Solo Leveling

Part 5. The Final Trial

The rising ground stopped at waist height.

“An altar…”

Jinwoo absent-mindedly spoke to himself.

‘An altar?’

‘Did he just say an altar?’

The man who had saved their lives not once but twice; Jinwoo was not a high leveled Awakened Being[1], but a lowly E-rank Hunter that they looked down on in the past.

‘If it wasn’t for Mr. Sung, we would be…’

The Hunters’ thoughts were in union.  Jinwoo’s words up until now were a lifeline to them.  And now this man had uttered the words, “altar”. The quick-witted Mr. Kim was the first to speak,

“I think I understand.”

He unsheathed the sword at his waist.  Normally a weapon to be used in slaying magic beasts, its purpose this time was different.

“Even an idiot like me can understand what you mean by ‘altar’.”

The Hunters looked at Mr. Kim’s drawn sword, gleaming with sharpness, and gulped.

“Hey, Mr. Kim! Why are you taking that out now?”

“Let’s talk about this, talk!”

Mr. Song’s C-rank was the highest in the party.  With him out of commission, there was no one else in the party would could match Mr. Kim, whose skill shone even amongst the other D-rankers.

Mr. Kim pointed his sword at the altar.

“The last Commandment was, ‘Prove your Faith’, and now this altar appeared in the middle of the room.”

Mr. Kim’s gaze shifted to Jinwoo,

“We have to sacrifice someone at the altar, right, Mr. Sung?”

Jinwoo nodded.  It was his guess as well.  One of the living 6 had to become a sacrifice.

‘That’s probably the last rule…’

As he raised his head, he saw Mr. Kim approaching him with a strange look in his eyes.  A streak of sweat fell down the side of Jinwoo’s head.

“Ahjussi… what are you going to-”

“Just sit there quietly!”

Mr. Kim pointed his sword at Mr. Song, who had been sitting next to Jinwoo looking over his injuries.

“Who is the one who dragged us all here? It’s Mr. Song right here! Then shouldn’t he be the one to pay the price for all this?!”