I Alone Level-Up

"Jinwoo oppa!"

Han Songyi"s eyes were filled with tears as she greeted Jinwoo with joy.

"Raid Leader!"

It wasn"t as much as the girl"s reaction, but the two male Hunters also greeted him happily. Park Heejin sighed in relief after realizing Jinwoo was here. However, Jinwoo did not have the luxury to return their greeting,

"Shh."

He put a finger to his lips. Halfway to rus.h.i.+ng him and giving him a hug, the four Hunters froze up at Jinwoo"s gesture. Park Heejin asked,

"W-what"s wrong?"

Jinwoo glanced over to to the pa.s.sed out Kim Cheol. The E-rank Hunter was still furious at the man, feeling like he could beat him to death without blinking.

"Kim Cheol was followed."

Jinwoo felt a powerful presence coming from the forest. Now was not the time to be concerned about Kim Cheol. The real problem was coming from the distance.

shooo-

Realizing Jinwoo was looking directly at them, the White Walkers released "Stealth" and showed themselves. There were about 20 of them. One of them stood out from the rest. Jinwoo stared at the White Walker with long hair flowing down to its waist on top of a horse.

"...He"s the boss."

Compared to the ice bears or even the White Walkers next to him, the long hair was giving off an oppressive amount of pressure. If this wasn"t the boss of the Dungeon, who else could it be? It had been a long time, but a chill ran down Jinwoo"s back. While Jinwoo lightly trembled at the thing"s power, the boss also observed Jinwoo,

["So it was true. The trash ended up being useful after all."]

["What did you say?"]

["...?"]

Jinwoo had replied without realizing, and the boss was shocked.

["You. You speak our language?"]

Jinwoo was equally shocked,

"How am I communicating with a magic beast?"

He was able to understand the magic beast"s language. Not only that, he was in fact able to speak it. Words that he had never learned were flowing out of him like it was his native tongue.

"You… You can speak the language of the magic beasts?"

Park Heejin was running out of things to be surprised by from Jinwoo. Her question gave Jinwoo confirmation that he was indeed speaking and understanding the magic beast"s language.

"Is this also an effect of the System?"

Something like a universal translator. Jinwoo looked back at the boss. The boss was looking at him with an amused face.

["So we can communicate… How interesting. There is someone I want to introduce to you."]

The boss gestured behind him to a White Walker.

["I believe you are already acquainted."]

Jinwoo"s eyes sharpened. Indeed, he was familiar with this one.

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d is…"

It was the ice elf that shot an arrow towards Han Songyi when their group had first entered the Gate. He could not forget that arrogant face. Just like back then, a sneer decorated its lips.

["He has told me that there was someone strong among the humans. He wished to duel that someone, so-"]

pierce!

The smiling face of the White Walker was now decorated with Knight Killer sticking out of it.

"Ah!"

The scream came from the Hunters" side. Yoon Gijoong quickly covered his mouth after screaming without meaning to.

thud

The White Walker fell. Jinwoo stretched a hand toward its corpse. The dagger that was stuck to its head lightly trembled, then shot forth into Jinwoo"s hand. Jinwoo grabbed the Knight Killer in a reverse grip and took a combat stance,

["Anything else?"]

The boss spoke with awe,

["...You truly are strong."]

And got down from the horse. However, the boss did not appear to want to fight yet; it did not raise a weapon or give off a sense of hostility.

["However you should know."]

With a carefree expression, it continued their conversation,

["That even you cannot win against this number."]

Jinwoo looked over the ice elves. There were at least 20 of them. But their numbers weren"t what concerned him. It was the strength of the boss. The trash mobs around the boss were no match for Jinwoo, who had greatly raised his levels while hunting the ice bears. As a testament, Jinwoo had just killed a White Walker with but a throw of his dagger.

"So what to do about the boss?"

While Jinwoo ran the simulations in his mind, the boss continued,

["I have a proposal."]

["A proposal?"]

["Yes. I think you"ll find it to your benefit as well."]

["..."] [1]

Jinwoo was surprised. He knew that humanoid magic beasts had some semblance of intelligence, but he had never thought that they would attempt to bargain with a human being. His curiosity got the best of him,

["...Let"s hear it."]

The boss smiled as expecting that response,

["Before that, I have a question."]

["...?"]

["You are not human. Why are you among the humans?"]

Jinwoo"s brows furrowed.

["The h.e.l.l are you talking about?"]

["Ha ha. Are you not aware?"]

The boss chuckled then pointed to its temple.

["In our head, there is a voice whispering to us without rest. It tells us to "kill all humans". But in front of you, the voice becomes silent."]

Ah. Is that so? If that was the case, Jinwoo had a rough theory,

"The word "human" is probably referring to Hunters."

On the other hand, after coming out of the underground temple with the System, Jinwoo"s ident.i.ty had probably changed to a "Player". In a strict sense, he was probably registered differently than Hunters, aka Awakened Beings.

"That"s why he"s mistakenly thinking I"m not human."

Jinwoo thought he was right on the mark. Mistaking the look on Jinwoo"s face for agreement, the boss nodded,

["There is no need for us to fight. We want to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed in our end."]

The boss got to the point,

["Give us the humans behind you. Then we will let you leave here alive. How about it? Do you accept our proposal?"]

Instead of an answer, Jinwoo asked a question,

["Let me also ask one thing."]

["Very well."]

["Who are you people? Where did you come from and why are you trying to kill humans?"]

["We are-"]

Suddenly, the smiling face of the boss froze for a split second. Then he continued naturally as if nothing had happened,

["There is no need for us to fight. We want to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed in our end"]

"What was that?"

Jinwoo narrowed his eyes. The boss reacted like an NPC in a video game, forced into repeating his words after trying to act outside of his program.

["Give us the humans behind you. Then we will let you leave here alive. How about it? Do you accept our proposal?"]

The boss"s face showed no indication that something had happened. It continued to maintain its carefree smile. The White Walkers behind him also did not show any reaction.

"..."

When Jinwoo just observed the situation in silence, the boss pressed his question,

["Do you accept?"]

Jinwoo wanted to obtain some information about the magic beasts and their goals but realized it would be futile.

"In that case…"

There was only one thing left. His reply was already determined a long time ago.

["I refuse."]

The corners of Jinwoo"s mouth rose.

"You see, you"ve got such a delicious looking shadow for me to just let you walk away."

He would defeat the boss and take its shadow. From the moment he laid his eyes on the long hair, this was his plan.

["You want to fight me and my soldiers? Do you think that you could withstand our numbers?"]

Jinwoo smiled widely.

Soldiers?

"You think you"re the only one? I got some too. Shadow corp, come forth."

Following his will, the soldiers waiting in Jinwoo"s shadow appeared behind him.

"U-uwaaak!"

Once again, the scream came from the Hunters" side. Yoon Gijoong screamed after seeing the ice bear"s shadow, the Shadow Beast, and fell on his rear.

"Ah- ah…"

Jinwoo glanced over at the pale faces of his teammates and felt a little bad. But this was a dangerous moment, there was no time to explain.

"Not that I would explain even if there was no danger."

There were 29 Shadow Soldiers. Jinwoo stood at their head and leered at the boss,

["So. Who"s withstanding whose numbers?"]

The boss finally emitted hostility,

["...You wield but a mere parlor trick. Very well, I will fulfill your death wish."]

The boss took out the two tanto [2] at its side. Jinwoo mirrored its action and held Knight Killer in his right hand and Casaka"s Poisoned Fang in his left.

"A parlor trick..."

Well, Jinwoo didn"t disagree. The shadow army might have the advantage in numbers, but he knew that their overall might was lacking compared to the boss. He understood where the boss"s confidence was coming from. He needed a powerful reinforcement.

"Wait, if it"s a powerful reinforcement I need…"

There was someone fitting. Jinwoo quickly glanced over to his side. Kim Cheol was still pa.s.sed out over there.

["Attack!"]

At the boss"s command, the White Walkers aimed their bows.

"Bears!"

Jinwoo placed the Shadow Beasts in front.

Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit!

Kuwaak!

The Shadow Beasts baptised by arrows cried out. Before the White Walkers could draw their next round, the Shadow Infantry charged forth. The Shadow Mages also began their casting. Jinwoo"s eyes flared,

"My target is you!"

Before heading out, Jinwoo quickly kicked over Kim Cheol"s sword to the pa.s.sed out Hunter. Jinwoo"s gaze was fixed on the boss and the boss"s on Jinwoo. The four daggers clashed in a magnificent display of sparks.

Clang! Clang! Clclang!

Around them, the skirmish between the Shadow Soldiers and the White Walkers raged.

Go Myunghwan turned to Park Heejin,

"Should… Should we also help out?"

The woman shook her head,

"This is not a fight that we should be joining."

It was a chaotic battlefield where giant black monsters were swinging their claws, destroyed black soldiers were instantly regenerating and high-level magic beasts were mercilessly attacking with swords and arrows.

"What could we, a B-ranker and two C-rankers, even do in this situation?"

All they could do was pray. Park Heejin stared at the form of Jinwoo clas.h.i.+ng with the long haired White Walker.

"Kuk!"

A yelp escaped from Jinwoo"s mouth. This was indeed a high-level Dungeon"s boss! A casual observer might think that they were evenly matched, but Jinwoo was slowly being pushed back. Various cuts appeared here and there on his body. Could he hold out for another three minutes? Even as he fought the boss, the regeneration of his army continued to drain his mana.

The Shadow Mages had finished casting their spell. A fireball much bigger than a volleyball fell into the middle of the White Walkers.

BANG!

It was the power of the leveled up mages. The deafening sound of the explosion woke up Kim Cheol.

"Mmm…"

He raised his head.

Clang! Clang! Bam! Boom!

In his blurred vision, he saw the terrifying White Walkers fighting unknown black soldiers.

"What…the h.e.l.l... is this?"

He had no idea what was going on, but he knew why he was on the ground. The hand that struck him on the back of his head! That voice he heard while falling down!

"It was Sung Jinwoo!"

Once he regained consciousness, the humiliation and the rage he felt made his hands tremble. His hands found their way to his sword that was conveniently right next to him. Now that they were surrounded by the White Walkers, they were all as good as dead. At the very least,

"Sung Jinwoo. I will kill that f.u.c.ker before I die."

His heated gaze found Jinwoo"s back.

...Found him!

The f.u.c.ker was fighting a White Walker, and his back was wide open. This was his chance. Kim Cheol shot up from the ground and ran forth.

"Waaaaaah-!"

Sensing the powerful reinforcement running to him, Jinwoo celebrated in his mind,

"Yes, if it"s you."

Jinwoo believed in Kim Cheol.

Kim Cheol reached Jinwoo and swung his sword at the E-rank Hunter"s neck with all his might.

"DIE!"

The boss in front of him, Kim Cheol behind him. Seemingly between a rock and a hard place, Jinwoo shouted,

"Ygritte!"

As if waiting, Ygritte rose from Jinwoo"s shadow and deflected Kim Cheol"s sword.

clang!

"What?!"

Kim Cheol"s eyes widened, revealing the bloodshot whites. Before he could say anything, Ygritte"s sword dug itself deeply into the ranker"s chest.

staaaab!

The sword pierced straight through the muscular man and came out of his back.

"cough!"

Jinwoo quickly backed away from the boss.

"Yes. I believed in you, Kim Cheol. I believed that this is exactly how you would act."

A foolish man who moved according to his feelings without thinking about the future. In a short time, Jinwoo fully understood what kind of a man Kim Cheol was. Kim Cheol glared at Jinwoo,

"You… you…"

And those were Kim Cheol"s final words.

White Ygritte was keeping the boss busy, Jinwoo stood before Kim Cheol"s body,

"Arise!"

uwaaaaah-

The familiar deep scream rang forth from somewhere.

With it, a giant hand came out of Kim Cheol"s shadow.

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: Ever see those unnecessary closed caption describing a sound with too much detail, like "Brooding in Spanish"? Well, Jinwoo is "being silent in language of the magic beasts" here :P

[2]: "Tanto" (단도): A j.a.panese knife.