Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 51: Solo Raid (4)

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The raid monster was coming toward Han-Yeol with both of its fists balled in anger. It was possible to tell how angry it was, since its only attack pattern was punching with absurd strength. Right now, it was tightly clenching its fists.

‘Haa… This raid monster is just plain dumb,’?Han-Yeol thought while laughing in disbelief at the raid monster’s stupidity.

Kwachik! Baaam!

“Grruooo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!”?Donkey Kong roared and angrily stomped its feet.

Donkey Kong still did not unwrap the chain around its leg, so all Han-Yeol had to do was pull the chain as hard as he could at the right time to plant the raid monster face-first into the ground once again. And lucky for him, the raid monster fell for the same trick twice.

Click… Click… Clack…!

Han-Yeol used the opening created while Donkey Kong was on the ground to reload his rifle. He could have dashed right in and engaged the raid monster in melee while it was vulnerable, but he still had no idea how strong Donkey Kong was. That was why he decided to attack from a distance and continue to observe the raid monster.

“Grr…”?Donkey Kong let out a low growl after realizing that the chain was the main culprit behind it falling down twice. It slowly reached toward the chain in an attempt to grab it.

‘Tsk… So it finally noticed,’?Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly before he retrieved his chain.

He was certain that he was going to end up losing in a contest of strength and dragged toward the raid monster if it were to pull the chain toward it, and that was why he immediately retrieved the chain even before the raid monster had the chance to grab it.

The real fight was finally going to start. Han-Yeol cut his left hand and squeezed the blood on top of the back of his right hand.

‘Summon Demon,’?he muttered inwardly and summoned the Shadow Demon.

Shwaaaa…!

“Donkey Kong over there is my enemy. Please lend me your strength to vanquish my foe,” Han-Yeol said.

[Alright…]

The Shadow Demon moved toward Donkey Kong as soon as Han-Yeol made the request.

Peok! Peok! Peok! Peok!

The Shadow Demon used Overwhelming Strength and smacked Donkey Kong’s leg. In retaliation, Donkey Kong smashed its fist into the Shadow Demon multiple times, but its fists only ended up going through the immaterial demon that was immune to all physical damage.

‘So that guy’s attack speed is about that quick?’?Han-Yeol thought while observing the raid monster. After getting a grasp of the raid monster’s attack speed, he lowered his rifle and took out his sword. He infused his mana into the sword and thought, ‘Sword Breath.’

Fwaaaaaaah!

Sword Breath was now Han-Yeol’s primary weapon, and he prepared another skill to use alongside it. He muttered inwardly, ‘Enchant.’?

The fire that Han-Yeol was using wrapped itself around his chain, which was his secondary weapon, and the chain was now engulfed in a yellowish-white flame from tip to end.

Shwiiii… Chwaaak!

The chain cracked just like a whip when Han-Yeol slammed it to the ground, and the ground had a small crater that was burning even without anything acting as a conduit for the flames.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Donkey Kong was still futilely swinging its fists at the Shadow Demon, which used the Shadow Taunt on it.

‘Jumping,’?Han-Yeol activated his skill to jump high.

Tak!

Donkey Kong was fully focused on the Shadow Demon, so Han-Yeol no longer had to maintain his distance. He kicked off the ground and swung his left hand as hard as he could.

Shwiiiiiiiiiiiiik!

“Grrrruooooah!”?Donkey Kong roared in agony when Han-Yeol’s chain smacked it on its back. Only then did the raid monster finally decide to turn around and focus its attention on Han-Yeol, because Shadow Taunt was dispelled the moment that someone else attacked the taunted target.

Donkey Kong had a look on its face that seemed to say ‘I’m going to vent my anger out on you!’ while glaring at Han-Yeol. Then, it rushed toward Han-Yeol as fast as it could.

The Shadow Demon tried to follow the raid monster, but it could not catch up to the speed of the agitated Donkey Kong who was kicking off the ground with its monstrous strength.

“Gwuoooooooh!”?Donkey Kong roared before it swung its scaly fists toward Han-Yeol for the very first time.

It was at that moment that it seemed impossible for Han-Yeol to avoid the punch, since he was still hanging in mid-air. He used his skill once again, muttering inwardly, ‘Jumping.’?

Tak!

Han-Yeol just jumped once again in mid-air by using his Jumping skill. This was possible because his skill had reached C Rank, which allowed him to jump two times while in mid-air.

Whoosh!

Donkey Kong exhaled smoke from its nostrils in agitation once it failed to strike its target yet again.

Han-Yeol spun in mid-air before swinging his left hand once again. ‘Restrain!’

Shwiiiiiiik!

The chain that Han-Yeol swung in mid-air flew toward the raid monster’s arm and bound itself around it just as he intended.

Chwiiiiik!

“Gruooooh!”?Donkey Kong roared in agony once again as the fire-infused chain wrapped itself around its arm and slowly started to burn it.

‘It’s much more powerful than I expected,’?Han-Yeol thought in admiration at his new combo skill, which not only restrained his target’s movement but also applied burn damage to them as well.

Han-Yeol landed on Donkey Kong’s other arm, which was not bound by the chain.

“Gruoh?”?Donkey Kong tilted its head in confusion. Then, its face brightened in delight upon realizing that the annoying slippery little mosquito, which was Han-Yeol in this case, that kept managing to slip through its fingers had come by his own two feet and landed on its arm.

Thinking that it could now finally kill the human with its own two hands, Donkey Kong remained still just in case the slippery little mosquito would run away once again if it made any sudden movements. Then, it slowly moved its left arm, which was still bound by the flaming chain, back and swung it toward Han-Yeol with its full power while clenching its left fist.

Whooosh!

“Hap!”?Han-Yeol readied himself for the incoming attack. He did not attempt to avoid the raid monster’s fist, but decided to face it head-on with his sword that was burning with Sword Breath. He quickly stabbed his sword in between the small openings on Donkey Kong’s fist.

Clang… Puuuuk!

Donkey Kong’s fist was covered in hard scales, but the phalangeal joint which connected the phalanx of his fingers was not covered in scales, so it was an exposed weakness on its hand. That was the very spot that Han-Yeol accurately stabbed with his sword burning with Sword Breath.

“Gruuwaaah!”?Donkey Kong screamed in agony the moment it felt something penetrating into its hand and burning it from the inside.

Tak!

Han-Yeol did not miss that opportunity and jumped once again before retrieving another sword that he kept just in case.

‘Sword Breath!’?he exclaimed inwardly before stabbing his sword into the raid monster’s glabella.

Puk!

“Gruuk…”?Donkey Kong desperately tried to cling to life, but its eyes soon rolled backward when its brain started to burn because of Sword Breath. It stuck out its tongue and knelt on the ground before…

Whoosh… Baaam…!

It fell backward in slow motion.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

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

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

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

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

‘Hooo…’?Han-Yeol let out a sigh of relief.

***

Han-Yeol retrieved his chain and wrapped it around his left hand, since the battle was finally over. Then, he called up his status screen, ‘Status window.’?

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 52

Points: 10

STR: 105

VIT: 101

AGI: 99

MAG: 150

LCK: 10

Invoke: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (A), Walking (B), Mana Control (B), Mana Mastery (C), Power Strike (A), Mana Shield (B), Sixth Sense (C), Restrain (B), Body Strengthening (C), Mana Eyes (B), Jumping (A), Stab (C), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (C), Fire Attribute (C), Mana Explosion (B), Chain Smite (B), Marksmanship (C), Martial Arts (D), Enchant (E), Sword Breath (D), Restore (E), Healing Bullet (E), Enhance Healing (E), Summon Demon (E), Telepathy (D), Power Meditation (E), Psychokinesis (E).

Han-Yeol was now Level 52, and he had ten bonus stat points as well. He contemplated where to invest these ten bonus stat points, and he was currently inclined to increase the latest stat he gained, which was Invoke. That was because he wanted to maximize the demons he summoned, but there was a limit to his control over them because of his low Invoke stat.

‘It said that I?can?better control the demons the higher my Invoke stat?is, right?’?Han-Yeol thought. The other stats were important, but he felt that Invoke was going to play a huge role in the future.

‘Alright, let’s invest all ten bonus stat points into Invoke then,’?Han-Yeol thought as he distributed all ten bonus stat points into increasing Invoke from ten points to now twenty points.

‘Hmm…’?Han-Yeol muttered while observing his status window.

[Humans… are coming…]

‘Ah,’?Han-Yeol muttered when the Shadow Demon was the first to react.

When the raid field disappeared and the noisy sounds of sirens blared throughout the surroundings, Han-Yeol thought, ‘You guys are too late, heh.’

These were the investigators who came to investigate the raid field, but they ended up wasting their efforts coming all the way here since Han-Yeol had already cleared the raid field. Then, Han-Yeol was recorded as an E Rank Hunter who managed to solo raid an E Rank raid field after a brief interrogation by the investigators.

Han-Yeol did not gain a lot of fame since he was not the first to solo raid a raid field, but rumors spread all over about him being an able-bodied E Rank Hunter. This led to him receiving numerous invitations from different raid parties… Of course, he rejected all of their proposals in the end.

‘Do you think that I’m busting my butt trying to become stronger just so that I can hunt these low-rank monsters?’?Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

Safety first might be his life’s motto, but Han-Yeol was a man with ambition. It wasn’t bad to aim to become a Master Rank Hunter as long as he stayed within safe boundaries and did not risk his life. That did not sound all too bad to him.

***

A few days later, Han-Yeol reached Level 60 after consistently hunting around with Yoo-Bi, and the Shadow Demon was now Level 22 as well. That was not all; he invested all forty bonus stat points that he had gained from the eight levels into his Invoke stat.

He was certain that Summon Demon was going to be a powerful skill in the future, since the skill would allow him to summon more powerful demons the higher his Invoke stat was. Thanks to that, his Invoke stat which was only at twenty skyrocketed to sixty.

Han-Yeol thought that the bonus stat points he had gained was an absolute cheat. He managed to somehow increase his other stats to close to 105, thanks to his Body Strengthening skill, but he also managed to increase a stat to a whopping 60 within a month after gaining eight levels and investing all of the bonus stat points he had gained from leveling up.

“Wow… I think I am starting to get amazed,” Yoo-Bi said.

“What is?” Han-Yeol asked.

Han-Yeol continued to go on hunts with Yoo-Bi. It was not only because of the exclusive contract they signed together, but they were also surprisingly well when out on the hunting ground. Also, they were not really dating as of right now, but they had a very good oppa dongsaeng relationship.

“The fact that I am starting to get used to this enormous sum of money,” Yoo-Bi replied while staring at the bank application on her smartphone and occasionally rubbing her eyes in disbelief. It was understandable on her part, since the amount shown on her balance was not really realistic for most ordinary people.

Thanks to the money, Yoo-Bi moved out from the Moon Village and settled in an apartment in Gyeonggi-do just at the outskirts of Seoul. She also steeled her resolve to work harder, because she never wanted to go through the feeling of not having her own home ever again.

“You could’ve bought a house in Seoul if you hunted a few more times, but why did you settle for Gyeonggi?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Seoul is a bit too complicated for me, so I wanted to take it easy and settle down in Gyeonggi instead,” Yoo-Bi replied.

“Well, if you say so,” Han-Yeol said.

They started to intrude into each other’s personal life, meeting up quite often.

However, a problem soon occurred where Han-Yeol felt that he was stuck in a rut these days and had no idea how to get out of it. He even searched on the internet on how to get himself out of a rut, but he only got the following results:

1. Have some luxury in your life.

2. Take a break and go on a vacation.

3. Do not conform to what others do.

4. Find a hobby that makes you happy.

But these were not so helpful for Han-Yeol, who thought, ‘I have enough luxury in life, I get as much break as I want, I work alone so I don’t need to conform to others, but the last is… I don’t really have a hobby now that I think about it…’?

He could give the fourth advice a go, but he instinctively felt that it was not the solution to his problem.

1. The smooth or soft part of the forehead between the eyebrows.