A Side Character's Mission ↠ Solo Leveling

Chapter 23: Baruka

"I refuse." Jinwoo directly rejected the proposal without a second thought.

The boss monster ridiculed his incredulous answer. "Do you plan on fighting me and my soldiers? Do you think you withstand our numbers by yourself?"

"Numbers? What numbers?" Behind Jinwoo, shadows suddenly rose from the grounds, startling the other hunters.

"Aah!"

"What is this?!"

"M-monsters!"

"Monsters suddenly appeared!!"

"... What a cheap trick." The boss monster smirked.

"Is it a cheap trick?"

All of the shadow monsters directly charged towards the ice elves, leaving them no chance to retreat.

"Retreat! It's not a battle ourselves we can get involve in!" Heejin shouted as she pulled Songi. All of the other hunters also ran towards the opposite direction, away from the battlefield between monsters.

Only Jinwoo that stood and watched his shadow army fought with the monsters. 'Calling it a cheap trick wasn't a bluff? Despite the advantage in numbers, I cannot maintain my army for long. They may be immortal but the numbers will diminished if they keep getting destroyed.'

'Since I leveled them up, they should be able to handle the ice elves, but...'

'He's the problem.'

The boss monster slaughter the shadow monsters with a single slash.

'Just from a glance, I can tell that he's stronger. It'll be tough even if Igris and I team up... and an ordinary soldier won't do. I need... a stronger shadow!!' Jinwoo glanced at Kimchul, who was still unconscious from getting attacked by him earlier.

"My name is Baruka. What is yours?" The leader introduced himself with a thrilled smile.

"Sung Jinwoo."

Jinwoo dashed towards the ice elf with two daggers in his hands and slashed him horizontally. Baruka stepped back in an instant reaction and tried to step on Jinwoo's weapon that reached the ground. It disappeared briefly and appeared back when Jinwoo aimed his hand on Baruka's face. The two of them continued to exchange blows with each other, blocking, attacking and dodging...

"It's been a while since I had this much excitement." Baruka grinned, not noticing that a shadow monster magician unleashed an explosion from above him.

"Thanks to my magician, I gained some time. Now..."

"Keuk. That last voice... it was definitely Sung Jinwoo. That bastard..." Kimchul rose from the ground as he gritted his teeth in anger. He saw the sword beside him and immediately picked it up. "I'll kill him."

"There's no way he died from that. Stop wasting time and come out." Jinwoo said.

The silhouette of a human shape figure could be seen from the fire. Baruka grinned as he leapt out of it. "Is that the limit of your soldiers?!Sung Jinwoo!"

"Die! Sung Jinwoo!!" Kimchul also raised his sword from behind the man.

"It seems like I'm the only one after your head." Baruka said.