Level Up - Chapter 1

Translator: Juzu

Editor: Yuranon

Hyun Seok stood up. His body felt heavy yet light at the same time. It was a peculiar feeling.

First thing’s first; to understand the situation he’s in. Although he knew that he’s in a dungeon, he didn’t know which dungeon it was nor who those people were.

As Hyun Seok looked around his surroundings, he heard some noise coming from afar.

He concentrated on listening to the noises.

In compensation for his loss of sight, his other senses were heightened. Whether it was his auditory, tactile, or olfactory senses, they were extremely sensitive. In particular, his sensitivity to mana was unrivaled.

And even though he has regained his sight, his other senses were still as sharp as a knife.

“We’re almost there!”

“What if he left?”

“Do you really think that he’s in a condition to leave? He’s probably dazing around at the same spot. Don’t worry!”

Hearing this, Hyun Seok got offended.

“He’s not talking about me, is he?” he wondered. Yet somehow, he knew that they were indeed talking about him. And then faintly, he heard a roaring thunder.

BOOM!

Hyun Seok’s face froze.

“Those crazy bastards!”

There’s no doubt that they were leading a magical monster towards his direction.

It only took a moment for them to appear in his sight.

Six people, men and women, were violently running towards him, and behind the group was a giant dragonfly chasing them with its lightning bolts.

“A Thunder Dragonfly!”

Looking at its size and state, it is clearly a mutated species.

“Is this dungeon’s level around Bronze 1?” he wondered.

It most likely is. Along with the sight of the dragonfly, Hyun Seok suddenly remembered an unpleasant memory.

Hyun Seok’s eyes widened as the Thunder Dragonfly withdrew the lightning emanating from its body and increased its speed, flying straight towards Hyun Seok.

“I’m his target?”

That memory! There was a reason why it was so repulsive. It was because the same situation in his mind is reoccurring.

“Choi Chang Soo! I can’t believe I’ve forgotten his name. No matter how long it’s been… how could I forget?”

Suddenly, he felt pain coming from his side. He lifted his shirt and realized that the scar which he got a long time ago from a frenzied Thunder Dragonfly was now gone.

Although he doesn’t fully understand the situation, one thing was clear.

Hyun Seok took out the short sword he was carrying on his waist.

There’s a sharp mana flowing along with the blades of the sword. It was a terrible sword because only a faint amount of mana was coating the blade. Nonetheless, it was better than nothing. After all, it was more than enough to defeat a frenzied dragonfly.

“Furthermore, I must have consumed the essence of the lightning flower like I did in my memories.”

That would explain why Hyun Seok had passed out. A shock that can make a person lose his consciousness will strike when the unprocessed essence is consumed.

And that’s probably the reason why the Thunder Dragonfly rushed towards Hyun Seok.

The old Hyun Seok would have turned around and ran away, but the present Hyun Seok had no reason to do so. Instead, he braced himself and ran directly towards the Thunder Dragonfly.

The group of six slowed down after the dragonfly had flown past them but then they got shocked because they didn’t expect to see Hyun Seok running towards them. However, nothing’s going to change.

“Everybody, get ready! It’s time to start the hunt!”

“Okay.”

Each person took out their weapon. When a Thunder Dragonfly sees a person that has consumed the essence of the lighting flower, it goes frenzy and attacks the person mercilessly. Due to its massive stamina and endless thunderbolt attacks, it is hard to hunt a Thunder Dragonfly, but when it goes to a frenzied state, it withdraws its lightning, thus making it easier to kill.

Of course, the person who consumed the essence will be more prone to danger. Even so, Choi Chang Soo and his group had repeatedly used this method to hunt.

In no time, Hyun Seok and the dragonfly had begun to fight.

“Alright, let’s go!” Chang Soo shouted.

Chang Soo’s group charged at the dragonfly. They ran underneath the dragonfly and sliced its abdomen. And when they got out from underneath the bug, they saw Hyun Seok running towards them.

BZZZZT!

Lightning bolts started to emanate from all around the dragonfly’s body.

“What the… What’s wrong with it!?”

“Its eyes turned red!”

“Everybody, run!”

No one knew what happened, but the dragonfly had regained its senses. What was even worse was that it was furious. Getting close to it in this state is suicide.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Lightning bolts were heading towards Chang Soo’s group.

“Arghh!”

“Everyone spread out!”

They started to run in different directions. They didn’t expect things to turn out this way so they couldn’t properly respond to this situation. All they could do was to spread out and run for their lives.

Meanwhile, Hyun Seok ran between a tree and a rock to stealthily hide.

“I pray that they survive.”

While hiding, Hyun Seok watched the dragonfly furiously attacking one of Chang Soo’s members with its lightning bolts.

They probably realized by now that running away was futile, and they should turn around to defeat the dragonfly together as a team.

The Thunder Dragonfly’s wrath only grew. This was because Hyun Seok had touched the dragonfly’s forbidden lamella. He stabbed the hidden eggs that were in the dragonfly’s tail.

That one hit made the frenzied dragonfly regain its senses and fueled its wrath.

“I guess I’m a bit sorry, hehe…” Hyun Seok mumbled to himself.

Choi Chang Soo had made a quick decision. In a blink of an eye, the group regrouped and fought desperately against the dragonfly.

“They’re pretty good. They can last for 30 minutes with ease.”

But of course, they won’t manage to defeat the dragonfly with their firepower. They’ll probably just fight to their death.

Hyun Seok was planning to wait until that moment and deal the finishing blow. And then rob all the goods in the group’s possession.

They deserve to go through much more after all they’ve done.

“Before that… I should probably figure out how this situation came to be in the first place.” thought Hyun Seok.

He realized that his mana had depleted to rock bottom after clashing with the  Dragonfly.

After delivering a blow to the dragonfly, the reason he had power left to hide was not because of his abundant mana but because of his superb mana control.

If it was someone else, they wouldn’t have been able to get out of this situation.

Although a frenzied mutant Thunder Dragonfly is a monster that appears in Bronze 1 level dungeons, people hunting in Silver-level dungeons also have a hard time dealing with it.

Seeing how Chang Soo’s group fought, it seemed that they were preparing to advance to the Silver level dungeons.

“My mana pool is small… items are… sigh… I’m giving off a rookie’s aura… What happened?”

There actually was a thought that occurred in Hyun Seok’s mind but that just doesn’t make any sense.

“Something unreasonable like dying and returning to the past couldn’t have happened. Right?”

He didn’t want to believe it, but all the puzzle pieces would fit together if that was the case.

How he regained his sight, how his mana pool was small, and meeting that crazy bastard Choi Chang Soo.

“Now, thinking about it… Chang Soo did look frickin’ young after 20 years.”

It was as if time was stopped entirely or… rewinded. What happened?

* * *

Hyun Seok slowly walked towards where Choi Chang Soo’s group was fighting. It seems like their fight is coming to an end and they’re about to collapse any moment now.

At least they won’t die. But that’s only if Hyun Seok would slay the dragonfly at the last moment.

BOOM! BOOM! BABAMM！

The Thunder Dragonfly was pouring all of its power into the thunderbolts.

“Ughhh…”

“Ayieee!”

The group could not block the attacks and were swept away by the force of the thunderbolts.

At that moment, Hyun Seok took the chance and charged at the dragonfly.

The Thunder Dragonfly doesn’t fly high. Therefore, the fight with it is bearable.

Also, after using up that amount of power, the dragonfly would surely let it’s guard down.

“Just like this.”

Hyun Seok ran and he slid underneath the dragonfly. He sliced its abdomen all the way to its neck.

Swish~

A gush of its body fluids spurted out as the wound widened.

Hyun Seok slid right out from below without a single drop of fluid landing on him.

The dragonfly shrieked while its fluids were still flowing out of its neck. That was the dragonfly’s weakness. It becomes momentarily vulnerable after letting out the thunderbolts with immense force.

Hyun Seok charged towards the dragonfly once again. Although he managed to attack its weak point, that was not enough to kill it.

Whoosh~!

Hyun Seok jumped onto the dragonfly’s tail and ran up to its back.

The dragonfly wriggled and writhed, but Hyun Seok kept his balance and swiftly ran across the creature’s back.

When he reached the head of the insect, he gripped his sword with both hands and then plunged the sword deep into the Thunder Dragonfly’s head with a massive force.

“KKYEEEE!”

The dragonfly shook viciously while trying to shake him off. While it was swinging, the amount of fluids flowing out of the wound had increased. Hyun Seok held on tightly and kept the sword stuck in its head, where the dragonfly’s second weakness is–a move that was only possible after attacking the first weakness

THUD！

The dragonfly shrieked one last time and fell straight to the ground. Hyun Seok then jumped off the back of the insect before landing on the floor.

Nobody could call Hyun Seok a rookie. To move as swiftly and accurately as Hyun Seok, one would have to be in this field for a few years. No, ten years may not even be enough.

The half-dead Choi Chang Soo who was lying on the floor, mumbled, “Shit, I really messed up this time.”

He tried to use Hyun Seok as bait but the tables have turned on him.

Because of the continuous blows of lightning from the dragonfly, Chang Soo’s body got paralyzed. In addition to that, all of his comrades were unconscious.

Hyun Seok walked towards Chang Soo and said, “Thanks for the essence. It was delicious and I experienced something phenomenal.”

At Hyun Seok’s words, Chang Soo closed his eyes. He had no excuses since Hyun Seok already knew everything.

“You know, I wondered why I came back at this moment.”

Chang Soo then looked up at him with a confused expression as he couldn’t understand what Hyun Seok was saying.

“But now, the answer is obvious.” As Hyun Seok spoke, he turned his head and glanced at the mutated Thunder Dragonfly’s corpse.

Hyun Seok looked between Chang Soo and the corpse before revealing a sinister smile.

Seeing his expression, Chang Soo trembled. “Shit,” he realized that crossing Hyun Seok was definitely a big mistake.