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All Solo Leveling Manga (Manhwa) Chapters
Read every chapter of the Solo Leveling Manga (Manhwa) in order — from Sung Jin-woo’s first brush with death inside the Double Dungeon to his final battle as the Shadow Monarch against Antares, the King of Dragons. Watch him build his shadow army one enemy at a time, clear the Demon Castle alone, survive the Red Gate, conquer Jeju Island, and take on Monarchs like Rakan, Sillad, and Querehsha as the full scale of the Rulers and Monarchs war unfolds around him. All 200 chapters are free in English — start from Chapter 1 or jump to Chapter 111 to continue after Solo Leveling Season 2.
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What Is Solo Leveling Manga About?
Solo Leveling is a South Korean manhwa written by Chugong and illustrated by Jang Sung-rak (Dubu) of Redice Studio. The story is set in a world where mysterious gates appear without warning and connect Earth to dungeons filled with monsters. Humans who awaken supernatural abilities become hunters and are ranked from E (weakest) to S (strongest). Their job is to enter these dungeons and stop the monsters before they break out into the real world.
| Detail | Info |
| Korean Title | 나 혼자만 레벨업 (Na Honjaman Rebereop) |
| English Title | Solo Leveling / Only I Level Up |
| Written By | Chugong |
| Illustrated By | Jang Sung-rak (Dubu) — Redice Studio |
| Genre | Action, Fantasy, Cosmic Horror |
| Format | Manhwa (Korean webtoon) |
| Total Chapters | 200 (manhwa) / 270 (novel) |
| Total Volumes | 15 (manhwa) / 14 (novel) |
| Status | Completed — December 29, 2021 |
| English Publisher | Yen Press |
| Age Rating | Teen+ (violence, dark themes — not 18+) |
| Anime By | A-1 Pictures — streaming on Crunchyroll |
About Sung Jin-woo
Sung Jin-woo holds E-rank — the absolute bottom. He barely earns enough from raids to cover his mother’s hospital bills and his sister’s school fees, and every dungeon he enters puts his life at real risk.
The Double Dungeon and The System
Jin-woo’s party stumbles into a hidden Double Dungeon designed to kill everyone inside. He barely survives by completing an impossible trial and signs a contract with a mysterious program called The System. Every other hunter is locked at their awakened rank forever, but Jin-woo is the only person in the world who can level up. The System gives him quests, experience points, and skills. He can also raise defeated enemies as shadow soldiers he fully controls, and his army grows with every fight.
The Bigger Picture
What starts as Jin-woo scraping money together for his sick mother’s hospital bills slowly turns into something far bigger. The System was built by Ashborn, the original Shadow Monarch, to find and train a human heir strong enough to take over his role in a cosmic war. The two sides of that war are the Rulers and the Monarchs. By the end of the story, Jin-woo is not clearing dungeons anymore. He is the one deciding the fate of the universe.
Solo Leveling Manga Origin and History
The Web Novel
Chugong started the web novel on KakaoPage on July 25, 2016. D&C Media published the print edition under their Papyrus label from November 2016, and the novel ran for 270 chapters across 14 volumes before concluding in March 2018.
The Manhwa Adaptation
Redice Studio adapted it into a manhwa starting March 4, 2018, with Dubu handling all the illustrations. The manhwa condenses the story into 179 chapters plus a 21-chapter epilogue. Dubu passed away on July 23, 2022, aged 37, from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a chronic illness. Between January and May 2023, Chugong came back to write a side story with a brand new art team handling the illustrations. Yen Press licenses both the novel and manhwa in English, with the manhwa currently collected into 15 volumes as of October 2025.
The Anime
A-1 Pictures produced the anime and the first season aired between January 7 and March 31, 2024. Season 2, which is titled Arise from the Shadow, aired from January 5 to March 30, 2025, directed by Shunsuke Nakashige with a score by Hiroyuki Sawano. The series won nine awards at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards including Anime of the Year, making it the first manhwa adaptation ever to claim that title.
What Is Still Coming
A Netflix live-action drama starring Byeon Woo-seok as Jin-woo is currently in development. The sequel webtoon Solo Leveling: Ragnarok premiered in July 2024, following Jin-woo’s son Sung Su-ho after a new cosmic threat emerges, and its web novel wrapped up in July 2025 at 357 chapters.
Solo Leveling Manga Arcs Explained
Arc 1 — D-Rank Dungeon Arc (Manhwa Chapters 1–10)
Jin-woo joins a D-rank dungeon raid and his party discovers a hidden Double Dungeon inside, which turns out to be a death trap built to kill everyone who enters. Nearly the entire party dies, but Jin-woo survives by completing an impossible task and signs a contract with The System. Novel chapters 1–7. Anime episodes 1–3.
Arc 2 — Reawakening Arc (Manhwa Chapters 11–12)
Jin-woo wakes up in hospital and finds The System has fully activated inside him, and he starts receiving daily quests he cannot refuse without being sent to a punishment zone. Only two chapters long but it sets up everything that follows. Novel chapters 8–12. Anime episode 3.
Arc 3 — Instant Dungeon Arc (Manhwa Chapters 13–17)
The System unlocks a private instant dungeon that only Jin-woo can see or enter, and he goes in alone to get his first real taste of what leveling up actually feels like. Novel chapters 13–16. Anime episodes 3–4.
Arc 4 — Dungeon & Lizards Arc (Manhwa Chapters 18–24)
Jin-woo moves on to dungeons with harder monster types, starting with lizard-class enemies that push his new strength further, and he starts getting comfortable managing mana, stamina, and skills in sustained solo fights. Novel chapters 17–24. Anime episodes 5–6.
Arc 5 — Dungeon & Prisoners Arc (Manhwa Chapters 25–34)
Jin-woo clears a dungeon filled with prisoner-type monsters and runs into a corrupt Hunter’s Association supervisor named Kang Taeshik who tries to kill him, making this the first arc where Jin-woo crosses a real moral line. Novel chapters 25–35. Anime episodes 7–9.
Arc 6 — Yoo Jinho Raid Party Arc (Manhwa Chapters 35–37)
Yoo Jinho, the son of a major guild owner, approaches Jin-woo with a deal where Jinho buys the rights to dungeons and Jin-woo clears them solo, and together they build a technically legal two-man team that lets Jin-woo hunt without restrictions. Novel chapters 36–45. Anime episode 10.
Arc 7 — Job Change Arc (Manhwa Chapters 38–45)
The System sends Jin-woo to a special instant dungeon with a trial at the end, and completing it earns him the Monarch of Shadows title and unlocks his ability to raise shadow soldiers from fallen enemies. His first shadow is Igris, the Blood-Red Commander he defeats in one of the manhwa’s earliest great battles, and this arc closes Season 1 of the anime. Novel chapters 46–55. Anime episodes 11–12.
Arc 8 — Red Gate Arc (Manhwa Chapters 46–55)
Jin-woo joins a guild raid that gets sealed inside a dungeon with no exit — a Red Gate — and as temperatures drop and guild members start dying from the cold, Jin-woo fights to keep people alive while his true strength gap over other hunters becomes impossible to hide. Season 2 of the anime starts here. Novel chapters 56–64. Anime episodes 13–14.
Arc 9 — Demon Castle Arc (Manhwa Chapters 56–61)
Jin-woo enters a Demon Castle dungeon solo to obtain the Holy Water of Life, a rare item that can cure his mother’s illness, and the dungeon takes an entire week to clear with his shadow army growing significantly in the process. Novel chapters 65–75. Anime episode 15.
Arc 10 — Retesting Rank Arc (Manhwa Chapters 61–64)
Jin-woo officially retests his hunter rank and his power breaks the measuring device, earning him the title of the 10th S-rank hunter in South Korea while every major guild in the country immediately tries to recruit him. Novel chapters 76–79. Anime episode 16.
Arc 11 — Hunters Guild Gate Arc (Manhwa Chapters 65–75)
Jin-woo joins the Hunters Guild on a high-rank gate mission and meets Cha Hae-in for the first time, and she has a rare condition that makes other hunters smell repulsive to her — Jin-woo is the only exception, which is what draws her attention before she consciously notices him. Novel chapters 80–92. Anime episodes 16–18.
Arc 12 — Return to Demon Castle Arc (Manhwa Chapters 76–89)
Jin-woo goes back to the Demon Castle for unfinished System quests and his power jumps significantly during this arc while he adds key shadow soldiers to his army. Novel chapters 93–110. Anime episodes 18–21.
Arc 13 — Jeju Island Arc (Manhwa Chapters 90–107)
South Korea’s strongest hunters are deployed to Jeju Island to eliminate an ant colony that has produced Ant King Beru, a creature strong enough to one-shot S-rank hunters, and when the mission collapses, Jin-woo steps in alone and defeats Beru in one of the best battles in the entire manhwa before adding him to his shadow army. Season 2 of the anime ends here. Novel chapters 111–127. Anime episodes 21–25.
Arc 14 — Recruitment Arc (Manhwa Chapters 108–110)
Jin-woo is now famous worldwide and foreign guilds arrive to recruit him, but he turns all of them down because he is already planning to build his own guild. The anime cuts some character introductions from this arc. Novel chapters 127–135. Season 3 of the anime picks up from this point.
Arc 15 — Ahjin Guild Arc (Manhwa Chapters 111–122)
Jin-woo officially founds Ahjin Guild with Yoo Jinho as vice chairman, and the guild begins taking on high-level raids while Jin-woo keeps pushing toward the truth about the Double Dungeon and his identity as the Shadow Monarch. Novel chapters 136–150.
Arc 16 — Double Dungeon Arc (Manhwa Chapters 123–131)
Jin-woo returns to the Cartenon Temple — the original Double Dungeon — and meets the Architect, the being who designed The System, who then reveals exactly why Jin-woo was chosen and what Ashborn was preparing him for. Novel chapters 150–164.
Arc 17 — Japan Crisis Arc (Manhwa Chapters 132–139)
A massive S-rank gate opens over Tokyo and Monarch Legia appears, so Jin-woo travels to Japan and defeats him alone, which puts him directly on the radar of National Level Hunters from around the world. Novel chapters 165–182.
Arc 18 — International Guild Conference Arc (Manhwa Chapters 140–149)
The world’s top hunters gather for the annual guild conference and Jin-woo meets Thomas Andre (ranked 1st globally) and Liu Zhigang (ranked 2nd globally) for the first time, while the Monarchs begin making their real moves behind the scenes. Novel chapters 183–199.
Arc 19 — Monarchs War Arc (Manhwa Chapters 150–166)
The Monarchs launch a direct attack on the human world and Jin-woo fights multiple Monarchs across different countries at the same time, while his father Sung Il-hwan is revealed to be a Rulers’ vessel — one of seven humans chosen as hosts by the Rulers — and the conflict expands from national to fully cosmic. Novel chapters 200–224.
Arc 20 — Final Battle Arc (Manhwa Chapters 167–177)
Jin-woo faces Antares, the King of Dragons and the most powerful Monarch in existence, who is the final villain of the original story, and Jin-woo brings everything he has — every shadow soldier, every power-up — and fights with his full Shadow Monarch ability. Novel chapters 225–243.
Arc 21 — Epilogue (Manhwa Chapters 178–179 + 21 extra chapters)
The main story ends at chapter 179 and the 21 epilogue chapters follow, where Jin-woo is given the Cup of Reincarnation by the Rulers — a cosmic artifact that resets time — and everyone who died comes back. He marries Cha Hae-in and they have a son named Sung Su-ho. Novel chapters 244–270.
Arc 22 — Academy Arc (Manhwa Chapters 180–200)
Set in the new timeline, this arc follows Su-ho at a hunter academy and wraps up every major character’s story before the manhwa ends at chapter 200.
Who Are the Main Characters in Solo Leveling?
The main characters in solo leveling are:
Sung Jin-woo
Sung Jin-woo is the main character of Solo Leveling. He starts as an E-rank hunter doing dangerous raids just to cover his mother’s hospital bills and his sister’s school fees, and after the Double Dungeon, The System chooses him as its only player. He grows from the weakest hunter alive into the Shadow Monarch — the commander of an army of undead shadow soldiers — and every enemy he defeats can potentially be extracted and added to that army.
Cha Hae-in
Cha Hae-in is the only female S-rank hunter in South Korea and one of the strongest fighters in the country. She has a condition that makes other hunters smell repulsive to her — but Jin-woo smells completely normal, which is what draws her attention long before she admits it. She specializes in swordsmanship and marries Jin-woo in the new timeline epilogue.
Yoo Jinho
Jinho is a D-rank hunter and Jin-woo’s closest ally and sworn brother who comes from a wealthy family and has no real combat ability, but what he brings is absolute loyalty and sharp logistical thinking. He handles all the business and legal side of their operation while Jin-woo does the fighting, and he eventually becomes vice chairman of Ahjin Guild and marries Jin-woo’s sister in the new timeline.
Igris
Igris is Jin-woo’s first and most loyal shadow soldier who was the Blood-Red Commander guarding the throne in the Job Change arc dungeon. And after Jin-woo defeats him and extracts his soul, Igris stays one of the most powerful shadows in the army all the way through to the end of the story.
Beru
Beru is the Ant King of Jeju Island — one of the strongest enemies Jin-woo faces before the Monarchs War arc. After Jin-woo defeats him, Beru joins the shadow army and develops into one of its most powerful members while learning to speak Korean over time. In the sequel Ragnarok, he mentors Jin-woo’s son Su-ho.
Ashborn
Ashborn is the original Shadow Monarch and the reason The System exists at all, being one of eight Monarchs created by the Absolute Being and the only one who does not want to destroy humanity. He built The System specifically to find and train a human successor strong enough to carry on his power, and that successor is Jin-woo.
Thomas Andre
Thomas Andre is ranked the number one hunter in the world and is an American National Level Hunter and master of the Scavenger Guild, known for overwhelming physical strength. Jin-woo fights him during the International Guild Conference arc and wins, after which Thomas gives him Kamish’s Wrath — the strongest magical weapon in existence — as a gesture of respect and eventually becomes an ally.
Solo Leveling Manga Season Start and End Overview
| Season / Part | Manhwa Chapters | Volumes | Start Date | End Date |
| Webtoon Season 1 | Chapters 1–110 | Volumes 1–7 | March 4, 2018 | March 19, 2020 |
| Webtoon Season 2 | Chapters 111–179 + Epilogue | Volumes 8–13 | August 1, 2020 | December 29, 2021 |
| Academy Arc | Chapters 180–200 | Volumes 14–15 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Anime Season 1 | Manhwa Chapters 1–45 | — | January 7, 2024 | March 31, 2024 |
| Anime Season 2 | Manhwa Chapters 46–110 | — | January 5, 2025 | March 30, 2025 |
| Anime Season 3 | Manhwa Chapters 111+ | — | 2026 (expected) | TBC |
How Did Solo Leveling End?
The manhwa ended on December 29, 2021 at chapter 179.
In the Final Battle Arc, Jin-woo defeats Antares, the King of Dragons and the strongest Monarch, and after the fight the Rulers give him the Cup of Reincarnation — a cosmic artifact that resets time. He uses it, and in the new timeline the war never happened and everyone who died is alive again, including his father Sung Il-hwan. Jin-woo retains his shadow army but loses his memories of the old timeline, and he marries Cha Hae-in and they have a son named Sung Su-ho.
The epilogue wraps every major character — Jinho marries Jin-woo’s sister, Beru stays in the shadow army, and the world is at peace. The Ragnarok sequel picks up from this new timeline when the next threat arrives.
Why Should You Read This Manga (Manhwa)?
- Dubu’s art is some of the best in the genre — full-color panels, cinematic fight layouts, and character designs that hold up in motion just as well as they do in print.
- The story is fully complete with a proper ending, with no filler arcs and no decade-long run with no payoff — the whole manhwa is readable in a weekend.
- The lore runs far deeper than it looks, and what appears to be a power fantasy has a cosmic war running underneath it for millennia that rewards readers who stick with it.
- The Jeju Island arc alone is worth the read — it is one of the best single story arcs in the history of the format.
- Reading the manhwa now puts you around 90 chapters ahead of anime-only fans, and with Season 3 coming you will already know exactly what happens.
9 Facts That Made Solo Leveling Win Anime of the Year
Nine awards. One night. Here is what actually happened:
- It made history. Solo Leveling was the first manhwa adaptation to ever win Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year, and no Korean manhwa had done it before.
- Hiroyuki Sawano scored it. He is the composer behind Attack on Titan’s soundtrack, and the score won Best Score at the 2025 awards.
- The opening “Level” featured Tomorrow X Together — one of K-pop’s biggest groups performing alongside one of anime music’s most respected composers.
- The ending “Request” by Krage won Best Ending Sequence, beating entries from Oshi No Ko and DAN DA DAN.
- A-1 Pictures animated the Ant King fight at film quality, and the Jeju Island battle was praised worldwide for its movement and choreography.
- Jin-woo won Best Main Character, with his design and personality winning over fans who had never read the manhwa.
- The English voice acting award went to Aleks Le for his performance as Jin-woo, and the show also claimed the same award in Brazilian Portuguese and Castilian Spanish the same night.
- Season 2 broke Crunchyroll’s servers on premiere weekend, becoming one of the most-watched anime releases in the platform’s history.
- The show holds 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the world-building, fight choreography, and animation quality across both seasons.
Solo Leveling Manga vs Manhwa vs Novel vs Webtoon vs Comic
People use all five of these terms for the same series, so here is exactly what each one means:
- Manga — Japanese word for comics. Solo Leveling is Korean, not Japanese, so calling it manga is technically wrong, but most English readers use it as a general shorthand and the label has stuck.
- Manhwa — Korean word for comics and the correct term for Solo Leveling. It reads left to right and is published in a vertical scroll format built for mobile screens.
- Webtoon — refers to the digital format. Solo Leveling was serialized on KakaoPage as a webtoon, so manhwa and webtoon mean the same thing for this series.
- Novel — the original text-based web novel written by Chugong. No panels, no artwork — 270 chapters across 14 volumes, published in English by Yen Press.
- Comic — the label Yen Press uses in their store listings for the manhwa. When you see “Solo Leveling, Vol. 1 (Comic)” on Yen Press or Amazon, that is the manhwa — the full-color illustrated version, not the novel.
