Solo Laveling
Chapter 5's

Solo Leveling – Chapter 5

All the surviving Hunters hear Jin-Woo's voice.

"!!"

"Instruments?"

A ray of hope entered the eyes of the Hunters.

Very different from when he told them to prostrate, everyone moved very quickly. If Jin-Woo is wrong about this, then once it arrives near one of them, they will be killed by the stone statues holding the musical instruments. However, no one here questioned Jin-Woo's words.

Song was the first to arrive in front of a statue carrying a musical instrument.

"…."

Song controlled his heavy breathing and raised his head to look at the statue. And as if it was a lie, the fingers of the statue moved and plucked the harp.

Sticking …

A beautiful melody flows.

"Work!!"

"Hurry up to the statue with the instrument !!"

The hunters ran towards the nearby true statues with hurried steps.

The statue with the trumpet began to blow it with victory; one with the flute began to play with it; the one holding the harp plucked the strings.

"Heok, heok, heok …."

Sensing the approaching physical limits, Kim somehow arrived in front of the statue holding the buzuka and fell to the ground. (TL: I don't know what this buzuka is. TLed as from the raw.) (ED: Probably Bazooka or Bouzouki, both from the 1900s.)

Tiring, exhausting ….

As soon as the statue began to play the instrument, the statue of the god stopped chasing Kim. She must have been overwhelmed by emotion, as Kim then began to shed tears while she knelt down.

"Crying…. Crying out…."

Meanwhile, the statue of the god turned around. 'The 'creature' searched around and soon, found its next prey.

"Oh my God."

Jin-Woo spat out a curse as his gaze met with the god statue.

He then started running hard – so hard that his heart might explode. His back was already soaked with sweat.

'Why?! Why didn't it work ?! ’

Jin-Woo's angry gaze landed on the stone statue in front of him. The statue holding the drum showed no signs of moving at all.

THUMPED UP!! THUMPED UP!! THUMPED UP!!

The statue of the god was approaching at a frightening speed. He was practically on the other side of the room from that thing, but the distance between the two was getting shorter in no time.

Jin-Woo gulps his saliva.

‘Could it be that the statue will not be rotated because there are two people here? Me and Miss Ju-Hui? "

He can't think of anything else. Wh why? Because, the other statues were playing music well as soon as Hunter stood in front of him.

"There's no time to think anymore."

Jin-Woo drops Ju-Hui off and prepares to run elsewhere.

"M, Mr. Jin-Woo … .."

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Still terrified from her thoughts, Ju-Hui hugs Jin-Woo's arm. Jin-Woo quietly whispers in his ear.

"We'll both die if we stick together."

Tears begin to form in Ju-Hui's eyes. His fingers trembled as they held onto his clothes. Unfortunately, there was no time to explain to him in detail. Jin-Woo carefully pulls his hand and starts running in the opposite direction as hard as he can.

Boom, boom, boom ….

As he glanced back, the statue behind Ju-Hui began to hit his drum with a slow but steady rhythm.

'What a relief.'

There was only one thing left now: run to another statue without getting killed!

Only Jin-Woo does not receive protection from the statues playing music. Obviously, the anger of the god statue is solely directed at Jin-Woo and he is alone.

Jin-Woo does his best to avoid things that rival buildings in size and traverses the room in a hurry.

THUMPED UP!

THUMPED UP!!

He fell and rolled around but still, he somehow managed to avoid being flattened by the foot of the god statue.

"Heok, heok."

He might only be E rank, but he was still the close-range type of hunter so his physique was very useful in this kind of situation.

‘Just a little further !! Another bit!'

Jin-Woo watches the movements of the god statue and runs even harder.

Speed increases.

And when the remaining distance between him and the stone statue was only a dozen feet …

"No, that's wrong !!"

…. Master Song shouted at him.

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Jin-Woo only notices the god statue; he is stunned by the shout and hurriedly turns to look at its front.

"Oh !!"

That's not a statue with instruments?

He belatedly realized that the object that looked like a musical instrument from afar was actually a shield. And sure enough, the statue was mercilessly pierced with its shield.

"Heok!"

Jin-Woo hurriedly throws himself to the side.

"Kyeahhk !!"

Ju-Hui screaming.

Jin-Woo rolls around on the ground and when he stops, he lifts his head to see a statue of a god standing right in front of his nose.

"This one by one …."

His forehead must have been torn from him rolling on the ground, as blood flowed down and blurred his vision. His sight was restricted and he could not see too far.

Jin-Woo quickly searches around him.

'An instrument….'

However, no matter how hard he looked, he could not see a single statue holding an instrument nearby.

Meanwhile, the statue of the god raises its feet above Jin-Woo's position.

"Heok!"

THUMPED UP!!

Jin-Woo throws himself again and somehow avoids the statue's legs again.

But he has reached his limit.

A strong sense of dizziness attacked him and for some reason, he could not even balance himself.

'Please….'

If there was a real god, he thought that he would start praying now.

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Just then, Jin-Woo sees a stone statue that has no weapons or musical instruments.

'What is it…?'

Jin-Woo decides to risk everything on the statue. He crawled on the ground and arrived in front of the statue in question. He then managed to turn his body around and lay on the ground so that he could see the statue of a god.

He no longer had the energy to move.

"Panting …."

Jin-Woo stares at the approaching statue of the god and continues to breathe in and out violently.

The expression of the god statue was much more contorted compared to before as if it had become further enraged by Jin-Woo's continued avoidance.

The statue of the god now stops in front of Jin-Woo. Seeing a 'creature' as big as a tall building blocking his entire view, Jin-Woo feels like he can't breathe anymore.

"Pants, pants …"

Does that think he's nothing more than a cornered rat? The statue of the god just looked at him and did nothing else.

'This is finally….'

Jin-Woo feels his own inescapable death approaching closer after looking directly into the eyes of the god statue.

Wu-wu-wu ….

From somewhere behind him, a beautiful voice and another world came out.

Jin-Woo looks over to see what is going on.

Wu-wu, wu-wu-wu ….

The lips of the stone statue holding a book moved, and each time they did, a divine song flowed out and filled the inside of the large room.

Wu-wu-wu, wu ….

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The disheveled expression of the god statue slowly returned to an emotionless state. Immediately, all of the terrifying-bodied facial muscles from his stature subsided.

When the song from the stone statue ended, the statue of the god turned around. Then, as the other stone statues had done until now, the statue returned to its throne and sat down as if the things that had happened until now were nothing but lies.

THUMPED UP!!

The sound of a statue of a god sitting on a throne echoed throughout the room.

"Panting .. Almost, made, it …"

A faint smile forms on Jin-Woo's lips.

Meanwhile, Ju-Hui starts running from his position at the end of the room.

"Mr Jin-Woo !!"

She ran with all her might and knelt next to him as tears streamed down her face.

"What can I…. What should I …. "

He summoned all of his magical energy and activated his healing magic. However, nothing seems to be improving.

The scattered hunters gather around Jin-Woo one by one. Every one of them carried a dark expression.

"What ... Mr. Jin-Woo …."

Even then, only Ju-Hui cries in sadness.

Why is everyone acting like this?

Jin-Woo's lips soared up and down. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he could not really call out his own voice.

Feeling that he had no choice, he tried to support himself.

"…?"

Then, he noticed a pool of blood around his lower body. Only then did he realize the changes to his body too late.

"Well….."

Below his right knee is missing.

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Jin-Woo's eyes reflexively shift towards the stone statue holding the shield. He then saw a trail of blood clearly visible at the end of the shield.

And the rest of his right leg is right below that.

Drip. Drip.

Blood drops begin to fall from Ju-Hui's nose. It was a sign that he had reached the limit of his physical stamina.

The healing magic of a B rank Healer was unable to recover the lost limb. That is, what he did was basically pour water into a broken jug. His stamina quickly dropped in the end.

"It's okay now .. Miss Ju-Hui. You can stop …. "

"I'll cure you !! I'll fix you like new! "

The hunters stared at the two of them while forming a pitiful expression.

Of the seventeen who originally entered this room only six are left now. And of this group of six, two of them suffered terrible and grievous wounds. Song loses his arm, while Jin-Woo loses his leg.

They might have survived, but no one was happy at the moment. Just then, another strange sound shook the room.

THE RUMBLE….!!

The central part of the temple, where the strange magic formation could be found, suddenly rose above the ground.

In Jin-Woo's heart thinks that it's finally coming.

"Prove your piety, right …."

He already had a rough idea of what those words meant.

Part 5: The Final Test

The circular magic formation in the center of the temple started to rise noisily and only stopped after reaching a height of several steps.

"An altar …"

The hunter displays an alert reaction as soon as Jin-Woo mutters.

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"An altar ….?"

"He just said it was an altar …."

The person who had saved them from the previous two crises was not a high ranking hunter, but E ranker Jin-Woo, who used to be a frequent target of their jokes.

"If it wasn't for Mr. Seong, we would all …."

The hunters thought of this exact same thought. In their current state, Jin-Woo's words are their lifeline.

And now, Jin-Woo has muttered the word 'altar'.

Kim is always quick in taking and so, she catches her meaning first before anyone else has a chance to do so.

"I understand now. I see how it is. "

Kim then unsheathed the sword hanging on his hip.

Now originally, this weapon would be used to slash through various monsters. But for now, it should be used for a different purpose altogether.

"Even if I'm stupid, I can more or less get what you're saying here."

The hunters nervously gulped down their saliva while looking at the sharp and cold glistening blade.

“Oii, Mr. Kim. Why did you pull out your sword like that? ”

"Why don't we talk about this first? Let's talk first. "

The highest ranking member among the group, rank C Hunter Song was seriously injured, meaning that no one here could potentially stop Kim, that boasted a fairly powerful set of skills even in D rank.

Kim pointed towards the altar with his sword.

“Last law, prove your piety. And there was an altar that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of this place. "

Kim's gaze then turned to Jin-Woo.

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"So, shouldn't we be offering sacrifices? Mr Seong? "

Jin-Woo slowly nodded. That was what the young man thought as well. One of the six surviving must act as a sacrifice.

"That is what the last law probably meant …."

Jin-Woo came to this conclusion.

He felt more disturbance and raised his head, and realized that Mr. Kim's eyes as he approached were getting less friendly at all.

A long sweat slid across Jin-Woo's forehead.

"Ahjussi ... What ….?"

"You, young man, say nothing and shut up !!"

Kim angrily yells and points his sword at Mr. Song, who is crouched next to Jin-Woo to check on the young man's condition.

“Only who dragged us to this place? Isn't this the guy? Yes, it's Mr. Song! So, in your opinion, wouldn't it be appropriate for Mister Song to take on the ultimate responsibility? "

"Husaha!"

Jin-Woo tries to get up in anger, but then, Song's hand that resembles the bark of an old tree stops the young man.

Jin-Woo looks at Song in disbelief.

"…."

Song wordlessly shook his head. His eyes plead with Jin-Woo, asking the young man not to say anything. Of course, Jin-Woo has a lot to say, but he holds her back for now.

Song slowly lifted his body.

"What Mr. Kim said is true. I'm to blame for today. "

"Old man, I think we're finally on the same page now."

Kim used the tip of his sword to point towards the altar.

"If you get it now, then let's start. More than ten people died here because of you, old man. "

And