Title: Solo Leveling Vol. 6
Author: Dubu (Redice Studio), Chugong (Original Story)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 308
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Publication Date: March 21, 2023
The Story
Volume six of Solo Leveling sees Jinwoo continues to ascend through the Demon’s Castle. He is locked in battle with a demon until it reveals itself to be a girl named Esil. Esil is of the Radir clan of demons and knows how to get passes to the higher floors. Jinwoo strikes a deal with her and she brings him before her father, the leader of the clan. Jinwoo states his condition that he wants a pass and to take Esil with him because she knows where the other passes are. What Jinwoo didn’t tell him was that he planned on killing all of the other clans to make the Radir clan the highest-ranking demon clan in the land… as a way of thanking him for his cooperation.
Jinwoo climbs the floors and eventually overcomes the Demon Castle. He is finally able to craft the Elixir of Life that he had sought for so very long. He returns to the hospital and uses it on his mother. All he can do is await to see if the Elixir will help her awaken from the eternal sleep disease. Meanwhile, the ants that had taken over Jeju Island have begun to evolve. So much so that Korea and Japan are left without any other option than to form a pact and work together on a raid of the island. To do this, they have assembled some of the highest-ranking and most-powerful S-Rank hunters in their respective countries. Since he’s back, Jinwoo is brought to the gym where they are all training against each other.
Jinwoo observes until the top S-Rank in Japan, Goto confronts him after Jinwoo steps in when the other hunters take things too far. Goto wants to test Jinwoo one-on-one and Jinwoo accepts! Much to everyone’s shock, Jinwoo is able to stand toe-to-toe with Goto! Even Goto is shocked to see someone on the same level as him power-wise. Once the sparring session is over, the time to raid the island begins but… Jinwoo declines the invitation! Will he have a change of mind as the events on Jeju Island unfold?
Characters
There are so many new characters here. We meet the top S-Rank Hunters from both Korea and Japan. Through the chapter where they all sparred against one another, we can get a taste of their strengths and powers. They are really impressive, to say the least. As one could imagine, there was a wide range of personalities among them but they are nothing you haven’t seen before. Ranging from cocky and arrogant to strong and noble, you’ll find almost every high-powered character archetype among the hunters.
Goto stood out there. He was really confident in his strength but he was also a bit humbled when he saw that Jinwoo matched his own abilities. Even though he was a bit dumbfounded, he kept himself in control as he tried to figure Jinwoo out during their battle. He did ramp up his power and was about to go full strength when their fight was intervened out of fear that they would end up killing each other. Goto didn’t dip into his full strength because he wanted to, though… he did so because Jinwoo himself told him to.
Jinwoo’s development is very minute here, though. He hasn’t really changed much personality-wise but perhaps that is changing soon. Now that he has something important back in his life to protect, he may look at things a bit differently. Still, wanting to test himself against Japan’s strongest hunter is also a sign that he wanted confirmation of his strength. Perhaps as a way of self-measurement? What Jinwoo will do with this power remains to be seen, though.
Final Thoughts
Another great edition of Solo Leveling! Two stories continued to unfold parallel to each other and right when it looked as if Jinwoo would be the element of intersection between them, the story decides to go in another direction… for now. I still believe Jinwoo will end up joining the Jeju Island raid but for now, that remains to be seen. Both the climb up the Demon’s Castle and the Jeju Island Raid itself produced some great action.
Seeing Jinwoo get stronger and stronger is something to behold but without his spar against Goto, we really had no idea just how strong Jinwoo had become. It’s one thing to see a character level up and gain new skills but it’s also another thing to see those skills put into practice against others. With him being isolated in the castle, there was no real true measurement of how strong Jinwoo had become. Yes, we saw him defeat many high-level demons but how do you compare those demons to threats back in the real world? What are we really measuring power levels against? That’s where Goto came in and it’s nice to see just how far Jinwoo has come.
There were a couple of seeds planted for the return of Jinwoo’s father. It’ll be interesting if anything comes of that. Until then, we will be continuing the Jeju Island raid as the S-Rank strike force has the queen in its sights! My guess is they all fail and it’s up to Jinwoo and possibly Goto to team up to take the queen down when she and her guards invade Korea and/or Japan. That’s just my guess, though. We’ll see if it comes true next time around!
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This item was purchased for review.
