I Alone Level-Up

Team Leader Bae was shocked,

"Did… did something happen? Should I go call for reinforcements from the Guild?"

"No, nothing like that. It"s for a personal reason. I just have something I want to talk with the man, so you don"t have to worry."

"Oh… Okay."

Cha Haein turned towards the Gate. Suddenly, she felt an emptiness at her side.

"Ah… my weapon."

Patting her hips here and there without looking, she realized she had left her sword at home. Well, it"s not like she had planned on going into the Dungeon today. Her pretty forehead gently wrinkled.

"I know Raid Leader Gihoon-ssi is a dependable man, and of course all the team members are capable Hunters but…"

Entering a Dungeon without a weapon was an unthinkable thing. After a moment of contemplation, Cha Haein turned to Team Leader Bae.

"Is there anything else…?"

"Team Leader, could I borrow a weapon?"

"Ma"am?"

After hesitating, the team leader indicated to a pa.s.sing miner,

"Hey, Suk-ssi, bring one of the equipment over here."

"Yes, sir."

What Suk-ssi brought in a flash was the mining team"s… pickaxe.

"..."

Cha Haein"s expression hardened,

"Is… is there anything else?"

"When you say anything else…"

"Like a sword, or maybe a spear."

"Deputy Guildmaster, if you"re asking for something like that from us…"

"..."

Cha Haein lightly sighed,

"Alright."

She respectfully declined the pickaxe Team Leader Bae was holding out then headed towards the Gate. The team leader looked at her with worry then asked,

"Hunter Chnim, are you sure you"ll be alright empty-handed?"

flinch.

Cha Haein froze in her spot and thought about it. She quickly turned around and took the pickaxe from the team leader. The man chuckled,

"Good thinking. No matter what, going into a Dungeon empty-handed is dangerous."

"Thank you…"

As she turned around and left, the team leader did not notice how red her ears had gotten.

-

Strong look of determination filled the entire party"s faces. Every one of them accepted their fates and walked with resolve. Meanwhile, the female Healer came over to Jinwoo and looked through the bag on his back. Jinwoo turned his head and asked,

"What are you doing?"

"Hold on."

What she took out was a woman"s handbag.

"From a long time ago, I felt strangely worried when my bag was away from me, so I take it with me on Raids."

She sure liked to answer questions he didn"t ask.

She took out a small notepad and a pen from the bag; the Healer began to write something in the notepad. Because she was not looking where she was walking, she kept b.u.mping her head into Jinwoo"s shoulders. Soon, she finished and closed her notepad. She put her handbag back into Jinwoo"s bag but held on to the notepad. Curious on what she would do next, the woman suddenly held the notepad out to Jinwoo.

"...?"

He took the notepad with a tilted head, and the woman spoke with tears in her eyes,

"I just wrote some things that I wanted to say to my family. When you get to the outside, please make sure it gets to their hands."

If he laughed right now, she would be really hurt. For the umpteenth time in front of this woman, Jinwoo suppressed his laughter and put the notepad into his pockets.

"I"ll hold on to it, but I don"t think I"ll have the chance to deliver it."

"It"s okay."

The Healer nodded.

"Of course, all the high orc warriors are keeping an eye on us. It"ll be difficult for him to leave here alive."

After all, porter-ssi was only an E-ranker.

The woman would later realize what Jinwoo had really meant.

-

Soon, the boss room came into view. The nervousness of the Hunters reached its peak. The room was incredibly large.

"..."

Jinwoo looked around the boss room. It was bigger than the room the giant-type magic beast was in yesterday. Unlike yesterday however, the room did not feel big. It was because of the horde of high orcs that took up the entire room. High orcs twice the number of the group that came to pick up the raiding party waited in the room.

"About a hundred of them… maybe a little higher?"

Instead of being scattered about the Dungeon"s interior, all the magic beasts were gathered in the boss room. Looking over the horde of the high orcs, Son Gihoon"s face turned pale.

"If this many high orcs leave the Gate…"

By the time the highest-ranking Hunters arrived, a small city could be destroyed. The Tanker"s back became wet with sweat.

"At the very least, we have to kill the boss."

He pressed that determination deep into his heart.

The high orcs in the room parted to make a road.

"Ah shaku."

The high orc captain gestured to the raiding party again. Following the guiding high orcs, the raiding party walked towards an altar at the end of the boss room.

"Over there!"

A Hunter pointed to the top of the altar. On top, there was a masked high orc sorcerer. The sorcerer was wearing a necklace and earrings made of bones and was covered from head to toe in various adornments and ornaments.

"So that"s the boss…"

Son Gihoon"s expression hardened. He realized that the terrifying magic power that filled the Dungeon was mostly coming from him. The boss was surrounded by four bodyguards that also gave off a dangerous presence.

"This is not good."

Could they ambush the sorcerer with those bodyguards around? All the members of the raiding party had this thought.

The raiding party stopped before the sorcerer. A strange nervousness filled the high orcs that watched the procession from a distance in the boss room.

"Hue hue."

However, the sorcerer ignored the uneasiness his minions felt and laughed, revealing a hideous mouth.

"Welcome, humans."

The Hunters of the raiding party exchanged signals.

"Once Son hyung gives the signal."

"We"ll all attack at once."

"Just focus on the sorcerer."

They were looking for the opportunity to attack.

Suddenly, the air around them became incredibly chilling. All the Hunters raised their heads as one at the source of the chill. It was the sorcerer. The high orc boss had removed the mask he was wearing, and with it, the magic power that he had been hiding was unleashed in full.

WOOOSH-

A horrible wave of magic power shot from the sorcerer in all directions, was.h.i.+ng over the entire Dungeon. Like a prey frozen in front of a predator, the Hunters of the raiding party became like statues.

"M-my G.o.d…"

"How is this amount of magic power even possible?"

"W-we have to fight with this thing?"

Frustration, Lamentation, Resentment, Regret.

At the different forms of despair the Hunters showed, the sorcerer made an ugly smile with its mouth again.

"Are you afraid of me, humans?"

Biting his lips, Son Gihoon took a step forward with difficulty and asked,

"Why did you bring us all the way here? Those warriors should"ve been more than enough to kill us all."

The sorcerer sneered widely. Just looking at its smile made the Hunters shudder.

"For fun."

"What?"

Son Gihoon was dumbstruck. That was the reason why they were brought here? For fun?

The sorcerer continued,

"In the time we have remaining, each of you will die one by one to entertain my soldiers!"

UWAAAAAAH-!

The high orc warriors roared in excitement. At the oppressive pressure they gave off, the Hunters struggled to even breathe. Some of them were even crying.

"But…"

The sorcerer hesitated. The boss looked over the Hunters then stopped at Jinwoo.

"...There is something interesting mixed among the humans."

In an instant, Son Gihoon"s eyes flared.

"The sorcerer is distracted! Now is the time!"

Veins popped up in the Raid Leader"s throat,

"NOW!"

With a roar, Son Gihoon took his sword and ran forward.

However… there was no sound coming from behind him.

"What…?"

While running, he quickly looked back. His teammates did not show any indication that they would be moving. Their fighting spirits had been crushed by the oppressive display of power; their bodies frozen in terror. Son Gihoon"s heart sank to his stomach.

"Ah…"

Still, he had a job to do. He could not stop here. The Raid Leader looked forward again. The sorcerer was still laughing, and the bodyguards had not reacted yet. This was it. His first and only chance. It"s okay if it was luck. It"s okay if it was a fluke. This sword just needed to reach it…

step, step, step!

Charging with all his might, Son Gihoon brought his sword backwards.

"Uwaaaaaah-!"

However, he did not get the chance to swing his sword. Instead, he bounced against something and was thrown back.

Bang!

It was a s.h.i.+eld magic.

"cough!"

Blasted back by the barrier, Son Gihoon rolled across the ground.

"So, we have our first volunteer."

With the sorcerer"s mocking words, Son Gihoon"s body floated to the air.

woooong-

It was reverse gravity magic. [1]

"..."

The sorcerer"s lips were moving continuously with incantations. After raising the Tanker to the height of a two-story building, the sorcerer recited a different spell.

"..."

Gravity acceleration. [2]

Slam!

Son Gihoon was slammed onto the ground.

"Cough!"

Before he could even flail about in pain, he was raised in to the air again.

"Reverse gravity."

kik kik kik

Along with the sorcerer, the high orcs revealed their tusks and laughed.

Slam!

"Cough!"

woooooong-

Slam!

"COUGH!"

The sorcerer repeatedly raised and slammed Son Gihoon like a puppet. The fourth time the man was slammed into the ground, Son Gihoon threw up a torrent of blood. Watching their leader"s torture, the Hunters" faces turned more and more pale. But not one of them could gather the courage to step forward.

"G-Gihoon hyung…"

All they could do was just watch while trembling as Son Gihoon was being broken apart.

collapse

The female Healer finally lost the strength to stay standing and fell to her knees.

Meanwhile, the sorcerer raised Son Gihoon for the fifth time.

"You sure are a st.u.r.dy one."

"groan…"

The man groaned in pain in the air. However, his hands held his sword tightly, not intending to give up until the bitter end.

woooong-!

Slam!

woooong-!

Slam!

woooong-!

The bitter end came close for the Tanker. As he was raised into the air again, he could not hold onto the sword anymore. It fell to the ground.

clang

With it, Son Gihoon"s body fell for the last time…

...Or so everyone had thought.

"Hmm?"

The sorcerer"s eyes widened. The Tanker falling to the ground suddenly had disappeared. The thing should have been smashed to pieces, where did he go? The sorcerer moved his eyes to look for the man"s presence.

"Over there…?"

In some distance away, Son Gihoon was lying down on the ground. At the same time, the sorcerer discovered a man next to Son Gihoon. It was Jinwoo.

After laying the man down gently, Jinwoo asked the Raid Leader while staring at the sorcerer,

"Leader-ssi, I"m going to ask you just one thing."

"...?"

Up until that point, Son Gihoon had no idea what had happened to him.

"Is it okay if I kill all the magic beasts here?"

"You… what are you… saying?"

Meanwhile, the sorcerer raised his chin at Jinwoo while furrowing his brows. One of the bodyguards turned and charged at the E-ranker. Watching it run toward him, Jinwoo"s eyes flashed with a light. The man held out a hand towards the approaching high orc.

"Ruler"s Hands."

With that, the high orc bodyguard floated to the air as if grabbed by a giant, invisible hand.

"Keu, krah?"

It flailed its legs in the air.

"What…?"

The sorcerer"s eyes became wide.

Jinwoo moved the tip of his hands to the ground.

SLAM!

The bodyguard was slammed to the ground. The strength of the fall cracked the floors.

However, Jinwoo did not stop there.

Just like the sorcerer had done to Son Gihoon, the E-rank Hunter raised the bodyguard to the air again.

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

The high orc screamed while being bounced between the ceiling and the floor like a basketball, then was silenced when its head was nailed to the ceiling.

CRACK!

scatter

Bits and pieces of the powdered ceiling fell to the ground. Looking at the swaying body of the high orc stuck to the ceiling, both the high orcs and the Hunters could not hide their shock.

Son Gihoon trembled as he asked,

"You… who are you…?"

"I"ll ask again."

This was the hunting grounds of Hunters Guild. There was only one person here who could act as the representative of Hunters Guild. Jinwoo asked for the last time,

"The magic beasts in this room… Can I take them all?"

What was this feeling? Son Gihoon no longer cared about the identify of the porter. He was just angry. Angry at the fact that he was played with like a toy by a magic beast. Streaks of tears fell down from the Raid Leader"s eyes as he replied,

"Please… Please help us."

Done.

As Jinwoo stood up, the high orcs approached him. At their back was the sorcerer. The high orc boss laughed derisively,

"For a human, you have an interesting trick."

The sorcerer gestured, and the high orcs surrounded Jinwoo.

"How far will that trick carry you, I wonder?"

Jinwoo"s expression turned unbelievably cold.

The man had never liked magic beasts, but this was the first time he had come across one that he wanted to kill this much.

"You. You"ll be the last."

If it could feel joy, it could certainly feel fear.

If not, it will learn.

Jinwoo spoke with a low voice,

"Shadows,"

Two daggers appeared in his hands,

"Come forth."

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: "reverse gravity magic" (역중력 마법): Pretty straight forward "anti/reverse" 역 + "gravity" 중력 + "magic" 마법.

[2]: "gravity acceleration" (중력 가속): literal.

[N/A]: Omg, can you imagine if I ended the batch here?