Leveling Up Alone

“I did not expect them to create something like this. Just what are the limits of human greed? When will they say that enough is enough?” Han-Yeol asked–no, he was currently asking as Harkan.

Han-Yeol could criticize the human race from a third-person perspective since he also gained invaluable life experiences when he lived as Harkan.

Humans were truly a vile and greedy race when compared to the Bastrolings.

‘Ah, maybe not those hyenas,’ Han-Yeol thought. He was reminded of the hyenas, which were no different from humans.

Blop! Blop!

“Hmm?” Han-Yeol noticed that the test subject in the glass tube was showing signs of movement while he was busy grumbling about greedy humans.

[Han-Yeol-nim, the test subject is showing signs of life.]

‘What?! All of a sudden?!’

[Yes, though I find it strange… It suddenly showed signs of becoming conscious when it was in a vegetative state just a while ago.]

‘Damn it… What the hell is going on?’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly. Then, he extended his hand toward the glass and thought, ‘I wanted to take this thing with me and study it, but I guess it can’t be helped. Fireball!’

Disposing of such a test subject was indeed a waste, but Han-Yeol was not going to risk getting into a troublesome situation once the test subject awakened, so he decided to burn it.

Baaam!

The fireball slammed into the glass and exploded.

‘Did it work?’

Fireball was just a basic skill, but even a basic skill could become lethal if it was conjured with Han-Yeol’s mana. Most people would be unable to withstand the flames and be incinerated to ashes in the blink of an eye.

However, he could not help but feel that something was off. After checking with Demon Eyes, he saw that the test subject was still alive and well.

‘Damn it! I knew it!’ he exclaimed inwardly.

The glass was shattered into pieces, but the test subject was unscathed by the attack.

“Grrr…! Kehehe! Did you really think you could kill me with such a flimsy attack?” the test subject said, growling and snickering at the same time.

“This voice… Dr. Santinora?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Wow! I thought my voice sounded different, but I did not expect you to recognize me so easily. Do you really like me or something?”

“Cut the crap, you crazy bastard.”

Han-Yeol was sincerely repulsed by what the madman said. He never had a good experience whenever he ran into him, and the fact that he failed to kill him twice was something etched deep in his mind.

Dr. Santinora’s voice sounded different, but it was not enough to escape Han-Yeol’s sharp senses. In fact, it would have been strange if Han-Yeol had not recognized him.

“Kikiki! Is that so?”

“Yes, it is. Anyway, I’m guessing this is the Freemason’s laboratory?”

“To be precise, this is my personal laboratory! Well, this is one of the many I have.”

“Huh? Are you supposed to tell me these kinds of things so openly?”

“It does not matter since you will be dying here today.”

“What? I’ll die here?” Han-Yeol asked in disbelief.

“Yes, you heard me correctly,” Dr. Santinora replied.

“Haha! You’ve really lost it, haven’t you?” Han-Yeol sneered.

“Hmm…” Dr. Santinora had an oddly calm response to Han-Yeol’s sneering.

“Ah, I will admit that whatever you did here is quite impressive, regardless of how inhumane it is. Only the truly insane could do something like this, but I guess it’s still impressive since you managed to tame those monsters that humanity had been so desperately trying to do.”

Humanity tried to find ways to tame the monsters ever since the dimensional gates appeared. They believed that they could better secure the hunting grounds that could run rampant at any given moment if they found a way to tame the monsters.

The mana stones became a vital resource humanity could not live without, so they were reluctant to close a hunting ground just because it rampaged. The currently open hunting grounds were not enough to keep up with the demand, so closing them down was an option they did not want to consider.

Unfortunately, they failed to find a way to tame the monsters despite the amount of time and resources they spent in doing so. In fact, there were incidents where a few countries were razed by the very monsters they attempted to tame, causing the HUN to draft an international law preventing any country from removing live monsters from the hunting grounds.

However, the Freemason succeeded in the very thing that the whole world failed. Not only that, but they even succeeded in fusing them with humans, creating a truly hideous and repulsive creature.

“Hohoho! Say hello to my first creation, Hughtuff Jayax.”

A voice completely different from Dr. Santinora’s voice came out of his mouth.

“Grwaaaah!” Dr. Santinora roared like a ferocious monster.

‘Tsk… Is he bipolar or is the creature he’s fused with conscious too?’ Han-Yeol clicked his tongue inwardly at Dr. Santinora’s hideous appearance, which was a mix between a human and a monster.

“Kekeke! Do you have any idea how much work I put into creating this half-human, half-monster creation? I named it Hughtuff! I invested a lot of my time and money to create this, but it was definitely worth it. Anyway, what’s important is that I have finally created a secret weapon to kill you! Even if you don’t die here, I will send more to kill you!”

“Oh? That’s quite impressive.”

“Hahaha! Let’s see how long you can continue to be so smug!”

“Sure,” Han-Yeol replied with a shrug. He then took out his sword and chain, preparing for battle.

“Haha! Excellent!” Dr. Santinora exclaimed in delight. He brandished his claws and prepared for battle too.

‘He looks just like a character in a movie,’ Han-Yeol thought. However, only the claws were the same. Everything else about them was different, especially how the monster looked absolutely hideous.

The monster looked so grotesque and hideous that he felt repulsed just by looking at it.

“Try to keep up. Got it?” Han-Yeol said smugly.

“Kekeke!” Dr. Santinora cackled in response.

Bam!

Han-Yeol kicked off the ground and suddenly vanished.

***

Purple blood pooled on the laboratory floor.

“K-Kuheok…!”

The Hughtuff was indeed strong. It was created by combining various Hunters and monsters together, granting it insane stats and power. However, that did not mean it could win against Han-Yeol, a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter.

“D-Damn it… Is this not enough?”

“Hey, did you really expect to win without even measuring the strength of your opponent?”

“Y-You just wait and see, Lee Han-Yeol!”

“Sure, I’ll wait as long as you want me to. Though I’ve waited for a lot of people who said the exact same thing as you, none of them could do anything, no matter how long I waited.”

Chwak!

Han-Yeol swung his sword and decapitated Dr. Santinora.

Thud!

The Hughtuff’s head fell and rolled on the floor, and its headless body flailed its arms and aimlessly wandered until it collapsed.

“Tsk… That was lackluster,” Han-Yeol clicked his tongue and grumbled. He did not feel any sense of satisfaction from this victory.

It was not important whether his opponent was strong or not, as Han-Yeol already reached a realm where most monsters would not pose any threat to him.

However, the fact that the Hughtuff was created from fusing the body parts of innocent Hunters and the fact that he had to kill them left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Han-Yeol didn’t particularly feel remorseful, as he was not the type to empathize with his enemies.

Thud.

‘Oh, she’s done too.’ Han-Yeol noticed the corpses of the researchers strewn on the floor, which meant that Tayarana was done too.

“How was it, Tara?” Han-Yeol asked.

[Easy.]

“Haha! I bet it was.”

[Well, there were a few unique ones that were fun to fight.]

“Oh? I’m glad you had fun at least.”

[Yeah, I did.]

‘It’s not that they were unique. These monsters never existed in the first place and this place created them by combining weapons and monsters together. Well, I guess they would be stronger than most monsters or humans?’

The combination of monsters and weapons was not as strong as the combination of monsters and humans, but they were still strong enough compared to normal monsters.

Han-Yeol realized he had to destroy the Freemason once and for all.

‘Dr. Santinora… Things will become chaotic and troublesome if his technology falls into the hands of the hyenas. If I can’t eliminate the Freemason, then I have to kill that mad scientist at least.’

He was not particularly scared of the Freemason, as they were an organization composed of humans at best, but it was a different story if the hyenas got involved.

The hyenas had gotten exponentially stronger, and the number of sorcerers they had was increasing each day.

What if this technology to combine monsters and humans fell into their hands? What if the hyenas realized their lack of scientific advancement and reached out to the Freemason first?

‘They will not stop at abducting humans to turn into these monsters. I’m sure they will use the Bastrolings and attempt to create even more powerful abominations. If the combination of humans and monsters is already this strong, then just how powerful will the combination of Bastrolings and monsters be? I mean, the physical capabilities of the Bastrolings are miles better than human beings. Ah, just imagining it is making my head hurt…’

Han-Yeol could not help but feel repulsed at the thought of the hyenas and the Freemason joining forces.

‘The Freemason–no, if Dr. Santinora helps the hyenas boost their physical capabilities with his mad experiments, then…’

The spirit of the Bastro Dimension’s most powerful warrior, Harkan, was within Han-Yeol, so he obviously would harbor ill feelings toward the Freemason and the hyenas. If there was a common factor between the two, then that would be the fact that he failed to exterminate both of them.

‘A collaboration between those two is something I don’t want to see.’

[Please take a look at this chest, Han-Yeol-nim.]

Noras interrupted Han-Yeol’s train of thought.

“Hmm? What’s up?”

[I believe this is the source of the strange mana signal.]

“What about it?”

Ziiiing!

Han-Yeol used Demon Eyes and scanned the chest Noras was pointing at.

“Huh?”

[The Purple Stone is not here, but…]

“An imitation of the Purple Stone?”

[Yes, precisely.]

“Whoa…” Han-Yeol was rendered speechless upon seeing an imitation of the legendary stone, one of the keys to sealing the Dragon of Destruction and saving the Bastro Dimension, right in front of his eyes.

He definitely saw it with his own eyes, yet he was having a hard time believing it.

“How is this even possible?”

[I thought something like this was impossible, but I can no longer deny it after seeing a real imitation with my own eyes.]

The fact that it was called a real imitation was a paradox in itself, as an imitation was nothing more than a fake copy of the real thing.

However, Noras used this term due to the fact that the imitation Purple Stone was as good as the real Purple Stone.

“Ughh… You’re right… Huh? Wait a minute. Then that means…?”

[Yes, I believe this is not the only laboratory. Others should be hidden across this mass of land called South America, as whoever made this place seems capable of running multiple other locations. You previously mentioned that you sensed hundreds of similar mana signals, right?]

“Yeah, I did.”

[Some of those are probably emitted by the fake Purple Stones.]

“Ughh… Then that means…”

[We will have to search through all of these fake Purple Stones to find the real one.]

“Ah, damn it…”

Han-Yeol hoped his ability to pick up the Purple Stone’s mana signal would make it easier for him to find it, but he was actually picking up the mana signals emitted by copies of the Purple Stone.

The imitation Purple Stones were based on the real Purple Stone, so the stones obviously emitted the same mana signal as the real one. However, just because they emitted the same mana signals as the real one did not mean they were as powerful.

However, that did not matter at this stage, as Han-Yeol still had to look for the real Purple Stone, and the fact that the fake ones were emitting the same mana signals did not help at all even with the help of Demon Eyes.

‘I guess I have no choice but to search through all of them…’

In the end, Han-Yeol had no other choice but to brute force his way out of the problem.

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