Solo Leveling (Episode 6) – The Real Hunt Begins
Jinwoo and Jinho have been trapped in the boss’ lair and left for dead. However, even a C-ranked boss isn’t going to faze Jinwoo. Even if he beats it, Hwang Dongsuk will be waiting for them, and they don’t play nice!
Solo Leveling (Episode 6) – The Real Hunt Begins
What happened?
The giant spider climbed down from its lair, awoken by the blast that trapped Jinwoo and Jinho inside. As Hwang Dongsuk’s team made their way out of the dungeon, Jinhoo took a moment to compose himself. There was no way he was going to let them get away with this. Of course, his first obstacle was the boss. He charged in at lightning speed, slashing with his blade, but its exoskeleton was too hard. A single cut would probably be enough given his dagger’s paralysis status. That was looking more and more unlikely. Jinwoo continued to attack but his fatigue was growing. Much more and he wouldn’t be able to fight at this speed, and given the spider’s strength, it would be over soon after that.
Jinwoo decided that the best chance was to go for its face, but when he tried to attack, it spat acid at him. That was a nasty surprise. Still, he charged in again using his dash ability and managed to land a hit to its face. It still wasn’t enough. He tried to hit it again, but it was too much. His fatigue was too high. His body slowed, allowing the spider to slam him into a wall. It moved in for the kill stamping on Jinwoo. However, Jinwoo realised he had a full recovery from his daily tasks. He used it and was back in the fight once more. This time, he landed his attack in one of its many eyes. The blade dug deep. Paralysis was achieved. He continued to attack driving his blade into each of its eyes, destroying its brain. He defeated a C-ranked boss alone!
Unfortunately, that was when Hwang Dongsuk’s party returned. They were surprised to see that the boss had been killed, however, they assumed it was Jinho. His fancy sword and armour could have had some interesting abilities. Dongsuk even gave Jinho a chance to join them by killing Jinwoo. Better to not try their luck if the equipment has some special abilities. Jinho refused, choosing to side with Jinwoo. When he did, Dongsuk’s party attacked, their spell caster hitting Jinwoo with a fireball. At that exact moment, a window popped up alerting Jinwoo of an urgent quest. That distracted him enough for the fireball to hit, sending him crashing into the wall behind them.
Luckily for Jinwoo, that urgent quest kept him from dying. He had six new enemies to eliminate else his heart would stop. That would be the punishment for failing. He had no choice but to fight them. It all became clear in his head. They were hunters, so they understood that by being a hunter, you opened yourself up to become the prey. One of the D-Ranked hunters stepped forward and calmly approached Jinwoo, even placing his arm around his shoulders as talked to him. Jinwoo removed his head with a flick of his wrist. Then, he took out two more. Within seconds, he had killed all but Hwang Dongsuk. Dongsuk begged for mercy, but Jinwoo told him that he’d tried to kill him three times and now he wanted mercy. No chance! Once they had come out of the dungeon, they were met by an official who assumed that Jinho had been the reason they survived and no one else.
What did you think?
One thing that I think could frustrate some people is the way this series mixes the action with short segments that follow other characters. Whether it’s Gunhee Go, the chairman of the Hunters Association, or a group of hunters discussing Haein Cha over coffee, I can see that upsetting some. However, even with these occasional breaks in the action, they have so far kept the action to one episode. That’s exactly how it should be. They’re able to fit in all of the exciting stuff while expanding our knowledge of the world and the characters involved in the overall story. Personally, I love this approach.
In the last episode, I made a note that Jinwoo hadn’t used his full recovery from his daily tasks and said that it would become important in this fight. Well, that went almost exactly to plan. It’s always nice being right. Anyhow, that fight was amazing. Jinwoo looks like such a badass when he’s zipping around. I can understand why Jinho was terrified of him and willing to side with him against Dongsuk’s party. It was interesting that there was some talk of hunters falsifying their ranks. Does that mean there are others like Jinwoo or is it a slightly different thing? Maybe, it’s just an urban legend. Either way, it’s something to keep in mind.
I’m also guessing that Dongsuk’s brother is a high-ranking hunter, maybe even an S-ranked one and he’s going to know what Dongsuk was doing, so seeing the only two hunters that weren’t a part of Dongsuk’s party emerging from the dungeon is going to be ringing some alarm bells. This will definitely be a complication that comes back to bite Jinwoo at some point.
Episode highlights
Other posts in the series
Series Information
| English Title | Solo Leveling |
| Japanese Title | Ore dake Level Up na Ken |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Manwha
| Series | Solo Leveling | ||
| Author | Chugong | ||
| Artist | Dubu | ||
| Volumes | Ongoing | Chapters | Webtoon Chapters |
| 1 | The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind | 1-3 | 1-12 |
| 2 | The Lizards | 3-5 | 13-26 |
| 3 | Job-Change Quest | 6-8 | 27-44 |
| 4 | Unless You’re An S-Rank! | 9-10 | 45-63 |
| 5 | May I Kill All of These Magic Beasts? | 11-13 | 64-81 |
| 6 | I’d Lost My Cool Too! | 14-17 | 82-97 |
| 7 | Everything Will Be Fine! | 18-21 | 98-110 |
| 8 | One-Man Guild! | 22-24 | 111-122 |
| 9 | It Was War! | 25-27 | 123-134 |
| 10 | The Deal is Off! | 28-30 | 135-146 |
Anime
Season One
I loved this episode. Jinwoo opened up a big can of whoop! I also giggled at how quickly Jinho called him boss and volunteered to carry the gear. Heck, I would too! I am interested to see where the story takes us with the mention of Donsuk’s brother. I, too, gather that is going to be important at some point.
Yeah, it was great that the boss pushed him too. I think he’ll be throwing some stats into intelligence after that one to help him overcome these sorts of enemies. I loved how he’s constantly leveling up. He’s in the middle of a fight and he’s two levels up from when he started. I’m disappointed that this is just a twelve episode season!
I have to say, out of all the scenarios which crossed my mind, simply straight-up killing the six serial killers was not one of them. But I heartily approve anyway! Just considering how many low-level hunters they surely betrayed and murdered, they certainly had it coming to them.
I was pleasantly surprised that the spider was such a formidable foe, after the snake and the golem, but once Sung locked in on a weak spot, I was rather expecting him to go straight for the eyes right away. That’s where even the most armored spider would be soft and squishy, and he was practically looking straight at them like they were big, red beacons on the airport runway. That he went in between them for his first shot felt like they were reaching a little. And the whole thing with the color draining from the screen as he made the choice to kill his foes felt a little prolonged as well. *With* no less than *three breaks* from the action. That was pushing it, I think. “Oh, I killed him. I killed a person. But if I didn’t, I would have been killed.” We didn’t need the explanation, ya know?
So it was interesting, but also something of a step down, in my opinion.
I do hope that things get straightened up between our two surviving heroes. They really are a couple of good guys who were in a bad situation, and it would be nice if they can keep working together.
Yeah. That was a satisfying moment for sure – seeing them get what they deserved. Especially the first one who walked up to Jinwoo and was so overconfident that he thought he could belittle him there and then.
There was that moment when he attacked the face but still tried to stab the exoskeleton rather than going for the eyes. I think this plays into the intelligence stats and how he didn’t think he’d need them. Hopefully, this will make him realize that they are important.
I get the feeling Jinho will become a close confidant and be one of the few who knows about Jinwoo’s situation.
Behold there’s Jinwoo’s poetic justice in the most literal, unpretty way! I did mention before that he undergoes a personality change. I forgot to mention that his voice got deeper in the previous episode (cue me trying to not get a heart attack when I get to listen his max-level’s voice). Late-bloomer Taito Ban (whom I hope will recover from COVID) slays Jinwoo’s psychological breakdown. I love how the director made such scene turn slowly into monochrome that has him feeling jumbled up with anger, despair, disillusionment, & sorrow until he finally had to numb himself, acknowledging that he had to embrace that this is what he needs to do when wanting to get stronger & survive longer. His old self’s innocence no longer seen after this tragic event.
And Lynn, you’re right about the mood whiplash if (exaggerated) comedic visuals were made in this kind of story. I’ve approved that the production team’s decision to tone that element down, along with some too edgy lines being cut, preventing the narm element. Probably why I felt such elements in 86 first cour where the comedic visuals & too edgy lines gave me mood whiplash. Glad SL is in good hands and apparently there’s a second cour which I believe it’ll happen since the secret reporter often get right about these announcements.
Alas, the going-back-and-forth original anime scenes felt off but like you said, it didn’t entirely take away the tension from Jinwoo’s life-changing event. Being part of the webtoon audience I wished the cafe scene could’ve felt more significant if they showed Cha Hae-in in a talking scenario that won’t make you feel that she’s a stereotyped strong & stoic heroine. She still feels two-dimensional & unfortunately that happens in too many early arcs of the source material. I get that it’s fanservice for male audience, but I wished they convey an important hint that’s an obvious “straight to the point” feeling in their conversations.
I’m loving Jinwoo’s transformation and it’s felt quite natural given what he’s been through and how he’s developed. It’s certain a massive improvement from Hajime’s one episode transformation in Arifureta.
I think it’s possible to get the comedic elements and serios tone to work, but it’s really hard and when it goes wrong it can throw off the entire series. I’m glad they decided to focus in one direction here.
Also, I remember Cha Hae-In having a discussion with the guild boss when he told her he wanted her to lead quests so she could teach the other members. She seemed quite uncomfortable in that moment which said a lot about her character. Even running away after stopping those purse snatchers. I get that she’s strong but also values her privacy and doesn’t want to be made a fuss of. I’m excited to find out more about her. And so happy if a second cour comes along. Twelves episodes just doesn’t feel like it’ll be enough.