Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 (2/2)

***

Annnd, it was his mistake for taking it too lightly.

Slam, slam!

"Is there.... a wall blocking me?"

He pounded on the invisible wall and shouted at the outside, but no one replied back. People continued to carry on with their own lives, that was all.

Sometimes, someone approached the Hapjeong station, but they simply vanished as soon as coming in contact with this invisible 'wall'. It was quite likely that the place he was in and the outside world were two separate dimensions.

Jin-Woo tried his hardest to force his way out of this place, which prompted a new alert message to pop up.

Tti-ring.

[You can not exit the dungeon. Please defeat the boss first or find the return crystal.]

It was the same message as before.

The key in his possession disappeared as soon as he set foot inside the 3rd exit of the subway station and, by the time Jin-Woo realised things had gone rather awry and hurriedly turned around to leave, it was already too late.

He was thinking of finding a hidden Gate or some kind of a doorway within the 3rd exit that would transport him to a dungeon, but his expectation was completely off the mark. And quite different from the regular dungeons, he couldn't even leave as he pleased, too.

"It's different from other dungeons...."

Jin-Woo spat out a long groan and looked behind him. What he could see now was the interior of the subway station that had transformed into a jungle.

Walls were thick with twisting vines, and rancid odour akin to rotting corpses assaulted his senses. Hell, he even heard the cries of what sounded like wild beasts from afar every now and then, too.

"....."

It wasn't that there was a hidden entrance somewhere near the entrance of the Hapjeong station, but the entire station had become a dungeon, instead.

Jin-Woo pulled the steel longsword out from his Inventory.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Kim Sang-Sik's steel longsword]

Attack +10

His back was blocked off, and he had no method of contacting outside, so the only option left was to go forward.

Jin-Woo nervously swallowed his saliva and slowly descended the steps. He held his breath and surveyed his surroundings, but he couldn't sense anything particular.

However, it was truly forbidden to underestimate the dangers in a dungeon.

Among the low-ranked monsters, there were quite a few that knew how to mask and hide their presence very well. No, maybe because they were so low ranked that they had no choice but to hide and wait to ambush their prey.

Past the toilets, he entered deeper and encountered the underground shopping centre.

Shops were worn down and in complete disarray, looking more like a ruin than anything else. Seeing the human-less ruined shells of the shops dimly illuminated by the flickering overhead lamps, something felt rather ominously creepy and sinister.

Flicker, flicker....

A few of the lamps continued to flicker as if their life was nearing the end.

Jin-Woo carefully stepped on the overgrown weeds jutting out from between the cracked floor tiles and continued on forward, but he picked up on a general aura of unease and scanned his surroundings.

"...."

Everything seemed so quiet and still, but he did sense a gaze of something.

And then, there was this smell, too.

A seriously rotten odour of an animal carcass with flies buzzing around was coming from somewhere. For Jin-Woo, who had frequently entered dungeons, this was a rather familiar smell.

'This smell.... An animal-type monster.'

However, he still couldn't find its whereabouts at all. Just like how a predator would stalk its a prey.

'Oh, so you want to remain hidden and wait for your chance, is that it?'

In that case, he should give it one.

Jin-Woo deliberately turned around and presented his back. And very slowly, retread the path he had taken until now. An animal would try pounce on the prey as soon as its back was shown. An animal-type monster would be no different.

And so, it happened when he took his third step.

Smash!!

The shop window of a clothing store behind him shattered into pieces and something jumped out. And this something, as soon as it landed on the ground, leapt towards Jin-Woo's exposed neck in one go.

"Roar!"

Jin-Woo had been getting ready for a sneak attack like this one, so almost immediately, he swung the sword in the direction of the sound.

It was a perfectly-executed instinctive counter!

Swish!

The sharp edge of the blade sliced open the creature's maw.

The monster spat out a pained cry as it flew away from Jin-Woo and crashed on the ground, rolling around in a heap.

*SFX for a dog-type whimpering, repeated*

It was a huge wolf with a reddish coat of fur.

The wolf with its maw sliced away wiggled around and threw a seizure-like fit as if it was under a great deal of pain. When he took a closer look, its name also appeared on top of its head, just like the centipedes from the penalty zone.

'Iron-Fanged Lycan.'

However, unlike before, its name was in white letters, not red.

'There is no time to waste here!'

This was the perfect opportunity while the monster could not move from its wound. Jin-Woo threw his body forward.

He ran hard and fast, and chopped down with his sword, separating the creature's head from its body.

"Rawr!"

Lycan spat out the final roar and stopped breathing afterwards.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

"Good!"

However, the joy of victory was temporary!

Two more Lycans jumped out from their hiding place from behind the shop's darkness.

'D*mn it, it was in a pack?'

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider.

They bared their big fangs and closed the distance in an instant.

Jin-Woo's expression crumpled dismally.

He must've chopped down too hard from all the excitement, because the sword was lodged on the ground too deep and it stubbornly refused to come out.

'It's stuck somewhere.'

It was at this moment that one of the Lycans aimed for his face and leapt up.

"D*mn it!!"

Jin-Woo ducked low. The Lycan flew over his head and landed face-first on the ground after failing to stop in time.

Stab!!

When its fangs stabbed into the stone floor, cracks instantly formed on the hard surface.

'I guess it's not called Iron-Fanged for nothing, huh.'

Of course, he didn't have the leeway to stay there and admire this scene. One more monster was still running towards his front at the moment, too. His sword showed no signs of coming free from its earthly prison for the time being.

"Screw this!"

Jin-Woo had no choice but to give up on the sword for now and threw a hard punch at the Lycan closing in.

WHOOSH!!

Accompanied by a bone-chilling sound of wind parting ways, his fist flew straight forward.

POW!!

It took just one hit and the head of the Lycan simply exploded.

The corpse of the now-headless Lycan slammed into the ceiling above and then, powerlessly fell down to the ground.

Thud!

"....??"

Jin-Woo's eyes opened up very wide and he stared dumbfoundedly at his own fist.

What an unexpected destructive power that was.

< Chapter 13 > Fin.