50 Chapter 49 (2/2)

'For the time being, I should observe what's happening here first.'

Jin-Woo's form blurred and slowly disappeared. As expected, the knights rushing towards him all came to an abrupt halt.

However…

[The mage has used 'Skill: Eyes of Detection'.]

The crisp 'tti-ring' of the warning beep resounded in his head. Jin-Woo's head snapped in the direction of the beep.

'What was that?'

He spotted a mage that had just emerged from the Gate chanting a spell. That's also when Jin-Woo discovered an 'eye' like symbol floating above the head of the mage.

The moment that eye flashed…!

In that moment, Jin-Woo's Stealth was cancelled.

'F*ck!'

From the get-go, his calculation proved to be way off the mark.

Snap.

Snap.

The knights that stood around like telephone poles snapped their heads all at once towards Jin-Woo's direction. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie.

And soon enough, the silver waves pounced on him.

Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider and he gritted his teeth.

BOOM!!

His punch blew away the head of the incoming knight.

That guy died where it stood.

[You defeated the knight.]

Crazed lights shone in Jin-Woo's eyes.

'Intimidation!'

['Skill: Intimidation' has been activated.]

['Effect: Fear' has been activated.]

[The targets' (All) Stats will decrease by 50% for one minute.]

The movements of the monsters became much duller through the effects of 'Fear', but his Mana fell down to 90 points.

The Intimidation required 100 MP in order to activate.

He wouldn't be able to use it the second time.

'However, I just bought myself a minute.'

Intending to use this precious minute to the best of his abilities as the monsters were noticeably weakened, Jin-Woo began wailing on them with everything he had.

Boom!

Crack!

Kaboom!

Slam!

With a terrifying momentum, he proceeded to utterly dismantle the knights.

Boom! Slam! Crack!!

Too bad, the speed of him defeating knights was far inferior to the rate of the replacement knights popping out from the Gates.

Rumble—!!

Even in the midst of the maddened battle, Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the timer.

[00:03:19]

It'd only been three minutes and 19 seconds.

If that was converted into points, how much would he get?

Wouldn't it be fine for him to leave this place now?

However, he didn't have any leeway to dwell on that matter.

Even while he was thinking to himself, knights were continuously pouring out from the Gates like unstoppable waves.

He managed to destroy countless Knights, yet he simply couldn't deal with so many of them.

”U-uwaaaahh-?!”

In the end, Jin-Woo was buried in the sea of knights.

[Passive skill, 'Tenacity' has been activated.]

[Passive skill, 'Tenacity' has been activated.]

His HP was in a freefall now and eventually, it hit rock bottom.

[HP: 1036/10270]

'The time is….?'

[00:05:08]

Five minutes and eight seconds.

He had endured enough, hadn't he?

'...Let's get out of here.'

Now completely entrapped among the knights, Jin-Woo flailed about helplessly in this silver prison and dug through his back pocket.

However…

Drop.

The Immediate Return Stone slipped out from his grasp and fell to the floor.

And the roundish stone hit the sole of one of the knights and rolled away far from him.

”NOOO!!”

Jin-Woo hurriedly reached out towards the stone, but the knights blocked him.

Soon, knights piled up on top of him, too.

It became almost impossible to breathe in an instant.

[Passive skill, 'Tenacity' has been activated.]

[Passive skill, 'Tenacity' has been activated.]

His consciousness began to blur.

Pow, pow!!

He continuously got struck by the knights while trapped below them, and as his mind began to grow dimmer, he thought he heard a snarky cackle coming from somewhere.

You have brought this upon yourself, remember that.

'....'

Why did you risk it all when there was a safe path for you to follow? Isn't it already a huge break for a rank E Hunter to become a C, or even a B?

'...'

Well, in the end, this was as far as you could go.

'...Shut up.'

Remember, you killed yourself today.

Shut the hell up!!

Kwaboom!!

The knights surrounding and pressing down on Jin-Woo were suddenly all blown away.

Even though he somehow managed to crawl out from death, his eyes were burning with life. As a matter of fact, his eyes were burning with a stubborn will and sheer malice.

'I won't let it end like this!!'

He earned this opportunity after going through so much. So, how could he let it end like this? Never.

Because he was stuck at the very bottom for so long, he yearned to be on top more than anyone else. He knew the sorrow of the weak better than anyone. He tried everything to survive, and when he did survive, others kept pointing fingers at him.

How will a rank E be of any help here?

The Association is being way too much. They should've dispatched someone who could actually lend a bit of help, but that guy is… Uh-whew.

That b*stard, maybe he keeps surviving by hiding behind his colleagues every time?

So, how could he simply watch and do nothing, when a ladder that could take him to the very top was put in front of his eyes?

What a rubbish notion that was.

'….I remember now.'

That voice ringing around his head just now.

That voice belonged to those b*stards.

The voice that always yapped on and on from behind his back.

'Fine, laugh all you want.

'I'll struggle on until the bitter end.

'It's fine if my HP drops to ten, no, 1. I'll struggle and struggle on like crazy, right until the end. I'll fight until I won't be able to move anymore.'

”Uwaaahh!!!”

Jin-Woo threw his body forward.

Crack!

He thrust forward another punch.

A knight's breastplate caved in and the monster flew away. Other knights collided with it and they all fell on their butts.

But then, more knights rushed in again.

Jin-Woo's movements became a step more violent in response.

Crack! Boom!! Slam!!

Without an exception, knights colliding with Jin-Woo's body parts, be that his fist, elbow, knee, feet, were all destroyed like a bunch of paper dolls.

[Tiredness has exceeded 70 points.]

[Your movement is being restricted.]

Just as the warning message said, his movements became duller. However, the malice and anger in Jin-Woo's eyes didn't weaken in the slightest.

One by one, the knights he couldn't defeat in one hit slammed into him. Jin-Woo resorted to hitting them three, four times and made sure to destroy them.

[…..8, 7, 6, 5.]

In the meantime, a strange countdown was silently ticking down. He was too focused on the battle so he failed to notice it before the timer had reached the single digit.

'What's this? Is the quest coming to an end?'

A small ray of hope blossomed in his head for a brief moment, but it turned out to be nothing but a useless dream.

[00:06:27]

The quest timer was still ticking up as it supposed to. No, something separate from this timer was counting down one second at a time.

[4, 3, 2.]

'Is it to show me the time of my death?'

Indeed, the System did tell him this way back then; it told him that, if he didn't accept becoming a Player, he'd die 0.02 seconds later.

'Fine.'

Jin-Woo glared fiercely.

'I'll gladly use up every moment, right down to the final second!'

Slam!! Crack!!

Two more knights were destroyed in the meantime.

Unlike Jin-Woo's unyielding stubbornness, though, his entire body was now riddled with all sorts of wounds. It progressively much harder to lift his arms.

His weakened fist wasn't enough to stop the knights' tackles and charges anymore.

From the front, one; from the back, another one.

Slam!!

Jin-Woo was sandwiched powerfully by the two knights slamming into him from the front and back, and he spat out a pained groan.

”Keok!”

Other knights pounced on him as if they didn't want to miss this chance.

In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo was buried under the masses of knights and couldn't even lift a finger.

Rumble-!

Even during that, more knights continued to pile on top of Jin-Woo. The silver waves had transformed into a silver mountain, instead.

Jin-Woo's breathing became incredibly harsh.

”Pant, pant….!!”

At this rate, he'd be asphyxiated to death first.

Jin-Woo's hand somehow broke out from the gaps of the knights and helplessly pointed towards the sky.

[HP: 93/10270]

He was in a truly desperate situation. Even then, Jin-Woo did not give up, though.

'No, not yet. I can still go on….'

Just as Jin-Woo managed to clench the hand pointing at the sky, the mysterious countdown ticking down finally announced its conclusion.

[…..1, 0.]

[You've failed to complete the Daily Quest.]

[ You'll be transferred to the 'Penalty Zone'.]