Leveling Up Alone

“Moooo!” a Crazy Cow cried out angrily.

Han-Yeol might have parried the Crazy Cow’s attack, but the monster was still alive and well—and angry. He wanted to capitalize on the momentum and pick up the pace but…

Swooosh… Sukeok!

Someone suddenly interfered and beheaded the Crazy Cow before he could test the technique out again.

Bam…!

The now headless Crazy Cow fell dead on the floor, and a black magic circle suddenly appeared underneath its corpse. It was quickly absorbed into the magic circle.

[That will be all for today.] Kajikar said.

The one who killed the Crazy Cow was none other than the demon drill sergeant, Kajikar.

“Oh, time passed by so fast… I did not notice it,” Han-Yeol muttered.

Han-Yeol did not spend the entire day only training. In fact, he equally divided his time in a day into training and hunting so that he would not lose his edge in actual combat. In fact, Kajikar had advised that training all day was not going to speed up his growth. He stated that effort needed to be supported with efficiency for optimal growth.

‘Ah right… Today’s the day that I’m supposed to go on a hunt with Yoo-Bi,’ Han-Yeol thought.

These days, Yoo-Bi was busy doing housework and looking after her mother, and that was why they did not have time to go out on hunts together these days.

Well, it did not really bother Han-Yeol much, since he could just hire another Porter on the days that Yoo-Bi was not available. That was why he decided to be understanding and not tell her off since she was busy working on her house and spending time with her mother.

Ding dong!

Han-Yeol received a message on his smartphone.

[Oppa, I rented the RV truck. Where should I go and meet up with you?]

‘She really picks up quite fast, as I expected,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Yoo-Bi got sharper and sharper the more hunts she went out on with Han-Yeol, and she now knew Han-Yeol’s likes and dislikes quite well. She did not treat Han-Yeol lightly and maintained her respect toward him no matter how close they had become.

It had been quite a while since they went out together on a hunt, so Han-Yeol thought that it would be good to go out and hunt with Yoo-Bi once again.

Han-Yeol replied to her message, [Come to the entrance of the Crazy Cow hunting ground. We will be hunting Crazy Cows today.]

Only six and a half seconds passed before Yoo-Bi’s reply came in.

[Yes! I understand!]

That was how Han-Yeol decided to hunt the Crazy Cows with Yoo-Bi, and Kajikar, who no longer had a reason to stay in the mortal world since Han-Yeol’s training was over for the day, went back to the demon world.

[Hehehe. I don’t have to worry about running out of liquor for a while thanks to you.] Kajikar said with a beaming smile before going back to the demon world, and the demon drill sergeant was holding an armful of expensive liquors Han-Yeol had imported from all over the world for him.

Yoo-Bi soon arrived at the Crazy Cow hunting ground’s entrance with the RV truck, and she parked near Han-Yeol when he waved his hand to flag her down. As Han-Yeol placed his equipment in the truck’s trunk and sat on the front passenger seat, Yoo-Bi asked, “Oppa, you will ride on the passenger seat?”

The front passenger seat of the RV truck was hard and uncomfortable, since the truck was designed for optimal efficiency and not comfort.

“I’m feeling lazy to drive today,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Ah, alright then,” Yoo-Bi said before driving the truck deeper into the Crazy Cow hunting ground.

Vrooom…!

***

Bam!

“Keuk!” Han-Yeol groaned.

He was trying out his new shield technique against a Crazy Cow, but he used it sparingly and did not focus on only using it as he did during training. This was because it was a new technique and he still had quite a big chance of failing to use it properly. Also, he was not training right now but hunting, so he was more reluctant to try things out.

Han-Yeol immediately threw his chain as soon as he parried the Crazy Cow’s charge with the shield technique he had learned from Kajikar. He used his chain skill. ‘Restrain!’

Shwiiiiik!

Han-Yeol’s chain bound itself around one of the Crazy Cow’s hind legs.

Thud…!

“Moooooooo!” The Crazy Crow cried out when the chain wrapped around one of its hind legs. It helplessly crashed to the ground.

‘Jumping!’ Han-Yeol kicked off the ground.

Tak!

Han-Yeol jumped high off the ground with Jumping before activating Sword Breath on his descent, aiming for the Crazy Cow’s blind spot. Then, he stabbed his flaming sword deep into the Crazy Cow’s neck.

Puuuuk!

“Mooooo!” The Crazy Cow cried out in agony when it felt the hot sword pierce through its neck and burn it from within before plopping dead to the ground.

The Crazy Cows might possess higher strength and a powerful charge, but their level was still below that of an Orc, so they were not that difficult of an opponent to Han-Yeol.

The reason why Han-Yeol was hunting them instead of the Orcs was to further test his new shield technique. He wanted to master the timing.

***

“Mooooo!”

Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…!

The Big Boss Crazy Cow was the boss of the Crazy Cow hunting ground that spanned acres and acres. It was five times larger than the average Crazy Cow, its thick hide in bright red.

‘Come, bring it on,’ Han-Yeol steeled his resolve while in a standoff against the Big Boss Crazy Cow.

The Big Boss Crazy Cow was a boss monster that numerous parties hunting in this area had to join forces to even have a chance at hunting it down.

A hunting ground’s boss monster could also be considered as the dimensional gate’s gatekeeper. No one knew exactly why, but monsters stopped appearing from the gate whenever the boss monster was killed.

Kill orders for the boss monsters had been issued to the Hunters when people had first found out about the fact that monsters would stop appearing for a while when the boss was gone. However, this soon stopped when the industries depending on monsters' by-products went through a boom. In fact, the hunting grounds’ boss monsters soon became a target that nobody should kill at one point, and that was precisely because the monsters, which were nothing but a source of income for the Hunters and raw materials for various industries, would stop appearing if the boss monster died.

However, Han-Yeol no longer had a reason to stay in this Crazy Cow hunting ground since he had to move on to another hunting ground with more powerful monsters, so he decided to come and hunt the boss monster down.

‘Come and take me on!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly as he prepared to fight against the Big Boss Crazy Cow. He wanted to test out the limits of the new skill he had acquired after Mana Shield’s evolution. He readied his round shield made out of mana and activated Sixth Sense while waiting for the Big Boss Crazy Cow to ram into him.

Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…! Rumble…!

It was that nerve-wracking moment Han-Yeol was about to collide with the Big Boss Crazy Cow!

‘Shield Bash!’ Han-Yeol used his skill. He slammed his round shield made out of his mana into the Big Boss Crazy Cow’s side after sidestepping. Only 1mm remained between them before the frontal impact from the charging boss monster.

Bam!

“Moooooo!'' The Big Boss Crazy Cow cried out when it fell down sideways after being smashed by a powerful force.

‘Alright!’ Han-Yeol rejoiced when his attack worked as planned.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Shield Bash’ has increased from (C) to (B).]

‘It’s finally B Rank,’ he muttered inwardly.

Han-Yeol’s shield-related skills did not really get the chance to level up as much as his other skills since his main style of combat was to shoot from a distance with his rifle before switching to his chain when the enemy came closer, and then dealing the final blow with Sword Breath when the enemy had finally come in front of him.

That was the reason why Shield Bash was still only B Rank despite it being one of the first skills he had obtained.

‘Sword Breath,’ Han-Yeol muttered before a flame engulfed his sword. Then, he stabbed his sword deep into the Big Boss Crazy Cow’s neck to deal the finishing blow.

Puuuuk!

“Mooooo!” The Big Boss Crazy Cow let out a cry in agony while struggling for about five minutes. Unfortunately, it could not break free from Han-Yeol despite its intense struggle. It remained bound up by his chain, and it soon rolled its eyes back and plopped dead to the ground.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

‘Hoo… my level finally went up,’ Han-Yeol thought after checking the message. His level rose only now despite him hunting for such a long time in this hunting ground because the monsters’ level was much lower than Han-Yeol.

‘Well, I didn’t really come here to raise my level in the first place,’ Han-Yeol thought.

While he was cooling down from the fierce yet one-sided battle, Yoo-Bi extended something toward Han-Yeol.

‘Hmm?’ Han-Yeol muttered inwardly.

Then, he muttered in confusion, “Yoo-Bi?”

“Thank you for your hard work today, oppa,” Yoo-Bi said with a bright smile. She extended a cute towel with a pink teddy bear embroidered on it toward him.

Han-Yeol looked back and forth between Yoo-Bi and the towel for a while before he smiled and took the towel to wipe the sweat on his forehead.

The Crazy Cows were not really an opponent that Han-Yeol had to struggle against, but he did end up sweating after exerting a lot of force to fight against those monsters’ ridiculous strength.

Yoo-Bi was staring at Han-Yeol while he was wiping his sweat with the towel.

“Why? Why are you staring?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Hehe, I wonder as well. Maybe because oppa looks so sexy wiping his sweat right now? I don’t know, hehe,” Yoo-Bi cheekily said.

“Hahaha! Don’t banter with me now,” Han-Yeol replied while laughing out loud.

“It’s true, hehe,” Yoo-Bi said while sticking her tongue out.

Yoo-Bi no longer felt awkward around Han-Yeol and was now able to comfortably talk to him, and Han-Yeol found this side of her to be very cute and humorous. This girl, who possibly told the truth or was just joking around with him, was like a ray of light or an oasis in the desert to him, who at one point had lived a harsh life trying to make ends meet.

“Why don’t you get to work instead of loitering around, Porter-nim?” Han-Yeol said.

“Yes! I understand, Hunter-nim!” Yoo-Bi enthusiastically replied while sarcastically saluting him before she took out her power tools and got to work. The small girl walked toward the Big Boss Crazy Cow’s corpse, which was multiple times larger than her, and proceeded to dismember it into parts.

Brrrrm…!

Whiiiiiing! Whiiiiing! Whiiiing!

Yoo-Bi diligently dismembered the gigantic Big Boss Crazy Cow into parts and loaded it into the RV truck one part at a time, and of course, Han-Yeol helped her out as well.

***

Vroooom…!

The hunting ground seemed lifeless after the Big Boss Crazy Cow’s death, and this was because it became dormant after the boss guarding the dimensional gate was dead.

A single truck passed through the now lifeless hunting ground. Most people would have carefully navigated through the hunting grounds, but that was no longer necessary since this hunting ground had recently lost its boss monster.

“Oppa, are we going straight to the factory instead of the association?” Yoo-Bi asked.

“Yeah, we will be going to the factory first,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Alright,” Yoo-Bi responded while proceeding to drive in the direction of the factory.

‘Hmm… I’ll go and sell off the monster corpses at the factory and go change my equipment first. It’s about time that I upgrade my equipment to proper ones, and I also need to go and restock on the high-quality liquors and appetizers for Kajikar-nim. Then, should I go and have some fun with Yoo-Bi after that?’ Han-Yeol wondered.

It was now time for them to spend the money that they had worked so hard to earn.

The issue with Sung-Jin Factory was still unresolved, but that was not really something Han-Yeol should personally get involved with and resolve. The factory’s owner might be his friend’s father, but it would be rude of him to barge into the situation when the person did not even ask for his help. Also, he could not simply go and cause a ruckus since this was a country that had a rule of law after all.

‘I might have stopped it once, but that doesn’t mean those guys are simply going to give up,’ Han-Yeol thought.

He had felt this numerous times when he had been an insignificant poor child trying to make ends meet: there were more rich people who were greedier for money than poor people. The avarice of the wealthy was no different from a lump of sticky, dirty corruption. That was why there was no way that those people were simply going to stop because they had failed once.

“Oppa, what are you thinking about? You have been sighing since a while ago,” Yoo-Bi asked. She was curious about what Han-Yeol was thinking about, since he kept sighing while looking out the window.

“Nothing much… I just have a few things on my mind, that's all. Come to think of it, it would be good if you could Awaken as well soon,” Han-Yeol said.

“Che! Did it only occur to you now? Did you know that I did not manage to shoot my gun even once this time?” Yoo-Bi complained while puffing her cheeks.

Yoo-Bi spoke the truth. Han-Yeol had called her out, but he had been busy practicing his shield technique and hunting the Crazy Cows that he had completely forgotten about letting Yoo-Bi attack the monsters to increase her chances of Awakening.

“Ah! I’m sorry, Yoo-Bi!” Han-Yeol apologetically cried out.

“Hmph! You should not do this next time, alright?” Yoo-Bi grumbled cutely with her puffed cheeks.

She was indeed disappointed that Han-Yeol hadn’t paid any attention to her in this hunt, but she just pretended to be upset as a joke since he had already done so much for her. Also, the one that benefited the most from the exclusive contract was none other than herself.

‘I might not have been able to properly hunt this time, but I’m getting so much from oppa. I’m just joking around, but I want to see you feel sorry as well, hehe…’ Yoo-Bi thought before she stuck her tongue out in a joking manner while Han-Yeol was not looking.

She was not upset with Han-Yeol at all, since she knew how big of a help he had been to her, and she was also well aware that this was a blessing and a privilege that did not present itself to a lot of people. Needless to say, there was no way that she was going to be upset with him just because she did not get to hunt once, and she was not that kind of a narrow-minded woman.

She might have come from a poor background and had lived a harsh, difficult life, but she was raised in a way to know how to appreciate people and to live life with a healthy conscience. It seemed that her mother did a great job raising her with basic manners and etiquette from a young age.

That was how Yoo-Bi and Han-Yeol managed to reach Sung-Jin Factory after bantering and joking around with each other in the RV truck, which was filled with the body parts of the monsters they had hunted together today.