Leveling Up Alone

His entire group felt the same as Han-Yeol, and they prepared for battle. Even Tia dyed her whole body indigo, activating her unique ability that made her skin hard.

“Wait, Noras!”

[Yes, Great One.]

“Those guys are the elephant race.”

[What?! Really?]

“Yeah. Based on the rough shapes that my expanded vision skill picked up, they’re a hundred percent the elephant race. Their mana is also blue, so I don’t think the contaminants or hyenas are controlling them.”

[I see. That’s a relief.]

“We’ve got a long way to go. Don’t you think they’ll be pretty helpful with that?”

[I agree. Although the elephant race is small in number, they’re arguably the strongest of the Bastrolings in terms of strength and power.]

Han-Yeol nodded in agreement with Noras.

When he was Harkan, he fought the elephant race in the process of becoming a Dimension Lord. Harkan was the strongest, but he had struggled against the elephant race lord, who wasn’t considered to be that great.

“How weird.”

[What is?]

“As you know, the elephant race is the complete opposite of the hyena sorcerers.”

[That’s right. Despite their speed, even the dogs, cats, and Bastro Warriors failed to intercept the hyena sorcerers. Compared to them, the elephant warriors are slow, move in straight lines, and are fewer in number, making them easy prey for the hyenas.]

Noras said exactly what Han-Yeol was thinking.

“And lots of time has passed in the Bastro Dimension.”

[Yes.]

“But how are they still alive in this completely contaminated land?”

Noras’ face turned pale at Han-Yeol’s comment.

[G-Great One! A-Are you suspecting them?]

The unconditional trust that the Bastrolings had in each other was almost ignorant as their race itself was so innocent.

However, as a human, Han-Yeol was also wary of traitors, including when he was Harkan.

‘Among them was the elephant race.’

Just as Han-Yeol had expected, the elephant race was one of the races that didn’t actively participate in the expedition to destroy the Dragon of Destruction.

“No, I’m not suspecting them.”

[T-That’s good. Haha. We’re all warriors of the same Light Faction. If we suspect each other, we’re just giving those filthy hyenas what they want.]

‘Tsk, how naive.’

Han-Yeol usually liked the innocent Bastrolings as they were different from humans on Earth, but he found it frustrating when they insisted on trusting each other even in this situation.

‘I guess it’ll just be more work for me.’

Tap.

“Huh?”

“Haha, keep up the hard work, Master.”

“I always am, aren’t I?”

Tia laughed. “Haha.”

‘As expected of Tia. She’s definitely skilled at tricks, seeing how quick-witted she is.’

Tia was fast, but she also possessed the cleverness of a spider, which was why her basic intelligence level was high. No wonder she was able to learn so many languages on Earth as a monster.

Thump, thump, thump!

The elephant race Bastro Warriors quickly approached Han-Yeol’s group and cried out loud.

Pawooo!

As soon as he saw the elephants, Noras stepped forward, blocked their path, and cast a voice-raising spell.

[S-Stop!]

[Huh?]

The elephant race warriors were surprised to see that their opponent, whom they had assumed to be the contaminants or hyenas, was a familiar deer race Bastroling sorcerer.

[Everyone, stop. They’re our allies!]

Eekkk!

The elephant warriors were so big that it was hard for them to stop their momentum right away. Some of the warriors only stopped after reaching the middle of Han-Yeol’s group. Even so, no one in Han-Yeol’s group was weak, so they easily dodged the elephants and suffered no damage.

[What the hell! These damn big nose beasts!]

Lord Kasha was a little shocked after he dodged a little late as he was thinking about something else, but this didn’t matter to Han-Yeol since he didn’t care about Lord Kasha.

Regardless, the elephant race warriors were pleased to see Noras.

[Noras, you’re safe and well!]

[Ah yes, you too, Elkan.]

[Hahaha! Of course! Do you think I, the third-ranked warrior of the elephant race, would be defeated by that stinking race?!]

The elephant warrior flapped his large ears.

‘Mmm…’

Han-Yeol couldn’t take his eyes off the elephant’s ears.

[Umm, Noras, who are these people?]

[Ah, that’s…]

Noras was at a loss as to how he should introduce the group.

‘Harkan-nim has resurrected? Or Great One?’

Noras found it difficult to explain everything to Elkan as it would take a long time for him to explain everything properly.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Han-Yeol from Earth, a dimension that has evolved into the second level and has become a neighbor of the Bastro Dimension.”

[Oh, Earth?]

“That’s right. Noras hired me as a mercenary, and I crossed over here to help the Light Faction.”

[A mercenary from a different dimension? Noras, you have the leisure to hire a mercenary from a different dimension?]

[A-Ahaha, I just got lucky.]

Noras didn’t know what to do with Han-Yeol’s sudden introduction. However, he didn’t dare to go against the will of such a great being, so he went along with it for now. But his bewilderment soon turned into understanding.

‘Did he want to hide his identity because they might feel too pressured?’

Noras’ eyes sparkled at the thought that Han-Yeol indeed was a great being. But in fact, Han-Yeol was just suspicious of the elephant race warriors and didn’t want to reveal his identity.

[Oh, by the way, Elkan, is your lair around here?]

[Hmm, no, not really.]

[Then what are you doing here?]

[Um, that's… Ah! The prophet told me to come here and said that it wasn’t dangerous or anything, so I should look around.]

Noras was shocked.

[W-What!? The prophet from your race is still alive?]

[W-We just got lucky.]

[I-I see…]

Noras looked envious.

Prophets were a very special class of beings, even in the Bastro Dimension. They were worshippers of one of the most important elements in the Bastro Dimension: gods.

Prophets shared some similarities with priests, but their roles differed. While priests simply prayed to gods and managed temples, prophets had a more direct connection with the gods, and important oracles were directly transferred to them. In other words, as long as one had a prophet, they could roughly predict the future.

[Hahaha! Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t seen you in a while, so I’ll take you to my lair and ask the prophet for an oracle, though you’ll have to provide the sacrifice yourself.]

[Ooh! Great O- Ah, I-I mean, Han-Yeol-nim. What do you think?]

“Hmm, that’s fine. Let’s go.”

[Good choice!]

‘Phew.’

Han-Yeol felt a sense of pity for Noras, who was excited to see a prophet.

‘Prophets are important, but don’t you have any doubts about how only the elephant race prophet survived?’

According to Riru, the hyena race had attacked every temple in the Bastro Dimension on the first day of the war and kidnapped all the prophets. They couldn’t kill the prophets because when a prophet died, a new one was born, so they could only kidnap them.

It was hard for Han-Yeol to believe that Noras was completely convinced by this story, given that the elephant race, known for being among the top ten slowest due to their size, had managed to escape unharmed.

‘This is weird. Very weird. But I guess I’ll see when I get there. If there really is a prophet, that’ll be a real advantage.’

Prophets were very important in the Bastro Dimension. During his time as Harkan, Han-Yeol had frequently stopped by the temple and picked up oracles.

‘I spent lots of my fortune knowing I’d return as Han-Yeol one day.’

Han-Yeol had bothered the prophet so much that the dog race Bastroling prophet, who felt a great sense of duty in giving out oracles, begged Harkan to stop seeing him.

[Let’s get going then.]

[Okay!]

Luckily, Elkan led them in a direction not too far off from the path to the Mountain Rage of Beginnings. It would've been a little troublesome if he had led them in a different direction.

‘I’ll have to keep an eye on the elephant race.’

Han-Yeol still harbored a lot of resentment toward the elephant race for not sending enough troops during the subjugation of the Dragon of Destruction. But that wasn’t exactly why Han-Yeol was suspicious of the elephant race. In a world where one could win the lottery, there was an equal chance that the elephant warriors weren’t traitors.

Thud, thud.

[...]

Regardless of what Han-Yeol thought, Noras was glad to see Elkan after all this time, so he wanted to say something and start a conversation. But strangely enough, after a few answers to Noras’ questions, Elkan tried to avoid talking to Noras.

‘I wonder what’s wrong? Is he tired?’

Noras’ eyes were filled with worry as he looked at Elkan.

Han-Yeol sighed heavily as he looked at Noras.

‘Ha, that idiot.’

Elkan’s attitude toward Noras in this slightly ambiguous situation made Han-Yeol sure of one thing.

‘I don’t know what it is, but that Elkan guy must be hiding something.’

Han-Yeol didn’t do anything and hesitated because he wasn’t certain of anything yet.

Shaaa.

[Huh, what’s with the sudden fog?] Noras asked.

Elkan suddenly started talking more.

[A-Ahaha! Don’t worry. The weather here is kind of crap like this all the time. It’ll suddenly fog up, and then it’ll suddenly rain. As you can see though, it doesn’t really matter since all the plants have dried up and are already dead.]

[Tsk, that’s a shame.]

Noras could sympathize with Elkan, as he too felt saddened to see the Bastro Dimension becoming more deserted.

As expected, Noras didn't find Elkan’s sudden change in demeanor strange at all.

[Haha! Don’t worry about tha…]

[Stop!]

A short and strong shout from Han-Yeol rang in Noras’ head.

Ding!

[The skill, Telepathy II, has leveled up.]

[The skill, Telepathy II, has reached Master (M) rank.]

[The skill, Telepathy II, has evolved to Telepathy III (F).]

[You are able to use a stronger and more diverse version of telepathy.]

Messages flashed before Han-Yeol’s eyes, but that wasn’t important to him.

[Huh!]

[What’s wrong?] asked Elkan.

[I-It’s nothing.]

[Boring.]

‘G-Great One?’

[Stop, you must keep this to yourself.]

Han-Yeol usually never spoke in a polite manner to Noras. Most of the time, Han-Yeol spoke cautiously and treated Noras as an elder, but his telepathic messages carried the authority and majesty of an emperor.

‘Y-You’re command is my wish, Great One.’