Leveling Up Alone

[...]

Liu Shibo was also surprised that he had just killed his subordinate soldier.

[C-Commander, w-we didn’t even hear what the problem was…]

Normally, he would have radioed in, but it could have been too urgent to do so, or it could have been something only that one soldier knew about. Even if it wasn’t the case, in a situation where they didn’t know the source of the information, someone waiting for that soldier could have been in real trouble if it was truly important.

[Ahem, death is bound to happen during a war, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, figure out how to deal with those monsters!]

Liu Shibo raised his voice even higher and started to urge the officers to hide his embarrassment, without even realizing how deadly his mistake would prove to be.

Chuck, chuck!

[General.]

One terracotta army unit approached the general and bowed respectfully.

[Yes.]

[Good.]

Satisfied with the mid ranked terracotta warrior’s report, the highest ranked terracotta warrior wearing fancy armor nodded.

The warrior that looked like they were a superior remained more expressionless than the lower ranked terracotta warrior, even though the general could freely change its expression.

The lower ranked terracotta warriors who were like animated puppets had a little bit of liveliness to them if they were looked at closely, but the general's face was completely lifeless.

‘Liu Shibo!’

This terracotta warrior was none other than Li Yuxin, a top ranked Hunter who had become a terracotta warrior because of Emperor Qin after he lost his fiancée to the hands of terracotta warriors.

Although he was able to revive Lung Er through Emperor Qin, she wasn’t the same anymore.

[...]

His fiancée, Lung Er, stood silently next to him.

‘Lung Er, you’ve been resurrected as a terracotta warrior, but you’re not the same person anymore.’

At first glance, Lung Er looked the same, but as time passed, Li Yuxin started to feel that she was out of place. She was Lung Er, but at the same time, she was also different.

‘It must be the after effects of being resurrected as a terracotta warrior.’

He understood it in his head, but his heart didn’t accept it.

There was no way to bring her back to her original state now that she had already died once, but his heart cried out for the blood of Liu Shibo who had caused all this. Thus, he chose the defense line with Liu Shibo in it and traveled there with a secret plan in mind.

His rank was not that of a general, but a great general, and he was one of only three great generals under Emperor Qin.

The roles of the great generals were to stay next to Emperor Qin to escort him and oversee the overall flow of the battlefield, so he had broken the rule by traveling all the way to fight Liu Shibo. However, Emperor Qin understood Great General Li’s feelings and granted him his revenge.

‘I have received so many favors from His Majesty, so I’ll quickly complete my revenge and sacrifice my life for him.’

[Lung Er.]

[Yeah, Yuxin.]

[I love you.]

[I love you too!]

‘Even though you still reply so well…’

He didn’t notice that she was different at first. When Li Yuxin first spoke, Lung Er, the terracotta warrior, answered him well like she did back when she was still human, but now she wasn’t proactive at all.

Grit!

[I’ll never forgive you, Liu Shibo!]

Brrr!

The entire area shook as Li Yuxin was incredibly enraged.

***

“Huh?”

Han-Yeol cocked his head when he felt a sharp aura in the distance.

“What’s wrong, Master?”

Tia’s only concern on Earth was Han-Yeol, and her sensitive senses were unique to spiders. There was no way she would fail to notice this subtle change in Han-Yeol.

“No, it’s nothing. I just felt a powerful wave of emotion in the distance.”

“Oh wow, you can sense such things?”

“Ahaha, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in that aspect, so I’m naturally sensitive to it.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Tia looked at Han-Yeol with a mysterious expression.

“T-That’s right.”

Every time she made that face, Han-Yeol couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. It was hard for even Han-Yeol to handle when she threw herself at him.

Especially at night, she would charge wearing nothing. Even though Han-Yeol knew that she was a monster, her body was too attractive and he was aging by the day.

‘Ha, should I just sleep with her?’

But every time he tried touching her, the fact that she was a monster always stopped him.

‘And I can’t tell if Tia’s serious or not. Ugh, this is driving me insane to have a woman as good looking as Tia next to me and still not be able to do anything!’

Han-Yeol was getting more frustrated by the day as Scarlett wasn’t there either. She was too busy with her various other tasks.

‘Ugh, I’m actually going to end up sleeping with Tia at this point…’

Just as Han-Yeol’s head was pounding with mixed emotions, the army he led arrived near Emperor Qin’s main army.

Thump!

“Wow, what an incredible power… Huh!?”

Han-Yeol was too stunned to speak. His face instantly stiffened and became serious.

“...Did you feel it too, Han-Yeol-nim?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, I felt it too.”

Stewart and Tia definitely felt it.

“This energy is?”

“It’s an incredible amount of mana like that of a terrible monster boss.”

“How does this make sense?”

Han-Yeol had constantly kept track of Emperor Qin’s mana, so he had a rough idea of how much mana he had. But the problem was that the mana he just felt was completely different from what he had kept track of.

“How could his mana change this much in the three days I was asleep?”

“I know, right? Han-Yeol-nim will now have to work a bit harder.”

“Haha, you're right.”

“Ugh, damn it. I never get anything easy!”

Noras had been in a semi-meditative state, but he also chimed in.

[I’m guessing this is the power of the Grey Stone.]

“Oh, the Grey Stone?”

[Yes, when I heard Han-Yeol-nim say that the Demon King’s army had suddenly become stronger, I thought it was just a coincidence as it’s not uncommon for someone to become stronger in a short period of time after gaining some kind of enlightenment. This isn’t common, but it still does happen from time to time.]

“Well, yeah.”

Han-Yeol nodded naturally, as this was something he was also well aware of.

[However, that guy called Emperor Qin had a change in strength that is far too great to be called a short term change through enlightenment.]

“Right, right.”

Han-Yeol could be said to be the epitome of a Hunter who grew stronger quickly, but even so, it was impossible for someone to have such a huge difference in strength in just three days.

[If so, there’s only one possibility and that’s if he used the infinite power of the Grey Stone, which he supposedly possesses.]

“I see…”

They had their conversation in the Bastro language. Several of Han-Yeol’s companions and pets seemed unhappy that he was talking to Noras alone.

While some of his companions acted like they were on the same level as him, none of them were truly his equal. They were all his subordinates or pets, so no one dared to show their dissatisfaction to Han-Yeol when he had a serious look on his face.

“Hmm…”

Han-Yeol placed his thumb and index finger on his chin and pondered for a moment.

‘Is there any way to artificially turn his power back to normal?’

[...Unfortunately, there is no way. This isn’t an artificial power. The power inherent within him must’ve manifested early due to his prolonged exposure to the Grey Stone’s limitless mana, which means that it’s impossible to reverse his power unless he has some sort of hidden power.]

“Tsk, I see.”

With such a principle, there was nothing Han-Yeol could do.

Crack, crack!

Han-Yeol stretched his neck from side to side.

“The bottom line is that we can only destroy him with force.”

[That’s right.]

“Haha, alright.”

The good news was that Emperor Qin wasn’t as strong as Andras.

‘He’s a boss monster, so he’s a little different than normal, but it's not like I can’t fight him. He’s probably stronger than me, but battles aren’t necessarily determined by the concentration of mana.’

There was no doubt that the quantity and quality of mana were very important factors, but combat wasn’t that simple.

“Let’s go guys.”

“Yes, Han-Yeol-nim.”

“Alright, Master.”

“Kheeee!”

“I’ll have to properly warm up this time. I couldn’t fight properly when I was fighting against the Demon King’s army.”

“Ahahaha.”

Han-Yeol couldn't help but laugh quietly at White Dragon in human form. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to use White Dragon as an excellent mage when they fought against the demon army.

Boom!

As Han-Yeol’s army got closer, Emperor Qin’s army started to move as well.

Kikiki!

“Oh that’s a chariot. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen one. The color is a bit ugly, but other than that it’s pretty good.”

Emperor Qin’s army was waiting for Han-Yeol after they obliterated the defense line that the World Alliance army was guarding.

A large army slowly approached with their chariots. The chariots were drawn by two or four horses, and inside them were terracotta warriors with a considerable amount of mana.

“This won’t be easy.”

“Hmmm, I suppose so.”

Stewart nodded in agreement with Han-Yeol.

Chuck, chuck, chuck.

The Black Orcs had fought well against the monsters from the Demon King’s army. However, the quality and quantity of the terracotta warriors they had to fight this time were so much stronger that they made the Demon King’s army look pathetic.

When Han-Yeol first checked, the Demon King's army and Emperor Qin’s army were equally strong. So much so that one wouldn’t be able to tell who had the upper hand unless they were actually put against each other.

[It seems that if Emperor Qin becomes stronger, so do his subordinates.]

‘Yeah, I think so too, Karvis.’

However, looking at the endless number of terracotta warriors in front of him, he wasn’t sure how long the Black Orcs would last.

‘Hmm, but will the Black Orcs be able to devour them since they’re made of dirt?’

Han-Yeol suddenly wondered if it was possible.

Either way, the Black Orcs had also eaten dark mana, or monsters made of dark energy, so it wouldn’t affect them too much to eat dirt, which seemed less harmful to their bodies.

Strictly speaking, the flesh of monsters with dark mana was edible, whereas the flesh of terracotta warriors was inedible dirt.

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