I Alone Level-Up

The reason why he targeted the mages first was simple.

"If my theory is correct…"

It was to confirm the theory that had he had thought up in the Penalty Zone.

clack-clack-clack-clack!

The knights fiercely charged toward him. Jinwoo calmly used the knight at the head of the party as a stepping stone and leaped off of its shoulders. He overlooked the enemy army in the air.

"Where are the mages?"

...Found one!

In a distance, he saw a lone mage.

"I was right!"

What he saw earlier was correct. In the Penalty Zone, he had considered if he was mistaken, but now he was sure. It was during the time he was being suffocated by the ma.s.s of the knights, only able to hold up a hand to the sky. In that moment, through the tiny gaps of the soldiers before him, he saw something that made no logical sense.

"..."

It was a lone mage that was continually casting spells. If it was just a mage preparing a spell, it would"ve been nothing out of the ordinary. But in that brief moment, something felt off in Jinwoo"s mind,

"Then why…"

Was there not a single spell that came toward him?

The attack on him was solely relegated to the knights. The mages were continuously casting spells but their completed spells did not display any effects on him. Well, except for the time they used a detection skill to break his "Stealth". And during that time, the knights around him paused for a moment. At first, he had thought it was because they had lost their target. But while hunting the centipedes in the Penalty Zone, he realized something very important.

Was it after the 8th centipede? When he took down the monster, he celebrated at the level-up message that followed. And the level-up was followed by a complete recovery of his health. In that moment of joy, a thought had occurred to him,

"Wait, I just leveled up this easily, why didn"t I gain a single level back there?"

The System had warned him that the level-ups back there would not recover his status, but it did not warn him that he would not level-up at all. In fact, he leveled up five times before reaching the boss room. But during the actual cla.s.s advancement quest, he did not gain a single level. In the 6 minutes that he endured, he had destroyed nearly a hundred knights.

Mages that did not use their spells on him.

Knights that did not give any experience points.

He had not given much thought on these two facts and placed them in the back of his mind. But after some time, the two facts combined into a theory in Jinwoo"s head.

"What if…"

Every single knights in that area were all fake?

What if the reason why all the knights stopped when the mage used "Eye of Detection" was not because Jinwoo had disappeared, but because the mage had stopped the casting of its other spell?

"If I"m correct!"

Now was the time to confirm his theory. Jinwoo ignored the outstretched hands that were trying to grab him and used the knights" heads and shoulders as a pathway to the mage.

"...!"

He felt the mage that noticed him panic. Its casting sped up. The knights that had previously focused on swarming him suddenly changed pattern and formed a protective wall around the mage. Jinwoo practically received the confirmation of his theory with this.

step!

The Hunter landed in front of the mage. Without an ounce of hesitation, he stabbed the mage"s chest with the dagger in his right hand.

"Vital Stab!"

Stab!

Without a sound, the mage disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

You"ve defeated a mage.

And at the same time!

COLLAAAAPSE!

The hundred-something knights that were gunning for Jinwoo all fell down, quite literally like a puppet with its strings cut[1]. The fallen knights were just empty armors without an owner.

"This was it!"

Jinwoo internally screamed in victory. After toeing the line between life and death, he had finally arrived at the answer. The knights were nothing. It was the mages that controlled the knights. Killing them was the goal.

"To think that the first victim of Knight Killer was… a mage…"

Jinwoo looked at the ownerless robe on the ground with a smile. He had obtained that much breathing room now. However, he was not about to become careless. The quest was not over.

clack-clack-clack-clack!

The ground shook. Jinwoo turned around. The other knights had already surrounded him. There must"ve been more mages controlling them around. The knights swarmed after Jinwoo. The Hunter"s right arm turned into a blur.

Slaaas.h.!.+

The tidal wave of knights in front of him were all cut neatly in a straight line. Jinwoo was shocked despite of himself.

"Wow!"

The investment of 2,800,000 gold paid off dearly. The blade of Knight Killer cut through the knight"s armor like paper. It wasn"t just because of the serrated edge. As fitting of its name, a powerful magic to cut through the knights was enchanting the weapon.

"The weapons from the shop are this good?"

This was a little different from the standard video game logic he was familiar with. In a normal video game, weapons from the shop were just filler weapons to use when you couldn"t find a good one in the wild.

"If it"s like this, I really can"t look down on gold…"

At the very least, it was much better than the Hunter-use weapons from the real world. At the same time, Jinwoo thought about just how much money he could make if he sold the items from the System"s shop in the real world. Unlike the consumables, the equipment from the System"s shop did not have an untradable restriction.

"Oh s.h.i.+t, focus. Focus."

This was not the time to be distracted. The knights continued to charge at him without stopping.

Slas.h.!.+ Slaaaas.h.!.+

Jinwoo dodged here and there and continued to defeat the knights. However,

"It"s not going to end if I keep up like this."

The moment he focused in one direction and took down a number of knights, a larger group would appear from a different direction and charge at him.

slas.h.!.+

Another knight lost its head.

"I have to find the mages."

Jinwoo used the headless knight"s falling corpse as a platform. Using its shoulders, Jinwoo leaped into the air again.

"Stealth!"

shoooo-

His figure began to fade. Of course, this was not to hide himself for any reason. What he wanted was-

A mage has used "Eye of Detection".

A mage has used "Eye of Detection".

A mage has used "Eye of Detection".

Ring, ring, ring, the System"s warning alarms pierced his ears. Jinwoo continued to leap from knight to knight and memorized the location of the eye-shaped marks.

"There are five mages."

He went for the nearest one first.

"...!"

As Jinwoo turned to face it, the mage panicked and gathered its knights to itself, but it was too late.

woos.h.!.+

Casaka"s Poisoned Fang flew from Jinwoo"s left hand and struck the mage"s forehead.

crack!

You"ve learned "Dagger Throw" (Lv. 1)

You"ve defeated a mage.

COLLAAAAPSE

Once more, a hundred knights fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Four left!"

Used to the maneuver, Jinwoo used the heads and shoulders of the army again to move. While moving, Jinwoo quickly glanced at Casaka"s Poisoned Fang that he had not resummoned. He decided to test out his new skill.

"Ruler"s Hands."

Jinwoo stretched a hand towards the dagger on the ground. As if pulled by a magnet, the dagger shot across the air toward his hand.

"Yes!"

Jinwoo grabbed the dagger. He would no longer need to inefficiently resummon the dagger into his hand now. Meanwhile, he had arrived in front of the next mage.

"...!"

Before it could try anything this time, Jinwoo brought the dagger down diagonally on its body.

You"ve defeated a mage.

More knights fell. There were less than half of them remaining. Jinwoo became a.s.sured of victory; his eyes opened wide in antic.i.p.ation.

"Three more."

As if sensing the danger, the remaining mages gathered at the same spot. Following them was their knight army. When all the knights gathered in one spot, the mages cast another spell. Their strange voices echoed throughout the room, and their magic was completed.

crack, crack

The ma.s.s of knights that guarded the mages began to collapse on themselves like they were put into a hydraulic press. Soon, a giant metal golem was formed out of their bodies and stared down on Jinwoo.

wooooo-

"d.a.m.n, that"s cool!"

At the powerful pressure it gave off, Jinwoo briefly paused and praised the magic. But there was nothing to be afraid of. After the numerous times he had faced death, he was filled with an antic.i.p.ation rather than nervousness.

Boom, Boom, Boom!

The golem"s footsteps shook the ground. It looked very dangerous.

WOOOSH-!

Jinwoo lowered his body to dodge the swing of its gigantic fist.

CRAs.h.!.+

The pillar behind Jinwoo was lightly grazed by the fist but the destructive power of the attack resulted in the structure being half obliterated.

"Well, that is quite scary…"

Jinwoo smiled widely. If he had not figured out the truth, he would"ve panicked at the idea of taking this thing down, but he was filled with no such worries.

GOOOOO-!

The golem put its hands together and was about to bring it down on the ground. Instead of running backwards, Jinwoo used "Sprint" and charged forward.

sliiiiide-!

In an blink of an eye, Jinwoo pa.s.sed between the golem"s legs. While the giant monster lost its balance, Jinwoo appeared in front of the three mages.

"...!"

"...!"

The mage"s shoulders rose in surprise.

"Checkmate!"

They say there is strength in standing together.

Not this time.

Both of the daggers in Jinwoo"s hands flashed.

You"ve defeated a mage.

You"ve defeated a mage.

You"ve defeated a mage.

The 3 mages disappeared in a puff of black smoke in unison. The golem that finally turned around to strike Jinwoo also fell apart. The knights" armors that made up the composition of its body scattered about the ground. However, Jinwoo did not ease up.

"Is it over? Or is something else coming?"

He held his fighting stance, and the System"s electronic sound rang.

ring~

Jinwoo gulped in antic.i.p.ation. Contrary to his thoughts, the System announced the end of the quest.

You"ve defeated all the monsters of the testing room. The Cla.s.s Advancement Quest will now end.

Your cla.s.s will be decided next.

Depending on the advancement points earned, you may advance to a higher cla.s.s.

Finally.

Jinwoo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew-"

It was a difficult fight. If he held onto the idea of the Instant Return Stone until the end, he would not have figured out the secret to the fight.

"I probably would"ve just focused on when to end the quest."

Through bad luck, or perhaps good luck, he lost the stone and was able to focus on the battle at hand. The result was a great success. Now, it was time to reap the rewards. Jinwoo moved his gaze to the timer.

04:29:16

The timer was stopped. He managed to last nearly four and a half hours. Not only that, in a quest where he just had to endure, he actually ended up killing all the monsters and ended the quest itself. Thinking about just how many points he would earn, and what he would do with those points, Jinwoo"s heart began to race.

The Player"s actions will be a.n.a.lyzed to determine the appropriate cla.s.s.

"Fine with me."

If the System used his actions up until now to determine his cla.s.s, there was little chance of him receiving something that did not fit his fighting style. It was a welcoming news.

The presence of the death G.o.d follows where the Player goes. The road he walks is paved with corpses, and the smell of blood follows in his wake.

...Jinwoo felt like that was a bit too much, but when he thought about it, he could not disagree.

"Well, it was all for leveling up…"

Whenever he entered an Instant Dungeon, he slaughtered the resp.a.w.ning monsters until he no longer leveled-up. In a normal Dungeon, he combed every single corner for the very last magic beast to kill it. And not that he instigated it, but he had killed few Hunters as well.

Death G.o.d, corpses, smell of blood.

"No matter how you a.n.a.lyze that…"

As he had first expected, it looked like his cla.s.s would be a.s.sa.s.sin.

The Player yearns for a great power, but without relying on any comrades, he builds his road with his own strength.

Jinwoo nodded along as he listened. He agreed with the System"s a.n.a.lysis of him.

"From the start, I never had anyone to rely on."

Still, Jinwoo was not sure why the System was going this deep into a.n.a.lysing his personality when all it was doing was determining his cla.s.s. The System continued,

Your desire for great power is strong enough to call upon the spirits that wander the valley of death. Through the army of the dead that will follow your every command, you will be able to build your own path without anyone"s help.

"...Army of the dead?"

It was there Jinwoo realized something was wrong.

"Wait!"

Before he could protest, the System used the calm tone it always used to relay the results.

Your cla.s.s is the Necromancer.

"......wat?"

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: Ok this is an unusual translator"s note. This has nothing to do with the actual translated phrase, but I swear to G.o.d, I typed the phrase "like a puppet with its strings cut" as a joke before actually realizing the phrase was in the original text. Like, I finished the sentence out of habit (thanks Overlord), but then looked over to the original text and realized the author actually used the same phrase, hahaha!