[ KNIGHT COMMANDER - IGRIS THE RED ]
It was a knight in blood-red armor.
The way it was equipped from head to toe in metal armor was similar to the other knights he had fought so far, but completely unlike those who looked rough and slow, this thing looked incredibly agile.
Perhaps it was the differences in their body structure.
Those armors were stocky and broad-shouldered, and their armor seemed to be made of a different type of metal, thicker.
The boss was slender and leaner; at first glance, his movements were faster, smoother, and more agile, and the armor seemed thinner, although Jin-Woo didn't delude himself that it would be easier to pierce.
Next, his gaze was drawn to the helmet.
The single red feather flowing backwards reminded him of a ponytail, and while it should have looked ridiculous and absurd in theory, it gave his figure strength and menace in a strange, inexplicable way.
Examining his helmet, Jin-Woo discovered another difference between him and the other knights.
He had eyes.
Although... are eyes actually the right word?
A pair of silvery lights oozed out from where the eyes should have been. They were cold and indifferent, completely mechanical and lifeless.
Those cold eyes were now fixed on him.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up.
So this cold aura spreading throughout this huge room was coming from him.
It's possible that the purpose of this quest was simply to defeat this incredibly powerful-looking knight.
He felt in his bones that killing this guy would be damn difficult.
Jin-Woo watched Igris' movements, slowly raising his clenched fists.
His dagger won't work in this case anyway.
What was needed to defeat the knight was blunt force. He needed strength to overwhelm him. It's best to crush this metal can on two legs.
Igris quietly observed Jin-Woo for a moment before suddenly removing his red cape.
The cape fell silently to the floor, followed by a sheath with a dagger which the boss apparently had attached to one of his sides so that Jin-Woo hadn't noticed it before.
At least he wouldn't get stabbed by surprise anymore.
The bastard's strange actions didn't end there.
He stuck his long sword that he had been holding into the ground like butter.
Not only that, he showed them to him before dropping them one by one.
The boss room had been silent so far; the loud clang of metal hitting stone tiles echoed loudly throughout this vast chamber.
Igris finished throwing away all his weapons and as if to imitate Jin-Woo, he clenched his fists and took a fighting stance.
Jin-Woo's eyes widened.
Was he going to fight Jin-Woo bare-knuckled just because he did?
Does he flaunt his honor? He doesn't take him seriously.
Was this supposed to be a provocation?
Igris turned towards him.
His speed was so fast that it was hard for Jin-Woo to believe that the boss was wearing armor.
In the case of his armor, the penalty in the form of slower movements was applicable if he did not have 80 points of strength.
That meant the bastard's Strength was at least 80!
Judging by his agile movements, his agility could rival that of highly ranked hunters.
In the blink of an eye, Igris covered the distance and jumped into the air. In mid-air, the monster bent its knee forward and aimed it at Jin-Woo's face.
He was really damn fast!
However, he was not going to let himself be approached in such a simple way. He bent his back almost 90 degrees and let Igris' attack pass him by.
Unlike other knights who needed some distance to stop after a failed attack, Igris simply landed on the ground without much trouble.
However, there was no time to admire this perfect landing.
Jin-Woo charged at Igris before he could turn around, kicking him diagonally in the head.
Helmet?
Surprisingly, the boss could still precisely move his arm even when his posture was unstable.
Jin-Woo's right leg was easily blocked by Igris' left hand.
Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider.
While one of his legs was blocked, Igris' other fist struck him in the face.
He instinctively raised both arms to protect himself, but the force of the impact was still transferred to the rest of his body.
His guard broke and his entire body flew into the air.
A shocked breath escaped his lips.
But soon, it turned into a painful, hoarse groan.
He hit the wall, making a large dent in it, and at the same time Igris appeared in front of his face.
Before he even had a chance to do anything about it, Igris' left fist hit Jin-Woo hard on his left cheek.
It was embedded even deeper into the wall and the plaster was falling profusely around it.
There was a loud ringing inside his ears.
Jin-Woo shook his head several times. Only then did the loud ringing quiet down a bit.
But a much bigger problem was approaching him. His blurred vision caught Igris as he walked towards him.
Jin-Woo tried to push off the wall and bumped into Igris pinning him against it.
The boss didn't even try to avoid the blows that Jin-Woo was throwing at him. No, he just took the punches and immediately counterattacked.
After his stomach was kicked by the boss, Jin-Woo's body leaned forward 90 degrees.
Blood filled his mouth.
Currently, Jin-Woo's physical damage reduction stat has exceeded 30%.
However, each of Igris' attacks hurt like hell, as if he had been hit with a hammer, or rather a blacksmith's hammer. On the other hand, his attacks almost did no damage to the enemy.
After another attack, Jin-Woo staggered and fell to his knees.
He tried to get up, but his legs wouldn't listen to him.
Igris stood over Jin-Woo but stopped attacking him. He stared at him without saying a word for a moment.
Then, ignoring Jin-Woo's questioning look at him, Igris reached out towards the sword stuck in the ground.
The sword flew towards him as if nothing had happened, as if it had been pulled by some unknown force.
Igris grabbed the sword in both hands and walked to Jin-Woo's side.
Soon the tip of the blade was pointing towards the sky.
This son of a bitch definitely lived up to his nickname.
When it looked like Jin-Woo was not going to resist his final moments, Igris proceeded to execute him.
Of course, Jin-Woo wouldn't let this happen without a fight.
The sword fell in a straight line.
However, Jin-Woo reached out with his left hand and blocked the falling blade.
There was the sound of metal hitting metal.
The glove he found just before entering here protected his hand.
Jin-Woo wasn't going to miss the chance, caused by covering the boss's torso and strike him in the stomach with his free hand.
As expected, Igris didn't try to evade.
Probably, he calculated that hitting once during a counterattack was much more productive. Too bad he didn't include something important in his calculations.
Jin-Woo's weaponry.
Summoning his dagger from his inventory, Jin-Woo stabbed the knight at one of the lights acting as eyes.
Jin-Woo hurriedly stood up while Igris was clearly distracted and dazed by the pain.
Damaging just one eye wouldn't be enough to determine the winner of this battle. He needed an even stronger attack if he wanted to win.
It was then that an idea came to his mind.
Bending down, Jin-Woo wrapped his arms around the boss's stomach and started running.
Igris thrashed around in pain from the sharp pressure on his stomach and managed to land several solid blows to Jin-Woo's back. However, he gritted his teeth and did not let Igris go.
No, instead he increased his speed.
[ YOUR SPEED HAS INCREASED BY 40% ]
Gripping Igris' stomach even tighter, he launched himself against the nearest wall with every ounce of energy he had left.
Of course, if he collided with the wall at that speed, the impact his own body received would also be significant. However, Jin-Woo had a hidden trump card in the form of a certain passive skill.
The wall was right in front of them.
With a tremendous crash, Igris slammed into it.
At the same time, a notification from the System popped up.
[ NOTICE! ]
[BECAUSE YOUR HP HAS DROPPED BELOW 30%, [SKILL: TENACITY] HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. DAMAGE WILL BE REDUCED BY 50%]
The force of the impact was so great that the entire room shook for a moment.
Jin-Woo took a step back.
Igris was half buried in the wall, but he was still alive. The "flame" of life burning under the helmet still flickered visibly.
Jin-Woo ripped out the Rasaka's Fang, still embedded deep in the boss's eye.
This caused Igris' body to tremble.
Jin-Woo held the dagger in a reverse grip and stabbed hard into the son of a bitch's neck.
[ CRITICAL ATTACK ]
[ CRITICAL ATTACK ]
[ CRITICAL ATTACK ]
Sparks flew from the tip of the dagger.
A small but deep dent was created on the metal covering the monster's neck, with a hole in it.
The Fangs pierced through the resilient metal and embedded deeply into his neck, just as Jin-Woo intended.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED KNIGHT COMMANDER - IGRIS THE RED ]
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU HAVE LEVELED UP! ]
Jin-Woo raised both hands high in the sky.
He took a few steps back before losing all strength in his legs and falling to the floor.
Jin-Woo focused on the deep breathing he had been holding until now, he didn't know why.
Somehow he managed to win.
But it was really close.
Skills, technique, abilities, experience—nothing surpassed him.
He won clearly only by dumb luck.
And that really frustrated him.
One mistake on his part and he would have ended up dead.
This thing could stand in a row with A-rank hunters and fight them very evenly.
He expected the job change mission to end when he killed this guy, but there was no message in front of his eyes. He looked around, but he didn't notice anything else in the boss's room.
The only new things were streaks of light coming from Igris's body.
He collected them as quickly as possible, not sure what else might happen in this sick place.
[ YOU HAVE OBTAINED THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: ]
[ CRIMSON KNIGHT'S HELMET ]
[ THE COMMANDER'S TOUCH ]
[ LEATHER POUCH ]
[ RETURN STONE ]
Jin-Woo was a bit embarrassed by the amount of stuff, but he wasn't going to complain at all.
The first thing that entered his inventory was a leather pouch.
[ ITEM: LEATHER POUCH, HAS BEEN OPENED ]
[ YOU HAVE OBTAINED 1,500,000 GOLD COINS ]
[ TOTAL GOLD COINS: 3115629 ]
Jin-Woo's eyes widened exceptionally.
It was definitely worth risking your life for four rewards.
At first, he didn't expect so much, but the leather pouch spat out an incredible amount of 1,500,000 coins.
With this amount, he could now buy something useful in the Store.
However, Jin-Woo's attention was elsewhere at the moment.
If a leather pouch that he didn't even have high hopes for managed to make him so rich, how high was the value of the helmet or the Rune Stone?
Jin-Woo tried hard to calm his heart and recalled the information about the helmet.
[ ITEM: CRIMSON KNIGHT'S HELMET ]
[ DIFFICULTY LEVEL: S ]
[ TYPE: DEFENSE ITEM ]
[ PHYSICAL DAMAGE REDUCTION: +15% ]
[ VITALITY +20 ]
[ STRENGTH +20 ]
An S-rank item!
Apart from the key to the Demon Castle, this was his first item of this type.
Even the damage reduction alone would be strong enough. And it also gives 20 stat points to strength and vitality.
Incredible.
[ STR: 128 (+20) ]
[ DEXTERITY: 127 ]
[ SENSES: 89 ]
[ VITALITY: 87 (+20) ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 66 ]
[ PHYSICAL DAMAGE REDUCTION: 46% (+15%) ]
Damage reduction was now over half and Vitality was also over 100.
This was really satisfying news.
The most mysterious of the prizes he received was the Rune Stone.
[ RUNE STONE: THE COMMANDER'S TOUCH ]
[ TYPE: RUNE STONE ]
[ BREAKING THIS RUNE STONE WILL GRANT YOU A SKILL ]
He was curious what kind of skill he would get.
It had to be the same as Igris had.
But during the fight, the boss didn't seem to use any skills, he only fought with his fists and sword.
Putting the stone into his inventory for now since it's safe and he doesn't have to rush, Jin-Woo looked at the return stone with curiosity.
As soon as he saw it on the list, he wondered why, after clearing the dungeon, which was at the very end of the whole ordeal, he got a Return Stone—a means of escape.
Was this stone simply the only way to get out of here since there was no gate here?
[ ITEM: RETURN STONE ]
[ TYPE: UTILITY ITEM ]
[ ITEM RELATED TO THE QUEST [JOB CHANGE]. IF YOU BREAK IT, YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY EXIT THE DUNGEON. AFTER COMPLETING THE [JOB CHANGE] QUEST, THE DUNGEON & THIS STONE WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DESTROYED. IT CANNOT BE STORED IN YOUR INVENTORY. ]
This stone couldn't be stored in your inventory?
Well that was rather strange as he still had an E-rank dungeon's return stone.
One sentence from the description particularly caught his attention.
"After completing the quest, the dungeon will be automatically destroyed."
So that meant it wasn't over yet?
For some reason, he felt a slowly creeping chill down his spine.
He didn't quite understand why.
He defeated a very strong boss.
He got an excellent S-rank item and also had an item that allowed him to escape from this place.
But the ominous feeling ingrained in the corners of his mind refused to go away, no matter what.
As if mocking him, as if waiting for this opportunity, a mechanical signal sounded in his head and a Status window appeared in front of his eyes.
The warning signal from the system sounded in his head, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
[ THE JOB CHANGE QUEST WILL NOW BEGIN ]
Bloody hell!
So that wasn't really the end.
It turns out that this was only the beginning of the task.
Well, very funny.
He almost fainted on the spot. He felt as if he had accidentally stuck his finger into an anthill of carnivorous ants.
If he had known something like this would happen to him, he would have tried to prepare and rest properly instead of standing here like an idiot.
Jin-Woo pursed his lips into a thin line.
The hunter brought up the status window and checked his remaining HP and his fatigue level.
[ HP: 4161/10270 ]
[ MP: 390/850 ]
[ FATIGUE: 59 ]
Unfortunately, the fatigue statistic had not yet dropped significantly. The only consolation was the effects of his new miraculous helmet, which gave him more life.
As if to comfort and reassure himself, Jin-Woo continued to remind himself that his life should not be in immediate danger.
He had a return stone at the ready that could save his skin at any moment.
But no matter how much he thought about it, that stone sounded an awful lot like something that signified a cowardly abandonment of a mission.
If he gives up this task...
Wouldn't that be the same as giving up the chance to pursue your job?
As he waited in silence and suspense, a new system message appeared before his eyes.
[ THE LONGER YOU SURVIVE, THE MORE POINTS YOU WILL ACCOMMODATE. THE POINTS WILL DECIDE THE LEVEL OF JOB THAT WILL BE ASSIGNED TO YOU. ]
The longer he can survive?!
Survive what exactly?!
Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned a dagger from his inventory while the Return Stone was placed in the back of his pocket since it couldn't be put into his inventory.
He quickly scanned his surroundings, his head and eyes darting quickly here and there.
A small window appeared above his head that looked like a zeroed stopwatch.
[ GOOD LUCK! ]
[ 00:00:01 ]
What?
For the first time in history, the System expressed "emotions".
Too bad he didn't have time to stew in shock. The moment the clock started, several Gates began to form around him.
Not one or two.
First, he noticed six around him. However, the number continued to grow.
At the same time, the clock started counting.
[ 00:00:02 ]
Time became his so-called advancement points. He didn't understand everything the System was saying, but he still figured out some parts of it.
The longer he survives, the stronger he will become.
Was it about a more powerful job class?
He still had some mana and health to be able to hold on for a while.
[ 00:00:03 ]
When the clock struck exactly three seconds, unarmed knights emerged from the nearest Gate.
As knights in full armor began pouring out of the gates in alarming numbers, the ground couldn't help but tremble as the increasing weight shifted.
Jin-Woo, despite the number of these guys, felt that his situation was not as bad as he initially thought.
In a way, he was very pleased to see them as his opponents.
If the monsters coming out of the gates were as strong as Igris, he wouldn't be able to last even a few seconds.
He would be dead from the very beginning.
Instead, these guys seemed much weaker and luckily didn't have any weapons.
He had enough mana left to try to cheat a bit.
Jin-Woo used some of his remaining mana and activated his "Camouflage" skill.
He wanted to observe a bit, get a feel for the opponents, and maybe catch at least a dozen or so extra seconds this way.
Camouflage was already consuming 200 mana at the beginning. He would then have 190 left, and the skill would then consume 1 mana point every second. This meant he could hold it for three minutes.
It wasn't a bad time to start.
Jin-Woo's figure slowly began to blur and dissolve, and then disappeared. As expected, the knights walking towards him suddenly stopped.
However, his satisfaction did not last long...
[ THE MAGE HAS USED "SKILL: DETECTION" ]
A sharp warning sound rang in his head. Jin-Woo's head snapped towards the beep.
He noticed a mage who had just emerged from the Gate. It was then that Jin-Woo discovered an eye-like symbol floating above the mage's head.
The moment that eye flashed...
At this point, Jin-Woo's Camouflage was canceled.
Damm it!
That's how his whole brilliant idea came to fruition.
The Knights, who had been standing there stupidly like poles, immediately turned their heads towards Jin-Woo.
It was a scene straight out of a horror movie.
And finally, at the same time, they moved towards him without a moment's hesitation.
Jin-Woo's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth.
His blow severed the head of the approaching knight.
The knight fell where he stood.
[ YOU'VE DEFEATED A KNIGHT ]
A spark of vindictive triumph flashed in Jin-Woo's eyes.
[ SKILL: "BLOOD LUST" HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ]