Chapter 29 - Chapter 29 (1/2)

It'd be easy to go mad from pain and wildly thrash about, but he'd lose this great opportunity, which would most likely never happen again. Losing his consciousness now would mean his end.

'….178, 179, 180!'

Jin-Woo had been bitterly waiting for the end of the three-minute duration and finally, revealed his hidden trump card.

'The first reward, give it to me now!'

He immediately collected the first reward from the Daily Quest he had saved up until now.

['Reward 1: Full recovery of the current physical condition' has been applied.]

Suwhhooosh!

A blue light enveloped him and all depleted health reverted back to full.

[HP: 3,602/3,602]

Even his tattered left arm was healed as good as new in the blink of an eye.

'This is my chance!'

Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed coldly. In such close proximity, no matter how agile this monster was, it'd not be able to dodge his attacks.

Jin-Woo rapidly caught one of Cerberus's necks with his left arm, and stabbed the 'Poison Fang of Kasaka' in the middle of that neck.

Stab! Stab! Stab!!

The rage state had ended by now, and the Cerberus began to violently thrash about trying to escape from Jin-Woo's embrace.

"Whimper!!Whine!"

However, Jin-Woo did not let go and held on with his powerful arms. The harder the Cerberus struggled, the stronger he gripped the neck of the monster.

In the meantime, his dagger continued to stab into the creature's neck.

Stab, stab, stab!!

"Whimper-!!"

The Cerberus bit into Jin-Woo as it struggled to the bitter end, but the battle had already been decided by then.

Stab! Stab!!

"Whimper...! Whine..."

The Poison Fang of Kasaka now travelled lower down from the neck and stabbed the Cerberus's chest.

Stab! Stab! Stab!!

Soon enough, the monster's resistance became noticeably weaker and weaker.

"Whimper...."

In the end, the heads of the Cerberus fell to the side, lifeless.

Tti-ring!

[You have defeated 'Hell's Gatekeeper, Cerberus'.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

In one breath, his level rose up by 4. That was how difficult this battle was.

Jin-Woo only let go of the Cerberus's neck after confirming its body going limp with his own eyes. The heavy body sprawled to the floor without any resistance whatsoever.

Plop.

Jin-Woo rested his hands on his knees.

"Ha-ah...."

Only now could he breathe a sigh of relief.

A monster that could use a skill – if he didn't prepare a hidden trump card, then he'd have been killed for sure. A chill crawled down his spine just from thinking about it.

'Oh, I almost forgot.... Items.'

Would there be as many rewards befitting his life-or-death struggle to bring down this monster?

After calming himself down, Jin-Woo reached out towards the Cerberus.

Tti-ring!

[You have discovered 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Key to the Castle's Gate'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Cerberus's Molar, x3'. Take it?]

'Take them all.'

A steel necklace originally found around one of the Cerberus's necks, a grey key, and three molars of a monster appeared in his hand.

[Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace]

Rarity: A

Type: Necklace

Agility +20, Perception +20

[Item: Key to the Castle's Gate]

Rarity: A

Type: Key

The key to unlock the gates of the Demon's Castle. Can only be acquired after killing the Gatekeeper.

[Item: Cerberus's Molar]

Rarity: None

Type: Miscellaneous

"Ohh."

Jin-Woo's eyes went round.

'This necklace can boost both my Agility and Perception by 20 points?'

A necklace with eye-spinningly good options came out. Its rarity was also ranked A. Out of all the items he'd seen so far, this one featured the highest rarity ranking yet.

'Well, I had to go through so much to kill it, so....'

Indeed, there was no way that its rarity would be low.

However, when it came to actually putting the necklace on, he couldn't help but to hesitate big time.

The thing was, it was shaped like a roundish metallic choker with spikes spouting out in regular intervals, so no matter what it said on the cover, it was undoubtedly... a dog collar.

"Mm..."

Jin-Woo closed his eyes and deliberated on his choices for a long time, before deciding to try it on at least once, and brought the necklace closer to his neck.

Then, a message popped up.

Tti-ring!

[Will you wear 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace?]

Jin-Woo fell into yet another bout of dilemma for a second, before helplessly muttering out his answer.

".....Sure thing."

It was then, the necklace slowly disappeared from his view.

[You're now wearing 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace.]

"Huh?"

Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned his Status Window.

[Stats]

Strength: 60

Stamina: 39

Agility: 80

Intelligence: 37

Perception: 67

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in physical damage: 20%