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Chapter 48: Chapter 48

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.

'…..?'

Then, while ignoring Jin-Woo's question-filled gaze directed at it, Igrit extended its hand out towards the sword discarded to the ground some distance away.

Then, the sword was automatically reeled in.

Igrit grasped the sword in both of its hands and walked to the side of Jin-Woo.

Soon, the tip of the blade was pointing to the sky.

'You want to execute me, is that it?'

This b*stard certainly lived up to its title as the captain of the knights.

When it looked like Jin-Woo wasn't going to resist his final moments, Igrit went ahead with the execution.

Of course, Jin-Woo wasn't going to let that happen without a fight.

The sword fell down in a straight line.

Swish-!

However, Jin-Woo reached up with his left hand and blocked the descending blade.

CLANG!

The noise of metal hitting metal!

The gauntlet he found just before entering here protected his hand.

Flinch!

He sensed Igrit being taken back just now. Jin-Woo didn't miss this chance and threw a punch with his right hand.

As expected, Igrit didn't try to dodge.

'You're thinking of countering me again, right?'

It had probably calculated that getting hit once while countering that was far more productive. Too bad, it failed to take something important into its calculation.

'Poison Fang of Kasaka!'

Shururu….

The Poison Fang of Kasaka was summoned instantly into his hand.

And Jin-Woo stabbed the dagger in the creature's eye.

Stab!

Kuwooooaaar!!

A scream that couldn't have come from a human being exploded out.

At the same time, a fierce light poured out from the eye with the dagger sticking out.

Jin-Woo hurriedly stood back up.

'Now what?'

Just damaging one eye wouldn't be able to determine the winner of this battle. He needed an attack even more powerful than that if he wanted to win.

It was then, a thought entered his mind.

The horrifying attack that almost pushed him to the brink of death the other day! He wanted to let Igrit taste that attack, too.

Before he could finish thinking that, his body moved first.

Jin-Woo bent down and bear-hugged Igrit's midriff.

And then… he began running.

Kuooaark!!

Igrit thrashed about in pain and managed to land several solid blows on Jin-Woo's back. However, he gritted his teeth and didn't let Igrit go.

No, he increased his speed instead.

"Dash!!"

[Your movement speed has increased by 40%.]

Jin-Woo's legs were now moving so much faster. He felt the electrifying speed sending chills down his entire body.

'Yes, this is it. And now….'

And now, he'd slam this b*stard!

While gripping the midriff of Igrit even harder, he dashed towards the nearest wall with every ounce of energy he had.

Of course, if they collided against the wall at this speed, the impact his own body received would be substantial as well. However, Jin-Woo had a hidden trump card in the form of a certain passive skill.

The distance closed in the blink of an eye!

The wall was right behind them.

Kaboom!!

Along with the huge explosion, Igrit crashed into the wall.

At the same time, a message from the System popped up.

Tti-ring!

[Your HP has dropped below 30% and 'Skill: Tenacity' has been activated.]

[All damage received will be reduced by 50%.]

The impact force was great enough for the entire boss room to tremble momentarily.

"Keu-euk."

Jin-Woo took a step back.

Igrit was buried half-way into the wall, yet it was still alive. The 'flame' of life burning under the helm was still flickering visibly.

'….I need to finish this.'

Jin-Woo yanked the Poison Fang of Kasaka, still buried in its eye, loose.

That caused Igrit's body to quiver once.

Jin-Woo held the dagger in a reverse grip, and stabbed hard at the b*stard's neck.

'Vital Points Targetting!'

Clang!!

The attack failed to work.

One more time.

'Vital Points Targetting!'

Clang!!

Sparks flew off from the tip of the dagger.

A small nick formed on the metal covering the monster's neck.

One more time.

'Vital Points Targetting!'

Clang!

One more!

Clang!

One more!

Clang!!!

And finally…

'Vital Points Targetting!!'

Crack!!

The Poison Fang of Kasaka broke past the protective metal and dug deep into its neck.

[You defeated the Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

Jin-Woo raised both of his hands up high into the sky.

He took several steps back, before losing all strength in his legs and faltered to the floor.

"Pant, pant….!"

Jin-Woo spat out the heavy breaths he'd been holding in until now.

He won, somehow.

It was an incredibly close fight.

'However… wasn't this the end of the quest?'

Jin-Woo collected his breaths for a long time, before painfully raising his body up.

He expected the class quest to end once he killed this guy, but not one message popped up in his view. He looked around, but he failed to spot anything different in the boss room.

No, there was one thing that was different from before.

Several strands of light began flickering on Igrit's body. Meaning, his loot was now ready.

'For the time being, let's grab those.'

After all, he couldn't tell what else might happen here.

Grabbing things that he could grab when there was a chance was the smartest move one could make, wasn't it?

Jin-Woo reached out towards those lights.

['Item: Red Knight's Helm' has been found. Take it?]

['Rune Stone: Ruler's Reach' has been found. Take it?]

['Item: Leather Pouch' has been found. Take it?]

['Item: Immediate Return Stone' has been found. Take it?]

Why were there so many?

Jin-Woo felt rather puzzled, but still, he couldn't hide his elation, either.

'Acquire them all.'

The first thing to enter his Inventory was the Leather Pouch.

['Item: Leather Pouch' has been opened.]

[1,500,000 Gold is inside.]

[1,500,000 Gold has been acquired.]

Jin-Woo's eyes went extra round.

'The level of reward is on another scale altogether!'

It definitely was worth it, defeating it after going through so much crap.

He wasn't expecting all that much, to begin with, yet the leather pouch spat out an unbelievable amount of 1,500,000 Gold.

With this amount, he'd be able to buy something useful from the Store now.

However, Jin-Woo's attention was directed elsewhere at the moment.

If the leather pouch he didn't even hold high hopes for managed to produce such wealth, then just how high was the value of the helm or the Rune Stone?

Jin-Woo tried very hard to calm his heart and brought up the information on the helm.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Red Knight's Helm]

Rarity: S

Type: Armour

Reduction in physical damage: +15%

Stamina +20, Strength +20

"It's an S!!"

Jin-Woo cried out in elation.

Chapter 49: Chapter 49

For the first time ever, an item with a rarity ranking of 'S' showed up.

Just the effect of 15% reduction in physical damage alone would've made it a top-tier item, yet it even possessed two more remarkable additional attributes of raising the Stamina and Strength Stats by 20 points each.

Just seeing those options alone made his heart palpitate so much faster.

'The rarity A items can't even compare to it!'

He had acquired two A-ranked items up until now.

The first was the Poison Sac of Kasaka, the one he got after he defeated the snake 'Blue Kasaka'; the second one being the Gatekeeper's Necklace after he defeated the Cerberus.

Those two items were already quite excellent.

The poison sac had the terrible penalty of stealing 35 points from his Strength Stat, but its effect also decreased the physical damage taken by 20%.

What about the Gatekeeper's Necklace, then?

It was one of the best items out there that increased both Agility and Perception Stats by 20 each – two Stats he now knew the importance of.

But the Red Knight's Helm possessed the kind of buffing effect that combined both of those items. And without any penalty, to boot.

'No need to mention it. It's the best.'

He was fully aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of the dungeon's boss room, yet the smile on his face didn't want to go away.

And if he were to add in one more unnecessary point here, he even liked the helm's design.

'It's a bit of a pity to hide this thing, though.'

The crimson helm that immediately reminded all onlookers of the flowing blood, and the mane connected to the helm itself, made him feel like he was holding an artistic masterpiece.

It was only for a brief moment, but he even felt compelled to put on the full set of this armour if it existed somewhere.

However…

'What a waste….'

Igrit's other armour pieces weren't considered to be loot, as there were no lights coming off from them. Only the helm could be taken away.

Jin-Woo forced back a rueful smile and cautiously put on the helm.

Poof.

Just as always, the helm disappeared from the view immediately.

Although he couldn't show off his new look, his Stats had gained a huge boost thanks to his new headwear.

[Stats]

Strength: 128 (+20)

Stamina: 87 (+20)

Agility: 107

Intelligence: 66

Perception: 89

Reduction in physical damage: 46% (+15%)

The numbers appearing in brackets were the increases in his Stats from the helm itself. Not only the Strength and Stamina Stats, but the hard-to-increase damage reduction Stat all enjoyed massive boosts.

He was completely and utterly satisfied now.

Having confirmed the increase with his own two eyes, his heart began beating even faster.

'No, no, no.'

Jin-Woo quickly shook his head.

'The quest isn't over yet, so let's calm down.'

Besides, he still had other items to sort out, too.

With the trace of excitement still lingering in his mind, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the other two items.

[Rune Stone: Ruler's Reach]

[Item: Immediate Return Stone]

Two pieces of stones.

Out of the two walnut-sized stones, the first one to grab his curious gaze was the Immediate Return Stone.

'I know what is a Rune Stone, but this….'

Just what could this Immediate Return Stone do?

His curiosity got resolved pretty quickly, however. The information on the Immediate Return Stone floated up right away.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Immediate Return Stone]

Rarity: ??

Type: Consumable

An item exclusive to this Class Change Quest. When destroyed, you'll be transported outside the dungeon immediately. However, once the Class Change Quest has been concluded, it will automatically be destroyed.

Can't be stored in the Inventory.

The way to use it was similar to a Rune Stone.

However, to think that its effect wasn't about absorbing a new skill, but to escape from this dungeon….

'Hang on a sec. The Class Change Quest isn't over yet?!'

If that were the case, then this particular item should've been destroyed already.

Since it hadn't, that could only mean…

For some reason, he felt a creeping chill slowly caress his spine.

What an odd sensation that was.

He had received one of the best items out there that could help him make his escape from this dungeon, yet why was he getting this incredibly bad premonition right now?

If this stone could be used in regular dungeons, and not only inside the System-generated ones, then just about everyone alive would try to buy this thing.

Seriously, this stone would be the same as having a sure-fire way to save their lives, so no one should be foolish enough to pinch pennies when trying to get their hands on one.

It was the same with Jin-Woo, too. Just this item alone should decrease the burden of this quest by a great deal.

'If I so choose….'

….He'd be able to escape at any time.

However, the ominous feeling taking root in the corner of his mind didn't want to go away, no matter what.

And, sure enough!

The warning beep from the System went off in his head as if it was waiting for this moment.

Tti-ring.

['Player' has acquired the Immediate Return Stone.]

[The 'Class Change Quest' will now commence.]

Son of a b*tch!

So, this was the item to start the quest for real!

He nearly fainted on the spot. He felt like he had stepped on something he shouldn't have in the first place.

'If I knew this might happen, I'd have taken a short break first!'

What would regret do for him now?

No matter how much one relied on one's experience and knowledge to predict the future, one would never be able to correctly guess the tricks of fate.

A strand of cold sweat dripped down from Jin-Woo's forehead.

Jin-Woo summoned the Status Window inwardly and confirmed the remaining HP and his fatigue level.

[HP: 4161/10270]

[MP: 390/850]

[Tiredness: 61]

'The Tiredness Stat is a bit on the high side, but I can still do this.'

The helm's added effects enhanced his Stamina Stat by a lot, which meant that his overall endurance had increased greatly as well, and his remaining HP had risen up as an added bonus, too.

What a relief that was.

As if to encourage himself, Jin-Woo continued to tell himself that…

'I can still do this. It's not impossible.'

Of course, his life should not be in any imminent danger. Because, he held the Immediate Return Stone, after all.

However, no matter how hard he thought about it, this Immediate Return Stone sounded awfully like an item that signified him giving up on the quest.

If that was not the case, then it shouldn't have been the quest-starting item, to begin with.

'If I give up on this quest….'

Wouldn't it be the same as him giving up on this chance to get his class?

The cold sweat on his forehead rolled past his temple and down to his chin, before dripping down.

Gulp.

Just as he swallowed a bit of dry spit and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, the System's new message popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.

[In ten seconds, dimensional doorways will be randomly generated.]

'Dimensional doorways?'

Even before his question could be cleared up, huge numbers appeared up in the middle of the air.

[00:00:10]

He could easily tell what that was.

It most likely was signifying the countdown.

Meanwhile, the messages continued on.

['Player' has a choice.]

[You can escape from the dungeon by using the Immediate Return Stone, or….]

…..8, 7, 6.

The timer continued to tick down to 0.

[Or, endure as long as you can and earn as many advancement points as possible in order to access the higher ranked classes.]

"Endure?! Endure what exactly?"

He ended up shouting out loudly as his frustration mounted. However, Jin-Woo was already holding the Poison Fang of Kasaka summoned from his Inventory.

He stored the Rune Stone inside the Inventory, while the Immediate Return Stone was placed inside the back of his pocket since it couldn't be stored there.

Even though his heart beat fast and hard enough to nearly explode, he didn't forget to get ready for the battle that was about to come.

That was how Seong Jin-Woo operated.

[The Class Change Quest will soon commence.]

….4, 3, 2.

Jin-Woo anxiously glared at the time and quickly scanned his surroundings.

His head and eyes darted around quickly, over here and over there.

Something ominous was clearly getting ready to begin; the space around him was separating and twisting visibly to his eyes.

[00:00:01]

[I wish you the best of luck.]

What?

For the first time ever, the System expressed 'emotion'.

Too bad, he had no time to stew inside his shock. The moment the timer hit 0, several Gates began forming all around him.

Buzzz…

Wuuooong….

Not just one or two, either.

He first spotted six around him. The number continued to climb up even higher, however.

And at the same time, the timer began ticking upwards.

[00:00:02]

The 'countdown' began again.

The time would become his so-called advancement points. He hadn't understood everything the System said, but still, he did figure out some parts of it.

'The longer I endure, the stronger I will get.'

No, more specifically, he'd instead get a powerful class.

There was no way he'd throw away a golden opportunity like this. He also had some wiggle room left with his HP and MP.

'Let's endure as long as I can.'

[00:00:03]

When the timer hit exactly three seconds, weapon-less knights poured out from the nearest Gate.

Thud, thud, thud, thud….

When the knights decked out in full armour formed silver-coloured waves, the ground couldn't help but tremor from the weight.

The momentum these things displayed would have been enough to overwhelm most people, but there was a smile floating up onto Jin-Woo's lips, instead.

'If it's these guys, I can definitely fight them!'

In a way, he was oh-so-glad to see them as his opponents.

If the monsters coming out from the Gates happened to be as strong as Igrit, then he wouldn't even be able to last a couple of seconds.

'Stealth!'

Jin-Woo used some part of the remaining MP and activated the skill 'Stealth'.

'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'.]

Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Jin-Woo doubted his own hearing just then.

'….Penalty Zone?!'

Ah!

He then remembered it; he didn't do the daily quest for today.

He was planning on confirming the results of his constant levelling up, and to help him decide whether he was ready to tackle the Demon's Castle or not.

Who could've guessed that things might unfold in this manner?

RUUUUMBLE-!!

Just like back in the hospital, everything began to violently shake.

Plop.

Plop.

The knights piling on top of Jin-Woo turned into figures of sand one by one.

The world surrounding him was changing.

'Ha…. hahaha…..'

Jin-Woo soundlessly laughed to himself.

For some reason, the words the System spoke to him before the beginning of the quest circled around inside his head.

[I wish you the best of luck.]

Was it trying to imply that the quest itself was unimaginably hard, to the point that he needed luck to complete it?

Or, was it implying that it'd cheer him on, as he resorted to borrowing the power of luck and earn a ton of advancement points that way?

Luck, coincidence, whatever it was called, he didn't care. No matter what it was, his chance had come.

The important thing was how he'd go about utilising that.

RUMBLE-!!

The tremor was getting worse.

Rather than wasting time trying to stabilise himself Jin-Woo entrusted his body to the tremor and closed his eyes.

'Let's not get agitated here….'

When he did that, he felt airborne and weightless, and all sound vanished from his hearing.

When he reopened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of the endless sea of sand.

Jin-Woo plopped down, face first.

"Ker-heo-eok…. Pant, pant, pant…"

His fingers dug into the desert sand as the held-up breaths exploded out of his mouth. Fresh air entered and flowed into every corner of his body via his lungs.

Finally…

"….I feel alive."

The sense of relief wrapped Jin-Woo up tightly, as he rolled onto his back.

He could see the black sky above with nothing in it. The endless expanse of the pitch-black ceiling was the only thing his eyes could capture.

This place looked exactly the same as the penalty zone from his memories.

'Wait, I shouldn't be wasting time like this.'

He had forgotten that this place was not a safe zone either, since he just made a miraculous escape from a comparably far worse area.

But, Jin-Woo couldn't be ar*ed into standing up any time soon, so while lying on his back, he summoned the Status Window.

[HP: 104/10270]

[MP: 202/850]

[Tiredness: 91]

He was wondering why it was so difficult to move his body, but as it turned out, the d*mn 'Tiredness' Stat was over 90.

'This is probably my first time that Stat has gone past 90, right?'

He really didn't want to even lift a finger here.

His health was one thing, but he figured that lowering his fatigue took priority.

"Store."

Tti-ring.

Two words, 'Buy' and 'Sell' popped up in the air.

Although the layout of this Store imparted not one hint of sincerity, no matter how kind he looked at it, he found it such a welcoming sight right now.

He picked out the most expensive healing potion on sale.

As soon as he confirmed the purchase…

Shurururu…

A glass bottle containing red liquid appeared on his wide-open palm.

Jin-Woo laboriously popped the cork open and poured the potion down his mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

The red liquid travelled down his throat and entered deep into his body.

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

[Your fatigue is recovering.]

Maybe because it was the most expensive potion, just one bottle was enough to lower the Tiredness value at a visible rate.

However, for some reason, his HP value didn't change at all.

[HP: 106/10270]

[MP: 204/850]

[Tiredness: 0]

Even after he finished the whole bottle, his HP didn't recover. It was such a noticeable contrast to his Tiredness Stat hitting 0.

'Why is it doing this?'

Only after he completely drained the bottle did he finally get to understand the reason for this anomaly.

Tti-ring.

[When your remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to heal yourself with healing potions.]

What a simple reason, that – his remaining HP was too low.

'Of course….'

Even healing magic had its limitations.

It was not a foreign concept to him.

Just as a Healer's ranking determined the scope of their healing capabilities, potions too couldn't heal past a certain limit.

'And that limit is 10%, huh….'

He learned something important today. He might have landed in really hot water during a critical moment by believing potions could solve everything.

This was why experiencing it first hand was important.

Well, there was an old saying, wasn't there?

Things that couldn't kill him would make him stronger?

That perfectly illustrated the usefulness of personal experience.

And thankfully, Jin-Woo possessed experience regarding the Penalty Zone.

'I'm sure they should pop up right about now….'

And just as he expected…

He sensed the presence of lifeforms beneath the surface.

Jin-Woo tightly shrunk his body for a second, before springing up to his feet.

His entire body felt as light as feather. His strength had returned in full, thanks to the potion.

Standing straight on his feet, Jin-Woo turned around and took a look.

Just as he expected, the spot he was lying on a second ago began caving in and a crater formed there.

'Back then, I thought I'd die if I slipped and fell in there.'

But now, he had so much leeway that he was actually spectating on the whole process with some leisure.

At the very bottom of the sandy crater, the ground began to 'boil' and tremble about, before….

Pushuiiii-!!

The sand exploded up like a pillar and the huge centipede revealed itself.

"Kiieeehhhk!!"

Everything matched up to his memories so far.

'And I found this thing so terrifying to look at back then, too….'

But now, he couldn't help feeling like he was looking at some video footage being played in slow-motion.

Jin-Woo raised his eyes a bit higher.

And he got to clearly confirm those red letters floating above the centipede's head.

[Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede]

Its name was in red letters, the same colour as the Cerberus from the Demon's Castle.

It was then, the quest message appeared before his eyes.

Tti-ring!

[Penalty Quest: Survival]

Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.

Time limit: 4 hours

Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds

Confirming the details of the message, Jin-Woo clenched his fist tightly.

'I can buy myself time with this.'

Since he hadn't used the immediate return stone to escape from the dungeon, he still had a shot here.

'I'm pretty sure that, as soon as the Penalty Quest is over, I will be sent back to that place.'

What if time spent inside the Penalty Zone was acknowledged as the time he endured during the quest? His advancement points tally would be enormous.

He couldn't even imagine just what kind of an impact that would have.

'However….'

However, when he thought back to how the System affected him every day, he was sure of this becoming something absolutely huge.

'Four hours!'

He couldn't even endure ten minutes and tried to use the immediate return stone, yet simply by transferring into the penalty zone, he now got himself four hours for free.

There was one issue he still had to resolve first, however.

And that would be whether he could get out of this place unscathed with only 100 or so HP remaining.

As it was impossible to heal himself using potions, he had to do his best to cautiously kill these centipedes until he levelled up.

It was kind of like a new mission for him.

'….Let's do this.'

Jin-Woo summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka.

And then…

[Remaining time: 03:59:59]

….Then, as soon as the penalty quest began, he dashed forward, even before the centipede had the chance to move.

Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of an eye and lightly leapt up right in front of the centipede.

Paht!

He landed on one of the legs near the midpoint of the centipede and, as he made his way up, Jin-Woo proceeded to inflict several injuries on the body of the monster.

Stab! Staaab! Stab!

On all the spots the reverse-gripped Poison Fang of Kasaka brushed past, flesh split open and bodily fluid poured out.

Kiieeehhkk!!

The centipede roared out and thrashed about as if each wound inflicted was too painful to bear.

'Dash!'

Jin-Woo's sprinting legs became even faster.

Step, step, step, step!

Jin-Woo deftly treaded on the centipede's body and arrived at the top of its head only a second later. He gripped the dagger with both of his hands and raised it up high.

And then…

'Vital Points Targetting!'

He used his skill and stabbed down on the centipede's head with every ounce of his power.

The downward pointing blade dug deep into the flesh of the centipede's head.

Crack!!

['Skill: Vital Points Targetting' has levelled up!]

'Niiice!'

What a wonderful piece of news to show up in such a long time!

The damage from the levelled-up Vital Points Targetting must've been pretty substantial, because the centipede shook its head around quite violently and thrashed about in great pain.

Kieeeeck!! Kiieeeechk!

Jin-Woo didn't stop there.

He stepped away from its head and moved to its back. Because he saw a completely unguarded body part to attack.

STAB!!

Jin-Woo stabbed the dagger deep into the monster's back flesh, and by using gravity, he fell to the ground while holding onto his weapon.

SFX for centipede's back splitting up

The power from the Strength Stat exceeding 120 points, as well as the helping hand of gravity added on top as he fell from the height of a five-story building, caused the centipede's back to split open quite splendidly.

Tap.

Jin-Woo landed on the ground without any trouble.

Kiieehhk!! Kiieeehhh!

The centipede spewed out its bodily fluids everywhere. Its giant body thrashed and quivered before it slowly crashed on the ground.

Boom!!

The huge body of the centipede landed and kicked up the dust cloud.

Tti-ring.

[You defeated the Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede.]

Jin-Woo dusted himself off while checking out the remaining time.

[Remaining time: 03:59:42]

'I spent 17 seconds.'

He didn't even need 20 seconds to kill a single centipede.

It was a complete contrast to when he was fighting the Cerberus, ostensibly on the same level as this centipede.

He had become unbelievably strong now.

'Well, yeah. I've levelled up so many times since then, and just how many items did I get my hands on, in the meantime?'

It was a rather obvious conclusion.

He now felt confident of hunting other centipedes down without getting hurt if these monsters posed such a little threat.

'Now then. My problem would be the number of monsters in this place that I can hunt to reach my next level….'

That would be the only way to raise his odds of his victory when he got thrown back into the class quest.

If he went back without having recovered his HP, only a dog's death would be waiting for him there.

It was at this point when….

More sand pillars began erupting out from the ground.

Pushhuiii-!!

Pushuuueeiii!!

It seemed that quite a lot of centipedes rushed over here after picking up on the scent of the blood from its dead kin.

Kiieeehhk!

Kiieehhhhk-

Almost immediately, Jin-Woo's expression brightened.

'Just how many are here?'

Seeing all those centipedes poking their heads out from the sandy surface, Jin-Woo could no longer suppress the wide smile from blooming on his face.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As the result of wrestling around with these centipedes for the past four hours, his level rose up four times and now it sat at 51.

Before he knew it, the penalty quest was coming to an end.

[Penalty Quest: Survival]

Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.

Time limit: 4 hours

Remaining time: 0 hours 3 minutes 19 seconds

Soon, he'd have to go back.

Jin-Woo took a sweeping look around him. The corpses of centipedes filled up his view everywhere he looked. Thanks to them, he got to recover his HP back to full.

'It's a bit of waste that these things don't give any loot or Gold….'

Well, it'd be strange that loot would come out when he was supposed to get punished in this place…

He stopped worrying about that and got ready, instead.

'Store.'

[Current Gold: 3,115,629]

Humanoid-type monsters dropped the Gold-containing leather pouch really often, and also, Igrit also gave him 1.5 million Gold in one go.

So, he now had enough funds to spend.

Jin-Woo spent all that Gold to buy one single weapon.

As a matter of fact, there was this one dagger that caught his eye.

[Item: Knight Killer]

Rarity: B

Type: Dagger

Attack: +75

A sharp and sturdy dagger designed to cut through the armour worn by the knights. The edges of the blade are shaped like the teeth of a saw blade, thus it won't slide off the armour's surface easily.

Effect 'Killing Knights': +25% additional damage when attacking heavily armoured opponents.

It was a specially crafted weapon to deal with armour-wearing enemies. And it cost 2.8 million Gold.

He had to spend almost every Gold he had in reserve to buy this weapon, but he didn't have any leeway to shed a tear over it.

'It's not like I can take the Gold with me to the grave, anyway.'

He didn't hesitate and bought the dagger.

[You have purchased 'Knight Killer'.]

[You have purchased 'Bandages���.]

Along with the Knight Killer, Jin-Woo also bought a roll of bandages.

He held the dagger with a rather scary-looking sawblade-like cutting edge in his right hand, and wrapped them both tightly with the bandage.

Swish! Swish!!

When he swung the Knight Killer around a couple of times, it felt like the dagger had become a part of his limb now.

'At a bare minimum, I shouldn't drop it accidentally.'

He thought about tying the Poison Fang of Kasaka to his left hand too, but he decided not to.

It'd be too cumbersome when he couldn't use both of hands.

He figured that at least one of his hands still retaining its mobility would make his life more flexible.

While he was putting away the leftover bandage into Inventory, he spotted the Rune Stone from Igrit.

'Ah. There was this thing, too.'

[Rune Stone: Ruler's Reach]

You can absorb the skill by breaking this Rune Stone.

Right now, he needed to grasp at everything, even if that was a piece of straw. Whether that was an item or a skill, he needed to obtain whatever that could become his combat strength.

Jin-Woo didn't hesitate and broke the Rune Stone.

[You've acquired 'Skill: Ruler's Reach'.]

[Skill: Ruler's Reach Lv. 1]

Active skill.

Required Mana to activate: None.

Even without touching, you can physically influence an object.

'Ah…'

As soon as he read that description, he recalled a certain scene.

It was when Igrit extended its hand towards its longsword that was discarded on the floor, far away.

'So, this is the skill that made the sword move back then.'

A skill that could move objects around from a distance with nothing but his will! On top of that, he didn't even have to spend any Mana, either!

'If I am able to move any object I see just like the description says, then this would be one hell of a skill to possess.'

Jin-Woo immediately tried to experiment with the skill on the corpse of the centipede next to him.

[Your proficiency is too low and the target can't be moved.]

[Your proficiency is too low and the target can't be moved.]

If he wanted to move something heavy, then it was likely that his proficiency with the skill had to be much higher.

'How about this, then?'

Jin-Woo dropped the Poison Fang of Kasaka to the floor. And he extended his hand towards the dagger.

Then, the dagger quickly rose up.

Grab!

'Ohhhh.'

Jin-Woo snatched the Poison Fang's hilt and stared at it with totally mystified eyes.

'Nice. This will come in handy.'

And with that, he was as prepared as he could get.

When he raised his head to confirm, the required time was almost up.

[Remaining time: 00:00:04]

When the timer changed from 4 to 3, a new message from the System popped up in his view.

Tti-ring.

[Penalty Quest will conclude shortly.]

And another message followed after that one.

Tti-ring.

[As you have tried to hunt inside the Penalty Zone, the difficulty of the next Penalty Quest will be adjusted to a higher level.]

The difficulty would be adjusted higher.

Meaning, it'd make the hunting so much harder that the 'Penalty Quest' would actually serve its purpose as proper punishment again.

But, then again, would there be the next time?

Jin-Woo anxiously swallowed his saliva.

'From here onwards, it's back to the Class Change Quest.'

Inside that boss room, hundreds of monsters were waiting for his return.

Or, the number could be even higher now.

If he was being kind here, he was returning to that place, but truthfully, it was more like him being thrown back in there.

HP, MP, Tiredness, equipment, and even a new skill.

And his renewed resolve.

His current condition was so much better than when he first set foot in that place, but when he thought about going back there, he couldn't help but get tense and nervous.

Thump, thump, thump….

His heart beat so hard that it actually hurt.

Jin-Woo closed his eyes. He tried to maintain his calm.

Soon, the familiar mechanical beep went off in his head.

Tti-ring.

[Penalty Quest has concluded.]

'This is my last chance….'

When Jin-Woo opened his eyes again…

His vision was filled with the silver-coloured knights all snapping their heads in his direction at once.

However, they weren't important right now.

Right away, Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes and searched for something.

'I gotta find the mages first!!'

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

The reason for searching for the mages was quite simple.

'If my thoughts are correct….'

And that was to confirm whether the supposition he made back in the Penalty Zone was correct or not.

Meanwhile, the knights all began rushing violently towards him.

Jin-Woo calmly jumped and stepped on the shoulder of the knight closest to him, and leapt up into the air. That allowed him to take in the interior of the boss room in one go.

'Where are the mages?'

...Found one!

Not too far from him, he spotted a lone mage.

'As I thought!'

What he witnessed back then was right.

Indeed, he didn't see wrong.

Back then, when he was being squeezed tight by the group of knights and only his arm could flail about helplessly, Jin-Woo spotted something through the narrow gaps he couldn't quite understand at the time.

'....'

And that was a mage continuously chanting a spell.

A mage busy chanting a spell… at a casual glance, that wouldn't be something out of place. However, Jin-Woo still felt a strong sense of discord from that.

'If that's the case, then how come….'

How come he saw not one single spell flying at him?

Every attack he received came from the knights. Mages continued to chant, yet not once did they complete their spells and display their might.

No, there was that one time.

Back when one of them used something called Eyes of Detection and undid his Stealth. And when that was happening, for some reason, all the knights nearby stopped moving.

At first, he thought they only stopped because they had lost their target.

However, while he was hunting down the giant centipedes in the Penalty Zone, he belatedly realised something quite important.

Was it around the eighth centipede he killed? The level up message popped up and he clenched his fist tightly.

[Level up!]

His spent HP and MP were restored to full. After the short period of elation, a weird incongruency rushed in right afterwards.

'My level can rise this easily, yet why didn't I level up once in that place?'

The System said that his health wouldn't recover through level up, but crucially, it said nothing about him being unable to level up.

Indeed, his level rose up by 5 on his way towards the boss room, too. However, only during the Class Change Quest, he didn't level up once. Even though he endured for over six minutes and killed a hundred plus knights.

Mages busy chanting but not casting any spells.

Knights that apparently didn't give out any experience points.

When he took these actions of the two separate groups that puzzled him so much and combined them into one singular puzzle….

A new possibility formed in Jin-Woo's head.

'It could be….'

It was possible that all of the knights there were fake.

The reason why all those knights stopped moving when the mage used Eyes of Detection could be that… it wasn't because he had vanished, but because the mage had stopped casting.

'If my guess is correct…!!'

He needed to confirm it right now.

Jin-Woo ignored the knights reaching out to grab him and ran towards the mage while using their shoulders and heads as his footholds.

'….!'

He sensed the mage panicking after spotting his approach. And its casting speed had increased. Suddenly, the knights no longer attacked him without a plan and tried to gather around the mage to protect it.

With that, Jin-Woo was convinced now.

Tap!

He landed in front of the mage. Without a moment of hesitation, the dagger held in his right hand accurately pierced the mage's heart.

'Vital Points Targetting!'

Stab!

The mage soundlessly turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared from the view.

[You defeated a mage.]

And at the same time-!

Tumble!!!

Hundreds of knights rushing in to attack Jin-Woo all collapsed at the same time. It was as if they were puppets with their strings cut.

The knights collapsed on the floor were now, more or less, empty suits of armour.

'This was my answer!'

Jin-Woo cried out inwardly in elation.

He had to go through several near-death situations just to get to this conclusion.

Knights were nothing to worry about. No, it was the mages that controlled these knights.

The real goal was to kill them, instead.

'The first target my Knight Killer killed was a mage…..'

Jin-Woo couldn't help but chuckle as he looked down at the empty robe discarded on the floor. He had that much leeway now.

Of course, he couldn't continue to stand around doing nothing forever. After all, his quest hadn't ended yet.

Rumble…

The ground shook again.

Jin-Woo turned around and saw that the knights had him surrounded from almost all sides with no gaps to speak of.

Meaning, there were other mages controlling these batches of knights hidden somewhere.

Knights pounced on him. Jin-Woo's right hand moved so fast that naked eyes couldn't even see its shape.

Slice!!

The knights standing in front of him all got cut in half.

Jin-Woo's eyes opened real wide after witnessing that.

'Wow!'

It was worth investing 2.8 million Gold on this dagger. The blade of his Knight Killer pierced and sliced open the knights' armour as if they were made of paper.

It didn't seem that the saw-like blade was the only reason for this.

Just as the item description, 'dagger designed for use against knights' said, he could sense a strong magic-like power emanating from this Knight Killer.

'A weapon from the Store is actually pretty good, isn't it?'

There was a slight deviation from the accepted norm here. Normally, most people would think of weapons sold in stores as something one would use in a pinch when there was no better alternative.

'I shouldn't be dismissing Gold from now, huh….?'

At a bare minimum, this dagger seemed a lot more useful than weapons designed for a Hunter. He even thought that, if he sold weapons from the Store to other Hunters, he would become rich in no time at all.

Well, he didn't see any restrictions on the weapon descriptions that he couldn't give one to someone else, which was different from 'consumable' type items.

'Concentrate, man. Concentrate!'

Now wasn't the time to get distracted. Knights were still tirelessly rushing at him.

Swish! Slice!!

Jin-Woo dodged this way and that while cutting them down.

However….

'This will go on forever.'

When he shifted his gaze away just for a brief moment, far more knights than he had cut down appeared out of seemingly nowhere to fill the gap.

Slice!!

One more knight lost its head.

'I gotta find the mages.'

Jin-Woo utilised the shoulders of the headless knight and leapt up before the creature collapsed to the floor.

'Stealth!'

Jin-Woo's form blurred in an instant. Of course, he wasn't trying to hide via Stealth. What he was aiming for was….

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

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

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

….The ear-piercing mechanical beeps rang out from several directions.

Jin-Woo ran on top of the knights and quickly confirmed the positions of the eye-like symbols.

'There are a total of five mages!'

Jin-Woo targetted the closest mage to him.

'...!'

The mage hurriedly gathered knights around it the moment Jin-Woo turned to stare at it, but….

Swish-!!

The Poison Fang of Kasaka flew out of his left hand in a straight line and stabbed accurately in the middle of the mage's forehead.

Stab!

[You've acquired 'Skill: Dagger Throw'.]

[You defeated the mage.]

Tumble…

Once more, hundreds of knights tumbled to the ground.

'Four more left!'

Jin-Woo stepped on the knights' heads and moved towards his next target.

Meanwhile, he sneaked a glance towards the 'Poison Fang of Kasaka' he hadn't recovered yet. It was time to use his new skill.

'Ruler's Reach!'

Jin-Woo extended his left hand towards the dagger, and as if a magnet was pulling it in, the weapon flew back in.

'Yes!'

Jin-Woo snatched the dagger off the air.

Now that he didn't have to personally retrieve his dagger, he could take the most efficient route to his target. In the next second, he arrived before the next mage, and…

'…..!'

Even before the knights could try anything, he cut the b*stard up in half.

[You defeated the mage.]

More knights collapsed again. With that, not even half of the original number of knights remained.

The initiative was clearly with him now.

Jin-Woo's glare became harsher.

'There are three left.'

Perhaps sensing the threat, the remaining mages all gathered in one spot. It wasn't only them, either. The knights they controlled also gathered around them.

And then, the mages all chanted a certain spell together. Their ominous and creepy voices reverberated throughout the boss room and soon, they finished their spell.

Crack, creak.

The knights guarding the mages were suddenly pulled into one lump and got compressed as if they were thrown into an industrial crusher. And then, they were reborn as one huge metal Golem which began glaring at Jin-Woo right away.

Wuooo-!

'Wow, this is no joke, huh?'

Jin-Woo leaked out a gasp of pure admiration after sensing the overwhelming pressure emitted from this giant monster.

However, he wasn't scared by its appearance at all.

Perhaps because he had encountered several life-or-death situations already, he was feeling expectant rather than nervous.

Thud, thud, thud!!

Whenever the large Golem took steps, the ground shook.

What a fearsome presence it possessed.

Swoooosh-!

Jin-Woo ducked lower and dodged the Golem's fist.

Kabooom!

The stone pillar behind Jin-Woo shattered into pieces after its metallic fist grazed it.

'Well, that is pretty serious power…..'

Jin-Woo grinned slyly.

If he hadn't yet figured out what was going on here, he would've been wracking his brain trying to figure out how to deal with this monster. However, there was no need for him to worry about that now. No need at all.

Kuoooaarr!!

Just as the Golem locked its hands together and raised them high to smash down…

Jin-Woo didn't back away, but used his skill, 'Dash', and pounced forward. And then, he slid on the floor.

In the blink of an eye, he had slid in-between the legs of the Golem and shot right past it.

While the lumbering Golem was hastily turning around, Jin-Woo had already arrived before the three completely defenceless mages, still busy chanting their spell.

'….!'

'….!'

The shoulders of the panicking mages grandly shuddered.

'Checkmate!'

A smile of contentment formed on Jin-Woo's face.

The old saying went something like, by being together, you'd be safe and that separating from one another would mean death. Too bad for them, that was not the case this time around. It was far easier to kill them off because they had gathered in one place.

Jin-Woo freely swung his daggers about, and….

[You defeated the mage.]

[You defeated the mage.]

[You defeated the mage.]

The remaining three mages also became smoke and joined their already-departed comrades. And the Golem that was trying to hurriedly grab Jin-Woo shattered into pieces of armour and scattered all over the place.

Jin-Woo didn't let his guard down, however.

'Is this the end? Or, is there something more?'

He remained alert and ready just in case something else might happen, but then, the familiar beep went off in his head.

Tti-ring.

Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.

Perhaps to laugh at his unnecessary worries, the System announced the end of the quest, instead.

[The Class Change Quest has been concluded as all monsters inside the examination chamber have been defeated.]

[Your Class will be determined shortly.]

[Depending on the amount of advancement points accumulated, it will be possible to change your Class to a high-ranking one.]

Only now…

Only now could Jin-Woo spit out a sigh of relief.

"Fuu…."

What a difficult battle this had been.

If he remained fixated on the Immediate Return Stone, he'd never have figured out how to counter the Class Change Quest monsters.

'Yeah, I'd probably have been thinking about escaping all the time.'

He got unlucky – or perhaps got really lucky, instead – and lost the Immediate Return Stone. And that forced him to focus solely on surviving this battle. The end result was an unbridled success.

And now, it was time to receive his rewards.

Jin-Woo's gaze drifted towards the timer.

[04:29:16]

The numbers on the timer had stopped moving. He had 'endured' for almost four and a half hours. And that wasn't all.

In a quest that could be cleared simply by enduring the combined assault of the countless enemies for a while, he actually managed to kill them all.

Just from wondering about how many points he got to accumulate and what kind of a class he'd earn from that, his heart began trembling in anticipation.

[The suitable Class will be bestowed upon the Player after your past actions have been thoroughly analysed.]

'Yup, that sounds good.'

If his past actions were used as the basis for the selection of his Class, then the odds of him ending up with something weird and struggling in the future would be close to zero now.

It was probably the most welcoming thing he'd heard in a while.

[The places where the Player stands are dyed with the hidden breaths of an assassin. Corpses fill the paths the Player has walked past, and the scent of blood is thick and strong.]

….He thought that this description was a bit too heartless and cold, but after looking back, he couldn't come up with anything to rebut those words.

'I only did those in order to raise my level, though….'

After entering an instant dungeon, he kept hunting monsters down until his level would not rise any more. And while inside a regular dungeon, he made sure to find every single hidden monster there and slew them all, too.

Also, although it wasn't his intention, he ended up fighting other Hunters a couple of times, too.

'Assassin', 'corpses', and the 'scent of blood….'

'No matter how you look at it….'

Just as he suspected from the beginning, it seemed that his Class would be set at 'Assassin' now.

[Also, the Player thirsts for power, never relies on his comrades, and paves the new path for himself with his own strength.]

Nod, nod.

Jin-Woo nodded his head in agreement with the System's assessment.

'Well, it's not like I had any trustworthy comrades, to begin with.'

However, he couldn't understand why those points were being addressed during the selection of his Class. The System's explanation continued on.

[Your thirst for strong power is intense enough to summon the spirits of the departed, and the army of the deceased that unquestioningly follows all of your commands will pave the road only for you, without anyone's aid.]

'...…The army of the deceased?!'

Only now had Jin-Woo realised something had gone awry here.

Too bad, though.

"No, wait!!"

Even before he had any chance to raise his objections….

The System read off the result of the selection in its usual dry and humourless voice.

[Your Class has been set as 'Necromancer'.]

"…..What the f*ck?"

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

What was the meaning of this sudden slap to the back of his head?

Everything was going well, so why did 'Necromancer' pop out instead of the expected 'Assassin'??

Jin-Woo dazedly stared at the message. He even rubbed his eyes several times, but nothing changed.

[Your Class has been set as 'Necromancer'.]

The message still floated up there, unchanging.

He couldn't believe it at first, then he became really angry next.

'I've never even touched the Intelligence Stat, so what the hell?!'

Just how did he end up with a rare class not even found among countless Mage-type Hunters in the world??

From the moment Jin-Woo awoke as a rank E Hunter, he was always a close-quarters fighter. With the exception of the steel longsword, he always used daggers, and the skills he got until now were perfectly suited for the role of an assassin.

That was why he hadn't even thought of the possibility that his class would end up belonging to a different type altogether.

It was a magic-type, no less… No, more than that, a Necromancer!!

His knowledge of different classes came from video games, but even then, he knew enough about what being a Necromancer entailed.

A gloomy-looking mage, and an army of undead following that dude.

No matter how much he thought about it, that image just didn't correlate to him whatsoever.

Jin-Woo frowned deeply and shook his head.

'….Let's calm down, first.'

Even if his thoughts were complicated, his responses should be calm.

Being calm and cool-headed were Jin-Woo's ultimate weapons. He controlled his rage and regained his cool head soon afterwards.

'Hang on, isn���t this….'

Denial, then rage.

He suddenly felt like he was acting like a patient who just heard the diagnosis of terminal illness, and was going through the so-called five stages of grief.

'Rage… then, it's supposed to be negotiation, is it? Or was it compromise?'

Of course, there was no way he'd be allowed to negotiate or come to a compromise with the System.

If he were to think about the advantages of being a Necromancer, then…. just as the System alluded to, he could create his own army? About that much?

'Well, the problem here is that army will consist of skeletons and rotting corpses.'

If he walked around with such an army, the whole world would be up in arms in no time.

Hunters were already the objects of aspiration and fear, yet he was being asked to become a Hunter who could lead around an army of the departed….

Never mind the question of this class being suitable to him or not, he wasn't even confident of handling the fallout from that.

Tti-ring.

[Will you accept this Class?]

The System demanded his answer.

What a relief that was.

'I can still say yes or no…..'

Jin-Woo spat out a sigh.

If the Class wasn't forced down his throat, then that meant there was another opportunity for him. If he still had another shot, then there was no reason to sweat so much right now.

Jin-Woo gladly (?) refused the suggestion.

"No way."

When he did that, the message asked him again.

[The 'Necromancer' is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]

Although it was asking the same thing for the second time, he found himself unable to quickly answer back.

He was now hesitating.

'A hidden class… is it?'

That term might sound like something straight out of a video game, but still, there were Hunters with rare and strange abilities even in reality.

Such as, Hunters who could create 'Shields', or buff others. Or, even…

'….The Master of White Tiger Guild can apparently transform into a monster, too, according to the rumours.'

All those Hunters with rare and strange abilities were now enjoying a great deal of special treatment after being scouted by the biggest Guilds out there.

'Could this hidden class thing be the same thing as the special abilities those Hunters possess?'

If that were the case….

'This could be an opportunity, instead.'

Suddenly, such a thought popped into his head. The System did say something about this just now.

'I thirst for power, and that's why it's recommending the Class of Necromancer to me.'

In other words, the Class of Necromancer had the potential to be truly powerful.

When considering the fact that most of the Hunters with rare skills happen to belong to 'support type', this could be seen as quite an encouraging thing for him, indeed.

A Hunter with a rare skill that could directly enter any battle.

His heart began beating just a little bit faster just from thinking about that.

'If I could only get to experience the Class of Necromancer just for a bit, I wouldn't even need to weigh my options this much.'

However, would anything in this world be that easy?

There was no way the matters of this world would revolve according to his wishes, and worse still, he had never heard of anyone possessing an ability similar to that of a necromancer.

The thing was, one wouldn't be able to find a mage who commanded its own army, to begin with.

Just as his thoughts ended there…

'…..Oh.'

Jin-Woo took a sweeping look at all the broken remnants of the knights strewn about this place.

'Those mages!'

One could say that those mages in the Class Change Quest were using roughly the same ability as a Necromancer.

These knights were their army, in other words.

'For sure….'

It was certainly very difficult to fight all those knights who attacked him with complete disregard for their own lives.

If he failed to figure out how to fight them until the end, or if the mages possessed very high close-quarters combat abilities, then….

'The one lying on the floor right now would be me instead of these scrap metal bits.'

Jin-Woo stopped looking at the knights and raised his head.

A certain look of determination flashed by in his eyes.

'I already possess the close-quarters combat ability.'

Meaning, he was different from those mages.

What if there was a mage possessing excellent hand-to-hand combat skills who also happened to command an army? Wouldn't that be the worst of all worst possible nightmares for his enemies?

'What if….'

Something he could only think about but couldn't do – wouldn't it be possible for him to enter a dungeon rated B or higher alone and clear it now?

Jin-Woo silently swallowed his saliva.

If he were allowed to continue raising his Stat values after becoming a Necromancer, then obviously, the army under his command would also grow even more powerful than before.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the effect of that.

'It��ll no longer be only me levelling up.'

His own army would be levelling up, too.

'Wait. Could this be….?'

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. Jin-Woo raised his head and looked at the floating message. It was still patiently waiting for his decision.

[The 'Necromancer' is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]

Unlike how it was usually, the System wasn't urging him on. Jin-Woo couldn't help question its motives in his mind.

'Is this what you wanted from me?'

Of course, no replies came to him.

After a lengthy deliberation, Jin-Woo made up his mind.

If it was giving him power, then he'd accept it with open arms.

He no longer hesitated.

[Will you accept this Class?]

"I will."

As if it was waiting, the System immediately displayed the following messages.

Tti-ring.

[Your Class has been set.]

[You will now be given the opportunity to change to a higher ranked version of this Class through the amount of advancement points accumulated.]

[Calculations have begun.]

[Tallying up your advancement points….]

While that was going on, Jin-Woo unwrapped the bandages from his right hand.

He'd been holding the dagger so tightly that his palm had swollen up rather painfully.

"Well, I'm gonna get blisters now."

He lightly clicked his tongue.

Such a wound would've been taken care of with a drop from the healing potion, but not being able to use one was proving to be rather inconvenient in various ways.

He finished unwrapping the bandages and was about to store the Knight Killer back in his Inventory, when he heard yet another mechanical beep.

Tti-ring.

Jin-Woo reflexively raised his head.

[You've exceeded the expected time limit!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

Bonus points, it said. But, that was rather obvious, wasn't it?

'Not sure how long was the expected time, but well, I did endure for quite a long time, didn't I?'

He began smirking in satisfaction, then all of a sudden, several messages inundated his vision.

[You did not use Immediate Return Stone!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

[Your remaining HP is over 50%!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

[You eliminated all the enemies!]

[Bonus points will be granted.]

[Total advancement points tally has exceeded the Class-specific point limit.]

[According to the Contract, you will be given a special reward.]

Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.

'What's this?'

His ears hurt from all the beepings, but Jin-Woo's focus was fixed elsewhere and didn't care anymore. As a matter of fact, he couldn't even hear those beeps now.

'A special reward?'

Those words jumped right up at him.

A reward.

Not only that, it was 'special', too.

Jin-Woo stopped trying to store the Knight Killer in his Inventory and concentrated on the message.

His stares were now firmly fixed on it.

Soon, follow-up messages popped up.

Tti-ring.

[Your Class has been upgraded from 'Necromancer' to 'Shadow Sovereign'.]

[You have acquired Class-specific skills.]

[You have acquired bonus Stats.]

[You have acquired the title, 'The One Who Overcame the Adversity'.]

'Shadow Sovereign?'

Hearing that strange term, Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned his Status Window.

[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]

[Level: 51]

[Class: Shadow Sovereign]

Indeed, there was a new term added to his Class column.

'It's not a Necromancer anymore?'

The System definitely said that he'd be able to get a higher ranked version of his Class according to the amount of advancement points he had earned. And also, it mentioned that the point tally had exceeded the limits of the Class itself, too.

The end result from all that was this 'Shadow Sovereign'.

"So, is this…."

….The special reward the System was talking about?

The thing was, though, Jin-Woo couldn't continue on with what he wanted to say.

'...??'

Right in front of his disbelieving eyes, a truly bizarre and hard-to-explain phenomenon began unfolding.

Behind the hologram-like messages….

Unknown black smoke was slowly and eerily leaking out from the knights strewn about on the floor like scrap metal.

No such thing happened prior to him getting his Class.

These bits of scrap metal were nothing more than ownerless junk, only until a minute ago.

However.

Jin-Woo closed the Status Window and swept his gaze around the interior of the boss room once. It wasn't just one or two now.

That black smoke was rising up from every single knight on the ground.

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

Whenever his eyes landed on 'targets' with black smoke oozing out from them, the words with hard-to-fathom meanings 'possible to perform extraction' popped up into his view.

'Shadow extraction?'

He couldn't understand why, but to Jin-Woo, those rising smokes looked like they were writhing in pain.

As a matter of fact, it felt like they were reaching out to him, begging him to save them.

Would it be strange if he said that…. he could hear their screams?

'But…..'

He was sure of one thing.

He was sure of him being able to free them from their pain.

'Shadow Extraction.'

[Please set the command phrase to activate the Shadow Extraction skill.]

'I gotta set a separate activation phrase for this skill?'

Jin-Woo pondered for a bit, before muttering out almost instinctively.

"Rise up."

When he did….

Wuuaaahhhh….

Thick, heavy moans resounded out from somewhere and at the same time, the shadows of the fallen knights began wiggling as if they were still alive.

Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings once more.

All the shadows found near him were beginning to move.

Soon enough, a black hand rose up from one of the shadows. It pressed down on the ground hard, and slowly, the arm attached to it rose up.

'Oh my god!'

Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider and wider.

Those things were…. people.

No, soldiers possessing the outer appearance of a person!

Soldiers kitted out head to toe in jet-black armour climbed out of the shadows one by one.

'This is my new skill??'

By the time Jin-Woo recovered his wits, there were a couple dozen soldiers standing by his side, waiting.

[Shadow Extraction was a success.]

Tens of soldiers were now surrounding him.

'What the hell is this….?'

Jin-Woo approached the nearest soldier.

The first thing he did was to touch it. When he placed his hand on it, he felt something metallic.

As it turned out, the metal-looking armours weren't just for show.

Indeed, these guys were all outfitted in real black armour and real weapons.

'At first glance, they look like people, don't they?'

However, they weren't people. He couldn't sense any signs of life from them. They didn't breathe, and there were no heartbeats he could hear.

On top of this….

"…"

Jin-Woo swallowed down his shocked gasp.

He sneaked a glance inside the helmet through the eye holes and found nothing but pure darkness in there. Jin-Woo slowly took several steps back after feeling like he was being sucked in.

'These things came out from the shadows??'

He immediately checked his Skill Window.

Just as the System informed him, new Class-specific skills could be found there now.

[Class-specific skills]

Active skills

Shadow Extraction Lv. 1

Shadow Storage Lv. 1

He checked the details of the first skill.

[Skill: Shadow Extraction Lv. 1]

Class-specific skill.

Required Mana to activate: None

Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the recently deceased lifeform.

The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on the target's original Stat values, as well as the length of time since its death.

Number of shadows that can be extracted: 30/30

Only after reading the explanation on the Skill did he realise the identity of these black soldiers.

'....They are all undead.'

Shadow soldiers – monsters, pulled out from the shadows of the dead.

Jin-Woo swallowed down his saliva.

'If these things are really my soldiers, then….'

Jin-Woo raised his arm and pointed to his right.

And the soldiers all uniformly shifted their bodies to right.

The end of his hand slowly moved to his front.

And the soldiers too followed after his hand and slowly faced their front.

Jin-Woo stood in the middle of them.

He did his best to calm his pounding heart and lowered his hand.

And at the same time….

Every single soldier knelt down before him.

They were moving according to his will.

"Hah….."

Jin-Woo let out a soft gasp of admiration as the ends of his lips arched up.

'Isn't this so cool?'

Chapter 53: Chapter 53

'Oops!'

A thought flashed by in Jin-Woo's head.

'I shouldn't be wasting time like this.'

He had witnessed the power of his new skill. He could now turn the defeated monsters into his soldiers.

If that was the case, then wasn't there a monster nearby that he just had to turn into his lackey right away?

Jin-Woo climbed up the pile of armours that once used to be the giant Iron Golem and stood on top. By being so high up, he could take in the entirety of the boss room.

'...'

Jin-Woo searched around as his glare became sharper.

Found it!

Confirming the direction, Jin-Woo immediately ran over there. Perhaps he was feeling really psyched, he arrived there in the blink of an eye even though he didn't use the Dash skill.

Gulp.

Jin-Woo looked the 'corpse' of the monster that he was planning to extract the shadow from, and swallowed dry saliva.

The creature remained in the exact same spot where he had killed it.

'…..Igrit the Crimson.'

The sight of the red-armoured headless knight half-buried in the thick, sturdy wall told how desperate his situation was back then.

Jin-Woo stood before Igrit.

It might have been a fearsome enemy that threatened to kill him only a few hours ago, but now, it was probably the best ingredient he could find. Fortunately enough, he saw the black smoke slowly oozing out from Igrit, just like how it was with other fallen knights.

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

Jin-Woo's expression brightened.

'Nice.'

He already knew the drill. Jin-Woo took a short but deep breath and spoke out the command phrase.

"Rise up."

He spoke the activation phrase for the skill, Shadow Extraction. However, the skill didn't activate.

'.....??'

Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that way, and was about to say the command phrase again. But then, following a 'tti-ring', several warning messages popped up.

[You have exceeded the number of shadows that can be extracted.]

[If you wish to perform Shadow Extraction, you must return a portion, or all, of your soldiers back to the world of nothingness via 'Extraction Cancellation'.]

[Once returned to nothingness, the shadow soldiers can't be summoned back.]

'Oh, yeah. There was something like that, wasn't there?'

At the end of the skill's explanation, there was something he should've taken note of.

[Number of shadows that can be extracted: 30/30]

The maximum number of extractions he could perform was 30. Which meant the number of his soldiers was currently 30….

Jin-Woo looked behind him.

The shadow soldiers had followed him even before he had noticed it and they were standing in attention.

'When did they?'

Perhaps fitting their title of 'shadow soldiers', they seemed to move around without making a single sound.

Whatever the case might have been, if he wanted to extract Igrit's shadow, he had to get rid of one of these guys, just as the System had alluded to.

'But….'

It had only been a short while, yet when he thought about them being his soldiers, he kind of didn't want to dismiss any one of them.

Did he get attached to them already?

With a rueful, unwilling expression, Jin-Woo slowly scanned each and every one of his shadow soldiers. As his eyes swept past the soldiers, their names and levels appeared before his view.

[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]

Regular grade

[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]

Regular grade

Everyone possessed the same name and level.

'Oh well, their origins were exactly the same, so…'

But then, he discovered three somewhat different-coloured soldiers right at the back of the infantrymen.

'Are those….?'

Unlike the regular infantrymen, these guys were wearing robes.

[Shadow Magic Soldier Lv. 1]

Elite grade

"Oh."

He quickly figured out what they were.

The three mages that were controlling the Iron Golem must've been revived as undeads as well when he gave out his 'Rise up' command just now.

'So, 27 infantrymen and three mages, eh?'

This was why being 'rare' was a good thing. He excluded the low-numbered mages and selected the closest infantryman from him to cancel the extraction.

….And he was really sorry about this.

"Extraction Cancellation."

Phush….

The soldier turned into black smoke and scattered in the air. Not even a trace remained of it.

'.....'

Jin-Woo gazed at the spot of the disappeared soldier for a little while with an apologetic expression, before shifting his attention back to Igrit.

His preparation was complete.

He even had to sacrifice one of his wonderful soldiers just so he could turn Igrit into a shadow. So, he simply had to see some results here.

Time to act while the sun still shone.

Jin-Woo tried the extraction right away.

"Rise up."

When he did that, the shadow cast beneath Igrit began to wiggle as if it came to life. It was the same reaction as when he extracted the shadows from the knights just now.

'Okay, good!'

Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly. He had a good feeling about this.

[Shadow Extraction has commenced.]

[Attempting to extract….]

What would Igrit look like after its extraction? Jin-Woo's hands became slick with the sweat of anticipation.

Unfortunately…

Ting!

A mechanical beep akin to a metal plate breaking in half rang inside his head.

[Shadow Extraction has failed.]

"What?!'

[Two more attempts remaining.]

"Whew-woo…."

Hearing that he still had more chances remaining, Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh of relief.

'Hang on, now that I think about it….'

The skill's explanation definitely said that the odds of extraction failure would rise up depending on the target's Stat values.

But having experienced it personally, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded. It felt like he got slapped in the back of his head, this taste of his first failure.

Not only that, there was a restriction on the number of attempts he could try, too.

'So, I have two more attempts remaining….'

If he failed in both attempts, then did that mean Igrit's shadow would disappear into that 'nothingness', just as the sacrificed infantryman did?

Imagining the worst possible scenario, he felt dizzy for a second. Jin-Woo quickly shook his head to clear his mind.

'Let's stop thinking negatively about this.'

Indeed, only positive thoughts…

Didn't someone say that if you believed earnestly enough, the universe would find a way to help you out?

While stewing inside anxiety and anticipation, Jin-Woo attempted the extraction for the second time.

"Rise up."

Too bad, his expectation was shot down grandly once more.

Ting!

[Shadow Extraction has failed.]

[One more attempt remaining]

'…..'

This guy gave him so much trouble while it was still alive, and even in death, it was managing to give him some serious headaches.

And here he was, hoping against hope.

Now that he had failed twice in a row, his vision seemed to have blurred, everything looking a bit bleak.

"Fuu….."

Jin-Woo deeply inhaled and exhaled his breath.

There were no more attempts remaining after this. He had only one more shot left. Jin-Woo closed his eyes and reorganised his thoughts.

'Well, it could be nothing more than percentages and odds, but….'

But, it was possible that his desire to possess Igrit's shadow wasn't earnest or strong enough.

Jin-Woo slowly reopened his eyes.

He sensed the black smoke rising up from Igrit reaching out to him, pleading with him to save it. Jin-Woo became a lot more serious than before.

And he reached out with his right hand as if to grab that pleading hand of the smoke.

"Rise up."

He didn't do it deliberately; he himself didn't quite realise it then, but Jin-Woo's voice sounded much heavier and graver than ever before and it reverberated throughout the boss room.

It was then!

Uwaaahhh-!!

A deep scream could be heard coming from somewhere, and chilling, eerie wind swept by the boss room.

'Isn't this it…?'

Jin-Woo's expression brightened.

He remembered encountering a similar situation like this one before.

….Back when his infantrymen first popped out from the shadows.

Aaaaah-!

Just as he hoped for, as the lengthy scream came to an end, a long black hand emerged out from the shadow. And when that hand pressed down on the ground, a new message popped up in his view.

[Shadow Extraction was a success.]

Jin-Woo let out a cry of happiness.

"Yes!!"

He tightly clenched his fists. The taste of success was so much sweeter since he had to go through two failures to get here.

However, the good news didn't end there.

[The sovereign's voice had awakened the departed's fighting spirit.]

[You have succeeded in strengthening your shadow soldier.]

[The shadow's level will now start at 7.]

'I succeeded in strengthening? What?'

A shadow's starting level could be higher than 1?

Jin-Woo's eyes widened once more. Just as the message said, the black knight emerging from the shadow carried 'level 7' in its status.

"Mm!!"

Jin-Woo spat out a short gasp.

The newly-emerged shadow looked exactly as it was in his memories.

The mane attached to the helm; the highly-fashionable armour wrapped around its entire body; that noble, dignified cape.

The only difference being that the blood-like armour now sported a pitch-black colour, instead. Everything else was exactly the same.

He'd have probably believed it if someone told him that Igrit had returned to life just now.

However…

'…..'

The newly-born Igirt didn't display a single hint of animosity towards him. No, it just stood there quietly, waiting for Jin-Woo to give it a new order.

Thump, thump.

Hin-Woo's heart began pounding in excitement as he stared at Igrit. And there was a big grin etched on his face. Even though his heart was palpitating, there was something he was curious about.

Jin-Woo's gaze shifted just above Igrit's head.

'Why doesn't this guy have a name?'

[?? Lv. 7]

Knight grade

For some strange reason, there was a couple of question marks instead of its name.

'And its grade is also different.'

He understood that its level was high because of that strengthening thing, but still, this guy exhibited quite a few differences from the regular infantrymen.

Perhaps it read Jin-Woo's mind, because the System sent him a new message with excellent timing.

Tti-ring.

[You can bestow a name to a knight grade soldier.]

[The bestowed name will be maintained until the shadow soldier is dismissed.]

[Please set the soldier's name.]

'A name, is it?'

At first, he was at a loss with this unexpected demand, but soon enough, he recalled that this 'guy' already had a name and a smile crept up on his face. There should be no problem calling it by its original name, no?

[Please set the soldier's name.]

The message blinked as if to urge him on with the naming already.

Jin-Woo opened his mouth.

"Igrit the Cri…."

No, hang on a minute.

When the System asked him to set the name, it meant that he'd have to use that name to call this guy from here onwards. So, didn't that also mean that he'd have to call it Igrit the blah-blah all the time from now on?

Just thinking about that gave him a nasty case of goosebumps.

'…..That's way too cringey.'

In the end, he decided to shorten the name somewhat.

"Igrit."

[Will you set the name as 'Igrit'?]

"That's right."

As soon as Jin-Woo spoke, the question marks on the guy's head disappeared and the name Igrit appeared there.

[Igrit Lv. 7]

Knight grade

All he did was to simply give it its original name, yet Jin-Woo still felt like he had accomplished something pretty amazing. He was filled with contentment, knowing that this guy was his loyal soldier now.

'My own loyal soldier, eh….'

Jin-Woo took a look behind him.

29 shadow soldiers were still there, waiting for his orders.

For now, the number was too small.

'Only 30, huh….'

Either this was because the skill level of 'Shadow Extraction' was too low, or because his Intelligence Stat hadn't been raised high enough yet.

But, he was sure of one thing, and that was the number of his soldiers would gradually swell up.

'Yup, I really have myself a new army.'

Not only that, they weren't some skeletons and corpses, but an army of shadows.

Now, there was only one problem remaining.

And that was how he'd walk around with these guys. Now that gave him a bit of a headache.

'Doesn't matter skeletons or shadows….'

It'd be way too eye-catching if these guys freely walked around in the streets.

Would that be all?

This skill was already way past regular people accepting it as one of the many awakened abilities a Hunter could possess.

Either he'd be under the constant surveillance, or worse, someone might even demand him to dismiss the summoning, too.

'Woo Jin-Cheol, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, the Korean Hunter's Association….'

Thinking about how stuffy-looking guys like that man would come around every day and annoy him to no end in the future, Jin-Woo felt like he'd die from frustration already.

That was precisely why the next skill existed, probably.

'Skills.'

Jin-Woo summoned his Skill Window.

[Class-specific skills]

Active skills:

Shadow Extraction Lv. 1

Shadow Storage Lv. 1

The skill he only checked its name and nothing else until now.

The 'Shadow Storage'.

That name alone made him think that this skill would help him out in these sorts of situations.