Leveling Up Alone

“Tsk, how foolish.”

“Haha, are all Bastrolings this stupid, Master?”

“Yeah, mostly. Being knowledgeable and having a social life are two different things. Bastrolings are a bit extreme, for better or worse.”

“Oh, I don’t like being extreme.”

“You’re extremely erotic.”

“Excuse you, you’re calling a young lady erotic.”

“If you say you’re not, you’re being really shameless.”

Tia didn’t exactly deny Han-Yeol’s words, but she let out a strangely lustful laugh.

“Haha.”

‘Look at those eyes. Tia’s a hundred percent erotic!’

Han-Yeol shook his head.

[Haa, I can’t believe this…]

Whoosh!

The battle was over.

Han-Yeol gathered the corpses of the elephant race warriors in one place and set them on fire.

Noras stared in disbelief as the corpses burned. He couldn’t believe what had happened—it all still felt like a dream.

[I can’t believe the Elkan I knew betrayed us.]

The shock was even greater for Noras as he had a stronger sense of camaraderie than anyone else.

Tap.

Someone’s hand grabbed Noras’s shoulder.

[G-Great One.]

He was still polite to Han-Yeol as usual, but he had no energy. The feeling of betrayal, frustration, and shame clawed away at him.

“There’s nothing I can say to comfort you.”

[...]

There was nothing Noras could say.

“But, remember this. There is light and shadow in everything, no one is a hundred percent trustworthy, and anyone who has reason can betray you at any moment. Be vigilant, and always be careful. And you’re still betrayed, pay them back a hundred, a thousand times more.”

[I’ll keep this in mind.]

Noras was too bewildered to take in what Han-Yeol was saying completely, but he still understood most of what he was trying to say.

Pat, pat.

“You got this.”

Han-Yeol stopped there.

‘The roe deer race aren’t children. They’ll get over it.’

Han-Yeol wasn’t the kind of person to comfort anyone, and he definitely didn’t have a particularly gentle personality. However, someone thought otherwise.

“You’re one gentle person, Master.”

“Me, gentle? What nonsense.”

“Don't be shy. You’re so cute, Master.”

Tia’s black eyes, which had no whites in them, curved beautifully.

‘Yikes, Tia sure is bad for my heart.’

Tia was as beautiful as Tayarana. In fact, she even surpassed Tayarana in eroticism. Although Han-Yeol had a heart of steel, he couldn't handle the pheromones Tia was spraying.

“Stop teasing your master and get ready to move, Tia.”

“Haha, if you say so, Master.”

‘Ugh.’

[...]

Tayarana continued to look at Han-Yeol and Tia with a sour expression.

‘Ha.’

Mariam watched Tayarana from the side and sighed heavily on the inside.

‘There sure are a lot of dull and weird people here.’

“Khu!”

“It’s a good thing you’re normal, Mavros.”

Mavros couldn’t understand Mariam’s sudden comment and cocked his head.

“Khu?”

Just like that, the night passed once more.

Although they had wasted time dealing with the elephant race warriors, they gained something in return.

‘Even those of the same Light Faction can’t be trusted completely. It’s not such a bad thing that Noras realized this.’

Han-Yeol always worried about how naive Bastorlings were. Although they encountered a small event that led a few roe deer sorcerers to realize this, including Noras, Han-Yeol felt that everything had to start off small somewhere.

‘Small realizations like this will eventually add up to create great results.’

Step, step.

[...]

At first, Han-Yeol and his group walked in silence, but that didn’t last long as many in the group didn’t like the fact that it was so quiet.

[Han-Yeol.]

“Yeah, Tara?”

[You said we’re going to the Mountain Range of Beginnings, right?]

“That’s right. I believe a magic circle of sorts has been activated there to suck the life force out of the world to destroy it. So we’re going there to destroy that magic circle and ruin the hyenas' plans.”

[Hmmm, and?]

“Huh?”

Han-Yeol had never seen Tayarana act so involved before.

Han-Yeol stared into her eyes.

‘Well, I’m sure it's a good thing.’

Since she was usually so emotionless, this humanized side of her didn’t seem bad at all. In fact, it made her look even more beautiful.

[How did you know they were traitors? Even Mariam didn’t seem to notice.]

Mariam could read other people’s thoughts, and even she couldn’t figure out much about the elephant race because of their secure block. The elephant race warriors had always deceived their enemies, but Han-Yeol had read their minds as if it was nothing and realized that they were traitors.

“Well, there are many reasons, but the biggest of them all was that they didn’t recognize us.”

[Why?]

“Do you remember when we first met the elephants?”

[Of course.]

Tayarana looked at Han-Yeol as if she were asking, ‘What kind of question was that?’

‘Haha.’

“Their ears can pick up sounds from thirty kilometers away, but they didn’t recognize us and charged at us from that distance, almost threatening us. That’s ridiculous. No matter how foolish the elephant race is, they’re not that stupid.”

[Hmm, you know a lot about them.]

“I told you, I was a lord who ruled the Bastro Dimension for twenty years.”

Han-Yeol raised the corners of his mouth and smiled at Tayarana. Anyone who saw his bright smile would feel refreshed by it.

[O-Okay…]

With a short answer, Tayarana dropped her head and stepped back to stand by Mariam.

‘I wonder what’s wrong.’

Han-Yeol was puzzled as to why Tayarana suddenly stepped away.

‘Did I answer all of her questions?’

Tayarana had an easygoing personality, so that could be very likely.

‘Tsk, what a shame.’

Han-Yeol licked his lips.

“Oh wow, Master, perverted.”

“Ahh, you surprised me!”

“Hahaha, as the Arachnid Queen, I love it when you’re genuinely surprised.”

“Ugh, I’m glad you find this enjoyable, Arachnid Queen.”

“Hahaha.”

*

Pababak!

“Khaaa!”

As soon as they left the elephant race’s lair, a swarm of wild contaminants started emerging, something the group had momentarily forgotten about.

Whoosh. Kwang!

However, Han-Yeol slaughtered the wild contaminants more easily than before.

‘With two chains, my sweeping speed has become more than twice as fast!’

[That’s good.]

‘Anyway, I think those elephants were lying.’

[That’s right.]

‘A mere trade? What kind of crap is that? There’s no way the hyena bastards put up a barrier to keep the contaminants out for a mere transactional relationship.’

[I agree.]

‘Tsk, it’s a good thing I killed them.’

[I agree.]

At the moment, everyone was refraining from using as much mana as possible to avoid falling under the hyena sorcerers’ radar. As a result, it took them a while to deal with the wild contaminants.

‘Karvis.’

[Yes.]

‘How much further do we have to go?’

[According to my calculations, we’ll have to move at least forty-eight hours faster. It’ll take at least five days if we continue at this rate.]

‘Ah, I really don’t want that.’

Destroying the magic circle was important, but it was more important to destroy it as quickly as possible. Two days was fine, but five days was definitely too long, especially considering the time it would take to destroy the magic circle.

[Why don’t we just leave the wild contaminants as is and move along?]

‘Ugh, but it’ll be a problem if the hyenas have the ability to see the contaminants’ memories.’

[It’s inevitable. Unless they’re Bastro Warriors who can’t use a lot of skills, it’ll only be a matter of time before they realize we’re here. Then wouldn’t it just be better to shorten the time?]

‘Tsk, I guess we have no choice.’

Following Karvis’ advice, Han-Yeol’s group ignored the contaminants and started moving along.

“You should’ve done this a long time ago,” Stewart quietly grumbled, feeling refreshed.

“I can’t help it. We’re running out of time, and we don’t know what’ll happen if we leave the contaminants behind.”

“Making a choice and focusing are essential, Han-Yeol-nim.”

“Tsk! I know that already.”

They arrived near the Mountain Range of Beginnings in about forty hours instead of forty-eight hours, thanks to Han-Yeol’s decision to move faster.

“Is this it?”

[That’s right, but this place has changed quite a bit as well.]

[How awful.]

“Hmm.”

White Dragon looked at the Mountain Range of Beginnings, which had turned into the Mountain Range of Death.

‘Dragon of Destruction…’

The Dragon of Destruction was a dragon that even killed dragons from its own race. There was no way White Dragon and the Dragon of Destruction would ever be compatible.

‘I will kill you and avenge my people.’

As a dragon that protected the order of dimensions, was she staying by Han-Yeol’s side because she had seen the terrible history between Han-Yeol and the Dragon of Destruction?

In any case, as she got closer to the Dragon of Destruction, she became less talkative and started sharpening the fighting spirit she felt in her body.

[Han-Yeol-nim.]

‘Ah, I’m going to use it right away. Demon Eyes!’

Zing!

Demon Eyes was a skill that instantly transformed Han-Yeol’s eyes into demonic pupils that specialized in utilizing mana.

His eyes reddened, and he poured more mana into them, turning them into eyes that could pierce through the very essence of anything. He scanned the ashen Mountain Range of Beginnings that was devoid of life.

‘Oh, wow!’

The entire mountain range was a den of contaminants.

[They’re modified contaminants.]

‘That’s an odd way to put it. Hyenas are constantly modifying contaminants, aren't they?’

[No, this is a modification of wild contaminants.]

‘Huh? Why?’

[The amount of mana required for the magic circle is probably so vast that they don’t know if enemies will come or not, but it’s still an important place, so they have to protect it somehow. Thus, rather than using the normal contaminants that consume mana in small but steady amounts, they have placed wild contaminants, which are independent entities that don’t consume mana. Even if they don’t realize that there are enemies in the area, it wouldn't matter much since contaminants of this size would surely cause a scene. However, I think the normal contaminants are too easy to deal with, so they’ve modified wild contaminants to buy time.]

‘That last statement is a speculation, but isn’t it too detailed?’

[Detailed speculations are my specialty.]

‘Sure, sure, and…’

Han-Yeol moved his Demon Eyes.

The most important thing to find out was the location of the magic circle.

‘They’ve hidden it well.’

[The mountain range is big, so there are many places to hide it, and… the Mountain Range of Beginnings has that.]

‘Ah, the mana energy stone.’

The mana energy stone was different from the mana stone. It was a natural stone made of mana, but not the kind one could get from a monster. It was like the difference between ginseng and wild ginseng.

In any case, the Mountain Range of Beginnings was full of mana energy stones, which interfered considerably with the Demonic Eyes that detected mana.

‘Tsk, I’m sure the hyenas aren’t trying to interfere with my Demon Eyes, but this is pretty annoying.’

It was uncomfortable now that he couldn't see what he could normally see.

However, Han-Yeol refused to give up.

‘Let’s see who wins!’

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