Leveling Up Alone

“Did something happen…?” the Porters asked.

They had finished dismembering the Orc corpses a while back, and had been following the Mana Detection Device when they suddenly picked up a sudden explosive increase of mana. They rushed toward where the Mana Detection Device had picked up the sudden increase of mana, and found Han-Yeol healing the Tank.

‘Is he healing her?’ Sung-Beom asked silently by shooting a look at Ah-Ri.

‘I think he is,’ Ah-Ri replied with her eyes, nodding.

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol’s healing skill had already enveloped the Tank’s entire body, and her ruined body’s injuries slowly started to recover. Han-Yeol’s ‘Heal’ was insufficient when it came to completely healing his father’s illness, but it was more than enough when it came to physical injuries, as long as he had the time to heal them slowly.

“Haaap!” the Tank gasped.

One of her ribs, which had punctured her lung, slowly snapped back into place. Her lungs, which had been unable to function properly due to the puncture wounds, once again began to operate after being healed. Soon, the Tank was able to breathe normally once again.

Woooong…

After around thirty minutes passed since Han-Yeol began using ‘Heal’ on the Tank, she regained the ability to stand up on her own.

“T-Thank you,” she said after she stood up, and gave a polite bow to Han-Yeol. However, her face looked quite dark and exhausted even though all her injuries had been healed. The first thing her eyes darted toward was the dead Hunter holding a sword in her hand.

“Hmm… Unfortunately, that Hunter didn’t make it,” Han-Yeol said. He asked, “Did the others run away?”

“Yes…” the Tank replied. She seemed to be in shock, and replied in a robotic monotone.

‘Well, this Hunter and I are still humans in the end,’ Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol had no idea what her relationship to the dead Hunter was, but he was certain that they would have cheered each other on and promised to get out alive if they were comrades who had been together for quite a while. The shock of finding her comrade dead on the ground must have been quite a shock to the surviving Hunter, and Han-Yeol could feel her pain just from imagining it happening to him.

The Tank slowly approached the dead Hunter and hugged her, crying, “Ji-Ah… Sniff sniff… Ji-Ah…! Ji-Ah…!”

She continued screaming and wailing even though her throat ached, and she kept patting the dead Hunter’s cheek as if asking for her soul to return to her body. Despite that, however, she had no choice but to accept the death of her comrade.

Thus, she neatly fixed her dead comrade’s hair and paid her final respects, quietly bidding her farewell by saying, “Don’t get sick, and be healthy. Be happy in the afterlife, okay?”

“…”

Han-Yeol and the two Porters solemnly stood by and kept their silence.

The media and the Hunters’ Association simplified the deaths of Hunters by turning them into just another statistic, saying that ten percent of Hunters died every year. However, it was different for the family, friends, and comrades left behind by the Hunter who died. It was never just another statistic for them.

Quite a while passed before Han-Yeol approached the Tank, having allowed her to calm down a bit. He said, “We’ll help you collect her remains. Our truck is right over there.”

“T-Thank you for your help… On top of that, you healed me too,” the Tank replied. Her eyes were quite swollen and her nose was clogged, due to crying over her dead comrade.

“We have to help each other, after all,” Han-Yeol said.

The Tank eventually managed to compose herself. Then, Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri brought the truck over and loaded the dead Hunter’s remains onto the truck.

The Porter Department made it mandatory for all Porters to receive formal education on taking care of Hunters’ remains in the event that they died in the Hunting Grounds; doing so was one of the Porters’ main jobs.

‘Something’s strange, though… Hunters usually leave behind Porters as bait instead of a fellow Hunter…’ Han-Yeol thought.

That was the bitter reality, no matter how cruel it sounded. The chance of a Porter surviving after being cast aside as bait was close to zero, so it was not much of a headache for the Hunters to deal with the consequences afterward. However, the aftermath of having to deal with the consequences of a Hunter surviving after being left behind was massive, as it was quite a serious offense to abandon a Hunter and use them as bait in the Hunting Grounds.

The hunt thus ended, and Han-Yeol and his Porters accompanied the Tank along with her dead comrade. They drove down to the Hunters’ Association in their truck, where they handed over the dead Hunter to the association.

The Hunters’ Association had a system to hold funerals for any Hunters who died on the Hunting Grounds. They automatically called the surviving relatives of the deceased immediately after confirming their passing by receiving the body; what followed after that was no different from a normal funeral.

‘Oh right, I forgot to take the remains of the Mutant Orc…’ Han-Yeol thought. He recalled the gigantic Orc he had left behind with a heavy heart while driving to Anseong to continue hunting.

‘Ah… such a waste…’ he grumbled.

He was annoyed at himself for leaving behind such a rare monster’s corpse, but he soon accepted the fact that it was an unavoidable decision. Under the circumstances, there had been no way they could leisurely dismember it and load it onto the truck.

‘Another one should show up, right?’ he thought, looking forward to hunting down another gigantic Orc.

However, coincidences rarely happened twice.

“Chwiiik!”

“Kieeek!”

‘Tsk… There’s no Mutant Orc this time either,’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

He had been quite motivated to hunt, as he wanted to meet a Mutant Orc once again to grow stronger even more quickly. However, he only encountered normal Orcs, and there was not a single Mutant Orc in sight.

Shwiiiiik!

Han-Yeol wrapped his chain around the neck of an Orc and flung it far away, but there were still five Orcs remaining. They were completely unfazed, proving their right to be called a ‘warrior race’. They held up their shields and charged toward Han-Yeol.

‘Shield Bash!’ Han-Yeol held up his shield made up of mana and used his offensive shield skill.

Bam!

“Kieek!” The Orc at the forefront shrieked as it flew backward after being bashed by Han-Yeol’s shield. It bumped into another Orc running right behind it, and they crashed to the ground together.

Wooosh!

Another Orc swung its glaive at Han-Yeol, but he immediately ducked and avoided the strike. Then, he kicked the Orc hard in its left thigh.

Puuk!

“Kieeek!” The Orc shrieked in agony and fell to its knees.

Sukeok!

Han-Yeol did not miss the opportunity to behead the Orc kneeling on the ground.

‘Chain Smite!’ He immediately followed up by throwing his chain.

Shwwiiiik! Puuk!

“Kieeeek!”

The last standing Orc was hit with ‘Chain Smite’ and received near-fatal damage.

“Kiiieeeeaaak!” The third Orc attacked Han-Yeol, but he ducked and lightly evaded it. The Orc shrieked in anger as it swung its glaive at Han-Yeol’s back once again. However, Han-Yeol immediately pulled his chain back and threw it at the Orc attacking him from behind.

Puk!

“Kiek!” The Orc shrieked in agony when the hook at the end of the chain dug into its shoulder.

Then, Han-Yeol let go of his chain and drew the gun holstered on his waist, and pulled the trigger.

‘Power Strike!’ He cast one of his offensive skills.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

Han-Yeol’s silver revolver spat out three rounds, but the bullets buried themselves in the Orc’s shield instead of its head, as it had managed to block just in time.

Han-Yeol was unfazed by his failed attack, simply holstering the revolver as if he had already expected the result. He had not expected his revolver to be able to kill Orcs, and all he had wanted was to tie them down for a few seconds.

‘Tsk… I really have to obtain a new melee skill I can depend on,’ he thought, clicking his tongue.

Han-Yeol clearly felt his limitations after hunting the Orcs a few times. He could no longer depend only on his restraining skills, chain attack, and ranged attacks to efficiently hunt Orcs. Additionally, he was certain that he would find himself with the exact same problem later on if he were to face intermediate and high-tier monsters, seeing as he was struggling against low-tier monsters such as Orcs.

It did not matter that he had a long list of skills that could assist him when it came to melee combat, as he just wildly swung his sword around due to his lack of knowledge when it came to swordsmanship.

“Kieeeek!” The Orcs shrieked in anger and charged at Han-Yeol.

‘Tsk… How stupid,’ Han-Yeol thought, clicking his tongue.

He stabbed the sword in his right hand into the ground and unslung the rifle on his back. Then, he pulled the trigger and let loose a rain of bullets at the charging Orcs.

Ratatatata!

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

The Orcs raised their shields once again and blocked the bullets. Some of the bullets managed to graze them, but failed to deal any significant damage due to the innate barriers all monsters had.

The monsters’ natural barriers were one of the main reasons why it was almost impossible for a normal person to hunt them. Even the Orcs, considered to be among the weakest monsters, could leverage that strength. Monsters normally did not receive any significant damage even after being fired on with bullets manufactured by a crafting-class Hunter. In fact, there were some absurdly tough monsters among the high-tier ones that could come out unscathed even after being hit by a nuclear bomb.

The only people who were capable of bringing down such almost impossible-to-kill monsters were the special beings who could use mana—the ones now known as ‘Hunters’.

‘Well, the aliens took care of the stupidly strong monsters that could withstand a nuke in the end,’ Han-Yeol thought.

He shook off the useless thoughts in his mind and infused his mana into his bullets. Then, he used the strongest offensive skill in his arsenal. ‘Mana Explosion.’

He pulled the trigger.

Tang! Whoosh… Kabooom!

A grenade from Han-Yeol’s rifle flew in an arc, then came into contact with one of the Orcs’ shields and unleashed a ferocious explosion. The flames from the explosion swallowed not only the Orc holding the shield struck by the grenade, but also the other two Orcs standing next to it.

“Kieeeeeek!” The Orcs shrieked in agony as their bodies were engulfed by the flames from the explosion, slowly being consumed. In time, however, the flames ran out of fuel and died out.

“Kuuu…” The other two Orcs groaned, struggling to stand up with their charred bodies. Of course, the Orc that had been holding the shield was burnt to a crisp, such that its body was almost unrecognizable.

‘This is why I refrain from using Mana Explosion…’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly. The value of a monster’s corpse fell drastically when it was burnt to a crisp, and the only thing of value that could be salvaged from such a corpse was its mana stone.

However, what choice did Han-Yeol have? He needed to level up and grow stronger while increasing the rank of his skills, and he could not afford to pass up on ranking up such a powerful skill just because it would damage the monsters’ corpses. The only logical solution he had at the moment was to close his eyes and bear the losses.

Han-Yeol kicked off the ground and killed the two Orcs that were staggering around. The Orcs tried to struggle for their survival, but even their stubborn vitality only managed to keep them on their feet and nothing more. They could not even put up a fight as Han-Yeol severed their heads.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Mana Explosion’ has risen from (D) to (C).]

‘Yes!’ Han-Yeol cheered.

‘Mana Explosion’ did ruin the monsters’ corpses, but it was the most powerful offensive skill he had, and that skill’s rank had just gone up. It was natural that he would be delighted by the turn of events.

That was how Han-Yeol managed to kill five Orcs in quick succession. He then turned around and asked, “Porters, have you killed the Orcs yet?”

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

Average Porters usually fired their rifles from a distance, trying to awaken by inflicting minuscule amounts of damage to monsters. However, Han-Yeol could not be bothered with all of that, which was why he had left one injured Orc for each of his Porters and given them permission to take the kill. That was also the main reason why he bound the Orcs with his chain before slamming them into buildings to incapacitate them.

If one interpreted it in a nice way, he was being considerate; however, if one interpreted it in a bad way, it could also be thought of as ‘I’ll throw you a bone so don’t bother me’.

That being said, Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri had no complaints, as they preferred this way of hunting over the conventional method.

Han-Yeol sat at a bench and checked his status window after hunting down six Orcs.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 31

Points: 0

STR: 83

VIT: 78

AGI: 72

MAG: 100

LCK: 10

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

“Haaa…” He could not help but let out a sigh.

‘This damn healing skill won’t rank up from A anymore,’ he thought, feeling frustrated.

He wanted to cure his father’s illness as soon as possible. The sticky lump of black mana had stopped growing thanks to Han-Yeol’s healing skill, but it had also begun to harden as time passed. It almost seemed to be gathering up its mana, as if it would one day explode like a bomb.