Level Up Machine

Chapter 48 Explosive Level-up (6)

*Wooooong.*

A piece of machinery that could not be found anywhere on the continent of Elnote sliced through the air. It was a drone that Yeong-sik had created by investing a thousand gold coins.

Twenty meters above the ground, the drone flew.

Beneath it, a piece of deer meat, dripping with blood, was tied.

*“Kraaaaaa!”*

*“Boom!”*

*“Crack!”*

With a thunderous roar, as if a storm were raging, trees exploded and shattered. A massive monster, towering five meters tall, chased after the drone, smashing everything in its path like a runaway train.

An ogre.

Covered in tough, reddish muscles, it was the tyrant of the forest. Known for its ferocity, it was one of the top-tier monsters, notorious for killing any prey it saw.

Especially, ogres were extremely sensitive to the smell of blood. Once they injured their prey, they were famous for chasing it down until it was dead.

*“Kraaaa!”*

*“Thud! Thud!”*

The ogre roared wildly, glaring at the drone that seemed to be mocking it as it floated in the air.

No matter how powerful the ogre was, it was impossible to catch the drone, which was twenty meters above the ground, simply by jumping.

*“Grrrr!”*

The ogre picked up a boulder as big as a person with one hand and hurled it at the drone. The boulder shot through the air at a terrifying speed, but the drone was far enough away that it easily moved sideways to avoid the attack.

*“Kraaaa!”*

The ogre roared in frustration, but it never gave up chasing its prey. It was an instinct imprinted in its blood.

*“Kraaaa!”*

*“Crash!”*

*“Boom!”*

The ogre smashed the surrounding trees in irritation, chasing after the drone that dangled the meat, keeping a certain distance from it. And so, three hours passed.

*“Krrrr, grrr, rrr.”*

The ogre staggered, showing clear signs of exhaustion.

Although it couldn’t perform magical attacks, the ogre was incredibly strong, with speed, stamina, and power that overwhelmed other monsters of the same level.

But no matter how good its physical attributes were, running at full speed and nearly destroying the forest for three hours was too much. In fact, the mere fact that the ogre could chase the drone for three hours proved how powerful it was.

*“Grrrr…”*

The ogre, even while staggering, continued to glare at the drone with eyes full of madness. If the drone had disappeared beyond the sky where it could never reach, the ogre would have had no choice but to give up. But the drone continued to appear in its sight, as if mocking it.

### Chapter 48

**Rapid Level Up (6)**

*Grrrr.*

The ogre growled menacingly as it looked up at the drone, which had slowed down to match its reduced speed.

For a while, the ogre chased after the drone, but eventually, it collapsed from exhaustion.

*Wooooong.*

The drone, flying in the air, lowered its altitude to check the ogre’s condition as it lay on the ground.

That was when it happened.

*“Kraaaaaa!”*

The ogre, which seemed to have fallen from exhaustion, suddenly sprang to its feet and hurled a pile of dirt at the drone.

Though it was called a pile of dirt, it was actually a mix of small gravel and clumps of soil, and thrown with the ogre’s strength, it had the destructive power of a cannonball.

*Wooooong!*

The drone’s propellers whirred more violently. It quickly maneuvered to avoid the ogre’s dirt attack.

*“Thud!”*

However, it couldn’t completely avoid it. One of the drone’s propellers stopped, causing the drone to wobble.

*“Kraaaaaa!”*

The ogre, using the last of its strength, sprinted after the falling drone. Trees, unable to withstand the impact of its armor-like muscles, shattered in its wake.

*Grrr, huff, grrr…*

The ogre panted heavily as it ran toward where the drone had fallen. The drone had landed in a terrain that looked like a canyon.

*“Kraaaaaa!”*

The ogre roared victoriously as it stared at the drone on the ground.

*“Creak.”*

At that moment, a strange metallic sound, unlike anything the ogre had ever heard, echoed from the ground. The ogre turned its head toward the direction of the sound.

*“Boom!”*

A massive explosion engulfed the ogre. It quickly curled its body to endure the blast. But already exhausted, it couldn’t fully shield itself from the explosion.

*“Kraaaaaa!”*

The ogre screamed in agony as its entire body was consumed by pain.

*“Tap.”*

“Whew. That was close.”

A cold voice drifted into the ogre’s ears. A young man descended from the top of the canyon. It was Yeong-sik.

‘Almost lost a thousand gold coins.’

Yeong-sik picked up the drone with a damaged propeller, his expression twisted in annoyance. He had never imagined that the ogre would feign exhaustion and use a decoy.

‘Fortunately, the damage doesn’t seem too severe.’

The dirt had caused one propeller to malfunction, but it was within Yeong-sik’s capability to repair.

Yeong-sik put the drone into his inventory and muttered softly.

“Would’ve liked to wear it down for another hour, but there’s no choice,” Yeong-sik said, looking coldly at the exhausted ogre.

“Prepare for battle,” he instructed.

“Haa… I can’t believe this method actually worked,” Ara said, casting a spell as she looked incredulously at the exhausted ogre.

Turning his head towards Gil-soo, Yeong-sik continued, “Uncle Gil-soo, you mustn’t block the ogre’s attack head-on. Even if the Light Shield withstands it, your body won’t.”

“I understand,” Gil-soo nodded, raising the Light Shield in front of him.

*Grrrr…*

The ogre growled menacingly, glaring at Yeong-sik’s party with fiery eyes. Instinctively, it realized it had fallen into a trap.

*Kraaaaaa!*

The ogre roared furiously, squeezing every ounce of strength from its body. For an ogre, falling into a trap meant nothing; it would crush the trap along with its prey. That was the ogre’s hunting method.

“Radiance!”

Seeing the ogre’s roar, Gil-soo activated the skill imbued in the Light Shield. Unlike Han Cheol-ho, his skill level was low, so only one light shield was formed in front of him.

*Kraaaaa!*

The ogre charged with surprising speed for something so exhausted. Its fist, encased in armor-like muscles, smashed into the Light Shield.

*Bang! Bang! Boom!*

“Ugh!”

Despite using the ‘Radiance’ skill, the impact was staggering, shaking Gil-soo to his core. Without the skill, he would’ve been knocked away instantly.

“Yeong-sik…!”

Gil-soo called out urgently. Yeong-sik nodded and moved behind the ogre.

“Shotgun,” Yeong-sik muttered under his breath.

*Clack.*

Two barrels appeared from Yeong-sik’s right hand. Using a boost, he jumped to the height of the ogre’s head.

*Bang!*

*Kraaaaa!*

The shotgun fired from Yeong-sik’s right hand, hitting the back of the ogre’s head. The ogre clutched its head and twisted violently.

Using another boost towards the sky, Yeong-sik swiftly descended, stabbing a blade into the ogre’s thigh.

*Thud.*

The sharp blade pierced the ogre’s thigh. But given the ogre’s massive size, it was like a small toothpick poking into its leg.

“Draw Sword.”

*Slash!*

With a low mutter, Yeong-sik’s blade embedded in the ogre’s thigh extended to a length of one meter. The blade tore through the flesh, digging deep into the ogre’s body.

However, even with the blade extended to one meter, it was impossible to inflict significant damage on the ogre.

Yeong-sik, as if expecting this outcome, maintained a calm expression and spoke again.

“Electromagnetic field.”

At his mutter, blue electrical charges began to gather around his blade. Yeong-sik selected ‘microwave’ from the electromagnetic spectrum and directed it into the ogre’s body.

*Chiiiiiiik!*

The microwaves, reaching up to 300 GHz, burned the ogre’s leg. It was like using the principle of a microwave oven, but applied as a weapon.

*Kraaaaaa!*

The ogre stomped violently in agony from the searing pain in its thigh.

Yeong-sik’s body was thrown to the ground from the impact.

The ogre turned its attention to Yeong-sik, who had inflicted severe damage on it.

“Ice Spear!”

At that moment, Ara provided support. A long ice spear flew and embedded itself in the ogre’s body.

“Ice Arrow! Ice Arrow!”

Ara continued to cast small spells to keep the ogre from focusing on Yeong-sik. Though the ice arrows didn’t injure the ogre, it glared at her ferociously, irritated by her attacks.

The ogre’s distraction created another opening.

“Energy Blast.”

Yeong-sik lowered his left hand and muttered in a low voice. The energy sphere in his left hand grew larger and larger.

In the case of Energy Blast, the longer it was charged, the more powerful it became. While the ogre’s attention was on Ara, Yeong-sik concentrated the energy of the blast.

*Wooooong!*

*Grrrr?*

Feeling the intense heat emanating from the Energy Blast, the ogre’s attention returned to Yeong-sik. Yeong-sik extended his left hand forward.

*Shooooom!*

A powerful energy projectile flew toward the ogre.

*Crack!*

*Grrrrr!*

The Energy Blast struck the ogre’s left shoulder directly. The impact severed the ogre’s shoulder, causing its arm to fall to the ground. The ogre roared in maddening pain.

*Kraaaaaa!*

Despite the excruciating pain that would have killed a human from shock, the ogre instead charged at Yeong-sik. Its massive body rushed toward Yeong-sik like the wind.

*Whoosh!*

The ogre’s right arm drew back and then thrust forward, aiming at Yeong-sik. The speed was suffocatingly fast. Yeong-sik twisted his body to avoid the attack, but the ogre’s punch was too swift to evade.

“Slow Motion.”

Yeong-sik muttered under his breath. And then, the world stopped. Or at least, it seemed to stop for Yeong-sik.

Yeong-sik analyzed the ogre’s movements within the frozen world. He mapped out where the ogre was aiming and how he could completely evade its attack.

‘I can’t avoid it just by moving.’

Yeong-sik thought sharply. The ogre’s attack speed was too fast to dodge with ordinary movement.

‘In that case…’

*Whoosh!*

Three seconds passed, and the world returned to its normal state.

Yeong-sik twisted his body to the left and lifted his right foot. The light from his boost shone from his right foot, propelling him into the air.

The ogre’s fist grazed the tip of Yeong-sik’s foot. Moving behind the ogre, Yeong-sik aimed his right arm at the back of its head, already deeply wounded by the earlier shotgun blast.

“Rocket Punch.”

With a low murmur, intense flames burst from his right elbow.

*Seeeeeeeing!*

If this had been the first time he used Rocket Punch, his right arm would have launched immediately. Instead, it began to spin fiercely, a ‘Screw’ effect acquired through enhanced skills.

Sensing danger, the ogre turned its head.

*Boom!*

Yeong-sik’s right arm shot forward with explosive force.