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” (딜러): 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” (딜러): 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!.