Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 408 – No Brakes In Han-Yeol’s Growth (4)

Chapter 408 – No Brakes In Han-Yeol’s Growth (4)

Dr. Santinora laughed for a good ten minutes before he finally calmed down.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “Ahem... I-I apologize for—pfft! Ahem... What you said before running was so cringe... Pfft! I sincerely apologize for my rudeness. I’ll tell you the secret behind this, so please accept it as my token of—pfft! apology.”

He claimed to be apologizing, but his eyes clearly showed that he was laughing at Han-Yeol.

Crack...!

Han-Yeol gnashed his teeth angrily after being looked down on.

‘This damned bastard...!’

He felt it the moment he crashed into the formless, invisible barrier—it was not something he could destroy.

‘Why do I have to deal with someone so annoying after a long day?!’

Crack!

Han-Yeol continued gnashing his teeth.

“Pfft! Ah... okay, I have calmed down now.”

“...”

Dr. Santinora took five minutes to finally calm down.

“Ahem... Ahem...! Okay, we don’t have much time remaining, and fate seems to have brought us together, so I shall now explain in detail why you weren’t able to attack me. Please consider this a small token of my sincerity.”

Ziiing!

Dr. Santinona suddenly stopped playing around and looked at Han-Yeol with all seriousness. His eyes were now full of hunger as he eyed the latter like a snake eyeing a fat, juicy rat.

Then, he blinked twice, and his eyes reverted to the playful ones he had a while ago.

“Hoho! I did say I’ll explain it in detail, but it’s actually quite simple. This place is separate from where you are right now, so it’s only natural for us not to be able to affect one another.”

“What?” Han-Yeol doubted his ears for a second.

However, Dr. Santinora seemed to have misunderstood his reaction.

“Oh? Was my explanation too difficult for you to understand?”

“No!” Han-Yeol instantly retorted. Then, he grimaced and said, “What did you say just now? Are you saying we’re in two different places right now?”

“Oh, as expected of a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter! I would’ve been very disappointed if you didn’t understand what I said. Hoho! You understood me correctly. We are currently in two different places.

“I recently developed this equipment, and I am the only one in the entire world who can use it! Wait... equipment sounds very tacky... Artifact! Yes, artifact sounds much cooler! I developed this artifact for quite a long time, and I’m the only one who can use it! Haha! The artifact allows me to form a barrier in an area before I go there.

“I hope you weren’t expecting me to come here without any contingency plans just because Se?or Woo is down, right? It’s only normal for me to be wary of someone who managed to defeat Se?or Woo!”

“Damn it!” Han-Yeol gritted his teeth and cursed after realizing he was playing on top of this madman’s palm. The space had already been divided the moment the rift appeared, and the madman emerged from it.

“Hohoho! It’s fascinating, is it not?!”

“Shut up!”

“Oh my, you have a potty mouth, se?or! Well, I guess it’s only normal since nobody will tell you off for your choice of words.”

“Argh!”

Dr. Santinora continued to rile Han-Yeol up.

Han-Yeol was confident he was the best in the world when it came to annoying others, but that was not the case right now. He was as good as checkmated by the madman, so there was nothing he could do to retaliate against the taunts.

Han-Yeol was indeed a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter, but there was no way he could beat someone five steps ahead of him.

“Hoho! Ah, look at the time! My artifact’s duration is about to end! You see, this artifact is quite excellent, but it consumes too much mana for me to use for an extended period of time. I would love to keep talking to you, but I’m afraid our conversation has to end now.”

“Shut up and get out of my sight!”

“Hoho! As you command, Han-Yeol-nim~ Then, I hope we can meet again. Also, I would much rather we speak face to face at that time rather than from different locations."

“Sure, that will make it easier for me to snap your neck.”

“Ah~ I look forward to having your hands on my neck!”

Dr. Santinora taunted Han-Yeol until the very last second before he disappeared into the rift together with his subordinates.

Wooong...!

The rift disappeared, and Han-Yeol was left standing all alone, surrounded by the destruction of his duel with Woo Han-Jong.

A breeze blew past him.

Whoosh...!

“DAMN IT!” Han-Yeol screamed and angrily stomped his right foot.

Krwaaaaang!

The ground split open from the force of his stomp, even though he did not use any skill. The amount of mana he unleashed from the stomp was powerful enough to shake the entirety of Seoul, and the tremors were a testament to the anger raging inside of him right now.

[Han-Yeol-nim...]

Karvis felt firsthand just how upset he was, and this was the first time she had seen him so angry ever since the first day he awakened as a Hunter.

Shwaaa...!

[H-Huh?!]

Then, she suddenly felt something changing in Han-Yeol. His anger suddenly mixed with his mana and started rising out of his body as purple mana.

She started to panic—she knew just what kind of horrible effects such powerful negative emotions could have when it was infused with mana.

[Han-Yeol-nim! Han-Yeol-nim!]

She desperately called out to him, but it seemed he was already at the stage where nothing reached his ears.

[This is bad! Please wake up, Han-Yeol-nim!]

This was the moment where she needed someone to intervene and try to make him snap out of it, but unfortunately, they were the only ones standing here in this desolate place.

[Somebody help! Anybody!]

She desperately pleaded, but her voice was trapped within Han-Yeol as she was only an Ego system. Her last hope was for someone to sense his rampaging mana and come here to stop him, but that was unfortunately impossible as his mana was trapped within the Illusion Barrier. The only ones present were currently busy with their own battles.

[Ah...!]

Karvis resented herself for being an Ego system and not having her own body.

***

Han-Yeol opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by darkness.

“Where am I...?”

The last thing he remembered was anger taking over him after Dr. Santinora stole Woo Han-Jong from right under his nose, and he could no longer recall what happened after that.

“Am I dreaming...? Ouch!”

He tried pinching himself just in case he fainted from fatigue and was currently dreaming, but he could tell from the pain that he was currently not dreaming.

“Karvis?”

[...]

He tried calling out to Karvis, but there was no response from her. Did that mean he was currently in a place where not even Karvis could reach him?

The mystery continued, and he could only keep wondering what was happening.

Plop...! Plop...! Plop...!

‘Is that water?’

His sense of hearing was heightened due to his surroundings being absolutely pitch black, and his ears picked up the sound of water from somewhere.

‘No, it’s something heavier than water. It’s something I’m quite familiar with... Ah! Blood! That’s the sound of blood dripping!’

He heard someone whisper into his ears the moment he guessed the right answer.

“Bingo.”

“Ack!”

Bam! Thud!

He jumped from surprise and landed on his butt.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

His heart thumped wildly and felt like it was about to jump out from his chest.

“Ugh...”

This was the first time he had a proper jump scare in a long while. He had to breathe in and out a few times before his heart finally decided to calm down.

Then, he looked up to see just who in the world had whispered to him just now.

Surprisingly, he saw who had whispered in his ears despite his pitch-black surroundings.

“W-Who are you...?”

The one who whispered in his ears just now was a middle-aged man. He was bald, and he wore a neat purple suit.

However, there was one stark difference between him and humans, and that was the color of his skin.

His skin was so pale to the point that it looked transparent, and his eyes were crimson red. Of course, his skin was not transparent to the point that Han-Yeol could see inside his body or anything of that sort.

One last tiny detail would be his ears, which were oddly long and pointy.

The middle-aged gentleman looked down at him and laughed, “Hahaha...”

‘I have a bad feeling about this...’ Han-Yeol nervously grumbled inwardly.

The smile on the gentleman’s face looked eerie for some reason.

Then, Han-Yeol suddenly recalled something his father told him when he was a teenager. ‘So this is what Father meant when he told me to be careful of those who approach you smiling...’

The middle-aged gentleman approached him and said, “Welcome, I have been waiting for you for a long time.”

“M-Me? You have been waiting for me...?”

“Hahaha! That’s right. You probably have no idea just how long I have been waiting for this moment!” the man exclaimed as he spread his arms out wide.

Han-Yeol could tell he was telling the truth because his face was slightly flushed from excitement.

“Hmm...” Han-Yeol muttered for a second before he asked, “B-But... who are you?”

“Me?”

“Yes...?”

The man burst into laughter. “Ah! I was so excited that I completely forgot to introduce myself! Bwahaha!”

Han-Yeol started profusely sweating while looking up at the slightly strange man. ‘I have no idea what’s going on anymore...’

The reason Han-Yeol was acting so politely and did not lash out at the man was simply because he felt that he couldn't use his powers here.

Whoosh! Seuk!

“...?” Han-Yeol tilted his head in confusion after the middle-aged gentleman suddenly placed his right hand over his chest and his left hand behind him. The middle-aged gentleman looked like a noble from medieval times asking someone for a dance at a ball.

‘W-What’s he doing?’

Han-Yeol had no idea what was going on and desperately hoped that someone would kindly explain it to him.