I Alone Level-Up

It was difficult to continue dodging with his body in so much pain, but Jinwoo could not miss the timing of his next move. If he lost consciousness now, it would be all over.

"…178, 179, 180!"

Having waited out the 3-minute timer on Cerberus" buff, Jinwoo activated the trump card he had prepared before the fight.

"Accept Reward 1!"

He had purposely held on to the first reward of his daily quest, specifically for an occasion like this.

Reward 1. Status Recovery has been accepted.

wooos.h.!.+

A blue light covered his body and completely restored his health.

Health: 3,602 / 3,602

His injured shoulder and arm also became healed.

"This is my chance!"

At the shoulder-to-shoulder distance the two maintained, even Cerberus, with all of his agility, could not dodge Jinwoo"s next move. Having recovered all his strength and stamina, Jinwoo deftly maneuvered around the Cerberus" heads, putting it in a headlock with his left arm; it was the same maneuver he used against Casaka.

With his right arm, Jinwoo began to mercilessly stab the center of the beast"s neck repeatedly.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

Having ended its enraged state, Cerberus felt the pain and thrashed around, trying to loosen Jinwoo from its back.

yelp! whimper! whimper!

Just as before, Jinwoo held on with all his strength. As the Cerberus whipped back and forth, he tightened the grip on its neck and continued to stab.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

The beast continued to whimper in pain and tried desperately to bite Jinwoo, but the fight was over at this point.

Stab! Stab!

The Casaka"s Poisoned Fang moved past the beast"s throat and toward its heart.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

The light of struggle in Cerberus" eyes began to fade.

whimper…

Finally, the beast"s heads went limp.

ring~!

You"ve defeated the Gatekeeper of h.e.l.l, Cerberus.

You"ve leveled up!

You"ve leveled up!

You"ve leveled up!

You"ve leveled up!

Jinwoo had leveled up four times in one go. It was that difficult of a fight. Jinwoo made sure the beast"s life was completely snuffed out before letting go of its neck. The Cerberus" body slumped onto the ground lifelessly.

thud

Jinwoo bent over with hands on his knees.

"Hah…"

He let out a sigh of relief. To think that he would face a monster that could use a skill. If it wasn"t for the trump card he had prepared, he would be the one on the ground right now. Thinking about this made Jinwoo shudder.

"Ah… items…"

What kind of drops would he obtain after all this work?

Jinwoo sighed once more and stretched a hand out toward the corpse.

ring~!

You"ve found a "Gatekeeper"s Necklace"

Would you like to acquire it?

You"ve found a "Castle Gate Key"

Would you like to acquire it?

You"ve found a "Cerberus" Molar" x3

Would you like to acquire it?

"Obtain all."

Gatekeeper"s Necklace

Rarity: rank

Type: Necklace

Agility +20, Sense +20

Cerberus" Molar

Rarity: None

Type: Junk

Castle Gate Key

Rarity: rank

Type: Key

It is the key to the Demon Castle"s gates.

Obtained after killing the Gatekeeper.

"Whoa."

Jinwoo was jubilant.

"Increase agility and sense stats by twenty points?"

The necklace"s stats were amazing, fitting of an rank item. It was the highest-ranking equipment he had seen so far.

"Makes sense after that fight…"

If anything, he would"ve been mad if the rarity on it was low. However, taking a closer look at the necklace, Jinwoo hesitated. A round gold band with soft tipped spikes jutting around it, it was clearly a dog collar.

"Hmm…"

Having contemplated putting it on with closed eyes, Jinwoo relented and moved it towards his neck. A message appeared in response.

ring~

Would you like to equip the "Gatekeeper"s Necklace"?

He hesitated again.

"…Sure."

Then the necklace slowly disappeared from his hands.

The "Gatekeeper"s Necklace" has been equipped.

"Huh?"

Jinwoo quickly opened his stat screen.

Stats

Strength: 60

Const.i.tution: 39

Agility: 80

Intelligence: 37

Sense: 67

(Available stat points: 0)

Physical Damage Reduction: 20%

"Oh, whoa!"

His agility and sense stats were raised by 20 points. The necklace"s stats had been applied to him. He felt around his neck, confirming that the necklace wasn"t there. It seemed that equipping items through the System did not necessarily put them on him physically. He was relieved that he would not have to walk around wearing a dog collar.

"Next, the molars."

Jinwoo opened up the shop. Each of the molars were sold for 150 thousand gold. Having sold 3 molars, Jinwoo had collected 450 thousand pieces of gold.

Current Gold: 562,362

"What kind of junk item is this expensive?"

His first fight had given him an idea of the difficulty of this Dungeon. The Demon Castle would not be a pushover. But this was not a bad news to Jinwoo. Just taking down one monster gave him four times the amount of gold he had earned in his first Instant Dungeon. At this rate, he would surely be able to afford some of the top tier items from the System"s shop.

"As long as I can clear this place…"

Jinwoo looked up at the tower on fire.

flare!

The top of the tower was obscured by a strange fog. The only way to see what was on top would be to climb the tower from the inside. Jinwoo shook his head at the thought.

"No. It"s too early for me."

After all, he had only barely managed to defeat the Gatekeeper, and that was with the t.i.tle buff and the trick using the daily quest"s reward. There was no knowing what waited beyond the gates. For now, it was time to retreat.

Still, one thing was for sure.

The Demon Castle Key was indeed something that he wanted. The description of the Blessed Random Box was not wrong. Level-up, items and even gold, all that he wanted could be found in this place. Once he had the power, he would be able to obtain it all.

Just not today.

Regretfully, Jinwoo put away the key back into the inventory.

"I"ll be back."

It was a promise that he would keep.

Jinwoo turned back with a smile on his face.

-3. Coincidence-

The next few days went by without incidence. Yoo Jinho kept calling him on a daily basis to check with his status.

-"Hyungnim! It"s me, Yoo Jinho."

"Make it short."

-"Yes, hyungnim."

The young man told him that he was diligently working on getting together a team. The raiding party would be completed shortly, so he repeatedly asked Jinwoo to wait just a little longer.

"He must be scared that I might back out."

But there was no way that Jinwoo would wait idly while Yoo Jinho completed his task. So today, like the past few days, Jinwoo went on the Hunter website. He had continuously checked the job boards, but as expected, there were no private Raids that were accepting an E-rank Hunter. His run in with Hw.a.n.g Dongseok was luck. Even if the b.a.s.t.a.r.d had nefarious plans in mind, it still meant that Jinwoo was able to go on a private Raid.

"Thankfully, I was able to earn some money, level-up and even get a new skill."

Wait, was he actually thanking Hw.a.n.g Dongseok?

Jinwoo groaned. Still, even if it was with more lizards[1], he wanted to get back into a Dungeon.

Can"t get into a private Raid, no calls from the a.s.sociation, and no keys from daily quests.

Jinwoo hated wasting time like this.

growl…

"Is it already time to eat?"

Jinwoo stepped away from browsing the job boards and went over to the kitchen.

The fridge was empty.

"…"

He had been distracted by so many things lately and had forgotten to go shopping.

"Guess I"ll go do that today."

He closed the fridge with a yawn.

-

One of the few benefits of his worn-down apartment was that it was close to a large grocery store. Jinwoo changed into something comfortable and went outside. It took him 10 minutes of walking to reach the store.

The large interior of the store greeted him as he walked in. Since there was no sale going on, there were less people around than usual. Jinwoo grabbed a basket and started walking down the aisles. Having become the man of the house after his mother fell ill, going grocery shopping was a routine experience for Jinwoo.

"Nothing"s really catching my eyes."

He stared at the ingredients while thinking about dinner.

"Young man, is your body feeling better?"

Jinwoo turned around towards the friendly voice.

"Who?"

Due to his high sense stat, he knew that there was another Hunter nearby, but since the grocery store was a place where a lot of people, including Hunters, would be shopping at, he had not paid it much mind. He did not expect that Hunter to actually speak to him, but it was someone that he knew.

"Song-ssi ahjussi?"

Jinwoo greeted him with welcome.

Song-ssi ahjussi, aka Song Chiyeol, looked at Jinwoo with a mix of surprise and happiness.

"I had heard that you were alright, but looking at you now, I can"t believe it."

Song Chiyeol was awed by just how fast Jinwoo had recovered. Embarra.s.sed at the man"s staring, Jinwoo scratched his temples. Song Chiyeol continued,

"I should"ve gone to see you myself, but those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds at the a.s.sociation, I don"t know what they were thinking, put a moratorium on the incident, and I had no way of reaching you. I believe Ms. Juhee was also dying to hear about you."

"Juhee-ssi?"

"Yep. She said she would retire, but still went to last week"s Raid to catch a glimpse of you."

"Last week…?"

Hearing Song-ssi ahjussi"s explanation, Jinwoo learned that the day he went on a Raid with Hw.a.n.g Dongseok"s team was also the day an a.s.sociation Raid had taken place.

"No wonder the a.s.sociation"s been quiet."

It wasn"t that they weren"t contacting him, but rather, he had missed them on that one day. A small mystery cleared up for Jinwoo.

Song Chiyeol continued to observe Jinwoo"s figure with an amazed look.

"Was Sung-ssi always this big? His leg should be still…"

Song Chiyeol"s gaze fell to Jinwoo"s lower half. His eyes widened.

"Young man… is your leg…?"

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: "Lizards": Sc.u.mbag Hunters who would purposely recruit weak/inexperienced people to use as getaway sacrifices in Dungeons.