Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 308 – Light Faction Survivors (3)

The creatures that emerged were Feline Bastrolings, specifically jaguars, renowned as the best tree climbers among felines.

The jaguar standing in front of Han-Yeol was slender, with long limbs, remarkable agility, and the trademark spots of its species. Even to Han-Yeol's eyes, the jaguar before him appeared remarkably handsome for a Bastroling.

Shwak! Shwak! Shwak!

More jaguars appeared, swiftly increasing their numbers to twenty.

'Haha… It’s been a while,' Han-Yeol thought as he greeted them in his heart.

Having fought in the mountains frequently as Harkan, he had caused the demise of many jaguars. The jaguars might have faced extinction if the entire feline race had not agreed to surrender to Han-Yeol at that time.

[They are visitors of us canines, and we were scouting around this area just in case those stinky bastards would come.]

[That makes sense.]

The jaguar nodded in agreement, not having the luxury to be curious about the creatures he was seeing for the first time.

[…]

[…]

The atmosphere turned slightly awkward after the felines and canines gathered in one spot. Although they might have agreed to work together due to the hyenas being their common foe, the canines and felines were age-old rivals in the Bastro Dimension. It was likely that they wouldn't be conversing right now if their common enemy, the hyenas, were not around.

"Kandir," Han-Yeol discreetly called him.

[Yes, Har… No, Han-Yeol-nim?]

Kandir almost addressed him as Harkan, but with the jaguars present, he swiftly changed it at the last second, relying on his beast-like reflexes. He likely would have referred to him as Harkan if he had slipped up, even for a split second.

“Meeting like this must be fate too. Let’s take a trip down to their base,” Han-Yeol whispered.

[The base of those cats?]

“Yeah, we will probably need a lot of allies if we’re to fight against the hyenas.”

[Hmm… I understand.]

Kandir did not support the idea, but he followed Harkan's command.

Also…

‘The Light Faction needs to gather their strength together.’

Harkan’s subordinates were fortunate that the artifacts he had left behind allowed them to cross over to Earth earlier than the others, and they were able to rest there.

[Jaguar Warrior, I, a Werewolf Warrior, have a request.]

The jaguar seemed slightly surprised after hearing what Kandir said.

[Hoo! A werewolf that hates us felines more than anyone has a request? I have no idea how to respond to that!]

Kwachik!

‘This is why these cats are….’

The canines and felines did not get along, even with the smallest things. In particular, the canines distanced themselves from the felines, finding them too talkative and a nuisance to others. Because of this, these two tribes frequently waged war against each other over the years.

Their relationship was so strained that these two beast tribes probably would have continued fighting if it were not for the hyenas. In the end, Kandir had no choice but to swallow his pride and suppress his anger toward the jaguar.

‘Harkan-nim has commanded me…!’

Thinking about Harkan helped him calm down.

[Hmm… Anyway, we both belong to the faction of light, so we can settle our differences after we get rid of those hyenas.]

[Well, I guess you’re right.]

The jaguar calmed down and shrugged after Kandir said those words.

[We wanted to see while scouting how the feline warriors were doing.]

[Hmm…]

The jaguar was now in a dilemma after listening to Kandir.

‘Why are these dogs suddenly wanting to see our base?’

It was only normal for him to suspect the strange request. They might not be at war anymore, but that did not mean their relationship was good. It was not possible for them to settle their thousands of years worth of differences just because they had a common foe.

[I ask of you…]

‘He’s willing to go that far?’

Kandir was simply trying to ask politely, but his actions only made the jaguar suspect even more.

‘That arrogant, proud dog is lowering his head all of a sudden?’

The jaguar knew Kandir very well. Kandir was the right-hand man of Harkan, who had nearly made the jaguars extinct by killing so many of them.

‘Don’t tell me?! Has he fallen into the hands of the hyenas?’ the Jaguar Warrior grimaced.

[Hmm?]

Kandir could not understand why the jaguar was grimacing and changing expressions every now and then.

‘Well, I’m not surprised how fickle these cats are…’ he thought.

It was right before everything was about to explode that Mariam’s shadow suddenly started swaying.

“Hmm?”

Han-Yeol was the first to react.

Shwak!

Then, a creature suddenly appeared from her shadow.

“What?!”

Han-Yeol was shocked after seeing the creature.

“Meow! Meow!”

“P-Pipi?!”

The creature that emerged from Mariam’s shadow was none other than the monster pet she had bought from Han-Yeol, Pipi. Although he had hatched Pipi with his own hands and mana, Han-Yeol knew nothing about her.

Pipi was quite unique as she could speak and think like a human despite being a monster.

“Wow! There are so many interesting people, nyang~!”

[W-What?!]

The jaguars were shocked when a creature they completely failed to sense suddenly appeared in front of them. What surprised them even more was Pipi’s appearance.

[I-Is she a Bastroling? N-No, is she from another dimension?]

There was nothing impressive about Pipi’s mana, but the jaguars were confused after seeing how she resembled a Bastroling.

‘Hmm… She looks like a mixture of us Bastrolings and those creatures I’m seeing for the first time…’ The Jaguar Warrior looked back and forth between Han-Yeol and Pipi, seemingly dumbfounded.

“Why did you come out, Pipi? I thought you agreed to stay quiet,” Mariam asked while patting Pipi’s head.

Seuk… Seuk…

Pipi might be extremely intelligent, but she was not useful in combat. This was the reason that Mariam allowed her to tag along under the condition that she would remain hidden in her shadows, but she did not expect her to suddenly appear without her permission.

“They are quite fascinating, nyang~ They look like me but are slightly different, nyang~”

Pipi was planning to stay quiet and hide within Mariam’s shadow, but her desire to see the felines with her own eyes forced her to come out of hiding. After all, cats were known for being quite curious creatures.

[…]

The jaguars looked quite conflicted after seeing Pipi. Then, Kandir noticed the change in the Jaguar Warrior’s demeanor.

[Jaguar Warrior Reaness, I will request once again. May you please accompany us to your base?] he asked once again, but in a more courteous manner this time.

Kandir might have sounded quite courteous right now, but he was actually boiling with anger toward the feline that was taking his sweet time to answer.

‘Hmm… I guess this guy is still himself,’ the jaguar warrior thought after seeing the fire raging in Kandir’s eyes.

He had no idea what was going on, but he was certain that Kandir was doing something he did not want to do, judging from how obvious it was from the look on his face.

‘That’s quite impressive for a werewolf.’

The werewolves were known to be quite aggressive and straightforward, which was why the jaguars considered them a bunch of stupid muscle brains. However, seeing how Kandir was suppressing his anger and continued making his request was quite impressive.

But above all else, the Jaguar Warrior, Reaness, confirmed that Kandir was not under the influence of the hyenas.

[Alright, I might not like you dogs, but we are both in the Light Faction, making us allies. It’s only logical for us to join forces right now, so I will guide you to our base.]

‘Excellent,’ Han-Yeol thought with a smirk.

Kandir hated the fact that he had to make these kinds of requests to the cats, but he found solace after seeing his master, Han-Yeol, smile in satisfaction.

‘All of this is for Harkan-nim…’

It turned out that ‘Harkan’s Fanboy’ was quite the suitable nickname for him.

***

The survivors of the Light Faction set up their base in a manner that made it easy to leave at any moment since they had no idea when the hyenas would come after them. Thus, it was unavoidable for their living conditions to be quite poor.

Shwak! Shwak!

They walked through narrow winding mountain trails that nobody would have imagined existed before they arrived at a place that was the perfect hideout. However, the problem was that the living condition in this place was so bad that calling it bad was an understatement.

[I’m hungry…]

[The adults went to the forest to forage for food… Just wait a little bit more.]

[I want to eat meat…]

[Me too…]

Han-Yeol could faintly hear the conversation between the Bastrolings.

‘This seems quite bad…’

Calling them the Survivors of the Light Faction or Resistance Forces was quite the grand title when taking into consideration that their living condition was basically no different from that of refugees.

The only thing that remained for them after losing the war for the supremacy of the dimension was these desolate lands to hide in and the fear of getting discovered by their enemy at any given moment.

‘This is really bad…’

Han-Yeol initially thought that things could be improved when he heard Kandir’s briefing of the Bastro Dimension’s current situation, but he realized that reality was far worse than what he was told.

‘I heard there are other survivors other than the felines and canines, but the future doesn’t seem that bright for them…’

He had to come up with something to turn things around.

“Excuse me, I have something to ask, Jaguar Warrior Reaness,” Han-Yeol said.

[What?]

Kwachik!

Reaness was speaking quite rudely from the get-go, and this was something Han-Yeol hated. However, he had no choice but to suppress his anger for now.

‘Honorifics don’t really exist here, so I should be understanding…’

Things like honorifics or manners did not exist in the Bastro Dimension, and the only time they would use it is when they were speaking to someone more senior or superior than them.

“How many survivors are there in this place…?”

[Hmm… Why are you so curious? Anyway, there are two hundred warriors and three hundred civilians for a total of five hundred.]

‘A total of five hundred…’

It was not a small figure, but the problem was that there were too few warriors. As per what Kandir said, the hyenas possessed an army of corrupted soldiers, so they definitely had numerical superiority. Because of this, the Bastrolings suffered defeat after defeat as they were not used to fighting against a large army, resulting in them now being on the run.

‘This is why I told them to train to fight against a larger army… Tsk…’ Han-Yeol clicked his tongue inwardly.

He had repeatedly told the Bastrolings to prepare for large-scale wars when he was the Dimension Lord, but most of the Bastrolings refused to listen to him. In the end, their stubbornness to change caused them to lose miserably to the hyenas.

“…”

Han-Yeol could not help but grimace as he followed behind the Jaguar Warrior. Two hundred warriors were too few to do anything.

“…”

Tayarana could not help but wonder after seeing how serious Han-Yeol was right now, ‘Why does he care so much about these creatures?’

She was suppressing her curiosity and simply followed whatever Han-Yeol did, but it was not that easy for her to suppress her curiosity as she was someone who ruled over others and had every single detail reported to her.

After all, a ruler was able to ask whatever question they had, and nobody would dare question them for asking.

The word ‘suppress’ was almost non-existent in Tayarana’s dictionary, but she was able to become more patient after she awakened as a Hunter and started walking on the path of a warrior.

‘I’m sure he will tell me later,’ she decided to wait until Han-Yeol explained what was going on.

She found it strange that she was getting used to waiting after meeting Han-Yeol, and she thought that this change in her was quite interesting as well.

[Who is the one leading your people, Reaness?] Kandir asked Reaness.

[Ah, we should probably greet our leader first since you are outsiders. Why don’t we go and meet our leader in person? Our leader is someone you are quite familiar with, Kandir.]

[…?]

Kandir could not help but be confused as he personally hated the felines. He wondered, ‘Someone I know…?’

Meanwhile, Han-Yeol wondered as well, ‘Someone Kandir knows very well…?’