Leveling Up Alone

No matter how close Korea was to the Atarinia Archipelago, traveling by airplane still took hours. But if Han-Yeol had P’s portal abilities, he could get to the Atarinia Archipelago in the blink of an eye.

Han-Yeol clenched his fist hard. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed that he had to think about this ridiculous situation while traveling on the plane, especially after hearing such terrible news.

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

“Khu khu.”

Mavros burrowed his head into Han-Yeol’s arms and rubbed against him, trying to calm him down as much as he could. That was all he could do at the moment.

“Haaa, Mavros… Thanks.”

Han-Yeol was angry at the hyenas, but he was also angry at himself for being so complacent and unprepared for them.

‘Maybe there was peace for too long…’

When he was Harkan, it was always war, war, war and fight, fight, fight, one after another. He had more blood on his hands than the times he didn’t, so much so that he didn’t even remember what peace was. However, now that he had spent more time fighting monsters, the concept of hunting had grown stronger than war, so he couldn't help but admit that he had developed a tendency to avoid war.

‘Ha, I was too complacent. I forgot that war is not something I can avoid by trying to escape it alone.’

He had forgotten such a simple fact ever since he started his life as Han-Yeol. Living as Han-Yeol was his main life compared to Harkan, but his life as Harkan was so impactful that he remembered every part of it clearly.

Ta ta ta.

Dark smoke rose around him.

“H-How can this…”

Once he arrived at the village of the deer and Bastrolings, which had been ambushed by the hyena sorcerers, Han-Yeol was left speechless by the horrific sight as it was worse than what was reported.

This was a village that stood out in his memory.

The Bastrolings were too militaristic, so Han-Yeol valued scholarly tribes like the deer and Batrolings in this village.

This was one of the villages he always stopped by on his occasional visits to the Atarinia Archipelago, and he knew the lord well too, which made it even more devastating.

Not a single corpse was left in the village.

The hyena sorcerers were practitioners who turned corpses into contaminants. Of course they wouldn't have left a single corpse behind, so there was no materialistic evidence that the hyenas had caused this horror. However, the pungent smoke, the distinctive hyena stench that lingered throughout the village, and the unique signs of mana from the contaminants were enough to convince anyone familiar with them that the hyenas were responsible for this horrific massacre.

[Ahhhh, damn it!]

The most enraged of those who came with Han-Yeol were the sorcerers of the White Stag Race. They practiced the most powerful sorcery of the deer and Bastrolings who had gone to Earth late and joined Han-Yeol’s forces. They were heroes who had remained in the Bastro Dimension until Kandir persuaded them to leave, and they were the ones who had risen to power and resisted the hyena sorcerers. They were so strong that even the hyena sorcerers feared them.

The lord of such a tribe was furious. The White Reindeer Tribe and the Caspian Red Deer Race, which had been wiped out, were particularly close with each other. But the White Reindeer Tribe leader wasn’t the only one who was furious.

Krrrr!

[Hyenas, these scum!]

[We put up with it on Earth because of Harkan-nim’s orders!]

[These damn hyenas!]

[Khaaa!]

The raid on the deer Bastroling village was only the trigger to unleash the rage that had been pent up until now. From the beginning, the Dark Faction, and the Light Faction of the regular Bastrolings, including the hyenas, were incompatible. One or the other had to go eventually. The Light Faction had been calmed thanks to Han-Yeol and moving to Earth, and they avoided being nearly wiped out, but the flames of that past were about to be reignited.

“...”

Han-Yeol stood in silence with his eyes tightly closed.

[...]

Harkan’s trio were just as furious as the other Bastro warriors, but they remained silent because Han-Yeol wasn’t saying anything.

Finally, Han-Yeol opened his eyes and sighed. “Haaa… we can’t keep still anymore.”

[Harkan-nim!]

“The hyenas have crossed the line.”

[T-Then?]

“It’s time for war.”

As soon as the word war came out of Han-Yeol’s mouth, the Bastro Warriors started to cheer from all directions.

[Ooooowhoo!]

[War!]

It wasn’t that they didn’t recognize Han-Yeol’s noble will to win, but because they were quick tempered and born to be warriors, they couldn't help but feel a little frustrated by Han-Yeol’s thoroughness during preparations.

However, after realizing that he was the reincarnation of Harkan’s soul, they followed Han-Yeol’s orders, focusing on hunting in the Atarinia Archipelago as much as possible even if they were unhappy about it.

But when the word war finally came out of his mouth, their blood started to boil at the thought of taking revenge on the hyenas, for they were born warriors.

Just then, someone poured cold water on the burning fire.

[Wait a minute.]

“Huh?”

“Taichin?”

It was Taichin, the cat lord of the Feline race, third in command after Han-Yeol and Riru.

[Han-Yeol, declaring war is good and all, but do you have any special plans?]

“No, I don’t.”

Han-Yeol didn’t since his declaration of war was an outburst of anger toward the hyenas in the first place.

[That’s okay. We’ve got a great plan that we’ve been planning for a while. Would you like to hear it?]

“Oh, really?”

[Of course.]

Taichin nodded, as well as those behind her who created the plan.

“Let’s hear it.”

Since Han-Yeol was known as Harkan, he didn’t speak formally to any of the Bastrolings. Taichin had always spoken formally to everyone, so she still spoke that way to Han-Yeol as well.

This was her plan: simply barging through the gate and declaring war on the hyenas was for later. First, they would divide into smaller units and cross through the gate. Second, those who crossed over would organize a resistance unit by rallying the Light Faction Bastrolings who were still resisting the hyenas in the Bastro Dimension. Third, Han-Yeol would make a big scene on Earth to attract the attention of the hyenas and help the Bastro Dimension. Fourth, once the resistance unit in the Bastro Dimension was properly organized, Han-Yeol would wipe out the hyenas on Earth and immediately cross over to the Bastro Dimension to join the Light Faction Bastro Warriors in attacking the hyenas’ military headquarters.

This was the general framework of Taichin’s plan. The details could use a little more polishing, but the overall plan didn’t look too bad. In fact, it looked good.

“Oh, that’s not bad?”

[Haha, thanks for the compliment.]

[Haha.]

The Bastrolings who devised the plan with Taichin also laughed.

“Let’s make some more adjustments and go with it as is.”

[Alright.]

The plan itself seemed simple, but the effects would be significant. After all, simple plans tended to be more effective, also Han-Yeol was going to act as the bait to grab their attention.

‘You said to make it flashy. Great. I’ll show you the flashiest bait in the world.’

For the first time in a long time, Han-Yeol was burning up from the thought of revenge and anger.

‘I’ve been too complacent, way too complacent.’

Han-Yeol reflected on himself over and over again.

The Harkan within him was finally starting to awaken.

*

After some time, the Bastrolings, led by Harkan’s trio, Taichin, and the White Reindeer Tribe, started to work on their plan to liberate Bastro. They teamed up with tribes that worked well together to facilitate their operations, and broke the seals on the numerous gates that led to the Bastro Dimension within the Atarinia Archipelago.

Finally, they were able to begin the war against the hyenas they had been putting off for so long. In the meantime, Han-Yeol returned to his mansion and pondered how to best draw the hyenas’ attention from Earth.

“Hmmm, what would be the best way…”

The best thing to do was quite simple: beat the hyenas on sight. According to the internet, there was a special hyena autonomous region in Switzerland. If he attacked that location, the hyenas would be forced to focus on Han-Yeol.

[But the problem is that we can’t do that.]

‘Ha, I know, Karvis.’

[Hyenas are vicious, but to the Earthlings, they’re just good creatures from another dimension trying to get along with Earth. If you attack them, you’ll be in the wrong and you’ll named as the person who persecuted other innocent races. If things go wrong, you’ll be attacked by both the alliances on Earth and the hyenas at the same time.]

‘I know, that’s the problem.’

Han-Yeol losing wasn’t a worry, but turning Earth against him was a big burden as someone who lived on Earth. His job was to get the attention of the hyenas, not turn the whole world against him.

If the best he could do wasn’t possible, then he just had to find the next best thing. As he pondered in his living room, the TV was still broadcasting special reports on China.

[This is the latest news. Around two am today, a major battle between three factions in Hunan Province reached a state of lull. In the early stages of the battle, the overwhelming power of the international coalition had the advantage, but the international coalition was eventually forced to retreat by the Qin Emperor's army and the Demon King’s army. They resurrected countless times and never ran out of supplies. In the end, there was a battle between the Qin Emperor's army and the Demon King's army, which is said to have been inconclusive. Please excuse the lack of photos or video as the area is too dangerous.]

The news showed blurry satellite images at best. Nowadays, technology was so advanced that each news station had its own corporate satellite. So, in places like China where even helicopters couldn’t reach, they used satellite images which were inevitably of poor quality.

However, Han-Yeol noticed something in one of those poor quality satellite images.

‘Huh? What is that?’

Beep!

He froze the screen immediately.

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