Leveling Up Alone

They were no longer surrounded and trapped by the hyenas. The Tree of Beginnings now served as the official base of the Light Faction. These Bastrolings seeking refuge under the Tree of Beginnings were composed of different races, but all of them were unified under Riru’s command.

Thus, Riru made the decision to lead these Bastrolings and launch a full-scale assault on the hyenas’ main headquarters. The Light Faction mobilized a massive army for the first time in a very long while, and they marched toward the hyenas’ main base.

Gulp!

[D-Do you think we can win?]

[What if we die a meaningless death?]

[I’m scared…]

The Bastro Warriors trembled in fear, as they had been on the run and living in hiding for as long as they could remember. The fear of fighting for their lives as they watched their comrades turn into mindless contaminated creatures was etched in their brains, and it was engraved in their hearts that the hyenas were a formidable enemy they could not win against.

They would not have cared and fought without fear if they could simply die honorably, but the thought of being turned into the hyenas’ puppets made them hesitate to even die in battle.

The one with the loudest voice, Kandir, went around to rally the Bastro Warriors.

[Get a grip! We are proud warriors of the Bastro Dimension. Yes, we might’ve tasted defeat at their hands, but we have used that bitter defeat as fuel to find ways to exterminate those filthy hyenas. We have lost enough and we have learned a lot! It is now time for us to get our revenge against them!]

[Ooooh!]

[Yes! We will have our revenge!]

[We will show them true horror!]

[Let them have a taste of our despair!]

Their morale instantly went up at his rally, turning their fear of the hyenas into anger toward them.

‘Haha! Kandir’s ability to rile others up has improved since the last time I saw him. He’s no longer the loser he once was,’ Han-Yeol thought, snickering inwardly.

Kandir would have been shocked if he heard Han-Yeol’s thoughts, but Han-Yeol had been asking him to improve even back when he was Harkan. Kandir’s voice was really loud and he often spoke with raw emotions, which made him ideal in rallying the troops.

Han-Yeol trained him in numerous ways, and he was finally seeing the fruit of his labor.

‘As expected. They went through hell, but some of them really grew from this experience.’

***

Crackle! Crackle!

The headquarters of the hyenas had never been invaded ever since they set it up, but today, torches were brightly illuminated above the walls as the start of the war that could reshape the balance of power in the Bastro Dimension was about to begin.

[Damn it… How did it come to this?]

[It’s all because of that pesky human!]

Crack!

The high-ranking hyena sorcerers gnashed their teeth while thinking of Han-Yeol. They returned from tracking down Han-Yeol and had to immediately prepare for the final war.

[He also made a fool out of us!]

[Tsk… Who would’ve known that human had the skill to jump through space?]

The hyenas gathered as much information they could regarding Han-Yeol by sending hyenas to Earth, but the only information they collected were from his livestreams. In other words, their information was outdated. Han-Yeol had grown stronger day by day, so there was no way they could win against him with such outdated information.

Thus, they were bound to run into problems trying to catch Han-Yeol. In the end, they lost two high-ranking sorcerers, had their magic circle destroyed, and even lost the territory where the Tree of Beginnings was located. They lost their best opportunity to completely eradicate the Light Faction all due to their lack of information on Han-Yeol.

[But it’s not over. We still have a lot of chances to kill him.]

[You’re right. We will kill him this time.]

[Everything will go back to normal once we kill him.]

[That’s right!]

[Mwahahaha!]

The high-ranking sorcerers were not the type to cower just because of a few setbacks, as they still believed they were the strongest beings in the Bastro Dimension. They believed the only reason they lost was that the visitor from another dimension, Han-Yeol, acted cowardly and used all sorts of despicable and dishonorable tricks.

In other words, they firmly believed that they were superior to Han-Yeol and would not lose anymore as long as they watched out for his petty tricks.

Gulp!

In contrast, the Light Faction Bastrolings were completely nervous about the upcoming final war. Kandir raised their morale by rallying the warriors, but the fear etched into their hearts was not something that would disappear in a matter of a few hours. The Bastro Warriors knew they had the upper hand, but their bodies refused to stop trembling in fear.

Gwuu ooooh!

Grrrwaaah!

Kwaaaaak!

The legion of contaminated creatures spread across in front of the walls were so great in number that it was more than enough to strike fear in the warriors’ hearts.

‘That’s quite a lot,’ Han-Yeol thought. He expected a lot of them to be guarding the walls, but he was slightly taken aback after seeing their sheer size.

“Did you expect there to be so many of them, master?”

“N-No, I didn’t…”

It felt like all of the contaminated creatures in the Bastro Dimension had gathered together.

‘Well, I guess that’s possible since all of the high-ranking sorcerers are here. It would be strange if there were less of those creatures,’ Han-Yeol thought.

He had already experienced fighting against three high-ranking sorcerers, so he had a rough idea of how many contaminated creatures they controlled and what those sorcerers were capable of. Of course, he managed to easily win both times against three high-ranking sorcerers, as the situation was favorable for him in both of those instances.

However, he did not make the foolish mistake of relying on his luck this time–no, it was impossible to find any opportunities for luck to intervene and help him in this battle.

Not only were the high-ranking sorcerers defending the walls, but even the intermediate-ranking sorcerers and low-ranking sorcerers had been deployed to defend as well. They brought all of their contaminated creatures with them and placed them right in front of the walls, forming an almost impregnable defense.

Han-Yeol knew that even he would have a hard time getting through their defenses and conquering their headquarters.

Han-Yeol shrugged.

‘Well, it’s not like I’ll be taking them on all alone.’

He had Riru and the other top-class warriors by his side. The Bastro Warriors might have lost to the hyenas previously, but they were now united under a very capable leader: Lee Han-Yeol.

“All forces! Attack!” Han-Yeol commanded at the top of his lungs.

[Attack!]

[Attaaaack!]

Waaaaah!

The Bastro Warriors rushed toward the walls of the headquarters at Han-Yeol’s command, each of them screaming at the top of their lungs, letting out war cries to boost each other’s morale.

The headquarters was built at the foot of a large mountain called Ephrine. The mountain provided fortifications to the headquarters, turning it into a natural fortress. To conquer a heavily fortified fortress, an army would require at least three times the enemy’s numbers.

However, the hyenas and their contaminated creatures heavily outnumbered the Light Faction warriors by thirty to one.

It would be a problem if they relied on scaling the walls without any support, but they had a very capable human siege weapon on their side.

‘Special Flashbang incoming!’ Han-Yeol infused his mana into his shoulder cannons and shot dozens of flashbangs into the air.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gwuuu ooooh!

Krwaaaah!

The contaminated creatures squirmed in agony after the flashbangs exploded and a blinding light covered the sky.

[W-What was that?!]

[Did that human have such an ability too?!]

[Damn it! He’s using another unknown skill!]

The hyena sorcerers were flustered by the turn of events, but it was still too early for them to be shocked. This place was teeming with their contaminated creatures, and there were quite a substantial number of them that were newly contaminated.

These newly contaminated creatures were easily released from their contamination the moment the flashbangs went off in the sky.

“Shwiiiik!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

One of the newly contaminated creatures was none other than the boss monster of the swamp, the Hydra.

[Nooo! My Hydra!]

Thud!

The intermediate-ranking sorcerer fell to his knees at the sight of the Hydra being released from the contamination. He did not manage to contaminate the Hydra with his own skill. To begin with, he was not capable of contaminating a Hydra on his own, as it would require at least two to three high-ranking hyena sorcerers just to defeat a Hydra.

This intermediate-ranking sorcerer initially believed that having one hundred contaminated creatures was far better than having one powerful contaminated creature, but his mindset changed the moment he stumbled upon the Hydra after entering the swamp.

The swamp happened to be within the area of influence of the magic circle set up by the hyenas, and this caused most weaker creatures to die due to its influence. Thus, there was a lack of food supply in the swamp, causing the Hydra to starve.

The intermediate-ranking sorcerer faced a starving Hydra, and he threw all of his contaminated creatures at the boss of the swamp in hopes of making it out alive. Ironically, the Hydra devoured the thousands of contaminated creatures thrown at it by the hyena sorcerer without much thought, as it had been starving for a long time.

The Hydra had already been exposed to the hyenas’ contaminated mana, but ingesting thousands of contaminated creatures caused it to get contaminated despite its powerful physique that resisted the contaminated mana for the longest time.

Thus, the intermediate-ranking hyena sorcerer managed to contaminate the Hydra, which was an extremely powerful monster, thanks to a series of fortunate events and luck being on his side.

His peers were extremely jealous of him for contaminating and having such a powerful boss monster under his command.

However, the fact that the Hydra was so easily released from its contamination was something the hyena sorcerer could not accept.

It did not matter whether the hyena accepted it or not, as the enraged Hydra unleashed its venomous toxin everywhere, venting its anger for being held captive.

“Shwiiiiik!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

[H-Help me!]

[Nooo!]

[Spare me!]

Munch! Gulp!

Crunch! Crunch!

The Hydra devoured the hyena tamers and the jackals around it. The boss of the swamp did not even bother chewing properly and just swallowed every single prey it could capture with its powerful jaws.

The boss of the swamp was already starving when it had been captured, but it starved an additional two weeks after getting contaminated, so it was in a state of extreme hunger right now. On top of that, a Hydra was known for having a voracious appetite, so it was only normal for it to devour everything in its path.

However, the same luck did not strike twice for the hyena sorcerer. The Hydra was an extremely intelligent creature despite being a monster, so it learned from its mistake of devouring the contaminated creature and causing itself to get contaminated.

Thus, it recognized the contaminated creatures as indelible prey and proceeded to only go after those it knew it could devour without any problems.

In other words, the boss of the swamp went after the Bastrolings. From their scent, it could tell that they were not only edible but also a very delicious meal.