Solo Leveling Chapter 46-50

Chapter 46

Gulp.

Jin-Woo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Indeed, it was rather scary not knowing what kind of quest would pop up.

However, his anticipation was even greater than his fears.

While he was looking for a suitable location to start the quest, he used his phone to search for topics related to changing one’s class online.

New skills.

Benefits to one’s growth.

Exclusive weapons reserved for a particular class.

Connected quests.

….Etc, etc.

They were all from video games, sure; but, the accepted norm was that changing one’s class would result in many benefits.

‘And level 40 was when I could get my Class.’

Of course, it wasn’t all good news, either. He often spotted ominous sounding thread titles as he browsed through online forums.

I chose the wrong class and now I’m bummed out.

Only if I knew, I’d have gone with a different class, f*cking hell.

A moment of bad decisions later, I’m quitting my dearest game and returning to the normal society.

Should I erase this character and start all over again?

….Well, these were also related to video games, anyways.

He certainly had far less to worry about here since he only used daggers as his main weapon until now. All the skills he had acquired leaned towards the profession of ‘assassin’.

‘Right, I’ve got dagger techniques and Stealth as my skills.’

Not only that, he invested mainly in raising the Stats of Strength and Agility, so it was kind of hard to imagine getting another class other than ‘Assassin’.

As his thoughts arrived here, Jin-Woo summoned the ‘Poison Fang of Kasaka’ from his Inventory.

Shush….

This feeling of the hilt falling so perfectly in his hand….

‘Yeah, this for me is the most comfortable.’

He nodded his head like a wise old sage.

While gripping the dagger tightly, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze towards the message floating in the air.

‘Well, then….’

Now that he was all done with getting ready for any unexpected events, he firmed his resolve and answered the message.

[Will you take on the Class Change Quest now?] (Y/N)

‘Yes, I’m taking it on.’

The moment he thought of taking on the quest, another message popped into his view.

Tti-ring.

[You’re now partaking in the Class Change Quest.]

[A new dungeon will be generated for this quest.]

‘Generating… a new dungeon?’

Before he had the chance to interpret what that message was saying, a change took place before him really fast.

Wuuonnng—-

A black ‘hole’ formed right in front of his eyes. That was merely the beginning, too.

Wuoonng, wuuuonngg…..

The black hole the size of a bean expanded to the size of a coin, then to that of a volleyball, and eventually, it grew large enough for a person to walk through.

‘Isn’t this….?’

Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider.

He was expecting to see a new message with the contents of the quest pop up in front of his eyes, but this….

What appeared before him was, without a doubt, a Gate.

‘To think, a Gate would show up here….’

This one didn’t seem any different from the others he was familiar with. Only that, it was a bit smaller than usual.

The System sent him a new message as if to urge him on.

[Please enter the dungeon through the Gate.]

‘I need to calm down.’

Jin-Woo quickly collected himself.

Right…

If he thought about it, there wasn’t much of a difference whether he used a key or a Gate to enter a dungeon. Indeed, he was simply taken aback just now by the sight of a Gate forming ‘artificially’ like this.

Also, this would be his first time seeing a Gate form. He always just walked into one that was already there, so…

When the chain of his thoughts stopped there, a new question popped into his mind.

‘Hang on… can other Hunters enter this Gate as well?’

Too bad, he had no method to experiment on this one today.

Well, there were no Hunters nearby that he could call for ‘assistance’, nor did he have anyone who would rush over here because he gave them a call.

He momentarily recalled Yu Jin-Ho’s face, but slowly shook his head.

‘How will I take care of the aftermath if I called him and something bad happens?’

It was then.

As if to urge him on again, the message blinked.

Tti-ring.

[Please enter the dungeon through the Gate.]

The mechanical beep brought him back to his senses. He slapped his cheeks a couple of times to wake himself up.

‘This is no time to daydream.’

If he succeeded, then a new class and all the rewards that followed would be his. And if he failed, then he couldn’t even tell what might happen to him.

So, he needed to focus here.

“Fuu-woo….”

After taking a deep breath….

Jin-Woo held the Poison Fang of Kasaka in reverse grip and entered the Gate.

[You have entered the dungeon.]

‘Eh?’

He entered in a state of taut tension, but to his surprise, there was nothing here.

He was greeted by the sight of an ordinary cave-like dungeon.

“Isn’t this exactly the same as the others….?”

He heard that high-ranking dungeons were often linked to ‘other worlds’ so he was kind of worried about such a thing happening to him, but thankfully, he was spared from that.

Instead, a strange message popped up into his view.

Tti-ring.

[The current location forbids the usage of potions as well as the functions of the Store, and your physical state will not recover even if you level up.]

Jin-Woo confirmed that there was no presence of monsters nearby and put away his dagger. Then, his head began tilting this way and that.

‘…..This isn’t going to be easy, is it?’

Maybe because his class change was up for grabs, there were quite a few restrictions here to contend with.

The most important one was that he couldn’t replenish his spent energy or stamina, and couldn’t heal himself using potions or level ups.

‘The damage will stack, in other words.’

If he got injured, then that would spell his doom.

Since he couldn’t heal himself, he had no choice but to be thorough and cautious with every action he took.

‘Meaning, I gotta keep my wits about me.’

Jin-Woo closed the message.

And as he’d do every time when entering a dungeon, he confirmed the presence of the exit.

[You can’t leave until the Class Change process has been concluded.]

A message popped up as soon as he touched the surface of the Gate. He put some strength behind his hand, but it didn’t even budge.

“….”

Jin-Woo retracted his hand.

‘The exit is blocked off.’

An unknown grade, impossible to heal himself, and no exit; this dungeon was a pretty risky proposition. Even a Hunter with balls of steel wouldn’t want to tread in a place like this one.

‘However, high risk doesn’t always equate to bad things, does it?’

Indeed, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. He learned that through experience.

If clearing this place was difficult because of all the restrictions, then didn’t that also mean there was an amazing opportunity waiting for him at the end?

There was only one way to find out.

‘I’ll know once I get there.’

Jin-Woo took his first step forward.

His eyes gazed far forward, and all he could see was the cavern-like passageway with seemingly no end. And there were no monsters nearby.

‘Wait, since this is still within the System’s influence, should I call them monsters, and not monsters?’ (TL: Well, sorry about this line. The author had been using the Hanja word for monsters to describe those found in the regular Gates/dungeons, while using the romanised English word ‘monster’ to describe those found in instant dungeons. They mean the same thing, obviously, but well, wordplay and all that….)

Even though they both meant the same thing.

In any case, that wasn’t the only difference to consider. There were lit torches lining up at a fixed interval along the cavern walls as well.

‘Instead of luminous stones, I got torches, huh.’

Unfortunately, the light from the torches was not an effective source of illumination.

No matter how many there were, they were still not enough to light up the entire passageway. So, there were plenty of hidden shadows.

With the deafening silence being accompanied by the gloomy shadows, this place came off far more eerie and ominous than a regular dungeon.

‘I can see no problem, but still….’

Should he say it’s down to the atmosphere of this place?

Jin-Woo pulled out the nearest torch and held it. His front brightened ever so slightly with the torch in his hand.

‘Yeah, this is better.’

Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile.

He took one last glance behind him and slowly made his way forward, the torch lighting the way.

Just how long did he walk?

When he walked for a long, long time, he finally got to a bend in the passageway. And just beyond it, he sensed multiple presences.

‘Are they finally here?’

Jin-Woo carefully placed the torch on the ground and stood back up.

Shurururu…

His right hand was now holding his favourite dagger instead.

He briefly entertained the idea of using ‘Stealth’ to quickly deal with his enemies, but gave up on that after remembering the crazy expenditure of his Mana. Well, he wouldn’t be able to use potions to replenish the spent Mana in this place, after all.

If he carelessly spent Mana here, then he might be unable to use the necessary Skills when he really needed to.

‘….It’s coming this way.’

Jin-Woo pressed tightly against the wall and waited for the enemy to show up around the bend.

Clank, clank….

Whenever this thing took a step, the metallic clang reverberated loudly in the passageway.

The noises were getting closer.

Clank, clank….

Hearing that strange noise, Jin-Woo tilted his head.

‘Could it be carrying some kind of chained weapons?’

He was curious, but there was no need to get anxious. He’d get his answers soon enough.

‘5, 4, 3.’

Jin-Woo tightly held the dagger in the reverse grip and stopped breathing. It was to prevent the opponent from hearing the sound of his breathes.

‘2, 1.’

Clank, clank.

Finally, the enemy’s shadow could be seen.

‘……0.’

When his countdown hit 0, the enemy revealed itself.

Jin-Woo aimed for the side of its neck.

Clang!!

But, he got to hear metal hitting metal instead.

The blade didn’t go in.

‘Metal armour?!’

Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.

Finally confirming the identity of his opponent, Jin-Woo quickly took several steps back.

“It’s a human?!”

He was now facing a knight decked out fully in a suit of armour. Its face was hidden behind the helmet and he couldn’t see what they looked like.

Jin-Woo called out to it while thinking to himself, ‘Could it be….?’

“Oii!”

However, the knight didn’t even utter a word and simply lunged in Jin-Woo’s direction.

Thud, thud, thud!!

The knight rushed forward like a raging bull and tried to shoulder tackle him, but Jin-Woo lightly tilted out of the way and evaded the attack.

The knight couldn’t win against the momentum and continued to run forward for a bit longer, before somehow bringing itself to a stop.

‘Maybe, it’s not a human?’

He was able to take a quick peek at a close distance and he could tell something was off. He couldn’t sense the beating heart that a normal person should possess.

So, most likely, it was not a human.

He was now facing off against a type of monster he’d never even heard of before.

….A monster that armed itself from head to toe, no less.

‘It’s like….’

Wasn’t this like he was actually fighting against another person?

Swururung!

The knight turned around and unsheathed the sword mounted on its hips. Just as Jin-Woo had done, this ‘knight’ probably didn’t plan on letting him go alive.

After sensing its intense hostility, Jin-Woo’s glare became a level sharper.

‘Dash!’

[Your movement speed has increased by 40%.]

The first one to strike, wins!

Before the enemy made its move, Jin-Woo dashed in first.

Swish!

Jin-Woo evaded the hurried swing of the knight’s longsword and stabbed his dagger at various points in its amour.

Clang! Clangg!!

Unfortunately, he couldn’t damage it.

‘The armour’s too thick.’

Not only was it thick, the surface was smooth as well, so when he landed a straight blow, the blade didn’t go in but simply slid off to the side.

It was at this point that the knight swung its sword in a huge arc.

SWISH!!!

Jin-Woo ducked lower and evaded it. The blade swung past Jin-Woo’s head by a hair’s breadth. A big move like this would inevitably expose a big opening.

Another chance had come by!

Jin-Woo lunged in closer to the knight and gathered his strength in his dagger-holding arm.

‘Vital Points Targetting!’

Crack!

The tip of the dagger penetrated past the armour.

‘Did it work?’

However, it must’ve not suffered any damage, since it swung its sword down vertically with great force, not caring at all about the dagger stuck to its side.

Swish!

Jin-Woo rapidly threw himself back.

Clang!

The blade slammed into the ground and sparks flew everywhere.

“…”

Jin-Woo took several steps back and corrected his posture. His dagger remained stuck to the knight’s side.

‘Tsk.’

Jin-Woo clicked his tongue.

‘It’s not really that strong, is it?’

That was his earnest assessment.

Probably because of all that heavy armour, its movement was dull, and its attack pattern was also rather simple, too. Only that, its defence against bladed weapons was truly exceptional.

Jin-Woo rolled up his sleeves.

‘Well, I’ve already fought against an enemy with thick armour that blades can’t penetrate.’

His relaxed demeanour came from previous experience.

The boss monster, ‘Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka’ that broke a steel sword infused with magical energy in one hit – he had experienced killing such a snake before.

‘Compared to the Kasaka, that thing is nothing….’

A thin smile slowly formed on Jin-Woo’s lips, since that was a pretty good memory to recall.

Thud, thud, thud!

The knight stupidly charged in again, perhaps trusting the protection provided by its armour.

‘I knew it. It’s a really simple creature.’

Jin-Woo easily evaded the knight’s attack aimed at his shoulder, slid to its back, and caught it in a headlock.

Craaack!

Since its neck area was also protected by armour, it’d not choke to death, but….

Crack, crumple!

Jin-Woo’s arm muscles expanded and veins bulged. Jin-Woo wasn’t planning to choke the knight, to begin with.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes shooting up wide open.

And when that happened…

CRACK!

Along with a pretty sickening noise, the helmet was ripped off.

This was the moment when his Strength Stat exceeding 100 points had begun shining ever so brightly.

‘I did it!’

The knight lifelessly knelt down on the ground once its head was separated from the body.

Thud!

[You defeated the knight.]

A simple but concise message announcing the end of the battle popped up.

A flickering light indicating the presence of loot came from somewhere on the armour, but Jin-Woo’s attention was elsewhere.

‘What the heck? There’s nothing inside?’

The helmet he held in his hands was totally empty.

He quickly checked inside the armour to make sure, but it was the same story: empty.

‘Does that mean I was fighting against a suit of armour that was moving by itself?’

Just as he arrived at his conclusion, two more knights rushed into view from around the bend. It seemed that they had belatedly sensed the unfolding battle.

Clank, clank!

The knights discovered Jin-Woo, and as if they had made a prior arrangement, they unsheathed their longswords in unison.

Jin-Woo tossed the empty helmet away and loosened the muscles on his neck and shoulders.

He now knew how to fight these things.

‘So, this is the real beginning, huh.’

Thud, thud, thud, thud!!

Jin-Woo’s lips formed a slight grin as he stared at the knights rushing towards him.

His first step in clearing this dungeon proved to be on the right track.

Chapter 47

 

Was it because of all the restrictions?

The loot drop rate turned out to be rather excellent.

Jin-Woo only defeated three knights, yet two of them dropped an item each. As far as percentages go, that was 66.6%.

It was an unimaginably high drop rate compared to other instant dungeons.

Especially considering the fact that, when all he got after clearing a floor of an instant dungeon several times in a row would be a few japtem and stuff he had no use for other than to sell them off at the Store.

[‘Item: Superior Knight’s Breastplate’ has been found. Take it?]

‘Of course I’m taking it.’

Just a thought, and the breastplate of the now-headless knight kneeling and unmoving on the ground disappeared and reappeared right before his feet. And its information popped up in his view.

[Item: Superior Knight’s Breastplate]

Rarity: B

Type: Armour

Reduction in physical damage: +7%

(Your movement will slow down if your Strength is below 80.)

7% increase in physical damage reduction!

When added to what he had already, the physical damage reduction would be 27%!

‘If this number reaches 100%, does that mean I become completely impervious to all physical damage?’

He briefly wondered about that, before realising that a defensive item ranked ‘B’ in rarity only added 7% to the overall value, and his thoughts rapidly changed.

Even if he found himself an item with a rarity of ‘A’, the reduction may not go above 30-40%.

So, maybe it was impossible to add up to 100%?

‘Still, every little bit helps, so…..’

He was sure of benefiting greatly if he continued to increase that Stat bit by bit.

He already had witnessed the power of good items through Yu Jin-Ho, after all.

‘So, I do it like this, right?’

Jin-Woo picked up the breastplate. As expected, a message regarding equipping the armour popped up in his view.

[Will you equip ‘Item: Superior Knight’s Breastplate’?]

No matter who looked at it, this breastplate’s design was rather clunky and embarrassing, and he’d never wear it in public.

If he didn’t have prior experience with the ‘Gatekeeper’s Necklace’, he might’ve hesitated a great deal before reluctantly agreeing to put it on, but now…

It was a different story now.

‘Yes.’

Tti-ring.

[‘Item: Superior Knight’s Breastplate’ has been equipped.]

….The breastplate disappeared from the view.

Jin-Woo summoned the Status Window and confirmed his Stats.

[Reduction in physical damage: 27%]

‘So, it really went up.’

Jin-Woo felt around his chest area. He couldn’t feel anything weird. He moved his body around this way and that, but didn’t feel anything strange or out of place.

It was exactly the same as when he equipped the Gatekeeper’s necklace for the first time.

‘Nice.’

Next, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the unmoving knight stuck in the distant corner.

It was bent and crumpled so badly that nothing looked salvageable, but still, the flickering light indicating the loot’s presence could be seen on it quite clearly.

[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been found. Take it?]

Of course, he was the one responsible for that, but even he had to concede that he had gone a bit overboard there. He fought barehanded and well, it was really hard to control his strength, that was why….

‘……’

With a solemn expression on his face, Jin-Woo walked closer and reached out to take the loot away.

‘Acquire it.’

[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been opened.]

[30,000 Gold is inside.]

[30,000 Gold has been acquired.]

‘Huh?!’

Nothing entered his hands yet he got a message declaring that he acquired some Gold, instead.

Was it a bit different from regular items?

Jin-Woo remained somewhat mystified as he accessed his Inventory, and sure enough, his Gold amount had really increased by 30,000.

[Current Gold: 863,400]

‘I got 30,000 Gold in one go?’

Was it because knights were supposed to be wealthy or some such?

He abruptly remembered that most humanoid-type monsters usually gave out more loot than any other types in video games.

Now that he thought about it some more, not finding a greater number of useful items on a human being, when compared to an animal or an insect, didn’t make a whole lot of sense, now did it?

He couldn’t be sure if this dungeon followed that principal or not, though.

In any case, it could only be good news to him.

He was planning to save up more Gold and buy a few items from the Store, and if Gold kept showing up as loot in this fashion, then his planned shopping day would arrive much sooner than his initial estimation.

‘Is there anything else that I can take with me?’

Well, human greed supposedly knew no limits, so….

Jin-Woo momentarily forgot about his true goal of wandering in this dungeon and greedily searched around his vicinity.

The armour worn by the knights were all pretty much mangled beyond recover from the fight just now so, it was a no….

Eventually, Jin-Woo’s eyes found the knights’ swords.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

‘They kinda look useful, don’t they?’

Those longswords must’ve been brand new, looking all shiny and slick like that.

Although he couldn’t use them properly since they weren’t daggers, he could either sell them in the Store or if he couldn’t, he could try hawking them off to other Hunters at a later date.

Jin-Woo picked up a sword.

However, as soon as he did, the sword rapidly rusted up and dissolved into a pile of dust, before scattering away.

“What the hell….?”

This process happened in only a couple of seconds.

‘Is it because I’m not supposed to touch them?’

What a regrettable thing this was, but naught he could do about it now.

Jin-Woo dusted his hands off and picked up the torch he left on the ground.

When he walked around the bend where the knights showed up from, yet another passage with no end in sight greeted him.

“…”

It looked like there was still a long way to go.

These battles felt like he was revisiting school work.

The notion sounded funny, but that’s what Jin-Woo ended up thinking, totally out of the blue.

During the past two hours of hunting inside the dungeon, he met four different types of monsters.

Knights, Mages, Assassins, and Archers.

“Is it Stealth this time?”

An assassin-type suddenly vanished from his senses.

Jin-Woo didn’t panic and extended his Perception to its fullest. And soon enough, picked up on the presence sneaking up on him from behind.

Swish!

Jin-Woo powerfully smacked away the assassin’s dagger with his trusty Poison Fang of Kasaka, and seizing the opening created as the monster was pushed back, stabbed forward in a deadly and accurate attack of his own.

The Poison Fang accurately landed in the middle of the target’s chest.

Stab!

[You defeated the assassin.]

[Level up!]

The assassin received a fatal wound and turned into a wisp of black smoke before disappearing from his view with nary a scream.

Plop.

And where it once stood, only the leather clothes it used to wear remained.

‘Why are they all humanoid-type monsters, anyway?’

Every time he ‘killed’ them, he felt as if….

Jin-Woo slowly shook his head.

One nice thing here was that he couldn’t see the monsters’ faces; knights wore helmets, assassins and archers used deep hoods, and mages used hats attached to their robes to hide most of their faces.

Jin-Woo turned around to continue on his journey.

But then!

A flash of blinding light exploded right in front of his eyes. A mage had hidden itself and quietly completed a light magic spell.

Kaboom!!

An ear-splitting explosion occurred next.

However, Jin-Woo was already well behind the mage by the time that happened.

“…..!!”

The mage sensed his presence behind it and flinched grandly as he hurriedly recited another chant. Too bad, Jin-Woo didn’t miss this opening and swung his dagger diagonally.

The mage, too, turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared.

Plop.

Jin-Woo glared down at the ownerless robe on the ground and stored the dagger back in the Inventory.

‘I got hit by one of those, way back when I got too careless.’

The thing was, he was already ready to react as soon as he began sensing Mana gathering around in a single point.

Joh Gyu-Hwan’s Light magic – Jin-Woo wasn’t dumb enough to get hit by a similar magic to that dead guy’s.

This was one of the reasons why he thought that all these battles were like him studying and revisiting his past fights.

‘That’s not all, is it?’

In order to defeat different types of monsters, he needed different Stats.

For knights, it was Strength. For assassins, Perception. Archers, Agility. And finally, for mages, it was Stamina.

The whole thing was set up in a way that if any of the corresponding Stats weren’t high enough, he’d have a real hard time trying to deal with the individual monsters.

If his Strength was lacking, then he wouldn’t have been able to cause enough damage to the knights, and if his Perception was too low, he’d have gone through hell in order to locate the assassins.

‘Me raising Stats evenly has really paid off dividends here.’

His Intelligence Stat was still on the low side, but all he had to do there was to economise his MP usage. That was all.

[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been opened.]

[‘20,000 Gold’, and ‘Canteen Containing Lukewarm Water’ are inside.]

[‘20,000 Gold’, and ‘Canteen Containing Lukewarm Water’ have been acquired.]

Jin-Woo summoned that canteen as soon as it showed up in his Inventory and took several gulps.

“Fuu….”

His fatigue was piling up noticeably now.

‘Just how far am I supposed to go here?’

Could there be no end to this place?

Jin-Woo put the empty canteen down on the ground and placed his hands on his hips. It had been over three hours already since he entered this dungeon. Both his body and mind were getting fatigued now.

‘….Should I take a short break?’

Jin-Woo sat down and leaned against the cave wall.

‘Status Window.’

Tti-ring.

[Tiredness: 66]

The ‘Tiredness’ Stat had sneaked up to a dangerous level; above 70, his body and mind would start to get negatively affected.

He needed to take a short nap and decrease that Stat right away.

Jin-Woo leaned his head against the wall.

Sleepiness came over him almost instantly.

He was so tired that, even when in an environment as dangerous as this place, he didn’t need a lot of effort to fall asleep.

However…

Swish-!

He heard the sharp whistle of air parting ways!

Time slowed down, and Jin-Woo accurately snatched the flying arrow with his hand.

Grab!

Jin-Woo’s eyes opened up.

He saw an archer nocking another arrow from some distance away.

‘So, it’s still too early to fall asleep, is it?’

Jin-Woo summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka once more and stood back up.

Crunch!

One single punch caused the knight’s breastplate to crack and cave in; the lifeless monster slowly slid to the ground in between Jin-Woo’s stretched fist and the wall.

It didn’t move again as it lay sprawled on the ground.

Tti-ring.

[You defeated the knight.]

[Level up!]

Although it was quite unfortunate that his condition didn’t recover, his levels continued to rise up steadily as he fought more and more battles.

Jin-Woo looked down on his slightly-skinned fist and clicked his tongue.

Only a short break would’ve taken care of such a small wound by now.

However, these abominable monsters didn’t give him a moment to rest.

Still, he earned quite a lot in the meantime.

[Equipped items]

Gatekeeper’s Necklace (A)

Superior Knight’s Breastplate (B)

Intermediate Assassin’s Shoes (B)

Inferior archer’s Gloves (C)

Superior Mage’s Ring (B)

Other useful things he found along the way were now all safely tucked away in his Inventory.

‘It’d been nicer if I found a weapon, though….’

What an unfortunate thing it was – the daggers used by the assassins featured similar levels of attack damage bonus as the Poison Fang of Kasaka, but none of them possessed additional effects, so they were deemed not as good compared to his current weapon.

‘What would this guy give me now?’

Jin-Woo reached out towards the fallen knight and the flickering light coming off from it.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Superior Knight’s Gauntlet]

Rarity: B

Type: Armour

Reduction in physical damage: +3%

Additional effects: Prevents injuries to wearer’s hands.

(Your movement will slow down if your Strength is below 80.)

‘Ohhh….’

With a bright smile, Jin-Woo quickly ‘acquired’ the Superior Knight’s Gauntlet and equipped it immediately.

Just like with all the other items, these metallic gloves didn’t affect him in the slightest and he could freely move his fingers.

‘Nice.’

Jin-Woo moved his fingers around for a bit, before raising his head to look at the far side of the passageway.

Finally.

The torchlight revealed the end of the road.

And that end was blocked off by a huge castle gate.

It was quite rare to see the boss room with a door like that. Naturally, he recalled the dual dungeon. No one was adequately prepared back then, and because of that, the losses incurred were great.

However, it was different now.

Jin-Woo took a look behind him, at the passage he had been walking on to get here.

‘It took me six hours to get here, too….’

His level was now 45, and he was kitted out in some good armour as well.

He was ready.

He wouldn’t have minded taking a small break and recover some of his spent stamina, but whenever he tried to do that, monsters always managed to appear with the perfect sense of timing to disrupt his sleep.

He couldn’t afford to summon more monsters and waste his energy that way.

[HP: 4511/8330]

[MP: 660/790]

[Tiredness: 43]

‘I gotta win with this.’

Finishing up with confirming his condition for the last time, Jin-Woo reached out and grasped the handles of the doors.

Creak, creaaaakkk-!

The heavy-looking doors slid open rather smoothly, as if there was some sort of an unseen mechanism.

Chapter 48

 

Rumble-! Boom!

The door to the boss room finally opened.

The interior was completely shrouded in darkness.

Even with Jin-Woo’s eyesight, greatly enhanced by his Perception Stat, he found it hard to see one inch in front of him. All he could see clearly was the ground beneath his feet.

The floor was covered in stone tiles.

The ash-coloured tiles, laid with no visible gaps in between, gave off this feeling of heaviness and barren chill.

As soon as he set foot on this floor….

Whooosh!

Countless torches lining up the walls lit up all at once and illuminated the interior.

‘As I thought… it’s almost the same as back in that underground temple.’

Jin-Woo maintained his vigilance. He scanned his vicinity and cautiously stepped forward.

Several giant stone pillars stood erect to his left and right; at the far end of this ‘room’, he could see a tall throne.

‘It’s as if….’

This place reminded him of the king’s audience chamber from a fantasy movie. Of course, the scale was noticeably larger, though.

A few steps later, the door issued a loud bang and closed shut behind him.

SLAM!!

Jin-Woo glanced back, but he didn’t panic. He already expected something like that to happen. Jin-Woo resumed his careful march forward.

‘….I can sense a powerful presence.’

He kind of got this really strong gut feeling that, in order to conclude his class quest, he had to arrive before that throne.

Just as important, his gut feelings on matters such as this one were on the money, most of the time.

It was then.

From the gap between stone pillars, which couldn’t have been more than ten steps, a ‘doll’ walked out from its hiding spot and stood before him, blocking his path forward.

The ‘thing’ stopped its walk and turned around to face him.

Gulp.

Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.

He only had to take one look at the creature’s red name floating just above its head to know that the boss had finally made its entrance.

[The Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson]

It was a knight wearing a suit of blood-red armour.

The way it was kitted out from head to toe in metal armour was similar to other knights he fought so far, but quite unlike those that looked dull and slow, this thing looked incredibly agile.

What caught his eyes next was its helm.

The red-coloured mane extending rearwards from the top of the helm reminded him of a stallion’s tail and it left a rather deep impression.

While he studied its helm, Jin-Woo discovered one more difference between it and the other knights.

‘This guy…. has eyes?’

But, were they eyes, or irises?

Whatever the case may be, the pair of silvery lights oozed out from where one’s eyes should be. They felt so cold and uncaring, utterly mechanical and lifeless.

Those cold eyes were now fixed on him.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

‘So, the aura of the really powerful enemy was coming from this guy, huh…..’

The goal of the class quest could be to defeat this knight, for all he knew. If that was the case, he needed to be doubly cautious.

Jin-Woo observed the movements of this Igrit while slowly raising his clenched fists.

‘My dagger won’t work on it anyway.’

What was needed in defeating a knight was blunt force. He needed Strength to overwhelm him.

‘……’

Igrit quietly observed Jin-Woo for a while, before it abruptly took off its red cape.

Plop.

The cape fell to the floor.

‘What’s it doing?’

The b*stard’s strange actions didn’t end there.

It proceeded to take off the longsword on its hips, and the two daggers hidden behind its back, and dropped them all to the ground.

Not only that, it showed them to him, before dropping them one at a time.

Clang, clang…

The interior of the boss room had been quiet until then; the loud clangs of the metal hitting the stone tiles reverberated noisily throughout this vast chamber.

Igrit finished discarding all of its weapons, and as if to imitate Jin-Woo, clenched its fists and got into a fighting stance.

Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider.

‘Could this b*stard be thinking of….?’

Was this thing going to fight him bare-handed because he was also bare-handed?

Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.

‘….It’s looking down on me.’

The monsters’ provocation that really wasn’t one only served to rapidly cool his head. The hotter his emotions boiled, the colder his head got.

On the contrary to his heart beating faster and faster, Jin-Woo’s eyes became sharper and calculating.

‘Come.’

Perhaps reading his mind, Igrit made a beeline towards him.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

The speed it produced was so fast that he found it hard to believe it was wearing a suit of armour.

‘The speed penalty of the armours only comes into effect when the Strength Stat is lower than 80, right?’

Meaning, this thing’s Strength was at least 80!

Judging from its nimble movement, its Agility would also rival some of the highest-ranked Hunters out there.

Igrit closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and leapt up into the air. Once flying, the thing stuck its knee out and aimed at Jin-Woo’s face.

‘It’s fast!!’The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

However, Jin-Woo had been ready as well, his own movement speed pushed to the extreme. He bent his back almost 90 degrees and let Igrit’s attack brush past him.

Jin-Woo then rapidly stood back up.

Quite unlike other knights that needed some distance to stop after their tackle had failed, Igrit simply landed on the ground without much fanfare.

Kung!!

There was no time to admire that perfect landing, though.

Jin-Woo rushed in and before Igrit could turn around all the way, he diagonally kicked its head.

Shockingly enough, the thing still could move its arm accurately even when its posture was unstable.

Slam!

Jin-Woo’s right leg was easily blocked by Igrit’s left hand.

‘How can this be?!’

Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.

While one of his legs was blocked, Igrit’s other fist flew in at his face.

Swish!

He raised both of his arms instinctively to guard himself, but the impact force still got transmitted to the rest of his body.

Boom!!

His guard broke and his entire body became airborne.

“What?!”

A shocked gasp escaped from his mouth.

But soon, it turned into a groan.

“…..?!”

Because, Igrit had already appeared right in front of his eyes.

Even before he had the chance to do something about it, Igrit’s left fist powerfully slammed into Jin-Woo’s left cheek.

Slam!!

He slammed into the floor and bounced up from the impact, before continuing to roll away. He only managed to force himself back up after a while.

BUZZ!!

The inside of his ears rang noisily.

Jin-Woo shook his head around a couple of times. Only then did the loud ringing die down somewhat.

However, the much bigger problem than that was coming closer to him. His blurry sight captured Igrit as it walked towards him.

Step, step….

Jin-Woo opened his eyes wider and got ready.

Eventually, Igrit arrived right before Jin-Woo’s nose.

And so, a bloody dogfight erupted between the two.

Igrit didn’t even try to dodge Jin-Woo’s punches. No, it simply took on the hits and counter-attacked right away.

Pow!

Igrit’s head was forced slightly to the side.

But, even before Jin-Woo could correct his posture, a sharp and accurate counterpunch flew at him.

POW!

Jin-Woo tottered about like a drunken man.

Pow!

This time, Igrit took a step back.

POW!

After his stomach was kicked in, Jin-Woo’s body bent forward 90 degrees.

“Keok!”

Blood welled up in his mouth.

‘What is this nonsensical bullsh*t….?!’

Currently, Jin-Woo’s physical damage reduction Stat had exceeded 30%.

However, each of Igrit’s attacks hurt like crazy, as if he was being pounded on by a hammer. On the other hand, his attacks almost didn’t inflict any damage to the enemy.

Their exchange didn’t last for long afterwards.

POW!

Jin-Woo teetered about unsteadily, before falling to his knees.

Plop.

He tried to stand back up, but his legs didn’t want to listen.

Plop.

“Euh-euk…”

Igrit stood before Jin-Woo, but stopped attacking him. It wordlessly stared down at him for a while.

‘…..?’

Then, while ignoring Jin-Woo’s question-filled gaze directed at it, Igrit extended its hand out towards the sword discarded to the ground some distance away.

Then, the sword was automatically reeled in.

Igrit grasped the sword in both of its hands and walked to the side of Jin-Woo.

Soon, the tip of the blade was pointing to the sky.

‘You want to execute me, is that it?’

This b*stard certainly lived up to its title as the captain of the knights.

When it looked like Jin-Woo wasn’t going to resist his final moments, Igrit went ahead with the execution.

Of course, Jin-Woo wasn’t going to let that happen without a fight.

The sword fell down in a straight line.

Swish-!

However, Jin-Woo reached up with his left hand and blocked the descending blade.

CLANG!

The noise of metal hitting metal!

The gauntlet he found just before entering here protected his hand.

Flinch!

He sensed Igrit being taken back just now. Jin-Woo didn’t miss this chance and threw a punch with his right hand.

As expected, Igrit didn’t try to dodge.

‘You’re thinking of countering me again, right?’

It had probably calculated that getting hit once while countering that was far more productive. Too bad, it failed to take something important into its calculation.

‘Poison Fang of Kasaka!’

Shururu….

The Poison Fang of Kasaka was summoned instantly into his hand.

And Jin-Woo stabbed the dagger in the creature’s eye.

Stab!

Kuwooooaaar!!

A scream that couldn’t have come from a human being exploded out.

At the same time, a fierce light poured out from the eye with the dagger sticking out.

Jin-Woo hurriedly stood back up.

‘Now what?’

Just damaging one eye wouldn’t be able to determine the winner of this battle. He needed an attack even more powerful than that if he wanted to win.

It was then, a thought entered his mind.

The horrifying attack that almost pushed him to the brink of death the other day! He wanted to let Igrit taste that attack, too.

Before he could finish thinking that, his body moved first.

Jin-Woo bent down and bear-hugged Igrit’s midriff.

And then… he began running.

Kuooaark!!

Igrit thrashed about in pain and managed to land several solid blows on Jin-Woo’s back. However, he gritted his teeth and didn’t let Igrit go.

No, he increased his speed instead.

“Dash!!”

[Your movement speed has increased by 40%.]

Jin-Woo’s legs were now moving so much faster. He felt the electrifying speed sending chills down his entire body.

‘Yes, this is it. And now….’

And now, he’d slam this b*stard!

While gripping the midriff of Igrit even harder, he dashed towards the nearest wall with every ounce of energy he had.

Of course, if they collided against the wall at this speed, the impact his own body received would be substantial as well. However, Jin-Woo had a hidden trump card in the form of a certain passive skill.

The distance closed in the blink of an eye!

The wall was right behind them.

Kaboom!!

Along with the huge explosion, Igrit crashed into the wall.

At the same time, a message from the System popped up.

Tti-ring!

[Your HP has dropped below 30% and ‘Skill: Tenacity’ has been activated.]

[All damage received will be reduced by 50%.]

The impact force was great enough for the entire boss room to tremble momentarily.

“Keu-euk.”

Jin-Woo took a step back.

Igrit was buried half-way into the wall, yet it was still alive. The ‘flame’ of life burning under the helm was still flickering visibly.

‘….I need to finish this.’

Jin-Woo yanked the Poison Fang of Kasaka, still buried in its eye, loose.

That caused Igrit’s body to quiver once.

Jin-Woo held the dagger in a reverse grip, and stabbed hard at the b*stard’s neck.

‘Vital Points Targetting!’

Clang!!

The attack failed to work.

One more time.

‘Vital Points Targetting!’

Clang!!

Sparks flew off from the tip of the dagger.

A small nick formed on the metal covering the monster’s neck.

One more time.

‘Vital Points Targetting!’

Clang!

One more!

Clang!

One more!

Clang!!!

And finally…

‘Vital Points Targetting!!’

Crack!!

The Poison Fang of Kasaka broke past the protective metal and dug deep into its neck.

[You defeated the Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

Jin-Woo raised both of his hands up high into the sky.

He took several steps back, before losing all strength in his legs and faltered to the floor.

“Pant, pant….!”

Jin-Woo spat out the heavy breaths he’d been holding in until now.

He won, somehow.

It was an incredibly close fight.

‘However… wasn’t this the end of the quest?’

Jin-Woo collected his breaths for a long time, before painfully raising his body up.

He expected the class quest to end once he killed this guy, but not one message popped up in his view. He looked around, but he failed to spot anything different in the boss room.

No, there was one thing that was different from before.

Several strands of light began flickering on Igrit’s body. Meaning, his loot was now ready.

‘For the time being, let’s grab those.’

After all, he couldn’t tell what else might happen here.

Grabbing things that he could grab when there was a chance was the smartest move one could make, wasn’t it?

Jin-Woo reached out towards those lights.

[‘Item: Red Knight’s Helm’ has been found. Take it?]

[‘Rune Stone: Ruler’s Reach’ has been found. Take it?]

[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been found. Take it?]

[‘Item: Immediate Return Stone’ has been found. Take it?]

Why were there so many?

Jin-Woo felt rather puzzled, but still, he couldn’t hide his elation, either.

‘Acquire them all.’

The first thing to enter his Inventory was the Leather Pouch.

[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been opened.]

[1,500,000 Gold is inside.]

[1,500,000 Gold has been acquired.]

Jin-Woo’s eyes went extra round.

‘The level of reward is on another scale altogether!’

It definitely was worth it, defeating it after going through so much crap.

He wasn’t expecting all that much, to begin with, yet the leather pouch spat out an unbelievable amount of 1,500,000 Gold.

With this amount, he’d be able to buy something useful from the Store now.

However, Jin-Woo’s attention was directed elsewhere at the moment.

If the leather pouch he didn’t even hold high hopes for managed to produce such wealth, then just how high was the value of the helm or the Rune Stone?

Jin-Woo tried very hard to calm his heart and brought up the information on the helm.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Red Knight’s Helm]

Rarity: S

Type: Armour

Reduction in physical damage: +15%

Stamina +20, Strength +20

“It’s an S!!”

Jin-Woo cried out in elation.

Chapter 49

 

For the first time ever, an item with a rarity ranking of ‘S’ showed up.

Just the effect of 15% reduction in physical damage alone would’ve made it a top-tier item, yet it even possessed two more remarkable additional attributes of raising the Stamina and Strength Stats by 20 points each.

Just seeing those options alone made his heart palpitate so much faster.

‘The rarity A items can’t even compare to it!’

He had acquired two A-ranked items up until now.

The first was the Poison Sac of Kasaka, the one he got after he defeated the snake ‘Blue Kasaka’; the second one being the Gatekeeper’s Necklace after he defeated the Cerberus.

Those two items were already quite excellent.

The poison sac had the terrible penalty of stealing 35 points from his Strength Stat, but its effect also decreased the physical damage taken by 20%.

What about the Gatekeeper’s Necklace, then?

It was one of the best items out there that increased both Agility and Perception Stats by 20 each – two Stats he now knew the importance of.

But the Red Knight’s Helm possessed the kind of buffing effect that combined both of those items. And without any penalty, to boot.

‘No need to mention it. It’s the best.’

He was fully aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of the dungeon’s boss room, yet the smile on his face didn’t want to go away.

And if he were to add in one more unnecessary point here, he even liked the helm’s design.

‘It’s a bit of a pity to hide this thing, though.’

The crimson helm that immediately reminded all onlookers of the flowing blood, and the mane connected to the helm itself, made him feel like he was holding an artistic masterpiece.

It was only for a brief moment, but he even felt compelled to put on the full set of this armour if it existed somewhere.

However…

‘What a waste….’

Igrit’s other armour pieces weren’t considered to be loot, as there were no lights coming off from them. Only the helm could be taken away.

Jin-Woo forced back a rueful smile and cautiously put on the helm.

Poof.

Just as always, the helm disappeared from the view immediately.

Although he couldn’t show off his new look, his Stats had gained a huge boost thanks to his new headwear.

[Stats]

Strength: 128 (+20)

Stamina: 87 (+20)

Agility: 107

Intelligence: 66

Perception: 89

Reduction in physical damage: 46% (+15%)

The numbers appearing in brackets were the increases in his Stats from the helm itself. Not only the Strength and Stamina Stats, but the hard-to-increase damage reduction Stat all enjoyed massive boosts.

He was completely and utterly satisfied now.

Having confirmed the increase with his own two eyes, his heart began beating even faster.

‘No, no, no.’

Jin-Woo quickly shook his head.

‘The quest isn’t over yet, so let’s calm down.’

Besides, he still had other items to sort out, too.

With the trace of excitement still lingering in his mind, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the other two items.

[Rune Stone: Ruler’s Reach]

[Item: Immediate Return Stone]

Two pieces of stones.

Out of the two walnut-sized stones, the first one to grab his curious gaze was the Immediate Return Stone.

‘I know what is a Rune Stone, but this….’

Just what could this Immediate Return Stone do?

His curiosity got resolved pretty quickly, however. The information on the Immediate Return Stone floated up right away.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Immediate Return Stone]

Rarity: ??

Type: Consumable

An item exclusive to this Class Change Quest. When destroyed, you’ll be transported outside the dungeon immediately. However, once the Class Change Quest has been concluded, it will automatically be destroyed.

Can’t be stored in the Inventory.

The way to use it was similar to a Rune Stone.

However, to think that its effect wasn’t about absorbing a new skill, but to escape from this dungeon….

‘Hang on a sec. The Class Change Quest isn’t over yet?!’

If that were the case, then this particular item should’ve been destroyed already.

Since it hadn’t, that could only mean…

For some reason, he felt a creeping chill slowly caress his spine.

What an odd sensation that was.

He had received one of the best items out there that could help him make his escape from this dungeon, yet why was he getting this incredibly bad premonition right now?

If this stone could be used in regular dungeons, and not only inside the System-generated ones, then just about everyone alive would try to buy this thing.

Seriously, this stone would be the same as having a sure-fire way to save their lives, so no one should be foolish enough to pinch pennies when trying to get their hands on one.

It was the same with Jin-Woo, too. Just this item alone should decrease the burden of this quest by a great deal.

‘If I so choose….’

….He’d be able to escape at any time.

However, the ominous feeling taking root in the corner of his mind didn’t want to go away, no matter what.

And, sure enough!

The warning beep from the System went off in his head as if it was waiting for this moment.

Tti-ring.

[‘Player’ has acquired the Immediate Return Stone.]

[The ‘Class Change Quest’ will now commence.]

Son of a b*tch!

So, this was the item to start the quest for real!

He nearly fainted on the spot. He felt like he had stepped on something he shouldn’t have in the first place.

‘If I knew this might happen, I’d have taken a short break first!’

What would regret do for him now?

No matter how much one relied on one’s experience and knowledge to predict the future, one would never be able to correctly guess the tricks of fate.

A strand of cold sweat dripped down from Jin-Woo’s forehead.

Jin-Woo summoned the Status Window inwardly and confirmed the remaining HP and his fatigue level.

[HP: 4161/10270]

[MP: 390/850]

[Tiredness: 61]

‘The Tiredness Stat is a bit on the high side, but I can still do this.’

The helm’s added effects enhanced his Stamina Stat by a lot, which meant that his overall endurance had increased greatly as well, and his remaining HP had risen up as an added bonus, too.

What a relief that was.

As if to encourage himself, Jin-Woo continued to tell himself that…

‘I can still do this. It’s not impossible.’

Of course, his life should not be in any imminent danger. Because, he held the Immediate Return Stone, after all.

However, no matter how hard he thought about it, this Immediate Return Stone sounded awfully like an item that signified him giving up on the quest.

If that was not the case, then it shouldn’t have been the quest-starting item, to begin with.

‘If I give up on this quest….’

Wouldn’t it be the same as him giving up on this chance to get his class?

The cold sweat on his forehead rolled past his temple and down to his chin, before dripping down.

Gulp.

Just as he swallowed a bit of dry spit and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, the System’s new message popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.

[In ten seconds, dimensional doorways will be randomly generated.]

‘Dimensional doorways?’

Even before his question could be cleared up, huge numbers appeared up in the middle of the air.

[00:00:10]

He could easily tell what that was.

It most likely was signifying the countdown.

Meanwhile, the messages continued on.

[‘Player’ has a choice.]

[You can escape from the dungeon by using the Immediate Return Stone, or….]

…..8, 7, 6.

The timer continued to tick down to 0.

[Or, endure as long as you can and earn as many advancement points as possible in order to access the higher ranked classes.]

“Endure?! Endure what exactly?”

He ended up shouting out loudly as his frustration mounted. However, Jin-Woo was already holding the Poison Fang of Kasaka summoned from his Inventory.

He stored the Rune Stone inside the Inventory, while the Immediate Return Stone was placed inside the back of his pocket since it couldn’t be stored there.

Even though his heart beat fast and hard enough to nearly explode, he didn’t forget to get ready for the battle that was about to come.

That was how Seong Jin-Woo operated.

[The Class Change Quest will soon commence.]

….4, 3, 2.

Jin-Woo anxiously glared at the time and quickly scanned his surroundings.

His head and eyes darted around quickly, over here and over there.

Something ominous was clearly getting ready to begin; the space around him was separating and twisting visibly to his eyes.

[00:00:01]

[I wish you the best of luck.]

What?

For the first time ever, the System expressed ’emotion’.

Too bad, he had no time to stew inside his shock. The moment the timer hit 0, several Gates began forming all around him.

Buzzz…

Wuuooong….

Not just one or two, either.

He first spotted six around him. The number continued to climb up even higher, however.

And at the same time, the timer began ticking upwards.

[00:00:02]

The ‘countdown’ began again.

The time would become his so-called advancement points. He hadn’t understood everything the System said, but still, he did figure out some parts of it.

‘The longer I endure, the stronger I will get.’

No, more specifically, he’d instead get a powerful class.

There was no way he’d throw away a golden opportunity like this. He also had some wiggle room left with his HP and MP.

‘Let’s endure as long as I can.’

[00:00:03]

When the timer hit exactly three seconds, weapon-less knights poured out from the nearest Gate.

Thud, thud, thud, thud….

When the knights decked out in full armour formed silver-coloured waves, the ground couldn’t help but tremor from the weight.

The momentum these things displayed would have been enough to overwhelm most people, but there was a smile floating up onto Jin-Woo’s lips, instead.

‘If it’s these guys, I can definitely fight them!’

In a way, he was oh-so-glad to see them as his opponents.

If the monsters coming out from the Gates happened to be as strong as Igrit, then he wouldn’t even be able to last a couple of seconds.

‘Stealth!’

Jin-Woo used some part of the remaining MP and activated the skill ‘Stealth’.

‘For the time being, I should observe what’s happening here first.’

Jin-Woo’s form blurred and slowly disappeared. As expected, the knights rushing towards him all came to an abrupt halt.

However…

[The mage has used ‘Skill: Eyes of Detection’.]

The crisp ‘tti-ring’ of the warning beep resounded in his head. Jin-Woo’s head snapped in the direction of the beep.

‘What was that?’

He spotted a mage that had just emerged from the Gate chanting a spell. That’s also when Jin-Woo discovered an ‘eye’ like symbol floating above the head of the mage.

The moment that eye flashed…!

In that moment, Jin-Woo’s Stealth was cancelled.

‘F*ck!’

From the get-go, his calculation proved to be way off the mark.

Snap.

Snap.

The knights that stood around like telephone poles snapped their heads all at once towards Jin-Woo’s direction. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie.

And soon enough, the silver waves pounced on him.

Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider and he gritted his teeth.

BOOM!!

His punch blew away the head of the incoming knight.

That guy died where it stood.

[You defeated the knight.]

Crazed lights shone in Jin-Woo’s eyes.

‘Intimidation!’

[‘Skill: Intimidation’ has been activated.]

[‘Effect: Fear’ has been activated.]

[The targets’ (All) Stats will decrease by 50% for one minute.]

The movements of the monsters became much duller through the effects of ‘Fear’, but his Mana fell down to 90 points.

The Intimidation required 100 MP in order to activate.

He wouldn’t be able to use it the second time.

‘However, I just bought myself a minute.’

Intending to use this precious minute to the best of his abilities as the monsters were noticeably weakened, Jin-Woo began wailing on them with everything he had.

Boom!

Crack!

Kaboom!

Slam!

With a terrifying momentum, he proceeded to utterly dismantle the knights.

Boom! Slam! Crack!!

Too bad, the speed of him defeating knights was far inferior to the rate of the replacement knights popping out from the Gates.

Rumble—!!

Even in the midst of the maddened battle, Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the timer.

[00:03:19]

It’d only been three minutes and 19 seconds.

If that was converted into points, how much would he get?

Wouldn’t it be fine for him to leave this place now?

However, he didn’t have any leeway to dwell on that matter.

Even while he was thinking to himself, knights were continuously pouring out from the Gates like unstoppable waves.

He managed to destroy countless Knights, yet he simply couldn’t deal with so many of them.

“U-uwaaaahh-?!”

In the end, Jin-Woo was buried in the sea of knights.

[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]

[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]

His HP was in a freefall now and eventually, it hit rock bottom.

[HP: 1036/10270]

‘The time is….?’

[00:05:08]

Five minutes and eight seconds.

He had endured enough, hadn’t he?

‘……Let’s get out of here.’

Now completely entrapped among the knights, Jin-Woo flailed about helplessly in this silver prison and dug through his back pocket.

However…

Drop.

The Immediate Return Stone slipped out from his grasp and fell to the floor.

And the roundish stone hit the sole of one of the knights and rolled away far from him.

“NOOO!!”

Jin-Woo hurriedly reached out towards the stone, but the knights blocked him.

Soon, knights piled up on top of him, too.

It became almost impossible to breathe in an instant.

[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]

[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]

His consciousness began to blur.

Pow, pow!!

He continuously got struck by the knights while trapped below them, and as his mind began to grow dimmer, he thought he heard a snarky cackle coming from somewhere.

You have brought this upon yourself, remember that.

‘…….’

Why did you risk it all when there was a safe path for you to follow? Isn’t it already a huge break for a rank E Hunter to become a C, or even a B?

‘……’

Well, in the end, this was as far as you could go.

‘……Shut up.’

Remember, you killed yourself today.

Shut the hell up!!

Kwaboom!!

The knights surrounding and pressing down on Jin-Woo were suddenly all blown away.

Even though he somehow managed to crawl out from death, his eyes were burning with life. As a matter of fact, his eyes were burning with a stubborn will and sheer malice.

‘I won’t let it end like this!!’

He earned this opportunity after going through so much. So, how could he let it end like this? Never.

Because he was stuck at the very bottom for so long, he yearned to be on top more than anyone else. He knew the sorrow of the weak better than anyone. He tried everything to survive, and when he did survive, others kept pointing fingers at him.

How will a rank E be of any help here?

The Association is being way too much. They should’ve dispatched someone who could actually lend a bit of help, but that guy is… Uh-whew.

That b*stard, maybe he keeps surviving by hiding behind his colleagues every time?

So, how could he simply watch and do nothing, when a ladder that could take him to the very top was put in front of his eyes?

What a rubbish notion that was.

‘….I remember now.’

That voice ringing around his head just now.

That voice belonged to those b*stards.

The voice that always yapped on and on from behind his back.

‘Fine, laugh all you want.

‘I’ll struggle on until the bitter end.

‘It’s fine if my HP drops to ten, no, 1. I’ll struggle and struggle on like crazy, right until the end. I’ll fight until I won’t be able to move anymore.’

“Uwaaahh!!!”

Jin-Woo threw his body forward.

Crack!

He thrust forward another punch.

A knight’s breastplate caved in and the monster flew away. Other knights collided with it and they all fell on their butts.

But then, more knights rushed in again.

Jin-Woo’s movements became a step more violent in response.

Crack! Boom!! Slam!!

Without an exception, knights colliding with Jin-Woo’s body parts, be that his fist, elbow, knee, feet, were all destroyed like a bunch of paper dolls.

[Tiredness has exceeded 70 points.]

[Your movement is being restricted.]

Just as the warning message said, his movements became duller. However, the malice and anger in Jin-Woo’s eyes didn’t weaken in the slightest.

One by one, the knights he couldn’t defeat in one hit slammed into him. Jin-Woo resorted to hitting them three, four times and made sure to destroy them.

[…..8, 7, 6, 5.]

In the meantime, a strange countdown was silently ticking down. He was too focused on the battle so he failed to notice it before the timer had reached the single digit.

‘What’s this? Is the quest coming to an end?’

A small ray of hope blossomed in his head for a brief moment, but it turned out to be nothing but a useless dream.

[00:06:27]

The quest timer was still ticking up as it supposed to. No, something separate from this timer was counting down one second at a time.

[4, 3, 2.]

‘Is it to show me the time of my death?’

Indeed, the System did tell him this way back then; it told him that, if he didn’t accept becoming a Player, he’d die 0.02 seconds later.

‘Fine.’

Jin-Woo glared fiercely.

‘I’ll gladly use up every moment, right down to the final second!’

Slam!! Crack!!

Two more knights were destroyed in the meantime.

Unlike Jin-Woo’s unyielding stubbornness, though, his entire body was now riddled with all sorts of wounds. It progressively much harder to lift his arms.

His weakened fist wasn’t enough to stop the knights’ tackles and charges anymore.

From the front, one; from the back, another one.

Slam!!

Jin-Woo was sandwiched powerfully by the two knights slamming into him from the front and back, and he spat out a pained groan.

“Keok!”

Other knights pounced on him as if they didn’t want to miss this chance.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo was buried under the masses of knights and couldn’t even lift a finger.

Rumble-!

Even during that, more knights continued to pile on top of Jin-Woo. The silver waves had transformed into a silver mountain, instead.

Jin-Woo’s breathing became incredibly harsh.

“Pant, pant….!!”

At this rate, he’d be asphyxiated to death first.

Jin-Woo’s hand somehow broke out from the gaps of the knights and helplessly pointed towards the sky.

[HP: 93/10270]

He was in a truly desperate situation. Even then, Jin-Woo did not give up, though.

‘No, not yet. I can still go on….’

Just as Jin-Woo managed to clench the hand pointing at the sky, the mysterious countdown ticking down finally announced its conclusion.

[…..1, 0.]

[You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest.]

[ You’ll be transferred to the ‘Penalty Zone’.]

Chapter 50

 

Jin-Woo doubted his own hearing just then.

‘….Penalty Zone?!’

Ah!

He then remembered it; he didn’t do the daily quest for today.

He was planning on confirming the results of his constant levelling up, and to help him decide whether he was ready to tackle the Demon’s Castle or not.

Who could’ve guessed that things might unfold in this manner?

RUUUUMBLE-!!

Just like back in the hospital, everything began to violently shake.

Plop.

Plop.

The knights piling on top of Jin-Woo turned into figures of sand one by one.

The world surrounding him was changing.

‘Ha…. hahaha…..’

Jin-Woo soundlessly laughed to himself.

For some reason, the words the System spoke to him before the beginning of the quest circled around inside his head.

[I wish you the best of luck.]

Was it trying to imply that the quest itself was unimaginably hard, to the point that he needed luck to complete it?

Or, was it implying that it’d cheer him on, as he resorted to borrowing the power of luck and earn a ton of advancement points that way?

Luck, coincidence, whatever it was called, he didn’t care. No matter what it was, his chance had come.

The important thing was how he’d go about utilising that.

RUMBLE-!!

The tremor was getting worse.

Rather than wasting time trying to stabilise himself Jin-Woo entrusted his body to the tremor and closed his eyes.

‘Let’s not get agitated here….’

When he did that, he felt airborne and weightless, and all sound vanished from his hearing.

When he reopened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of the endless sea of sand.

Jin-Woo plopped down, face first.

“Ker-heo-eok…. Pant, pant, pant…”

His fingers dug into the desert sand as the held-up breaths exploded out of his mouth. Fresh air entered and flowed into every corner of his body via his lungs.

Finally…

“….I feel alive.”

The sense of relief wrapped Jin-Woo up tightly, as he rolled onto his back.

He could see the black sky above with nothing in it. The endless expanse of the pitch-black ceiling was the only thing his eyes could capture.

This place looked exactly the same as the penalty zone from his memories.

‘Wait, I shouldn’t be wasting time like this.’

He had forgotten that this place was not a safe zone either, since he just made a miraculous escape from a comparably far worse area.

But, Jin-Woo couldn’t be ar*ed into standing up any time soon, so while lying on his back, he summoned the Status Window.

[HP: 104/10270]

[MP: 202/850]

[Tiredness: 91]

He was wondering why it was so difficult to move his body, but as it turned out, the d*mn ‘Tiredness’ Stat was over 90.

‘This is probably my first time that Stat has gone past 90, right?’

He really didn’t want to even lift a finger here.

His health was one thing, but he figured that lowering his fatigue took priority.

“Store.”

Tti-ring.

Two words, ‘Buy’ and ‘Sell’ popped up in the air.

Although the layout of this Store imparted not one hint of sincerity, no matter how kind he looked at it, he found it such a welcoming sight right now.

He picked out the most expensive healing potion on sale.

As soon as he confirmed the purchase…

Shurururu…

A glass bottle containing red liquid appeared on his wide-open palm.

Jin-Woo laboriously popped the cork open and poured the potion down his mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

The red liquid travelled down his throat and entered deep into his body.

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

Maybe because it was the most expensive potion, just one bottle was enough to lower the Tiredness value at a visible rate.

However, for some reason, his HP value didn’t change at all.

[HP: 106/10270]

[MP: 204/850]

[Tiredness: 0]

Even after he finished the whole bottle, his HP didn’t recover. It was such a noticeable contrast to his Tiredness Stat hitting 0.

‘Why is it doing this?’

Only after he completely drained the bottle did he finally get to understand the reason for this anomaly.

Tti-ring.

[When your remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to heal yourself with healing potions.]

What a simple reason, that – his remaining HP was too low.

‘Of course….’

Even healing magic had its limitations.

It was not a foreign concept to him.

Just as a Healer’s ranking determined the scope of their healing capabilities, potions too couldn’t heal past a certain limit.

‘And that limit is 10%, huh….’

He learned something important today. He might have landed in really hot water during a critical moment by believing potions could solve everything.

This was why experiencing it first hand was important.

Well, there was an old saying, wasn’t there?

Things that couldn’t kill him would make him stronger?

That perfectly illustrated the usefulness of personal experience.

And thankfully, Jin-Woo possessed experience regarding the Penalty Zone.

‘I’m sure they should pop up right about now….’

And just as he expected…

He sensed the presence of lifeforms beneath the surface.

Jin-Woo tightly shrunk his body for a second, before springing up to his feet.

His entire body felt as light as feather. His strength had returned in full, thanks to the potion.

Standing straight on his feet, Jin-Woo turned around and took a look.

Just as he expected, the spot he was lying on a second ago began caving in and a crater formed there.

‘Back then, I thought I’d die if I slipped and fell in there.’

But now, he had so much leeway that he was actually spectating on the whole process with some leisure.

At the very bottom of the sandy crater, the ground began to ‘boil’ and tremble about, before….

Pushuiiii-!!

The sand exploded up like a pillar and the huge centipede revealed itself.

“Kiieeehhhk!!”

Everything matched up to his memories so far.

‘And I found this thing so terrifying to look at back then, too….’

But now, he couldn’t help feeling like he was looking at some video footage being played in slow-motion.

Jin-Woo raised his eyes a bit higher.

And he got to clearly confirm those red letters floating above the centipede’s head.

[Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede]

Its name was in red letters, the same colour as the Cerberus from the Demon’s Castle.

It was then, the quest message appeared before his eyes.

Tti-ring!

[Penalty Quest: Survival]

Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.

Time limit: 4 hours

Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds

Confirming the details of the message, Jin-Woo clenched his fist tightly.

‘I can buy myself time with this.’

Since he hadn’t used the immediate return stone to escape from the dungeon, he still had a shot here.

‘I’m pretty sure that, as soon as the Penalty Quest is over, I will be sent back to that place.’

What if time spent inside the Penalty Zone was acknowledged as the time he endured during the quest? His advancement points tally would be enormous.

He couldn’t even imagine just what kind of an impact that would have.

‘However….’

However, when he thought back to how the System affected him every day, he was sure of this becoming something absolutely huge.

‘Four hours!’

He couldn’t even endure ten minutes and tried to use the immediate return stone, yet simply by transferring into the penalty zone, he now got himself four hours for free.

There was one issue he still had to resolve first, however.

And that would be whether he could get out of this place unscathed with only 100 or so HP remaining.

As it was impossible to heal himself using potions, he had to do his best to cautiously kill these centipedes until he levelled up.

It was kind of like a new mission for him.

‘….Let’s do this.’

Jin-Woo summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka.

And then…

[Remaining time: 03:59:59]

….Then, as soon as the penalty quest began, he dashed forward, even before the centipede had the chance to move.

Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of an eye and lightly leapt up right in front of the centipede.

Paht!

He landed on one of the legs near the midpoint of the centipede and, as he made his way up, Jin-Woo proceeded to inflict several injuries on the body of the monster.

Stab! Staaab! Stab!

On all the spots the reverse-gripped Poison Fang of Kasaka brushed past, flesh split open and bodily fluid poured out.

Kiieeehhkk!!

The centipede roared out and thrashed about as if each wound inflicted was too painful to bear.

‘Dash!’

Jin-Woo’s sprinting legs became even faster.

Step, step, step, step!

Jin-Woo deftly treaded on the centipede’s body and arrived at the top of its head only a second later. He gripped the dagger with both of his hands and raised it up high.

And then…

‘Vital Points Targetting!’

He used his skill and stabbed down on the centipede’s head with every ounce of his power.

The downward pointing blade dug deep into the flesh of the centipede’s head.

Crack!!

[‘Skill: Vital Points Targetting’ has levelled up!]

‘Niiice!’

What a wonderful piece of news to show up in such a long time!

The damage from the levelled-up Vital Points Targetting must’ve been pretty substantial, because the centipede shook its head around quite violently and thrashed about in great pain.

Kieeeeck!! Kiieeeechk!

Jin-Woo didn’t stop there.

He stepped away from its head and moved to its back. Because he saw a completely unguarded body part to attack.

STAB!!

Jin-Woo stabbed the dagger deep into the monster’s back flesh, and by using gravity, he fell to the ground while holding onto his weapon.

SFX for centipede’s back splitting up

The power from the Strength Stat exceeding 120 points, as well as the helping hand of gravity added on top as he fell from the height of a five-story building, caused the centipede’s back to split open quite splendidly.

Tap.

Jin-Woo landed on the ground without any trouble.

Kiieehhk!! Kiieeehhh!

The centipede spewed out its bodily fluids everywhere. Its giant body thrashed and quivered before it slowly crashed on the ground.

Boom!!

The huge body of the centipede landed and kicked up the dust cloud.

Tti-ring.

[You defeated the Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede.]

Jin-Woo dusted himself off while checking out the remaining time.

[Remaining time: 03:59:42]

‘I spent 17 seconds.’

He didn’t even need 20 seconds to kill a single centipede.

It was a complete contrast to when he was fighting the Cerberus, ostensibly on the same level as this centipede.

He had become unbelievably strong now.

‘Well, yeah. I’ve levelled up so many times since then, and just how many items did I get my hands on, in the meantime?’

It was a rather obvious conclusion.

He now felt confident of hunting other centipedes down without getting hurt if these monsters posed such a little threat.

‘Now then. My problem would be the number of monsters in this place that I can hunt to reach my next level….’

That would be the only way to raise his odds of his victory when he got thrown back into the class quest.

If he went back without having recovered his HP, only a dog’s death would be waiting for him there.

It was at this point when….

More sand pillars began erupting out from the ground.

Pushhuiii-!!

Pushuuueeiii!!

It seemed that quite a lot of centipedes rushed over here after picking up on the scent of the blood from its dead kin.

Kiieeehhk!

Kiieehhhhk-

Almost immediately, Jin-Woo’s expression brightened.

‘Just how many are here?’

Seeing all those centipedes poking their heads out from the sandy surface, Jin-Woo could no longer suppress the wide smile from blooming on his face.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As the result of wrestling around with these centipedes for the past four hours, his level rose up four times and now it sat at 51.

Before he knew it, the penalty quest was coming to an end.

[Penalty Quest: Survival]

Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.

Time limit: 4 hours

Remaining time: 0 hours 3 minutes 19 seconds

Soon, he’d have to go back.

Jin-Woo took a sweeping look around him. The corpses of centipedes filled up his view everywhere he looked. Thanks to them, he got to recover his HP back to full.

‘It’s a bit of waste that these things don’t give any loot or Gold….’

Well, it’d be strange that loot would come out when he was supposed to get punished in this place…

He stopped worrying about that and got ready, instead.

‘Store.’

[Current Gold: 3,115,629]

Humanoid-type monsters dropped the Gold-containing leather pouch really often, and also, Igrit also gave him 1.5 million Gold in one go.

So, he now had enough funds to spend.

Jin-Woo spent all that Gold to buy one single weapon.

As a matter of fact, there was this one dagger that caught his eye.

[Item: Knight Killer]

Rarity: B

Type: Dagger

Attack: +75

A sharp and sturdy dagger designed to cut through the armour worn by the knights. The edges of the blade are shaped like the teeth of a saw blade, thus it won’t slide off the armour’s surface easily.

Effect ‘Killing Knights’: +25% additional damage when attacking heavily armoured opponents.

It was a specially crafted weapon to deal with armour-wearing enemies. And it cost 2.8 million Gold.

He had to spend almost every Gold he had in reserve to buy this weapon, but he didn’t have any leeway to shed a tear over it.

‘It’s not like I can take the Gold with me to the grave, anyway.’The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

He didn’t hesitate and bought the dagger.

[You have purchased ‘Knight Killer’.]

[You have purchased ‘Bandages’.]

Along with the Knight Killer, Jin-Woo also bought a roll of bandages.

He held the dagger with a rather scary-looking sawblade-like cutting edge in his right hand, and wrapped them both tightly with the bandage.

Swish! Swish!!

When he swung the Knight Killer around a couple of times, it felt like the dagger had become a part of his limb now.

‘At a bare minimum, I shouldn’t drop it accidentally.’

He thought about tying the Poison Fang of Kasaka to his left hand too, but he decided not to.

It’d be too cumbersome when he couldn’t use both of hands.

He figured that at least one of his hands still retaining its mobility would make his life more flexible.

While he was putting away the leftover bandage into Inventory, he spotted the Rune Stone from Igrit.

‘Ah. There was this thing, too.’

[Rune Stone: Ruler’s Reach]

You can absorb the skill by breaking this Rune Stone.

Right now, he needed to grasp at everything, even if that was a piece of straw. Whether that was an item or a skill, he needed to obtain whatever that could become his combat strength.

Jin-Woo didn’t hesitate and broke the Rune Stone.

[You’ve acquired ‘Skill: Ruler’s Reach’.]

[Skill: Ruler’s Reach Lv. 1]

Active skill.

Required Mana to activate: None.

Even without touching, you can physically influence an object.

‘Ah…’

As soon as he read that description, he recalled a certain scene.

It was when Igrit extended its hand towards its longsword that was discarded on the floor, far away.

‘So, this is the skill that made the sword move back then.’

A skill that could move objects around from a distance with nothing but his will! On top of that, he didn’t even have to spend any Mana, either!

‘If I am able to move any object I see just like the description says, then this would be one hell of a skill to possess.’

Jin-Woo immediately tried to experiment with the skill on the corpse of the centipede next to him.

[Your proficiency is too low and the target can’t be moved.]

[Your proficiency is too low and the target can’t be moved.]

If he wanted to move something heavy, then it was likely that his proficiency with the skill had to be much higher.

‘How about this, then?’

Jin-Woo dropped the Poison Fang of Kasaka to the floor. And he extended his hand towards the dagger.

Then, the dagger quickly rose up.

Grab!

‘Ohhhh.’

Jin-Woo snatched the Poison Fang’s hilt and stared at it with totally mystified eyes.

‘Nice. This will come in handy.’

And with that, he was as prepared as he could get.

When he raised his head to confirm, the required time was almost up.

[Remaining time: 00:00:04]

When the timer changed from 4 to 3, a new message from the System popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.

[Penalty Quest will conclude shortly.]

And another message followed after that one.

Tti-ring.

[As you have tried to hunt inside the Penalty Zone, the difficulty of the next Penalty Quest will be adjusted to a higher level.]

The difficulty would be adjusted higher.

Meaning, it’d make the hunting so much harder that the ‘Penalty Quest’ would actually serve its purpose as proper punishment again.

But, then again, would there be the next time?

Jin-Woo anxiously swallowed his saliva.

‘From here onwards, it’s back to the Class Change Quest.’

Inside that boss room, hundreds of monsters were waiting for his return.

Or, the number could be even higher now.

If he was being kind here, he was returning to that place, but truthfully, it was more like him being thrown back in there.

HP, MP, Tiredness, equipment, and even a new skill.

And his renewed resolve.

His current condition was so much better than when he first set foot in that place, but when he thought about going back there, he couldn’t help but get tense and nervous.

Thump, thump, thump….

His heart beat so hard that it actually hurt.

Jin-Woo closed his eyes. He tried to maintain his calm.

Soon, the familiar mechanical beep went off in his head.

Tti-ring.

[Penalty Quest has concluded.]

‘This is my last chance….’

When Jin-Woo opened his eyes again…

His vision was filled with the silver-coloured knights all snapping their heads in his direction at once.

However, they weren’t important right now.

Right away, Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes and searched for something.

‘I gotta find the mages first!!’