Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 89: Angel Shard (1)

The Banshee looked at the Egyptian Hunter who had thrown the spear with a confused look on its face as if to ask ‘what are you doing?’ when the spear hit its clothed body. Only when the spear tip suddenly exploded after a short delay did the Banshee stagger backward from the agonizing pain it felt.

[How do you like my Time Bomb skill that causes a delayed explosion?!] the Egyptian Hunter proudly shouted and let out a burst of boisterous laughter after seeing that the Banshee was in pain.

The Horus raid party was actually composed of powerful Hunters who would not be weaker than other Hunters from established guilds, but they were just simply being overshadowed by Tayarana.

It was rather difficult for the Horus raid party to become the best raid party in the world, since they prioritized hiring Hunters based on their personality and loyalty toward the government rather than their own individual skills. However, they managed to become a raid party that was on par with the best out there since Tayarana and Mariam made up the core of their raid party. Thus, it was safe to say that they were the strongest raid party in Egypt, and one of the best in their region.

‘All of them are quite strong,’??Han-Yeol thought in admiration for the Egyptian Hunters’ skills. He found each and every one of them to be skilled and talented, and not inferior to him in any way.

‘This is fun,’?Han-Yeol thought as he started to swing his chain.

Shwiiik!?Shwiiik!?Shwiiik!?

[Aim twelve degrees to the left. The target is at eleven o’clock,] Karvis guided.

‘Okay!’ Han-Yeol replied.

How to actively use Karvis in combat had been one of the biggest dilemmas Han-Yeol had been having for the longest time, but that dilemma was now solved thanks to the chain that he had received from the Horus raid group as a gift. The unique item, Enkidu, had combined itself with the Ego System Karvis, and thus resolved the main issue Han-Yeol initially had.

Karvis was a precise, quick, knowledgeable, and incredibly smart Ego System, and she was able to actively participate in battles and assist Han-Yeol with quick decisions after fusing herself together with the chain.

Not only that, but Enkido also possessed the ability to morph the tip of its chain into any shape desired by Han-Yeol as long as he injected his mana into it. It could turn itself into numerous things such as a hook for grappling, a heavy ball-shaped weight for smashing, or a sharp object for striking.

‘I can feel the difference in my combat power. Fighting has become much easier now,’?Han-Yeol thought.

Until recently, Han-Yeol had thought that it did not matter what item or equipment he used as long as the equipment was durable enough and that he was using it correctly. To him, the idea that items and equipment made a huge difference in his ability was the same as being a wallet warrior who simply spent money to level up in games.

‘Things feel completely different now,’?Han-Yeol thought.

If the unique item did not end up being a chain, he could have ended up selling it. After all, anything other than a sword, chain, or gun would not have been useful for him. However, the unique item he had received was a chain, which was what he needed the most, and using this unique chain made him realize just how much difference items and equipment could make in a hunt.

‘Sigh… I was quite ignorant…’?Han-Yeol lamented.

Grip…

Han-Yeol tightened his grip on the chain and reprimanded himself, ‘One mistake is enough for me to die, and there are no second chances!’

Shwiiiik…!

He immediately threw his chain and used Restrain, as if trying to shake off the embarrassment he felt from his foolishness.

“Kyaaaaaak!”

The Banshees were powerful monsters that floated in the air and used their teleportation Blink skill to viciously attack their prey, but they were powerless against the Horus raid party. Tayarana, in particular, was flying around freely in the air and cutting down the Banshees one by one until they were completely annihilated.

Wooong!

Mariam placed a finger on the side of her forehead and used her ability after the five Banshees were annihilated. She was using her telepathic ability to scan the surrounding area to see if there were any remaining monsters in the vicinity.

‘As expected, telepathy is an incredible ability. You can?instantly become a B Rank Hunter if you possess that ability,’?Han-Yeol thought, feeling envious of Mariam’s ability.

As mentioned earlier, the monsters that inhabited the Paradise Field went into a zero mana state whenever they were sleeping to avoid getting detected. They would only immediately awaken when a human ventured too near to them, which was the only time the mana detection devices would pick up their presence. In fact, even Han-Yeol’s Demon Eyes could not detect the Banshees and the evil monsters while they were dormant in the zero mana state.

However, Mariam was not trying to detect the monsters’ mana. She was looking for the mental energy that the monsters emitted while dormant.

[The area is clear. All Porters, get moving,] Mariam ordered.

[Roger!]

[Yes ma’am!]

The Horus raid party members responded in unison.

***

Mariam commanded the Porters with her mass telepathy ability, her voice ringing in their heads. [Ah, you do not have to do anything because the Banshees are not monsters that can be dismembered. You can sit still for now, Yoo-Bi-nim. Please, leave this one to our Egyptian Porters.]

‘Oh, okay. I understand,’?Yoo-Bi replied.

[Thank you for your understanding,] Mariam said.

Mariam’s manner of speech was always polite to everyone, but she was no pushover. She spoke with a voice that commanded respect.

Now, Yoo-Bi was left with nothing to do.

On the other hand, Han-Yeol approached the Egyptian Porters, who were busy at work collecting the loot from the Banshees. Then, a shiny object caught his eye. It was a fragment of a glittering object on the ground, but none of the Egyptian Porters paid any attention to it.

‘What is going on?’?

Han-Yeol was confused. He had no idea what the object was, but a Porter was absolutely supposed to retrieve all objects that were a part of the hunt’s loot. However, it seemed that nobody was even sparing a glance at the glittering object.

‘Were?they given some sort of special instruction…?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

Knowing that it was highly unlikely, he tilted his head in confusion before making his way toward the object and picking it up. No one was paying any attention to him. The Egyptian Porters only spared him a glance at most before going about their duties.

‘Huh…? Wait a minute… Don’t tell me… They can’t see this…?’?Han-Yeol wondered while looking around his surroundings.

It seemed that nobody had noticed him picking up the glittering object, and nobody was looking at the glittering object in his hand. This made him certain that whatever he was holding right now was not visible to the others.

‘In that case,’?Han-Yeol thought as he picked up the glittering shard on the ground and tried using the skill he recently obtained. ‘Item Appraisal.’

Ding!

[Angel’s Shard]

Type: Material Item

Description: A fragment of the soul of an angel who descended from the heavenly realms that were corrupted by evil spirits. Not a lot of people are able to craft this material.

‘I finally found it!’?Han-Yeol rejoiced.

He could not help but feel ecstatic after finally finding the item he had been aimlessly and cluelessly searching for. He might have only found three fragments, but the hunt had just begun; he knew that he was going to be able to obtain as many as he wanted from now on.

‘Wait a second… Only three fragments?came?from the five dead Banshees, and I was involved in killing only three of them…. Does that?mean?that these things will only drop if I’m involved in the kill…?’?Han-Yeol wondered.

At this point, Han-Yeol now had another reason to be more enthusiastic and actively participate in the hunt from now on.

‘Alright! Let’s have some fun!’?he exclaimed inwardly.

The Horus raid party started moving again after the Porters finally finished collecting the loot from the Banshees. They were traveling by foot instead of using a vehicle as the hunting grounds in Bundang were more crowded compared to others, and the crowd here meant that there was a higher density of monsters and not Hunters.

The higher density of monsters made hunting in this place much more lucrative, but moving on foot with ordinary people in tow significantly slowed down the raid party’s progress.

[Please move faster, we still have a lot of monsters to hunt,] Mariam transmitted it to everyone.

‘Hehe.’?Han-Yeol grinned as he went over to the Mulan film crew and gave them permission to start filming.

“Finally! At long last!” Su-In rejoiced. Her eyes twinkled when the permission to film was finally given.

“Haha! I will feel burdened if you keep looking at me like that,” Han-Yeol said while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Alright! We will start filming right away!” Su-In exclaimed.

“Okay,” Han-Yeol replied.

Su-In immediately ran to the film crew with all her might, even though no one was chasing her down and they were not short on time or anything.

Han-Yeol could not understand why the Mulan film crew was so excited when it came to filming and broadcasting, because he did not really see huge benefits from it. He was happy to earn additional profits from broadcasting, but he could earn much more easily by solo hunting anyway. Still, he could not help but admit that their passion for their job was a joy to watch nevertheless.

It went without saying that people who did their best in their work were bound to be favorably looked on by others.

“Hey, Yoo-Bi,” Su-In called.

“Yes, unni?” Yoo-Bi responded.

“We will be in your care once again today,” Su-In said.

“Oh, please don’t mention it. I was actually starting to get bored when Mariam-nim told me that I don’t have to do anything in today’s hunt. I mean, I cannot just sit still and do nothing while being here, right? I am thinking of hosting the broadcast today, since I am not going to be on Porter duties… Do we have an in-ear mic set?” Yoo-Bi asked.

“Oh my! Are you willing to do that?” Su-In asked while seemingly surprised.

“Yes, I will give it a try,” Yoo-Bi replied.

“I won’t say no to that! I’ll take you up on your offer!” Su-In exclaimed.

“Hehe, you don’t have to mention it, unni,” Yoo-Bi replied with a cute look. She smiled adorably while sticking out her tongue. This was a habit of hers whenever she felt embarrassed after being praised.

Yoo-Bi might have received a lot of praise in her life thanks to her beauty and big breasts, but she was quick-witted enough to notice if the other person harbored any malice toward her or not. That made her all the more aversive toward other people’s praises, and that was the reason why she could not help but feel embarrassed whenever someone sincerely praised her.

“Then, let’s begin right away,” Su-In said excitedly.

“Yes,” Yoo-Bi enthusiastically replied.

“Let’s get ready for the show!” Su-In shouted.

“OKAY!” the entire film crew shouted in unison.

The entire Mulan film crew, who were busy chatting with each other, immediately sprung into action and prepared for the broadcast as soon as Su-In gave the order. It did not take long for them to finish their preparation for the broadcast.

Su-In started the countdown.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

“ACTION!”

Tak!

Their broadcast was now live.

Yoo-Bi waved with a big smile as soon as the red light on the portable camera was illuminated. She said, “Hello, everyone! Welcome to Han-Yeol Channel! This is your main MC for the channel, Yoo-Bi! Nice to meet you!”

Since she was not a professional MC, her diction, pronunciation, and facial expressions came across as slightly awkward. She could not help but feel more nervous and awkward than usual, because she was not streaming from a small webcam like how a regular streaming session would be done. Today, she was surrounded by professional-grade cameras as if she was a real celebrity. However, she did her best to look as cheerful and bright as possible despite feeling nervous from the pressure.

[Wow! First!]

[Finally, I got in!]

[Phew, what a relief. I thought I was almost late.]

[Hoho! Being a VIP is definitely worth the money.]

[Is there a spot for Guan-Yu and Zhang-Fei?]

Golem Mania TV introduced a new system after they became famous, and that was the VIP Ticketing System. This upgrade was all thanks to successfully recruiting Han-Yeol to their platform.

The other platforms had similar VIP Ticketing Systems. For example, there was the Q Ticket that allowed users to enjoy their favorite broadcasts without having to watch any advertisements in between, or the W Ticket that gave users direct access to the major broadcasts on the platform.

However, the VIP Ticket or V Ticket, in short, issued by Golem Mania TV worked differently from the other VIP Ticketing Systems. A regular viewer could watch the broadcast in real-time through the screen shown by the Mulan film crew, but the viewers who had purchased the V Ticket were given the freedom to choose from ten different camera angles at any given time.

This was a truly revolutionary system that had been solely created for Han-Yeol’s channel. This was no exaggeration as he was probably the only Hunter who used ten different camera angles in his broadcast.

The reason why Han-Yeol was the only Hunter who used multiple camera angles among the streamers on Golem Mania TV was that the platform did not have that many Hunter channels yet, and the few Hunters who did stream on their platform were small-time Hunters who participated in small hunts only.

It was not that they did not employ the same multiple camera angles as Han-Yeol did for his channel because they were lacking budget or anything, but they did not see the need to have the system in the first place since they were not that famous, to begin with.

“Hello to all of our dear viewers! It is really good to see you again! I’m sure that all of you have been getting tired of waiting for us, right?” Yoo-Bi asked with a hint of cheekiness.

[Not at all! How can I ever get tired of waiting for Yoo-Bi?!]

[Heok!?Aren’t you going to show us the Egyptian goddess-nim?]

[Heok!?The… The drone is filming the Egyptian goddess-nim right now!]

[Where? Where?!]

The viewers who had purchased the V Ticket immediately went to the screen menu and clicked on screen number five, which was the scene being filmed by the drones. They zoomed in onto the image being shown on the screen and…

[I-I can’t believe it!!]

[S-She’s a real goddess! It’s the real Egyptian goddess!]

[Oh my God!]

[She’s really beautiful.]

[It was not a lie.]

The V chat room was in an uproar.

It was almost impossible to find a proper picture of Tayarana on the internet since she always wore the Horus armor during hunts or her traditional attire with a face veil during formal international events.

Her country, Egypt, might have become secular now, but it did not mean that they had completely abandoned the religious aspect of it. That was why the traditional attire that Tayarana wore had a veil that was similar to the face scarf used by women.

It was a fact that Egypt might have changed its political stance to be secular, but the majority of its people were still religiously inclined.

Despite the odds, there were some rare pictures of Tayarana on the internet, and she became revered as a living goddess from just those few photos alone. The several pictures that circulated the internet were already earning her the reverence of an Egyptian Goddess worldwide.

But for a goddess like Tayarana, who had been hidden behind a veil this entire time, to be live on camera…? This was more than enough to make news of the broadcast spread like wildfire.

1. This is a pun (a bad one…) since Yoo-Bi is actually the Korean form of Liu-Bei from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga, so the author made this pun of Guan-Yu and Zhang-Fei… Ba Dum… Tss!