Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 447 - Mechanical Creature (4)

Once they gained some ground, Han-Yeol instructed them to join the battle.

The entire crew then joined and worked together to take on one wounded Evil Spirit. Even with two Master-Rank Hunters against a single wounded monster, it was so strong that they couldn’t overpower it easily.

“But Han-Yeol-nim defeated a hundred of these monsters so easily...”

“H-He is indeed the strongest in the world.”

The captain and Ye-Rim could feel how strong Han-Yeol was as they fought against the single monster. Until now, they had only been able to see how strong Han-Yeol was, but this time, they felt it with their whole body as they fought against the Evil Ghost.

‘He’s strong. No words can explain how strong he is.’

The captain’s loyalty for Han-Yeol continued to grow.

Of course, their assessment was not entirely accurate. They were Master-Rank Hunters, but they were rookies. And according to Steward, Ye-Rim was a ‘girl who didn’t know how to fight.’

Therefore, they felt that the Evil Ghost was stronger than it actually was.

Just then, there was a commotion amongst the crew members.

Murmur.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Captain, that’s um...”

“What is it?”

The mechanic crew member who had been saved by Han-Yeol hesitated. “I-Ito is...”

Since becoming a Hunter, the captain had developed a distaste for timid individuals. However, in the past, he couldn't express his dissatisfaction openly in order to protect his social reputation.

“If you’re going to say something, say it properly. Otherwise, it’s hard to understand.”

“Y-Yes, sir! I-It seems that Ito is awakening...”

“What?”

Startled by the mechanic’s words, the captain quickly pushed him away and ran over to Ito.

“Agh!”

.

“Agh...”

“Ito, are you okay?”

“Agh, yes, I’ll be... Argh!”

Pat pat!

Ito was not in good shape upon her awakening. Her face was pale, like someone with motion sickness, and the people around her supported her.

‘What’s going on? I thought she had awakened?’

The captain looked confused at Ito’s state.

‘What’s wrong with her?’

He had always been interested in Hunters, but only at a layman’s level. He couldn't have known anything about this from only reading well-known information.

“It’s awakening sickness.”

“Ah, Hunter Han-Yeol-nim!”

Han-Yeol suddenly appeared next to the captain.

Even with all the commotion, there was no way Han-Yeol wouldn't notice with his sharp senses.

“Awakening sickness?”

“Yeah, it happens sometimes. Awakening is a sudden flow of mana into the body, and some people who are naturally sensitive to mana can feel sick. It doesn't happen very often, but it’s also not unheard of. You’ll be fine after a little rest. Tsk, but then you won’t be able to use telepathy.”

Ito frowned and was about to apologize, but she had to clamp her hand over her mouth and turn away from the rising wave of nausea. “I-I’m sorry... Agh!”

Pat pat.

“It’s alright.Take deep breaths.”

Those around her patted her on the back.

“Ahhh, thank you, Kim.”

“Haha, no worries.”

‘I’m going to help you now, so please save me now that you’ve awakened as a Hunter.’

She wasn’t helping Ito out of the goodness of her heart.

In fact, the two weren’t even that close.

However, her will to survive was stronger than anyone else's, and when she saw Ito awaken, she stuck right by her side, helping her like it was her job.

‘I don’t want to die here!’

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

“Yes, Hunter Han-Yeol-nim.”

This was an unavoidable break they had to take.

*

Ito Chinami, a stewardess originally from Japan, but now a Korean, had awakened as a Master-Rank Hunter.

The crew had started with twenty people but eight had died, and so now there were only twelve of them left.

The good news was that the crew members who awakened as Hunters always awakened as Master-Rank Hunters for some reason. Of the twelve, the four Hunters who awakened were all Master-Ranks of a strange combination. Ye-Rim, the Captain, Ito, Seung-Hoon, and the mechanic crew member that was saved by Han-Yeol had all awakened.

Ito was a paladin with healing, offense, and defense skills, while Seung-Hoon was a fighter with movement, crowd control, and offense skills.

‘What the hell, this place is weird!’

Han-Yeol found this unknown space strange, as people only awakened as Master-Ranks here.

‘But if this place is commercialized, it’ll be a big hit. This place will allow you to awaken as a Master-Rank no matter what!’

People with money would probably be willing to spend their entire wealth for a chance to awaken here. Even if they spent trillions of dollars, remaking the invested trillions wouldn't be that difficult if they could only awaken as a Master-Rank.

‘Well, that’s like a midsummer night's dream.’

How could he commercialize space he didn’t even know how to get into?

Han-Yeol stopped thinking about useless things and rubbed his hand over the Arachnid cocoon that was now quite large.

Thump thump!

It beat even harder than before.

‘Tia... You’re okay, right?’

The cocoon beat strongly, as if to say yes.

‘We’ve got a month to go. I’ll see you then.’

Pat pat.

Han-Yeol rubbed the cocoon with a bright expression.

“Khu!”

“Khu!”

Han-Yeol sometimes felt depressed like this ever since Tia had entered the cocoon.

He still remembered the moment when Tia was in pain. He felt a strong sense of shame as an incompetent owner who couldn’t react calmly despite his abilities, causing the monster pet he had summoned to suffer.

Every time this happened, White Dragon and Mavros tried to cheer Han-Yeol up. The relationship between the two remained unchanged, with Mavros showing affection to White Dragon, while White Dragon continued to ignore Mavros as always.

However, whenever Han-Yeol was down, White Dragon would join forces with Mavros just for that moment to cheer him up.

“Haha, okay, okay. You guys are the best.”

As adorable as they were, Han-Yeol couldn't remain depressed after seeing how cute the two were. He had to shake off his sadness and play with Mavros and White Dragon.

“White Dragon.”

“Khu?”

At Han-Yeol’s call, White Dragon looked up at him with her unique, round red eyes.

‘Aww, you’re so cute!’

Maybe it was because she was a female, but in terms of sheer cuteness, she was slightly better than Mavros.

“You seem to have grown a little?”

“Khu?”

White Dragon made an expression as if to say ‘I don’t know~’ at Han-Yeol’s comment.

However, Han-Yeol knew something was up since he had raised Mavros.

‘White Dragon suddenly started growing?’

He had a feeling.

‘Is White Dragon slowly maturing now?’

White Dragon had been spending time with Han-Yeol and eating various types of food, but there hadn't been any noticeable changes. However, now that they were hunting in the underground ruins, she started to show a significant change because of one particular element.

‘Divine power.’

The corpse-like monsters that came out of this place didn’t carry the white, pure, divine power that Han-Yeol knew of.

In any case, White Dragon had absorbed quite a bit of their divine power.

As the Evil Ghosts primarily relied on healing skills and their offensive skills consisted of three consecutive shots of mana bullets powered solely by mana rather than divine power, White Dragon rarely had an opportunity to intervene.

However, since they had encountered a number of undead clergymen so far, White Dragon was able to absorb a good amount of divine power.

As a result, White Dragon was much stronger than when she first hatched from her egg.

‘I see.’

Han-Yeol recalled the Mavros’ first awakening.

After eating the flesh and mana stone of a similar dragon-like monster, Mavros awakened in a way that made people’s hearts tremble.

‘I wonder if White Dragon is going to awaken like that too?’

Also, for reference, the white dragon’s name was just White Dragon. Originally, he was going to call her White Dragon temporarily and give her a cooler name in the future. But the more he called her that, the more he realized that the name White Dragon suited her very well and stuck with it.

Moreover, with Han-Yeol’s ability to name things, there was no way he could come up with a better name than White Dragon.

“Haha, White Dragon, eat lots and grow big.”

Pat pat.

Han-Yeol looked at White Dragon with the heart of a farmer looking at a green field in summer, and stroked her head.

“Khu!”

Although White Dragon didn’t know what was going on, she was just happy that Han-Yeol liked her.

The two weren’t in a master-servant relationship. They weren’t like Mavros, who entered a master-servant relationship through a system.

White Dragon had simply imprinted herself on the first stranger she encountered after hatching from her egg. She recognized Han-Yeol as her parent, which was why she followed him.

But wasn’t Mavros the first being she saw?

White Dragon was a dragon of light, and Mavros was a dragon of dark. No matter how strong the effect of imprinting was, it couldn’t happen between opposite elements of the same species.

But then why was Mavros chasing after White Dragon?

White Dragon was a naturally born dragon, while Mavros was a mini black dragon created by Han-Yeol’s skill. This was the easiest way to explain it.

*

The Evil Ghosts continued to attack even after this.

All Evil Ghosts weren’t the same. As if to prove that the first Evil Ghosts they encountered were weak, the deeper they went into the ruins, the more heavily armed they became.

The more difficult ones were the ones with ten legs and tentacles shooting out of the center of their bodies.

Swoosh!

‘Agh!’

If it were just one or two of them shooting tentacles, Han-Yeol would’ve easily dodged them.

However, the problem was that every time they appeared, a hundred of them would strategically target Han-Yeol, from which fifty of them would shoot tentacles, twenty-five would shoot three mana bullets in a row, and the remaining twenty-five would engage in close combat.

‘Damn it. Take this!’

Kwanggg!

Han-Yeol fired a combination of numerous shots and mana explosion skills from his Shoulder Cannons.

This wasn’t enough to overpower those stronger than a Master-Rank, but it could buy some time, and that time was incredibly important.

Thud!

[He’s moving!]

[Everyone, focus!]

Gulp!

The Evil Ghosts nervously gulped.