Leveling Up Alone

[It’s too boring.]

Char tapped his finger on the armrest and grumbled. He was slowly getting bored after entertaining Han-Yeol’s childish tirade.

Whoosh…

He waved his hand and the Oblivion Knights instantly responded.

[Our lord has spoken. Annihilate everything that dares to go against our lord.]

[Annihilate.]

[Kill and destroy.]

It went without saying that these knights had no consciousness of their own. They were merely puppets that followed Char’s commands without fail.

Chwak! Bam!

A shockwave signaled the start of the battle, and the Oblivion Knights charged toward Han-Yeol’s party at speeds that eyes could not follow.

“Prepare for battle!”

Slurp!

“Hoho! I’m always up for a fierce battle!”

Clang!

Sparks flew as Tia blocked an Oblivion Knight’s sword. Her arms might look normal at first glance, but they were harder than any metal known in the world. The carapace surrounding her arm allowed her to receive most attacks while dealing immense damage to her enemies.

Shwiiik! Clang!

The battle between Tia and the Oblivion Knights started, and Tayarana joined in the fray.

‘I’m not going to lose!’ Tayarana growled inwardly, her competitive spirit burning fiercely.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

She took on two Oblivion Knights at the same time.

“Oh? I can’t lose to you now, can I?” Tia said after seeing Tayarana taking on two Oblivion Knights.

“Sigh…” Mariam let out a sigh at the sight of the two women acting childishly.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to help in combat, as her opponents were mindless undead monsters. So, her telepathic abilities would not work on them. Thus, she could only maintain the telepathic network she set up to aid the others in combat.

Mariam’s ability might be very powerful and would prove extremely useful against most enemies, but she did have a clear weakness, which was against enemies that were not affected by her skills.

‘Damn it…’ she cursed inwardly and clenched her fists.

The old Mariam would have been mad at herself for not helping Tayarana, but she would not have been bothered by the fact that she could not participate in combat. However, she slowly started opening her eyes to how fun combat could be, so she could not help but feel upset by her powerlessness.

‘Maybe I should’ve spent more time honing my taming skills…’

After entering the Bastro Dimension for the first time, she gained a taming skill. She tamed the ants as her minions, but she did not bother investing any more time in her taming skills after that. She believed she existed to serve Tayarana and was not someone who desired to grow stronger.

‘No, that’s just an excuse.’

She only used her telepathic abilities while fighting alongside Tayarana all this time despite possessing the taming abilities too, and she knew that being busy was just an excuse. She decided to prioritize her telepathic abilities back then, as she believed it was far more useful compared to her taming abilities.

However, she could not help but regret her decisions now that she was facing undead monsters immune to her telepathic abilities.

‘Ah, I don’t have the right to serve someone like Tayarana-nim…’

Of course, Tayarana was quite satisfied with everything Mariam did, but Mariam herself believed she was not worthy of serving her.

Thud!

“Heup!”

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol was facing eight Oblivion Knights. They charged at him with the intent to kill, but they were not the only ones after him.

[!##$%^&*()]

Even the liches chanted unintelligible words while targeting Han-Yeol with their dark magic, but their spells failed to touch even a single hair on Han-Yeol’s head.

Shwak!

[...?]

[Hohoho! It’s been a while since I’ve dueled other dark magicians.]

The Arch Lich intercepted their spells and dispelled them with a wave of his hand. He did not step in because he cared about Han-Yeol or because they were contracted to each other–no, he intercepted the dark magic spells out of his own volition.

This was an opportunity for him to duel against other liches, so there was no way he was going to miss it.

[Hohoho! A lich and an arch lich are completely different. Allow me to show you the difference between someone who became an undead after getting cursed and someone who chose to be an undead!]

An arch lich was definitely stronger than an ordinary lich, as the former was a higher-ranking undead monster.

Wooooong!

The Arch Lich gathered mana and two magic circles appeared on top of his hands.

Ziiiing! Ziiiing! Zing!

That was not the end of it. Two additional magic circles appeared, followed by two more, and these were followed by four more. The magic circles started to multiply exponentially until there were dozens of magic circles surrounding the Arch Lich.

[I command you with the authority of darkness from the abyss. I am the Arch Lich, heed my call! All you insignificant creatures of darkness shall return to where you came from! Storm of Abyss!]

Krwaaaaang!

The Arch Lich conjured a black tornado with sharp ice spears swirling in it and sent it toward the liches.

Ziiiing!

The liches cast their defensive spells and conjured barriers.

[It’s futile!]

Krwaaaang!

[...!]

Just like the Arch Lich said, the liches’ barriers shattered the moment they came in contact with the Storm of Abyss.

Krwaaaang!

The sound of wind thundered as the black tornado swallowed the liches.

[Hohoho! How foolish!]

The Arch Lich burst into laughter and celebrated his victory. However, his joy lasted only for a while as he did not seem satisfied with the duel.

[Hmm… I guess I have reached a point where other dark magicians are no longer worthy opponents.]

Bam! Thud!

It was the same for Han-Yeol.

“Eh? These guys are too weak. What the hell?” Han-Yeol grumbled.

He did flinch earlier after he sensed the immense mana from the Oblivion Knights, but he soon found out that they were not that strong, and he could easily defeat them.

Pukeok! Puuuk!

One of the Oblivion Knights’ bones shattered the moment Han-Yeol struck it with his sword. The knight did not seem to be bothered by its shattered bones, as it was an undead monster capable of regenerating its bones.

However, there was no way Han-Yeol would simply let it be, especially after he was familiar with how undead monsters worked.

‘Purification Bullet!’

Bang!

He combined Purification Light and Mana Explosion into a bullet and shot them at the Oblivion Knight’s core, which was its heart hidden behind its rib cage.

Kieeeeek!

A horrible shriek reverberated as the Oblivion Knight disintegrated and dispersed into smoke.

[Hmm… This is starting to annoy me…]

Char grimaced after seeing the state of the battle. He did not expect his summoned creatures to lose so easily, and watching them get one-sidedly pummeled annoyed him.

He got up from his throne.

Shwooook!

The atmosphere grew heavy just from him standing up.

‘Hmm… His mana is really amazing,’ Han-Yeol thought after sensing Char’s mana.

He did win against him once, but Char’s mana was completely different from the last time they fought.

[Oh right, I completely forgot about that thing.]

‘Hmm?’

[I prepared a gift for all of you yet I forgot about them. Ah, how rude of me.]

Char might sound polite, but he grinned from ear to ear and let out a low, insidious laugh.

Creak.

A door opened.

Whoosh.

A draft of cold air blew in.

‘T-That is?!’

[Hmm?]

“What’s that?”

Not only Han-Yeol but even Tia, Tayarana, and the others instantly looked toward the door after they sensed an ominous mana coming from it, and they simultaneously broke out in cold sweat after the draft of cold air carried the mana toward them.

The creature making an appearance this time seemed to be immensely powerful, but the problem was that Han-Yeol knew the identity of this creature very well.

‘A-Ah… How can this be? I did not expect this, but…’ Han-Yeol lamented.

Thud… Thud…

The creature emerged from the door.

“Hmm?”

[...]

“What’s that?”

Tia, Tayarana, and Stewart could only watch with anxious eyes.

“Grrr…”

The creature that emerged from the door was none other than Harkan, but this was no longer the same Harkan—it was now the Contaminated Harkan.

[Bwahahaha! I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’m not the most powerful being in this dimension! This creature right here is the most powerful thing, and you can feel how powerful it is just by looking at it, right? Ah! How wonderful is that body! This used to be the Dimension Lord of this dimension, but how much stronger will it become under the influence of my contamination mana?]

Sigh…

Char let out a sigh and shook his head sarcastically. Harkan truly had an imposing aura, and Char’s arrogance was justified.

‘Damn it! I know more about Harkan than anyone else!’

Han-Yeol had these words up his throat before he swallowed them back down. He did hear about Harkan getting turned into a contaminated creature, but he did not think much about it and was unbothered by it.

However, now that he was looking at the Contaminated Harkan with his own two eyes, he realized just how insanely powerful he once was. Han-Yeol might claim to have regained the same strength he once had as Harkan, but he was still light years behind in terms of physical attributes.

The difference in physical strength was the main source of the dominating aura that pressured everyone in the party.

Han-Yeol gulped nervously!

‘The most powerful sorcerer has the most powerful contaminated creature… Things have definitely taken a turn for the worst…’

This was the combination Han-Yeol wanted to achieve. He wanted the Bastro Warriors to have a balanced mix of warriors and sorcerers, but ironically, it seemed that his dream was realized by not the Light Faction but rather by their arch nemesis: the hyenas.

‘Damn it… Damn it… Damn it…’ Han-Yeol cursed repeatedly.

Contaminated Harkan let out a low growl. “Grrr…”

He did not seem to be as contaminated as the other contaminated creatures judging by the color of his skin, but that was only his appearance, as Han-Yeol could see with Demon Eyes that he was fully contaminated even down to his bones.

Char raised his hand and gave his command. [Alright! It’s time to show you what hell looks like! Go! Harkan!]

“Grrr… Waaah!”

The Contaminated Harkan kicked off the ground immediately.

Whoosh!

The first targets were the Shurarmors summoned by Stewart. The Shurarmors were the ones holding back the Oblivion Knights from attacking the party all at once.

“Ha!” Stewart scoffed.

He had no plans to lose to a mere contaminated creature. He summoned a high-ranking demon and ordered it to attack the Contaminated Harkan.

“Chains of Hell!”

Chwaaak!

He even cast a powerful debuff skill to assist the high-ranking demon against the Contaminated Harkan.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

“Hmm?”

Bam! Bam!

Kuheok!

However, Stewart’s jaw dropped to the ground. The demon he summoned was a high-ranking demon, and it suffered some penalty from crossing over from the demon world, but it was by no means a weakling. The penalty it suffered was not as drastic as that of most demons, as its summoner should have nullified most of the penalties.

A single hit from the Contaminated Harkan killed this high-ranking demon that was powerful enough to defeat most of its enemies.

But that was not the end of it.

Stewart summoned three more powerful high-ranking demons, but the Contaminated Harkan easily killed all three of them.