Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 438: Mystery Ruin (1)

Most people already acknowledged that Sahas, despite his status as an S-Rank Hunter, could be considered a Master-Rank Hunter when only his close combat abilities were taken into account. It went without saying that this was credited to his background as an elite soldier, and this caused the South Korean government to make some changes to its own military.

They were currently deliberating the benefits of creating a training center solely to train soldiers into Hunters, and the role model they used for the debate was none other than Egypts system. The Egyptian military and the Egyptian Hunters worked extremely well together, and they were the best in the world when it came to integrating both parties.

I-I have to fight, but

Meanwhile, Jo Ye-Rim was hiding behind the trees. She wanted to fight alongside everyone else, but Han-Yeol had explicitly instructed her to hide.

She flinched or screamed whenever an arrow flew past her, but instead of running, she felt the urge to burn the archer monster and teach them a lesson. Of course, she would not have even thought of doing that in the past, but awakening as a Hunter gave her the urge to burn everything she identified as her enemy.

Gulp!

I-Ill just try it out

She did not want to hide any longer, as the urge to fight slowly started to gnaw away at her reason. She wanted to help and be acknowledged as someone useful to Han-Yeol, and the only way she could do that was to fight.

Gulp!

She swallowed a hard lump stuck in her throat and carefully emerged from behind the trees.

Woo! Woo! Woo!

However, the archer monsters were adept sharpshooters. They possessed the ability to think and pick their targets almost instinctively, and they identified Jo Ye-Rim as easy pickings. She did possess a massive amount of mana, but the archer monsters thought she was probably a Healer or Buffer.

They aimed their arrows at her and unleashed a volley simultaneously.

Pshwooong! Pshwooong!

Dozens of arrows coated with mana and poison rained down from the sky.

Kyah! Jo Ye-Rim screamed out of horror and covered her head with both arms.

Shwak! Shwak! Shwak! Shwak! Shwak!

However, not a single arrow managed to hit her.

H-Huh?

She expected to turn into a pincushion and experience excruciating pain due to the hail of arrows, but she slowly peeked out after noticing that she did not feel pain anywhere. She was certain some of the arrows had struck her face, but when she looked back, she realized they had passed right through her.

Woo?

The archer monsters were shocked at what they were witnessing.

Woo! Woo! Woo! (Fire again!)

They seemed to have failed to realize what was going on and decided to fire another volley of arrows.

Woo! Woo!

Pshwooong! Pshwooong!

Another volley of arrows rained down from the sky, with Jo Ye-Rim as their sole target.

However, the arrows went through her body once again, and some of them even burned down this time. It went without saying that she was left completely unharmed.

W-Wow Ye-Rim muttered in awe while looking down at her body. Her body was definitely made of fire now, judging by how the arrows went through her, but her sense of touch felt normal for some reason.

She smirked when she finally realized what was happening. Then she covered her hands with flames.

Fwaaah!

Youre all dead! she exclaimed while smirking confidently.

She was still at a loss as to what was happening, but she was certain that she could burn all of the archer monsters while they could not hurt her.

The monsters started panicking. Woo? Woo?

Tak!

Ye-Rim kicked off the ground, and the archer monsters pulled their bowstrings, prepared to unleash another volley.

Shwak! Shwak! Shwak! Shwak!

Once again, the arrows failed to deal any damage to her as they helplessly flew right through her.

Eat this!

Fwaaaah!

Kieeeek!

The archer monsters turned into roasted archer monsters after they came into contact with her flames. Initially, they could withstand her flames, as they possessed resistance to fire, but the continuous flames managed to pierce through their resistance and roast them.

One of the monsters cried out to the other monsters that they were up against a monster.

Woo! Woo! Woo! (Its a monster!)

***

Kieeeek!

Tsssss!

The monsters could not put into words just how agonizing it was to be burned by the flames. It felt as if they were being burned alive at a stakenot that they would know what that was either.

Fwaaaaah!

Kieeeek!

The archer monsters ended up becoming sacrifices for Ye-Rims growth. Her flames devoured her while they were utterly helpless against her. The monsters desperately tried to shoot down their enemy, but it was all to no avail.

Their attacks were nothing but a joke to her.

[Wow Shes quite the scary one.]

Y-Yeah

Han-Yeol grimaced at the stench of roasting flesh. He had already killed all of the monsters around him, so he had the luxury of spectating Ye-Rims performance in battle. After all, he was a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter, so killing these kinds of monsters was nothing to him.

The situation was about to wrap up with Ye-Rim burning the last of the remaining monsters, but

Haaap!

Tak! Puuuk!

Huh?

The crew members were hiding behind the Shurarmors holding shields, but the captain suddenly ran out, threw his mana rifle aside, picked up a sword on the ground, and stabbed the heart of one of the monsters on the ground that was barely alive.

Oh?

Karvis seemed to be impressed by the captain.

[That human seemed desperate to prove himself useful, but I guess you have to acknowledge his burning passion. He seems to think that personally killing a monster increases his chances of awakening, so he is doing whatever he can just to awaken.]

Well, thats what people say, and a few do manage to awaken like that, but the problem is that not many are brave enough to attempt it against a monster, Han-Yeol replied.

Most Porters would not be brave enough to attempt killing a monster. This was not a simple matter of bravery or whatnot, but rather a matter of life and death. A Porter lacked mana protection like Hunters, and it was difficult for them to pierce through a monsters protective mana barrier with a single attackunless the monster was greatly weakened.

Thus, most Porters would die before they could even kill a monster, which was the reason why most were reluctant to even attempt it.

Also, there was no guarantee they would awaken after killing a single monster, and most Hunters would refuse to hire a Porter who stole their kill. On top of that, word would spread about what that Porter did, and most parties would be reluctant to hire someone like that.

Of course, it was a different story for the VIPs who would have their own army of Hunters setting everything up for them so that they could safely land the last hit. This was the reason there were a lot of Hunters among chaebols, as they had the means to increase their odds of awakening.

To sum it up, most Porters would be reluctant to attempt something that required them to risk their lives while also risking losing their job in the future.

That captain is even more impressive than I thought. Han-Yeol praised the captains courage for even thinking of doing something so risky.

Wooooong!

Eh?

Shockingly, he did not have to voice out his praises, as the captain was rewarded in another way for it.

H-Huh?

The captain had been envious of Ye-Rim after seeing the powers she awakened with, and he was starting to feel scared he would be abandoned along with the others. His envy and desire to be useful to Han-Yeol gave him the courage to pick up the monsters sword and pierce it through its heart.

He did this without any expectation of awakening, but he was shocked when he managed to awaken after it.

Another person shocked by the sudden awakening was none other than Han-Yeol, who was left scratching the back of his head.

Geez I know people awaken faster when they are with me, but isnt this too fast? he grumbled inwardly, thinking of the four years he spent just to awaken as a Hunter. He could not help but feel that it was unfair that the others had it easy, all thanks to him.

[That is all in the past, and you are the strongest Hunter on Earth.]

Karvis tried to console him, but he still could not shake off the feeling that he was wronged.

Ugh Still

Whoosh! Tak!

Oh! Congratulations, captain!

T-Thanks, Ye-Rim.

The captain was finally able to look at Ye-Rim properly again. Well, it still felt a bit awkward for him, as she awakened as a Master-Rank Hunter when he was more senior in rank than her on the airplane. After all, any Korean man would feel uncomfortable if one of their subordinates suddenly got promoted to a higher rank than them.

Congratulations, but whats your name?

Thank you, Han-Yeol-nim! My name is Lee Ki-Jang!

Huh? What?

My name is Lee Ki-Jang!

Han-Yeol was in disbelief after hearing the captains full name. [1]

Y-Your name is Ki-Jang?

Yes, that is my name.

Ahem S-Sure

Han-Yeol composed himself and inspected the captains mana, but Karvis beat him to the punch.

[H-How can this be?! This human is a Master-Rank Hunter too!]

W-What?!

Han-Yeol ended up screaming after hearing what Karvis said. He would usually reply to her in his thoughts when there were others around, but he was so surprised that he ended up letting it out.

Eh?

Ahem Its nothing he said with a cough.

Yes, sir! Lee Ki-Jang replied.

He did not pursue the matter, as he was used to not asking questions. He had graduated at the top of his batch at the military academy, and both of his parents were soldiers too, so he was trained at an early age not to question authority.

Anyway, Han-Yeol was extremely confused right now. What the hell? Two Master-Rank Hunters in a row?

[Yes, that is indeed what happened.]

Crazy!

That was indeed the best word to describe the current situation. Jo Ye-Rim and Lee Ki-Jangs awakening basically added two Master-Rank Hunters to South Korea within the same day.

Am I doing all the heavy lifting for others right now?

[Yes, I believe you are, Han-Yeol-nim.]

Arghhhh!

Han-Yeol felt wronged that not only did he make it easier for others to awaken, but they were awakening as the most powerful rank a person could achieve. It was ironic how this did not happen when he put in all that effort for the Gurkhas, but he decided to think that it was probably not him but this island that was causing this.

Still, that was only his suspicion, and he had no definite proof that this island was the reason.

Sigh Seriously, whats with my luck?

[Just let it go. You will feel much better if you let it go.]

Haa

Sighing was the only thing he could do, and seeing him sigh numerous times consecutively made Lee Ki-Jang extremely nervous.

Gulp!

D-Did I awaken with useless abilities?

He was hoping he would at least be an S-Rank Hunter since Ye-Rim awakened as a Master-Rank Hunter, but that did not seem to be the case judging by Han-Yeols reaction.

Hey, Ki-Jang.

Sir!

Dont tell me you forgot?

Pardon me, sir?

Youre supposed to check your own ability when you awaken.

Ah!

Han-Yeol was able to gauge their rank and mana density, but he could not guess what kind of abilities the person awakened with. He did enter Ye-Rims mind to examine her abilities, but that was only possible as he peeked at her memory of reading the message that appeared in front of her eyes.

They did not have the luxury of testing out their skills one by one on this island, so it was imperative that they paid attention to what they were capable of.

Alright, give me your hand.

Yes, sir!

Ki-Jang was decades older than Han-Yeol, but he had no issues listening to each and every single one of the young mans commands.

1. Tokki here to explain! Ki Jang means captain (pilot) in Korean. People are usually called by their surname, like Captain Lee, so his name translated into English literally means Captain Lee or Lee Captain.