Leveling Up Alone

“Kyaak!”

Zing!

Demon Han-Yeol opened his mouth, and a black sphere formed again.

“Khaaa!”

With Harkan’s broken facial bones forced back together from Demon Han-Yeol’s attack, Harkan let out a furious shout and charged at Han-Yeol.

Paang!

This time, it wasn’t a beam of energy that was shot out, but the sphere itself.

The Contaminated Harkan showed no signs of dodging the reddish-black sphere that flew toward it with tremendous pressure. Instead, it swung its nails at the sphere.

Boom!

The Contaminated Harkan acted all tough, but the repercussions of its overconfidence in its own strength and forcefully blocking an attack that could have been avoided were considerable.

Harkan’s nails hit the sphere, but this only created a large shockwave and did not destroy or make the sphere explode.

Zing!

The sphere was still trying to move forward. Rather, it was the Contaminated Harkan, with its strong build, that felt the shock from the attack.

“Kehehe!”

For some reason, Demon Han-Yeol chuckled as he launched himself again, swiftly closing the distance to the Contaminated Harkan as it momentarily staggered by the collision with the reddish-black sphere.

Crack!

The bones of Demon Han-Yeol’s hands and fingers twisted grotesquely as he prepared to attack.

“Khaaaa!”

The Contaminated Harkan shook its head, not wanting to show its weakness to the Han-Yeol demon even though it was still recovering from the previous impact, and immediately assumed an attack stance.

Swoosh!

Han-Yeol swung his fist and Harkan swung its nails simultaneously. Both attacks were intended to tear each other apart.

Boom! Crack!

“Khaa!”

“Kehe!”

Demon Han-Yeol was clearly the winner for this clash.

The Contaminated Harkan’s nails shattered and its wrist was crushed with a loud crack as it collided with the Demon Han-Yeol’s fist.

However, Demon Han-Yeol wasn’t done yet.

Zing!

The reddish-black sphere that had previously formed in his mouth was now forming in his hand.

Whoosh!

Raising the corners of his mouth and smiling wickedly, Han-Yeol spread his hands wide and forcefully pushed Harkan’s chest.

The Contaminated Harkan flew far backwards, but Han-Yeol had no intention of stopping his attacks. He appeared next to the Contaminated Harkan, who was bent like a bow from being pushed backwards.

Han-Yeol was incredibly fast.

Shhh! Boom!

Demon Han-Yeol unleashed a relentless combo attack against the Contaminated Harkan.

The Contaminated Harkan, suspended in mid-air, had to endure attacks from all directions. Demon Han-Yeol seemed to be everywhere at once, striking as if multiple attackers were targeting him.

Boom!

“Krgh!”

To finish Harkan off, Demon Han-Yeol launched Harkan into the air with an uppercut and then ascended himself even faster to take a position above Harkan.

“Kehe!”

Han-Yeol then opened his mouth and unleashed a beam of energy from the mana sphere that had sent Char flying.

Zing! Boom!

The Contaminated Harkan was struck by the energy beam and was driven straight into the ground, sinking deeper and deeper as if it were being drilled like an oil well.

“Kehe!”

[A-Argh!]

As Harkan was being attacked by Demon Han-Yeol, Char barely managed to pull himself up, clutching his chest in pain from the broken bones. His head was throbbing and he could barely focus. Hapicrus shook its head and blinked to focus properly.

After about five minutes, he finally regained his composure.

Shhh! Thud!

[!!]

But soon, his whole body stiffened at the sound in front of him.

Char had spent so much time with the Contaminated Harkan that he had gotten used to the sounds it made, but what he heard now was not the same footsteps.

‘N-No way…’

The fact that a human was standing in front of him meant that Harkan had been completely subdued.

[I-It can’t be!]

He couldn’t bear to accept everything that was happening. If Harkan was not the strongest being, that would mean everything he had worked so hard for was all for nothing.

Char stretched out his hand that was filled with the contamination attribute in an attempt to launch a surprise attack.

Chuck!

[U-Ugh!]

It was a good attempt, but his opponent was too strong.

With a balanced growth in strength, speed, and stamina, and thanks to the characteristics of the canine race, the Contaminated Harkan was unmatched in speed among all races. However, Demon Han-Yeol had surpassed Harkan with superior speed.

An attack from Char, a sorcerer with extremely limited physical abilities, was never going to be effective on Han-Yeol.

Crack!

[Kaaaaaah!!]

Demon Han-Yeol grabbed Char’s wrist with ease and immediately twisted it. With a eerie crack, the bones in his wrist turned and twisted grotesquely in an abnormal way, and Char screamed in agony.

“Kehe!”

His scream was filled with so much pain that it almost evoked sympathy. However, Demon Han-Yeol only smiled with delight, gradually increasing the pressure in his grip.

Crack!

[Ahhhhh! Ahhh!]

For Char had long forgotten what pain felt like, so the torture from Demon Han-Yeol was too much for him to bear.

Demon Han-Yeol intended to drown Char in pain slowly. He would continue inflicting just enough pain to keep Char from dying immediately, ultimately leading to his death from shock.

This was the most horrific death Han-Yeol knew of.

Han-Yeol’s eyes, glowing with a violet hue, were filled only with the desire to inflict suffering and pure rage.

‘H-Han-Yeol-nim…’

Mariam watched everything unfold.

She was trembling, not just from Han-Yeol’s unfamiliar sight, but looking into his eyes felt as if she was suffering herself. Goosebumps rose all over her body, chills ran down her spine, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

She was terrified of the Han-Yeol before her.

[H-Han-Yeol, ehh.]

Tayarana was still calling his name in her half-conscious state, but Mariam couldn't bring herself to wake Tayarana up.

Even Mariam was afraid of his current state, and she couldn’t begin to imagine how shocked Tayarana, who harbored more than just affection for him, would be if she saw him now.

‘Huh?’

Just then, Mariam’s senses picked up something.

Boom!

“Kaaaaaaaah!”

“Kek?”

A powerful contamination mana surged out from behind Demon Han-Yeol, and rocks flew toward him.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

However, the rocks turned to dust as soon as it touched the black aura flowing around Han-Yeol as he remained still.

“Kehe.”

Demon Han-Yeol demon thought he had finished off the Contaminated Harkan, but it had gotten back up on its feet again.

Crack!

Harkan’s body recovered on its own.

“Kek.”

Demon Han-Yeol's brow furrowed slightly.

The fact that someone like that, who barely felt any pain and was no fun to torment, kept bothering him was starting to get on his nerves.

Zing!

A sword with reddish-black energy appeared in Demon Han-Yeol demon’s hand. Now, instead of using his fists, he was planning to use his sword to slit the Contaminated Harkan’s throat and end its life.

[Arghhh, do you think I’ll let that happen?]

“Kek?”

Whoosh! Boom!

The moment Demon Han-Yeol turned around, the was on opening.

Despite trembling from the pain, Char raised his left arm, not his mangled right one, and used a skill aimed at Demon Han-Yeol to help the Contaminated Harkan.

He used the easiest, the most powerful attack of all: the Contamination Bomb.

“Khaaa!”

Thwack!

Simultaneously, the Contaminated Harkan also targeted Demon Han-Yeol, swinging its nails with all its might. The force behind those nails was immense, imbued with the contamination attribute that seemed capable of destroying everything in his path.

Also, the Contaminated Harkan possessed the ability to turn his defeated or subdued opponents into contaminants. If he succeeded in driving his nails into Han-Yeol’s chest, even with the strongest body, Demon Han-Yeol would not be able to escape the contamination attribute and would become a contaminant, giving Char victory.

Then, Char would become the true ruler of the Bastro Dimension, serving the stronger being as a contaminant after Harkan.

‘That’s it!’

Char was pleased with Harkan's actions. In his opinion, Harkan's use of the skill seemed very timely.

But Demon Han-Yeol let out another one of his unique laughs.

“Kehe!”

‘Huh?’

Shhhh!

[What!]

“Khaa!”

Char’s attack caused smoke to rise, obscuring the vision of all three of them.

Considering the Contaminated Harkan's level of skill, it could easily fight using its senses alone, so the smoke wasn’t a hindrance at all.

However, from within the smoke emerged a black tentacle that wrapped around Char’s neck. At the same time, Demon Han-Yeol’s left hand, which had intercepted the Contaminated Harkan’s attack, grabbed the contaminant by the throat.

In one neat motion, he had deflected the combined attack from Char and Harkan.

[Argh!]

“Kaooo!”

Both Char and the Contaminated Harkan couldn’t stay conscious due to the continued choking attack.

“Kehe!”

Not wanting to waste any more time, Demon Han-Yeol properly held the sword in his right hand. He was going to pierce both of their heads, and enjoy Char’s scream of agony.

Swoosh!

He swung his sword.

Rumble! Boom!

“Khaaa!”

However, there was a problem.

A lightning bolt fell from the clear sky right above Demon Han-Yeol, directly striking his body.

If that had been an ordinary lightning strike, it would have been nothing more than a cute static shock to Demon Han-Yeol’s body. But this was no ordinary lightning.

Since it was a special lightning composed of immense mana, even Demon Han-Yeol, despite overpowering the Contaminated Harkan, let out a scream of pain.

Shhh!

Automatically, his hand and tentacle that were holding Char and the Contaminated Harkan loosened their grip and lost hold of them.

However, this lightning bolt was an electric attack.

Thud!

Char and the Contaminated Harkan were not immune to the lightning as they were connected to Han-Yeol. They didn’t die, but they were charred to crisps and fell helplessly to the ground.

“Ke! Ke! Ke!”

Demon Han-Yeol laughed creepily at the stinging feeling and looked around. He wanted to find the person who had attacked him and tear them apart to death.

Neither the Contaminated Harkan nor the hyena, Char, were worth worrying about anymore since they were no longer his target.

However, he couldn’t see the figure of the one who had unleashed the lightning.