Solo Leveling - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 5

Jinwoo’s shout reached all the Hunters’ ears .

“!”

“Instruments?!”

Hope returned to their eyes .  Unlike the time where Jinwoo asked them to bow, the Hunters this time did not hesitate to respond .  Of course, if Jinwoo was wrong on his guess, they would be massacred when they approached the statues .  But in this moment, there was not one Hunter who remained suspicious of Jinwoo’s directions .

Mr . Song was the first to arrive at a statue holding an instrument .

“…”

Holding his breath, Mr . Song slowly looked up at the statue .  As if responding, the statue’s fingers moved, and it started playing the harp in its hands .

It was a beautiful sound .

“He was right!”

“Move to the statues with instruments!”

Each Hunter, with renewed hope, ran towards the various statues holding instruments .

Trumpets, flutes, lyres .  Soon, the harmonious melody of different instruments filled the entire temple .

Mr . Kim, who had been running until his breath ran out, collapsed and knelt before a statue holding a mandolin .

strum~ strum~

As the mandolin’s melody rang through the air, the Statue of God that was chasing Mr . Kim slowed to a stop .  Unable to hold his emotions back, Mr . Kim burst into tears where he knelt .

“Uwaaaaah-“

And the Statue of God turned away from him .  Scanning the rest of the temple, it found its new target .

“Shit!”

Meeting its eyes, Jinwoo cursed .  And he started running, his heart beating like it was about to explode .  His sweating back was soaked .

‘Why! Why is this one not playing?!’

Jinwoo glared at the statue he had arrived at with resentment .  Holding drums in its hands, its silent figure made no indication that it would play its instrument .

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

With terrifying speed, the Statue of God closed the gap between them .  As the Statue, which had been at the opposite end of the room only moments ago, neared them, Jinwoo gulped .

‘Is it because Juhee and I are both here at the same time?’

That must’ve been the answer .  As he looked around, no other Hunter had trouble with their statues .

‘I don’t have time to think about this,’

He put down Juhee and prepared to run to a different spot .

“Jinwoo…”

A terrified Juhee held onto his sleeves .  Jinwoo calmly whispered into her ears,

“We’ll both die if I stay . ”

As he saw tears forming at the corners of her eyes, Jinwoo knew that there was no time to explain .  He gently pulled away her shaking hands from his sleeves, then ran with all his might towards another statue .

*Ba-Bum* *Ba-Bum* *Ba-Bum*

He heard the beat of the drum starting from behind him as he ran .

‘Thank god . ’

There was only one thing left .  To safely make it to another statue!

Jinwoo was now the only one who had not made it to the protection of statues holding instruments .  Accordingly, the complete rage of the Statue of God was now focused solely on him . Jinwoo ran away from the crashing footsteps of his chaser and sped across the room .

BOOM!

BOOM!

As he barely dodged and rolled away from the Statue’s stomps, his panting became heavier and heavier .  Although he was the lowest of the E-rank Hunters, as a Fighter-class Hunter, his body offered what little help it could in this situation .

‘Just a little bit more!’

Taking notice of the Statue of God’s footsteps closing in on him, he focused and strengthened his legs .  His speed increased . There was but a few steps until he reached his target statue .

“NO, NOT THAT WAY!”

Mr . Song had shouted at him .

Having focused on the Statue of God’s movements until now, Jinwoo turned his attention to the statue he had arrived at .

“Ah!”

‘It’s not holding an instrument!’

He now realized what appeared to be an instrument in the statue’s hands was actually a shield .  Without mercy, the statue raised and brought down the shield in its hands .

“Uwah!”

Jinwoo threw his body to the side .

“Kiyaah!”

Juhee screamed .

As he rolled across on the floor, he looked up .  The Statue of God was almost upon him .

“Out of the frying pan…”

His tumble on the ground had opened a cut on his forehead .  Blood flowed down to his eyes, obscuring his vision . Jinwoo rapidly looked left and right .

‘Instrument, instrument…’

But no instrument registered in his eyes .

The Statue of God raised its foot .

“Shit!”

BOOM!

Jinwoo barely evaded the stomp by throwing his body to the side .  But he was reaching his limits . Feeling faint, he found it hard to maintain balance for some reason .

‘Please…’

If there was a God, he wanted to pray to it .  In that moment, Jinwoo noticed a statue that was neither holding a weapon nor an instrument .

‘That’s!’

He crawled with last vestiges of his strength, placing his hopes on the statue .  With a final twist of his body, he threw himself at the feet of the statue with a book in its hands .  Facing the Statue of God that was heading toward him, he realized he had no strength left to move . Panting heavily, he looked at the face of the Statue of God .  As if made worse by his persistent resistance, the anger in the face that looked down upon Jinwoo was greatly magnified .

It stopped before Jinwoo .

Faced with a giant as tall as a building, Jinwoo struggled to breathe .

‘Guess I’m a cornered rat…’

The Statue of God simply continued to stare .

‘This is the end…’

Certain of his impending doom, Jinwoo saw his death in the eyes that were looking down at him .

In that moment, he heard a beautiful and melodious singing coming from behind him .  With effort, he turned and looked at its source . The statue that he was resting on was now singing with a holy voice; its sound echoing throughout the temple .  Looking back, Jinwoo saw the Statue of God’s face starting to relax . The traces of its demonic rage disappeared as the Statue’s face returned to its original emotionless visage .

As the statues’ music ended, the Statue of God turned and returned to its seat, appearing as if nothing had happened .

BOOM!

The sound of the giant sitting down rang throughout the temple .

“Hah . . . Hah . . .  Are… we… safe…?”

Jinwoo faintly smiled through his heavy breaths .

Juhee quickly ran to him,

“Jinwoo!”

Having reached him after running with all her might, Juhee collapsed next to him in tears .

“Oh my god… oh my god…”

She used all the mana at her disposal and tried every healing magic she knew .  But it had no effect .

One by one, the scattered Hunters gathered before Jinwoo .  Their expressions equally dark .

“Oh no… Jinwoo . . . ”

Amidst their pitying looks and words, Juhee cried without ceasing .

‘Why are they looking at me like that?‘

Jinwoo wanted to ask, but he lacked the energy to speak .  So, he tried to gather his strength and stand up .

“…?”

A pool of blood had gathered where he was sitting .  Jinwoo finally was able to understand the situation he was in .

“Ah…”

His right leg had disappeared below the knees .

He looked across the room to the statue holding a shield .  The base of the shield was covered in blood .

His missing leg below it .

He turned and saw blood dripping down from Juhee’s nose .  Her body had reached its limits . A B-rank Hunter’s healing was insufficient for the regeneration of a body part .  Yet she continued, her efforts like collecting water with a broken pitcher . And as she continued, both her mana and vitality quickly decreased .

“It’s okay, Juhee .  You can stop now…”

“No! I can heal this! I’ll heal you!”

The Hunters watched the pair with pity .

Of the 17 that had entered, only 6 remained .

Of the 6 remaining, 2 had received a seriously injury .

Mr . Song and his arm, and now Jinwoo with his leg .

Although their lives were saved, no one could put on a smile .

Suddenly, a thundering noise rang throughout the temple .

At its center, the ground with the magic circle inscribed upon it started rising, forming an platform .

Jinwoo realized the final trial had arrived .

‘Prove your Faith…’

He had already been contemplating its meaning .

-5 . The Final Trial-

The rising ground stopped at waist height .

“An altar…”

Jinwoo absent-mindedly spoke to himself .

‘An altar?’

‘Did he just say an altar?’

The man who had saved their lives not once but twice; Jinwoo was not a high leveled Awakened Being[1], but a lowly E-rank Hunter that they looked down on in the past .

‘If it wasn’t for Mr . Sung, we would be…’

The Hunters’ thoughts were in union .  Jinwoo’s words up until now were a lifeline to them .  And now this man had uttered the words, “altar” . The quick-witted Mr . Kim was the first to speak,

“I think I understand . ”

He unsheathed the sword at his waist .  Normally a weapon to be used in slaying magic beasts, its purpose this time was different .

“Even an idiot like me can understand what you mean by ‘altar’ . ”

The Hunters looked at Mr . Kim’s drawn sword, gleaming with sharpness, and gulped .

“Hey, Mr . Kim! Why are you taking that out now?”

“Let’s talk about this, talk!”

Mr . Song’s C-rank was the highest in the party .  With him out of commission, there was no one else in the party would could match Mr . Kim, whose skill shone even amongst the other D-rankers .

Mr . Kim pointed his sword at the altar .

“The last Commandment was, ‘Prove your Faith’, and now this altar appeared in the middle of the room . ”

Mr . Kim’s gaze shifted to Jinwoo,

“We have to sacrifice someone at the altar, right, Mr . Sung?”

Jinwoo nodded .  It was his guess as well .  One of the living 6 had to become a sacrifice .

‘That’s probably the last rule…’

As he raised his head, he saw Mr . Kim approaching him with a strange look in his eyes .  A streak of sweat fell down the side of Jinwoo’s head .

“Ahjussi… what are you going to-”

“Just sit there quietly!”

Mr . Kim pointed his sword at Mr . Song, who had been sitting next to Jinwoo looking over his injuries .

“Who is the one who dragged us all here? It’s Mr . Song right here! Then shouldn’t he be the one to pay the price for all this?!”

“Ahjussi!”

Jinwoo yelled and tried to get up, but Mr . Song’s hands stopped him .  Jinwoo turned and look at the man .

“ . . . ”

Mr . Song shook his head without a word .  His eyes begged Jinwoo to stay quiet . Jinwoo wanted to say something, but swallowed his words .  Mr . Song slowly got up .

“Mr . Kim is right .  I have to take responsibility . ”

“Then we’re in agreement, old man . ”

Mr . Kim gestured towards the altar with his sword .

“If you’re in, then let’s hurry up .  11 people died because of you . ”

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: “Awakening Being” (각성자; gak-sung-ja): “to awaken” gak-sung + “person” ja > a person who had underwent Awakening .  All Hunters are Awakened Beings . Not all Awakened Beings work as Hunters .

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