Shadow soldiers spawned behind Jin-Woo. Ordinary soldiers, of course, but also magic soldiers, beast soldiers, and two knights. Jin-Woo stood at their head. The two knights walked out and took their positions at his left and right—Beru on the right, Iron on the left. Jin-Woo glanced at each of them and grinned.
*'That's reassuring.'*
Even though they were technically his skill, having companions at his side gave him a sense of ease. But.
*'Still, a head-on fight might be a bit much...'*
It looked risky. Not for any other reason than the wooden club clutched in Vulcan's grip.
*'It's amazing that a tree that size ever existed.'*
Judging by Vulcan's bulk and the size of that club, he could probably sweep all the soldiers away in a single swing.
*'Being swept away is fine.'*
The real problem was the mana it would cost to revive the soldiers knocked down like that. Regenerating troops shattered by such a brute of a weapon would drain his mana in no time. That left only one option.
*'I'll handle the big guy myself.'*
Leave Vulcan's minions to the soldiers and take him out one-on-one in the meantime. That was the best plan.
*'All I have to do is dodge and grab him.'*
Unlike his soldiers, he was confident he could evade Vulcan's attacks. To do that, though, he first needed to separate Vulcan from his underlings. Jin-Woo ordered the magic soldiers to open fire.
*'Draw Vulcan's minions in with ranged attacks, then take down Vulcan one-on-one while he hangs back.'*
Simple and clean.
*'Now.'*
The moment Jin-Woo gave the signal, fireballs shot from the tips of the magic soldiers' fingers. Whoosh— whoosh— BOOM! The fireballs detonated near Vulcan's minions, and the battle began. Ding!
[The Lower-Floor Ruler, the Greedy Vulcan, has spotted intruders!] [Vulcan's guards have spotted the intruders...] [Vulcan's guards have spotted the intruders...]
Ding, ding, ding! The warnings rang out at a terrifying pace. And at the same time, Vulcan and his minions turned their heads this way.
*'Good...'*
He'd successfully drawn their attention. Jin-Woo activated Stealth to slip behind Vulcan's underlings without being detected, aiming to strike Vulcan from behind. Shhh. Everything was going according to plan. At least, he thought so—until a thunderous rush of footsteps pounded the ground.
*...!*
Vulcan had broken from the pack and charged first, defying all expectations.
*'What the—was that movement fast-forwarded or something?'*
In the blink of an eye, Vulcan had muscled past his own minions and now stood before the Shadow Army.
*'I'm in trouble!'*
Jin-Woo's eyes went wide. The guy was massive, but his speed was beyond anything imaginable.
"Hrrr!"
Vulcan raised his club. Just before the skyward club came crashing down on the defenseless magic soldiers, Iron leaped out from somewhere and planted his pitch-black shield. WHOOSH— CRACK! He managed to block the blow, but... both of Iron's arms shattered. The sturdiest of the Shadow Army couldn't survive a single hit and was rendered combat-ineffective. The broken pieces of Iron's arms clattered to the ground in fragments.
"Hrrr? Hrrr?"
As if unsatisfied with the hit, Vulcan tilted his head and stared at his club. But only for a moment. He raised it again and brought it down.
"Hrrr!"
CRACK! Without any means of defense, Iron and the magic soldiers behind him were mercilessly destroyed. *Snap.* Seeing this, Jin-Woo felt something inside him snap.
*'You little...'*
Jin-Woo bit his lower lip. It wasn't a command from his reason. Pop! By the time he came to his senses, he was already airborne, lunging at Vulcan. Target locked. Unlike his mountainous build, Vulcan's head was small, like a bump clinging to his body. Jin-Woo twisted his midair, shoulders and arm muscles bulging as he drew his right fist back. Every ounce of his focus concentrated on that clenched fist, and Stealth dissolved around him.
"Hrrr?"
Vulcan spotted Jin-Woo, but too late. Even this close, the punch was too fast to dodge. Whoosh—! His fist rocketed forward like a bullet and smashed into Vulcan's cheek. BOOM! Vulcan went flying. He rolled across the ground for a good while before slamming into the skeletal remains of a building and finally coming to a stop. RRRUMBLE! The last vestiges of the structure crumbled and collapsed on top of Vulcan. Thud. Jin-Woo landed lightly and blinked.
*'How did that send him flying so easily?'*
He looked down at his own fist, hardly believing it himself. The fist that had launched that massive brute didn't have a single scratch on it. Then a memory surfaced.
*'Oh, come to think of it...'*
Jin-Woo looked up. His Status Window floated above his head.
[Stats] Strength: 150 Vitality: 109 Agility: 139 Intelligence: 109 Perception: 111
*'...Right.'*
He'd gained his skill as an assassin type and settled on a magic-oriented job, and somewhere along the way he'd forgotten about it.
[Strength: 150]
'...'
Even after pouring every stat point into Intelligence, his Strength was still nearly 1.5 times higher.
*'I really dumped everything into Strength back in the day, huh.'*
On top of that, his level had skyrocketed recently. Going through his stats one by one, he could finally feel how far he'd come. And the result was *that*. Jin-Woo looked at Vulcan buried in the rubble and let out an amused huff.
"Heh..."
It had been hard to tell when he was slaughtering low-level and mid-level demons—ordinary monsters. But facing a boss-level enemy, he could be certain.
*'I've... gotten stronger.'*
His clenched fist tightened. Exhilaration filled his body. Then—a familiar mechanical sound. Ding.
*'Huh?'*
Jin-Woo looked up.
"Hrrr? Hrrr?"
Vulcan was using his club as a crutch to haul himself back up.
*'Has there ever been a warning when a fallen monster got back on its feet?'*
Was the System really that considerative? As Jin-Woo tilted his head, a message appeared before his eyes—the source of the sound.
[The Lower-Floor Ruler, the Greedy Vulcan, activates the skill: 'Fury'.]
*'What?'*
Ding, ding, ding. The warnings rang out in rapid succession.
[Fury state persists continuously.] [Vulcan's stats increase by 50%.] [Vulcan's perception of pain is reduced.]
*'That skill...?'*
Before Jin-Woo could even recall his memories of Cerberus, Vulcan's eyes burned red and he shot forward like a bolt. THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD! The ground shook beneath his deafening footsteps. Jin-Woo glanced behind him. Back there, Vulcan's minions and the Shadow Army were locked in battle.
"GRAAAAH!" "GAAK!"
Amid the chaos of demons and soldiers clashing, Jin-Woo spotted Iron. The impact had been so severe that Iron was still in the process of regenerating.
"Iron!"
Jin-Woo shouted. Iron hurled his shield at Jin-Woo with all his might. Jin-Woo caught it. When he turned his gaze back to the front, Vulcan was already standing there.
*'If I dodge, the soldiers get swept up.'*
Without the soldiers, hunting Vulcan and all his underlings would be nearly impossible. So Jin-Woo chose the method that would protect the most soldiers. He raised the shield and braced his arms.
"Hrrr!"
Vulcan brought his club down. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The relentless, earth-shaking blows poured down without pause, but Jin-Woo held firm. His high physical defense and boosted Vitality stat made it possible.
"Hmm? Hmm?"
Seeing his attacks fail to land, Vulcan grew agitated and swung his club wildly. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! But Jin-Woo's knees never buckled.
*'But still...'*
Just weathering the storm wouldn't be enough to take Vulcan down. Jin-Woo's brow furrowed. What set this apart from Cerberus was that Vulcan's Fury skill was less efficient but had no time limit. He had no idea how long this state would last. BOOM! BOOM! Jin-Woo gritted his teeth.
*'Taking hits like this doesn't exactly suit my temperament either...'*
WHAM! The last clubstrike bounced off the shield. Jin-Woo, who had been preparing a counterattack, leaped toward Vulcan's head. But he wasn't the only one looking for an opening.
"Hrrr!"
At the exact moment Jin-Woo jumped, Vulcan pulled his torso back.
*'What?'*
And from the side, a club swept through the air along a lethal arc.
*'...I'm done for.'*
If he could reach it with a hand or foot, maybe. But midair, there was no escape. Even if he blocked it, the impact would send him flying who knew where. WHOOSH—! In the slow-motion of that moment, Jin-Woo watched the club close in and let out a silent curse.
*'Is there—is there no way?'*
If only he could move his body, he could somehow dodge. The instant that thought reached his mind—
*'Move my body?'*
An idea flashed through his skull. There was no time to calculate. At the same instant he thought it, Jin-Woo used 'Ruler's Hand' to shove Vulcan.
"Hrrr?"
Of course, the power of the Ruler's Hand skill was nowhere near enough to move a behemoth like Vulcan. But the recoil pushed Jin-Woo himself backward. WHOOSH—! The tip of the club grazed past his face, close enough to feel the wind.
*'Got it!'*
Jin-Woo went tumbling, rolling several times across the ground, but compared to being struck by the club, he landed relatively safely.
"Hah—!"
Having regained his balance, Jin-Woo let out a breath of relief.
"Hrrr?"
Vulcan's face, on the other hand, twisted into a hideous grimace. His surefire blow had been rendered meaningless, and he was furious.
"Hrrr, hrrr!"
Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head as he watched Vulcan's reddening face.
*'Now what?'*
A frontal leap was too easy to dodge. Targeting anything other than his head meant dealing with the thick layer of flesh covering his entire body—fatal damage seemed unlikely.
*'I have no choice but to create a situation where he can't dodge?'*
An idea suddenly struck him. Jin-Woo's lips curved upward. He turned and started running. Vulcan, mistaking it for a retreat, gave chase in a hurry. THUD-THUD-THUD! Adjusting his speed to let Vulcan keep up, Jin-Woo spotted a suitable building and his eyes lit up.
*'That one.'*
Meanwhile.
"Hrrr!"
As the distance between him and Jin-Woo closed, Vulcan drew his club back. The bug! He finally had a chance to crush that annoying pest. A grotesque smile crept across Vulcan's face. He was about to bring the club down when—the bug suddenly burst into a sprint, running up the exterior wall of a half-collapsed building.
"Hrrr?"
Something felt off, but it was already too late to slow down.
"Hrrr, hrrr?"
In the blink of an eye, the bug had scaled the building to Vulcan's eye level and kicked hard off the wall. CRACK! Like a spiderweb of fractures spreading across the wall, something launched forward at a speed Vulcan had never seen before. It was the bug.
"Hrrr!"
Vulcan's pupils dilated. Jin-Woo smiled back into those eyes. With Baruka's short sword in his right hand, he slashed through the artery bulging from Vulcan's neck. SCHK! Blood sprayed like a fountain from a blood vessel as large as his torso. SPLOOOSH!
"Hrrr? Hrrr!"
Vulcan dropped his club and frantically clamped his hands over the wound.
"Hrrr!"
But the blood wouldn't stop. In that instant, a tremor ran through Vulcan's pupils.
"Huh, hrrr?"
Before he knew it, Jin-Woo had climbed onto his back and plunged both daggers deep into his neck.
*'Once isn't enough?'*
Jin-Woo tilted his head, pulled the daggers out, and used his skill again.
'Thin Stab!'
The two daggers buried themselves into Vulcan's nape once more. THUNK! THUNK! Only then did the long-awaited message appear. Ding.
[You have slain the Lower-Floor Ruler, the Greedy Vulcan.] [You have acquired 150,000 experience.] [Vulcan expels all the demonic souls remaining in his stomach.] [You have acquired 72 demonic souls.] [Level Up!] [Level Up!]