.

Fores ran away again, carrying one of the fruits, in search of new lands.

And once again, Elvenwood sprouted in the fertile land.

While watching this entire series of events, Suho suddenly had a question.

‘But Silad, why can’t you see me?’ 1

All these illusions were Fores’ memories.

And Fores said that he and Silad once lived together and were rivals.

But why is Silad nowhere to be seen among all these survivors?

But the corners of Silad’s mouth went up in a bitter manner at Suho’s question.

[Why can’t I be seen among the survivors? Of course not.]

The expression on his face was one of obvious confidence.

[Because I didn’t run away.]

‘what?’

Silad answered confidently.

[I am the only high elf who did not flee the rampant land of Elven

wood. That is why I, Shilad, am called the King of the Yetis, the Lord of the Cold.]

Whioo-

A bitter cold wind blew at that moment.

[Friends with the spirits?]

Silad snorted and smiled, baring his teeth.

[He who rules the spirits, that is the monarch.]