Leveling Up Alone

Han-Yeol used ‘Shield Bash’ and charged head-on toward the Mutant Orcs.

Bam!

A shockwave reverberated from the point of contact where the Mutant Orcs and Han-Yeol’s shield collided.

Despite being stronger than Han-Yeol, the Mutant Orcs were pushed back. They were taken aback by Han-Yeol’s sudden decision to charge at them head-on, since they expected him to avoid them as he did a while ago.

“Kiek?” After being pushed back by Han-Yeol’s charge, one of the Mutant Orcs belatedly realized that there was nothing behind it. It shrieked as it was pushed backward. “Kieeeeeeek!”

This was exactly what Han-Yeol had planned. The large Mutant Orc fell from five stories above and crashed into the ground, Han-Yeol falling together with it.

Baaaaam!

“Kueeeh…” The Mutant Orc moaned in pain. It managed to survive thanks to the strong, muscular, large, and the innate barrier all monsters possessed, but it was immobilized from crashing into the ground.

Fwooosh! Fwoooosh!

Han-Yeol stabbed his sword that spewed flames because of his newly created skill ‘Sword Breath’ into the immobilized Mutant Orc’s face.

Fwooooosh!

“Kueeeeeeeeek!” The Mutant Orc shrieked in agony since it did not immediately die from being stabbed, and the flames from the ‘Sword Breath’ slowly started to melt its face into a hideous form.

‘Tsk… These guys are so stubborn,’ Han-Yeol clicked his tongue and grumbled inwardly.

However, the Mutant Orc’s struggle was brief. The flames from the ‘Sword Breath’ completely melted its face, and the Mutant Orc laid motionlessly on the ground.

“Kieeeeeeek! Kieeeeeeeek!” The remaining Mutant Orcs shrieked in anger from the rooftop as they watched the human kill one of their own. They were enraged by the fact that Han-Yeol was dragging them up and down the factory.

“Come! Bring it on, you filthy pigs!” Han-Yeol shouted, taunting the shrieking Mutant Orcs.

The two remaining Mutant Orcs looked at each other before they tossed aside their shields and jumped down from the factory roof while wielding their axes high above their heads. They roared while falling from the sky, “Kuuuuaahhh!”

The two Mutant Orcs were aiming to slam their axes down on Han-Yeol and turn him into mince meat.

‘You want to hit me from there?’ Han-Yeol thought with a smirk, and he immediately used his trademark skill. ‘Restrain!’

Shwiiiiik!

Han-Yeol’s chain shot toward one of the falling Mutant Orc and wrapped itself around the monster’s leg. Then, he flung the Mutant Orc and slammed it on the factory’s wall.

Bam!

The factory walls crumbled and its debris piled on top of the Mutant Orc.

‘Now, it’s one-on-one!’ Han-Yeol thought as he cracked his knuckle. He readied his flaming sword, which consumed his mana because of his skill ‘Sword Breath’.

“Kuwaaaaahk!” The Mutant Orc roared. It flew down toward Han-Yeol while wielding its ax with both hands. The momentum from its fall was certainly going to greatly amplify its strength upon collision, however…

‘Jumping.’ Han-Yeol jumped up toward the Mutant Orc and gathered mana into his left hand. ‘Mana Shield!’

At that moment, the shield that Han-Yeol summoned, which looked pitiful compared to the large imposing ax the Mutant Orc was wielding with both hands, was about to collide against the monster’s attack.

Whoosh!

“Keuk?” The Mutant Orc momentarily tilted its head in confusion.

It was a method that Han-Yeol had seen on TV before. It showed that, whenever an opponent overexerted and attacked you, then you should pretend to face it head on before avoiding it at the last second. It was a difficult skill to pull off and it was mostly only found in martial art comics, but Han-Yeol had ‘Sixth Sense’ which was an ability that allowed him to see things moving in slow motion.

Things appeared much slower to Han-Yeol than how they moved in reality, and this allowed him to catch the perfect timing of when the Mutant Orc’s ax was about to collide against his shield before he dodged it at the last second.

‘Keuk!’ Han-Yeol grimaced when the Mutant Orc’s ax slightly grazed him. He was not able to completely avoid the attack, but he did successfully manage to avoid most of the attack.

The Mutant Orc, which had thrown away its shield earlier and was wielding its ax with both hands in anger, had its chest wide open in front of Han-Yeol. Han-Yeol did not miss this opportunity as he struck while shouting out loud, “Die!”

Puk!

“Kieeeek!” The Mutant Orc shrieked in agony.

Han-Yeol had stabbed his sword, which still had ‘Sword Breath’ activated and was spewing flames, dead center into the Mutant Orc’s chest.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Stab’ has increased from (D) to (C).]

The sound of Han-Yeol’s skill leveling up rang out alongside the hideous shriek of the Mutant Orc.

‘Keuk!’ Han-Yeol groaned. He twisted his body while keeping his sword stabbed into the Mutant Orc’s chest, and got on top of the Mutant Orc just before they both crashed into the ground.

Bam!

Han-Yeol’s head slammed against the ground. A loud sound still accompanied that hit even though most of the impact had been absorbed by the Mutant Orc. He successfully killed the monster thanks to his new skill ‘Sword Breath’.

“Hoo…” Han-Yeol breathed out before he looked toward the factory and thought, ‘There’s only one left now.’

***

Crumble… Crumble…

Han-Yeol went to check on the final Mutant Orc that smashed into the side of the factory walls a while ago, and he found it buried under the rubble of debris.

“Chwiiik! Kieeeeek!” The Mutant Orc shrieked.

Han-Yeol was a bit surprised at how effective his light attack was when he found the Mutant Orc to be completely immobilized. Before stabbing the Mutant Orc, he said in a cold voice, “Die.”

Puk!

“Kieeeeek!” The Mutant Orc shrieked in agony when its chest was stabbed by Han-Yeol’s flaming sword.

That was how Han-Yeol managed to kill the last remaining two Mutant Orcs.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

“Hoo… It’s finally over,” Han-Yeol said with a sigh of relief. His unexpectedly difficult battle against the Mutant Orcs was finally over. He canceled ‘Sword Breath’ and carried the dead Mutant Orcs over to where the two other dead Mutant Orcs were at.

“Please take care of these,” Han-Yeol said, asking Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri to dismember the Mutant Orc corpses just as he always did after a hunt.

“Y-Yes, Hunter-nim!” Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri immediately replied. They grabbed their equipment and started to dismember the Mutant Orc corpses, since they were quite alert and attentive after witnessing the fierce battle between Han-Yeol and the Mutant Orcs.

Whiiiiiing!

The two Porters started to get to work as they switched on the power tools they were using to dismember monster corpses. Han-Yeol, who usually searched for other monsters to hunt while the Porters were busy dismembering the monster corpse, sat down on the ground while leaning against the factory wall. He was exhausted from the fierce battle against the Mutant Orcs, and all he wanted to do right now was to rest for a while.

‘Status,’ Han-Yeol thought as he called up his status window.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 34

Points: 5

STR: 83

VIT: 78

AGI: 72

MAG: 110

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (A), Walking (C), Mana Control (C), Mana Mastery (E), Power Strike (C), Mana Shield (D), Sixth Sense (D), Restrain (C), Body Strengthening (C), Mana Eyes (D), Heal (A), Jumping (C), Stab (C), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (D), Fire Attribute (D), Mana Explosion (C), Chain Smite (C), Marksmanship (E), Martial Arts (E), Enchant (F), Sword Breath (F).

Han-Yeol invested all of his bonus stat points into MAG. It was not that his other stats were not important, but rather, his MAG stat was the most important stat to him. This was because his combat style was centered around using his skills.

‘I’ll have to start training at the Hunter Gym again, since the gap between my MAG and my other stats is starting to widen again,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Of course, his long hunting schedule had just started, and what was more important right now than his stats was a new fact that he had found out this time.

‘A dimensional hole opened in the midst of the hunting ground…’ Han-Yeol thought.

That was right. The information section of the Hunters’ Association stated that dimensional holes only occurred in urban areas or outside of the hunting grounds, but the dimensional hole that Han-Yeol had found this time, one that summoned the Mutant Orcs, proved to be wrong.

‘It will certainly be very dangerous if a dimensional hole suddenly appears near me when I’m busy hunting,’ Han-Yeol thought.

The world was slowly changing. It might not be felt immediately, but a change was happening as the thirty years period that they had agreed with the aliens was fast approaching.

‘That means… I have to become as strong as possible before the thirty-year period ends. Of course, treating father’s illness before that comes first,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol recovered his stamina before he stood up and paced around to recover his mana while being deep in thought. He then looked at the two Porters before asking, “Are you done?”

“Yes, Hunter-nim. We have finished everything. Are you planning on moving again?” Sung-Beom asked.

“Yes, we are just getting started,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Hahaha…” Sung-Beom awkwardly laughed. He was well aware of Han-Yeol’s hunting speed once he got worked up.

The Porters knew very well that Han-Yeol was not joking when he meant that he was just getting started, and they braced themselves for a long tiring day.

***

Fifteen days had passed since Han-Yeol started hunting at the Orc Burrow.

“Ughhh…” Han-Yeol groaned while sitting atop a pile of Orc corpses.

Han-Yeol had just hunted twenty Orcs at once, and he would have lit and smoked a cigarette if this was a movie. Unfortunately, he was not a smoker. He had never tried smoking in his life before, but he probably would have quit even if he had smoked because of his stinginess.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

‘Finally,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 50

Points: 0

STR: 98

VIT: 93

AGI: 87

MAG: 150

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (A), Walking (B), Mana Control (B), Mana Mastery (D), Power Strike (B), Mana Shield (C), Sixth Sense (C), Restrain (B), Body Strengthening (C), Mana Eyes (C), Heal (A), Jumping (B), Stab (C), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (C), Fire Attribute (D), Mana Explosion (B), Chain Smite (B), Marksmanship (C), Martial Arts (D), Enchant (E), Sword Breath (D).

Han-Yeol finally reached Level 50 after hunting for fifteen days.

“Waaaah!”

“I’m going to die…!”

Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri's condition was at its worst. Han-Yeol’s hunting speed was already fast, to begin with, but his hunting speed had gone up several folds because of his own sense of urgency. Thus, he ended up not only pressuring himself but also putting his two Porters in a pretty bad condition.

The two Porters had large dark circles under their eyes, their hair was disheveled, and their faces were covered in grime. They did not have the chance to wash up properly these past few days. Above all, they were exhausted to the point of collapsing due to the tight hunting schedule Han-Yeol was on.

“Thank you very much for your hard work,” Han-Yeol said.

“Ahhh… It really is a shame that we failed to awaken this time again,” the two Porters said with dejection and exhaustion.

Both of them did not become Porters to make ends meet, but to awaken as Hunters. They earned a lot of money from the hunt with Han-Yeol this time, but they could not be delighted by that; the disappointment of not awakening was far greater than any joy money could give them.

“Well, I’m sure you will manage to awaken next time,” Han-Yeol said.

“I hope that is the case,” Sung-Beom replied.

Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri looked warmly at each other. Their bond grew deeper during the fifteen arduous days they had suffered under Han-Yeol. They might look like a mess right now, but that was not a problem since they were in love with each other.

‘I’m happy for them,’ Han-Yeol thought, but he was honestly jealous of the two. He really wanted to be in a relationship now that he was no longer living paycheck to paycheck. He was bitter about the fact that he was twenty-eight years old now, but still hadn’t been in a relationship. He was very curious about what dating someone would feel like.

“Now, now, let’s wrap things up and get out of here. We all worked like dogs over these past fifteen days, and we need to go get some rest,” Han-Yeol said.

“Yes, Hunter-nim!” the two Porters replied.

Their long hunt at the Orc Burrow came to an end. They drove the truck to the Hunters’ Association and sold the mana stones they had collected, and they finally reaped the rewards of their hard work.

“Wow! It has been quite a while since I have seen so many mana stones. Did you really hunt all of these yourself?” the staffers at the mana stone exchange center asked in shock when they saw the pile of mana stones in front of them.

An entire guild needed to be mobilized to collect the same amount as the pile of mana stones in front of them, and it took the staffers quite a while just to measure each mana stone’s density in the pile.

“The total is… F-Five… b-billion two hundred forty million won. Would you like it in cash or shall we wire it to the account registered under your name?” the staffer asked.

It was an astronomical amount, and it was extremely hard to believe that Han-Yeol had earned all of this alone.