Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 302 – Strange Adventure in the Bastro Dimension (2)

As soon as Han-Yeol entered the dungeon…

Ding!

A message appeared in front of him.

[A citizen of the first dimension has entered a dungeon in the second dimension. Challenging a dungeon in a dimension one level higher deserves to be rewarded. All experience points gained from hunting monsters will be multiplied by 2 to 2.5 times until Earth fully transitions into the second dimension.]

‘Oh! Jackpot!’

This was the best-case scenario he could have asked for. It had become extremely challenging for him to level up after reaching Level 300, but gaining double or even more than double experience points as a bonus was certainly going to be a tremendous help.

‘Hohoho! I'm going to take down every single one of these monsters!’

The interior of the dungeon was quite dark.

Shwak!

Han-Yeol used his light attribute to illuminate the dungeon.

It was then.

Ding!

[A new skill has been created – Light (F)]

It was the message informing him that he had gained a new skill.

He used to be surprised, happy, and excited whenever he saw this message pop up, but a human quickly adapts, so he wasn't as surprised anymore.

‘Well, I guess it's about time it appeared.’

He was still happy when a skill he desperately needed appeared, but basic skills like these no longer excited him.

However, the skill was far from useless.

‘Oh? Is it lighting my surroundings on its own?’

Han-Yeol used to continuously inject his mana into the light source he had created previously, but the skill 'Light' now floated in front of him like a lantern and illuminated his surroundings by drawing a bit of his mana on its own.

[Oh, that is quite impressive, Harkan-nim. It feels like daytime when we are underground.]

[Yes, it's quite amazing.]

"When did you learn that skill, Han-Yeol?" Tayarana asked.

"Ah, just now."

"...as expected of the overpowered character," Mariam grumbled under her breath.

Han-Yeol's ears caught the faint sound of her comment, but he couldn't quite make it out.

"Hmm?"

"No, it's nothing, Han-Yeol-nim."

"Eh? Okay."

Han-Yeol used Light once more to illuminate in front and behind the party. The skill wasn't able to illuminate that far ahead, but he had read in the skill's description that the distance and area illuminated would increase as the skill leveled up.

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

[They’re coming.]

“They’re coming.”

Kandir said after picking up the distant sound, and Han-Yeol translated it for Tayarana and Mariam.

Han-Yeol should have noticed the enemy faster than Kandir, but that was only because he was Level 800 as Harkan. He was currently only Level 310 as Han-Yeol, so Riru and Kandir were much stronger than him at the moment.

Riru and Kandir were going to be spectators, and the monsters would be hunted by Han-Yeol, Tayarana, and Mariam.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Kieeeeek!”

"I guess we're in an anthill," Han-Yeol remarked as ants the size of an average-sized dog dug through the ground, ceiling, and walls of the tunnel.

Han-Yeol could tell from their mouths that they were the poisonous type.

"Tara."

"Okay!"

Chwak!

Tayarana extended her hand at the ants upon Han-Yeol's signal.

She was wearing her unique artifact, the Horus Gauntlet. This artifact allowed her to absorb mana from her surroundings and compress it into a mana ball before shooting it at a target, as well as increasing her strength by three times. It was truly an overpowered item.

Boom!

“Kieeeek!”

Three ants fell to the mana shell fired by Tayarana, but she didn't seem satisfied with the results of her attack.

'They're strong...'

At first glance, this dungeon didn't seem particularly challenging. The ant monsters did die after being hit by her attack, but she was surprised to see that their bodies didn't explode despite the force behind her mana shell. This indicated that these ants were incredibly tough.

It might not be a problem since she could still kill three of them with a single attack, but the main issue was that ants typically attacked in swarms.

'That means...'

Shiiiing...!

Tayarana drew the sword from her waist, which surprised Mariam.

'Tayarana-nim is already going to use her sword?'

The Tayarana she knew would save her sword for worthy opponents and not waste it on small fry like these ants.

'As expected... The second dimension is not a walk in the park, even for Tayarana-nim,' Mariam thought.

Mariam might have awakened for the second time as well after coming to the Bastro Dimension, but she was still the weakest among the three of them.

Gulp…!

She was obviously nervous, but she found comfort in the fact that she wouldn't be directly involved in the battle.

Seuk...

She raised both of her hands and aimed at an ant.

Wooong...!

She gathered her mana and used a skill, 'Mind Control!'

Ziiing!

"K-Kieeek?!"

The ant she targeted suffered tremendous mental damage and had its mind conquered by her. Despite being a monster in the Bastro Dimension, which was a second dimension, an ant's brain was still small, making it easy for her to take control.

'Hold on...! This feeling is...?!'

She spread her arms apart and used another skill.

‘Mind Control… Spread!’

Ziiiing! Ziiing! Ziiing!

‘Alright!’

Mariam used her skill just in case, but she couldn't help but be overjoyed when she saw it work, as she didn't expect it to work in the first place.

'You're all dead now! Hahaha!'

She felt an increased sense of excitement after her skill succeeded, as this was the first time she had managed to successfully cast Mind Control on numerous targets.

Now, she had ten ants that would follow every single command she gave without hesitation.

"Kieeeek!"

Kwachik! Kwachik!

An ant might rely on hormones to think and act, but it was nothing more than a puppet under Mariam's mind control ability. The ants started attacking their fellow ants.

"Kieeeek!"

The ants were blindsided by their once-allies and ended up getting bitten to death by them. Ants acted on their queen's command to repel invaders, but they didn't receive any orders on what to do when their comrades attacked them. Meaning, they had no idea how to react when their fellow comrades started attacking them.

Kwachik! Kwachik! Kwachik! Kwachik!

Because of that, it didn't take long for the ants under Mariam's control to kill all the ants in the vicinity.

"Wow..."

That was the only thing Han-Yeol could utter at the sight in front of him.

"That's quite amazing, Mariam."

"I... I am embarrassed, so please stop that," Mariam muttered in response as her face turned red.

This was her first time playing a major role in combat, as she had always played a supportive role.

"That was amazing, Mariam," Tayarana added.

"T-Thank you, Tayarana-nim!" Mariam exclaimed in response this time.

Then, she couldn't help but feel elated after receiving praise.

'Ah...! To think that I would get praised by Tayarana-nim...! I want this feeling to last forever!'

She had believed that she was destined to play a supportive role for the rest of her life, but she couldn't believe it when she became the protagonist of the hunt.

Kwak...!

She pinched herself, just in case she was dreaming. It hurt.

'Ah! T-This is not a dream! I'm not dreaming!' Mariam exclaimed and jumped for joy inwardly.

***

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The dungeon exploration had just begun.

Chwaaaak! Pukeok!

The hammer attached to the end of Han-Yeol's chain smashed an ant's head. The momentum was clearly in favor of Han-Yeol's party, but he didn't seem happy about it.

'They're luring us in. The soldier ants have yet to make their appearance,' he knew that the ants coming at them were all worker ants.

"Kieeeek!"

'Oh well, even the worker ants are stronger than the monster ants on Earth.'

Just one hundred of these worker ants could eliminate all of the monster ants on Earth, and Han-Yeol, Tayarana, and Mariam were hunting them with ease as all three of them had already undergone their second awakening.

'Also...'

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

Mariam had grown strong enough to control twenty ants simultaneously.

'Amazing... Her growth is really fast...'

Mariam was already the strongest Hunter on Earth when it came to using telepathy. However, she became even stronger after her second awakening, which increased her brain capacity, making it far easier for her to control and command the ants. Her growth felt like all of her progress, which had been stunted until now, had suddenly exploded.

Kwachik! Kwachik!

Mariam's ant army moved according to her command and annihilated the ants blocking their path. However, that didn't mean the worker ants were just letting themselves be defeated.

'They seem to have received new orders from their queen,' Han-Yeol thought.

'Fools!'

Woooong!

Mariam was now able to emit powerful waves from her mind after her brain capacity increased. She ended up having to use her mana, but she could mind-control a new ant whenever one under her command died. In other words, the ants were basically fighting among themselves at this point.

Mariam was having the time of her life, thinking it was too easy.

On the other hand, Tayarana was starting to feel bored. She initially thought she would enjoy her newfound power when she drew her sword, but it turned out that the ants were tough but hopeless in combat.

Sukeok!

"Kieeeek!"

'They're great in numbers, but they're extremely weak.'

She could feel her mana capacity increase and become denser after her second awakening. On top of that, she still had the potential to grow stronger as long as she immersed herself in training, which forced her to use her sword to cut down as many enemies as possible.

'Too boring...'

Unfortunately, such a battle was boring for her, as it didn't provide the adrenaline rush she craved. She loved the feeling of flirting with death in battle, but that thrill couldn't be found here.

[Hmm... That human lost interest in this battle.]

[Yes, yes, but she doesn't seem to know that these worker ants are just appetizers for warming up.]

[The real battle is just beginning.]

[Yes, yes, these worker ants are just here to buy time for the soldier ants to mobilize and repel the invaders.]

Then, all of a sudden...

Buzz...

Riru's sensitive ears picked up the sound of wings fluttering at high speeds.

[They're coming.]

[Yes.]

‘Demon Eyes!’ Han-Yeol used his skill right after hearing the conversation between Riru and Kandir.

There was no reason for him to use Demon Eyes against the weak worker ants, but he used it just to make sure what was going on. Then, he could see it after using his skill. There were silhouettes of humanoids with wings flying toward them.

'It's been a while, soldier ants!'

Han-Yeol had experience fighting against these ants when he lived as Harkan.

“Tara! Mariam!”

“Yes?”

“Yes, Han-Yeol-nim?”

“Let’s go and fight for real this time!”

“Huh?”

“Pardon me…?”

Tayarana and Mariam couldn't understand what Han-Yeol was talking about. He enjoyed seeing the confused look on their faces, as this was his second-favorite expression they made after their smiling faces.

"Ah, did I forget to tell you?" he said with a smirk.

"Tell us what?"

It was obvious that he didn't tell them on purpose.

"The ones you fought until now were worker ants, so they don't specialize in combat. They're just in charge of foraging food and building these tunnels."

"Then that means...?"

"The real battle is only beginning."

Buuuuzzz...!

The sound of insect wings buzzing grew louder and louder, and then a group of ants that looked entirely different from the ones they had seen until now appeared.

These ants walked on two legs and held spears in their hands. They resembled humans wearing armor made out of ant carapaces, but they were still ants in the end. They had two pairs of arms and a pair of legs, just like normal ants.

[Keke! Those ants seem completely enraged.]

[Well, you can't blame them since their own kind just got massacred in their own house.]

[They will probably have a hard time.]

[I guess?]

Twenty soldier ants appeared as the vanguard, and all of them emitted traces of powerful mana.

Gulp...!

Mariam nervously gulped after sensing the mana of the soldier ants.

'So these are the monsters of the second dimension?'

She felt foolish for thinking that the battle had been too easy until now.

[Don't forgive these newcomers for what they did to our brethren!]

[Punish them with horrific deaths!]

Only three out of the five individuals in the party understood what the soldier ants were saying, as they were speaking in the Bastro Language.

"Tara! Mariam! Get ready for battle and don't let your guards down!"

"Yes!"

"Yes, Han-Yeol-nim!"