Solo Leveling Chapter 69:

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 69

 

Next morning, Jinwoo went straight to Daesung Tower .

 

‘Man, it’s still so tall . ’

 

A skyscraper with a hundred floors .  Standing near it, you’d have to strain your neck to look up to the top .

 

‘There are a lot of people here today . ’

 

Compared to the last time he had come here, there were a lot more people around .  Guess that was the literal difference between night and day . Whether it was the lobby, entrance or the sidewalk, people came and went nonstop .

 

‘Man, if I just disappeared into thin air like last time, it’ll cause quite a commotion . ’

 

There were already many eyes looking for him because of this so-called “unknown helper” incident .  Was there a need for him to reveal himself and purposely attract attention?

 

‘Of course not . ’

 

Jinwoo did not enjoy having attention focused on him .  He walked over to a hidden corner and took out the Demon Castle Key .  It was a slender, golden key . At a casual glance, it was clearly nonfunctional .

 

‘No one’s looking, right?’

 

Jinwoo looked around and nodded .

 

‘Time to go . ’

 

The Hunter used the ‘Stealth’ skill .

 

shooo-

 

The invisible man came out of his hiding spot then made his way through the crowd to the building .  Because of how packed the streets were, he couldn’t avoid bumping into few people here and there, but none of them paid any mind .

 

‘Man, this skill can be used for some really bad things . ’

 

No wonder high-rankers with ‘Stealth’ were under a lot of surveillance .

 

flaaaare!

 

In the meantime, he passed through the invisible threshold into a completely different world .

 

‘If I can hear the flames from here, just how hot is it?’

 

Jinwoo looked up at the massive tower on fire .  It stood where Daesung Tower was moments ago . The Demon Castle nearly filled his entire vision .  Still, they say humans can get used to anything .

 

‘Feels less oppressive than last time . ’

 

Indeed, Jinwoo’s anxiousness was practically nonexistent this time .

 

Or perhaps,

 

‘It’s because I’ve grown that much . ’

 

Jinwoo returned the golden Demon Castle Key to the inventory then took out a gray key .

 

Castle Gate Key

Rarity: A-rank   Type: Key   It is the key to the Demon Castle’s gates .   Obtained after killing the Gatekeeper .

 

It was what he obtained after killing the watchdog, Cerberus .  He was unable to use it in the past, having just barely defeated Cerberus .  Now, he would finally enter the castle . Next, he took out his weapon . Baruka’s Tanto in his right hand, the gate key in his left, Jinwoo carefully walked towards the castle gate .  Curiously, he did not see Cerberus .

 

‘Do monsters not respawn in the Demon Castle Dungeon?’

 

Might be just limited to the dog, but there was a strong possibility that it was a special rule of this place .

 

‘If that’s the case…’

 

The interiors might be a little different than the Instant Dungeons where monsters respawned .  Jinwoo sharply focused his senses .

 

BA DUM BA DUM BA DUM!

 

Because of the sense stat that had reached over a hundred, focusing his senses made his own heartbeat sound like thunder .

 

‘But I am not afraid . ’

 

Compared to the past, what he felt now was not fear but an overwhelming confidence resulting from his power .  Maintaining a sharpness and being afraid were two completely different things .

 

ring~

 

A message appeared in front of the castle door .

 

Would you like to use the Castle Gate Key and enter? (Y/N)

 

‘No, miss System, I’ll just turn back and go home . ’

 

Jinwoo laughed at the stupid question and selected “Yes” .

 

creaaaak-

 

He had not touched the door, but the giant gates swung open on their own .

 

Clunk!

 

‘Huh…?’

 

Jinwoo was taken back .  Even though his senses were focused, he did not sense any monsters past the doors .

 

‘No monsters?’

 

He had prepared for the exact opposite .  His worst case scenario visioned a scene where a ton of monsters jumped him the moment he opened the door .  It was this pessimistic thought that had carried him to the penalty zone for training .

 

‘But…’

 

Just what was this? It seemed like his efforts were in vain .  The inside of the castle was almost pathetically devoid of any monsters’ presence .

 

‘Huh… What now?’

 

With a disappointed feeling, Jinwoo returned Baruka’s Tanto to the inventory and stepped into the Demon Castle .  As these things usually go, that first step into the area triggered the response .

 

ring~

 

Jinwoo reflexively called his two daggers to his hands in a flash .

 

‘What! What is it?!’

 

A quest has arrived .

 

‘A quest?’

 

And it’s not the daily quest? Well that would’ve been weird; he had already made sure to complete the daily quest before coming here .  Then this must be… just a quest .

 

This was the first time he had received “just” a quest .

 

‘Every other quest up until now was hidden, emergency or something . ’

 

Jinwoo checked the quest with a tilted head .

Ordinary Quest: Collect the Demon Souls! Part 1

The Demon Castle is full of demons . Please hunt them and collect their souls to earn a special reward . Normal demons contain only one soul, but the upper floors will have demons with multiple souls .

Quest Requirement: Enter the Demon Castle

Quest Goal: Demon Souls 0 / 10,000

Rewards: Pick one item from every item possible Stat points +20 Unknown Reward

 

20 Stat points! As always, the first thing that grabbed Jinwoo’s attention was the stat point reward .

 

‘I can raise my intelligence by 20!’

 

He could not help but smile .  The disadvantages of low mana could not be understated .

 

‘I need a ton of mana to keep my soldiers regenerating . ’

 

And mana wasn’t the only benefit of the intelligence stat .  Jinwoo was finally able to learn that as his intelligence increased, the number of shadows he could extract and store increased as well[1] .  Because of all this, increasing his intelligence was urgent .

 

‘There’s a limit with just level-ups and daily quests…’

 

If he could earn 20 bonus stats through the quest, it would take care of a large problem .

 

gulp

 

‘And…’

 

Jinwoo looked up from the stat reward .

 

“Pick one item from every item possible”

 

Just the bonus stats were an insane reward, then there was this .

 

‘Really? Every item possible?’

 

Jinwoo remembered the absolute highest-class equipments from the shop .

 

‘There were even…’

 

S-rank equipment that cost billions, some even tens of billions, of gold .  Jinwoo looked at Knight Killer in his left hand . This powerful dagger cost nearly three million gold, and he was still using it .

 

‘If a B-rank dagger costing nearly three million is this good, just how good are the S-rank daggers costing tens of billions?’

 

He became curious .  Looking at just the first and second rewards, even ignoring the unknown third reward, this was an incredible quest .

 

‘Considering the rewards, taking down few monsters will be as easy as eating-’

 

Because Jinwoo’s eyes fell on the quest rewards first, he had not taken a closer look at the quest goal .  The man finally looked at the number of zeros and was shocked .

 

“Ten… thousand?”

 

Jinwoo could not help but exclaim loudly .  This was not just “taking down few monsters” .

 

‘It’s really, really not an ordinary quest . ’

 

No matter what kind of monsters these demons were, killing ten thousand of them would be an ordeal .  However, the Hunter smiled widely .

 

‘That is… if I was alone . ’

 

The current number of soldiers was 50 .  They each just had to take down 200 demons .  Yes, with those soldiers, this quest would be doable .

 

Would you like to accept the quest?

 

‘Of course . ’

 

There was no way he would refuse .

 

You’ve accepted the quest .

 

If he failed, the “penalty” would be just the wasted time .

 

‘Compared the penalty of those other quests… bleh…’

 

His life was on the line for the Class Advancement Quest and the Emergency Quests .  Compared to those, this was truly a blessed quest . Jinwoo raised his head,

 

‘So that’s going to keep track of my progress?’

 

The moment he accepted the quest, a counter appeared in the air .

 

Collected Demon Souls: 0 / 10,000

 

‘10,000… This’ll be a long road . ’

 

With the numbers he imagined in his head actually visualized, Jinwoo chuckled in disbelief .  Suddenly, he discovered another counter to the left to the souls counter .

 

‘Huh?’

 

Exp . to Next Level: 60,000

 

The holographic letters clearly displayed a number, and it was telling him that he would level up once he filled that number .

 

‘Am I finally able to see my experience?’

 

But he was Level 61 .  61 didn’t particularly seem like a milestone level for something like this to happen .  Not only that, Jinwoo didn’t see such a counter before heading into the Demon Castle .

 

‘Let’s see…’

 

Jinwoo took a step back and exited the Demon Castle .  With that, both the soul counter and the experience counter disappeared .  When he went back in, the two counters returned as if they were always there .

 

‘Looks like it’s only for the Demon Castle . ’

 

It was a shame he wouldn’t be able to see the experience counter on the outside, but it would surely be convenient while he was in here .  On the other hand,

 

‘Does that mean it’ll take that long to conquer this place?’

 

That was certainly a possibility .  Jinwoo pored over the details of the quest once more, then closed the message box .

 

‘Think I got the details down . ’

 

Finally, it would be time to explore the interiors of the Demon Castle .

 

‘Whoa!’

 

wooooooooo-

 

A ruined city lay before his eyes .  Unexpectedly, it was another field-type Dungeon .

 

‘Where is this? Is this Seoul?’

 

Perhaps if everyone in Seoul died and a hundred years passed, it might look like this .  A lifeless city faded to gray . Few street lights flickered on and off here and there .

 

‘To think that it’d be another field-type Dungeon…’

 

On top of that, it was using the great city of Seoul as its base .  Next to the Instant Dungeons that used a subway station or a mall as their base, this was incomparable .  Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed .

 

‘Where do I go first?’

 

Where was the goal? Jinwoo looked over here and there .  Thankfully, he did not have to wonder for too long . From a distance, where Namsan Tower should’ve been, a giant pillar of light stood in its place .

 

‘Let’s try over there . ’

 

Jinwoo started heading towards the direction .  In case he got lost, he carefully remembered the area where the castle gate was .  However, he did not go too far when he was interrupted,

 

“Kik kik . ”

“Kikikik . ”

 

Small monsters crawled out from between the buildings here and there .

 

‘Low-level Demon’

 

Jinwoo read the dark red names above their heads and understood what they were .

 

‘They look like…’

 

If the gargoyle magic beasts had wings, it would look just like them .  There were eight of them . Jinwoo smiled .

 

‘Got eight souls . ’

 

Pierce!

 

One of the demons sported Baruka’s Tanto out of its forehead .

 

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon .

You’ve earned 100 experience points .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul .

 

“Kiak?”

“Kiek?”

 

While they were distracted by their fallen comrade, Jinwoo quickly ran over and removed another’s head .

 

slash!

 

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon .

You’ve earned 100 experience points .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul .

 

These things gave a hundred experience points each .

 

‘And I need 60,000 experience points to level-up…’

 

Defeating 600 of these low-level demons should level him up .  The remaining demons fell quickly .

 

“Kiiiiiiek!”

“Kek!”

 

Current souls at 8 .  Experienced gained was 800 .

 

‘Not a bad start . ’

 

A marathon starts with just a few steps .  Jinwoo’s eyes sparkled, looking for the next prey .

 

 

 

Baekho Guild .  Guildmaster’s Office .

 

After being busy for the past few days, Baek Yoonho was going through the documents and reports that he had been neglecting .

 

Beep-

 

He picked up the phone .

 

- “Guildmaster, Hunter Min Byunggu-nim is calling . Would you like me to connect?”

 

“Yes, please . ”

 

- “Alright . ”

 

A moment later, a familiar voice came from the receiver .

 

- “Baek hyung, why is your cellphone off?”

 

Baek Yoonho sighed deeply,

 

“Because of those **** reporters . I’m going dark until this **** story dies down . ”

 

- “Oh, yeah, that! Red Gate! I saw the news from Japan . Hyung, you look pretty good on the TV . ”

 

“Don’t test me . I’m not in the mood to joke around . Once I find who leaked that story, I’m going to just…”

 

- “Don’t worry about that too much, hyung . That story’s going to get pushed over by a big news soon . ”

 

“A big news? From Japan?”

 

- “Yeah . The problem is worse than we thought . It’s going to make waves in Korea soon . ”

 

“Why? What happened?”

 

A week ago, Japan secretly contacted the Korean Hunter Association and the large Guilds of South Korea .  They were informed that Japan needed a consultation with Korea’s Hunters . And so, several Hunters representing Korea headed over to Japan for a meeting .  Min Byunggu was one of those Hunters . Baek Yoonho had been curious about the matter,

 

“Stop messing around and spill it . This is the first time those Japanese **** asked for our advice on something . Just what’s going on over there that could rattle those arrogant fucks?” [2]

 

- “Baek hyung, you remember the ants of Jeju Island, right?”

 

An S-rank Gate underwent a Dungeon Break four years ago on Jeju Island .  The Dungeon was populated by ant type magic beasts . South Korea had attempted to reclaim the island three times .  They failed three times . Eventually, the government gave up on the jewel of Korea, and Jeju Island became the land of the magic beasts .

 

“How could I forget? I almost died during one of the reclamation efforts . ”

 

- “There’s been a development in that area . ”

 

“Development? Who the **** cares . Let them kill and eat each other on that island . ”

 

- “That’s…”

 

The voice on the phone became filled with worry and continued,

 

- “They discovered a corpse of a winged ant on the coast of Japan . ” [3]

 

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: Oh, here it is . The actual confirmation that intelligence increased his maximum shadows .

[2]: Err, in case anyone’s uncomfortable with the rather blatant racism, the relationship between Korean and Japan, especially for older folks, is not that good .

[3]: In the next arc of SoloxLeveling, we’ll be visiting the Chimera Ant Island :P