Leveling Up Alone

[Brother!]

[Argh!]

Whoosh!

Han-Yeol appeared so close to them that they were unable to use any of their spells without risking getting caught up in it. The two remaining hyena sorcerers were forced to use the only melee attack they knew.

The hyena sorcerers normally used a staff to cast their spells, but they also had gloves capable of absorbing corruption mana as a secondary weapon. The hyena brothers infused their mana into their gloves and threw punches at Han-Yeol. Their punches looked feeble and desperate at first glance, but these punches were capable of turning most into their corrupted slaves if they connected.

The leader of the terrorists Han-Yeol previously faced was also killed and turned into a corrupted slave by this same attack.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

[...!]

[What?!]

Unfortunately, their opponent was too fast for them. To begin with, the hyena sorcerers were physically so weak that they were a joke when it came to physical combat. They could increase their speed with mana, but that was only up to a certain extent, which was not enough to catch up to a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter like Han-Yeol.

“Hey, you guys are too slow. Did you honestly expect to hit me with your pathetic speed? Can’t you be more original and at least trigger an explosion before punching or following up with one of your curses?” Han-Yeol sneered.

[Shut up!]

The hyena brothers wanted to do exactly what Han-Yeol suggested, but what frustrated them was the fact that he did not even give them the time to prepare any spells. Normally, they would have prepared a spell as a backup in the event they failed to catch their opponent, but Han-Yeol was simply too quick for them.

“I’m going to be bored if this is all you got, you know?” Han-Yeol continued sneering. He grabbed both of them and overpowered them with his sheer physical superiority.

[What did you say?!]

[Let go! Let go of me!]

The hyena brothers desperately tried to break free from Han-Yeol’s grasp, fearing something was about to happen. Unfortunately, their sheer difference in stats made it impossible for them to escape.

“Blood Leg.”

Chwak!

[W-What…!]

[...]

Ten red tentacles shot out from Han-Yeol’s back, causing the hyena sorcerers’ faces to turn ghastly pale. They knew the worst was about to come and there was no time to prepare any spells to protect themselves.

Shwaaak!

They mustered all of their focus and mana to at least cast something.

‘Argh! W-Who is this human?! What is he?!’

‘H-How does he know how to interfere with our spells?!’

Han-Yeol infused his mana into the bodies of the hyena sorcerers and interfered with the flow of mana in their hearts, preventing them from casting their spells.

“Goodbye, dog heads.”

[N-Nooo!]

Puuuuk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

Kuheok!

The ten tentacles split into two groups of five each and stabbed the hyena sorcerers, causing excruciating pain to shoot up into their brains.

“I’m not done yet.”

[W-What do you…!]

Heh.

Han-Yeol smirked and infused more mana into his tentacles. Surprisingly, the tentacles moved according to his will as if they were extra limbs attached to his body. The feeling of gaining extra body parts and controlling them was indeed a very bizarre yet interesting experience.

Kwachik!

[Argh!]

[Guwaaah!]

The hyena sorcerers cried out in agony whenever the tentacles stabbed their bodies.

Boom!

[Aaaaah!]

[Keuuuuh!]

However, neither of them died. The hyena sorcerers paid the price for handling the corruption mana by being afflicted with the curse of immortality as long as their heads were fine. Whether it was a gift or a curse was debatable. Most people would consider it as a gift, but it was most likely not in this instance.

Han-Yeol knew about this curse, yet he destroyed their bodies in the most cruel manner possible before decapitating them.

Sukeok!

Thud!

The hyena sorcerers suffered excruciating agony as their bodies were ripped apart. The pain was so unbearable that their eyes rolled back and they started foaming from their mouths before passing out.

[B-Brothers…?]

“Oh? You’re already up? That’s quite impressive.”

The youngest hyena sorcerer came staggering back the moment Han-Yeol was about to collect his trophies, which were the hyena sorcerers’ heads.

Bam!

[Kyaaaaaaah!]

The youngest hyena sorcerer was overcome with rage.

‘Hmm? Could this be…?’ Han-Yeol noticed that the hyena sorcerer’s corruption mana was rampaging.

Then, the unstable corruption mana triggered an explosion.

Kaboom!

[I will never! I will never forgive you!]

C-Crack…! Crack!

The youngest hyena sorcerer was so completely overcome by rage that his body started transforming into something hideous.

‘Damn it!’ Han-Yeol instinctively knew what was happening and that this was bad news. No, he did not have to rely on his instincts this time, as it was clear as day that the rampaging corruption mana was dangerous.

‘Karvis!’

[On it!]

Baaam!

Han-Yeol kicked off the ground and darted toward the rampaging hyena sorcerer.

‘I have no idea what’s going on, but we can’t let him finish whatever that is!’

[I agree!]

Karvis instantly agreed to what Han-Yeol said, as she had already finished analyzing the threat that the rampaging corruption mana posed.

Han-Yeol increased his speed and closed the distance with the rampaging hyena sorcerer in just 0.001 seconds.

‘Light Exorcism Sword! Head Cutter!’

He used the most effective skill against the hyenas and aimed to decapitate the rampaging hyena sorcerer. His attack would have been more effective if he used a skill combination, but he did not have the liberty to think of combining three skills.

Shwak!

‘Please! Make it in time!’

Sukeok!

‘Alright!’

Kwachik!

In the end, Han-Yeol’s sword made it in time and stopped the worst-case scenario, which was the hyena sorcerer fully rampaging.

‘Ah… That was close… and embarrassing…’

He ran so fast that he ended up rolling on the ground. Fortunately, there were no witnesses to this unsightly blunder of his.

However, the rampaging mana of the hyena sorcerer managed to graze his waist, causing him to grimace and hold it with his hands.

Pshwaaaa!

Blood started spurting out from the youngest hyena sorcerer’s headless neck after a slight delay.

The headless hyena sorcerer fell to his knees before plopping down.

Thud!

Kwueh! Kwueh! Kwueh!

The head cried out and made sounds that sounded like a broken record.

‘Phew… I have no idea what that was, but that was a close one.’

[Yes, I agree. It was indeed a close one.]

‘Good job, Karvis.’

[Not at all. You did all the work.]

‘Haha! I guess I did!’

[...]

Han-Yeol always pulled the same prank on her yet she somehow felt offended every single time. Still, she was a loyal Ego system, so she did not make a fuss about it.

“Ughh… Everything was going smoothly until that last moment. I have no idea what this guy was trying to do, but I felt that it was dangerous… What in the world was that?” Han-Yeol muttered.

“It was the Dragon of Destruction.”

Whoosh!

White Dragon landed beside Han-Yeol after the whole situation was over and the Dark Moon skill was deactivated.

“What?! The Dragon of Destruction?!”

Han-Yeol held a grudge against the Dragon of Destruction, which made him react quite strongly.

“Yes, I felt the presence of the Dragon of Destruction from that hyena child when he rampaged.”

“B-But how…? How is that possible?”

“That… I have no idea. The Dragon of Destruction might claim to be a dragon, but that thing isn’t one of us. Actually, we have no idea what that thing is. All we know is that it is evil itself.”

“Even you guys don’t know?”

“We dragons might possess all knowledge–no, it’s funny if I put it that way. We might share knowledge with one another, but even we are clueless as to what the Dragon of Destruction really is. One thing I know is that I recognize that presence as if I had encountered it yesterday.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing has been revealed yet, and it’ll probably stay like that for a long time. To begin with, the Dragon of Destruction is not a being that can be studied.”

“I… I see…”

Han-Yeol could not believe that the dragons, as part of a supernatural race, had no idea what the Dragon of Destruction was.

‘Can I even win against the Dragon of Destruction? Do I have to put my life on the line just to seal it?’ Han-Yeol thought as fear crept up his body.

He was reluctant to do that the second time. He might have sacrificed himself for the Bastrolings, as his judgment was heavily influenced by Harkan’s personality, but he would never think of doing something like that as Han-Yeol.

He would rather run away and find a way to defeat it than sacrifice himself.

“No need to be so scared. If the Dragon of Destruction appears to endanger your dimension and someone has to stop it, you will probably be the only one capable of doing so.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Haha! I knew it! I’m the best!”

“...”

[Haa…]

Today was a long day for Karvis.

***

Han-Yeol gave the hyena sorcerer heads he obtained this time to the Arch Lich.

[Your gifts have been well received.]

“Hoho! We did have an agreement.”

[Yes…]

Shwaaaa!

The Arch Lich took the hyena sorcerers’ heads and returned to the demon world without saying goodbye. He and Han-Yeol had been together for a long time, yet it seemed like exchanging pleasantries was not something he wanted to waste time on.

One interesting thing happened during their exchange. The Arch Lich said that the youngest hyena sorcerer was actually a high-ranking sorcerer. Han-Yeol thought all three hyena sorcerers were of intermediate rank, but he did not complain, as he got paid the price for a high-ranking hyena sorcerer.

Han-Yeol rejoiced internally. ‘Jackpot! There’s no reason for me to say it’s actually an intermediate-ranking sorcerer when the Arch Lich said he’s a high-ranking sorcerer.’

He did not feel the need to correct him and neither did he feel that he was scamming him. After all, their relationship was purely a contractual one, and there was no reason for him to incur losses just to be truthful to the demon.

Was he committing fraud?

‘I didn’t say anything. He inspected the head, he decided it was a high-ranking hyena sorcerer, and he paid me out of his own accord. Besides, it’s possible that the dog head awakened at the last second when his mana rampaged, so it probably was a high-ranking hyena sorcerer,’ Han-Yeol justified his ill-gotten gains.

Whether it was a fraud or not was debatable, but he profited quite handsomely from this battle.