The door to the boss room finally opened.
The interior was completely shrouded in darkness.
Even with Jongryeo’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-colored 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.’
Jongryeo 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.
BANG!!
Jongryeo glanced back, but he didn’t panic. He already expected something like that to happen. Jongryeo resumed his careful march forward.
‘….I can sense a powerful presence.’
“Stop hiding and reveal yourself.”
Jongryeo summoned Vortex Vanquisher and used one of his skills.
[Active Skill: Star Jades]
6 elegant, gems were summoned and orbited around him.
“…”
“You’re not coming out? Fine.” Jongryeo raises his left hand toward where the strongest mana is accumulated.
The orbiting gems were fired on a small arcing path.
As it home near the target it was deflected before it hits.
Clang!
The metallic clang reverberated loudly and a figure slowly became visible.
A tall and lean man with jet-black hair showed himself.
‘Is he the boss?’
The man has the presence of a monster but he looks more human compared to those humanoid monsters he fought.
Unauthorized personnel?
Jongryeo gazed coldly at the man as he studied him further. The man looked a bit worried and contemplating something as well.
Jongryeo felt like he knew this man. Not to length of personal matters but more on like he met this man once.
“Hunter Sung Jin woo?” His voice sounded incredibly earnest.
When he saw the man flinch, he was too late to notice how he sounded weird so he coughed casually and immediately composed himself.
“Hunter Sung, may I ask why are you here?”
“I should ask the same for you. Why is a member of the Hunters Association Surveillance doing in a place like this?”
It was a reasonable question. Sung Jin woo is actually a registered ‘Hunter’ so he is allowed to enter dungeons like this. On the other hand, Jongryeo is now a registered member of the Hunters Association.
But this isn’t an ordinary dungeon. As far as Jongryeo knows, the only way to enter this place is through the ‘System’. He could use the excuse of ‘overseeing’ this dungeon but the look Sung Jin woo gives him told him he won’t believe that.
So maybe..
“Perhaps Hunter Sung is..”
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.
Both hunters swallowed their dry saliva.
They 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, Blood-Red Commander Igris]
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-colored 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 originally coming from this guy, huh…..’
He suspected it was coming from the other guy.
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.
‘……’
Igris 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 bastard’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.
Igris 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 bastard 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, Igris 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.
Igris closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and leaped up into the air. Once flying, the thing stuck its knee out and aimed at Jin woo 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 Igris’ 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, Igris simply landed on the ground without much fanfare.
There was no time to admire that perfect landing, though.
Jin woo rushed in and before Igris 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 Igris’ left hand.
‘How can this be?!’
Jin woo’s eyes opened wider.
While one of his legs was blocked, Igris’ 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, Igris had already appeared right in front of his eyes.
Even before he had the chance to do something about it, Igris’ 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.
RING!!
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, a much bigger problem than that was coming closer to him. His blurry sight captured Igrit as it walked towards him.
[Rain of Stone]
But before it could get any closer, stone spears fell toward Igris.
It jumps back.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The heavy sounds of the spears stabbing the ground. Igris evaded numerous lances with such ease.
Jongryeo stood in front of Jin woo with Vortex Vanquisher in his hand.
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