210

Solo Leveling Chapter 210

It was a rare sight.

The citizens who wanted to escape from Seoul and the incoming Hunters who were here to protect Seoul were now crowded together, congesting the roads.

In particular, the areas directly under the large gates were expected to suffer extreme damager, so many citizens living there left of their own accord.

Jin-woo, who was watching TV as it showed the evacuation process, asked her mom. “Mom, is it okay that you are staying here with me?”

“This is not an evacuation zone.”

Jin-ah’s mother seemed to have no intention of leaving seoul. Jin-woo and his family ived in an apartment in the outskirt of Seoul. If any magical beasts made it here it meant that the Hunter’s best line of defense had collapsed, which would also imply the failure of Jin-woo’s defense of the forefront.

His mother believed in him.

The fight will not get here.

Jin-woo only smiled, but he did not say anything.

Unlike their mother and her brother who were sitting next to a low table in front of the sofa, Jin-ah was sitting on both of her knees. She turned to Jin-woo.

“Brother, don’t you have to go?”

A Hunter’s summoning.

However the order does not apply to Jin-woo who was a resident of Seoul.

“That’s only for other Hunters who are not local to Seoul. They need to report to the Association.”

Jin-ah nodded as she accepted her mother’s plate of apples.

In reality.

It was Jin-woo who was the most frustrated as he had to spend this time at home. He could not raise his skill level as no gates were around. He also had not acquired any new special gate keys since he had defeated the system designer.

Although he loves his family, Jin-woo also wanted to train himself even more.

Do I need to stop doing the daily quests so that I can go to the penalty area?

This was both a good and bad idea.

Something might break out of the gate just around the corner. There might be monsters waiting for him.

Even if the odds are small.

One in a thousand. No, one in ten thousand.

If something happens to him in the Penalty Zone, he would not be able to come back and handle what’s happening here.

So there’s no need to bear such a huge risk. So he dismissed this idea.

After all he could find other ways of testing [Karmish’s Wrath].

A scene appeared on TV that caught his eyes. It looked like the building of the Hunter’s Association.

That’s right.

Shall I use it?

The eyes of Jin-woo curled up as it gleamed.

Jin-woo took out his cell-phone and found the number he was looking for.

* BEEP … BEEP … BEEP *

The receiver answered the phone quickly.

“Yes, Hunter Sung. It’s Chief Woo Jin Chul.”

“Now should I call you President Woo Jin-Chul?”

Woo Jin-chul smiled and laughed.

“You can call me whatever you would like. I feel uncomfortable having such a title.”

Then he got serious.

“What happened? I’m worried now that you’re contacting me all of a sudden.”

After all the strongest Hunter in Korea had just contacted him. He had every right to be nervous.

“It’s not a big deal … but.”

Woo Jin-chul nervously swallowed.

‘For something that is nothing for Hunter Sung, it could nevertheless be a big deal to us. No, in fact it could be even more serious if Hunter Sung is not serious about it.’

Amidst the brief silence, Woo Jin-chul struggled to compose himself and listened.

Jin-woo was relaxed and approached the question with a light mind said, “Can I borrow the Association’s gym?”

***

Despite his busy schedule Woo Jin-chul met him personally.

“As you can see there is a situation going on with the gym right now.”

Jin-woo scratched his head. He was going to use the gym but the inside was full of Hunters. Seeing the weapons in their hands, Jin-woo remembered what was originally in the gym’s inventory.

“Are you providing weapons to the poorly equipped hunters?”

“Yes, it’s something that Go Gun-hee had prepared for.”

Jin-woo nodded.

This was a scene he wanted to show those who complained that the Association had locked up expensive weapons and armors and weren’t using them.

Then, a large Hunter who was putting on his armor that was coated with mana inadvertently raised his head and met Jin-woo’s eyes.

“Huh?”

Suddenly he was surprised to see the top Hunter that he had seen on the news.

“It’s Hunter Sung Jin-woo!”

“What?”

“Is the S-Rank Hunter here?”

The Hunters inside the gym all looked at him. Indeed, just as the large Hunter had said, they saw Sung Jin-woo along with the President of the association who quietly stared back. The noisy gym became silent in an instant.

The atmosphere was heavy. The overwhelming presence which could not be felt on a television screen was palpable.

* Ba bump ba bump *

Expressions changed on the Hunters’ faces. They shone of envy, respect, gratitude.

Only then was Jin-woo about to understand why Woo Jin-chul had nevertheless brought him here. All of these were lower tier hunters who could not afford expensive equipment.

The new President wanted to boost morale by showing the strongest ally to the mentally exhausted weaker Hunters who had been suddenly called in to Seoul.

It was clear to see from the energy-filled eyes and spirit of the Hunters that Woo Jin-chul had made the right decision.

Jin-woo laughed at Woo Jin-chul’s brilliance. Woo Jin-chul was an experienced leader. Woo Jin-chul scratched his head in embarrassment at having been found out for his plans.

“But Hunter. Why do you need the gym?”

Jin-woo took something out of his inventory, pretending to take it from his pocket.

“I’m going to use this.”

“What … what is this?”

“When you plant it in the ground, you will get a magical beast that looks lie a tree. I need to test something.”

“A magical beast? Out here?”

Jin-woo nodded to Woo Jin-chul who had his surprised eyes wide-open.

There was a type of Magical Beat that were of tree type. They drop their seeds right before they die, and if these seeds are not destroyed these beasts would grow again.

It was necessary to hunt all of these seeds. He had to destroy nearly all of them earlier but Jin-woo had kept a few seeds from the boss-level monster because he felt it might be of use later.

The name that Jin-woo gave the beast was “ironclad”, fitting due to the sturdy exterior of the monster.

Wouldn’t he be a good candidate to test my new dagger on?

The problem was.

“If you look at the people here, there will be many who will be surprised and upset if you test it in this atmosphere.”

Woo Jin-chul was worried.

Jin-woo agreed.

“Yes, I need a quiet place that no one can see.”

The Hunter Association’s Gym cannot be used by the general public. Jin-woo turned to the Hunters staring at him. Many were strengthened by the attention they received from the Association President and Jin-woo.

“But this is the reality.”

Jin-woo clucked his tongue. There was a way to plant these seeds in Japan but it was too far away to fly to and it would not be a good idea to use the Shadow Step skill for something like this.

I don’t know what will happen here if I cannot Shadow Step back during these next two hours.

Woo Jin-chul made up his mind and said decisively, “Okay.”

“Yes?”

“I will clear the entire afternoon schedule for the gym for Hunter Sung. Compared to what you’ve done for us this is not even a drop in the bucket.”

Also, would it make sense that the person who became President of the Association couldn’t even lend a gym.

“Really?”

When Jin-woo asked anxiously, Woo Jin-chul laughed.

“You may not know, but Choi Jong-in is also here. We will make sure that the gym is closed.”

Woo Jin-chul clapped his hands together and held a firm gaze.

“Who is in charge here?”

“Yyy, Yes sir!”

***

It was a luxury hotel in Seoul.

A man looked down the crowded road from the widow at the cars looking to get ou of Seoul.

Laura came up behind Thomas.

Her hand was on the handle of a suitcase full of luggage.

“Master, are you not going to go?”

“That’s right.”

Thomas rapped the window with the tip of his index finger.

“How can I possibly leave behind such a large and beautiful thing?”

“Master, it’s certainly large … but beautiful?”

Thomas had become familiar with many things during his time as Hunter but even he was awed by the large and ominous gate.

He turned to his puzzled assistant.

“Anything that can make my heart beat like this is beautiful.”

Thomas checked his pulse by placing his hands over his chest. His heart had been going crazy ever since he had seen the gate.

“The Dragon that blazed fire, this gate and the power of Hunter Sung Jin-woo are all beautiful in my eyes.”

A man who cannot stop.

Laura couldn’t hide her smile as she shook her head.

Thomas grinned with his hands on his chest.

“What are we going to do if we don’t have new gates to worry about anyways?”

“But Master, the Hunter Bureau is worried.”

Worry.

Thomas was laughing because someone was worried about his safety.

“It’s funny to hear that. There is no place as safe as where Hunter Sung Jin-woo is.”

When Thomas said this, Laura was speechless.

It was no secret that the Hunter Administration had asked Sung Jin-woo to protect the safety of the world’s top Hunters.

Thomas smiled back at the dumbfounded Laura.

The extremely large gate shone silently over Seoul’s sky.

“If you can’t stop it here, then there’s no point anyways.”

If there was a disaster that even Sung Jin-woo couldn’t stop, what hope did the rest of the world have at containing the next eight gates?

Who is going to stop it?

Me?

Or Liu Zhang of China? Or another Nation-level Hunter?

Ridiculous.

“So I want to see it with my own eyes.”

Thomas smiled and said to Laura’s reflection as he turned back to the window.

“Is this the end of human existence, or a new beginning?”

***

An empty gym.

Jin-woo walked to the center of the large gym.

Shall we do this?

He put the seed on the ground and sprinkled some water onit.

Seeds and water.

It had been confirmed by other Hunters several times before that this type of Magical Beast could grow without needing soil or sunlight.

* Shrrrrk shrrrrrk *

With a sound of bones cracking and vines sprouting, the seeds began to quickly sprout into a massive tree.

“Huh.”

It was a spectacular sight. The seed contained an enormous amoutn of life that could survive even in the harshest environments.

Jin-woo retreated to a safe corner of the gym to observe.

“Kie -eeeeeeeeeee!”

The knots and branches of the tree grew larger and larger, becoming similar to the original beast that the seed dropped from. By the end, the seed had transformed into a giant monster with its head touching nearly the ceiling of the gym.

“Kieeek!”

Not paying attention to the roar of the monster tree, Jin-woo calmly called out the newly promoted version of Ber.

Come out.

Ber came swiftly from the ground.

[My Lord!]

The new version of Ber looked usual. He had black armor which fit his body perfectly instead of the exoskeleton of an insect. He looked much stronger than before.

The black steam that used to billow all over his body was now blazing as if it was a burning fire.

Incredible power.

Jin-woo once again checked the info of Ber.

[ Ber Lv. Max ]

There was currently only soldier that had this rank. Jin-woo learned that there may be only one soldier at a time that could be equivalent to a military general.

Well, it’s likely that Ygritte and Greed, who are about to upgrade to General Level soon, may challenge Ber for this rank …

Thinking that ti would be fun to see a three-way battle between the three soldiers, Jin-woo gave Ber a nod.

“Ber, attack with all of your strength.”

With all of its strength.

As the Lord instructed, Ber grew his body to its full extent.

* KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK *

This was a real beast’s roar.

Ber’s armor also changed size to fit it’s body. Soon Ber was twice as large and sprinted at the Ironclad Tree.

* KUANG! *

Ber’s eyes widened.

A single stroke that could squeeze the energy of most monsters was not strong enough to cut the iron monster in half. His claws stopped at his wrists.

It was embarrassing for Ber, would could destroy even S-class monsters with ease.

Other than magical attacks, this armor was nearly impenetrable to physical assaults.

That’s enough.

Jin-woo was satisfied by the result.

“Step back.”

Ber quickly withdrew.

Jin-woo called Karmish’s Daggers into both of his hands.

* Sukhhhh *

Two long daggers appeared in each hand.

Good.

The tree monster ran to find Jin-woo in search of the monster that had carved a hole in its trunk.

Slow. It was slow.

The monster’s sole specialty was defense. But its defense was the real deal.

How long will these two daggers last against such a defense?

The black mana spread to the tip of each dagger.

How much destructive power is there?

As soon as Jin-woo thought this, the two daggers became as heavy as if their weight was multiplied by 1000.

Jin-woo’s shoulder muscles bulged to support this.

1,500 Attack … let’s see it.

As Jin-woo’s fighting spirit grew, the two daggers began to tremble.