Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 470 - Trap (3)

The RC Squad members were somewhat quite high-ranking among agents, but P was on a whole different level compared to them. He was an extremely important agent and only a few high-ranking government officials such as the president and a few cabinet members knew of his existence.

P’s existence was known by agents he worked together with on missions, but none of them knew about his abilities. In fact, even the RC Squad members were oblivious as to how P was going to extract their target, the Venezuelan Master-Rank Hunter.

Either way, Red One and Red Two’s plan to bully Han-Yeol ended in a complete disaster.

Pshhh!

[We have now entered airspace under the control of the Venezuelan Army. All agents are requested to be alert at all times. Yes, it is dark outside and the enemy cannot spot this stealth chopper, but there are no guarantees on the battlefield.]

[Roger.]

A long time had passed since they crossed into Venezuelan airspace, but they only received the warning message now. The United States government was capable of operating on enemy soil without being detected, but the fact that they warned the agents meant that they were now entering a truly dangerous area.

[We have to be extremely cautious from here on out. I hope everyone will be alert and on their toes.]

Red One placed emphasis on the word ‘everyone,’ but it was obvious that he was referring to Han-Yeol. Of course, Han-Yeol was aware that the word ’everyone’ was directed at him too.

It would have been perfectly normal for him to be infuriated by the childish actions of the RC Squad, who were C-Rank or B-Rank at most. They were nothing more than a ragtag bunch who awakened with useless skills and were just a bunch of failures who could not even properly hunt monsters.

However, Han-Yeol did not bother getting angry at them.

‘I would’ve been mad but, it would feel like a heavyweight champion getting angry at a bunch of chicks chirping. Hehe... Now that I think of them as chicks, whatever stunt they pull looks cute.’

Han-Yeol would have definitely reacted if someone closer to his rank tried to taunt him, as he would feel somewhat challenged by them. However, the RC Squad was simply too weak for him to even get mad at them. They could try to pull out every trick in their book against Han-Yeol and still fail to get anywhere near him.

The RC Squad members prided themselves as Hunters who underwent special government training to combat other Hunters, but Han-Yeol could tell from scanning them with Karvis that they were weaker than the Gurkha raid party members of the same rank.

‘Hahaha! These guys are really cute,’ Han-Yeol laughed inwardly while looking at the RC Squad.

Red One and Red Two were fortunate enough that nothing happened to them after daring to pick a fight with Han-Yeol, whom even the president of the United States had a difficult time dealing with.

Han-Yeol was so important to the United States that they even assigned their most valuable treasure, P, as his guide. The fact that these two agents decided to pick a fight with him was quite ironic, as the president would have fainted if he saw what they did to Han-Yeol just now.

The presidential election was coming up and it was not an exaggeration to say that his chances of reelection heavily depended on his relationship with Han-Yeol. His next opponent in the upcoming election was quite a tough candidate, so the South Korean Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter was his trump card to secure his reelection.

Pshhh!

[We are five minutes out.]

[Roger. All units get ready.]

[Roger that.]

The stealth chopper silently landed in an uninhabited mountain located ten kilometers away from Cumana.

[We will be moving by foot from now on. Based on the information from our informants, the civil war within Venezuela has caused numerous checkpoints to be set up across the country. We have to go around to avoid the checkpoints and reach the bunker.]

P simply shrugged to the briefing.

[Sure, do what you want.]

All he had to do was reach his destination and open a portal to safely exfiltrate the target. The mission would have been much easier if P was stronger than he currently was. He could have simply opened a portal to the target, evacuated them back through the portal, and finished the mission.

Unfortunately, P’s spatial ability had a condition attached to it. Well, there were numerous other minor conditions, but there were three major ones.

The first condition was the caster, P, had to be familiar and could clearly imagine the destination of the portal. Second, he had to obtain enough space equal to or greater than the destination. Lastly, he had to continuously supply the portal with mana to keep it open, but he could supplement it with mana stones if he ran out of mana.

The third condition was the most difficult one for P to fulfill, as it was extremely difficult for him to get his hands on mana stones due to his status as a non-combatant. However, that was not the case for the United States government.

In fact, the government found it to be very efficient that he could keep a portal open in exchange for using mana stones. In theory, they could keep a portal open and use it as a gateway to important locations holding immense strategic value as long as they continuously supplied it with mana stones. However, P could close those portals any time he wanted, which made him crucial to the United States government.

The reason P was unable to use his ability right now was due to the first condition, as he had no idea what the inside of the bunker looked like.

‘What a troublesome ability...’ Han-Yeol thought while clicking his tongue inwardly.

Of course, he had managed to deduce all these things by himself without anyone telling him. It might sound amazing that he was able to find this out by himself, but it was kind of obvious judging from how P was walking to the destination rather than opening a portal directly to it.

Anyone who saw what P was doing would understand and reach the same conclusion as Han-Yeol did, and anyone else who did not reach the same conclusion were probably stupid or had mental issues.

‘I hope I won’t be subjected to these kinds of restrictions if I manage to get my hands on spatial attributes.’

There was no telling what kind of skill would be created, but he sincerely hoped he would not have to face the same problems as P.

‘But I guess I can’t do anything about it if the skill I get has some restrictions.’

It would be a huge inconvenience if the skill he managed to create came with lots of restrictions, but that did not bother him too much. What he was after was not the skill per se, but rather the spatial attribute itself.

They were on the move once again. Some of them found their travel time to be quite boring, but not Han-Yeol. He knew how to keep himself occupied during these kinds of boring moments and he actually enjoyed these kinds of moments where he could think about things or meditate.

The RC Squad stopped whatever psychological stunts they were pulling on Han-Yeol the moment they entered enemy territory on the ground. They were obviously nervous about the situation judging from how they checked their gears over and over again.

Phew...

Some of them even let out a sigh while walking to release the tension they felt.

Finally, one of the RC Squad members broke the silence.

[I still can’t get used to this nerve-wracking tense atmosphere whenever we’re deployed to warzones.]

[Yeah, me too. I feel like this heavy atmosphere and the stench of blood can be quite taxing.]

[Also, it feels like the dead are calling to us from the other side...]

[This place is giving me the creepers, man!]

Then, they stole glances at Han-Yeol. Their gazes showed what they were thinking, which was something along the lines of, ‘You haven’t experienced something like this, have you?’

Han-Yeol blatantly smirked for them to see after he found their childishness absurd and stupid.

Kwachik!

A vein bulged on Red One and Red Two’s foreheads. It was only obvious that they would react the strongest, as they had been the ones taunting Han-Yeol so far.

[What’s so funny?]

“What do you mean?”

[You smirked after hearing what we said. Were you laughing at us?]

‘Oh? Look at these fellas. They were the ones who started it but now they’re playing victim?’ Han-Yeol was slowly starting to get annoyed.

They might be secret agents of the United States, but the difference in class between him and them was like the gap between heaven and earth. They should be kowtowing to him right now, and yet they were the ones taunting him childishly.

‘I was careless...’ Han-Yeol reflected on his actions after seeing that the agents were starting to cross the line. ‘I was being nice since they were not worth bickering with, but they’re starting to think they have the upperhand against me?’

The RC Squad was starting to get on Han-Yeol’s nerves. He was not bothered by them when they indirectly did things, but it was different now that they were blatantly picking a fight with him.

Han-Yeol flashed a sinister smile, and this was a smile he only showed to his enemies. He often smiled in this manner against his enemies during his life as Harkan. At one point in time, his enemies started referring to this as his Death Smile.

Of course, that did not mean he planned to kill the RC Squad members.

“Heh. Warzone? Well, what do you guys know about that?”

[W-What?]

Red One and Red Two flinched in response, but they were not completely intimidated by Han-Yeol. Yes, he might be a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter, but they had the backing of the United States government. The United States was the most powerful country in the world, so even a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter would not dare to lay a finger on them as agents of the United States.

Sadly, this was their last chance to snap out of their delusions and come to their senses...

“War is a place where you kill, kill, and kill until you’re no longer certain if you’re drenched in your enemy’s blood or your ally’s blood. Then, you will start getting confused about everything. Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing here? Who are they? Sooner or later, you can’t tell the difference between friend and foe,” Han-Yeol said.

Then, he opened his eyes as wide as he could and asked, “Do you know what happens after that?”

Gulp!

The RC Squad members nervously gulped and started breaking out in cold sweat after seeing Han-Yeol’s eyes. What he said was not that scary, but the way he said it on top of his expressions made it sound even more suspenseful than it should be.

“Massacre. Everyone, regardless of ally or foe, will start killing each other. I was in such a war, and I was the only survivor of that war. I had to go back and make this report to base: ‘We won the battle, but I am the only survivor.’ All of my allies were dead, and their deaths weighed heavily on my shoulders. Do you think you could understand the helplessness and despair I felt that day?”

Han-Yeol was saying all this to scare the RC Squad members, but this was all based on a true story. This was his experience as Harkan from one of the first few wars he participated in. He still got goosebumps whenever he recalled the harrowing memories from that day—the stench of blood was not something he wanted to experience ever again.

Experiencing that incident first hand made him tell the story in a much more realistic manner, and the emotions he showed were so strong it would whet Stewart’s appetite and make him lick his lips.

H-Heup!

Gasp!

Of course, Han-Yeol did spread his mana to amplify the negative emotions the RC Squad members felt, and this proved to be extremely effective against them.