Leveling Up Alone

Zing. Boom!

[Agh!]

Sway!

Luckily, Han-Yeol had a third weapon on his back besides his two arms.

Aiming his shoulder cannon at Emperor Qin’s head, Han-Yeol didn’t hesitate to fire a blast of mana directly at his head. The instant blast blew his head off, and Emperor Qin flailed in the air. Thanks to this, Han-Yeol was able to escape the emperor’s grasp.

‘I got away because I attacked him by surprise, but I can’t afford to get caught again.’

Rubbing his dehydrated arm, Han-Yeol couldn’t help but grit his teeth and stay on high alert.

‘Until I find another way, I’ll have to deal with him from a long to medium range.’

Tap!

Han-Yeol jumped high into the air and away from Emperor Qin.

Shaa!

Emperor Qin’s head instantly regenerated.

[Is that all you’ve got? You’re distancing yourself to not get your arm caught again, huh? Is that all you could think of to attack me?]

Grr!

‘Damn, that one hurt my ego. He’s an unusual boss monster, so it shouldn't hurt my pride to face him alone, but… The way he talks makes me feel like I’m losing a one-on-one fight against a Hunter, and it feels like crap.’

Emperor Qin was old-fashioned, but he was still human at his core. Thus, it was natural for Han-Yeol to feel this way.

‘Haaa, I need to focus.’

[I’ll make you regret distancing yourself from me.]

‘Huh, what does he mean?’

[Come out, Flying Dragon.]

Neighhh! Clop, clop, clop!

Emperor Qin spoke into the air, and as if an invisible being had regained its original form, a black, magnificent horse appeared from thin air. It galloped and came to a hard stop in front of him.

[Whoa, whoa, it’s been a long time, Flying Dragon. How’ve you been?]

Neigh!

[Hahaha, great. Let’s make up for what we lacked in our last life.]

Neighhh!

Emperor Qin then mounted the flying horse, the Flying Dragon. He stretched out his hand, and a crossbow appeared out of thin air.

‘T-That’s?’

[Foolish thing, did you really think you were the only one with the skill to fight from a distance?]

‘Tsk, damn it.’

Han-Yeol didn’t think that dealing with Emperor Qin in his current state would be easy at all.

‘I’ll have to block him for now. Multiple Fire!’

Kwangg!

Han-Yeol launched twenty mana bullets from his shoulder cannon, aimed directly toward Emperor Qin.

[How ridiculous!]

Boom! Whoosh!

‘Tsk, he destroyed it so easily.’

What Emperor Qin did was very simple. He slammed his palm into the air and created a mana wave. The wave swept through the mana bullets, causing it to explode before it even reached its target, Emperor Qin.

An explosive skill like a mana blast was meaningless unless it hit its target.

[Pierce the target. Focused Fire.]

Zing! Sssssh!

‘Oh no!’

A huge magic circle appeared around Han-Yeol, and Emperor Qin immediately fired more than a hundred mana arrows at him.

‘This is too much!’

Han-Yeol had only fired twenty mana bullets, but Emperor Qin had fired over a hundred, so it was no wonder that he was in disbelief.

[Die quietly.]

Clench!

Emperor Qin clenched his fists tightly and on cue, a hundred mana arrows simultaneously flew toward Han-Yeol with no room to escape.

He seemed to be able to control the mana arrows freely like Han-Yeol could.

“Damn it!”

‘Even though those things may look weak, they’re still stronger than the mana explosion!’

[Han-Yeol-nim!]

Boom!

Along with Karvis’ urgent call, the mana arrows simultaneously collided with Han-Yeol and caused an explosion.

If those were ordinary arrows, they would’ve only pierced through their target, but mana arrows could do more than create simple explosions.

[Huh? Don’t tell me he survived that too?]

Once again, Emperor Qin was confused.

[Just what kind of tricks are you playing?]

Pang!

Before the smoke from the explosion of the mana arrows disappeared, a gust of wind and a wave of motion rose from the center of the smoke, blowing it away.

[Oh wow?]

Han-Yeol appeared from the smoke, his body covered in red markings. He was completely unharmed with ten tentacles on his back from the Blood Leg skill, along with his Force Shield.

[I can't believe you blocked that too. This will be quite enjoyable.]

Regardless of what Emperor Qin said, Han-Yeol gritted his teeth.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! I can’t believe I’m being pushed to the brink of death and I can’t do anything about it!’

Since he was using Blood Strengthening skill, his anger started to take over his emotions.

Only Stewart and Karvis understood that Han-Yeol’s ability to categorize his emotions turned his anger into another source of power.

“Emperor Qin, that bastard!”

Pang! Shak!

[That’s it. Come at me!]

Boom!

Emperor Qin blocked Han-Yeol’s attack, and their clashes sounded different compared to before.

[Human, take advantage of me and let’s play!]

‘I will. Delfusia!’

[Nice!]

Whoosh!

[Huh?]

To Delfusia, these battles were nothing more than fun and games.

Han-Yeol disappeared using the power of the Spirit of Space.

[!!]

Emperor Qin stood there, looking puzzled for a moment, but he soon felt someone behind his back.

[You!]

Boom!

As soon as he felt someone behind him, he quickly turned around and blocked the attack. However, no matter how fast he moved, Han-Yeol was not much slower than Emperor Qin.

Emperor Qin was at a disadvantage since he was attacked first and had to turn around to block it.

[Argh!]

Unable to fully recover from the impact, Emperor Qin groaned and stumbled backward.

Shhhh.

Some dirt fell off a part of his body, but that was all.

It didn't feel rewarding at all to have half-succeeded in a fairly strong attack.

‘Damn, right, he’s resistant to attacks. There’s only one way to defeat him, and that’s to find his weakness.’

[Hahaha, not bad. I thought you were just an amateur, but you were hiding such an amazing skill all along.]

“It’s your turn now, Emperor.”

[You should know that your arrogance will be the cause of your death.]

Swoosh!

After warning Han-Yeol, Emperor Qin raised his sword high behind him.

‘Lightning again?’

Emperor Qin’s lightning was so incredibly powerful that Han-Yeol felt his muscles contract from the intense nervousness.

‘Hmph!’

Shaa!

[Huh, again?]

Han-Yeol moved before the lightning struck, but he didn’t just move quickly. He used a short-range movement skill from Delfusia to prevent Emperor Qin from sensing his presence.

[Oh wow, a movement skill. Interesting.]

After seeing the skill only twice, Emperor Qin had more or less grasped the nature of the skill.

[Amateur, let me teach you how to deal with the movement skill.]

Whoosh! Clank!

“Argh!”

Surprisingly, at the end of Emperor Qin’s light swing, Han-Yeol was there, struggling to block his sword.

“H-How…!”

[It’s simple. Once you become an emperor and gain great power, predicting the near future is a piece of cake. How about it? Are you still not willing to become my subordinate?]

“Damn it. I’m definitely going to kill you, Emperor Qin!”

[Hahaha, to say that even in this situation, I’m starting to like you more and more. You’re definitely too good to just kill.]

Emperor Qin couldn’t decide whether to kill Han-Yeol or keep him alive.

‘That piece of dirt. The more I fight him, the more amazing he is.’

[I agree.]

‘What a shame. I should’ve dealt with him when he was weak.’

[There’s no use in regretting.]

‘I know. I’m just saying that it would’ve been easier.’

Karvis' comment irritated Han-Yeol a little bit, but Karvis hadn't said it to provoke him.

[It’s true that he’s strong, but he’s not so strong that he can’t be dealt with at all. If you stay a little calmer, figure out his weakness, and then attack, even that monster made out of dirt will eventually fall at your hands, Han-Yeol-nim.]

‘Hmm, it feels like you're saying I can get into Seoul National University if I study hard enough.’

[I’m not wrong, am I? I’m not saying that it’s impossible to beat him, unlike some humans who can’t get into Seoul National University even if they try their best. For example, an F-Ranked Hunter would be reduced to ashes with a single breath from Emperor Qin, even if they knew about his weakness.]

‘Tsk, I guess.’

[So even if you're angry, you have to stay calm and deal with him.]

“Haa~”

Han-Yeol took a deep breath.

Karvis was right. He was quite sensitive right now because of the effects of Blood Strengthening, but it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t control it. He would have to remain focused and calm, especially when facing an opponent stronger than him in terms of sheer strength like Emperor Qin.

‘Peace of mind.’

Even Han-Yeol could feel that he was more worked up than usual.

He closed his eyes to concentrate.

[...]

Karvis stopped talking when she saw that Han-Yeol had entered a state of concentration. The man Karvis served was someone who made sure to do things right. Once he started focusing on solving the problem, Karvis didn’t have to give Han-Yeol any more advice.

[Oh, this is finally going to be fightworthy. So far, it felt like I was fighting a pony that was all worked up. This is a fight for world domination, and I’ll be damned if this ends without fun.]

“Whatever.”

Han-Yeol opened his eyes and shot his usual disgusted look at his opponent.

He was finally back to his normal self.

[Haha! Let’s fight for real now.]

Swoosh!

‘Huh?’

Emperor Qin twirled the crossbow in his hand. It disappeared instantly, and a polearm appeared instead.

“W-What the hell?”

[Ah, did you not know? My real weapon is a polearm, not a sword.]

“W-What?”

[It seems you really didn’t know. Tsk, tsk.]

Emperor Qin clicked his tongue and shook his head.

‘D-Damn it!’

Han-Yeol frowned in response to being ignored by a clay puppet, leaving deeper wrinkles on his face.

Seeing Han-Yeol’s expression, Emperor Qin burst out laughing.

[Hahahaha!]

Whoosh!

[Now, come at me. I’ll let you go first.]

“I’ll make sure you regret what you just said.”

Pang!

Once he regained his senses, Han-Yeol used his Vibration Booster to charge toward Emperor Qin.

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