“Er, yes, that’s right…”

    “Ah, I apologize . This way, sir . I’ll lead the way . ”

    “Ah… Okay . ”

    Thinking that it would be a headache to try and clear up whatever misunderstanding this was, Jinwoo decided to go with the soldier for now . As he followed, he observed his surroundings,

    ‘Now that I take a closer look…’

    Something had clearly happened in the area . The roads were empty, and the only people around were soldiers and policemen . On top of that, the area was scattered with abandoned cars, damaged buildings and the corpses of magic beasts .

    Jinwoo roughly understood what had happened .

    ‘Looks like a Dungeon Break[1] happened nearby . ’

    In today’s world, the proper management and monitoring of Gates meant that most of them were discovered on time and taken care of . However, every once in a while, a Gate appears in a hidden place and goes unnoticed until it’s too late . Once that happens, the military is deployed to buy time before the Hunters can arrive .

    Of course, the weapons of the military did not work on the magic beasts . Yet they still fought to the best of their abilities; in order to protect the citizens and provide time for their escape, someone had to be the sacrifice . As such, the military bravely stood up and became meat shields . It was a job that had to be done, and the young men of this country nobly did that job .

    “Thank you . ”

    The soldier that was leading him suddenly thanked Jinwoo .

    “Hmm?”

    “It’s thanks to the Hunter-nims that we are able to live . ”

    “Ah…”

    Gratitude .

    Jinwoo was the one who wanted to thank the soldier .

    The soldier to the Hunter . The Hunter to the soldier .

    As men who both fought to protect the people, both sides wanted to thank the other .

    “ . . . Roger . Over and out . ”

    The soldier’s face lit up after receiving a report through his radio .

    “Most of the magic beasts in the area have been taken care of . They said there is just one big one remaining . ”

    Jinwoo nodded . He already knew this without the soldier’s report . Through his raised sense stat, he was able to detect the presence of a powerful lifeform nearby, surrounded by the energy of multiple hunters .

    His instincts told him the powerful lifeform was the boss .

    Soon, the boss’s figure came into their view . In an empty lot ahead, ten-something Hunters were fighting with a giant made out of stone . The giant’s height was a little above a street light; it was a golem type magic beast .

    “My god…”

    The soldier took a step back . As if it was the first time he had seen a magic beast, the man froze as he saw the golem . Any ordinary human would do the same . The presence of a magic beast in person was quite different than seeing it over the television or a computer screen .

    Compared to the soldier, Jinwoo calmly looked over to the battle .

    “Healers! Please focus your healing on the Tanker!”

    “We’re doing our best!”

    “Why is it not going down!”

    “Dealers[2], what are you doing?! He doesn’t seem like he’s taking any damage!”

    “His defense is too high! We need a few Mage-class Hunters!”

    As Hunters who were called over on a short notice, their ranks did not appear to be that high . Both their defense and offense were lacking .

    Bang!

    The golem slammed his stone fist onto the ground, and resulting shockwave caused the Hunter in charge of tanking to buckle .

    “Cough!”

    The man spat out blood .

    “Oh no!”

    “The Tanker’s going go die at this rate!”

    “What can we do?! Our magic power’s almost gone!”

    “Where are the high rankers?!”

    The Hunters were reaching their limits .

    As he watched, Jinwoo’s gaze sharpened .

    ‘If it’s this much… I should be able to do it . ’

    He slowly took few steps backwards . All the golem type boss had going for it was its high defense; its overall level seemed to be low . Compared to the pressure he faced against the ‘blue poisoned-fanged whatever[3]’, the golem was a step below .

    ‘So if I can just get through its defense . . . ’

    What the Hunters needed was a powerful attack to get through that stupid piece of rock . At a good distance, Jinwoo cocked his arm back into a throwing position . He tightened his grip on the broken sword, and the muscles of his arm expanded . Thick veins appeared all the way to the back of his hand .

    All of his strength was focused on his right arm .

    Then, the arm that was drawn back like a bowstring shot forward at the speed of sound .

    “Go!”

    The D-rank Hunter, Lee Hansoo, despaired; he was at his limit . The shield that he was so proud of was cracking . The healing Hunters’ magic power must’ve hit rock bottom; the healing on him had decreased noticeably . At this rate, the entire party would be wiped out .

    He had to make a difficult choice .

    He decided to buy time for the other Hunters to run away and hope that the high ranking Hunters would arrive in time to take the golem down .

    ‘Or else we’ll all die here . ’

    Lee Hansoo’s brows glistened with cold sweat . He was ready to die .

    He turned and shouted,

    “I’ll take it from here, so everyone-”

    It was in that moment he saw it . Something flashed from a distance and was flying this way .

    Rather, instead of seeing it, it was more like he felt it . His eyes could not possibly see that attack .

    BANG!

    That something obliterated the golem’s head .

    “W-what?”

    Lee Hansoo’s eyes widened . The headless golem began to falter . Not noticing, the Hunters pressed their attacks .

    “It’s working! The attacks are working!”

    “It’s going down!”

    “Just a little more!”

    They were all too focused on attacking and did not appear to have seen the ‘something’ that had flown over . Only Lee Hansoo, who stood right before the golem, caught a glimpse of it .

    groooooan-

    The golem finally went down .

    Koong!

    Its heavy body threw up a large cloud of dust .

    “Yeaaaaaah!”

    The Hunters shouted and cheered .

    “We did it!”

    “We took it down!”

    Only Lee Hansoo, who saw what happened, shook his head .

    ‘No . Our attacks weren’t even working . ’

    He quickly searched around the fallen golem .

    “Just what the hell blew apart its head?”

    Scanning the ground, Lee Hansoo came across the pieces of a broken sword . Although it had magic power, it was a rather plain steel sword .

    ‘That thing was something over 10 Hunters were having difficulty taking down… And someone blew its head open by throwing just this?’

    He was at a loss for words . Looking back and forth between the golem’s corpse and the remnants of the sword, Lee Hansoo walked past the cheering Hunters to the direction the sword had flown from .

    “Oy!”

    There was a soldier standing there .

    “Sir? Are you talking to me?”

    “Yes, you!”

    As the large physique of the Hunter walked towards him, the soldier stiffened and gulped . Such was the pressure Hunters gave off towards ordinary people .

    Lee Hansoo held out the sword and asked,

    “Did you throw this?”

    “Ah, that was-”

    The soldier gestured behind him, then stopped .

    “Wait, what? There was a Hunter-nim right here . ”

    There was no one there . As the soldier panicked and looked around, Lee Hansoo scratched his head and looked at the sword in his hand again .

    ‘That power . . . that destructiveness… Did a high ranking Hunter come here?’

    As the man in question had disappeared, he had no way of knowing .

    At that time, Jinwoo was on the way home . He had already turned to leave when he saw the golem falter .

    He had taken down the golem . Normally, a dead magic beast’s drops belonged to the person taking it down . If he wanted, he could’ve laid a claim on the golem’s corpse .

    ‘But the problem is that I’d have to prove that I was the one who took it down . ’

    Who would believe that it was an E-rank Hunter’s attack that took the golem down? He had no proof; the broken sword or the soldier standing by did not seem like it would be enough . Even if he was able to prove it, he would have to reveal how he obtained the power to take down a golem . No matter how Jinwoo looked at it, the costs outweigh the benefits .

    The unique ability to level-up .

    He had no intention of revealing this historical occurrence over a mere golem’s corpse .

    ‘Regrettable, but what can I do . ’

    Well, it wasn’t all for nothing . No, there was an unexpected boon . A message appeared to him, when he took down the golem:

    You’ve leveled up!

    Taking down the golem gave him one level .

    ‘So I CAN level-up by taking down magic beasts . ’

    It was good to know . This was enough for him, for now .

    At the outskirts of the city, there was an old and worn down apartment . Jinwoo’s house was on the 9th floor of this building .

    The house was dark when he entered .

    ‘Looks like Jinah’s being diligent . ’

    His little sister was probably at the library . There was dinner on top of the table . It was Jinah’s work, having picked up the slack after their mother’s hospitalization few years ago . There was a small note next to the food, written in cute letters,

    “Don’t starve . I’ll check whether or not you ate . ”

    Having received the news of his discharge today, she must’ve taken the time to do this, even during her busy schedule . Jinwoo smiled and sat down at the table, but there was something he wanted to check before eating .

    “Status screen . ”

    Name: Sung Jinwoo

    Level: 18

    Class: None

    Title: Wolf Slayer

    HP: 2220

    MP: 350

    Fatigue: 2

    Stats

    Strength: 48

    Constitution: 27

    Agility: 27

    Intelligence: 27

    Sense: 27

    (Available stat points: 0)

    Skills

    Passive Skills

    -(Unknown) (Lv . Max)

    -Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)

    Active Skills

    -Sprint (Lv . 1)

    It was a long day . In that long day, he was able to go all the way to level 18 . His strength was nearing 50, and his other stats had also risen greatly . Additionally, he was able to learn the effects of the agility and sense stats .

    ‘On top of all that, I got a nice dagger with good effects and a good amount of gold… that I can’t spend yet… still . ’

    Putting aside the venom that he didn’t want to use…

    The attack on the Instant Dungeon was a big success .

    -9 . Lizards-

    People who left their homes in the dawn of day always made a point to do so quietly . After all, they didn’t want to wake up their family . Jinah was no different . Think of her sleeping brother, she quietly locked the door and turned to leave for school .

    “Going to school?”

    “Eh?!”She abruptly turned to see her brother jogging toward her . He was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, his head covered by a hoodie . It looked like he was coming back from a run .

    Jinah stared at her brother with wide open eyes .

    “What the . You were awake, oppa?”

    “For a while now . Have a good day . ”

    “Ah… okay . ”

    She watched her brother go inside the house with her head tilted .

    ‘Huh . To think that there’d be a day where oppa woke up before I did . ’

    It was not that Jinwoo was lazy, but Jinah was a diligent student who often got up at the crack of dawn for school, so it was a rare sight for her to see her brother in the morning like this .

    ‘Now that I think about it…’

    Her brother’s shoulders were a bit wider than she’d remembered .

    ‘Eh, I must be mistaken . ’

    Human bodies were not rubber bands . They don’t stretch like that in just a few days .

    Translator’s Notes:

    [1]: “Dungeon Break”: A reminder, a Gate undergoes full opening after 7 days, then a Dungeon Break occurs . The magic beasts that were normally confined to the inside of the Gate can now leave the Gate, causing destruction and mayhem outside .

    [2]: “Dealers” (??): The word is in english, “Dealer” . Korean gaming terminology to refer to “damage dealers”; in the west, more commonly called the “DPS” (damage per second) .

    [3]: Not a mistrans . Jinwoo forgot the name…

    Thank you /u/Aetherpon for some grammar corrections/suggestions!

    Sponsored Content

    I Alone Level-up: Chapter 16.

    .

    “Er, yes, that’s right…”.

    .

    “Ah, I apologize . This way, sir . I’ll lead the way . ”.

    .

    “Ah… Okay . ”.

    .

    Thinking that it would be a headache to try and clear up whatever misunderstanding this was, Jinwoo decided to go with the soldier for now . As he followed, he observed his surroundings,.

    .

    ‘Now that I take a closer look…’.

    .

    Something had clearly happened in the area . The roads were empty, and the only people around were soldiers and policemen . On top of that, the area was scattered with abandoned cars, damaged buildings and the corpses of magic beasts . .

    .

    Jinwoo roughly understood what had happened . .

    .

    ‘Looks like a Dungeon Break[1] happened nearby . ’.

    .

    In today’s world, the proper management and monitoring of Gates meant that most of them were discovered on time and taken care of . However, every once in a while, a Gate appears in a hidden place and goes unnoticed until it’s too late . Once that happens, the military is deployed to buy time before the Hunters can arrive . .

    .

    Of course, the weapons of the military did not work on the magic beasts . Yet they still fought to the best of their abilities; in order to protect the citizens and provide time for their escape, someone had to be the sacrifice . As such, the military bravely stood up and became meat shields . It was a job that had to be done, and the young men of this country nobly did that job . .

    .

    “Thank you . ”.

    .

    The soldier that was leading him suddenly thanked Jinwoo . .

    .

    “Hmm?”.

    .

    “It’s thanks to the Hunter-nims that we are able to live . ”.

    .

    “Ah…”.

    . .

    Gratitude . .

    .

    Jinwoo was the one who wanted to thank the soldier . .

    .

    The soldier to the Hunter . The Hunter to the soldier . .

    .

    As men who both fought to protect the people, both sides wanted to thank the other . .

    . “ . Roger . Over and out . ”.

    .

    The soldier’s face lit up after receiving a report through his radio . .

    .

    “Most of the magic beasts in the area have been taken care of . They said there is just one big one remaining . ”.

    .

    Jinwoo nodded . He already knew this without the soldier’s report . Through his raised sense stat, he was able to detect the presence of a powerful lifeform nearby, surrounded by the energy of multiple hunters . .

    .

    His instincts told him the powerful lifeform was the boss . .

    .

    Soon, the boss’s figure came into their view . In an empty lot ahead, ten-something Hunters were fighting with a giant made out of stone . The giant’s height was a little above a street light; it was a golem type magic beast . .

    .

    “My god…”.

    .

    The soldier took a step back . As if it was the first time he had seen a magic beast, the man froze as he saw the golem . Any ordinary human would do the same . The presence of a magic beast in person was quite different than seeing it over the television or a computer screen . .

    .

    Compared to the soldier, Jinwoo calmly looked over to the battle . .

    .

    “Healers! Please focus your healing on the Tanker!”.

    “We’re doing our best!”.

    “Why is it not going down!”.

    “Dealers[2], what are you doing?! He doesn’t seem like he’s taking any damage!”.

    “His defense is too high! We need a few Mage-class Hunters!”.

    .

    As Hunters who were called over on a short notice, their ranks did not appear to be that high . Both their defense and offense were lacking . .

    .

    Bang!.

    .

    The golem slammed his stone fist onto the ground, and resulting shockwave caused the Hunter in charge of tanking to buckle . .

    .

    “Cough!”.

    .

    The man spat out blood . .

    .

    “Oh no!”.

    “The Tanker’s going go die at this rate!”.

    “What can we do?! Our magic power’s almost gone!”.

    “Where are the high rankers?!”.

    .

    The Hunters were reaching their limits . .

    .

    As he watched, Jinwoo’s gaze sharpened . .

    .

    ‘If it’s this much… I should be able to do it . ’.

    .

    He slowly took few steps backwards . All the golem type boss had going for it was its high defense; its overall level seemed to be low . Compared to the pressure he faced against the ‘blue poisoned-fanged whatever[3]’, the golem was a step below . .

    .

    ‘So if I can just get through its defense . ’.

    .

    What the Hunters needed was a powerful attack to get through that stupid piece of rock . At a good distance, Jinwoo cocked his arm back into a throwing position . He tightened his grip on the broken sword, and the muscles of his arm expanded . Thick veins appeared all the way to the back of his hand . .

    .

    All of his strength was focused on his right arm . .

    .

    Then, the arm that was drawn back like a bowstring shot forward at the speed of sound . .

    .

    “Go!”.

    .

    .

    .

    The D-rank Hunter, Lee Hansoo, despaired; he was at his limit . The shield that he was so proud of was cracking . The healing Hunters’ magic power must’ve hit rock bottom; the healing on him had decreased noticeably . At this rate, the entire party would be wiped out . .

    .

    He had to make a difficult choice . .

    .

    He decided to buy time for the other Hunters to run away and hope that the high ranking Hunters would arrive in time to take the golem down . .

    .

    ‘Or else we’ll all die here . ’.

    .

    Lee Hansoo’s brows glistened with cold sweat . He was ready to die . .

    .

    He turned and shouted,.

    .

    “I’ll take it from here, so everyone-”.

    .

    It was in that moment he saw it . Something flashed from a distance and was flying this way . .

    .

    Rather, instead of seeing it, it was more like he felt it . His eyes could not possibly see that attack . .

    .

    BANG!.

    .

    That something obliterated the golem’s head . .

    .

    “W-what?”.

    .

    Lee Hansoo’s eyes widened . The headless golem began to falter . Not noticing, the Hunters pressed their attacks . .

    .

    “It’s working! The attacks are working!”.

    “It’s going down!”.

    “Just a little more!”.

    .

    They were all too focused on attacking and did not appear to have seen the ‘something’ that had flown over . Only Lee Hansoo, who stood right before the golem, caught a glimpse of it . .

    .

    groooooan-.

    .

    The golem finally went down . .

    .

    Koong!.

    .

    Its heavy body threw up a large cloud of dust . .

    .

    “Yeaaaaaah!”.

    .

    The Hunters shouted and cheered . .

    .

    “We did it!”.

    “We took it down!”.

    .

    Only Lee Hansoo, who saw what happened, shook his head . .

    .

    ‘No . Our attacks weren’t even working . ’.

    .

    He quickly searched around the fallen golem . .

    .

    “Just what the hell blew apart its head?”.

    .

    Scanning the ground, Lee Hansoo came across the pieces of a broken sword . Although it had magic power, it was a rather plain steel sword . .

    .

    ‘That thing was something over 10 Hunters were having difficulty taking down… And someone blew its head open by throwing just this?’.

    .

    He was at a loss for words . Looking back and forth between the golem’s corpse and the remnants of the sword, Lee Hansoo walked past the cheering Hunters to the direction the sword had flown from . .

    .

    “Oy!”.

    .

    There was a soldier standing there . .

    .

    “Sir? Are you talking to me?”.

    .

    “Yes, you!”.

    .

    As the large physique of the Hunter walked towards him, the soldier stiffened and gulped . Such was the pressure Hunters gave off towards ordinary people . .

    .

    Lee Hansoo held out the sword and asked,.

    .

    “Did you throw this?”.

    .

    “Ah, that was-”.

    .

    The soldier gestured behind him, then stopped . .

    .

    “Wait, what? There was a Hunter-nim right here . ”.

    .

    There was no one there . As the soldier panicked and looked around, Lee Hansoo scratched his head and looked at the sword in his hand again . .

    .

    ‘That power . that destructiveness… Did a high ranking Hunter come here?’.

    .

    As the man in question had disappeared, he had no way of knowing . .

    .

    .

    .

    At that time, Jinwoo was on the way home . He had already turned to leave when he saw the golem falter . .

    .

    He had taken down the golem . Normally, a dead magic beast’s drops belonged to the person taking it down . If he wanted, he could’ve laid a claim on the golem’s corpse . .

    .

    ‘But the problem is that I’d have to prove that I was the one who took it down . ’.

    .

    Who would believe that it was an E-rank Hunter’s attack that took the golem down? He had no proof; the broken sword or the soldier standing by did not seem like it would be enough . Even if he was able to prove it, he would have to reveal how he obtained the power to take down a golem . No matter how Jinwoo looked at it, the costs outweigh the benefits . .

    .

    The unique ability to level-up . .

    .

    He had no intention of revealing this historical occurrence over a mere golem’s corpse . .

    .

    ‘Regrettable, but what can I do . ’.

    .

    Well, it wasn’t all for nothing . No, there was an unexpected boon . A message appeared to him, when he took down the golem:.

    .

    You’ve leveled up!.

    .

    Taking down the golem gave him one level . .

    .

    ‘So I CAN level-up by taking down magic beasts . ’.

    .

    It was good to know . This was enough for him, for now . .

    .

    .

    .

    At the outskirts of the city, there was an old and worn down apartment . Jinwoo’s house was on the 9th floor of this building . .

    .

    The house was dark when he entered . .

    .

    ‘Looks like Jinah’s being diligent . ’.

    .

    His little sister was probably at the library . There was dinner on top of the table . It was Jinah’s work, having picked up the slack after their mother’s hospitalization few years ago . There was a small note next to the food, written in cute letters,.

    .

    “Don’t starve . I’ll check whether or not you ate . ”.

    .

    Having received the news of his discharge today, she must’ve taken the time to do this, even during her busy schedule . Jinwoo smiled and sat down at the table, but there was something he wanted to check before eating . .

    .

    “Status screen . ”.

    .

    Name: Sung Jinwoo.

    Level: 18.

    Class: None.

    Title: Wolf Slayer.

    HP: 2220.

    MP: 350.

    Fatigue: 2.

    Stats.

    .

    Strength: 48.

    Constitution: 27.

    Agility: 27.

    Intelligence: 27.

    Sense: 27.

    (Available stat points: 0).

    Skills.

    .

    Passive Skills.

    -(Unknown) (Lv . Max).

    -Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).

    .

    Active Skills.

    -Sprint (Lv . 1).

    .

    It was a long day . In that long day, he was able to go all the way to level 18 . His strength was nearing 50, and his other stats had also risen greatly . Additionally, he was able to learn the effects of the agility and sense stats . .

    .

    ‘On top of all that, I got a nice dagger with good effects and a good amount of gold… that I can’t spend yet… still . ’.

    .

    Putting aside the venom that he didn’t want to use….

    .

    The attack on the Instant Dungeon was a big success . .

    -9 . Lizards-.

    .

    People who left their homes in the dawn of day always made a point to do so quietly . After all, they didn’t want to wake up their family . Jinah was no different . Think of her sleeping brother, she quietly locked the door and turned to leave for school . .

    .

    “Going to school?”. .

    “Eh?!” She abruptly turned to see her brother jogging toward her . He was wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, his head covered by a hoodie . It looked like he was coming back from a run . .

    .

    Jinah stared at her brother with wide open eyes . .

    .

    “What the . You were awake, oppa?”.

    .

    “For a while now . Have a good day . ”.

    .

    “Ah… okay . ”.

    .

    She watched her brother go inside the house with her head tilted . .

    .

    ‘Huh . To think that there’d be a day where oppa woke up before I did . ’.

    .

    It was not that Jinwoo was lazy, but Jinah was a diligent student who often got up at the crack of dawn for school, so it was a rare sight for her to see her brother in the morning like this . .

    .

    ‘Now that I think about it…’.

    .

    Her brother’s shoulders were a bit wider than she’d remembered . .

    .

    ‘Eh, I must be mistaken . ’.

    .

    Human bodies were not rubber bands . They don’t stretch like that in just a few days . .

    . .

    .

    Translator’s Notes:.

    [1]: “Dungeon Break”: A reminder, a Gate undergoes full opening after 7 days, then a Dungeon Break occurs . The magic beasts that were normally confined to the inside of the Gate can now leave the Gate, causing destruction and mayhem outside . .

    [2]: “Dealers” (??): The word is in english, “Dealer” . Korean gaming terminology to refer to “damage dealers”; in the west, more commonly called the “DPS” (damage per second) . .

    [3]: Not a mistrans . Jinwoo forgot the name….

    .

    Thank you /u/Aetherpon for some grammar corrections/suggestions!.