Leveling Up Alone

The mana shells aimed at Woo Han-Jon disappeared.

“Hoho! What do you think of—“

The dozens of mana shells Han-Yeol shot out was just a greeting before restarting the duel.

He shifted the end of the Jabberwock Chain into a claw and threw it at Woo Han-Jong, and the chain that boasted the ability to stretch endlessly was already right in front of him.

Han-Yeol’s Jabberwock Chain was so close that even the mighty Woo Han-Jong was unable to evade it.

The chain wrapped itself around his waist.

Han-Yeol smirked triumphantly and said, “Oh? I finally got you, old man.”

His mana had no attribute, so he had to expend more mana than required to counteract the ice attribute mana. This duel would end in Han-Yeol’s victory if this dragged on.

The only saving grace for Woo Han-Jong right now was the fact that Han-Yeol’s Restrain skill had a limit, so the chain was bound to free Woo Han-Jong soon enough.

However, Han-Yeol did not expect to win this duel through a battle of attrition.

“What a haul! I caught a big fish!” he yanked his chain and exclaimed.

“I’ll end this in one blow,” Han-Yeol said. He clenched his sword and prepared to end the battle. He could not afford to miss this golden opportunity handed to him on a silver platter by his opponent’s carelessness.

Woo Han-Jong might be powerful, but he was still a human in the end. Thus, Han-Yeol planned to end him by using Head Cutter, which was a skill specializing in beheading its target.

Han-Yeol’s mana completely enveloped his Jabberwock Sword as he swung it toward the old man’s neck.

He swung his sword at Woo Han-Jong’s neck and decapitated him—or so he thought.

The old man’s expression suddenly changed the moment his sword was about to touch Woo Han-Jong’s neck. The look of agony was gone and his usual smile came back.

Han-Yeol froze the moment he saw the old man’s expression, and a thought crossed his mind.

Then, he felt warmth in his chest right after thinking of those two words.

Woo Han-Jong magically freed himself from the chain and left a gashing wound across Han-Yeol’s chest without him even realizing it.

Han-Yeol fell to his knees and groaned.

He desperately tried to move his hands to use his healing abilities, but his hands simply continued to shudder and refused to listen to him.

“Hohoho! I’ve cut a portion of your heart, your lungs, and your ribs. Ah, I also messed with your muscles. There’s this strange genius in the Freemason named Dr. Santinora, and he taught me a few things about the human body. Hoho! He said a Hunter’s core is their heart, and they will end up powerless if you make slight alterations to their heart and muscles. In short, you can’t use your skills anymore and you’re going to die a painful death.”

Woo Han-Jong sheathed his bamboo sword. He was confident that the battle was finally over.

Things were not looking good for him right now. His eyes were slowly shutting, and he had never felt such pain in his entire life even after becoming a Hunter.

Karvis desperately tried to get him back, but even her voice started to fade from his mind.

He already experienced death once as Harkan, but he died so abruptly that he did not have any time to experience it properly. However, it was different this time as he was slowly dying, and his memories started flashing right in front of his eyes.

The first thing he thought of was not his father, unfortunately.

He was planning to confess once he became a man befitting someone like her; a man who stood at the pinnacle of the world. Ironically, he was going to die without telling her how he felt about her.

Han-Yeol gritted his teeth as hard as he could. There was no way he was going to give up here.

He had already experienced these kinds of injuries countless times during his time as Harkan—no, he even fought until his neck was mauled to the point his head was barely dangling. He could have lost his head and died that time, and fortunately one of the elders managed to heal him after the battle. Of course, he received an earful from Riru for being so reckless.

He placed his hand on his trembling knee and forced himself up to his feet.

Woo Han-Jong was already walking toward the Blue House to put an end to the fight between his retainers and Han-Yeol’s comrades. He was planning to either kill them or convince them to side with him.

“Hmm?”

However, he stopped and turned around after noticing something behind him move.

“Oh…?”

He was quite taken aback by what he saw.

“Hohoho! You’re far more tenacious than I thought… To think you could still move with that body… Hohoho! I guess leaving you to die was ill-mannered of me. Fine, I will end your life with my own two hands right now.”

He pulled out his bamboo sword once again and slowly walked toward Han-Yeol. It took a while for him to walk over to Han-Yeol as he was already a fair distance away from him.

He somehow managed to get back to his feet, but that was all there was to it as he was barely hanging on thanks to his tenacious spirit.

However, Han-Yeol suddenly burst out into laughter.

“Hmm? Has he lost it again?” Woo Han-Jong muttered while worrying about his mental health. He was about to kill him so it might not make much of a difference, but it was quite unfortunate to see such a promising young man lose his mind.

Woo Han-Jong was purposely walking slowly toward Han-Yeol as he wanted him to suffer even longer. Still, he did not forget to put on an act just to ridicule and spite his opponent.

“Hmm?”

Han-Yeol’s body was a mess to the point that even the simplest movement was taxing, but he squeezed his strength to raise his right hand.

He bit his own arm and ripped off a mouthful out of it.

“Oh?” Woo Han-Jong muttered in amazement.

Han-Yeol was basically devouring his own flesh right now, and this made Woo Han-Jong come to a halt. Anyone would feel repulsed by cannibalism, and Woo Han-Jong was no exception even though he was a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter.

However, Han-Yeol was not necessarily eating himself like what Woo Han-Jong thought. He was actually using a skill he frequently used unbeknownst to others, and this skill was none other than Blood Drain.

He tried his best to level this skill up as much as possible, but its growth stagnated at A-Rank just like Homing Bullet.

He was currently drinking as much of his own blood as possible, and he was gobbling down every single drop of blood just like he did the first time Astaroth granted him this skill.

Then, something amazing happened.

“H-How?!” Woo Han-Jong exclaimed as his eyes shot wide open.

What he was witnessing right now was so bizarre that it caught him completely off guard.

“A-All of his organs should be damaged by now, making it impossible for him to use mana! But how?!”

Woo Han-Jong had abducted nearly one thousand Hunters so far, and he conducted rigorous tests on all of them. Not only that, but the Freemasons were supporting him as well by testing his victims.

The result of the test stated that even Woo Han-Jong, a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter, would not be able to use his mana if he cut himself in the same manner.

He could have killed Han-Yeol immediately if he cut deeper, but he wanted to make him bleed and die a slow death for as long as possible.

However, something unexpected happened as red mana started encircling Han-Yeol. A red magic circle appeared on the ground and seemed to be giving strength to him.

Woo Han-Jong had no idea what was happening, but he decided to stop it right here. He was no longer leisurely walking but rushing toward Han-Yeol.

He focused his strength into his sword hand and swung it as hard as he could.

Woo Han-Jong’s bamboo sword was deflected without achieving anything.

The impact from having his sword deflected was so strong that Woo Han-Jong‘s palm ripped.

“W-What’s this?!” Woo Ha-Jong exclaimed after seeing blood from his hand drip down to the ground, only to be absorbed by the magic circle.

Then, something rose up from the magic circle and tried to suck his blood directly from the wound, and this made Woo Han-Jong jump back in surprise.

This was his first time experiencing something like this.

Then, the magic circle unleashed a terrifying shriek and emitted a sinister aura after having a taste of his blood.

Woo Han-Jong prided himself as the longest surviving Hunter, but even he could not explain this current phenomenon. This bloodthirsty magic circle was simply so bizarre that he had no clue what in the world it was.

It was only natural he would be clueless about it as this was a skill only Han-Yeol possessed in the entire world.

The aura emitted by the magic circle grew stronger.

[The rank of Blood Drain has risen from (A) to (M).]

[Blood Drain has reached Master-Rank.]

[One of the seventy-two demons, Astaroth, is extremely pleased to see you raise the skill she bestowed upon you to Master-Rank.]

Three messages popped up one after the other, but Han-Yeol did not read them as he was too focused on using Blood Drain.

However, that was not the end of it.