Leveling Up Alone

Swish!

The boy remained steadfast even though the monster was approaching. He wildly swung his wooden sword with his eyes shut tight trying to fend off the beast.

His sole reason for staying despite his legs about to give up on him was solely to protect the shabby shack behind him. The shack that was so rundown that it would get knocked over by a slight breeze might be worthless to others, but he could not afford to abandon it.

His only remaining treasure was in it–his sister. She had injured both of her eyes and lost her vision when she was young, so she could not do anything without his help. Some people mocked him for wasting his time taking care of his sick, useless sister, but Sheng Fa-Chan could vividly remember the joy he felt the day his sister was born.

She remained the sole reason he persevered tenaciously to this day. Therefore, no matter how dire the situation, he could not bring himself to abandon her, even if it meant facing the threat of being torn apart and meeting his demise at the hands of those hideous monsters.

“Argh!”

The moment the demonic beast closed in, ready to sink its teeth into the boy’s neck, a miracle happened.

Swoosh! Bam!

An unknown figure descended upon the two-headed four-legged monster, crushing it into the ground.

“Kueeeek!”

Splat!

The monster’s blue blood splattered all over the place.

[A-Ah…]

The startled boy stared blankly at his savior who had miraculously come to his rescue.

His savior gazed down at him with their crimson-red eyes. Then, they shifted their attention to the shabby shack behind the boy that looked like it would collapse at any moment.

Sheng Fa-Chan flinched the moment he noticed where the crimson eyes were looking. After all, his sister was his weakness.

His crimson-eyed savior lifted his hand.

‘Argh!’ Sheng Fa-Chan shut his eyes, fearing for what was about to come.

However, what happened instead was the exact opposite of what he feared.

The hand touched him gently.

The intimidating aura he felt from those crimson eyes when the monster was crushed to its demise was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his savior gazed at him in the most gentle manner possible while patting his head gently.

‘A-Ah…’

Sheng Fa-Chan lost his parents at an early age, and his only remaining family member, his sister, lost her sight from a tragic accident too. The series of unfortunate events caused him to swear to be stronger, and on that day, he vowed to never cry again.

He did not cry no matter how hard life was.

However, the tears he had been holding back all these years streamed down his face the moment he felt the warm touch on his head. He had no idea if he was crying after being reminded of his sorrowful past, longing for his parents, or was just overwhelmed by the gentle touch he had not felt in years.

The only thing he knew right now was that he could finally cry again.

Meanwhile, the crimson-eyed savior, who was Han-Yeol with Demon Eyes activated, was deeply moved by the boy’s dedication to protect his sister.

‘These kids are worth protecting,’ he thought.

He was not doing this to help the civilians abandoned by their government. His sole motive for coming here was to save this innocent boy and his sister.

Han-Yeol took out a transparent bottle filled with a shiny liquid and handed it to the boy.

[Th-This is…?!]

Sheng Fa-Chan was astonished when he saw the bottle handed to him. He recognized the content of the bottle to be none other than the priceless treasure capable of healing any ailment and restoring the body to its perfect state–a healing potion.

Han-Yeol simply smiled in response, as he knew that the boy would not understand his language.

Sheng Fa-Chan thanked him and carefully received the bottle with both hands.

[Th-Thank you.]

Han-Yeol patted the boy’s head one last time before flying up to the sky.

Wooong!

‘I need to wrap this up as soon as possible. I can’t let things drag out here in Laos.’

The fire in the boy’s eyes inspired Han-Yeol.

He gave one last look at the boy looking up at him from the ground and said goodbye inwardly, ‘Take care. I’m going now.’

Han-Yeol activated the mana pumped by his heart and spread it throughout his entire body, causing it to resonate in the air.

[W-What was that?]

The dark mage deployed to Laos coughed up blood and clenched his heart after the powerful resonance of mana swept across him. The mana resonance he felt could only be described as surreal, and this mana definitely did not belong to a human being.

[S-Sir!]

[We must retreat at once!]

[Argh! All units, prepare to retreat!]

The dark mage was sensible and wise, unlike the one deployed to Vietnam. He was someone who knew when to retreat from a fight he could not win, and his survival instincts immediately kicked in after he sensed the immense mana unleashed by an unknown entity.

He was about to give the command to retreat when—

Krwaaaaang!

[S-Sir!]

[Shroud of Darkness!]

Kaboom!

A massive explosion stopped them just before they could flee. They cast their barriers in an effort to protect themselves from the explosion, but it was to no avail. The explosion ripped through their flimsy barriers and soon incinerated them.

The ten thousand monsters and one hundred dark mages were annihilated in an instant.

***

Han-Yeol’s monster-massacring spree did not stop at Laos. He went to Myanmar, Bhutan, and India to destroy three monster legions, and moved clandestinely through the ocean to catch the feudal lord’s armies in the Philippines with their guard down.

Ironically, the Six Feudal Lords who obtained the trust of the demon king and received all sorts of unique items were annihilated by Han-Yeol in just a week. Of course, he also took away all of the treasures and unique items that they gathered.

To make things even more ironic, the hyenas watching from the sidelines were the ones most enraged by Han-Yeol’s actions instead of the demon king.

Crack! Bam!

[T-That little…!]

[That insolent human! Lee Han-Yeol! That damned human!]

Han-Yeol wanted to attract the attention of the hyena sorcerers, but his monster-massacring spree failed to get their attention for some reason. Therefore, he changed his approach and went all out to attract them. The approach he used this time was to blatantly use his light attribute to his heart’s content while killing the monsters.

Lo and behold, not only did he manage to get the hyena sorcerers’ attention, but he even managed to enrage them to the point where they wanted to kill him.

[That’s the sneaky little rat that suddenly appeared and meddled when those dogs and cats from the Light Faction were about to be exterminated!]

Grrrrr!

The war in the Bastro Dimension should have been long over if things went according to the plan drawn up by the hyenas. Every single member of the Light Faction should have been either captured or corrupted into becoming their slaves, and they should have been the masters of the world.

The hyenas were on a roll, winning victory after victory, and it seemed as if nothing could stop them. Until one day, one of their scouting parties was annihilated without leaving any clues behind.

Every single one of the scouts fell in the mysterious battle, and their deaths would have remained a mystery if not for the consciousness of the Dragon of Destruction. The dragon informed them that someone wielding light attribute power capable of opposing its dark powers was the culprit behind the scouting party’s annihilation.

This led the hyenas to believe that one of the Bastrolings awakened with the ability to use the light attribute, and this individual escaped to Earth to prepare their resistance.

That was what they thought–until now. What they witnessed the past few days proved they had been wrong the entire time.

C-Crack!

[Lee… Han… Yeol!]

They plotted and waited for one hundred years to conquer the Bastro Dimension, but the decade-long plan was not foiled by a Bastroling. They did not imagine even in their wildest dreams that the culprit spoiling their plans was none other than a lowly human!

[I will grant you eternal life before cutting your body into one million pieces! I’ll make each and every piece of your body suffer for one million years!]

The hyena’s threats might sound unrealistic, but they had an odd talent for making up all sorts of curses. If anyone in the world knew how to curse an individual to inflict as much pain as possible, then it was most likely them. After all, they had been conducting experiments on different creatures, trying to come up with various ways to torture a living being.

***

Han-Yeol finished sweeping up the monsters spread across South East Asia and returned to China where he booked a VVIP suite in a seven-star luxurious hotel located right beside the government complex.

He was relaxing in the room furnished with luxurious furniture and art pieces when his ear suddenly started itching like crazy.

“Ah… My ear is so itchy all of a sudden,” he grumbled.

“Oh dear, is it very itchy, master?” Tia asked.

“Yeah, it suddenly started itching.”

“I have repeatedly reminded you not to slack on your personal hygiene, Han-Yeol-nim,” Stewart chimed in.

“Hey, why are you bringing that up now? And this isn't the itch you get from not washing, okay?” Han-Yeol retorted.

Stewart raised a brow and asked in his usual stern voice, “Then what kind of itch is it?”

“The itch is deep inside my ear, so… someone must be talking bad about me!” Han-Yeol exclaimed.

He looked so confident that there was not an ounce of doubt on his face as he triumphantly raised his fist for who knew what reason.

“...” Stewart was rendered speechless by his baseless confidence.

On the other hand, Tia laughed after finding his antics to be cute. “Hoho~”

Han-Yeol narrowed his eyes and asked, “Hey, you don’t believe me too, Tia?”

“Who knows? Hoho~”

“Ugh…” he groaned at her response.

He felt wronged that neither believed him. ‘But it’s true! I know it is!’

The Chinese government offered him a place to stay, but he refused their offer and booked the hotel suite instead.

But why would he refuse the guest palace the government only provided to dignitaries and important guests? The answer was quite simple.

‘I don’t want to be indebted to them no matter how small it is.’

Han-Yeol previously harbored ill-feelings toward China due to numerous past encounters, but his opinion of them further soured after they agreed with the HUN to limit his participation in combat this time.

Therefore, Han-Yeol, the petty person he was, decided to refuse the guest palace prepared for him by the government and instead booked the entire seven-star luxury hotel just to flex at the government and the HUN.

***

Meanwhile, a strategic meeting was taking place at the meeting room of the world’s coalition forces.

[Hmm… Why should we concern ourselves with someone like Lee Han-Yeol?]

[Exactly! I have no idea why he did not consult us before helping those South East Asian countries. I know he’s strong, but I didn’t know he was this full of himself! Tsk… Tsk… This is why a person’s upbringing is important.]

[I agree with you.]

[Now, let’s not get worked up. Let’s look at the bright side instead. Technically, Lee Han-Yeol is here to help China and the HUN.]

[That’s right.]

[Doesn’t that mean we’re technically the ones who helped those countries?]

[Hmm?]

[Oh!]

The executives profusely nodded in agreement.

[Then what does that mean?]

[Simple! Once all of this boils over, we can go to those South East Asian countries and claim whatever benefit we can from them–politically.]

[Hahaha! That is an excellent plan!]

[Let Lee Han-Yeol do what he wants. We just have to pretend he’s just another one of our soldiers and claim credit for whatever he does.]

[Hohoho! Marvelous! Splendid!]

The politicians riddled with greed and ambition still had yet to come to their senses. Instead, they focused on how they could get the most out of this situation, all for their personal gain.

However, only the old greedy high-ranking politicians thought this way, as the young officers present in the meeting completely disagreed with them.

The high-ranking old men were just cooped up in the safety of their meeting room playing war games with people’s lives while completely oblivious to what was happening outside.

On the other hand, the young officers regularly went to the battlefield and saw the horrors of the war firsthand with their very own eyes. They were exhausted from this war and wished for it to end soon.

These young officers started to form their own faction within the coalition forces, and the one at the center of this faction was none other than Ferdinand.

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