Leveling Up Alone

Han-Yeol was slightly nervous because of the number and sheer size of the Mutant Orcs, even though he had been able to kill them in one shot before. However, he was soon relieved, as he realized that the monsters were still as weak as he remembered them to be.

He let go of the chain that was restraining one of the Mutant Orcs, then took out his rifle and aimed it at the remaining two other Mutant Orcs before pulling the trigger. He did not forget to infuse his mana into the bullets before shooting them, however. ‘Power Strike.’

Ratatatatata! 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The mana-infused bullets flew toward the heads of the two other Mutant Orcs.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

However, the Mutant Orcs covered their weak spots with their shields.

‘Hmm?’

Han-Yeol had already expected the Mutant Orcs to take cover behind their shields, so that did not come as a surprise. However, what did surprise him was that the bullets that were not blocked by the Mutant Orcs’ shields failed to penetrate through their skin.

‘What the?’?he thought in surprise. He was taken aback, as that was different from what had happened before.

‘Then how about this? Mana Explosion!’?he exclaimed inwardly.

He used his most powerful AOE attack, ‘Mana Explosion’, and aimed it at the exposed abdomen of one of the Mutant Orcs after finding that his bullets did not seem to have any effect on them.

Baaaam!

The grenade precisely struck the Mutant Orc’s exposed abdomen and unleashed a ferocious explosion, and the Mutant Orc staggered backward while letting out a roar.

“Kruuuuooh!”?The Mutant Orc cried out in agony.

“Alright!” Han-Yeol rejoiced.

“Kruuuuoh!” the Mutant Orc roared again.

“T-This can’t be!” Han-Yeol was flabbergasted by what he saw.

The previous surprise was not the last unexpected turn of events. Not only did the Mutant Orc that had been struck by the explosion remain standing, it even started to walk toward Han-Yeol as if nothing had happened.

‘W-What the hell? Didn’t I kill them in one shot before?’?Han-Yeol thought, bewildered by how strong the Mutant Orcs were.

He had been expecting them to be as weak as the Mutant Orc he killed while saving the Tank, but the Mutant Orcs this time were far stronger than the one he had killed.

Clank!

The Mutant Orc that had been restrained by Han-Yeol’s chain broke free from it and stood up, recovering much more quickly than Han-Yeol had anticipated.

‘Damn it, this isn’t going to be easy,’ Han-Yeol thought. He had a feeling that this would be a long fight.

He had already confirmed that these Mutant Orcs were stronger than the previous one, but it did not mean that he had no chance of winning against them. The only thing that had changed was the fact that he could not kill them in one shot, and that was all there was to it. Additionally, it enabled him to experience firsthand how strong the monsters that emerged from dimensional holes could be.

Tak!

Han-Yeol kicked off the ground and jumped high into the air.

“Kuooooh!”?One of the Mutant Orcs roared as it unleashed an endless barrage of attacks with its ax.

‘How dare you!’?Han-Yeol thought, gritting his teeth.

He activated the skill ‘Sixth Sense’, making the monster’s attacks slow to a crawl in his perception. That way, he was able to avoid all of the attacks by a hair’s breadth, landing right in front of the Mutant Orcs.

***

“Chwiiik!”?The Mutant Orcs cried out when they saw the puny human jump toward them, swinging their axes as steam emerged from their nostrils. Then, they mercilessly swung their axes at the arrogant human charging toward them.

Whoosh!

The Mutant Orcs swung their axes with such overpowering strength that they would undoubtedly break several bones if they struck the human.

Han-Yeol was aware that he would not be able to fight against the Mutant Orcs with his current stats and abilities. He thought, ‘Do you think I’m dumb enough to face you head-on?’

It would have been a different story if he came back to fight them later on when he was at a much higher level, but Han-Yeol was no different from an ordinary Hunter at that moment.

‘Restrain!’?He thus used his signature skill once again.

Shwiiiik!

The chain on his left hand flew toward the closest Mutant Orc and wrapped itself around the monster’s ax. Having aimed for the Mutant Orc’s weapon instead of its body, Han-Yeol yanked on the chain and pulled the weapon away.

“Kiek?”?The Mutant Orc tilted its head in confusion as its ax was suddenly snatched out of its hand.

Han-Yeol did not miss the opportunity he created, running forward and using ‘Jumping’ to charge at the weaponless Mutant Orc before slicing its neck with his sword.

Sukeok!

The Mutant Orc’s momentum gave weight to Han-Yeol’s attack, and his sword left a deep cut on the monster’s neck that sent a fountain of blue blood gushing out.

“Kieeeeeeek!”?The Mutant Orc shrieked in agony, grabbing the wound on its neck that was overflowing with blood. However, it remained standing, as if it refused to fall over and die.

‘Tsk… Its neck is cut open, but it still refuses to die. Perhaps the monsters from the dimensional hole and the normal monsters out there are different?’?Han-Yeol thought. He had expected it to a certain extent, but the sheer difference in strength between the Mutant Orcs from the dimensional hole and the normal Orcs at the hunting grounds was much greater than he had anticipated.

Shwiiiik!

Han-Yeol reeled his chain in and flicked the blue blood off his sword, thinking, ‘I need a properly decisive weapon.’

He had a lot of skills, but he knew very well that he was still far from being able to call himself a strong Hunter.

He was quite a versatile Hunter, as he had the ability to attack his enemies from close range, mid-range, and long-range due to being able to use a gun, a chain, and a sword. However, he was not skilled enough, nor did he excel enough, to be able to answer anyone who asked him which of those three offensive roles he was most confident in.

‘What I need right now is to fight them in melee range. There’s no guarantee that I can bring them down with just my chain, and the same goes for my rifle. So, my only remaining hope is to deal as much damage as I can in close combat even though I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to kill them,’?he thought.

Having realized what his last hope was, he knew he had no choice but to take care of the Mutant Orcs right then and there, as he would die if he did not.

Woosh!

As Han-Yeol swung his sword, a thousand different thoughts passed through his mind in an instant. He checked his status window while thinking, ‘I don’t have any offensive skills that I can use with this sword. If that’s the case… The only option I have left is to increase the power of my sword, and the only skill that I can use together with my sword is…’

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 33

Points: 0

STR: 83

VIT: 78

AGI: 72

MAG: 110

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (B), Walking (C), Mana Control (D), Mana Mastery (E), Power Strike (C), Mana Shield (D), Sixth Sense (D), Restrain (C), Body Strengthening (C), Mana Eyes (D), Heal (A), Jumping (C), Stab (D), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (D), Fire Attribute (E), Mana Explosion (C), Chain Smite (C), Marksmanship (E), Martial Arts (E).

Just as Han-Yeol was going over his status window, however…

“Kruoooooh!”?One of the Mutant Orcs let out an enraged roar and charged toward Han-Yeol.

‘Tsk…!’?Han-Yeol clicked his tongue inwardly.

He was able to avoid the Mutant Orc’s attack despite being fixated on his status window, due to his ‘Sixth Sense’ skill. Afterward, he used his ‘Jumping’ skill to leap over the factory walls and climb onto the rooftop.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Mutant Orcs that had just lost their prey angrily stomped their feet on the ground in frustration.

Han-Yeol pulled out his rifle and emptied two magazines, spraying bullets at the Mutant Orcs to keep their aggro from resetting and making them pursue Sung-Beom and Ah-Ri instead. The Mutant Orcs were so enraged that their eyes began to turn a bloodshot red, and they started to climb the factory walls.

‘They look like a mere bunch of pigs, but they can climb walls as well,’?Han-Yeol thought for a brief moment.

As he was able to buy some time, he went over the skills he currently had. He was not looking for a flashy skill; rather, he was looking for a simple skill that would be able to deal a lot of damage against the Mutant Orcs.

‘What I need the most right now to increase my sword’s attack power is…’?he thought.

Puk!

He stabbed his sword into the factory roof and extended both of his hands. He gathered mana in one hand and fire in the other.

Fwooosh!

He then combined the two in front of his chest. The brightly shining ball of mana that exuded calm, and the fiery ball that exuded a dense concentration of aggressive energy, merged together and combined into a single dense mass of energy as if it had been made through nuclear fusion.

‘All that’s left is to put this energy into my sword,’ Han-Yeol thought.

The new mass of energy he had created seemed quite unstable, but he had no other choice at that moment. He slowly injected the mass of fiery mana into his sword, which was embedded into the roof.

Bzzt! Bzzt…! Bzzt…!

“Keuuuugh…!”?Han-Yeol groaned in pain.

He felt intense feedback all across his hands, arms, and even his brain after trying to force the mass of fiery mana into his sword. His hands and arms started to suffer burns, tearing open from the backlash. However, there was no way that he would simply give up after coming so far.

‘Heal!’?He urgently cast his healing skill. In order to resist the feedback, he began repeatedly using ‘Heal’ ‘Heal’ on himself, repairing the wounds as quickly as they formed.

Bzzt! Bzzt…! Bzzt…!

“Keuuaaaagh…!”?Han-Yeol gritted his teeth in pain.

Eventually, he successfully managed to infuse the mass of fiery mana into his sword after struggling against the intense feedback it created. He exclaimed in delight, “Alright!”

The sword that Han-Yeol was currently using was worth more than five hundred million won. It had been specially made for him after he sold the sword he had previously used, which was worth only five million won. The steel of its blade was forged from monster bone dust combined with special alloys, and it was coated with mana stone extract that increased its durability many times over. In short, that basically meant the sword was designed to withstand and absorb mana.

The mass of unstable, fiery mana would have shattered the sword and caused an explosion that would have killed Han-Yeol on the spot if he had tried to save a bit of money by going to an average blacksmith that produced cheap, generic swords. However, Han-Yeol’s gamble paid off in the end, as he had not had any reservations about spending on his equipment.

Ding!

[You have successfully combined mana and fire by overcoming the backlash.]

[You have learned how to enchant your weapon with different properties.]

[A new skill has been created—Enchant.]

[The rank of ‘Sword Mastery’ has risen from (B) to (A).]

[The rank of ‘Mana Control’ has risen from (D) to (C).]

[The rank of ‘Fire Attribute’ has risen from (E) to (D).]

[The skill ‘Sword Mastery’ has reached A-Rank.]

[A new sub-skill has been created—Sword Breath.]

‘Sword Breath?’?Han-Yeol thought, quickly opening up the details of the new skill.

[Sword Breath (F)]

Type: Active

Description: The user’s sword will breathe an endless stream of fire. The user’s mana will deplete as the sword emits fire, but the weapon will amplify all fire-attribute attacks and cause an explosion once it has accumulated enough energy.

‘Alright!’?Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly.

He had gained an unexpected harvest that was several times more valuable than he could have imagined, having obtained ‘Enchant’, which allowed him to grant attributes to his weapons, and ‘Sword Breath’, which greatly amplified any fire-attribute attacks he made.

‘This is a classic case of high-risk, high-reward. That’s why I’ll never be able to stop gambling,’?he thought with a smirk.

Of course, the gambling he was referring to was not games such as poker or blackjack, which were solely about earning money. Rather, he meant the gamble one had to take whenever they needed to make a choice at a crossroads in life.

Kwachik!

The Mutant Orcs grabbed the edge of the roof and successfully climbed up just as Han-Yeol’s new skills were created. The one that had had its neck slit open by Han-Yeol was also there, looking as if it had never been hurt at all due to its excellent vitality and regenerative ability. It would have been impossible to tell that it was the same Mutant Orc that Han-Yeol had just attacked if not for the scar on its neck, which had fully healed leaving only a faint mark.

However, Han-Yeol was no longer intimidated by the Mutant Orcs. He smirked as he activated his newly created sub-skill. ‘Sword Breath.’

Fwuuuaaaa!

An endless stream of fire began to emanate from the sword in Han-Yeol’s hand.

‘It uses quite a lot of mana,’?he thought. He could actually feel his mana being drained from his heart while his sword was breathing out flames.

‘This is why I have to invest all of my bonus stat points into MAG,’?he thought. However, he soon stopped thinking of such pointless things and decided to focus on the monsters in front of him. He kicked off the floor of the factory’s roof and charged toward the Mutant Orcs once again.

“Chwiiiik!”?The Mutant Orcs shrieked loudly, as if to show their resolve not to be done in by the same tricks twice. They held their shields tightly against their bodies and gripped their axes more tightly than before as they charged toward the human.

However…

‘Jumping! Shield Bash!’?Han-Yeol cast both skills simultaneously.

The Mutant Orcs’ expectation that Han-Yeol would avoid their attacks before counterattacking was shattered to pieces, leaving them in for a big surprise.