Leveling Up Alone

“Stewart.”

Stewart silently stood by Han-Yeol, and he answered Han-Yeol’s call immediately.

“Yes, Han-Yeol-nim.”

“As soon as the sun rises tomorrow, I’m going to go after the Demon King, so get ready.”

“Get ready?”

“Yeah, I’m not planning on wasting my time this time. We’re going to go in full force.”

“Interesting. Alright.”

Shaaa.

Black smoke came out of Stewart’s body as he replied with a smile, and then he disappeared after he spun around.

“Well, yeah I guess he is.”

Noras broke out in a cold sweat as he marveled at Stewart’s movement magic. Noras was a shaman who surpassed the level of a Master-Rank by human standards, but his lack of combat experience led him to focus on versatility. So, Noras could see how deep and sophisticated Stewart’s magic was.

‘Though, he’s nothing compared to my spatial movement skill.’

But Han-Yeol wasn’t too impressed.

*

Han-Yeol’s personality made it difficult for him to start something, but once he did, he tended to act upon it very quickly.

“Let’s go!”

“As commanded by the great being, all orcs, march!”

Beep! Thump, thump, thump!

“Chaaaa!”

“War!”

“Blood, blood!”

Thump, thump, thump!

Han-Yeol started to move the Black Orcs he had brought to distract the hyenas.

The Black Orcs were bored out of their minds in the mountains near Beijing, so their morale went through the roof when they finally got the chance to fight. Even though they had been brought in as slaves, the wild nature of the orcs meant that their instincts overrode their rationality, and if they were kept bored any longer, they could’ve run wild and attacked the neighboring villages. For them, eating something was not just an act of appeasing hunger. It was an act of becoming stronger, so the desire to eat fulfilled a different purpose than to fill their stomachs.

“We’re brave Black Orcs!”

‘The song of the orcs.’

Han-Yeol had only heard that there was such a thing, but he had never actually seen the orcs sing.

Thump, thump, thump!

“Let’s sing at the top of our lungs!”

“We’ll devour everything!”

When he heard the full song, he was left with a simple impression.

‘What a mess.’

Nothing was in tune or on beat—they were basically just screaming.

‘Well, at least it’s fun.’

At least the orcs were singing so loudly that it was quite a morale booster, regardless of the quality of the song.

“Haha, it’s been a while since we’ve participated in a big battle, right?”

“Ah, yeah. This is our first big battle in a long time.”

“Haha, I can’t wait.”

Chaa!

“Kheeee!”

Han-Yeol was riding on Mavros’ back, who was in transformation mode as usual. Tia, Stewart, and Lord Kasha were also by his side.

Mumble, mumble.

[Why did he have to drag me along? Why couldn’t he just let me stay quiet as usual?]

However, among them, Lord Kasha wasn't on good terms with Han-Yeol. He continued to mutter to himself, dissatisfied with everything.

He originally planned to expand his power by biting as many Hunters as possible on Earth and turning them into vampires, but Han-Yeol, who had grown up with the benefits of civilization, was never going to allow him to create more vampires. There was a problem in Lord Kasha’s grand plan to kill Han-Yeol one day.

“Kasha, I can hear you.”

[Ugh!]

Lord Kasha had muttered for Han-Yeol to hear on purpose, but when he actually heard Han-Yeol’s voice, his wound started to throb again.

“The Demon King's army…”

Stewart was uncharacteristically excited for this battle.

“I’ll finally be able to find out which demons have sided with humans and what this foul aura is about.”

“What, you’re still going on about that foul aura from last time?”

As soon as Han-Yeol finished his sentence, Stewart glared at him. He couldn’t see Stewart's eyes since he had the blinders on, but a sharp aura radiated around him. Still, Stewart’s job was to serve Han-Yeol, so he couldn't direct that sharp aura at him.

“Hmph, don’t take it lightly. I’m an absolute lord of the demon world with a very high reputation, and I’m also more sensitive than anyone else to mana emitted by demons. That means it’ll be a great disgrace for me to allow such a foul smelling aura to remain active.”

“I-Is that so?”

He was just teasing Stewart as usual, but because he took it so sensitively, Han-Yeol stopped.

As Stewart was finally able to express this unpleasant feeling, he couldn’t help but get all worked up, and eventually cleared his throat in embarrassment.

“Ahem, that’s right.”

“Anyway, let’s wipe out the Demon King's army.”

“Haha.”

“Sounds good.”

Mumble, mumble.

“Chek, check.”

Chaa! Shaaaa!

There was one more person who hadn’t been introduced yet.

“White Dragon-nim, are you going to be okay?”

[It’s okay, This will be one of the few forms of entertainment we dragons can enjoy.]

It was none other than White Dragon in her dragon form.

She had originally intended to just keep Han-Yeol company and not help or interfere. However, after seeing Han-Yeol make a contract with Darkness, she was intrigued by him and decided to jump in on the game, even though it was still a bit early.

As a result, her power had been rebalanced so that she could only use certain skills like Mavros, and her strength had been greatly reduced.

As one might say, reducing her power on purpose was a stupid thing to do.

As a transcendent race, unless they were a god-killing, corrupted dragon like the Dragon of Destruction, they essentially had to balance their powers accordingly if they wanted to directly interfere in the normal dimension.

The act, called game, would have been mere entertainment in other novels, something to be enjoyed while still retaining their original powers.

“Still, I was quite surprised. Unlike other novels, real dragons can lose their lives if they don’t find this game…”

[That’s right. Real dragon games involve the risk of death. You could call it the thrill of risking their lives.]

“Haha, the thrill of death.”

There were definitely some humans who got the thrill out of playing extreme sports. However, there were many cases where people didn’t really want to die, but died in an accident.

Han-Yeol was worried about White Dragon just in case something like that might happen.

[Don’t worry. If I’m really about to die, you’ll save me, right?]

“Ah, haha. I’m embarrassed now that you say that.”

[Haha, you’re stronger than me at this moment.]

“Haha.”

Han-Yeol was a bit embarrassed to be told that he was stronger than a real dragon.

*

Two days passed.

“Han-Yeol-nim, I can see the Demon King's army over there.”

“They're finally here.”

Chuck, chuck, chuck!

If Han-Yeol had come alone, he would’ve arrived within ten seconds, but with a hundred thousand Black Orcs, it took a while.

Still, the Black Orcs’ incredible stamina allowed them to travel from Beijing to the south in just two days by running steadily at a much faster pace than humans sprinting. Otherwise, it would’ve taken them over a month at a normal pace.

Sssss!

“Ugh, this nasty smell is really annoying.”

Stewart frowned at the stench, which worsened at the sight of the Demon King's army.

“Yeah, it’s definitely not a good aura.”

“It’s much worse than that.”

“Hahaha.”

“This smell is not too bad for a monster like me.”

“Ah, haha…”

Slurp.

As Tia flicked her tongue while releasing a murderous aura, Han-Yeol automatically let out an awkward laugh, unable to laugh like he had at Stewart’s comment.

[Hoo, I’m pretty nervous for my first battle and first game.]

[I’ll protect you, White Dragon!]

[Oh, thank you, Mavros.]

[Hehe!]

“Ehh, what a couple.”

Han-Yeol sighed as he watched Mavros and White Dragon’s lovey-dovey behavior.

‘I miss Tayarana…’

Han-Yeol missed Tayarana even more today.

Krrrg!

Han-Yeol’s thoughts didn’t last long.

His arrival caused a violent reaction within the Demon King's army.

With a huge explosion, a tremendous amount of mana started to move toward Han-Yeol.

Boom, boom, boom!

In other words, the entire army had come to greet Han-Yeol.

‘Huh? Oh is this the true power of the Demon King's army?’

Han-Yeol was quite impressed by the army’s movements. To be exact, he wasn’t impressed by their movements, but the powerful force they released every time they moved.

‘Tsk, have they been hiding their power all this time? But why?’

The Demon King's army hadn’t grasped a big chance to win against both the World Alliance army and the Qin Emperor’s army. They had taken control of southern China but failed to expand beyond that.

‘I can’t believe they’ve been hiding this power… No, that doesn’t make sense. They weren’t hiding it, but it seems like they summoned something, or maybe had a realization that made them more powerful.’

No matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t make sense for them to conceal their power.

Just then, Han-Yeol’s phone rang loudly.

Ring, ring, ring!

“Huh?”

“Oh, Master, if you came to fight with your life on the line, shouldn’t you have turned off your phone at least?”

“Put my life on the line? Oh, please. Just wait.”

Han-Yeol looked at his phone screen and recognized that it was from a member of the Gurkha forces waiting at the Beijing hotel.

“What do you need?”

[Hunter Han-Yeol-nim, right now, the news in China is saying that the Qin Emperor’s army and the Demon King's army are launching a surprise attack on a major defense base in China.]

“What, really?”

He was greeted with exciting news once he picked up the phone without much thought.

[Yes. The Chinese media, as well as the world media, are all breaking the news right now. They’re saying that the three factions that have been holding up so far have crossed the defense line of the World Alliance army in unison, as if they have some sort of promise or alliance.]

“Oh, interesting.”

Han-Yeol found this situation quite amusing, and he couldn't shake the feeling that this had all been thoroughly organized in advance.