Throughout Solo Leveling, Sung Jinwoo encounters adversaries whose strength surpasses anything most Hunters could handle. From the first season alone, he steadily rose from an E-Rank Hunter to an A-Rank, engaging in battles against enemies far stronger than he was at the time.
Even as he inched closer to attaining S-Rank status in the second season, the difficulty level did not decrease. Opponents such as Barca, leader of the Ice Elves, and Kargalgan, the High Orc Shaman, were proof that each battle only brought forth stronger foes than before.
Every victory only brings an even deadlier opponent next (Photo: Solo Leveling/Lucasfilm Ltd)Just when it seems like Jinwoo has defeated the strongest enemy in existence, another even more terrifying one emerges. Despite all these dangerous encounters, his most formidable opponent as of Solo Leveling Episode 20, titled “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out,” turned out to be an enemy that technically did not exist.
After making his way to the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle, Jinwoo came face-to-face with Baran, the Demon Monarch. No other adversary in the anime had tested his limits as much as Baran, making him Jinwoo’s toughest fight yet.
However, what made Baran even more frightening was not just his immense strength—it was the fact that the version Jinwoo fought was merely a fraction of the real Demon Monarch’s true power.
Baran Pushed Jinwoo Beyond His Limits
Sung Jinwoo Battles Baran in Solo Leveling Episode 20, “Looking Up Was Tiring Me Out”
Before encountering Baran, none of Jinwoo’s previous opponents in Solo Leveling had come close to displaying the kind of power the Demon Monarch wielded. By the time he ascended to the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle, he had already surpassed the level of an average S-Rank Hunter.
Even a Demon Noble like Esil, who was stationed on the 80th floor, was considered comparable to an S-Rank. However, Jinwoo’s strength was so overwhelming that Esil cowered in fear, completely at his mercy. At this point, Jinwoo was not fighting alone.
His Shadow Army included warriors of exceptional strength, such as Igris and Tusk, both of whom were on par with S-Rank Hunters. Every Elite Knight-Rank Shadow Soldier possessed abilities that rivaled S-Rank fighters, and Tusk had been at that level from the moment Jinwoo turned him into a shadow.
Igris initially started as a Knight-Rank but later advanced to the Elite Knight-Rank tier as Jinwoo progressed through the Demon’s Castle. “What is this scathing, murderous energy? I’ve never seen him before. So that’s the Demon Monarch Baran!” — Esil
Even with all these powerful allies, Jinwoo still struggled to keep up with Baran. The Demon Monarch fought off simultaneous attacks from Igris, Tusk, Tank, and Jinwoo himself without breaking a sweat. His mastery of lightning-based magic was another terrifying aspect of his abilities, as Jinwoo found it difficult to withstand its destructive force.
One strike from Baran’s lightning had the potential to wipe out Jinwoo’s entire Shadow Army in an instant. The damage inflicted by his magic was devastating, and what made it even worse was the additional effect—a “stun debuff” that weakened Jinwoo’s ability to retaliate.
The idea that Baran seemed to possess an endless supply of mana only made the situation even more terrifying.
Baran’s Army Was Unlike Anything Jinwoo Had Faced Before
Baran’s sheer strength was intimidating enough, but what made the battle even more challenging was the massive army of demons under his command. Compared to any previous battle Jinwoo had fought, Baran’s forces were on an entirely different level.
As Jinwoo observed in the manhwa, the Demon Monarch summoned an army exceeding a thousand minions, with over a hundred of them possessing power equivalent to A-Rank or higher. While Tusk and Igris could easily handle most of the demons, many of Jinwoo’s regular Shadow Soldiers struggled against them.
In comparison, his battle with Kargalgan, the High Orc leader in Episode 6 of Season 2, seemed almost effortless. The difference was even clearer in the manhwa, where Jinwoo defeated Kargalgan with a single punch, whereas in the anime, he took a more dramatic approach by binding him in chains, likely to enhance the visual impact of the scene.
However, against Baran, Jinwoo found himself dangerously close to death multiple times. At one point, Baran seized Jinwoo by the head and would have landed a fatal blow had Igris, Tank, and Tusk not intervened just in time.
Later, another life-threatening moment arose when Baran was moments away from killing Jinwoo again, but Esil managed to distract the Demon Monarch by throwing her sword at him. Given the number of close calls, Baran was by far the deadliest opponent Jinwoo had faced in the anime’s first 20 episodes.
The most ironic part of it all was that the Baran Jinwoo fight was not even the real thing.
The Baran Jinwoo Fought Had Already Been Defeated Before
Jinwoo has encountered many powerful enemies in Solo Leveling, but as of Episode 20, only one could be argued to be stronger than Baran—the Architect who “killed” him in Season 1. However, the statues responsible for Jinwoo’s death were merely puppets controlled by the Architect, meaning he had not yet directly fought the real entity behind them.
Even more surprising is the fact that the Baran Jinwoo faced was not the true Demon Monarch Baran. Instead, what he fought was merely a replication of a past event, created by the Architect as part of Jinwoo’s training to inherit the Shadow Monarch’s power.
The entire Demon’s Castle was nothing more than a simulated battlefield crafted to push Jinwoo to his limits. “We could have ended the war today. Why did you betray me?” — Ashborn, to Baran.
What Jinwoo fought was nothing more than an imitation of the real Baran, and a poor one at that. The Demon Monarch in Episode 20 was simply a projection of a past battle stored in the memories of the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn.
The Architect had no means of replicating the true extent of Baran’s abilities, which meant Jinwoo had only encountered a weakened version of the real foe.
The True Baran Was Far Beyond Jinwoo’s Capabilities
Ashborn’s memories reveal that the real Baran was strong enough to stand against a fully powered Shadow Monarch. Compared to the Jinwoo who fought his way through the Demon’s Castle, Ashborn was infinitely stronger.
A fight against a shadow of true power was still nearly unstoppable (Photo: Solo Leveling/Lucasfilm Ltd)At one point, Jinwoo even admitted that if he had fought the real Baran with his current stats, he would have completely run out of mana. In a flashback, Jinwoo witnesses Ashborn delivering the final blow that ended Baran’s existence for good.
Unlike Jinwoo, who could raise the dead as Shadow Soldiers, Ashborn had dominion over both life and death. After killing Baran, he ensured that the Demon Monarch’s soul was sent into the afterlife, where it remained until the events of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok when Jinwoo’s son encountered it.
The version of Baran that Ashborn fought had white eyes, whereas the one Jinwoo battled in the Demon’s Castle had red eyes—a clear indication that it was nothing more than a soulless imitation.
The Demon’s Castle Was a Simulation, But Not All Its Inhabitants Were Fake
While the version of Baran Jinwoo faced was never real in the first place, the same cannot be said for the other demons within the Demon’s Castle. Esil and the other demons were not mere illusions; they had been forcibly taken from the Demon Realm by the Architect to serve as training opponents for Jinwoo.
“Where were you before that?” — Jinwoo. “The Demon Realm. But then we found ourselves here.” — Esil. The reality of Jinwoo’s battle against Baran is both terrifying and humbling. The strongest opponent he faced in Solo Leveling so far turned out to be nothing more than a weakened imitation.
This offers only a small glimpse of the kind of monstrous power he will have to contend with when he eventually faces the real Monarchs. As strong as he may seem now, Jinwoo is still nowhere near ready for the battles ahead.