CHAPTER 04 Dungeon Dive

And this was a total cheat.  

A skill to increase his movement speed and a skill to reduce damage taken.

Not quite skills that would cost tens of billions of won, but they were still useful skills.  And I had learned such skills for free. The fact that I had more than 8 skills and a title under my belt in under three days it's amazing.

Far better than the Og.  And I feel great about that.  Which is needed to become stronger.  To become cold. To Dream to fulfill those dreams.  

I thought as I entered the washroom.  After cleaning all the sweat I built up during the training season I changed my clothes and then asked the one at the counter for permission on a nightly walk. 

The nurse tried to persuade me back to my room as many of the staff there know that I am very down these days and have a stab wound on my chest but in the end, she relented but what they didn't know was that my wounds were already healed. They haven't checked my wound as they can see that the bandages are still clean like there was no injury so they didn't bother with it much.

I proceeded to walk off there until I reached a food stall. From there I packed 2 days' worth of food and water as I didn't know how long it would take to clear the dungeon and I would rather not die from starvation in a dungeon. So I'd rather be prepared for anything.  

So after paying the bill and seeing how cashless I was I sigh… as I came to Upton, an isolated alleyway.

I then took out the dungeon key I got from the random box after completing today's quest.

He stood up.  His errands were now over.  He had already finished the daily quest, and the process of requesting a new phone at the Association was over as well.  As he exited the building, he took out the golden key again.

The key's information was outlined in green letters on the floating screen.

Dungeon Key

Rarity[1]: E-rank

Type: Key

Key to access an Instant Dungeon.  

Usable in Hapjeong Subway Station #3.

So it was the same as the story. It's just I am going in sooner than the og story.  

I can't waste my time when I know after a certain amount of time I can't call the dead back as it happened with Kamish.  

And I know there are many governments of the world who preserve monsters for research and other purposes and all those monsters are high-ranking monsters and even at the lowest rank monsters are A-rank monsters.  

And I need them in my shadow army.  I know it's risky but I had to do it. That's why I even developed all those skills. 

And soon I reached the Hapjeong Subway Station.  I prepared myself and took a deep breath which doesn't do much when I know I am playing with my life as In og story Jinwoo's strength stat was double what I have. But there was no point in thinking of that now.  I pushed forward the key and slowly turned the key. At the same time, a portal appeared in front of me, and with one last look, I proceeded to enter the portal.

As soon as I  entered, a barrier appeared behind me. The people outside walked by, taking no notice of me. Occasionally, someone would walk down the stairs into the subway station, but the moment they reached the invisible wall, they disappeared.  Compared to the outside, it seemed like this place was in a separate dimension.

The dungeon key that I was holding disappeared the moment I stepped foot in the place.  

the whole place became eerily darker and quieter. The station had transformed, combining its natural interior with elements of a jungle.  The walls were covered in vines and the smell of rotting corpses stabbed at my nose.  From a distance, I even heard something resembling an animal's cry. the entire station had become the Dungeon.

It was enough to put fear in anyone but I was prepared for this. I took out the sword he bought before going here and immediately after that, I heard slow footsteps coming toward him so I also moved toward it.  

*thud* *thud* *thud* *thud*

I passed by a bathroom and came upon an underground shopping center.  The various storefronts were in a state of deterioration. With no humans in sight, the dimly lit area was reminiscent of an apocalyptic movie.  A hair-raising chill washed over Jinwoo.

flicker- flicker-

As if on their last legs, several of the ceiling lights flickered on and off.  

Walking on weeds that grew out from broken tiles, I was keeping eyes everywhere.  

"..."

Even though my surroundings were empty, I felt something looking at me.

'And this smell.'

A strong stench of a rotting corpse was coming from somewhere.  Having entered many Dungeons before, it was a familiar yet unfamiliar smell to me.

'It's a beast-type magic beast. 

I turned around and showed my back on purpose, then slowly walked in the direction I came from. As Predators tended to attack a prey's exposed back; the beast-type magic beasts were no different.

It was after I took my fourth step,

shatter!

The windows of a clothing storefront broke apart as something leaped through it from inside.  The moment it landed on the floor, it immediately jumped again toward the back of my neck.

Roar!

Having already anticipated the attack, I  responded to the creature's roar by swinging the sword in my hand as I turned around.  It was an impressive reflex!

slash-!

The sharp sword caught the chin of the attacking beast as it swung through the air.  Falling away, the beast shrieked as it rolled on the ground.

whimper- whimper-

It was a large wolf with red furs.  Having lost its entire snout, the wolf tossed and turned on the ground in pain.  When I looked closer, I was able to see a name above the beast's head, similar to the centipedes from the Penalty Zone.

'Steel-teeth Lycan' 

With the beast writhing on the ground in pain, the opportunity to finish it was now.  I ran across the distance between the two. I brought down my sword as I reached the beast.  Its head was cleanly separated from its body.

whimper-!

The Lycan let out a death rattle as it passed.

As I heard the notification. 

Ding. 

YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP 

But I ignored it. As it wasn't time for that as From the broken window, three more Lycans that were hiding in the darkness came out.

And they are followed by other similar beasts.  

Two monsters about 2 meters in height were now across him as they glared menacingly at me with their Black fur and bonelike spines while on top of it was a floating name in orange, Beowulf.

'Well, that's new. it had friends.'

I said with a little shock.  

Roar!

Baring their scary fangs, the two beasts closed the gap toward me in an instant.  While the other beasts charged at me. 

Lycans pounced toward his face. As I quickly lowered my head to evade.  The Lycan that missed my head could not control its speed and crashed into the ground.

*Awoooo!!*

The Beowolf didn't even think twice and continued charging ahead without care.

I narrowed my eyes at it as he gripped my swords tighter.

The Beowolf swung its right claw aimed at my head but as I watched it, I leaned towards my left and the claw barely caught him. It quickly made some space after seeing its attack dodged but it went on all fours and charged at him even faster than before with its mouth ready to take a bite of me

While the other Lycan also ran with it they both were planning to attack me so at a speed I switched my weapon as two daggers appeared in my hands I threw them at them. 

My target was their heads but due to lack of experience and the wolf's reaction speed both were able to avoid the daggers but it stuck one in the stomach and the other on the leg.  

whimper-! whimper-!

As both wolves cried from the pain and stopped, which gave me enough time as I ran towards them as they were wounded as I felt danger. I activated the skill 'Sprint' which increased my speed much as I barely avoided the Beowulf mouth that was aimed at my left leg.   

And the increased speed with adrenaline kicking in.  I had brought down his sword with too much force, and I cut the neck of the Lycan who had a dagger in its stomach.  

But because I put so much force and now the sword was stuck in the ground.  

'It's stuck!'

While I was struggling to pull out the sword, one of the Lycans pounced toward my face.

"Whoa!"

I quickly lowered my head to evade.  The Lycan that missed its mark did the same mistake its brother did as he stopped himself and charged at me.  

I instantly went down and pulled the dagger from the stomach of the now-dead Lycans which he was able to evade by stopping and changing its direction.  

Which gave him enough time to try to pull the sword out. The sword did not appear to be coming out anytime soon. And Lycan was now coming at me.

"Shit!"

Having no choice, I abandoned the sword and ran towards my other dagger which was now in the leg of Beowulf who was still whimpering as he couldn't stand, and because of the sprint, I was faster than them. 

I was easily able to reach it as I pulled the dagger out of the leg of Beowulf and made some distance from the now-wounded Beowulf. 

During this time, I reminisced about his time when I played this kind of game and one might think why is he so cool about all this while in reality, I was shaking inside with fear but as he remained in his past, he didn't hesitate any longer and moved.

The ground where its fangs struck cracked.

As the Lycan was about to take a bite at my throat, My right hand with the knife swiftly stabbed at its jaw going through its head. He then dodged to his right to evade the momentum of the Lycan while taking out his knife.

*Thud!*

The Lycan crashed to the ground and squirmed momentarily then stilled as it died.

I looked at my shaking hand then I shook my head as I stopped my trembling hands. I didn't have the time to dwell on it as he still had two more to hunt, one was injured and the other was fine.

The Lycan that had flown over my head and his teeth were stuck in the ground now was free and was now looking at me with fear.  Its tail lowered, and the wolf began to step backward.

Even though I didn't have strength like Jinwoo yet, it was still a sight to see a beast do something like this.   

But I didn't have any plans to let it go as I again threw the dagger at him which strikes his neck I ran at him while on the way I pick the other dagger that was avoided by the second Lycan and I directly strike on his head killing him.  

And with the last struggling to stand up I pulled both daggers from Lycan's head and neck.  And throw it at Beowulf.  

And because he wasn't moving both daggers directly stuck on its vocal cords and breathing pipe killed him.  

Ding!  

You've defeated the Steel-tooth Lycan.

You've leveled up!

"I've leveled up? But this time it took 5 times the amount of exp than before.  This is interesting.  

Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 3

Class: None

Title: Little Mage 

HP: 200/200

MP: 1022/1022

Fatigue: 0

Stats

Strength: 18

Constitution: 13

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 77

Sense: 13

(Available stat points: 3)

Skills

Passive Skills

-(Unknown) (Lv. Max)

-Unyielding Spirit (Lv. 1)

-Mana Flow (Lv. 1)

Active Skills

-Sprint (Lv. 1)

-Meditation (Lv. 1)

-Sharpness (Lv. 1)

-Weapon Strengthening (Lv. 1)

-FireBall (Lv. 1)

I levelled up two times. With it, all of my stats had increased by 2 points.  So unlike games, I don't get extra stat points but all of my stats had increased by 1 point per level so I can't be a specialist like a tank or aoe attacker unless I do daily quests.  

It's very interesting that the quest rewards were the only way to raise my attributes if I want to be a specialist. It was apparent that levelling up increased them as well.

My heartbeat quickened just by thinking about the future.  

'And the total points I've gained is bigger than the daily quest.'

The stat points I received from Quests were 3.

The stat points I gained from levelling up were 5.

Although I could not freely distribute these 5 points, the total benefit from a level-up was much bigger than the quest reward.

But I know leveling up still just makes me an all-rounder master of none which isn't a big thing but strength is a big factor in this world.  

I levelled up twice after killing six of them but it took five times of exp to level up. It seems to be a bit unbalanced and I am just starting.  

In a game, climbing low levels are easy but it also has to have the most deaths as even though monsters are much weaker than a higher level. 

Players are not versatile enough to fight them. Even though later games become harder it still is much better than lower levels.  

I was currently level 3. You could say I was at the bottom of the barrel.  But my level did not properly reflect my strength.  After all, my mp was already above 1000; and my strength is now 21 after putting in 3 Available stat points.