Leveling Up Alone

After seeing the Force Shield, Dr. Santinora’s eyes shot wide open, and his carefree smirk was wiped off his face.

‘This is my chance! Mana Explosion!’

Wiiing...! Boom!

Han-Yeol seized the moment Dr. Santinora was flustered. He activated his shoulder canons and fired mana shells empowered by Mana Explosion.

Whoosh!

However, Dr. Santinora nimbly jumped and evaded the mana shells.

[Why are you here, Lee Han-Yeol?]

Han-Yeol ripped off his mask and replied, “I have some business with P, you see.”

He no longer had any reason to keep the mask on, as his identity had been exposed.

Dr. Santinora’s face—no, his avatar—the clone of Adal’s face crumpled after finally confirming it was indeed Han-Yeol. The mad scientist was confident he could defeat any Hunter on Earth, but it would have been a different story if it had been Lee Han-Yeol. He was not confident he could defeat him without making prior preparations like before.

Shwiiiik!

Dr. Santinora evaded the mana shells only to be chased by two chains.

[D-Darn it!]

Adal’s clone had already jumped to evade the mana shells and was airborne. He did not possess any flying abilities, so it was impossible for him to move freely in mid-air.

Clang! Clang!

Adal’s clone used his ability to turn his flesh into blades and use them to block Han-Yeol’s chain.

However, there was no way the flesh of a mere artificial chimera could block the chain used by a demon who ruled over the demon world. The flesh blades failed to stop the Jabberwock Chain, which wrapped itself around the clone’s body.

Chwaaaak!

“Gotcha!” Han-Yeol exclaimed triumphantly.

His Restrain ability had a low success rate against powerful enemies, but it was an overpowered skill that never failed to restrain its target against weaker enemies. This skill contributed the most to his growth and allowed him to become who he was today.

But that did not mean this was the same Restrain skill he used in the early days of his career as a Hunter.

C-Crack! Crack!

The clone’s body slowly started to freeze.

“You’re just a fake, so there’s no point in torturing you for information. Goodbye, piece of trash.”

[Kikiki! P will die from the poison without me! Are you fine with that?]

“...”

Dr. Santinora’s hysterical laughter filled the underground bunker after he saw Han-Yeol’s face stiffen. The mad scientist seemed to have found Han-Yeol’s reaction amusing as he doubled down on his threat.

[Only I, the creator of that poison, know how to neutralize it. Thus, it would be best if you handed P over to me. Who knows? You might get to meet him again in the future. If not, he will die today!]

Dr. Santinora’s threat made perfect sense. It looked like Han-Yeol had some sort of relationship with P, and the mad scientist was certain that Han-Yeol would not simply do nothing and watch his friend die.

On top of that, P was not the only one poisoned, as even James was poisoned and unconscious on the ground.

However, there was one slight miscalculation on Dr. Santinora’s end.

Shiiing!

Han-Yeol drew his sword and said, “You see, I don’t negotiate with trash like you. It’s annoying.”

[What?]

“So shut up and go play with your dolls where you came from!”

[Wait–!]

Chwak!

Dr. Santinora tried to block the attack and keep talking, but the clone was unable to withstand Han-Yeol’s attack and had his head severed.

Thud!

Adal’s clone lay motionlessly on the ground.

“It’s truly unfortunate if P dies, but I can’t hand him over to someone else and let you benefit from him,” Han-Yeol icily said while staring down at the clone’s headless body.

However, this was well within his calculations.

‘He said it was poison, right? I’m sure he said it was poison...’

Han-Yeol had two poison specialists under him, but the problem was that both of them were quite far away from his current location.

‘Ugh, what should I do? I’m definitely in a pinch right now.

He was the only able-bodied one among them.

Ugh...

The RC Squad members trembled on the ground after losing too much blood from their wounds. P was in a much better state compared to them, but he was not doing so well either, as the poison had started to spread throughout his body too.

[Han-Yeol-nim.]

‘Oh, Karvis! Do you have a brilliant idea?’

[It is more of an emergency measure than a cure.]

‘As expected, you are the best!’

[Ahem... If healing skills will not work, then what if you use your mana to slow down the spread of poison within P’s body? He can open a portal to the mansion so Tia and Mavros can take a look at him.]

‘Ah! You really are the best, Karvis!’

[Ahem...]

Karvis feigned ignorance to Han-Yeol’s repeated praises, but she was obviously happy to hear them. She might be an Ego system, but she did possess emotions too.

Han-Yeol put P and James on one side and left the rest of the RC Squad members.

‘Sorry to say, but I guess your luck has run out.’

They were on the verge of death from losing too much blood. It was indeed cruel for him to give up on them, but he could not afford to save others when he had to prioritize P and James, who were essential to his growth.

Han-Yeol placed his hand on P’s chest and infused his mana into him.

Woooong!

His mana spread throughout P’s body and gradually counteracted the poison.

‘Argh...! This is no joke!’ Han-Yeol grimaced.

Trying to neutralize the poison spreading throughout P’s body was not an easy task. It was so difficult that a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter like Han-Yeol started profusely sweating, and this was definitely not something an ordinary Hunter could even attempt.

Gasp!

P opened his eyes after gasping for air.

[H-Han-Yeol?]

“Hey, P... How do you feel?”

[I don’t have any strength in my body... but am I alive?]

Han-Yeol shook his head in response.

[Then?]

“I’ve temporarily neutralized the poison, but it will run wild very soon. If that happens, you will die.”

[N-No! H-Han-Yeol! Sir Han-Yeol! Please help me! I don’t want to die!] P cried desperately and used all of his strength to clutch Han-Yeol’s shirt.

He had a strong desire to survive. One might wonder why someone with such a rare ability as him was not affiliated with any guild. Without a doubt, the top guilds in the world would have clamored to recruit him into their ranks if they knew about his ability to open portals. However, he chose to work for the government instead of a guild, and the reason was that he did not have to enter the hunting grounds crawling with monsters if he worked for the government.

Some might argue that he was still risking his life going to other countries on secret missions, but that was still less risky compared to entering the hunting grounds full of monsters. Thus, he chose to become a secret agent and play it safe in exchange for earning less money with his rare ability. His life’s goal was to live for as long as possible and enjoy the best things money could buy.

This was not how he wanted to die, not like this. P continued to cry out to Han-Yeol. Shockingly, Han-Yeol was laughing inside while listening to P’s desperate cries.

‘Oh? This is better than I expected.’

[A human being’s will to live often gives them inexplicable strength.]

‘Good... Good...’

He was going to save P anyway for his own benefit, but seeing him clinging to life so desperately gave him an idea. His idea was to save him and make him feel indebted to him.

“Alright, there’s one way you can survive. I can save you if we make it to my mansion.”

[M-Mansion?]

P’s eyes lit up after hearing that he could still make it.

“Yeah, do you remember my mansion?”

[O-Of course!]

P was in a situation where he had to remember how the mansion looked even if he did not remember it. Fortunately, Han-Yeol’s mansion was much more grandiose than any other mansion P had seen before in his life, and it left quite an impression on him.

“Open a portal to my mansion.”

[A-Alright!]

Thanks to Han-Yeol's treatment, P was unaffected by the poison. He hurriedly rolled up his sleeves and took a few strange actions involving his tattoo.

[Han-Yeol-nim!]

‘Okay.’

Karvis alerted Han-Yeol the moment P was about to open a portal. Han-Yeol responded by doing something he had never done before and that was using Demon Eyes to observe even the slightest movement of mana around P.

[Just imagine you are copying his portal skill if you cannot obtain his spatial attribute. You are already a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter, so your ability to control mana is far better than his.]

‘Hmm... Will that be possible?’

[It is—in theory.]

‘I see...’

[Well, there is no harm in trying, right?]

‘You’re right.’

Han-Yeol listened to Karvis and did as she advised.

The poison had sapped most of P’s strength, and he had to scrape the last ounce of strength he had to barely open a portal. Meanwhile, Han-Yeol was intently watching everything with his Demon Eyes activated.

‘Oh? So this is how his mana moves when opening a portal,’ Han-Yeol thought, fascinated by the movement of P’s mana.

[Aren’t you glad you listened to me?]

‘Yeah, I am,’ Han-Yeol replied inwardly with a nod.

The mechanism of P’s mana when opening a portal was different from a normal Hunter’s mana.

‘So this was why I couldn’t obtain the spatial attribute!’

Han-Yeol was not sure if the short distance teleport skill, Blink, worked in the same manner, but he was now certain that this was the secret behind opening portals.

He indeed gained something valuable today. Even if he could not obtain the spatial attribute he desperately wanted, the fact that he learned another method of utilizing mana was already quite a significant profit for him.

Ding!

[A new skill has been created – Spatial Attribute]

‘Eh?’ Han-Yeol was stunned when a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations.]

‘Yes!’

But that was not the end of it.

Ding!

[Your understanding of space is still limited, preventing you from obtaining other skills. You will obtain other spatial skills once your understanding of the mechanism increases.]

‘Oh?’

Han-Yeol usually obtained skills related to the attribute when he obtained it, but it seemed his understanding of space was still too low for him to do so this time.

‘Well, I guess it’s only a matter of time before I obtain these skills.’

[Yes, you are right. In theory, you could obtain the time attribute using the same method.]

‘Bingo!’

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦