16 Chapter 15 (1/2)
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Unlike the dungeons of the Gates, there was a thing called 'respawn' within the instant dungeon. While he was sweeping away every single monster found on the second floor, all the monsters on the first respawned. While he went back upstairs to deal with them, monsters on the second floor respawned. So on and so forth.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo hopped between the first and second floor and killed monsters until his level no longer rose up.
'Who knows when I'll ever run into another opportunity like this one?'
Along the way, he got so used to this place that he was able to predict from where and how the monsters would try to attack him.
”A monkey, falling from the ceiling....”
He lightly evaded the claws of the monkey-type monster falling from the ceiling and stabbed it in the chest with his sword. And then....
”Kkiiieeck!!”
”....One cat each from left and right.”
...And then, he orderly sliced the necks of the black panther-like creatures jumping at him from his sides.
”Kyahk!”
”Kkahk!!”
[You've killed a 'Blade-Claw Briga'.]
[You've killed a 'Black-Shadow Razan'.]
[You've killed a 'Black-Shadow Razan'.]
And with these three, he had arrived at the end of the second floor.
He had cleared out the second floor once more. However, his level hadn't been moving from 15 for a long time now. It seemed that reaching that high was the limit for the first two floors.
”Stats.”
[Stat]
Strength: 45
Stamina: 24
Agility: 24
Intelligence: 24
Perception: 24
(Available points to distribute: 0)
With him being level 15, his Stats had risen up by quite a lot. His Agility was now almost at 25. He finally got to feel the difference between the Agility and the Strength Stat when the former hit the value of 20.
The Agility did not increase his speed, but rather, it was as if the opponent's movement had become far slower in his perception, instead.
'Exactly like watching a slow-motion video.'
The scenes of the monkey falling from the ceiling and panthers pouncing on him played out in slow-motion.
Should he describe it as him being able to manipulate the time flow as he wished? It became easier to evade enemies' attacks, and it also became easier to hit them as well.
As the word implied, he had indeed become more 'agile'.
The so-called speed was wholly dependant on who was looking at it. The higher his Agility Stat, the bigger the difference between him and his enemies would become; from their perspective, he'd look as if he was moving at an unbelievably quick speed.
'If both the Strength and Agility increase concurrently, their synergy should be pretty incredible.'
That was his final assessment of the Agility Stat.
”Besides all that...”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away.
”What should I do now....?”
He was looking at the stairs leading down to the third floor.
There was a reason why he continued to hunt in the first two floors even though there was a way to go even lower.
'It's giving me the creeps.'
With his Perception Stat so much higher, he could sense the aura of something ominous lurking down there far better than before. Without a doubt, something really strong was hiding somewhere down below.
He didn't have to see it to know.
Jin-Woo recalled the message he saw back by the entrance of this instant dungeon.
[You can not exit the dungeon. Please defeat the boss first or find the return crystal.]
The existence of the 'Boss'.
Jin-Woo had been roaming the first two floors in order to raise his levels until he couldn't anymore, all for the purpose of fighting this 'Boss'.
He had prepared himself as much as he could but, when the time to actually go down there came, he was getting all sweaty and nervous.
Jin-Woo lightly slapped both of his cheeks.
'I mean, I've entered a dungeon, so I can't just leave without taking a look at what this boss looks like, now can I?'
A certain amount of tension was a must in order to maintain the peak condition. And this amount was just about right for him.
Jin-Woo gripped the sword tightly with both of his hands slowly descended the steps. Could he have been mistaken when the steps felt unusually longer than before?
He swallowed dried saliva down.
The lighting was worse than the first two floors, but there was no problem with seeing where he was going.
'Is it because of my Perception Stat?'
He couldn't help but feel that his eyesight had improved greatly.
He cautiously climbed lower until eventually spotting the railway tunnel used by the subway trains.
No, he saw where the railway used to be.
The tunnel that should've been used by trains was now filled with jet-black liquid, instead.
'What is this?'
Rather than a subway tunnel, it was.... more like a lake or a river now.
Just as Jin-Woo took one more step forward to take a closer look....
A long log-like object shot out from the surface of the black 'water'.
Swish!!
'It's fast!'
The thing that arrived in front of his nose in the blink of an eye was not a log, but a snake with the thickness rivalling one, actually.
”Heop!!”
Taken by surprise, Jin-Woo could only swing the sword and strike the head of the snake away from him.
Clang!!
Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider.
”What the hell?!”
He did succeed in deviating that direction of the lunging snake, but his trusty steel longsword ended up breaking apart from the impact.
Jin-Woo looked back in surprise.
The snake must've been surprised by his counterattack as well because it didn't try to follow up right away, but instead chose to simply glare at him while coiling itself up a distance away.
'The ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.'
Jin-Woo could clearly see the orange-coloured name of the monster.
It was a creature incomparably faster and hardier than those with their names written in white.
'Even then, for a sword reinforced with magic energy to break like that....'
Jin-Woo swallowed nervously and cautiously studied the Boss monster called Kasaka.
Blue scales covering its entire body gleamed in an oily manner. As if it had draped itself with thick armour, those scales had no gaps to speak of.
Sword strikes wouldn't have worked in the first place. It'd be the same story for punches, too.
When Jin-Woo's thoughts arrived there, the Kasaka must've finished its own analysis on its prey, because it finally lunged at him once more.
No matter how one looked at it, it was a frightening turn of speed, that's for sure.
Sing!'
When he concentrated hard, he could now clearly see the attack of the Kasaka, which was something he couldn't even properly decipher in the beginning. This was all due to the increased Agility Stat.
Just before the Kasaka opened its maws wide and tried to swallow him, Jin-Woo swiftly sidestepped and let the attack brush past him. At the same time, he wrapped his arms around the creature and caught it in a headlock. He then tightened his grip.