“Er, yes, that’s right…”
“Ah, I apologize . This way, sir . I’ll lead the way . ”
“Ah… Okay . ”
Thinking that it would be a headache to try and clear up whatever misunderstanding this was, Jinwoo decided to go with the soldier for now . As he followed, he observed his surroundings,
‘Now that I take a closer look…’
Something had clearly happened in the area . The roads were empty, and the only people around were soldiers and policemen . On top of that, the area was scattered with abandoned cars, damaged buildings and the corpses of magic beasts .
Jinwoo roughly understood what had happened .
‘Looks like a Dungeon Break[1] happened nearby . ’
In today’s world, the proper management and monitoring of Gates meant that most of them were discovered on time and taken care of . However, every once in a while, a Gate appears in a hidden place and goes unnoticed until it’s too late . Once that happens, the military is deployed to buy time before the Hunters can arrive .
Of course, the weapons of the military did not work on the magic beasts . Yet they still fought to the best of their abilities; in order to protect the citizens and provide time for their escape, someone had to be the sacrifice . As such, the military bravely stood up and became meat shields . It was a job that had to be done, and the young men of this country nobly did that job .
“Thank you . ”
The soldier that was leading him suddenly thanked Jinwoo .
“Hmm?”
“It’s thanks to the Hunter-nims that we are able to live . ”
“Ah…”
Gratitude .
Jinwoo was the one who wanted to thank the soldier .
The soldier to the Hunter . The Hunter to the soldier .
As men who both fought to protect the people, both sides wanted to thank the other .
“ . . . Roger . Over and out . ”
The soldier’s face lit up after receiving a report through his radio .
“Most of the magic beasts in the area have been taken care of . They said there is just one big one remaining . ”
Jinwoo nodded . He already knew this without the soldier’s report . Through his raised sense stat, he was able to detect the presence of a powerful lifeform nearby, surrounded by the energy of multiple hunters .
His instincts told him the powerful lifeform was the boss .
Soon, the boss’s figure came into their view . In an empty lot ahead, ten-something Hunters were fighting with a giant made out of stone . The giant’s height was a little above a street light; it was a golem type magic beast .
“My god…”
The soldier took a step back . As if it was the first time he had seen a magic beast, the man froze as he saw the golem . Any ordinary human would do the same . The presence of a magic beast in person was quite different than seeing it over the television or a computer screen .
Compared to the soldier, Jinwoo calmly looked over to the battle .
“Healers! Please focus your healing on the Tanker!”
“We’re doing our best!”
“Why is it not going down!”
“Dealers[2], what are you doing?! He doesn’t seem like he’s taking any damage!”
“His defense is too high! We need a few Mage-class Hunters!”
As Hunters who were called over on a short notice, their ranks did not appear to be that high . Both their defense and offense were lacking .
Bang!
The golem slammed his stone fist onto the ground, and resulting shockwave caused the Hunter in charge of tanking to buckle .
“Cough!”
The man spat out blood .
“Oh no!”
“The Tanker’s going go die at this rate!”
“What can we do?! Our magic power’s almost gone!”
“Where are the high rankers?!”
The Hunters were reaching their limits .
As he watched, Jinwoo’s gaze sharpened .
‘If it’s this much… I should be able to do it . ’
He slowly took few steps backwards . All the golem type boss had going for it was its high defense; its overall level seemed to be low . Compared to the pressure he faced against the ‘blue poisoned-fanged whatever[3]’, the golem was a step below .
‘So if I can just get through its defense . . . ’
What the Hunters needed was a powerful attack to get through that stupid piece of rock . At a good distance, Jinwoo cocked his arm back into a throwing position . He tightened his grip on the broken sword, and the muscles of his arm expanded . Thick veins appeared all the way to the back of his hand .
All of his strength was focused on his right arm .
Then, the arm that was drawn back like a bowstring shot forward at the speed of sound .
“Go!”
The D-rank Hunter, Lee Hansoo, despaired; he was at his limit . The shield that he was so proud of was cracking . The healing Hunters’ magic power must’ve hit rock bottom; the healing on him had decreased noticeably . At this rate, the entire party would be wiped out .
He had to make a difficult choice .
He decided to buy time for the other Hunters to run away and hope that the high ranking Hunters would arrive in time to take the golem down .
‘Or else we’ll all die here . ’
Lee Hansoo’s brows glistened with cold sweat . He was ready to die .
He turned and shouted,
“I’ll take it from here, so everyone-”
It was in that moment he saw it . Something flashed from a distance and was flying this way .
Rather, instead of seeing it, it was more like he felt it . His eyes could not possibly see that attack .
BANG!
That something obliterated the golem’s head .
“W-what?”
Lee Hansoo’s eyes widened . The headless golem began to falter . Not noticing, the Hunters pressed their attacks .
“It’s working! The attacks are working!”
“It’s going down!”
“Just a little more!”
They were all too focused on attacking and did not appear to have seen the ‘something’ that had flown over . Only Lee Hansoo, who stood right before the golem, caught a glimpse of it .
groooooan-
The golem finally went down .
Koong!
Its heavy body threw up a large cloud of dust .
“Yeaaaaaah!”
The Hunters shouted and cheered .
“We did it!”
“We took it down!”
Only Lee Hansoo, who saw what happened, shook his head .
‘No . Our attacks weren’t even working . ’
He quickly searched around the fallen golem .
“Just what the hell blew apart its head?”
Scanning the ground, Lee Hansoo came across the pieces of a broken sword . Although it had magic power, it was a rather plain steel sword .
‘That thing was something over 10 Hunters were having difficulty taking down… And someone blew its head open by throwing just this?’
He was at a loss for words . Looking back and forth between the golem’s corpse and the remnants of the sword, Lee Hansoo walked past the cheering Hunters to the direction the sword had flown from .
“Oy!”
There was a soldier standing there .
“Sir? Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, you!”
As the large physique of the Hunter walked towards him, the soldier stiffened and gulped . Such was the pressure Hunters gave off towards ordinary people .
Lee Hansoo held out the sword and asked,
“Did you throw this?”
“Ah, that was-”
The soldier gestured behind him, then stopped .
“Wait, what? There was a Hunter-nim right here . ”
There was no one there . As the soldier panicked and looked around, Lee Hansoo scratched his head and looked at the sword in his hand again .
‘That power . . . that destructiveness… Did a high ranking Hunter come here?’
As the man in question had disappeared, he had no way of knowing .
At that time, Jinwoo was on the way home . He had already turned to leave when he saw the golem falter .
He had taken down the golem . Normally, a dead magic beast’s drops belonged to the person taking it down . If he wanted, he could’ve laid a claim on the golem’s corpse .
‘But the problem is that I’d have to prove that I was the one who took it down . ’
Who would believe that it was an E-rank Hunter’s attack that took the golem down? He had no proof; the broken sword or the soldier standing by did not seem like it would be enough . Even if he was able to prove it, he would have to reveal how he obtained the power to take down a golem . No matter how Jinwoo looked at it, the costs outweigh the benefits .
The unique ability to level-up .
He had no intention of revealing this historical occurrence over a mere golem’s corpse .
‘Regrettable, but what can I do . ’
Well, it wasn’t all for nothing . No, there was an unexpected boon . A message appeared to him, when he took down the golem:
You’ve leveled up!
Taking down the golem gave him one level .
‘So I CAN level-up by taking down magic beasts . ’
It was good to know . This was enough for him, for now .
At the outskirts of the city, there was an old and worn down apartment . Jinwoo’s house was on the 9th floor of this building .
The house was dark when he entered .
‘Looks like Jinah’s being diligent . ’
His little sister was probably at the library . There was dinner on top of the table . It was Jinah’s work, having picked up the slack after their mother’s hospitalization few years ago . There was a small note next to the food, written in cute letters,
“Don’t starve . I’ll check whether or not you ate . ”
Having received the news of his discharge today, she must’ve taken the time to do this, even during her busy schedule . Jinwoo smiled and sat down at the table, but there was something he wanted to check before eating .
“Status screen . ”
Name: Sung Jinwoo
Level: 18
Class: None
Title: Wolf Slayer
HP: 2220
MP: 350
Fatigue: 2
Stats
Strength: 48
Constitution: 27
Agility: 27
Intelligence: 27
Sense: 27
(Available stat points: 0)
Skills
Passive Skills
-(Unknown) (Lv . Max)
-Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)
Active Skills
-Sprint (Lv . 1)
It was a long day . In that long day, he was able to go all the way to level 18 . His strength was nearing 50, and his other stats had also risen greatly . Additionally, he was able to learn the effects of the agility and sense stats .
‘On top of all that, I got a nice dagger with good effects and a good amount of gold… that I can’t spend yet… still . ’
Putting aside the venom that he didn’t want to use…
The attack on the Instant Dungeon was a big success .
-9 . Lizards-
People who left their homes in the dawn of day always made a point to do so quietly . After all, they didn’t want to wake up their family . Jinah was no different . Think of her sleeping brother, she quietly locked the door and turned to leave for school .
“Going to school?”
“Eh?!”She abruptly turned to see her brother jogging toward her . He was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, his head covered by a hoodie . It looked like he was coming back from a run .
Jinah stared at her brother with wide open eyes .
“What the . You were awake, oppa?”
“For a while now . Have a good day . ”
“Ah… okay . ”
She watched her brother go inside the house with her head tilted .
‘Huh . To think that there’d be a day where oppa woke up before I did . ’
It was not that Jinwoo was lazy, but Jinah was a diligent student who often got up at the crack of dawn for school, so it was a rare sight for her to see her brother in the morning like this .
‘Now that I think about it…’
Her brother’s shoulders were a bit wider than she’d remembered .
‘Eh, I must be mistaken . ’
Human bodies were not rubber bands . They don’t stretch like that in just a few days .
Translator’s Notes:
[1]: “Dungeon Break”: A reminder, a Gate undergoes full opening after 7 days, then a Dungeon Break occurs . The magic beasts that were normally confined to the inside of the Gate can now leave the Gate, causing destruction and mayhem outside .
[2]: “Dealers” (??): The word is in english, “Dealer” . Korean gaming terminology to refer to “damage dealers”; in the west, more commonly called the “DPS” (damage per second) .
[3]: Not a mistrans . Jinwoo forgot the name…
Thank you /u/Aetherpon for some grammar corrections/suggestions!
Sponsored Content
I Alone Level-up: Chapter 16.
.
“Er, yes, that’s right…”.
.
“Ah, I apologize . This way, sir . I’ll lead the way . ”.
.
“Ah… Okay . ”.
.
Thinking that it would be a headache to try and clear up whatever misunderstanding this was, Jinwoo decided to go with the soldier for now . As he followed, he observed his surroundings,.
.
‘Now that I take a closer look…’.
.
Something had clearly happened in the area . The roads were empty, and the only people around were soldiers and policemen . On top of that, the area was scattered with abandoned cars, damaged buildings and the corpses of magic beasts . .
.
Jinwoo roughly understood what had happened . .
.
‘Looks like a Dungeon Break[1] happened nearby . ’.
.
In today’s world, the proper management and monitoring of Gates meant that most of them were discovered on time and taken care of . However, every once in a while, a Gate appears in a hidden place and goes unnoticed until it’s too late . Once that happens, the military is deployed to buy time before the Hunters can arrive . .
.
Of course, the weapons of the military did not work on the magic beasts . Yet they still fought to the best of their abilities; in order to protect the citizens and provide time for their escape, someone had to be the sacrifice . As such, the military bravely stood up and became meat shields . It was a job that had to be done, and the young men of this country nobly did that job . .
.
“Thank you . ”.
.
The soldier that was leading him suddenly thanked Jinwoo . .
.
“Hmm?”.
.
“It’s thanks to the Hunter-nims that we are able to live . ”.
.
“Ah…”.
. .
Gratitude . .
.
Jinwoo was the one who wanted to thank the soldier . .
.
The soldier to the Hunter . The Hunter to the soldier . .
.
As men who both fought to protect the people, both sides wanted to thank the other . .
. “ . Roger . Over and out . ”.
.
The soldier’s face lit up after receiving a report through his radio . .
.
“Most of the magic beasts in the area have been taken care of . They said there is just one big one remaining . ”.
.
Jinwoo nodded . He already knew this without the soldier’s report . Through his raised sense stat, he was able to detect the presence of a powerful lifeform nearby, surrounded by the energy of multiple hunters . .
.
His instincts told him the powerful lifeform was the boss . .
.
Soon, the boss’s figure came into their view . In an empty lot ahead, ten-something Hunters were fighting with a giant made out of stone . The giant’s height was a little above a street light; it was a golem type magic beast . .
.
“My god…”.
.
The soldier took a step back . As if it was the first time he had seen a magic beast, the man froze as he saw the golem . Any ordinary human would do the same . The presence of a magic beast in person was quite different than seeing it over the television or a computer screen . .
.
Compared to the soldier, Jinwoo calmly looked over to the battle . .
.
“Healers! Please focus your healing on the Tanker!”.
“We’re doing our best!”.
“Why is it not going down!”.
“Dealers[2], what are you doing?! He doesn’t seem like he’s taking any damage!”.
“His defense is too high! We need a few Mage-class Hunters!”.
.
As Hunters who were called over on a short notice, their ranks did not appear to be that high . Both their defense and offense were lacking . .
.
Bang!.
.
The golem slammed his stone fist onto the ground, and resulting shockwave caused the Hunter in charge of tanking to buckle . .
.
“Cough!”.
.
The man spat out blood . .
.
“Oh no!”.
“The Tanker’s going go die at this rate!”.
“What can we do?! Our magic power’s almost gone!”.
“Where are the high rankers?!”.
.
The Hunters were reaching their limits . .
.
As he watched, Jinwoo’s gaze sharpened . .
.
‘If it’s this much… I should be able to do it . ’.
.
He slowly took few steps backwards . All the golem type boss had going for it was its high defense; its overall level seemed to be low . Compared to the pressure he faced against the ‘blue poisoned-fanged whatever[3]’, the golem was a step below . .
.
‘So if I can just get through its defense . ’.
.
What the Hunters needed was a powerful attack to get through that stupid piece of rock . At a good distance, Jinwoo cocked his arm back into a throwing position . He tightened his grip on the broken sword, and the muscles of his arm expanded . Thick veins appeared all the way to the back of his hand . .
.
All of his strength was focused on his right arm . .
.
Then, the arm that was drawn back like a bowstring shot forward at the speed of sound . .
.
“Go!”.
.
.
.
The D-rank Hunter, Lee Hansoo, despaired; he was at his limit . The shield that he was so proud of was cracking . The healing Hunters’ magic power must’ve hit rock bottom; the healing on him had decreased noticeably . At this rate, the entire party would be wiped out . .
.
He had to make a difficult choice . .
.
He decided to buy time for the other Hunters to run away and hope that the high ranking Hunters would arrive in time to take the golem down . .
.
‘Or else we’ll all die here . ’.
.
Lee Hansoo’s brows glistened with cold sweat . He was ready to die . .
.
He turned and shouted,.
.
“I’ll take it from here, so everyone-”.
.
It was in that moment he saw it . Something flashed from a distance and was flying this way . .
.
Rather, instead of seeing it, it was more like he felt it . His eyes could not possibly see that attack . .
.
BANG!.
.
That something obliterated the golem’s head . .
.
“W-what?”.
.
Lee Hansoo’s eyes widened . The headless golem began to falter . Not noticing, the Hunters pressed their attacks . .
.
“It’s working! The attacks are working!”.
“It’s going down!”.
“Just a little more!”.
.
They were all too focused on attacking and did not appear to have seen the ‘something’ that had flown over . Only Lee Hansoo, who stood right before the golem, caught a glimpse of it . .
.
groooooan-.
.
The golem finally went down . .
.
Koong!.
.
Its heavy body threw up a large cloud of dust . .
.
“Yeaaaaaah!”.
.
The Hunters shouted and cheered . .
.
“We did it!”.
“We took it down!”.
.
Only Lee Hansoo, who saw what happened, shook his head . .
.
‘No . Our attacks weren’t even working . ’.
.
He quickly searched around the fallen golem . .
.
“Just what the hell blew apart its head?”.
.
Scanning the ground, Lee Hansoo came across the pieces of a broken sword . Although it had magic power, it was a rather plain steel sword . .
.
‘That thing was something over 10 Hunters were having difficulty taking down… And someone blew its head open by throwing just this?’.
.
He was at a loss for words . Looking back and forth between the golem’s corpse and the remnants of the sword, Lee Hansoo walked past the cheering Hunters to the direction the sword had flown from . .
.
“Oy!”.
.
There was a soldier standing there . .
.
“Sir? Are you talking to me?”.
.
“Yes, you!”.
.
As the large physique of the Hunter walked towards him, the soldier stiffened and gulped . Such was the pressure Hunters gave off towards ordinary people . .
.
Lee Hansoo held out the sword and asked,.
.
“Did you throw this?”.
.
“Ah, that was-”.
.
The soldier gestured behind him, then stopped . .
.
“Wait, what? There was a Hunter-nim right here . ”.
.
There was no one there . As the soldier panicked and looked around, Lee Hansoo scratched his head and looked at the sword in his hand again . .
.
‘That power . that destructiveness… Did a high ranking Hunter come here?’.
.
As the man in question had disappeared, he had no way of knowing . .
.
.
.
At that time, Jinwoo was on the way home . He had already turned to leave when he saw the golem falter . .
.
He had taken down the golem . Normally, a dead magic beast’s drops belonged to the person taking it down . If he wanted, he could’ve laid a claim on the golem’s corpse . .
.
‘But the problem is that I’d have to prove that I was the one who took it down . ’.
.
Who would believe that it was an E-rank Hunter’s attack that took the golem down? He had no proof; the broken sword or the soldier standing by did not seem like it would be enough . Even if he was able to prove it, he would have to reveal how he obtained the power to take down a golem . No matter how Jinwoo looked at it, the costs outweigh the benefits . .
.
The unique ability to level-up . .
.
He had no intention of revealing this historical occurrence over a mere golem’s corpse . .
.
‘Regrettable, but what can I do . ’.
.
Well, it wasn’t all for nothing . No, there was an unexpected boon . A message appeared to him, when he took down the golem:.
.
You’ve leveled up!.
.
Taking down the golem gave him one level . .
.
‘So I CAN level-up by taking down magic beasts . ’.
.
It was good to know . This was enough for him, for now . .
.
.
.
At the outskirts of the city, there was an old and worn down apartment . Jinwoo’s house was on the 9th floor of this building . .
.
The house was dark when he entered . .
.
‘Looks like Jinah’s being diligent . ’.
.
His little sister was probably at the library . There was dinner on top of the table . It was Jinah’s work, having picked up the slack after their mother’s hospitalization few years ago . There was a small note next to the food, written in cute letters,.
.
“Don’t starve . I’ll check whether or not you ate . ”.
.
Having received the news of his discharge today, she must’ve taken the time to do this, even during her busy schedule . Jinwoo smiled and sat down at the table, but there was something he wanted to check before eating . .
.
“Status screen . ”.
.
Name: Sung Jinwoo.
Level: 18.
Class: None.
Title: Wolf Slayer.
HP: 2220.
MP: 350.
Fatigue: 2.
Stats.
.
Strength: 48.
Constitution: 27.
Agility: 27.
Intelligence: 27.
Sense: 27.
(Available stat points: 0).
Skills.
.
Passive Skills.
-(Unknown) (Lv . Max).
-Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).
.
Active Skills.
-Sprint (Lv . 1).
.
It was a long day . In that long day, he was able to go all the way to level 18 . His strength was nearing 50, and his other stats had also risen greatly . Additionally, he was able to learn the effects of the agility and sense stats . .
.
‘On top of all that, I got a nice dagger with good effects and a good amount of gold… that I can’t spend yet… still . ’.
.
Putting aside the venom that he didn’t want to use….
.
The attack on the Instant Dungeon was a big success . .
-9 . Lizards-.
.
People who left their homes in the dawn of day always made a point to do so quietly . After all, they didn’t want to wake up their family . Jinah was no different . Think of her sleeping brother, she quietly locked the door and turned to leave for school . .
.
“Going to school?”. .
“Eh?!” She abruptly turned to see her brother jogging toward her . He was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, his head covered by a hoodie . It looked like he was coming back from a run . .
.
Jinah stared at her brother with wide open eyes . .
.
“What the . You were awake, oppa?”.
.
“For a while now . Have a good day . ”.
.
“Ah… okay . ”.
.
She watched her brother go inside the house with her head tilted . .
.
‘Huh . To think that there’d be a day where oppa woke up before I did . ’.
.
It was not that Jinwoo was lazy, but Jinah was a diligent student who often got up at the crack of dawn for school, so it was a rare sight for her to see her brother in the morning like this . .
.
‘Now that I think about it…’.
.
Her brother’s shoulders were a bit wider than she’d remembered . .
.
‘Eh, I must be mistaken . ’.
.
Human bodies were not rubber bands . They don’t stretch like that in just a few days . .
. .
.
Translator’s Notes:.
[1]: “Dungeon Break”: A reminder, a Gate undergoes full opening after 7 days, then a Dungeon Break occurs . The magic beasts that were normally confined to the inside of the Gate can now leave the Gate, causing destruction and mayhem outside . .
[2]: “Dealers” (??): The word is in english, “Dealer” . Korean gaming terminology to refer to “damage dealers”; in the west, more commonly called the “DPS” (damage per second) . .
[3]: Not a mistrans . Jinwoo forgot the name….
.
Thank you /u/Aetherpon for some grammar corrections/suggestions!.