Chapter 13

Leveling Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 12

“Grrr...!”

The wraith looked down at his body in disbelief.

Two axes were embedded in his chest.

“This is what a weak human body is...”

Boom.

With that, Kim Yong-joon’s body rolled back, eyes rolling up.

[Number of enemies to eliminate: 0]

[Number of enemies eliminated: 1]

The quest was over.

[You have completed the urgent quest: Eliminate the enemy.]

[Your level has increased!]

Whoosh!

At that moment, Suho’s exhausted stamina instantly returned to its optimal condition.

However, Suho did not let his guard down.

Although he had killed Kim Yong-joon, the one controlling his body was the sword he was holding.

‘The power of the dominator!’

Crack!

A stone axe fell from the air and severed the arm of Kim Yong-joon, who was holding the sword.

[Well done! This sword is the main body!]

As if waiting for this moment, Berg flew over and lifted the sword that Kim Yong-joon had been holding.

At that moment, a fierce voice echoed in Berg’s mind.

-Who dares to covet the fang lord’s sword!

[Young lord, can I eat this sword?]

-Hold on. Can’t we resolve this through conversation?

Suddenly, the sword’s voice became gentle.

Berg’s expression was too sincere as he looked at Suho with a hungry look.

On the other hand, Suho was not in a position to respond to Berg’s question.

Grrr!

Although the wraith was dealt with, the wolf hands, having lost their focal point, all lunged at him at once.

However, due to the recent level-up, Suho’s stamina and mana were fully recharged, and with all his stats increasing by 1, his movements had improved.

Swish! Swish Swish!

[Steel Fang Lycan eliminated.]

[Steel Fang Lycan eliminated.]

As he eliminated the enemies attacking him one by one, Suho shouted to Berg.

“The weapon is too short! Can I use that sword?”

-Who dares to covet the fang...

[Of course, it’s possible! A wraith like this can never corrupt the young lord’s mind!]

“Okay!”

Suho quickly took the sword from Berg.

[Item acquired: Lakan’s Fang.]

At that moment, the wraith of the sword fiercely howled as if waiting for this moment.

-Who dares to covet the fang lord’s sword! I will devour your flesh!

Whoosh!

A red aura extended from the sword and enveloped Suho.

Then, a shadow rose from beneath Suho’s feet and swallowed the sword.

-What, what is this power!

The wraith’s voice grew smaller as it panicked.

-This can’t be, the power of the shadow lord...!

The wraith couldn’t believe it.

He was the great sword of the fang lord.

Not just any ordinary sword, but a manifestation created by the fang lord pulling out his own fang.

It was absurd that there was a human who could control him, who possessed such great power.

Especially since this human didn’t look weak at all!

[Hmph. Even if the young lord was extremely weak, he wouldn’t be dominated by a trivial creature. Yes, he is of a certain lineage!]

-What, what do you mean! I am not a trivial creature! Cancel it immediately...!

“Ahh, shut up.”

Ignoring the wraith’s screams, Suho swung the sword at the wolves he had been controlling.

Swish Swish Swish!

The wolves were mercilessly cut down by the sword.

Compared to the pickaxes and stone axes that had been shattered by the wolves’ steel fangs, this sword was on a different level of durability!

“Still, this weapon is good.”

-Of course it’s good! Whose sword do you think this is!

Amidst this, the wraith was showing off his pride.

Although the situation was still thoroughly surrounded, Suho, now with a bit of leeway, immediately checked the rewards.

‘Give me something useful! Good stats too!’

[The completion rewards have arrived.]

[Would you like to check the rewards?] (Y/N)

‘Check!’

[The following rewards are available.]

Reward: ‘Rune Stone: Storm Slash’

‘It’s a skill!’

This was the best reward.

Suho immediately confirmed the reward.

[Rune Stone: Storm Slash]

Breaking the rune stone will absorb the skill.

Crack!

[Skill: Storm Slash learned.]

Breaking the rune stone, the power of the storm infused Suho’s entire body.

Whoosh!

“This is...?”

Suho instinctively understood.

How to use this skill.

How to apply this skill.

Given the urgency of the situation, Suho immediately used the skill.

“Haaat!”

[Using skill: Storm Slash.]

Boom!

At that moment, a fierce wind erupted from Suho’s sword.

The blade of the storm simultaneously enveloped the wolves in front of Suho.

“Gah! Gah!”

[Steel Fang Lycan eliminated.]

[Steel Fang Lycan eliminated.]

[Steel Fang Lycan eliminated.]

...

Numerous messages appeared.

“Wow.”

Suho was amazed.

With one use of the skill, more than ten wolves died simultaneously.

The remaining wolves, terrified by the immense destructive power, scattered and fled.

Suho had no intention of chasing them.

His mana, which had been full, was now completely drained due to this single use of the skill.

[Skill: Storm Slash Lv.1]

Active skill.

Required mana: 50.

The power of a swirling storm infuses the sword.

Can attack multiple enemies simultaneously.

The required mana was a whopping 50.

But the effect was equally impressive.

Suho stared at the skill window as if entranced.

Berg found this ridiculous.

[What, are you impressed by just such a skill? The power of the shadow is thousands, tens of thousands of times more impressive!]

-What are you talking about! It’s not the skill, but the greatness of the sword that produces this power!

The wraith of the sword also had pride that didn’t fall behind Berg’s.

“Both of you, be quiet. This is a historic moment for me, finally getting an attack skill.”

[No way!]

-No, I am more...

Ignoring the bickering duo, Suho returned to the miners who had been hiding.

“Are you all right?”

“S-Suho...”

The miners were astonished by Suho’s swordsmanship, which had just caused a storm.

“Why didn’t you use such a skill before...?”

‘Ah.’

Suho’s face turned awkward at the miners’ reactions.

Logically, no one would believe him if he said he had just acquired a new skill during the battle.

“I use it once, and my mana is completely drained. That’s why I saved it for the last moment.”

“Indeed.”

The miners were even more impressed by this.

Suho had only awakened a few days ago.

Moreover, this was his first time entering a dungeon.

Yet, he had hidden his true strength until the decisive moment.

This was like the behavior of a seasoned hunter who had cleared countless gates.

‘Unbelievable. Does that mean everything he showed us until now was a calculated move?’

‘Even his fleeing and hiding...?’

“You... how far did you plan this?”

“Huh?”

“Ha ha. Never mind, never mind. You don’t have to tell us.”

“We asked a silly question.”

“Anyway, thank you for saving us. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have seen the light of day tomorrow.”

The miners finally felt the relief of survival and sighed in relief.

* * *

The incident at the Korean University dungeon became known that evening.

“What? The attack team was wiped out?”

“Just a D-rank dungeon?”

“Wasn’t the leader of the hunters who entered there C-rank?”

“What on earth happened?”

Journalists rushed to Korean University to uncover the truth of the incident.

However, the miners who had barely survived had long since left the place.

“Ha ha. I’ll tell you.”

Of course, Assistant Lim was still working in the assistant office.

With a running skill, Assistant Lim had managed to escape the intense situation unscathed.

‘Good. Now I can repay my debt to Suho.’

Assistant Lim told the journalists everything he knew about the incident in the dungeon.

Especially, he provided detailed accounts of Suho’s contributions.

Whether the journalists believed him or not was up to them.

“E-rank hunter?”

“Summoner hunter? Is that even possible?”

“One C-rank hunter died in this incident. How could such a low-rank hunter...”

“No! Whether it’s an E-rank hunter or a summoner, what’s the problem! Are you dismissing them just because they’re minor?”

Journalists reacted skeptically, and Assistant Lim became angry.

“I’ll post all your comments on the E-rank hunter community!”

“Hey, why are you getting so angry?”

“Calm down, calm down.”

The journalists, sweating, began to soothe Assistant Lim.

The E-rank hunter community was a challenging place for journalists.

First, there were so many of them, and no guild was without E-rank hunters.

As a result, the community was a place where all sorts of trivial information circulated, and if they were offended, it could be quite troublesome for journalists.

“Cough. Anyway, you’re saying that the hunter Sung Suho made the greatest contribution?”

“He distracted the summoners and cut off the arm of the berserk hunter?”

Summarizing it, it sounded like a typical summoner’s battle strategy.

Of course, his close combat skills seemed unusually good for a summoner, but the journalists perceived it as Assistant Lim’s bias towards his own student.

“Well, anyway. We have the content for the article.”

That evening, an article was posted online.

The content was about an E-rank hunter using his ingenuity to resolve the incident, but people’s reactions were lukewarm.

-Summoner? And E-rank?

-A minor of minors.

-Is this a summoner hunter viral story?

-Are journalists so short on topics these days?

-Anyway, that E-rank hunter is a summoner. Didn’t he save students there a few days ago?

-He must have used summoning skills then too. Summoning skills saved the day.

-Ah, it’s a summoner viral story~

And a few guilds that saw the article showed interest in Suho.

“E-rank, but he’s pretty good?”

“Even if we discount the exaggeration by journalists, he seems to have potential among E-rank hunters.”

“Isn’t it time to recruit a few more porters?”

“Rather, the recovery team asked for more members.”

“Good. These days, E-rank hunters are being poached everywhere, so there are few good freelancers.”

“So we should hire a few E-rank hunters as regular employees.”

“Regular employees? Hmm. Am I being too old-fashioned? Still, E-rank hunters are better suited for contract or daily work. These young guys these days.”

“Cough. Anyway, I’ll send a scouting offer to this Sung Suho.”

“Sure. How happy will he be when we call? The guy’s lucky.”

Thus, a regular employee scouting offer from the Black Tortoise Guild, one of the largest guilds in Korea, was sent to Sung Suho.

‘Such an incredible opportunity for a newly awakened rookie. Other E-rank hunters will be envious if they find out.’

* * *

And a little later.

“...What?”

Section Chief Lee Young-ho of the Black Tortoise Guild’s Second Management Department doubted his ears.

“He, he rejected it? Our Black Tortoise?”

“Yes...”

“Does that make sense? A mere E-rank rookie rejecting an offer from Black Tortoise? This can’t be! Did White Tiger get to him first?”

“It’s possible.”

“Grr. Yeah, White Tiger could do that. Still, offering better conditions than us to an E-rank hunter is overkill, right? Are they swimming in money?”

Section Chief Lee Young-ho only cursed the White Tiger Guild.