***
[Level Up!] [Level Up!]
Unlike outside Dungeons, instance dungeons had the concept of respawning. While he cleared out the monsters on the second floor, the first-floor monsters respawned, and while he herded and killed the first-floor monsters, the second-floor monsters respawned.
[Level Up!] [Level Up!]
Jin-Woo went back and forth between the first and second floors, hunting monsters until his level stopped going up.
'I don't know when I'll get another chance like this.'
Before long, he reached the point where he could predict where and how monsters would pop out.
"A monkey drops from above."
He nimbly dodged the long claws of a monkey monster falling from the ceiling, then drove his sword into its chest.
"Kreeak!" "A cat from each side."
He sliced the necks of the black panthers lunging at him from both sides in quick succession.
"Kyaahk!" "Kyaah!"
[You have defeated Claw Nail Briga.] [You have defeated Black Shadow Rajan.] [You have defeated Black Shadow Rajan.]
That was the end of the second floor. He had cleared the second basement floor all over again. But his level had been stuck at 15 for quite some time. It seemed 15 was the limit for floors 1 and 2.
"Status."
[Status] Strength: 45 Endurance: 24 Agility: 24 Intelligence: 24 Perception: 24 (Available stat points: 0)
With his level at 15, his stats had risen considerably. Agility was approaching 25 as well. Once his Agility passed 20, he could clearly feel the difference between Strength and Agility. Agility didn't make his speed faster—it made the opponent's speed appear slower.
'Like slow motion.'
The scene of monkeys falling or panthers charging appeared sluggish. It felt like he could freeze time into individual frames, maybe? It was easier to dodge enemy attacks and easier to land his own. He was literally becoming "agile." Speed was, after all, relative. The higher his Agility stat climbed, the wider the gap grew, and to his opponents, he must have appeared to move at an unimaginable speed.
'High Strength and Agility together produce a serious synergy.'
That was his final assessment of the Agility stat.
"Anyway."
Jin-Woo turned his head.
"What to do about that..."
He could see the stairs leading down to the third basement floor. There had been a reason he kept repeating his hunts on floors 1 and 2 even though the path to floor 3 was right there.
'Creepy.'
The higher his Perception stat rose, the stronger the sinister aura seeping from the third floor felt. There was definitely something powerful down there. He could tell without even seeing it. Jin-Woo recalled the message he'd heard at the entrance.
[You cannot leave the Dungeon. Defeat the boss, or bring a Return Stone.]
The existence of a boss. Jin-Woo had gone up and down floors 1 and 2 countless times, raising his level as high as he could in preparation for facing it. But even after all that preparation, now that the time had actually come to descend, he was starting to get nervous. Jin-Woo lightly slapped his cheeks with both hands.
'I can't have come all this way into a Dungeon and leave without even seeing the boss's face.'
A moderate level of tension was essential for maintaining peak condition. This was just right. Jin-Woo gripped his sword with both hands and slowly walked down the stairs. Was it just his imagination, or did the stairs feel longer than usual? He swallowed dry. The lighting was much dimmer than floors 1 and 2, but there was no problem maintaining visibility.
'Is it because of my Perception stat?'
His eyesight seemed to have improved. As he cautiously descended, he could see the subway tracks. No—where the tracks used to be. Instead of trains or rails, the path was filled with dark water.
'What the hell is that?'
It didn't look like tracks—it looked more like a lake or a river. The moment Jin-Woo stepped forward to get a closer look, something log-like shot out of the water. Sssshhhhh!
'Fast!'
The "thing" that had surged right up to his face in the blink of an eye wasn't a log—it was a living snake as thick as one.
"Hup!"
Jin-Woo reflexively swung his sword at the snake's head. Clang! His eyes went wide.
"What?"
He managed to redirect the charging snake's trajectory, but his trusty steel sword shattered. Jin-Woo spun around in shock. The snake, apparently caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, didn't strike again right away. It coiled up at a distance and stared at Jin-Woo with piercing eyes.
'Ruler of the Swamp, Blue Venom Fang Kasaka.'
The creature's name blazed in orange. It was impossibly fast and tough—completely beyond comparison with the common monsters that had white names.
Jin-Woo swallowed hard as he observed Kasaka. The blue scales covering its entire body glistened. Like armor plating, the scales were densely packed across its whole body. Scales that sword strikes couldn't penetrate. Fists would be even more useless. Just as Jin-Woo's thoughts had reached that point, Kasaka finished assessing its prey and charged again.
Even the second time around, the speed was incredible. Sssshhhhh! Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.
'Here it comes!'
Once he focused all his concentration, Kasaka's attacks—which he could barely make out at first—started becoming visible. It was the power of his Agility stat.
The moment Kasaka lunged with its mouth wide open, Jin-Woo swiftly twisted his body to let the attack slide past while simultaneously clamping the creature's head under his arm and squeezing with both arms.
Crunch!
Jin-Woo's Strength stat was heading toward 50. A tremendous pressure crushed the snake's arteries. Unable to escape, the snake twisted and thrashed in agony. The more it struggled, the harder Jin-Woo clenched his teeth and squeezed. Bang! Bang! Even as his body slammed against the walls and floor, Jin-Woo refused to let go.
'If I hadn't raised my level as high as I could before coming here...'
Hypotheticals were endless. But various thoughts swirled in Jin-Woo's head. If he hadn't pushed his stats to the limit. If his Strength stat hadn't been abnormally high. He might have had serious trouble catching Kasaka. This could have become his grave. But his judgment not to descend straight from floor 2 to floor 3 had been wise. His decision was right.
Crnnch! With a sickening sound, Kasaka's skull shattered.
[You have defeated 'Ruler of the Swamp, Blue Venom Fang Kasaka'.] [Level Up!] [Level Up!]
As expected of a boss monster. Killing Kasaka shot him up two levels at once. Jin-Woo clenched his fist. His level, which had been stuck at 15, jumped to 17. From level 1 to level 17 in a single day—he'd leveled up like a maniac.
'But.'
Nobody killed a boss monster just for experience points. Boss monsters meant loot! As he examined the limp snake, two lights soon gleamed from within its body.
'Two items just because it's a boss?'
Jin-Woo reached out with a delighted expression. Ding.
[Item: Kasaka's Venom Fang] discovered. Will you acquire it? [Item: Kasaka's Venom Gland] discovered. Will you acquire it?
"Acquire both."
The moment he spoke, a bone dagger and a pouch filled with liquid materialized above his hands.
[Item: Kasaka's Venom Fang] Acquisition Difficulty: C Type: Dagger Attack Power: +25 A dagger made from Kasaka's venom fang. Traces of Kasaka's venom remain, granting paralysis and bleed effects on attack. Can be stored in your inventory or sold at a shop. Effect 'Paralysis': The attacked target has a chance to be unable to move. Effect 'Bleed': The attacked target loses 1% of their HP per second.
Jin-Woo nodded.
'A dagger made from fangs, not bone. Looking at the options, this seems like a decent item?'
Next was the pouch.
[Item: Kasaka's Venom Gland] Acquisition Difficulty: A Type: Potion A pouch containing refined Kasaka venom. Can be obtained at an extremely rare rate when defeating Kasaka. Drinking the venom grants tough skin, but the toxicity permanently damages muscles. Effect 'Kasaka's Iron-Scale Skin': Physical damage reduced by 20% Side Effect 'Damaged Muscles': Strength -35
Jin-Woo's expression was a mix of joy and disappointment. The Venom Fang was a good replacement for his broken steel sword. The attack power—more than double that of the steel sword—was great, but he especially loved the paralysis and bleed effects.
'The Venom Gland, though...'
At first, he was happy about getting an A-rank difficulty item, but after reading the description carefully, it wasn't something to celebrate unconditionally. The 20% physical damage reduction was an excellent option befitting A-rank difficulty. But there was a fatal penalty: Strength dropping by a whopping 35. Especially now, when he'd been dumping stat points into Strength, the loss would hurt even more. A double-edged sword, maybe? No—"chicken rib" was the more fitting term. If his Strength stat ever got high enough that losing 35 wouldn't matter, it might be worth drinking then—but right now, it was out of the question.
"...I'll hang on to it for now."
With a bitter expression, he stored the dagger and the potion in his inventory. Would he have felt less disappointed if it had been an A-rank dagger and a C-rank potion instead? A C-rank potion he could just toss. Just then, a message appeared.
[The boss has been defeated. The interior of the Dungeon is restoring to its original state.]
In an instant, his vision blurred, and with a slight dizziness, his sight returned to normal. Looking around, it was an ordinary subway station. The lights were bright as if nothing had ever happened, and the water that had filled the tracks was gone.
"But why isn't there a single person here?"
Not only were there no people, but no trains were running either. He checked the time, wondering if the subway had already shut down for the night. The clock pointed to 10 o'clock. He had entered Hapjeong Station around lunchtime, so he'd spent over 9 hours in here.
'Time really flew.'
If his fatigue hadn't recovered every time he leveled up, he would have collapsed from exhaustion several times over by now.
'But it's still too early for the subway to have stopped running, isn't it?'
When the subway still didn't come no matter how long he waited, Jin-Woo tilted his head and decided to leave the station. He didn't see a single person the entire way. As he trudged up the stairs, someone shouted at him.
"Hey!"
Who knew a human voice could be this welcome. Jin-Woo looked up. It was a soldier holding a gun.
"Who are you? Why are you coming out of there? Didn't you hear the broadcast?"
The soldier's expression was so serious that Jin-Woo's face hardened in response.
"Is something wrong?" "No—how can you even ask that right now?"
The approaching soldier spotted the broken sword in Jin-Woo's hand. After breaking, it hadn't gone into his inventory, and he couldn't just leave it behind, so he'd brought it out with him. The soldier's gaze changed the moment he saw it. He carefully looked Jin-Woo over. On closer inspection, Jin-Woo's clothes bore traces of combat here and there. The soldier's harsh expression softened.
"Are you perhaps a Hunter?"