Leveling Up Alone

There was only one reason why his subordinates would start getting rowdy in this foreign dimension.

The Black Orc Commander grabbed the glaive, threw it to the ground, and rushed out of his tent.

He rushed out the moment he heard the commotion, but the campground was already stained with the blue blood of the one hundred orcs who were slain in that short period.

The Black Orc Commander clearly recognized the human in front of him. It was the human who leisurely watched from afar when his orcs attacked the city, and it was only when the giant monster appeared that the human finally went into action.

[E-Enough!]

The Black Orc Commander screamed and ran toward the human. He knew that the fate of the orcs rested on his hands.

***

“Hmm?”

Han-Yeol possessed the skill to instantly kill eighty thousand orcs, no, two hundred thousand orcs, without much trouble. However, the reason he went through the trouble of killing them one by one was to lure the boss monster out and obtain as much information as he possibly could from it.

His plan worked as the Black Orc Commander appeared once a commotion was stirred up in their camp. Ironically, the boss monster’s next action was something he totally did not expect and completely caught him off guard.

Han-Yeol thought the Black Orc Commander was going to attack him after seeing how it rushed at him. However, the boss monster crashed into the ground in front of Han-Yeol, and it knelt in front of him.

The way the Black Orc Commander crashed into the ground looked quite painful, but that seemed to be the least of its worries as it looked at Han-Yeol with determination to survive burning in its eyes.

[P-Please spare us!]

“Huh?”

It was not only the Black Orc Commander’s actions, but even its words were the complete opposite of what Han-Yeol expected.

The Black Orc Commander slammed its head on the ground so hard it caused a slight tremor.

“…”

Han-Yeol was rendered speechless by the Black Orc Commander’s unexpected behavior.

“What did you say just now? Can you repeat what you said?” he asked.

It was also bizarre that the orc was speaking Japanese, but that was not what was important right now.

“Are you begging for your lives right now…?” Han-Yeol asked again, just in case, as he found this difficult to believe.

[Y-Yes! I am begging! Please!]

“Haha…”

Han-Yeol doubted his ears and was skeptical even after confirming it with the Black Orc Commander.

This was a strange phenomenon he had never witnessed in his entire life as a Hunter and also during the twenty years he lived as Harkan.

But that was not the end of the surprise as the Black Orcs followed their commander’s lead, throwing aside their weapons and kneeling on the ground with their heads down, one after the other.

[Please spare us!]

If there were a God of Fate in this world, then he would have loved nothing more than to curse him straight to his face right now.

[…]

The Black Orc Commander instinctively knew just how powerful Han-Yeol was, and he felt his heart drop whenever Han-Yeol grimaced and grumbled under his breath. The poor boss monster felt he made two round trips to the afterlife whenever he saw the human furrowing his brows.

The boss monster knew he could not defeat the human in front of him, even if he still had his two-hundred-thousand-strong orc horde, and that the human was capable of annihilating their entire horde all alone.

Han-Yeol called out, “Hey, orc.”

[Y-Yes!]

The Black Orc Commander instantly looked up and responded the moment Han-Yeol called him.

Orcs were bound to be ugly as they resembled a disfigured wild boar.

“You will be enslaved without being able to betray me if you answer ‘yes’ to my question. Choose wisely if you want to die or live as my slave for the rest of your life. Do you wish to choose life and become my slave?”

As soon as Han-Yeol said those words…

[You have used the Oath of Loyalty on the Black Orc Commander!]

[You will obtain ownership of the Black Orc Horde if the Black Orc Commander accepts!]

Han-Yeol was going to obtain the entire horde if the Black Orc Commander accepted, and this was due to the racial trait of the orcs.

[T-That is…]

This was the same process Camelot went through to become Han-Yeol’s slave.

“Now, choose. Will you die here or become my slave for the rest of your life?” Han-Yeol asked with his arms crossed while staring down at the orc commander.

No, he secretly hoped the Black Orc Commander was going to refuse his offer and die like a true warrior. Letting these orcs that numbered nearly eighty thousand go to waste, as they could serve as much-needed experience points before his upcoming round two against Craspio. Not only that, he could foresee how big of a hassle having such a large horde under his command was going to be in the future.

Unfortunately, Han-Yeol tended to be quite unlucky in these kinds of situations.

[I-I… I will submit myself to you and become your slave! No! It is an honor to become your slave!]

Ironically, the Black Orc Commander appeared to be happy to become Han-Yeol’s slave for some odd reason.

[You have accepted the Black Orc Commander as your slave.]

[You have obtained control over the Black Orc Horde.]

[Number of Black Orcs: 80,122]

[Black Orc Thrower: 1,188]

[Black Orc Infantry: 70,070]

[Black Orc Porter: 8,475]

[Current Supply: 7% (D-1)]

[The rank of Oath of Loyalty has increased from (E) to (D).]

The skill he used leveled up, too, despite only being used for the second time.

Han-Yeol suspected this was due to his obtaining more than eighty thousand slaves at once through the skill.

Getting more slaves was definitely a good thing, but he could not help but think otherwise.

[We are hungry!]

He got another migraine from thinking about how he was going to feed this many starving orcs.

Thus, that was how Han-Yeol obtained eighty thousand orcs as his slaves.

“Hmm…”

“Han-Yeol?”

“Han-Yeol-nim?”

He was pondering what to do next when Mavros, Tayarana, Mariam, and Tia approached him. The rest of the Bastro Warriors were currently stationed around Nagoya to stand watch in case of any threats.

“Oh, hi,” Han-Yeol nonchalantly greeted them.

“Just what on earth is this…?” Mariam muttered in sheer disbelief as she looked around them.

She was able to dominate and tame monsters as she awakened with the ability to do so, but she never heard of Han-Yeol obtaining such a skill before. She knew about his ability to summon demons and hatch monster pets, but dominating monsters was something he was not supposed to be doing.

“H-Han-Yeol-nim?!” Mariam exclaimed with a flustered look.

“Yes, Mariam?” Han-Yeol tilted his head in confusion and responded.

“D-Don’t tell me… Did you obtain Telepathy skills?”

“Hmm?”

Han-Yeol tried to react as calmly as he could, but he could not help but flinch deep inside as he planned to keep the fact he could use Telepathy a secret for as long as possible.

Still, he decided to feign ignorance for now.

“H-Hmm? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?”

“Then how were you able to force so many orcs into your slaves?!”

“Ah…”

The only reason Mariam suspected him of being able to use telepathic skills was solely due to him dominating so many orcs, and there was no reason for him to hide how he did it if that was what she wanted to know.

“Ah, they wanted to become my subordinates.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

What he said ended up confusing the trio even more.

It was then that Tayarana stepped in and said, “Han-Yeol.”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me in detail.”

“What details?”

“How did you turn them into your subordinates?”

“They asked me first. I’m telling the truth.”

A vein bulged on Tayarana’s forehead.

Both Tayarana and Mariam refused to believe what he was saying, even if he was telling the truth, as it sounded like utter nonsense.

Fortunately, Han-Yeol was quick to catch on that the two women were unhappy with his response. He developed an instinct to tell whether they were happy or not, thanks to the numerous times he was rebuked and nagged by them.

“So what happened was…”

He decided to tell them what they wanted to hear before the lovely duo started nagging again.

***

Han-Yeol explained for thirty minutes the entire exchange he had with the Black Orc Commander and even went further to explain how he was able to obtain them as his slaves.

“…That’s what happened.”

“Ah, so it was all thanks to your skill?” Mariam summarized.

Han-Yeol snapped his fingers and exclaimed, “Ah! Yes, that’s exactly it!”

“Haa… Han-Yeol-nim…” Mariam sighed as if she was done with him.

“Hahaha…” Han-Yeol awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his head.

The Black Orcs were suffering the entire time Han-Yeol was struggling to appease the two women. Their short, thick legs were starting to cramp as they had not budged an inch from the ground ever since they bowed down. However, none of them dared to stand up as Han-Yeol did not command them to do so yet.

“Huh? What are you guys doing?” Han-Yeol tilted his head in confusion and asked.

It was only after he noticed them that he gave them the permission to stand up.

Some of the orcs could no longer feel their legs and ended up on their butts after trying to stand up.

Han-Yeol could not come up with any use for the Black Orcs, but he did not allow them to laze around doing nothing. He found it extremely wasteful to let eighty thousand laborers he could order around for free do nothing.

He eventually tasked them with cleaning up Nagoya City and assisting in the evacuation of the civilians to the east of the city.

[What are you doing?! Move faster!]

[You slowpokes!]

They did not attack the civilians since Han-Yeol forbade them from doing so, but that did not mean they were going to hide their viciousness. These Black Orcs might look like meek kittens in front of Han-Yeol, but they were wild, vicious monsters to their core.

Some of the civilians took their sweet time to evacuate, and a few ‘inspirational’ roars from the Black Orcs ‘motivated’ them to run as if their life depended on it.

Han-Yeol was impressed by the Black Orcs’ ability to ‘motivate’ some of the civilians lazing around to evacuate faster, which was the reason he did not step in despite the rough manner the orcs were handling the civilians.

He did not care whatever happened to the civilians as long as the orcs did not attack them, as all he cared about was evacuating them alive, which was also the only task he was entrusted with.

Han-Yeol left the civilians to the Black Orcs and walked over to where Craspio was sealed. He looked up at the colossal monster and observed it.

It was then that somebody appeared in front of him and saluted.