Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 136: Egypt’s Might (3)

Han-Yeol sympathized with Mujahid, whose obsession led him to follow Mariam around, while completely understanding why Mariam was getting annoyed by him.

[Aaah! Both of you are talking through telepathy again! Can you please let me in on it as well?]

‘I guess he still is an S Rank Hunter, judging by how sensitive he is to mana,’?thought Han-Yeol as he felt impressed.

Actually, it was going to be strange if an S Rank Hunter was not able to sense this level of mana. An S Rank Hunter, or rather, an Osiris Rank Hunter in this case, possessed more than enough power to raze an entire city alone if left unchecked.

[That’s enough chatter. It’s time to focus on the meeting. Same goes for you, Han-Yeol.]

Tayarana finally stepped up to put an end to the pointless discussion. She was the highest-ranking person in this place, so Mariam and even Mujahid obediently followed her command.

Of course, Mujahid naturally sat right beside Tayarana just as he was accustomed to. However…

[You sit over there.]

[Huh? Why all of a sudden?]

Tayarana stopped Mujahid and made him sit one seat further from her, which was a rank lower than whoever was going to sit next to her. She sounded like she was making a suggestion, but she was, in fact, giving a direct order.

Mujahid was not in a position to go against Tayarana’s command. Both of them might be children of Phaophator, but there was a stark difference between her, who was born from the first wife, and him, who was born from the second wife.

Both of them might be Osiris Rank Hunters, but Tayarana was also much stronger than Mujahid on top of possessing better items.

[This seat is for the Vice Leader of the Horus raid party.]

[Ah, you mean that great warrior-nim?]

When Mujahid pointed at Han-Yeol, Tayarana nodded without a hint of hesitation. She said, [Yeah, and this is not Egypt. We deal with things through hierarchy and not social status.]

[I guess you’re right. Well, I have no qualms giving up the seat if it is for that great warrior-nim. Alright.] Mujahid shrugged and sat on the next seat.

It was quite a bizarre sight that a prince was simply giving up his seat for a commoner.

Then, Tayarana patted the seat next to her and said, [Come and sit here, Han-Yeol.]

[Err… Alright.]

Han-Yeol was feeling quite embarrassed after taking the Egyptian Prince’s seat, but he had to comply. After all, it was Tayarana who had asked him to sit down.

The meeting, which was attended by all of the Horus raid party executives, commenced right after Han-Yeol sat down. The light was dimmed as a beam projector flashed in front of them, and then a neatly-dressed man presumed to be in his thirties stood in front of everyone.

“Hello, my name is Choi Tae-Ki, and I am in charge of the Gyeongsangbukdo Interim Dimensional Rift Management Department,” the man introduced himself and bowed.

After the man was done speaking, an Egyptian Hunter translated his introduction. However, there was no welcoming applause or anything of that sort as he was not presenting in front of an academia.

“Ehem…?I will get straight to the point and explain what is going on in the Republic of Korea as we speak.”

Beep!

A map of South Korea flashed on the screen, and there were numerous red dots spread across the different regions. There were seven red dots in total, but the Gyeongju region was marked with a skull.

“We have currently found seven boss monsters in the Republic of Korea, and their locations are spread all over the peninsula. That is the main reason our Hunters’ Association have made an emergency request to all of our Master Rank Hunters, and we have sent six Master Rank Hunters to raid each of the boss monsters. They are currently raiding the boss monsters as we speak,” Choi Tae-Ki explained.

Chak!

When Han-Yeol raised his hand, Choi Tae-Ki looked over and asked, “Yes, what is it?”

He did not like the fact that Han-Yeol was interrupting him in the middle of his presentation. However, he had no choice but to acknowledge Han-Yeol, who wasn’t someone he could mess with right now.

Lee Han-Yeol was nothing more than an average Hunter in South Korea, but he was currently the Vice Leader of one of Egypt’s strongest raid parties, the Horus raid party. Not only that, but he was also the first person to successfully tame a monster. Needless to say, he was the talk of the whole world right now.

There were rumors that every country in the world was clamoring to grant him citizenship as well as a host of other benefits. It was also rumored that he had already agreed to acquire an American citizenship.

On top of that, it was revealed that one of the most powerful Hunters in the world, President Phaophator of Egypt, had visited South Korea recently. The official statement was that he had come to visit his daughter, but there were rumors that he had actually come to get first dibs on Lee Han-Yeol.

Choi Tae-Ki had no idea how true the rumors about Han-Yeol were, but it was true that this Korean Hunter had grown far too big to be controlled by the Hunters’ Association.

‘I don’t have a reason to be at odds with Lee Han-Yeol Hunter…’?he did not like the idea of being interrupted, but he still chose to put on a smile.

“You mentioned just now that the Master Rank Hunters are currently raiding the boss monsters. Does that mean they still haven’t successfully raided the boss monsters?” Han-Yeol asked out of curiosity.

What kind of an entity was a Master Rank Hunter? Every country had their own title for the Master Rank Hunters. For example, China and Vietnam used the word ‘god’ in their language to address the Master Rank Hunters, Japan called them Special Rank Hunters, Egypt called them Ra Rank Hunters, and so on and so forth.

Each country might have their own way of addressing the Master Rank Hunters, but there was one common requirement a Hunter had to have to be given such a rank. And that requirement was none other than to receive the mark of approval from the World Hunters’ Association located in Washington D.C., the United States of America.

A Hunter had to pass the rigorous tests they were subjected to before they would receive the mark of approval. As for those who were skilled enough but failed to pass the tests, they would end up having to stay as an S Rank Hunter.

Yet, even those Hunters who passed those difficult tests were still ‘raiding’ the boss monster? Han-Yeol could not understand the logic behind that statement.

“Ah, I will clarify that matter. We have confirmed through satellite surveillance and from the scouting reports of the Master Rank Hunters that the boss monsters are not alone. They are surrounded by hordes of monsters, which we suspect is their army, and have taken control over the area around them. As of now, we have discovered that the area controlled by the boss monsters are slowly diminishing the barriers surrounding the hunting grounds, and it is highly likely that they will be conquering the hunting grounds as part of their territory very soon,” Choi Tae-Ki explained.

‘Ugh… That doesn’t sound good at all… I don’t think this is going to be an easy one judging by how even the raid parties with Master Rank Hunters are having a hard time clearing it.’?Han-Yeol grimaced after analyzing the situation.

“The area that we wish to request for the Horus raid party’s participation is near Bulguksa at Toham Mountain. That area is currently conquered by the boss monster, the Thousand Armed Bodhisattva,” Choi Tae-Ki added before he pressed the remote once again.

Beep!

Then, a video that seemed to be taken by satellite surveillance appeared on the screen.

Ddreuk!

“T-That is!” Han-Yeol shouted and shot up from his seat after seeing the boss monster in the video.

The Egyptians were not familiar with Buddhism, so they only saw the boss monster as a strange-looking monster. However, anyone who followed Buddhism, which was the largest religion among the three most dominant religions in South Korea, would know that the boss monster in the video was the sixth form of Buddha, the Thousand Armed Bodhisattva.

“I-Impossible! Is that really the boss monster?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Unfortunately, it is,” Choi Tae-Ki replied.

“Ugh…”?

Thud…!

Han-Yeol groaned and plopped down to his seat.

.

Of course, his strong reaction was not because he was a Buddhist. He did not follow any faith, but he was a Christian on paper. This was because he had previously gone to a school run by a Christian foundation.

He was so shocked after seeing the boss monster’s form was solely because he found it absurd that something like that was even possible.

‘Mavros looks like a dragon while this monster looks like Buddha himself… Well, I guess that’s possible, since there’s a monster that resembles an angel in Italy. Ah, but these monsters really don’t give a damn whether it's fiction or religion, eh?’?Han-Yeol shook his head at the truly absurd phenomenon.

“The monster looks like a god, so it must be quite powerful as well, right?” Han-Yeol then asked.

“Yes, that is correct,” Choi Tae-Ki replied.

“I assume that you have already sent another raid party to hunt this boss monster down, judging by how the other Master Rank Hunters are already raiding the other bosses. Am I correct?” Han-Yeol threw a sharp question.

He was the type of person who wouldn’t pull any punches if he decided to dig into a matter.

“T-That is correct…” Choi Tae-Ki started breaking out in cold sweat at the question.

“It’s quite obvious that you sent a group of monks and they got annihilated,” Han-Yeol nonchalantly said.

“H-How did you know…?! Ah! Ehem…?Ehem…!”?Choi Tae-Ki was flustered, but he immediately composed himself by faking a cough.

‘Damn it, that’s classified information. How the hell did he know about that?’?he wondered.

Of course, this information was not from Han-Yeol himself.

[That is what happened.]

[I see…]

Choi Tae-Ki was forgetting that the Horus raid party’s main caretaker had the ability to dive into other people’s consciousness.

He was indeed flustered after being caught off-guard by that sudden question, but he proved himself to be a veteran by instantly composing himself and dealing with the situation accordingly. It was not in their plan that this classified information was going to be leaked, but he knew what he had to do to steer the conversation to the association’s favor.

After all, there was a reason that he was in charge of an entire department at his age.

“That is actually classified information, but I will divulge it as you’ve already brought it up. The Hunters’ Association originally wanted to give the precious boss monster to a Korean raid party and not the Horus raid party, which is an Egyptian raid party,” Choi Tae-Ki said.

He continued, “We were searching for a suitable Korean raid party to raid the boss monsters, but the name of the boss monster, ‘Thousand Armed Bodhisattva,’ was leaked in the process. Then, a raid party known as the Swastika raid party that was composed of awakened monks who volunteered for the raid.

“Of course, our department refused to give them the right to raid the boss monster, but they stubbornly requested for it and vowed to put their lives on the line. In the end, the Hunters’ Association granted them the raid rights against our better judgment. The Swastika raid party formed an eight-hundred-man strong army and went to Toham Mountain, but…” Choi Tae-Ki trailed off at the end of his sentence.

“They got annihilated,” Han-Yeol chimed in.

“That is correct. The Hunters’ Association is now in a state of emergency because of that. We finally decided to make an official request to the Horus raid party, which is currently the strongest raid party in the country after the Korean raid parties with Master Rank Hunters,” Choi Tae-Ki said.

Murmur… Murmur…

The translator was translating the entire conversation in real-time, so the Egyptian Hunters started to murmur among themselves right after Choi Tae-Ki’s explanation was finished.

[Silence.]

[…]

However, they were instantly silenced by Tayarana’s single-word command, which had been given in a soft voice that carried authority.

She did not directly address her subordinates that often and neither was she the type of person who liked to chat. Therefore, all of them the significance of her personally giving them a command.

[So, what is the Hunters’ Association going to give us if we raid that Thousand Armed Bodhisattva for them?]

The association was making an official request, so there should be a reward for completing it. However, after hearing Tayarana’s question, Choi Tae-Ki had a strange reaction. He started breaking out in cold sweat all over again after the rewards were mentioned.

‘What’s wrong with him?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

“T-That is… The reward offered by the association is the… It’s a tax exemption for everything that the Thousand Armed Bodhisattva…” Choi Tae-Ki stuttered.

Ddreuuk!

Tayarana stood up and left the meeting room as soon as the translator finished translating that line.

“E-Excuse me, Tayarana-nim?!” Choi Tae-Ki called out.

Without giving a response, Tayarana simply walked out of the room. She might not have said anything before leaving, but Han-Yeol fully understood how she was feeling right now.

Mariam approached Choi Tae-Ki in Tayarana’s place. She was fluent in Korean, and she was also the person in charge of the operation of the Horus raid party. She said firmly, “Tayarana-nim feels greatly offended for having wasted her time. Also, go and convey this to your Hunters’ Association. Egypt will make them pay for this insult today.”

“Hiiik!”?Choi Tae-Ki felt his heart drop after getting threatened.

Egypt and South Korea might be allies, but he knew very well that the first to insult the other was the Korean Hunters’ Association. He knew that the reward offered by the association was quite absurd, but both he and the association had expected Egypt to help them out simply because they were allied countries.

However, that was a huge misconception on Choi Tae-Ki and the Hunters’ Association part. The Horus raid party would have immediately stepped up and raided the boss monster even if they had to pay taxes for whatever they obtained from it if this was Egypt, but South Korea was not their homeland and was just an ally.

In short, there was no reason for the Horus raid party to risk their lives while being treated like a disposable pawn by a foreign Hunters’ Association. Even Han-Yeol, who was a Korean citizen, had no choice but to side with the Egyptian for this matter as he was a member of the Horus raid party in the end.

‘They really crossed the line this time,’?Han-Yeol thought.

“Lastly, Tayarana-nim does not wish to entertain any guests from the Hunters’ Association from now on. We hope that we won’t be seeing each other again, and please see yourselves out,” Mariam said before leaving the meeting room.

She was a master of maintaining a poker face, but she seemed quite upset about the matter. After all, she did not even bother to act courteously to Choi Tae-Ki.

“Haa…”?Choi Tae-Ki sighed while looking devastated.

The other Egyptian Hunters also left the meeting room after Tayarana and Mariam had left. They no longer had any reasons to remain behind.

‘I found their offer to be quite absurd when I heard it, so imagine how the Egyptians would have felt,’?Han-Yeol thought.

He could not understand how the Korean Hunters’ Association could ask for a foreign raid party’s help by offering them a tax exemption as a reward. He thought that that should have already been something customary on the offer table. After all, it was common knowledge that they provided tax exemptions to all of the Hunters and raid parties that participated in subjugating the dimensional rifts and dimensional holes that had previously occurred.

1. The Swastika is an ancient religious symbol used in Asia. It was appropriated by the Nazis during WW2, but the Swastika here is not related to the Nazis at all. More info here:

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