First Kill

[Gaekgwi]

'So that's its name?'

Yeon-woo approached without fear, pointing his knives at the humanoid beast. The man and the monster confronted each other, the Gaekgwi's single red eye locked with his shining gold pupils.

It flinched and cowered. The monster quickly retracted its head and pressed its crawling body flat to the ground. And when his airborne first step finally came down to the floor, it retreated in a flash, its reaction speed as quick as a boar that got stung by a scorching skewer.

The sneakily retreating monster looked like it was very confused right about now as if it couldn't quite figure out why it was running away like this.

When the monster accepted the fact that it was getting suppressed by Yeon-woo's aura, its phlegm gurgled loudly in its throat. Its instincts were screaming out danger warnings.

This human in front of its eyes was incomparable to everyone else. If it attacked this man, then it would die.

The monster had already filled its belly to some extent. Also, there were lots of other prey running loose outside. There was no reason for the monster to brave this danger in here.

But unfortunately, the only thing waiting for the monster was a chair leg to the face, as the supposedly escaping Seol slammed it directly in the noggin.

Yeon-woo, not one to miss an opportunity, immediately attacked, his knives slashing at the opponent's vitals. Although the Gaekgwi was a monster, it was humanoid in shape, so Yeon-woo's experience in combat was fully effective in this situation.

His knives which were aimed at its throat dug into its skin and a then proceeded to bounce off. The monster roared in pain, going into a frenzy as it attacked Yeon-woo.

Yeon-woo, realizing that his weaponry wasn't effective, decided to go about this the old fashion way.

Dodging its attacks with his enhanced senses, he took the opening to lock his arms around the monster's throat. Applying pressure to its neck, he slammed it into the ground with the firm grip of his chokehold.

The Gaekgwi, which had never had such an experience in its time of living as a monster, was dazed as it was slammed into the ground.

The knife that he had hidden in his sleeves emerged, and immediately stabbed into its single eye.

The creature screamed, the eye on the top of its face bleeding as it broke free from the hold, throwing Yeon-woo onto the nearby floor.

Yeon-woo used the momentum to tuck into a role and came back standing instantly. He took out another knife, but this time, instead of going into close quarters, he thew the knife with all his strength, his [Draconic Eyes] increasing his accuracy.

The hook it was throwing around blindly swung straight towards Yeon-woo, but his sensed allowed him to dodge last second, with it cutting past his cheek.

The monster wasn't as lucky though, as the knife had hit the original knife which further dug into its brain.

The body spasmed as if it was finally registering its own death, and finally collapsed onto itself.

Yeon-woo tried to calm down his breathing as he grasped for breath, his heart beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.

The monster was much stronger than expected, and only his superior stats granted by [Incomplete Dragon Body] and [Sense Strengthening] allowed him to keep dominance throughout the match. It helped that although they were both unexperienced at fighting each other's kind, that the Gaekgwi was human enough for normal human martial arts to work.

[Mister Kang Seok, Mister Yi Hyungsik, and Mister Jeong Minwoo have arrived at the second floor waiting area.]

'They got there already. That was unusually fast. Did Kang Seok gain an item from his random box related to the mission Most likely.'

He looked around for Seol, but found him walking far away with one of the Invites, the man with the cap.

Pulling out his medical kit, Yeon-woo started to walk while bandaging the various cuts caused by claw, debris or hook.

He quickly found a set of stairs and continued to climb up until he the second floor with several thick metal spikes, blocking his progress.

He then proceeded to grab the metal spike.

[A new user has been registered.]

Clang!!

Accompanied by dull metallic clanks, the pointed ends of the metal spikes separated from the ceiling almost immediately and then retracted into the floor below with even faster speed. As soon as those metal spikes were gone, the space in front became a wide-open passageway they could enter.

As soon as Yeon-woo walked past, the spikes shot right back up and slammed into the ceiling once more.

He spotted a red button mounted on the interior wall near the barrier. He quickly pressed it, and the metal barrier squeaked noisily before retracting again, just as he suspected they might.

Despite the people waiting there, not even Kang Seok dared to talk to him. Maybe because of the blood on him or the sheer pressure coming of him after the fight.

Of course, that wouldn't stop Kang Seok for long, as Seol and headphones guy finally emerged.

"Oh! So you've finally arrived…. Hm?"

Kang Seok was waving his hand towards Seol, but when he spotted Hyun Sangmin, the ends of his sentence trailed off.

"…What the. You two decided to work together?"

Hyun Sangmin raised his head after hearing Kang Seok's rather unhappy tone of voice.

"What about you then?"

"Well, as you can see. We arrived here a long time ago."

Kang Seok winked in a playful manner.

Seol looked around and found Yi Hyungsik and Jeong Minwoo as well.

The so-called waiting area reminded him of a regular high school corridor. With the exception of steel beams barricading the windows, everything looked the same. At the end of the passage to the left, there was another door, and to the right, a solid wall.

"This place is like a prison…. That monster can't possibly enter here, right?"

"It can't. Dunno why, but that thing can't seem to get past the metal barrier. No telling what will happen if there was no barrier, though."

Kang Seok replied nonchalantly. Meanwhile, Hyun Sangmin was nodding his head along, before quietly asking back.

"Back then…. did you manage to open the door?"

"Not 'open', but more like 'breaking' it down. Thanks to a certain someone high tailing it outta there, after throwing down rocks and flower pots all over the place."

"You're blaming me?"

Hyun Sangmin's voice was icy cold. Kang Seok's eyebrows rose up, before he smirked softly.

"No way! I told you this before, didn't I? I don't really care what you do unless it involves us three. As long as you don't hinder us in any way, it's fine."

"…."

"Hmm. Maybe I sounded a bit rude just now. Sorry about that. I'm always like this…. Well, there's no reason for us Invited to be at odds with each other, right?"

"…That's true."

"Great! As an apology, I'll let you guys in on an interesting info."

Even Seol had to shift his attention to Kang Seok's direction after hearing the word, 'info'.

Kang Seok's lips twitched when he realized none other than this fancied 'Gold Mark' was paying attention to him. His posture suddenly became a bit stiffer and more arrogant compared to before.

"Now look closely. This here is the passage we came through."

Kang Seok pointed to his back, and then pressed a button on the wall. The metal spikes retracted to the floor before shooting back up again. Hyun Sangmin muttered under his breath.

"So, it's not on the outside, but inside…."

"That's right! That's where it gets interesting."

Kang Seok clapped his hands.

"To put it simply, this entrance became mine as soon as I entered first. Only I can open or close the barrier."

"What?"

"I only figured it out after entering here. The first one to enter through the barrier is given the right to control it. One person per barrier, though."

"How does that even make sense?"

"If you can't believe me, why don't you try it out?"

Kang Seok stepped aside, allowing Hyun Sangmin to quickly press the button on the wall. However, there was no reaction from the barrier. He pressed it a second time, then third, and then many more times afterwards, but the metal spikes didn't budge an inch.

Yeon-woo did not see the point of such a conversation. It was obvious that Kang Seok was trying to stroke his own ego in front of the Gold Mark. and whether or not he was allowed in meant nothing to him.

After all, he had planned on leaving the area eventually anyway, and he had enough confidence to fight anything sent his way.

The more important things he was thinking about, was what would they send now that he had killed the main boss?