Leveling Up Alone

The high-ranking sorcerers had climbed the cliff opposite of Han-Yeol, but the roe deer sorcerers were on that side, so Han-Yeol couldn’t ignore them completely. Plus, he had to fight the hyenas eventually, so he didn’t want to bother using some tricks to deal with them later.

“Mavros!”

“Khaeee!”

Mavros changed his appearance from non-combat mode to combat mode at Han-Yeol’s call. Lately, Mavros had been quite unhappy that Han-Yeol preferred to fly with his own Wings of Light to fight rather than ride on his back. So when Han-Yeol called for him after a long time, Mavros was quite happy.

Thud.

Meeting Mavros’ expectations, Han-Yeol jumped up and settled into the saddle.

“Let’s go, Mavros.”

“Khaee!”

Whoosh!

“Hmm, shall I get moving too?”

White Dragon didn’t like to move much, but she also began to move. Her white hair swayed and gave the illusion that it was glittering.

“Han-Yeol-nim, I’ll continue to control the golems and focus on eliminating the remaining contaminants down below since all the sorcerers have come up here and there’s no one left to defend them.”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you, Stewart.”

“Yes, Han-Yeol-nim.”

Stewart tended to keep a low profile when it came to participating in the main parts of the battle. Han-Yeol wasn’t particularly bothered by it as it didn’t mean that Stewart would be fighting battles where Han-Yeol didn’t need him. In fact, he was grateful.

“I’ll put Lord Kasha with you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

[Hey! Don’t order me around.]

Lord Kasha was mad at Han-Yeol’s attitude. He treated him like an object and put him with anyone regardless of what he wanted.

“Shut up, Vampire. Be quiet and just do what you're told.”

[Ugh, o-okay!]

Stewart didn’t have the blood allegiance to control Lord Kasha. Nonetheless, he couldn’t talk back to Stewart. While Lord Kasha may have led a race of vampires, Stewart was technically a direct subordinate of the Demon King, an overlord leading an entire army.

‘T-There’s no way I can survive if I mess with an overlord.’

Although they both were demons with the same noble status, the nobles still had differences in rank.

Lord Kasha already struggled to deal with those with the status of a lord, so overlords were even more terrifying. Stewart just happened to be a subordinate of Lucifer, a fallen angel and the most powerful Demon King in the demon world.

“Focus, Lord Kasha.”

[Y-Yes!]

‘Damn it, when will my life get brighter? Ah, but I’ll die once it does. God damn it, nothing’s going the way I want it to!’

Lord Kasha took out his anger by stomping on the ground.

[H-Hmph!]

Stewart glared at him with a murderous aura, and Lord Kasha stopped. It was ironic that a vampire, a race of darkness, was looking for brightness.

Han-Yeol and his group crossed the cliff and came face to face with the high-ranking sorcerer.

[Khahaha, human, you dare to mess with me?]

Scratch.

“Ugh, my ears. Every time I hear someone talk crap, my ears itch. Is there any way to cure this?”

“Haha, I think it’s impossible. It’s not your fault that your ears are allergic to crap. It’s the people who talk crap who are at fault, Master.”

“Ugh, how annoying.”

[W-What?]

Han-Yeol and Tia’s conversation left Haverus dumbfounded. Like other Bastrolings, this was the first time Haverus, a high-ranking hyena sorcerer, had ever been attacked with words since Bastro Warriors were more likely to use their fists than their mouths.

“I’m right, though. He just barged into a canyon without even sending scouts, which is the perfect place for a trap. So how can he say I messed with him? I can’t believe someone can be this stupid. Right, Tia?”

“Haha, I agree. It’s so unbelievable that I almost let out a murderous aura.”

“Well Tia, you’ve always released a murderous aura in front of an enemy.”

“Oh, did I?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Haha, then I guess I can’t help it.”

[...]

Han-Yeol and Tia were having a one-on-one conversation and showing off their great conversational skills, but they were talking about Haverus, sarcastically poking fun at his ignorance.

He had never been insulted like this, and he was left speechless.

A moment later, he got angry.

[Kaaaah, you damned human!]

Kwang!

Anger was one of the things that made the contamination attribute run wild because the root of the contamination attribute was darkness, and anger, one of the many negative emotions, amplified darkness.

“Wow, that's a lot of mana!”

Han-Yeol also had a good grasp of anger and darkness, so he could feel the mana explosion from the hyena sorcerer down to his bones.

“Kheek!”

Mavros was more instinctive than rational, so he roared in response to the mana.

[Human, you have insulted me, and you will pay for it with your life!]

Whoosh!

Haverus swung his staff in the air once.

Rumble!

Then, an earthquake struck.

Boom!

At the same time, the ordinary contaminants in the surroundings exploded, forming a magic circle.

Kwaang!

An explosion occurred in the center of the magic circle, and a gigantic contaminant appeared from within.

“Kraaaaaaah!”

“T-That’s?”

Karvis, an expert analyst, described the Krevik Giant as soon as it appeared.

[It's a Krevik Giant. It's endemic to the Bastro Dimension and is fairly rare, and as rare as it is, it's also a powerful monster. But it became even more powerful when it became a contaminant, and that sorcerer named Haverus seems to have been working hard on this monster.]

The Krevik Giant was a large monster at eight meters tall, and typically weighed around three tons. A bone helmet covered its entire face while it was also equipped with a bone breastplate, a bone whip, and a bone greatsword. The Krevik Giant looked like a Bone Warrior.

“Damn, I didn't expect you to have a Krevik Giant as a contaminant.”

He had never seen one in person, but thanks to the monster book he had read when he was Harkan, he recognized it from Karvis’ description.

[Kahahahaha! Human, did you dare to think you could survive after taunting me? Suffer, cry for help, and die! Kahaha!]

The Krevik Giant's majesty became immense every time Haverus laughed loudly.

Krrr!

“Kraaaaaaah!”

The Krevik Giant roared, and everything shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

“Hmm, I can make things shake too. Do you wanna take a look?”

[Khaha. Human, I’ve already done my research on you. You’ve been arrogantly broadcasting or whatever it’s called, your abilities in that own dimension of yours for the whole world to see.]

“Oh, that?”

‘I haven’t been broadcasted in forever. What the hell is he talking about?’

Han-Yeol was confused.

After reaching a certain level of growth, he traveled in parties rather than guilds. And since he only traveled to dangerous places, taking the broadcast team with him was impossible. As a result, it had been long since Han-Yeol had broadcasted online, as he grew stronger every day. However, the hyenas were just now getting around to watching the broadcast on the Internet, so Han-Yeol couldn't help but laugh.

“So?”

Haverus burst out laughing, his demeanor still relaxed.

[Kahaha. I've figured out that your abilities grow fast, and even calculated the fact that you haven't done any broadcasting in a while to get an idea of how strong you are. And, most importantly, you were unlucky enough to meet me, a great high-ranking sorcerer. Hahahahaha!]

[Oh, and do you think this is the end of it?]

“Huh?”

Han-Yeol cocked his head.

“What else is there to do?”

[Kehehe.]

Whoosh!

Haverus raised his skull staff again.

[Rise, my servants, and tear apart that arrogant enemy who dares to challenge me!]

Ping!

A powerful ripple erupted from the center of the staff as the spell was cast.

Just like a moment ago, countless small magic circles sprang up from the area covered by the ripples, and from them, contaminants smaller than the Krevik Giant but with the power of a compact contaminant attribute appeared.

“Kyaak!”

“Kaaak!”

Whoosh!

Similar to the Krevik Giant, they wore armor and held weapons made out of bones.

‘Hmm, aren’t those Kreviks?’

[Yes, that's right. They’re monsters called Kreviks from the Krevik Giant Dungeon. You must be careful. Their individual combat power is nothing compared to the Krevik Giant, but if there are that many of them, they’re even more threatening than the Krevik Giant.]

‘Well, I remember that, but… Thanks for the warning anyway.’

[Of course.]

Karvis, an ego system all set up for Han-Yeol, just did what she had to do.

[Ah, I almost forgot,] said Haverus.

‘What, again?’

This was already the third summoning.

Whoosh!

A strong gust of wind accompanied by thunderous lightning blew in, revealing a Bastro Warrior, covered in an aura unique to contaminants. His armor was as ornate as his appearance.

“Krrr.”

His armor covered his entire body, so it was impossible to tell his exact identity or race, but his red glowing eyes were extremely threatening.

Han-Yeol tensed up again at the power of the third contaminant.

‘This guy is stronger than I thought. He’s similar to a high-ranking sorcerer.’

[Hmm, my analysis skill isn't working.]

‘What?’

Han-Yeol was confused by Karvis’ comment.

[This is strange. He’s definitely a Bastroling judging by his appearance… I’ve analyzed and observed all the Bastro Warriors when you were still Harkan, and yet I can’t analyze that contaminant Bastroling at all.]

‘Just what the hell is going on?’

Han-Yeol was getting nervous now.

He was so strong that he had made a fool out of three mid-ranking sorcerers before, and he knew that high-ranking sorcerers were much stronger than mid-ranking ones, but he hadn’t expected the difference to be this great. It wasn’t just the difference in mana, but the summoning of different kinds of contaminants was on another level.

‘As expected… hyena sorcerers are different depending on what kind of contaminant they can summon. I forgot about their basic powers for a moment.’

Han-Yeol clicked his tongue.

[Khahaha. Be scared, tremble in terror, and die, you foolish human!]

Boom

‘Thunder?’

Han-Yeol had destroyed the vanishing circle, but its effects were slowly taking place far away from the original site. Therefore, the canyon, which was not far from the place where the vanishing circle used to be, was still a colorless world. In such a colorless world, dark clouds suddenly appeared in the sky and thunder began to strike.

‘He can control the weather too?’

Thump, thump.

Han-Yeol’s heart beat harder, warning him that a high-ranking sorcerer was definitely not an easy opponent.

‘Ugh, guys that are that strong would’ve done something about their weakness of having a weak main body. What a pain.’

The good news was that there was only one high-ranking sorcerer. If he had encountered more than one at once while he hadn’t gotten used to their abilities yet, he could’ve easily lost.

‘Well, it’s a good thing I’m able to practice.’

[That’s right. If I thoroughly analyze them based on this battle, even if you don’t have a big power increase, it’ll help you deal with high-ranking sorcerers in the future.]

‘Of course.’

In order to do that, Han-Yeol first had to deal with the high-ranking sorcerer in front of him.

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