Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 106

While the Ants were caught in the bottleneck, the entire land facing the fortress wall was transforming into a blazing heatwave.

Kiieeek!!

The Ants pushed the giant bear away. As if a dam was collapsing, a huge wave of Ants began to come in. However, what the Ants soon met was a labyrinth made of flames. The Ants were running around without thinking about the flames.

Tssssss.

The first Stone Ant that took a step into the flames, screamed in pain.

“Wow….”

It didn’t matter that rock-type monsters were resistant to fire; overwhelming fire attacks were always the right answer. In any case, it was always the right idea to have whatever in an overwhelmingly large quantity.

The flame maze stretched for hundreds of meters. The Ants threw themselves into the maze, but before they could even advance a hundred meters, they were charred black and began to fall.

Shin Ju-Ran, who was sipping on Jack and Coke, was amazed at what was happening. She looked at the chat and, just as she thought, everyone was as thrilled as her.

-What the… Is that real? How can an AoE skill be this big?

-Let’s go, Umji-pooh! FIRE~~!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

-He just made a sea of fire and burned all the Ants.

-How much mana does he have to use a skill like that? He doesn’t care about which attribute counters what, he’s just using brute force to kill these Ants!

?B-rank with some good items should do it.

?Or A-rank Mana.

-What level do you need to be for A-rank Mana?

?You must be in the 80s. And that’s with specific jobs and some items.

?Jesus, that’s crazy… Wow…

-For real, I’ve never seen anything like this.

-The Ants can’t even approach the wall at all… This is too OP.

-Umji, do whatever you want! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

Ju-Ran, who was watching the stream, felt no different from the chat.

“How is that even possible? How can you ignore the elemental suppression and burn the Stone Ants with pure fire attacks?”

The cup was already empty by the time she tried to drink more. She just poured whiskey into the empty fountain cup and decided to drink whiskey with the scent of Coke Zero that was already in the cup.

‘I can’t even taste any Coke Zero anymore.’

“I could understand if you increased your Mana stat somehow… And if you give buffs to your AoE attack…It would be possible. But then, you don’t have enough Points to enhance other stats.”

If the only thing he could do was smurfing, that was only half of what a Hunter could do. Who would use their Points like that? That was…

“Oh, right, he is a cultivator.”

The thought immediately came to her mind. Ji-Cheok was a cultivator. Ju-Ran knew that cultivators were strong in one-on-one combat, but weak against a crowd of enemies.

‘Then, how much stronger is he in one-on-one combat?’

Before she could even think about it, Ji-Cheok rode the Mono Bike G, pulled out a pair of Swords, and shredded all the Ants that had come out of the flames like slicing cucumbers. She could swear that the Sword Qi was at least three meters long. He was swinging it like a lightsaber in a scene from Star Wars, blasting through the burning Ants like nobody’s business!

?I hope I’m ranked first after this.?

‘Of course, you’re first place, you crazy bastard.’

* * *

?It is just like we expected, Master.?

‘Just as I thought, fire attacks are awesome. Now I understand why the Korean Defense Ministry is obsessed with obtaining powerful bombs. These fire attacks… It\'s a bit addicting. After all, the more fire attacks, the better. If you want to ignore conflicting attributes and just want to kill the monsters, fire attacks are the best. I can see why Yum Ra-Du is so good at killing a crowd of monsters. I also understand why he has such a sullen personality. If I grew up in a small world like his, with this much power, I would think that I was the strongest person in the world.

Thanks to the [Blaze Walk] skill, Ants were burning up, and Ji-Cheok’s Likes were absolutely lit. Likes were coming in not only from the stream itself, but also from people who were genuinely impressed with Ji-Cheok’s performance.

‘Wow, at this rate, I don’t even need to do my tear-jerking narrative.’

?It is like humans being lured by the lights of the midnight snack carts, Master. In the end, fire is engraved in their instinct.?

‘I know what you mean. Even on GodTube, I don’t know how many times I watched that video of a Chinese chef swinging his wok on a big stove with a big fire.’

It wasn’t just that. Instead of the well-known titles of the [Fortress of Hope], Ji-Cheok obtained three completely new titles!

[Ant Exterminator] [Arsonist] [Grandmaster of Slaughter]

“Wow, I just got some interesting titles. Can you all see this?”

Ji-Cheok showed his System window so that his viewers could see.

‘Here come the self-proclaimed Hunter experts.’

-What is [Ant Exterminator]? I’ve never seen that before…

-I’ve never seen all three of them!

-I know about [Arsonist]. You can earn it by killing more than a certain number of enemies, using fire-type skills. But it rarely appears in this dungeon.

-[Grandmaster of Slaughter] is not even on Wonkypedia. Is Umji the first one to get it?

?That’s actually really cool. 乃

? I second that. 乃乃乃乃

The viewers’ reactions were staggering.

“I want to show you the details of these titles, but unfortunately the dungeon needs to be cleared first. Are there still battles going on in the other walls?”

-Yupp. The other walls are still mid- battle.

-Yeah, the battles are pretty tight right now.

?Because they don’t have Umji.

‘Huh. Does that mean that I have to wait till they finish their battles? Let’s just see what these titles’ effects are.’

“Then I will reveal them now! The effects of the three titles are… [Ant Exterminator] deals twenty-five percent more damage to Ants! I think that’s a good start.”

-Wow. So just by hitting the Ant, he deals 25% more damage?

-That’s insane! Does that mean Umji is going to keep clearing this dungeon?

-Hunters need to bust their ass to gain titles that deal even five percent more damage, but a free twenty-five percent? Wow, that’s amazing~

“[Arsonist] increases fire-type skill damage by five percent. I think most of you know about this. And last but not least… [Grandmaster of Slaughter]!”

Ji-Cheok suddenly stopped talking and stood for a moment.

‘Wait… Is this for real? Is this title real?’

Ji-Cheok looked at the title for a long time.

-What is it? Why isn’t Umji saying anything?

-Nah I think that’s a bad one.

-Umji, I think it’s good to get a new title, even if the effects aren’t that great.

‘That’s not it. It’s too overpowered. I’m not even sure if I should disclose this or not. What do you think, Cheok-Liang?’

?This one is difficult to give advice to as your advisor. It is a matter for Master to decide.?

‘You’re saying I need to use my intuition. Is that it?’

?Yes, Master. For this kind of high-level title, it is difficult for me to say anything.?

‘You’re right. This is too overpowered. It’s probably because no matter what choice I make, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I think it’s time to use one of my skills. Good thing I have one intuition skill with me. Activate [Minor Intuition].?

This skill was only effective when Ji-Cheok had to choose between two subjects.

‘Let’s ask. Dear [Minor Intuition], do you think I should disclose this effect to the viewers? Or Should I end my stream right here right now?’

“...”

‘I’m starting to get a strange feeling that it’s good to show it to the viewers. Alright, let’s do it.’

“Sorry, I was startled for a moment and I became speechless. I’ll show you now. This is the new title!”

[Grandmaster of Slaughter]

[Class: Unique

A title given to those who killed thousands of living things at once.

Increases wide-area attack damage by 30%.

Reduces wide-area attack mana consumption by 30%.]

Just as expected, the chat became chaotic as soon as he opened the System window.

-What…The….Fuck… This title is a must for wizards!

-It reduces mana consumption by 30%, but increases the damage by 30%! And this title was just sitting here in the dungeon?

-Holy moly. But how do you slaughter thousands of Ants at once? If you kill them at a high level, you won’t get a title.

?So you need to kill thousands of Ants within the level limit.

?But how do you know if the number of Ants you need to kill is two thousand, or three thousand? It doesn’t say in the description.

?The only way to find out is by counting the Ants one by one from rewinding Umji’s stream.

-I think we just witnessed the birth of a required dungeon for wizards.

?This dungeon has always been a required one for wizards.

-I think all the high-level wizards are crying right now. At least low-level wizards have a chance to get this title, but what about the wizards who have already surpassed the level limit of Fortress of Hope?

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 2 Likes!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 3 Likes!]

……

The Likes were spreading like wildfire.

?It looks like that amazing effect of the title shocked everyone! Master, other GodTubers are spreading the news on their stream!?

‘Yeah, I realized that. The number of live viewers is starting to add up.’

Just then…

-[illlllilililllllll] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[illlllilililllllll]: What is this? I came here because I heard there’s a Hunter with similar skills, but he’s completely different from me.

At that moment, the chat stopped altogether. It was hard to tell if this person was fake or not. At the beginning of Ji-Cheok’s stream, people had been talking about ‘That Hunter’, wondering if Ji-Cheok had the same skills as them. Nobody knew the name, gender, nationality, or even race of ‘That Hunter’, not to mention that the username looked like it was from some shady anonymous website.

A person who didn’t want to reveal themselves. The fact that they were here, watching the stream of a Korean Hunter, and they even donated to boot, was completely outside of everybody’s expectations.

They were a superstar on GodTube with one hundred and fifty million subscribers. A Hunter who was called the best of the best! Everyone who was involved in GodTube knew of their existence. If someone didn’t know who they were, they were considered an outcast of Earth, or maybe the universe. Every human on Earth knew who they were.

‘Do you think they’re an imposter?’

?I do not know, Master. There is no way a person can be crazy enough to spend one million won, just to impersonate… no, actually, come to think of it, I cannot say that those people do not exist.?

‘You’re right. This person might be an imposter. Some crazy people really would burn one million won just to get attention.’

?If someone really wanted to impersonate ‘That Hunter’, they should swear a lot. But this person is not swearing at all. And that is what is so strange.?

‘Now that you mention it, the chat is also writing comments like ‘Is that an imposter?’, or ‘Why the hell would you spend one million won just to impersonate a Hunter?’. Some of my viewers are counting the i and the l in the username to confirm.’

Ji-Cheok was as confused as his viewers. But the person who donated just didn’t seem to care what people were saying about him.

-[illlllilililllllll] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[illlllilililllllll]: I also have the title that you just showed me. I didn’t know there was a dungeon in Korea that gave out that title. But is that it?

The second donation pierced Ji-Cheok like a knife. He was starting to think that either the donor was a crazy bastard who went all-in for this impersonation, or they were actually ‘That Hunter’. However, the thing that caught Ji-Cheok’s attention was the last comment.

‘What? Is that it?’

-[illlllilililllllll] has donated 1,000,000 won.

[illlllilililllllll]: If you don’t have anything new to show me, I’m gonna bounce. If you do have new things, I’ll give you my email address.