Leveling Up Alone

The threat of the hyenas cooperating with the Freemason was definitely a huge problem, but Han-Yeol was unfazed by it. He burned with even more enthusiasm after finally getting a sense of what he should be doing.

He had already registered the mana signal of the fake Purple Stone, so all he had to do now was go to every single one and carry out an elimination process until he found the real one.

[It’s Lee Han-Yeol!]

[Stop him!]

[H-How are we supposed to stop that demon?!]

Bam! Bam!

However, that did not mean the Freemason would just sit around and watch their laboratories get razed to the ground. They had already received reports that Han-Yeol was razing their laboratories, as he had already razed more than a dozen of them.

The Freemason deployed as many troops as they could and even dug a trap with the secret weapons they developed in hopes of catching Han-Yeol off guard and killing him.

[Dark Prison!]

The hideous combined monsters were not the only ones they mobilized.

‘Hmm… They’re definitely living up to their reputation as the most powerful secret organization in the world. They might not have extremely powerful people in their ranks, but they’re much more difficult to deal with compared to any other guild out there.’ Han-Yeol was sincerely impressed by the Freemason.

They did not have any flashy or overpowering skills. Instead, they used skills that debuffed or made it difficult for the opponent to fight, making them very annoying to deal with. It would not be a problem if that was all they had, but the fact that they possessed extremely good teamwork and operated almost mechanically made them a very annoying and stressful opponent for Han-Yeol.

Boom!

[We got him!]

[We killed Lee Han-Yeol!]

Gabriel, the Argentinian Hunter in charge of protecting the R-047 laboratory, rejoiced and grinned, showing his yellow teeth. He had invested five years' worth of the laboratory’s budget in defenses and traps after he heard that Han-Yeol was headed toward them.

[Don’t forget your promise to give us twenty percent of the bounty, boss!]

[Hahaha! You can take more if you want to!]

Gabriel coolly agreed to his subordinate’s request, but he had other thoughts in mind.

‘Get lost. It’s my money! I’m going to silence you later!’ Gabriel had no plans to give even a cent to the Hunter specializing in setting up traps named Teborah.

‘The bounty is three hundred billion won! Twenty percent of that is sixty billion won! Do you think I’m crazy enough to give such an amount to someone else?! Kekeke!’ Gabriel snickered while waiting for the cloud of dust kicked up by the explosion to settle. He found it amusing to watch his lackeys dream of where they would spend the money when he had no intention of giving them a dime.

Swoosh!

[Hmm?]

Something suddenly jumped out from the dust cloud.

‘Well, their skills are certainly annoying, but they’re not something I can’t deal with. Blood Teeth!’

Chwak! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

Argh!

Aaaak!

[W-What in the–?!]

[M-My eyes!]

Han-Yeol spun in the air and activated Blood Teeth. Then, hundreds of teeth made from blood shot in all directions and penetrated through everything around Han-Yeol, regardless of whether they were humans or monsters.

“Aaaaack!”

Blood Teeth was a skill that could penetrate numerous targets, but it was not a lethal skill. The teeth were small, and they carried enough force to cleanly penetrate an object, so it was not that effective when it came to killing Hunters unless their vital organs were hit.

Han-Yeol shrugged. ‘Not that it matters.’

He used a movement skill to appear in front of Gabriel and grabbed his neck.

[L-Let go of me!]

Gabriel flailed his arms wildly in a desperate attempt to break free from the chokehold.

‘H-His arm is not budging an inch?!’ Gabriel was shocked after seeing that Han-Yeol’s arm did not move even a bit.

One of the skills Gabriel possessed granted him monstrous strength, yet it seemed that the difference in their strength was far too big for him to do anything against Han-Yeol.

“Is that all you’ve got? I was expecting more from you, you know?”

[L-Let me go at once!]

“Hmm… I have no idea what you’re saying. Oh well, should I just test my new skill on you?”

Boing!

A sound effect rang from the space beside Han-Yeol followed by the appearance of the spirit, Alfiano.

‘You’re too sharp for your own good.’

[Hehe! You called me, right?]

‘Tsk… Yeah, I did, but you’re annoying me for some reason.’

[What skill do you want to use?]

‘The one that speeds up time.’

[Huh? Isn’t that a movement skill?]

‘Well, that’s how you would normally use it.’

The spirit tilted its head in confusion.

‘It can be a movement skill or a powerful melee skill depending on how you use it. I only used it on myself to move faster by speeding up time, but there’s no point in me doing that when Delfusia is the Spirit of Space, right?’ Han-Yeol explained, but he decided it would be faster to show what he was thinking rather than explain it in words.

With a contract bound between them, they could relay their thoughts to one another, which made it much more convenient for Han-Yeol to explain things.

[Whoa?! You thought of ways to utilize my powers?!]

‘Yeah, but do you think it’s too cruel?’

[No! It sounds fun! It looks super fun!]

‘Huh? Did you just say fun?’

[Yes! Yes! I can’t do things that go against nature even if I’m the Spirit of Time! But I can do it if my contractor wants to! Hehehe! I like it! I want to use my ability like that! I love it!]

‘R-Really…?’

Han-Yeol was slightly flustered and happy at the same time after hearing Alfiano’s intense response.

‘Then I’ll leave it to you?’

[Sure! Leave it to me!]

Alfiano got to work by conjuring a gust of wind with his mana.

Whoosh!

[H-Huh? Argh!]

Gabriel continued to try to free himself from Han-Yeol’s grasp, but he suddenly froze, and he opened his eyes wide after he felt something squeezing his entire body.

A-Aaaargh!

An agonized cry escaped his lips after it felt as if all of the blood in his body was getting sucked out by something. He could not put into words the pain he felt, and the only way he could express it was by screaming at the top of his lungs.

Shwaaaa!

The gust of wind conjured with mana faded.

Gabriel looked young and healthy just a few seconds ago, but his body shriveled up like a mummy after the wind passed him. Along with whatever the wind took, his life was also taken away by it.

He was now nothing more than a dried, shriveled-up mummy that lay dead at Han-Yeol’s feet.

[W-Whoa?!]

[T-That’s horrible…!]

[D-Devil! He’s the devil!]

[B-Boss!]

Gabriel’s subordinates were shocked at the cruel death he suffered.

Surprisingly, they did not have an ounce of camaraderie or loyalty to one another despite their incredible teamwork. They belonged to an evil organization created to sow discord in the world, so there was no reason for them to have such good feelings with one another.

The reason they were shocked was solely because Gabriel was the strongest one among them, and yet he suffered such a horrible death at the hands of Han-Yeol.

[S-Spare m–!]

Chwak!

They were unable to finish their words.

Whoosh!

[Toying with the weak is not something a warrior should be doing, Han-Yeol.]

“Hahaha… Really?”

[Yes.]

Tayarana swung her sword and ended their misery before they could even plead for mercy.

Fwaaaah!

Her sword cut them so fast that there was a slight delay before blood gushed out from their bodies.

[I wonder if this place is not what we are looking for again.]

“Who knows? I guess we will find out once we go inside to the main laboratory.”

[Let’s hurry then.]

“Alright.”

Han-Yeol might have sounded hopeful, but he was ninety-nine percent sure that the Purple Stone would just be another fake one. He could easily tell that the Purple Stone was a fake and he did not need a special reason to come to that conclusion.

‘These goons don’t seem to know about the Purple Stone, but judging by how copies were made and distributed to every single laboratory… That can only mean that all the laboratories are using the stone. I guess it's being used as a source of energy to combine the monsters.’

Han-Yeol had not heard of any modern-day technology that could fuse monsters with other creatures or objects, and he found it illogical that something like that was possible with this world's technology.

‘Dr. Santinora’s ability is related to biology. But I don’t think his abilities alone can fuse monsters with other things. In other words, he had to rely on the powers of the Purple Stone to do whatever he was doing in these laboratories.’

Han-Yeol reached that conclusion after destroying dozens of laboratories.

‘If that’s the case, then Dr. Santinora is protecting the real Purple Stone, and his real body is elsewhere with the stone.’

Han-Yeol had faced the mad scientist so many times that he could roughly tell where his real body was.

“Bwahaha! You’re truly amazing! I didn’t expect you to come all the way–”

Pukeok!

As expected, a monster fused with numerous Hunters and Dr. Santinora’s consciousness guarded the main laboratory. However, Dr. Santinora–or rather, the monster, could not even finish whatever speech he prepared as Han-Yeol decapitated it in the blink of an eye.

Thud!

Dr. Santinora had yet to perfect his control over the monster, so he could not react in time to Han-Yeol’s spatial magic movement.

[Han-Yeol, is that it?]

“Nope. It’s a bust again.”

[...]

They had done this dozens of times, so Tayarana showed no interest the moment Han-Yeol replied that it was once again a fake Purple Stone.

‘Hmm, this might be fake, but I could probably use this somehow, right?’ Han-Yeol wondered.

He racked his brains for a while, trying to think of a way to use the fake Purple Stone.

‘Ah, forget about it. I’ll just bring it to Yoo-Bi and let her come up with something.’

He gave up, as he believed that these kinds of things were best left to the experts.

[Excuse me… Han-Yeol-nim?]

“What’s up, Noras?”

[If it is alright with you, may you kindly explain the skill you used on the human earlier?]

“Hmm? My skill?”

[Yes.]

Noras’ eyes were full of curiosity and admiration.

“Well, it’s nothing amazing. I just sped up time, that’s all.”

[W-What?! C-Can you really control t-time?!]

“Yeah,” Han-Yeol replied nonchalantly.

He initially used his ability to speed himself up and appear in front of his enemy undetected just like in video games, but he realized after using it a few times that he could use his spatial ability to achieve the same result more efficiently.

Also, he thought it was a waste to use the ability to control time only for mobility purposes, so he tried to think of ways to use it as efficiently as possible. Thus, he created a new skill to speed up the time of another person’s body rather than his own, causing them to use up their lifespan in an instant.

“But why are you asking that–”

Thud!

[O, Great One!]

[We greet the Great One!]

“What the hell…?”

The sorcerers suddenly fell to their knees and started worshiping Han-Yeol at the same time as if they had rehearsed it beforehand.

“W-What’s wrong with you guys?!” Han-Yeol exclaimed, looking flustered.

The roe deer race were quite the eccentric bunch in their own ways, but they were not eccentric enough to suddenly bow before Han-Yeol and start worshiping him out of the blue.

[We Deer Bastrolings have long held a prophecy passed down from generation to generation.]

“Prophecy?”

[Yes, a long time ago–no, since ancient times, there has been a prophecy passed down among us Deer Bastrolings. I cannot be certain if it is true or not, but our elders have told us that it was a revelation received by one of our early prophets. The prophecy stated that someone who rules over time will appear and bring peace to the world.]

“H-Huh?” Han-Yeol was in disbelief at what he heard.

‘Time? Isn’t that me?’

The prophecy and the sorcerers’ actions made Han-Yeol’s brain freeze for a second. His mental fortitude greatly increased ever since he obtained Telepathy, but even that was not enough to deal with the shock of what he was hearing.

“...”

‘Ughh… How am I supposed to take this?’

Han-Yeol always maintained his cool and analyzed the situation before making any judgment, but this was one of the rare instances where he had no idea what to do.

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