Ting!

[Vibration Booster has leveled up.]

‘Nice!’

[Huh?]

Luckily, his skill had leveled up at just the right time, allowing him to move much faster than before.

Emperor Qin looked puzzled by Han-Yeol’s sudden increase in speed.

‘I’m pretty sure the previous speed was his fastest, but he became even faster in the middle of our fight?’

It wasn’t uncommon for warriors below a certain level to become stronger in the middle of a fight. But for someone as powerful as Han-Yeol or Emperor Qin, this was only possible through special enlightenment.

‘He indeed uses a lot of extraordinary tricks.’

Emperor Qin treated Han-Yeol’s leveling up as some sort of trick, and he wasn’t particularly worried about it.

‘Well, as long as I can get him to be my subordinate, alive or as a terracotta warrior, I’ll eventually learn his secret!’

He was confident that he was going to win anyway.

‘With such a vast difference in strength, how can that brat possibly defeat me?’

Clank!

Emperor Qin blocked Han-Yeol’s sword and chain attacks with extreme ease.

[Is this all you’ve got after regaining your senses? You still have a long way to go.]

“I’m just getting started!”

‘Dark Avenger!’

Zing!

[Huh?]

After Han-Yeol activated the skill, a swarm of ghostly beings wearing translucent black cloaks and holding wheel-shaped weapons in each hand emerged from his body and charged at Emperor Qin.

[Do you think you can defeat me with these little tricks?!]

Shaak! Swoosh!

‘Tsk, he’s definitely not an easy opponent.’

The Dark Avengers charged at Emperor Qin with great momentum, but ten Avengers disappeared all at once with a single swing of his polearm, which had a longer range than a sword.

However, Han-Yeol no longer got worked up or showed his emotions.

‘Not bad, kid.’

Emperor Qin was quite impressed with how quickly Han-Yeol calmed down.

‘But you’re still not good enough!’

[Imperial Guards, come and protect me!]

Shaaaa!

‘Huh?!’

Once Emperor Qin used his skill, sand rose from the ground and clumped together in the air to form another set of clay puppets. The ten clay puppets dressed in fancy armor carrying similar polearms grew stronger with more mana as they neared completion.

‘Like the emperor he is, who created a one-man army all by himself, he has the skill to summon subordinates on cue just like that.’

[Long live the Emperor!]

The ten summoned imperial guards kneeled in midair and bowed to Emperor Qin, showing him respect.

[Loyal guards, eliminate all those who stand in my way!]

[Yes, Your Majesty!]

Tak!

There weren’t a lot of guards, but they were individually more skilled than the Dark Avengers.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Every time they swung their polearms, the Dark Avengers were cut to pieces or impaled like skewers and vanished into smoke.

Pak!

[Come at me!]

However, Han-Yeol paid no attention to that and immediately charged toward Emperor Qin.

Clank, clank! Boom!

This time, instead of using Emperor Qin’s favorite method, Han-Yeol used his own fighting style, utilizing his sword as a secondary weapon and his chains as the primary.

‘Restrain!’

Whoosh!

[Oh, wow.]

Emperor Qin was mildly impressed as he dodged Restrain, a powerful skill that would immobilize an opponent for a short time. He was unfamiliar with this style of combat that involved manipulating chains so freely.

[This is getting more interesting.]

“Focus when you’re fighting, you bastard.”

[Hahaha! Sure, I’ll do that…]

Emperor Qin laughed heartily as he faced Han-Yeol.

Neighhh! Pow!

“Agh!”

Emperor Qin’s horse unexpectedly kicked Han-Yeol in the chest with its front hoof.

“Tsk! It’s merely an attack from a horse, but it hurts like hell.”

[It’s not just a normal horse. It’s a fine horse with the world’s strongest bloodline, so how could it not hurt?]

Emperor Qin sat on top of his horse, swinging his polearm, while Han-Yeol simply flew with the help of his Wings of Light.

They were so far away from each other that Han-Yeol was clearly at a disadvantage.

“In that case, why don’t I try increasing the distance too?”

[Huh? Do you have a horse too?]

“Nonsense. Who rides a horse these days? It’s so old-fashioned.”

Han-Yeol put his thumb and index finger in his mouth and whistled.

Tweeeet!

“Khaaa!”

Whoosh!

“At least ride a dragon. Come on, doesn't everyone have at least one dragon these days?”

[...]

“No way, do you not have a dragon?”

[...]

“Tsk, tsk, you were talking all that nonsense but you don’t have a dragon? I’m a little disappointed.”

[...]

Thud.

Once he heard Han-Yeol’s whistle, Mavros, who had slaughtered the Dragon of Destruction, appeared in the air using all sorts of poisonous magic and breaths. He approached Han-Yeol in transformation mode I.

Han-Yeol climbed onto Mavros’ back, and the distance between them instantly widened.

Emperor Qin’s horse was just over two meters tall at most, but Mavros was fifteen meters long and four meters tall, larger than any ordinary jet.

“Where are you, Emperor? You’re so small that I can’t see you.”

[...Now, there’s one more thing I need to take from you.]

“Wow, you're so compassionate that you want to take everything you see for yourself. You’re like a five-year-old child, asking your mom to buy you toys. Hahaha!]

[Shut up!]

“Hahaha, the good old man has finally lost his temper.”

Emperor Qin was definitely shocked by Mavros’ appearance.

Mavros was also present the first time Han-Yeol met Emperor Qin. However, Emperor Qin hadn't paid much attention to anyone else other than Han-Yeol, so he didn’t notice that Mavros was a dragon.

‘A dragon? How can such a lowly human handle a dragon, a symbol of a heavenly being? I’ll kill him and the dragon will be mine.’

There was nothing in the Qin Dynasty that didn’t belong to Emperor Qin. He could have everything he wanted, from stones to men, if he so desired.

But when he saw the dragon, a symbol of a heavenly being, he couldn't help but covet it.

“Mavros!”

“Kheee!”

Phwaaaa!

Excited to fight alongside Han-Yeol for the first time in a while, Mavros furiously spewed out poison breath as his first attack.

[Hmph!]

Mavros’ poison breath was tremendously strong, classified as an A-rank skill, close to a Master Rank.

“Tsk, as expected, attacking from the front may not be good enough.”

“Kheeee!” Mavros roared angrily as a single shield simply blocked his attack.

Not all his attacks had landed in the past, but because his poison breath was so strong, people only managed to dodge it. This was his first time seeing someone block it with such ease.

“Woah, calm down, Mavros. That guy is stronger than me, so we have to take it slow. If we try to outpower him, we’ll lose.”

“Khee…”

Mavros replied that he understood, but his expression was filled with dissatisfaction.

[As expected of a dragon. You have a cute side to you.]

“Kheee!”

Puff!

Emperor Qin followed up by complimenting Mavros, but Mavros felt mocked, already furious with him. Mavros puffed his nose, a habit that only came out when he was really angry.

“Okay, let’s fight for real now, Mavros!”

“Kheeee!”

Chaa!

Han-Yeol shook the special dragon reins in his hand. With that signal, Mavros spread his wings wide and started to fly fast.

[I’ll admit that your dragon is more splendid than my horse.]

Neighhh!

Flying Dragon cried in discontent at Emperor Qin’s remark.

[Woah, woah, calm down. I’m only talking about looks here. The real king here is you, my pet Flying Dragon. Giddyup!]

Neighhh!

The Flying Dragon raised its two front legs high and charged forward as if to show that it was the real boss.

‘Chain Strike!’

Whirrr!

‘Multiple Fires!’

Boom! Boom!

Before they could close, Han-Yeol used his mid-range skills, Chain Strike and Multiple Fires, unleashing a series of mana explosions.

Emperor Qin was also a monster capable of ranged attacks, but he had the risk of switching weapons frequently. However, Han-Yeol had two weapons in his hands and a shoulder cannon on his shoulders, making him an all-round Hunter who could use all of his skills without switching weapons. He was at a disadvantage in almost every aspect, but this was definitely an advantage.

‘I’m definitely going to have to use this to my advantage.’

[Yes, and now you just have to find his weakness to kill him.]

‘Don’t worry about that. My Demon Eyes are already analyzing him.’

[Isn’t that what I’m doing?]

‘Same thing!’

[Alright.]

Karvis was well aware of Han-Yeol’s shamelessness, but at times like this, she wished she could punch him just once.

‘Fireball!’

Bang!

[Ugh, fight properly, you bastard!]

By the time he reached Rank A, the Fireball skill no longer dealt a fixed amount of damage. Han-Yeol had the option to adjust its power based on the amount of mana he used.

Once he reached Rank M, a Master-Rank, Fireball could be utilized in various ways, allowing him to fire not just one shot at a time, but dozens or even hundreds.

Fireball was a very basic skill. It was slightly less powerful than Mana Explosion, and he hadn’t used it much after reaching Rank M, but this skill was very effective against Emperor Qin.

While Emperor Qin was normally calm, the Fireballs attacking him from various angles, directions, and formations rritated him.

“Wow, you've finally lost your temper. Should we expect the sun to rise in the west tomorrow?”

[Ugh, shut up! If you dare to make fun of me, you will be beheaded!]

“Yeah, so try if you can. You’re free to cut off my head, but that’s only if you’re able to. Haha.”

The battle was still in Emperor Qin’s favor. He had the offense, and Han-Yeol could only evade or attack to hold him in check. Ironically, however, Emperor Qin was being mentally attacked.

Tang! Whirrr!

The fact that Emperor Qin hadn’t scored a single hit despite using his polearm, sword, and crossbow to attack Han-Yeol dealt a huge blow to his pride.

[You little rat. I’m sure you know that you won’t be able to defeat me if you keep running away like that!]

“Hmph. I do know, and you do realize that you’ll never be able to kill me with such easy-to-dodge attacks, right?”

Emperor Qin finally uttered Han-Yeol’s most hated expression.

[How dare you, you lowly commoner!]

He became instantly furious, but it was impossible for him to take it out on Emperor Qin at this point in their fight.

‘I have to hold back. I’ll imagine destroying him into pieces and I’ll hold back for as long as I can…’