Leveling Up Alone

“Eugh… This place… I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this place no matter how many times I come here.”

“I know, right? I heard that all of the island’s residents were eaten alive by Trolls when the dimension gate opened here, but I can’t shake off the feeling that this whole island is cursed by an evil spirit…”

Han-Yeol was not the only one who felt that the island was eerie and sinister; the others all seemed to share the same thought.

‘Mana Eyes,’ Han-Yeol thought, activating his skill.

He infused his eyes with mana and observed the surroundings while the other Hunters were busy chit-chatting away. He was being careful, as there were some odd Trolls that wandered around apart from the rest, and the last thing they would want was to be caught off-guard by a deadly monster like a Troll. Thankfully, they did not run into any Trolls on the way to their target location.

“Listen up! The Trolls will be quite active from this point on. I wish to remind you again. You have to follow my orders no matter what. We will all die if even one of you acts out of line,” Ji-Pyung said.

“Yes, yes. You don’t have to keep saying that, party leader-nim,” the younger Hunters in the party nonchalantly responded to Ji-Pyung's nagging. They were already starting to feel annoyed due to the way Ji-Pyung had been saying the same thing over and over again.

Ji-Pyung was only reminding them out of concern for the party, but he felt upset due to the way they responded to him when he was just looking out for them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“The Trolls have finally caught our scent, and they are coming for us. Everyone! Get ready for battle!” Ji-Pyung alerted the whole party.

“Yes, sir!”

The looks in the Hunters’ eyes changed in an instant as they prepared for battle. They had been dilly-dallying until that moment, but they turned serious right as the battle was about to commence.

“Porters! Prepare to fire!” one of the managers called out.

Clack!

The first to engage in battle were the Porters.

“Fire!” the manager commanded.

Ratatatatata!

The eight Porters opened fire at the manager’s command as soon as a Troll emerged from the bushes. The bullets from their rifles rained down on the Troll, but they failed to do any damage, and the Troll only seemed to be annoyed by them.

“Gwuuoooooh!” The Troll let out an angry roar as it charged at them.

“Mr. Han-Yeol!” Ji-Pyung shouted, knowing that Han-Yeol possessed a CC[1] skill.

“Yes!” Han-Yeol responded. He used his skill. “Restrain!”

Shhhhwiiiik!

The chain on Han-Yeol’s left hand flew out as soon as he activated his skill, and it wrapped itself around the ankle of the Troll he was targeting.

“Gwueh?” The Troll tilted its head in confusion, before…

Baaam!

The Troll crashed to the ground after Han-Yeol’s chains bound its legs up, just like a person tripping over because their shoelaces were tangled. As it was running with all its might right before that, the resounding noise that followed was incredibly loud.

“…”

The whole party was speechless. They had been aware that Han-Yeol possessed a CC skill, but they could never have imagined that someone they had brought along as a Healer would be able to display such ability outside of healing.

“What are you doing?! Hurry up and attack it!” Han-Yeol shouted in frustration.

“Ah! DPS! Hurry and attack it! Hurry up!” Ji-Pyung snapped back to his senses and gave out a command.

The Hunters who had been staring at the scene suddenly came back to their senses at their party leader’s command, and they rushed at the Troll on the ground with their weapons drawn.

***

The Onyx Party contained three ranged DPS and three melee DPS, and all of them mercilessly attacked the Troll with their own special skills.

“Muscle Crusher!”

“Vacuum Spear!”

Baaam!

“Die! Die!”

Booom!

Han-Yeol was controlling his chain to prevent the Troll from getting up easily, but the Troll was miles ahead of him in terms of physical strength.

‘Keuh!’ Han-Yeol groaned as he struggled to keep the Troll under control. The moment it unleashed all its strength without reservation, however, he retrieved his chain, sensing that he could no longer keep it bound.

However, Han-Yeol was not disappointed at all even after losing to the Troll in their contest of strength. In fact, he was actually delighted. He exclaimed inwardly, ‘My new chain is really good!’

He had initially thought that spending 2.1 billion won for a chain was a very bad decision, but those thoughts changed the moment he used his new chain in battle. The new chain was incomparable to the ones he had previously used that came from the miscellaneous stores at the Hunter Mall. His new chain was far sturdier, absorbed his mana better, and was much easier to control.

Han-Yeol stopped thinking about his new weapon and focused on the battle again.

“Gwuuuooh!” The Troll let out an enraged roar as soon as it was released from Han-Yeol’s chain, and it relentlessly smashed its wooden club in all directions in a frenzy.

“Taunt!” Ji-Pyung shouted.

Wooong!

A wave of mana emanated from Ham Ji-Pyung’s body as soon as he shouted ‘Taunt’. The Troll that was wildly swinging its wooden club all over the place suddenly flinched for a moment.

“Grrrrr…” With a growl, the Troll looked around briefly, then set its eyes on the Tank. It glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

‘Bring it on, you Troll!’ Ji-Pyung thought as he lowered his stance.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Troll rushed forward and attacked the party leader as if unaware of anything else around it, and the power behind its every strike was enough to send a chill down the spines of the melee DPS who had been near it a while ago.

‘Ha… I forgot about our leader’s skill.’

‘How shameful…!’

These Hunters had hunted alongside Ji-Pyung numerous times in the past, but they had briefly forgotten about their leader’s Taunt skill.

“Aggro secured! DPS! Attack!” Ji-Pyung shouted a command.

“Fire Arrow!”

“Wind Spin!”

Ji-Pyung repeated his command to attack the troll after securing the Troll’s aggro. The ranged DPS unleashed a fierce array of spells, while the melee DPS charged at the Troll.

“Vacuum Spear!”

“Fast Walk!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Ji-Pyung had gained the Troll’s aggro, but that did not mean the Troll was forever tied to him. The Troll’s aggro was bound to reset after it received a certain amount of damage.

“Grrr…” The Troll let out a low growl.

“Damn it! The Troll is about to redirect its aggro!” Ji-Pyung shouted.

The Troll slowly began to look away from the tank.

It was then…

Shwwiiiik!

“Restrain!” Han-Yeol used his skill again and threw his chain, and this time, it wrapped itself around the Troll’s neck.

Clang!

“Gruuuaaaah!” The Troll roared and flailed wildly as the chain wrapped around its neck.

“Keuh! Party leader! Hurry up and take the aggro!” Han-Yeol shouted while struggling against the Troll.

“O-Okay!” Ji-Pyung responded.

Han-Yeol had calmly handled the situation when the Troll’s aggro was about to be diverted to the DPS, wrapping his chain around its neck and pulling it back toward the Tank. Then, he retrieved his chain as soon as the aggro was focused on the Tank, as the Troll might suddenly switch its aggro toward him instead.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Troll once again started to bash away at a large rectangular barrier the party leader erected.

“Alright! Everyone, attack!” Ji-Pyung shouted his command once again.

“Uryaah!”

“Haap!”

They repeated the cycle of the party leader attracting the Troll’s aggro by using Taunt, followed by the DPS safely unleashing their attacks while the Troll was distracted by the Tank. Then, Han-Yeol stepped in to use Restrain on the Troll if its aggro was about to shift, buying time for the party leader to reset its aggro once again.

The innate property of the Troll’s blood that allowed it to recover could not keep up with the damage it received. It was impossible for the Troll to withstand and regenerate from all of the damage it received when the party unleashed their fierce attacks against it.

“Hwan! Now!” Ji-Pyung suddenly shouted.

“Okay!” the party member named Hwan replied. The spear-wielding DPS Hunter took a few steps back upon receiving the party leader’s command, then cast a skill. “Lightning Enchant!”

Bzzzzzt!

The spear he was holding was surrounded by a ferocious lightning current that seemed as if it could rip apart the heart of anything it came into contact with.

“Hwan! End it!” Ji-Pyung shouted.

“Alright!” Hwan replied as he ran and kicked off the ground. Then, he stabbed his spear directly into the Troll’s heart.

“Hwan!” Ji-Pyung suddenly screamed.

The Troll that had busily been blocking the Hunters’ attacks suddenly threw away its wooden club and readied its nails as if it had been waiting for that precise moment, swiping directly at Hwan.

Ji-Pyung felt a chill down his spine the moment he saw the Troll attack Hwan. He thought in horror, ‘Damn it! We were fooled!’

Hwan was already in mid-air, making it impossible for him to avoid his impending doom.

It was then…

Shwwwiiik!

Han-Yeol’s chain flew out just in time and wrapped itself around the Troll's right hand. He pulled on the chain and muttered, “Restraint.”

“Grrue?” the troll exclaimed in confusion. It lasted for a mere moment, but that was more than enough.

“Haaaaaaaap!”

Puuuk! Bzzzzt!

“Gruuuoowww!” The Troll roared in agony.

The agile spear-wielding Hunter had been able to take full advantage of that split second, using the opening to drive his spear into the Troll’s heart with all of his strength. Then, a strong electric current spread throughout the Troll, frying every single muscle in its body including its heart.

“Gruwah…!” The Troll let out a last gasp, then slowly fell backward after being stabbed in one of its two critical weak points.

Han-Yeol had been watching the fight from the back lines, but the entire time, he had kept his Mana Eyes active. He had been scrutinizing the flow of mana from start to end. These people had become Hunters much earlier than Han-Yeol, and he had wanted to see whether studying how the skills of other Hunters worked would help him create new skills.

“The Troll is down!”

“Yes!”

“What the? That was easy, wasn’t it?”

They had sustained not a single casualty, nor a single fatality. It was a decisive victory for the Hunters, and the ones who had shone the brightest in the battle were the party leader, who was the Tank, and the Hunter who had dealt the final strike, Hwan.

However, all the Hunters fixated their attention on one person.

“But what is that chain skill?”

“Did you see how he instantly restrained the Troll?”

“It was awesome!”

The Hunters started to see Han-Yeol in a different light. They had initially wondered if their party leader recruited Han-Yeol as a backup in case of emergencies, as he could not use an instant healing skill. However, they had been greatly surprised to see that Han-Yeol had more to offer than just healing, as he had used an amazing skill in the battle.

“We’re off to a good start.”

“I agree. We have a skilled Tank and a skilled Healer/Supporter. It’s my first time being in a party like this!”

“I look forward to what we’ll achieve this time.”

Han-Yeol honestly disliked getting any attention, but he could not keep from having his ego inflated when everyone was praising him. To be honest, what kind of person would not want to be praised?

Ji-Pyung approached Han-Yeol while he was still drunk on the others’ praises. He said, “Your skill was quite amazing.”

“Do you think so?” Han-Yeol replied, nonchalantly brushing off the compliment.

However, he was actually acting humble. People were bound to praise someone even more if that person showed exceptional skills but subsequently humbled themselves.

“Yes, it was really amazing. I actually recruited you because of your ability as a Healer, and not as a Supporter. In fact, I was not really expecting much from your Supporter ability. But this… Wow. I think I will have to increase your share of the profit at this rate!” Ji-Pyung exclaimed.

“Well, I will be glad if you increase my share, but there is no need to change that when we have already started our hunt,” Han-Yeol replied.

The party leader’s proposal to increase his share was very tempting, but Han-Yeol refused the offer, as the rewards he would reap from this hunt were already significant enough for him. Additionally, he wanted to avoid any unnecessary conflict that might arise later on because of changes in the profit distribution.

“I understand. Then we will continue with the original distribution,” Ji-Pyung replied.

“I have no issue with that,” Han-Yeol replied.

It was at that moment, as the Hunters were leisurely sitting around, that the two managers started to push the eight Porters in the party to move faster. One of them shouted, “Hurry up! We can’t let a single thing go to waste from this Troll!”

A Troll’s corpse was many times more valuable than a normal monster’s, which was why the managers were rushing the Porters so heavily.

Whiiiiiiing!

The sound of the Porters’ saws filled the air as they started to work on dismembering the Troll’s corpse.

***

The first Troll they brought down was just the start of the hunt. The Onyx Party minimized their rest time and focused on hunting down more Trolls. The younger Hunters, who would usually complain about the fast-paced hunting, diligently fulfilled their roles without a single complaint; even they were aware that they only had three days to hunt these valuable monsters. Additionally, Ham Ji-Pyung, the party leader, maintained control of all the Hunters in the party effectively.

At this point, they had hunted more than ten Trolls.

“Gwuuuuooh!”

“Two Trolls incoming!”

Unfortunately, they had to face two Trolls at once this time around.

“Damn it! I’m the only Tank!” Ji-Pyung cursed as his face crumpled.

In the end, they had no choice but to use Plan B, which had been prepared beforehand in case of emergencies like this; they had hoped to never have to use it.

“I will keep one of the Trolls busy. I want all of you to combine your strength and kill the other one!” Ji-Pyung commanded.

They had no choice, as Ji-Pyung could only taunt and keep one of the Trolls busy at a time. It would have been a different story if they had a sub-Tank at least, but they had pre-planned their hunt to stay around the areas where Trolls were known to wander alone. Thus, they had thought they would not really need a sub-Tank for the hunt.

1. Short for ‘crowd-control’, or disabling ☜