Leveling up and destroying key dungeon

However, he still earned big time even when disregarding his new Title.

¨Hmm,Naruto how do you access inventory?Wait nevermind.I have Asahi sword.Look!¨

Tti-ring.

[Item: Asahi´s steel longsword]

Attack +10

¨Oi!Watch where you swing that thing!¨

The nurse Choi Yu-Rah was busy chatting to a friend she hadn't seen in a long time as the night wore on.

"Ahh, I almost forgot."

Yu-Rah belatedly recalled that her friend was an employee of the Hunter's Association. The reason for her finding work in the Hunter's hospital was in no small part due to this friend.

"You know a lot about Hunters, right?"

"Well, more than most people, sure. What's up?"

"Is there a Hunter with an ability to heal their own wounds really quickly?"

"Aren't those Healer-type Hunters? One healing spell later, every wound goes bye-bye~!!"

"No, no, not like magic and stuff. I mean, like, unconsciously."

"Like, unconsciously?"

"For example, when the person has lost consciousness, or when… he's in the middle of sleep."

Yu-Rah's friend shook her head.

"Eii~. There's no way. That'd be something like regeneration, and that's an incredible ability, you know? That's a unique trait only the rarest of all top-tier monsters exceeding the ranks of 'A' possess."

"There's no human who possesses it, though?"

"Ng. I've never heard of a Hunter who has such an ability."

"R-really?"

Could she have made a mistake, then?Yu-Rah slowly nodded her head.It was at this point that her friend spoke again.

"But, then again… I don't know. Maybe it's possible if you're talking about S-ranked Hunters."

Hearing her friend's words, Yu-Rah raised her head.

"S ranks?¨

"There are plenty of freakish monsters within the S-ranked Hunters, and also, not much is known about them, right? What were they saying? Right, the Hunter Baek Yun-Ho from the White Tiger Guild can apparently morph into a real monster."

However, Seong Jin-Woo and Naruto Taifū was supposedly a Hunter ranked E.The ranks of the Hunters were publicly viewable on the Association's website, so if anyone were interested, they could take a look. Yu-Rah became curious from the morning's incident and she searched for Seong Jin-Woo's and Naruto´s information.

'Their rank is too low for them to possess such a unique abi…. Ah!'The Re-Awakening of a Hunter!She then remembered hearing hushed whispers of 'Re-Awakening' coming from Jin-Woo's room when she was walking past it yesterday.

'Could it be that they both had gone through a Re-Awakening?'

For most regular people, it was truly impossible to befriend two S-ranked Hunter, never mind encountering one. Not only were there too few of them, but they also happened to be crazy busy most of the time as well.So, just what kind of a situation was this? Someone as amazing as that was a patient she was looking after. Two guys who just entered the S rank having moved up from the lowly E.

'If there are only a few people who realise his true value, then….'

If she scored some points with him now, wouldn't it be more likely that she'd be awarded more opportunities later down the line?A chance to become acquaintances with two rank S Hunter didn't happen every day, after all. They were an existence that people couldn't easily meet even if they were prepared to shell out lots of money.As her imagination took flight, a bright smile slowly bloomed on Yu-Rah's face.

"Oh my gosh?! You girl, did something nice happen? Why are you suddenly grinning like that out of the blue?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing, you know. Nothing much."

Yu-Rah continued to shake her head, but the smile on her lips didn't want to go away that easily.

"Oh my goodness. Look at that guy's physique."

"Was those two patient's body that good before?"

Two young female nurses walking in the corridor whispered to each other as soon as they spotted Seong Jin-Woo and Naruto.He pretended to have not heard them and quietly returned to his room.It had been a week since he started taking on the Daily Quests after talking with Naruto. Several changes took place during this time. One of them happened to be the transformation of his body.Jin-Woo stood before the mirror mounted on the hospital room's wall by the corner.

¨This feels weird.I have muscles!¨

¨Yeah,so what?It´s your hard work.¨

¨What´s your status?On my mark,we show each other.Three...two...one.now!¨

¨Status!¨

¨Status!¨

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 1

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 100

MP: 10

Tiredness: 0

[Stat]

Strength: 31

Stamina: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 10

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

Name: Naruto Taifū

Level: 1

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 100

MP: 180

Tiredness: 0

[Stat]

Strength: 160

Stamina: 180

Agility: 200

Intelligence: 180

Perception: 180

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

¨Holy!Look at this difference man!¨

¨What?I only pick status rewards after doing daily quest.¨

¨You want to try the key dungeon?¨

¨Yup!¨

¨Then it´s time to leave.¨

While he and Naruto was in the middle of being discharged, a certain young female nurse hurriedly ran to where he was.

"Pant, pant!! mister Seong Jin-Woo and mister Naruto Taifū, are you getting ready to be discharged today?"

"Pardon? Ah, yes, I am."

¨Same as him.¨

She was the nurse in charge of his care, Choi Yu-Rah. Yu-Rah formed a rueful expression when she heard his affirmation. Jin-Woo didn't know why, so he could only stand there looking rather confused. He wondered if he had made a mistake somewhere, but he couldn't think of anything. Yu-Rah hesitated slightly, before pulling out a small memo pad.

"Will it be okay if you both give me your contact number?"

¨Our contact number?¨

"Yes…. Only if you're okay with it."

Could there be some test results that needed to be sent at a later date or something? Jin-Woo didn't think too much about it and took the memo pad. However, all he got from her was just that, a memo pad and nothing else.When Jin-Woo stared at her, her face reddened.

W-what's the matter?"

"Uhm, well…. About a pen…."

"Ah? Ah, please wait."

She must've forgotten in her rush to get here; Yu-Rah became flustered and hurriedly turned around.He didn't have to think for long. Before anyone noticed it, he was already holding a pen. The moment he thought about the pen nestled quietly within his Inventory, it automatically appeared in his hand.Once an item was placed within the Inventory, he could retrieve it freely with his thoughts alone.What a convenient feature of the Inventory that was.Confirming the pen in his hand, Jin-Woo called out to Yu-Rah.

"Wait. I looked and luckily enough, I had a pen on me."

"Oh, really? Whew, what a relief."

Yu-Rah placed a hand on her chest and sighed out in relief.Jin-Woo smiled at that and he jotted down his phone number then passed the pen to Naruto to write his number as well.

[Item: Dungeon Key]

Rarity: E (ED: also reflects the difficulty in acquiring the item)

Type: Key

A key that transfers you to an instant dungeon. Can be used at the 3rd exit of the Hapjeong subway station.

¨Where to go?¨

¨Hapjeong subway station.¨

Later at Hapjeong subway station,entering the dungeon.

Slam, slam!!

"Is there…. a wall blocking me?"

He pounded on the invisible wall and shouted at the outside, but no one replied back. People continued to carry on with their own lives, that was all.Sometimes, someone approached the Hapjeong station, but they simply vanished as soon as coming in contact with this invisible 'wall'. It was quite likely that the place he was in and the outside world were two separate dimensions.Jin-Woo tried his hardest to force his way out of this place, which prompted a new alert message to pop up.

Tti-ring.

[You can not exit the dungeon. Please defeat the boss first or find the return crystal.]

It was the same message as before.The key in his possession disappeared as soon as he set foot inside the 3rd exit of the subway station and, by the time Jin-Woo realised things had gone rather awry and hurriedly turned around to leave, it was already too late.He was thinking of finding a hidden Gate or some kind of a doorway within the 3rd exit that would transport him to a dungeon, but his expectation was completely off the mark. And quite different from the regular dungeons, he couldn't even leave as he pleased, too.

"It's different from other dungeons…."

Jin-Woo spat out a long groan and looked behind him. What he could see now was the interior of the subway station that had transformed into a jungle.Walls were thick with twisting vines, and rancid odour akin to rotting corpses assaulted his senses. Hell, he even heard the cries of what sounded like wild beasts from afar every now and then, too.

¨Umm,Naruto?¨

¨Hmm?¨

¨We can´t leave the dungeon.¨

¨Well,shit! Let´s go different directions!I will see you at the boss room,i trust that you will not die!!¨

"Wait you idiot! You are going to get lost!!"

Jin-Woo pulled the steel longsword out from his Inventory.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Kim Sang-Sik's steel longsword]

Attack +10

¨Let´s start killing!¨

A seriously rotten odour of an animal carcass with flies buzzing around was coming from somewhere. For Jin-Woo, who had frequently entered dungeons, this was a rather familiar smell.

'This smell…. An animal-type monster.'

However, he still couldn't find its whereabouts at all. Just like how a predator would stalk its a prey.

'Oh, so you want to remain hidden and wait for your chance, is that it?'

In that case, he should give it one.Jin-Woo deliberately turned around and presented his back. And very slowly, retread the path he had taken until now. An animal would try pounce on the prey as soon as its back was shown. An animal-type monster would be no different.And so, it happened when he took his third step.

Smash!!

The shop window of a clothing store behind him shattered into pieces and something jumped out. And this something, as soon as it landed on the ground, leapt towards Jin-Woo's exposed neck in one go.

"Roar!"

Jin-Woo had been getting ready for a sneak attack like this one, so almost immediately, he swung the sword in the direction of the sound.

It was a perfectly-executed instinctive counter!

Swish!

The sharp edge of the blade sliced open the creature's maw.The monster spat out a pained cry as it flew away from Jin-Woo and crashed on the ground, rolling around in a heap.

SFX for a dog-type whimpering, repeated

It was a huge wolf with a reddish coat of fur.The wolf with its maw sliced away wiggled around and threw a seizure-like fit as if it was under a great deal of pain. When he took a closer look, its name also appeared on top of its head, just like the centipedes from the penalty zone.

'Iron-Fanged Lycan.´

However, unlike before, its name was in white letters, not red.

'There is no time to waste here!'

This was the perfect opportunity while the monster could not move from its wound. Jin-Woo threw his body forward.He ran hard and fast, and chopped down with his sword, separating the creature's head from its body.

"Rawr!"

Lycan spat out the final roar and stopped breathing afterwards.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

"Hell yeah!!"

However, the joy of victory was temporary!Two more Lycans jumped out from their hiding place from behind the shop's darkness.

'Damn it, it was in a pack?'

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider.They bared their big fangs and closed the distance in an instant.Jin-Woo's expression crumpled dismally.He must've chopped down too hard from all the excitement, because the sword was lodged on the ground too deep and it stubbornly refused to come out.

'It's stuck somewhere.'

It was at this moment that one of the Lycans aimed for his face and leapt up.

"Damn it!!"

Jin-Woo ducked low. The Lycan flew over his head and landed face-first on the ground after failing to stop in time.

Stab!!

When its fangs stabbed into the stone floor, cracks instantly formed on the hard surface.

'I guess it's not called Iron-Fanged for nothing, huh.'

Of course, he didn't have the leeway to stay there and admire this scene. One more monster was still running towards his front at the moment, too. His sword showed no signs of coming free from its earthly prison for the time being.

"Screw this!"

Jin-Woo had no choice but to give up on the sword for now and threw a hard punch at the Lycan closing in.

WHOOSH!!

Accompanied by a bone-chilling sound of wind parting ways, his fist flew straight forward.

POW!!

It took just one hit and the head of the Lycan simply exploded.The corpse of the now-headless Lycan slammed into the ceiling above and then, powerlessly fell down to the ground.

Thud!

"….??"

Jin-Woo's eyes opened up very wide and he stared dumbfoundedly at his own fist. What an unexpected destructive power that was.The sole surviving Lycan, the one that flew over Jin-Woo's head just now, lowered its tail after seeing this scene and began taking faltering steps backwards.Was this the result from him raising his Strength Stat?The utterly stunned Seong Jin-Woo couldn't close his slack jaw as the headless Lycan's legs shook like a leaf, before its movement stopped for good.That was when he heard the familiar mechanical beep going off again.

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

[Level up!]

To make sure that he didn't mishear that, Jin-Woo hurriedly accessed his Status Window.

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 2

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 205

MP: 22

Tiredness: 0

[Stat]

Strength: 32

Stamina: 11

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 11

Perception: 11

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

His level really did go up.And when a level went up, a single point was added to all of his Stats.

¨Though i wonder how Naruto is doing?¨

With Naruto

¨I am so f****** bored and the hell am I?¨

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

Tti-ring.

[You've killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]

[Level up!]

Name: Naruto Taifū

Level: 10

Class: None

Title: Destroyer of wolves

HP: 308

MP: 480

Tiredness: 20

[Stat]

Strength: 480

Stamina: 480

Agility: 500

Intelligence: 480

Perception: 480

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– Tenacity Lv. 2

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 2

¨Whats this?Another floor,let´s go down deeper!¨

Back to Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo tightly grasped the sword and spoke up.

"With the exception of your canines, I'm gonna massacre all of you."

When the chilling glare of a man who was obsessed about making money landed on the Lycans, they became intimidated and shuddered slightly.It was at this point that Jin-Woo pounced on them without mercy.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As he expected, his levels rose up quite quickly.Simply from searching every nook and cranny of the first floor and killing all the Lycans he could find, Jin-Woo's level shot right up to 7.He had jumped up five flights of stairs, in other words.

"Whimper….."

When he caught up and killed the very last monster running desperately away from him, a strange message popped up into his view.

Tti-ring.

[You have acquired the 'Title: Slaughterer of Wolves'.]

"A Title?"

[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves]

A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%.When he opened his Status Window to take a look, the 'Title' column indeed had been updated.

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 7

Class: None

Title: Slaughterer of Wolves

HP: 766

MP: 81

Tiredness: 3

[Stat]

Strength: 37

Stamina: 16

Agility: 16

Intelligence: 16

Perception: 16

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

A bonus boost to his stats when fighting against animal-type monsters.Although the effect was a bit restricted, still, having his Stats increase by 40%, now that didn't sound too bad at all.'There are plenty of animal-type monsters out there, so would this apply to them as well?'If that was the case, then he'd be able to easily kill monsters when participating in the future raids.However, he still earned big time even when disregarding his new Title.When he sold them all off, he earned just over a thousand Gold.

[Current Gold: 1,060]

'….Even then, I can't really celebrate, can I?´

Well, no matter how much he hoarded this Gold thing, he couldn't use them anyways. At least not for now.The only thing remaining, besides the Gold, was the return crystal. When he was trying desperately to escape from the dungeon back then, the message said he'd need a return crystal if he wanted to leave. And now, if he wanted to, he could escape at any time.Meaning that he would break Naruto´s trust.

He found himself on a crossroads.In front, the stairs leading down to the second floor.And in his hand, a single return crystal grasped tightly.

'Do I continue on, or do I back out….?'

If it was in the past, he'd not hesitate and choose the latter. That was how he managed to survive all those raids with his pathetic Stats. Everyone said that him surviving until now was a miracle, but well, he was trying to be smart about his choices, actually.However, the story was different now.He didn't want to retreat here.He felt that, if he turned away to leave now, then he'd never be able to take another step forward in his life.

"I've retreated enough times already, right?"

Wouldn't it be okay for him to jump in headlong, at least once in his life?Jin-Woo pocketed the return crystal. His steps climbing down the steps to the 2nd floor was light.

[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 respawn. While he went back upstairs to deal with them, monsters on the second floor respawn. 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.

¨I wonder where is Naruto right now?¨

¨ACHOO!!!Dammit!Jin-Woo needs to stop talking about me!This is like what,the fourth floor?Stats.¨

[Stats]

Strength:120

Stamina: 180

Agility: 200

Intelligence: 100

Perception: 80

(Available points to distribute: 0)

¨This is way too busted,this system!!I should stop here and wait.¨

´If this is like a game then....´

¨Chat!¨

[Chat]

[I´m bored killing monsters down here,mind if you can go straight to the fourth floor?]

Part 15

Back to Sung Jin-Woo.

SFX message sound

¨Huh?A message from Naruto?¨

[I´m bored killing monsters down here,mind if you can go straight to the fourth floor?]

¨Huh,what the hell!¨

[Wait,i am only at the second floor.]

SFX message sound

[What the f***,are you still doing at the second floor!Ah f*** it.Come down here as quickly as you can.]

SFX message sound

[I´m already on the third floor,why are there no monsters here.]

SFX message sound

[I think i made them despawned or something.]

SFX message sound

[How many times did you kill them?]

SFX message sound

[I think about twenty to twenty seven times?]

SFX message sound

[Thats way too much.]

SFX message sound

[Where are you?]

SFX message sound

[Halfway down the fourth stairs already.]

SFX running sound

¨That is one of the most boring moments of my life!!¨

¨Let´s go slay this damn thing.¨

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.

¨You want me to kill this thing?¨

¨Nope!This is my battle,Naruto!¨

'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.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.

¨Are you really sure?¨

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.

*SFX for bones breaking*

¨Damn bro,sounds like it hurts.¨

¨Stop making comments,Naruto!¨

Jin-Woo's Strength Stat was almost at 100.An unbelievably powerful pressure tightened around the snake's main artery. The snake could not escape from his grip and thrashed around as if it was in pain. Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and strengthened his arms even more.

Slam!! Boom!!

Jin-Woo's body slammed against the walls and on the floor, but he never released his arms.

'If I didn't raise my levels as high as I could before coming here….'

There was literally no end to wondering about 'what-ifs' and 'what could have beens'.However, all kinds of thoughts still swirled in Jin-Woo's head.

Crack!!

Accompanied by a rather awful noise, the skull of Kasaka gave in and cracked apart.

¨Talk about a head crack,huh?¨

[You have killed the ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As expected of a boss mob.His level rose up by 2 after killing the Kasaka.Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fists.The level that had been stagnating at 22 had jumped up to 24.In just a single day, he crazily raised his level from 1 all the way up to 24.

'However!'

No one hunted boss mobs for experience points!Indeed, if it was a boss mob, then it'd be all about the loot drops!Indeed, if it was a boss mob, then it'd be all about the loot drops!When he started checking out the dead snake, two spots of light began gleaming from somewhere within its limp body.

'Two items, because it was a boss?'

''Yo!What did you get!''

''You're quite impatient today,Naruto.''

''Of course!I still need to go for my class!''

''You still have not graduate?''

''Gee..I thought you knew about it.Ah,come on!Just take the loot and go!"

Tti-ring.

[You have discovered 'Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka'. Take it?]

"Take them all."

As soon as he said those words, a dagger made out of a bone and a small pouch with liquid in it appeared on his palms.

[Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka]

Rarity: C

Type: Dagger

Attack +25

A dagger fashioned from the poison fang of the Kasaka. There are traces of the Kasaka's poison on it, so when attacking, it will cause Paralysis and Bleeding status effects. Can be stored in the Inventory, or can be sold at the Store.

Status effect 'Paralysis': the target will be unable to move. Success rate is fixed.

Status effect 'Bleeding': the target's stamina will be reduced by 1% per second.

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

'A dagger made not out of bone, but from the fang, huh. It's not a bad item with those options, yeah?'

Next up was the pouch.

[Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka]

Rarity: A

Type: Medicine

A pouch containing the refined poison of the Kasaka. Can be found very rarely when hunting Kasakas. Drinking this poison will give you strong skin, but the toxicity will permanently damage your muscles.

Effect 'The Iron Scales of Kasaka': 20% reduction in physical damage.

Side effect 'Damaged Muscles': Strength -35

Jin-Woo's expression alternated between joy and anguish.The Poison Fang of Kasaka was a good weapon to replace the broken longsword. Not only did it possess over twice the attack power, but he really liked the two status effects of Paralysis and Bleeding, too.

'However, this poison sac is a bit….'

Initially, he was really pleased to find an item with the 'A' Rarity rating, but when reading the description, he realised this was not something he could feel completely chuffed about.Of course, that effect of reducing all physical damage taken by 20% was a great option befitting an A-rank item. However, it also carried a fatal penalty of decreasing his Strength Stat by 35.

''Whats with the face?''

''This poison sac here is good but the side effect sucks.''