49 Chapter 48 (1/2)

Rumble-! Boom!

The door to the boss room finally opened.

The interior was completely shrouded in darkness.

Even with Jin-Woo's eyesight, greatly enhanced by his Perception Stat, he found it hard to see one inch in front of him. All he could see clearly was the ground beneath his feet.

The floor was covered in stone tiles.

The ash-coloured tiles, laid with no visible gaps in between, gave off this feeling of heaviness and barren chill.

As soon as he set foot on this floor….

Whooosh!

Countless torches lining up the walls lit up all at once and illuminated the interior.

'As I thought… it's almost the same as back in that underground temple.'

Jin-Woo maintained his vigilance. He scanned his vicinity and cautiously stepped forward.

Several giant stone pillars stood erect to his left and right; at the far end of this 'room', he could see a tall throne.

'It's as if….'

This place reminded him of the king's audience chamber from a fantasy movie. Of course, the scale was noticeably larger, though.

A few steps later, the door issued a loud bang and closed shut behind him.

SLAM!!

Jin-Woo glanced back, but he didn't panic. He already expected something like that to happen. Jin-Woo resumed his careful march forward.

'….I can sense a powerful presence.'

He kind of got this really strong gut feeling that, in order to conclude his class quest, he had to arrive before that throne.

Just as important, his gut feelings on matters such as this one were on the money, most of the time.

It was then.

From the gap between stone pillars, which couldn't have been more than ten steps, a 'doll' walked out from its hiding spot and stood before him, blocking his path forward.

The 'thing' stopped its walk and turned around to face him.

Gulp.

Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.

He only had to take one look at the creature's red name floating just above its head to know that the boss had finally made its entrance.

[The Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson]

It was a knight wearing a suit of blood-red armour.

The way it was kitted out from head to toe in metal armour was similar to other knights he fought so far, but quite unlike those that looked dull and slow, this thing looked incredibly agile.

What caught his eyes next was its helm.

The red-coloured mane extending rearwards from the top of the helm reminded him of a stallion's tail and it left a rather deep impression.

While he studied its helm, Jin-Woo discovered one more difference between it and the other knights.

'This guy…. has eyes?'

But, were they eyes, or irises?

Whatever the case may be, the pair of silvery lights oozed out from where one's eyes should be. They felt so cold and uncaring, utterly mechanical and lifeless.

Those cold eyes were now fixed on him.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

'So, the aura of the really powerful enemy was coming from this guy, huh…..'

The goal of the class quest could be to defeat this knight, for all he knew. If that was the case, he needed to be doubly cautious.

Jin-Woo observed the movements of this Igrit while slowly raising his clenched fists.

'My dagger won't work on it anyway.'

What was needed in defeating a knight was blunt force. He needed Strength to overwhelm him.

'...'

Igrit quietly observed Jin-Woo for a while, before it abruptly took off its red cape.

Plop.

The cape fell to the floor.

'What's it doing?'

The b*stard's strange actions didn't end there.

It proceeded to take off the longsword on its hips, and the two daggers hidden behind its back, and dropped them all to the ground.

Not only that, it showed them to him, before dropping them one at a time.

Clang, clang…

The interior of the boss room had been quiet until then; the loud clangs of the metal hitting the stone tiles reverberated noisily throughout this vast chamber.

Igrit finished discarding all of its weapons, and as if to imitate Jin-Woo, clenched its fists and got into a fighting stance.

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider.

'Could this b*stard be thinking of….?'

Was this thing going to fight him bare-handed because he was also bare-handed?

Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.

'….It's looking down on me.'

The monsters' provocation that really wasn't one only served to rapidly cool his head. The hotter his emotions boiled, the colder his head got.

On the contrary to his heart beating faster and faster, Jin-Woo's eyes became sharper and calculating.

'Come.'

Perhaps reading his mind, Igrit made a beeline towards him.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

The speed it produced was so fast that he found it hard to believe it was wearing a suit of armour.

'The speed penalty of the armours only comes into effect when the Strength Stat is lower than 80, right?'

Meaning, this thing's Strength was at least 80!

Judging from its nimble movement, its Agility would also rival some of the highest-ranked Hunters out there.

Igrit closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and leapt up into the air. Once flying, the thing stuck its knee out and aimed at Jin-Woo's face.

'It's fast!!'

However, Jin-Woo had been ready as well, his own movement speed pushed to the extreme. He bent his back almost 90 degrees and let Igrit's attack brush past him.

Jin-Woo then rapidly stood back up.

Quite unlike other knights that needed some distance to stop after their tackle had failed, Igrit simply landed on the ground without much fanfare.

Kung!!

There was no time to admire that perfect landing, though.

Jin-Woo rushed in and before Igrit could turn around all the way, he diagonally kicked its head.

Shockingly enough, the thing still could move its arm accurately even when its posture was unstable.

Slam!

Jin-Woo's right leg was easily blocked by Igrit's left hand.

'How can this be?!'

Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider.

While one of his legs was blocked, Igrit's other fist flew in at his face.

Swish!

He raised both of his arms instinctively to guard himself, but the impact force still got transmitted to the rest of his body.

Boom!!

His guard broke and his entire body became airborne.

”What?!”

A shocked gasp escaped from his mouth.

But soon, it turned into a groan.

”…..?!”

Because, Igrit had already appeared right in front of his eyes.

Even before he had the chance to do something about it, Igrit's left fist powerfully slammed into Jin-Woo's left cheek.

Slam!!

He slammed into the floor and bounced up from the impact, before continuing to roll away. He only managed to force himself back up after a while.

BUZZ!!

The inside of his ears rang noisily.

Jin-Woo shook his head around a couple of times. Only then did the loud ringing die down somewhat.

However, the much bigger problem than that was coming closer to him. His blurry sight captured Igrit as it walked towards him.

Step, step….

Jin-Woo opened his eyes wider and got ready.

Eventually, Igrit arrived right before Jin-Woo's nose.

And so, a bloody dogfight erupted between the two.

Igrit didn't even try to dodge Jin-Woo's punches. No, it simply took on the hits and counter-attacked right away.

Pow!

Igrit's head was forced slightly to the side.

But, even before Jin-Woo could correct his posture, a sharp and accurate counterpunch flew at him.

POW!

Jin-Woo tottered about like a drunken man.

Pow!

This time, Igrit took a step back.

POW!

After his stomach was kicked in, Jin-Woo's body bent forward 90 degrees.

”Keok!”

Blood welled up in his mouth.

'What is this nonsensical bullsh*t….?!'

Currently, Jin-Woo's physical damage reduction Stat had exceeded 30%.

However, each of Igrit's attacks hurt like crazy, as if he was being pounded on by a hammer. On the other hand, his attacks almost didn't inflict any damage to the enemy.

Their exchange didn't last for long afterwards.

POW!

Jin-Woo teetered about unsteadily, before falling to his knees.

Plop.

He tried to stand back up, but his legs didn't want to listen.

Plop.

”Euh-euk…”

Igrit stood before Jin-Woo, but stopped attacking him. It wordlessly stared down at him for a while.

'…..?'