Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 552: Traces of the Jewel Sword (1)

Shiiing! Chwak!

Han-Yeol took out his Jabberwock Sword and Jabberwock Chain.

“Alright, shall we go have some fun?”

Han-Yeol always looked forward to battles, so he enjoyed the sense of pre-battle anxiety. He was worse than Tayarana when it came to getting excited when fighting an enemy stronger than him.

The only difference was that Han-Yeol was better at hiding his excitement compared to Tayarana.

[Bwahaha! Good! I would’ve been disappointed if that was not your response! It would be a shame if you already got scared when I’m just getting started.]

“What’s that thing yapping about?” Han-Yeol said indifferently while picking his ears.

He was trying to taunt his opponent, but his opponent this time was on a whole different level compared to those he had faced until now.

[Hahaha! You’re exactly as what the intel said.]

[You have a habit of taunting your opponent before a battle. Yes, it’s quite effective, but it won’t work twice against a high-ranking sorcerer like me from a higher dimension. Also, you’ve already overused that. It’s funny how you never seem to improve! I might’ve been affected earlier since it was my first time, but I’m not going to fall for it twice! Bwahaha!]

Haverus smirked once he was sure that he was immune to Han-Yeol’s taunts.

“Oh? Did you just say I never improve?” Han-Yeol asked in disbelief.

Then, he thought, ‘I have this game system ability that grants me experience points, level-ups, and skills without any limits, but he’s saying I’m not improving? What kind of nonsense is that?’

On the other hand, Haverus thought his psychological attack worked on Han-Yeol after seeing him freeze up. Ironically, he was oblivious to the fact that Han-Yeol was simply in sheer disbelief at the nonsense he spouted.

[Hahaha! I knew it! I can see right through insignificant creatures like you from a dimension that just transitioned into a second dimension!]

‘Damn it, I guess I lost this round,’ Han-Yeol thought. He could not go around babbling about his game-like ability, so he had no response to Haverus’s nonsense. He did not feel like going as far as exposing his own ability just to win this meaningless war of words against him.

“Tsk, I guess I failed this time. Enough chatter. Let’s fight now, old fart.”

One of Han-Yeol’s good qualities was he could easily let go of his failures. He did not bother trying to win the psychological battle of taunts against Haverus, as he stood to gain nothing from it anyway.

Of course, that did not mean he forgot to call his opponent names, as this was something very instinctual to him.

Chwaaak!

He let his chain loose.

[Hahaha! Go, my beloved creatures! Crush my enemies!]

The contaminated creatures ran toward Han-Yeol the moment Haverus gave the command.

“Krwaaaaah!”

“Be careful, everyone! Those creatures won’t be easy!”

[Okay, Han-Yeol!]

“Hoho! Don’t worry about me, master.”

[I will set up a telepathic network.]

“I’ll leave that to you, Mariam!”

Ziiiing!

Mariam linked everyone’s mind with her ability, making it extremely convenient for everyone to fight together since they did not have to speak to relay their thoughts. All they had to do was think and it would instantly be relayed to the others.

Tak!

The two most powerful individuals in the party, excluding Han-Yeol, Tia and Tayarana, ran forward.

“Let’s go, Mavros!”

“Kieeeek!”

Chwak!

Mavros spread his wings and flapped them powerfully, creating a strong gust of wind. He did not do that just to stir up the air for show.

‘Wind Blade!’

Chwaaaak!

The gust of wind contained his mana, creating countless sharp and formless blades.

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

‘W-What was that?’

Mavros might be a mini-dragon, but he was still a dragon. He fought bravely alongside Han-Yeol in countless battles, and he had grown more powerful. Thus, his magic attack was bound to be powerful and destructive. However, the Kreviks easily evaded the formless wind blades by either sidestepping them or using the bones in their hands to deflect them.

Bam!

The Giant Krevik faced the wind blades directly with its body.

“Kiek?!” Mavros was shocked at what he witnessed, causing him to let out a strange cry.

‘Tsk. As expected, it’s not going to be easy.’

Han-Yeol clicked his tongue and grumbled inwardly. He knew the high-ranking sorcerers were not going to be easy enemies, and he could not help but feel nervous. However, he had no choice but to fight and win, as that was what he had to do and was best at.

Tak!

“Alright, let’s go, Mavros! Let’s fly to our heart’s content!”

“Kieeeek!”

Mavros immediately came back to his senses after hearing Han-Yeol’s command. He might be prone to act cute toward White Dragon, but Han-Yeol was undoubtedly his master and his best partner.

Boom!

Mavros flew at a supersonic speed.

[Hahaha! Where do you think you’re going? Did you really think we didn’t prepare for this?]

[Curse of Slow!]

‘What?! Curse of Slow?!’

Wooong!

Han-Yeol did not react in time against the unexpected curse.

“Kiek?!” Mavros shrieked mid-supersonic flight after his body became as heavy as lead, causing him to come to a screeching halt.

‘Damn it, why is it the Curse of Slow of all things…’ Han-Yeol grimaced and grumbled inwardly.

The Curse of Slow was one of the hyenas’ special curses, but they did not often use it after receiving the Dragon of Destruction’s powers. Han-Yeol did not expect them to use such an old skill on him out of the blue.

“Hahaha! Die, human! This is the price you’re going to pay for your arrogance!]

“Kyaaaak!”

The contaminated creatures flew toward Mavros and Han-Yeol the moment Haverus pointed at them.

“Krrwaaaah!”

Whoosh!

Due to its size, the giant Krevik was slow, but it threw the gigantic bone in its hand instead of walking all the way toward Mavros and Han-Yeol.

‘T-That primitive bone was a throwing weapon?!’ Han-Yeol screamed inwardly in shock.

Numerous powerful attacks were coming toward him.

“Damn it!” Han-Yeol cursed.

The Curse of Slow’s duration was not that long. It was a quick-acting spell that instantly slowed its target, but the target would not be slowed for a long period of time. However, a few seconds could decide the outcome of a battle between powerful individuals such as Han-Yeol and the high-ranking sorcerers.

[Ra’s Protection!]

Fortunately, Tayarana quickly came to his rescue while he was immobilized. A golden barrier formed around him and blocked all of the attacks.

Boom!

[Hmm?]

Shwiiik!

The golden barrier disappeared right after blocking all of the attacks.

Tayarana was an offensive type of fighter, and Ra’s Protection was her only defensive skill. It was extremely effective in blocking the enemy’s attack, but it came with the downside of consuming too much of her mana and only lasting for a few seconds.

[Tsk, we missed a golden opportunity to end this battle without dragging it out.]

Haverus clicked his tongue and grumbled. Yet, he did not look disgruntled at all. The arrogant high-ranking sorcerer did not recognize Han-Yeol as a threat.

‘He’s just a greenhorn. He might have gotten lucky and destroyed the magic circle, but he’s no match against me.’

Haverus moved his staff and drew numerous magic circles. A hyena sorcerer used numerous spells aside from the ones related to their contaminated creatures, and these spells were the ones they used while getting their butts handed to them by Harkan.

Sorcerers stopped using these spells after the discovery of the contamination spells. The contamination spells the Dragon of Destruction bestowed upon them were so good that the younger sorcerers started saying it was the best and only spell they needed. In fact, any hyenas using the old spells were called heretics if they refused to use the contamination spells.

‘How foolish of them. The contamination spells might be very good, but combining them with our old spells can make them even more powerful. Sigh, why are the young ones so shortsighted?’ Haverus grumbled inwardly.

The high-ranking or elder sorcerers like Haverus did not conform to the new trends and continued to use a combination of the contamination spells and their old spells. The combination made the contamination spells exponentially stronger.

[Haha! Paclus’s Tentacles!]

Chwaaaak!

Haverus still had a ton of mana, thanks to the corruption around him. He summoned tentacles around him and sent them simultaneously toward Han-Yeol and Tayarana.

“Hey, don’t you think that guy is looking down on me? I made one mistake and he thinks that I’m a weakling?”

[Yeah, I think so too.]

“Ugh, thathurts…” Han-Yeol groaned, clutching his chest after hearing Tayarana’s unfiltered response.

[Han-Yeol, the tentacles are coming.]

“Hehehe! Leave them to me!”

Chwak!

[Hmm?]

Tayarana expected Han-Yeol to use his sword and slice up the tentacles, but he used his chain instead and started preparing to do something with it.

“I told you I can stir things up too, didn’t I?!” Han-Yeol exclaimed while spinning the chain in his hand in a circular motion.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The chain continued to spin as it made its way toward the tentacles.

‘Huh? What does he plan to do with that?’ Tayarana could not understand his motives behind the attack.

However, she soon understood his intentions.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

[Huh?]

Surprisingly, the tentacles exploded the moment they came into contact with the spinning chain.

[W-What’s going on?]

Haverus could not help but get flustered at what he was witnessing.

Why were his tentacles popping like balloons from just coming into contact with the chain?

He had lived a very long time as a sorcerer and fought against countless Bastrolings specialized in using chains. However, he had never witnessed an attack that exploded his tentacles.

‘Hoho! This is the combination of my chain and vibration! Skill Combination is the best!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed and rejoiced triumphantly inwardly.

The attack was the result of Skill Combination, which was a skill he often prided in recently.

[Ha! You seem to have used your pathetic brain for a change, but I hope you weren’t thinking you could stop me with that pathetic trick of yours!]

Haverus did not suffer any damage or setbacks just because his tentacles popped. He might be using old spells, but that did not mean his main spells were all old. In fact, he achieved a perfect mix of using new spells as his main spells and the old spells as auxiliary spells.

The Kreviks appeared and surrounded Han-Yeol. They possessed quite dense mana, so they were a threat when in great numbers.

[Die, human!]

Chwak!

Haverus swung his staff and pointed it at Han-Yeol.

***

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Krevik contaminated creatures attacked Han-Yeol simultaneously, and their attacks could only be described as ferocious. They were indeed worthy of being the main contaminated creatures used by the high-ranking sorcerers.

These creatures were so powerful that Han-Yeol had trouble dealing with them before he studied their attack patterns.

However, Han-Yeol had already directed this battle so that the high-ranking sorcerers could never win against him.

Clang!

Han-Yeol blocked a Krevik’s sword and wondered, ‘These creatures are indeed dangerous, and I probably would lose if I were alone, but I have an ace up my sleeve.’

[Yes, you are correct.]

Han-Yeol was just thinking out loud, so Karvis did not really have to respond to his thoughts, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

‘Hahaha! It would’ve been different if they had brought a legion, but sixty percent of their fighting power would have been stuck over there,’ Han-Yeol thought, smirking confidently.

Only Han-Yeol, Tayarana, and Tia were now facing the high-ranking sorcerers. The rest of the golems, Lord Kasha, Noras, and the others were down on the ground, fighting against the rest of the contaminated creatures.

The high-ranking sorcerers might be powerful, but the hyenas' true strength came from their numbers. Their endless wave tactic of sending wave after wave of contaminated creatures at their enemies was the key to their dominating the entire dimension.

However, they had to give up that distinct advantage and were forced to fight with their armies split.

‘Well, I made sure this is how this battle would turn out,’ Han-Yeol thought with a shrug.

The high-ranking sorcerers were completely oblivious to the events on the battlefield. In fact, they were confident that they had already won the battle and were sending their Kreviks toward Han-Yeol, Tayarana, and Tia with reckless abandon.