Leveling Up Alone

White Dragon could absorb light into her body thanks to her racial trait, but she could not use it freely like Han-Yeol. The ability to freely control the light attribute was a power that belonged to the gods, and this was not given to the dragons who were known to rebel against the gods.

After all, legends claimed that the reason the God of Balance, Kubera, disappeared was due to losing the war against one of the Guardian Dragons. However, the Guardian Dragons claimed innocence from the accusations, which made things very complicated.

[Here I come! Shining Breath!]

Fwaaaaaah!

‘Eeeeh?!’

Han-Yeol shrieked in horror after White Dragon unleashed the mana from her dragon heart. She used Dragon Breath Attack, the most powerful skill a dragon could use, with the light attribute he infused into her.

[T-That is…!]

[Hurry up and block it!]

[Damn it!]

The hyenas fighting against Han-Yeol’s comrades on the ground went into panic the moment they saw the dragon’s breath attack infused with light attributes coming for them.

[Bring the contaminated soldiers forward!]

[Put up your shields!]

[Dark Shield!]

[Corrupted Field!]

Every single one of the hyena sorcerers, regardless of their rank, cast their most powerful defensive spells in a desperate attempt to block the incoming Shining Breath.

Baaaam!

Shining Breath slammed against the multiple layers of shields.

Shwaaaak!

[W-What?!]

[How can this be…?]

[M-My creatures are dissolving just by coming into contact with it?]

Han-Yeol had dissolved countless contaminated creatures with his light attribute, but the hyenas would always come back with more, maintaining their legion’s numerical advantage.

Tsssh!

Shining Breath left behind a trail of destruction.

The contaminated creatures were weak against light–more specifically, the light attribute, but the fact that this attack was the combined powers of Han-Yeol’s light attribute and White Dragon’s mana from her dragon heart made it even more destructive and lethal to them.

[Argh!]

[H-How is this even possible?]

The breath attack annihilated the contaminated creatures covering vast areas on the ground, and the creatures that the hyena sorcerers protected barely managed to survive.

The hyena sorcerers seemed to have survived the breath attack, but that did not mean they managed to escape unscathed.

Cough!

‘Ugh!’

Haverus was fine, but those below his rank were seriously hurt after the breath attack infused with purification mana managed to get past some of their shields. A few of the low-ranking hyena sorcerers failed to withstand the breath attack and got purified in the process, granting them instant death.

“Whoa, that’s quite impressive,” Han-Yeol muttered.

[This is nothing, human.]

Chwak!

White Dragon spread out her gigantic wings and majestically hovered in mid-air.

“Grrrr!”

Haverus gnashed his teeth and glared at Han-Yeol.

[You dare! You dare! You dare! I will not forgive you for destroying my legion, human!]

He was furious at what he was witnessing.

Even the hyenas had their own internal conflicts and politics. A high-ranking sorcerer’s skills was not only the measure of strength used, as the number of sorcerers under them greatly mattered too.

However, a creature from another dimension he regarded as insignificant suddenly wiped out most of his underlings in the blink of an eye.

[I’m going to kill you right here!]

The high-ranking sorcerer knew that more lower-ranking sorcerers would die in this battle, and he only had a few choices left.

‘I’ll have to bear the losses and kill that arrogant human here. That’s the only way I won’t fall out of Char’s favor…!’

Haverus might have lost a huge chunk of his faction this time, but he knew he could easily recover the moment he received Char’s favor.

“Hmm… Sure, show me what you can do,” Han-Yeol replied nonchalantly.

[Hahaha! You better run away now or else you will regret it for the rest of your life!]

Whoosh! Puuuk!

‘Hmm? What’s he trying to do?’ Han-Yeol raised a brow.

Haverus used his own hand to stab his heart. The hyenas were famous for being physically inept, and stabbing one’s own heart through the chest was definitely not an easy thing to do.

‘Tsk… These hyenas do all sorts of strange things, so doing something like that is quite normal I guess?’

Han-Yeol did not think much of Haverus’s strange actions, but why he did it was the biggest question.

[I didn’t imagine I’d have to resort to this just for someone like you.]

‘What’s he up to?’

One of the intermediate-ranking sorcerers was shocked by Haverus’s action.

[N-No way—?!]

The other intermediate-ranking sorcerers and low-ranking sorcerers started trembling in fear at what they were witnessing.

[Hahaha!]

[N-Noooo!]

[Please, spare me!]

They screamed and pleaded, but their desperate cries fell on deaf ears. Haverus let out a spine-chilling cackle and continued to draw a magic circle.

Chwak! Chwak!

‘Tentacles?’

[Aaaaack!]

Dozens of tentacles shot out from Haverus’s body and shot toward the contaminated creatures and sorcerers.

Puuk! Puuuk! Puk!

Kuheok!

[N-Nooo!]

The contaminated creatures did not show much reaction even after the tentacles stabbed them, but it was different for the sorcerers. They desperately tried to dodge the tentacles, but they could only continue dodging for so long due to their weak bodies.

Puuuk!

In the end, the tentacles got to them and pierced through their chests.

[Hand of Darkness!]

Boom! Boom!

A few of the sorcerers banded together and cast offensive and defensive spells against the incoming tentacles.

The hyena society placed great importance on hierarchy, so what they were doing was tantamount to treason and punishable by death. However, that was the last thing on their minds right now, as they knew they were going to die if they did not defend themselves from the tentacles. What was the point of worrying later when they were going to die now?

[Tsk, those pathetic fools.]

Haverus could not help but find them to be pathetic.

[I am your master and you exist for my sake! Offering your bodies to me is your duty!]

Chwaaak! Puuuk!

Kuheok!

Haverus waved his hand and sent his tentacles, which numbered more than a hundred now, toward the sorcerers. The tentacles pierced through the sorcerers’ shields and stabbed them all over.

[N-No!]

The tentacles completely surrounded the remaining sorcerers. They were not even given the time to scream as the tentacles ravaged them.

A thought crossed Han-Yeol’s mind, and that was the fact that these tentacles were similar to the ones he used to devour the vampires. Also, he found it extremely convenient that the high-ranking sorcerer was killing the hyena sorcerers for him.

[Hahaha! Fool! You could’ve still won if you did something, but you missed your chance!]

“Oh really?”

[Hahaha!]

Haverus’s body started boiling like lava after devouring all of his subordinates.

Han-Yeol had witnessed something similar before. The first hyena sorcerer he faced on Earth used the same kind of spell and grew into a giant. However, Haverus’s transformation was on a completely different scale. The hyena sorcerer’s transformation amplified his strength by growing bigger, but Haverus absorbed the powers of the contaminated creatures and hyena sorcerers that his tentacles devoured.

Shaaa!

[Hahaha… Bwahahaha!]

‘I don’t think he’s a sorcerer anymore?’ Han-Yeol thought.

Haverus no longer looked like a sorcerer—he resembled a warrior after his transformation. He did not grow that big in size. He was about three meters tall now, and was much smaller than the monsters Han-Yeol had faced.

However, that was not the case for his mana, as his mana was without a doubt denser than the mana of any other hyena sorcerer Han-Yeol had faced thus far.

[This is the true power of a hyena! Ah, I might get addicted to this power… Hahaha! The only downside of this spell is that I can never revert back to my original form and I’ll have to keep absorbing other creatures, but it’s not that bad.]

‘So in short… his fuel efficiency sucks?’ Han-Yeol mutered inwardly.

Haverus’s body underwent drastic changes that he could no longer be called a hyena. He was more like a Krevik than a hyena sorcerer now.

Karvis reported the results of her analysis to Han-Yeol. [I believe he devoured the whole Krevik dungeon.]

‘I think so too.’

Haverus was basically screaming, “I’m a Kervit!” So, Han-Yeol could tell that much even without analyzing him.

‘He looks like a Krevik boss monster or something.’

[Yes, he does look like it.]

Han-Yeol smirked and looked delighted. He wondered if this battle would end in a lackluster manner, but it seemed that the high-ranking sorcerer did not disappoint.

Chwak!

[Han-Yeol.]

“Yes, Tara?”

Tayarana flew to Han-Yeol’s side during the short respite while Haverus was undergoing his transformation.

[That guy is strong.]

“I was thinking the same thing just now. His Kreviks should have grown stronger too, so you’ll have to cooperate with Tia when facing them.”

[Alright.]

Tayarana still seemed to be displeased by the idea of cooperating with Tia. She knew from the countless battles they fought alongside each other that Tia was just as strong as her, but there was something about Tia’s mannerisms that she disliked.

However, she was in the Bastro Dimension to help Han-Yeol, so she could not ruin things just because of her petty feelings. She really, really, really hated the idea of cooperating with Tia, but she had to do it for Han-Yeol’s sake.

Whoosh!

Tia suddenly appeared beside Tayarana and greeted her first.

“Hoho~ I’ll be in your care, winged human~”

Tia might be a spider, but she possessed beauty that did not lack when compared to Tayarana.

Tsk…

Tayarana clicked her tongue, as she still hated the idea of cooperating with Tia.

Han-Yeol left the Kreviks in Tayarana and Tia’s hands, and he went to face the high-ranking sorcerer that transformed.

“Mavros!”

“Kyuuu!”

“You should transform too and fight.”

“Kyu?!” Mavros shrieked as if asking why.

He looked up at Han-Yeol and saw that Han-Yeol was adamant that Mavros join the battle.

“Kyuu…”

Mavros saw no point in fighting, as Han-Yeol was not going to be riding with him. In the end, he let out a sigh and transformed into his Combat Mode II form.

“Kieeeeek!” Mavros let out a shriek after transforming.

Then, he looked at Han-Yeol and said, [I’ll fight with you, master!]

Mavros could speak just like White Dragon after activating Combat Mode II.

Ironically, he seemed reluctant to fight just a few seconds ago, but now he seemed very enthusiastic.

“Alright, let’s go!”

“Kieeeek!”

[Hold on tight, human.]

Chwak! Boom!

White Dragon spread her wings open and flew at the speed of sound toward the high-ranking sorcerer.

[Hahaha! Come!]

Haverus welcomed them confidently after feeling the power surging throughout his body.

Chwak!

He took out a bone whip and swung it at White Dragon and Han-Yeol. His whip was not an ordinary whip made out of bones.

[Dark Eclipse!]

Woooong!

A storm of dark corrupted mana raged every time Haverus swung the whip.

‘Oh? That’s quite impressive,’ Han-Yeol thought.

[Hold on tightly, human. That creature’s attacks are quite powerful.]

“Okay.”

The storm of dark corrupted mana looked quite dangerous, so Han-Yeol held tightly onto White Dragon’s scales as they braved through the storm.

[Oh? That’s quite impressive for an insignificant creature!]

Haverus seemed quite impressed by how Han-Yeol and White Dragon were withstanding his attack.

After all, his attack was just something like a greeting. He wanted to test out his newfound powers rather than end the battle right then and there.