Chapter 46

Chapter 46

The 4th floor wasn’t that much different from the higher floors . It was dark and it was cold . The cave was large, and the tunnel looked like it would continue forever . It still felt oppressive to Sungyoon .

The only difference he could detect was the denser magical energy .

Sungyoon was prepared for an ambush as he walked next to the wall of the labyrinth .

-Koo-rook!

It didn’t take him too long to hear the cry of a monster . Sungyoon lifted his spear and gripped it tightly as he looked at his surroundings . A monster was coming towards him from a 45 degree angle .

‘Fang Boar!’

It possessed a ma.s.sive body covered with rough brown fur, and two curved tusks were protruding from its mouth . The tusks were about 1m long . The monster possessed the red eyes, unique to monsters . The eyes were overpowering, and the Fang Boar slowly approached him .

Sungyoon became tense . The Fang Boar was bigger than any monsters he had encountered up until now . It was 1m tall, and if one measured its length from head to tail, it was easily over 1m in length . Underneath its rippling fur, muscles were hidden, which were tensed as it moved forward .

-Koo-roo-rooohk!

The Fang Boar’s cry changed . Its red eyes looked straight at Sungyoon .

-Koo-rahhhhhhhhhhh!

It let out a roar that sounded as if it would bring down the labyrinth . It charged at Sungyoon . But this charge was completely different from the charges he faced from various monsters up until now . He felt the ground shake . Every time the feet of the heavy beast hit the ground, it sounded as if the floor was screaming out in pain . In comparison to these monsters, the charge of the Mad Dog and the Slash Cat felt almost cute . They were like pets compared to the Fang Boar .

He subconsciously almost brought up his s.h.i.+eld, but he stopped himself . The s.h.i.+eld had become damaged when the Slash Cat attacked it . It was a weak wooden s.h.i.+eld anyway . This monster had 1m long tusks, and they were enormous in size . There was no way he could take this attack head on . Even if his s.h.i.+eld did not get shattered, his whole body would be sent flying .

Fortunately, the Fang Boar wasn’t that fast . Sungyoon observed it with fierce eyes, and his legs were tense as he prepared himself to dodge the attack . He also didn’t forget to raise his spear and s.h.i.+eld in front of him . It was better than doing nothing .

The sharp tusks were getting closer to him . The tusk"s sharpness could not be compared to blades, but one had to consider the monster’s exceptional st.u.r.diness and the power generated by its ma.s.s . It had the effect of masking its shortcomings .

He put strength into his enhanced eyes as he tried to time his attack .

‘Now!’

He put strength into his feet and quickly ran to the side .

-Gweeeeeeek!

The Fang Boar had been charging forward like an angry boar . It let out a cry . Was it angry that it had lost sight of Sungyoon? Before the angry cry could end, it quickly decelerated in order to avoid ramming into the wall of the labyrinth . However, there was too much momentum for it to stop on a dime .

Boom!

The power generated by the enormous ma.s.s and acceleration was used against the Fang Boar . It hit the wall so hard it made one worry the labyrinth might collapse on them .

-Gweeeek!

It let out an odd screech as the Fang Boar rolled on the ground . One of its vaunted tusks was broken, and the other one had a deep crack . At the very least, it seemed the wall of the labyrinth was st.u.r.dier than the Fang Boar’s tusks .

It was apparent for all to see that it was the perfect opportunity . Sungyoon struck out with his spear .

Poo-oohk!

The spear blade pierced through flesh, but Sungyoon furrowed his brows .

‘It isn’t going in!’

The st.u.r.dy and thick hide of the Fang Boar was a problem . He could pierce through it, but he was facing great resistance . The resistance he felt was unrivaled compared to the monsters he experienced up until now .

-Gweeeeeeek!

The Fang Boar struggled on the floor . The embedded spear shook ruthlessly, but Sungyoon used his enhanced strength to hold on . Still, he was having a hard time .

“Koohp!”

One couldn’t tell if it was a scream or a shout of concentration . He was barely able to extract the spear .

“Ha-ahhhhht!”

He grabbed the spear with two hands . The Fang Boar was trying to get up, but then he stabbed with all his might towards the head .

Bboo-jeeek!

An odd sound rang out . He had basically jammed it in by force, and the spear blade had embedded itself deep into the head of the Fang Boar . Its red eyes started to dim .

Boom!

The enormous body of the Fang Boar fell to the floor .

Sungyoon pulled out the deeply embedded spear blade by force . He had a hard time extracting it . Blood seeped out from the hole created by the spear blade . Sungyoon had mixed emotions as he looked at this sight .

Ssssk!

Sungyoon aimed the spear blade towards the corpse of the Fang Boar . This time he used one hand to hold the spear . He struck out with all his strength .

Poo-oohk!

The spear blade met great resistance, and he was unable to pierce all the way through the thick hide of the Fang Boar . Sungyoon let out a sigh as he extracted the spear .

‘I’m tired . ’

Sungyoon raised his spear, and he watched the blood drip down from the spear blade . The Fang Boar’s blood stuck to the spear blade, and it felt as if the blood was slowly dulling the sharpness of the spear blade .

‘As expected, this is my limit . ’

It felt as if he was cutting tough meat with a dull knife . If he had not used both of his hands to strike out with all his strength, it would have been hard for him to inflict critical wounds to the Fang Boar .

‘At the very least, I hoped my equipment would last until the 6th floor . ’

But contrary to his thoughts, he hadn’t come close to reaching the 6th floor . It would be hard to explore the 4th floor with these equipment .

If he was fighting a one on one battle with a Fang Boar, he could somehow handle it . However, if it showed up with more than one monster by its side, he would be in trouble .

‘It can’t be helped . ’

The Fang Boar was swept up in light as it disappeared . Sungyoon turned back after he picked up the moonstone . It was impossible to explore the 4th floor with his equipment, so he had no choice but to hunt in the upper floors . He just had to hope for a better Gem to drop .

His steps looked much heavier as he walked up the stairs .

* * *

Chwahhhk!

Another monster fell as it sprayed blood . Sungyoon wiped the blood splashed on his cheek, and he watched the monster disappear as it was swept up in light .

‘It isn’t there again . ’

He furrowed his brows . A moonstone had dropped again . But the Devices and Gems, which he wanted, were nowhere to be seen . He had run into a wall called the 4th floor, so he had been wandering around the 3rd floor for the past couple days . However, the needed Devices and Gems didn’t appear in front of Sungyoon .

‘As expected, they don’t drop easily . ’

It seemed he had been lucky last time . Wasn’t Jimin surprised when he came back with an extra Device and Gem? It was proof that it was difficult to acquire Devices and Gems .

If he thought about it, he had no reasons to feel restless . Jimin’s goal for him was to raid the Great Labyrinth . It wasn’t his goal . However, Sungyoon was acting as if it was his goal . It was, because he had signed the contract . After being backstabbed by his friend, contracts were important to him . The second most important thing after s.h.i.+nhae was contracts . He valued it more than his life .

On the other hand, he couldn’t go to the Great Labyrinth if he couldn’t find any more Devices and Gems . He couldn’t even go down to the 4th floor . It seemed he had no choice . He would have to hunt here for an extended amount of time .

It was unexpected, but there were a lot of people in the same boat as Sungyoon . He saw a good number of people turn back when they reached the tunnel heading towards the 4th floor . They probably weren’t qualified to enter the 4th floor like Sungyoon .

Sungyoon was diligent as he hunted down the already familiar monsters . The size of the labyrinth was so large that he hadn’t been able to explore the entirety of the 3rd floor yet .

As always, he walked towards directions that he had never explored before . Thanks to the signs placed at each entrance, it would be impossible for him to get lost in this labyrinth .

Sungyoon had been walking slowly . He came to a stop when a large wall appeared in front of him .

‘It is a dead end . ’

It happened occasionally . There were s.p.a.ces that looked like rooms . This was one of the many tunnels that led to a dead end . However, he hadn’t come here for nothing . There was a Mad Dog prowling around in front of the wall .

It seemed the Mad Dog had become allerted to Sungyoon’s presence . Sungyoon lightly grasped his spear .

Third floor Mad Dogs were no longer his equal . He swung his spear towards the screaming Mad Dog .

Chwahk!

The spear blade sliced through its hide, skin and muscles . Blood sprayed into the air . He heard the familiar yelping noise as he accurately pierced through the body of the Mad Dog . Soon, its body started trembling before it died .

‘It feels like I’ve become a butcher . ’

It basically was a job to him . In the beginning, he had felt bad about ending the life of a living creature . However, he no longer felt such unpleasant feelings . The Mad Dog fared poorly against him even in the beginning, and now after earning the strength enhancing Gem, the Mad Dogs were no longer a threat to him .

Sungyoon picked up the moonstone, and he turned around in an attempt to exit the dead end .

‘Huh?’

He heard sounds from down the tunnel .

‘Footsteps?’

It sounded like a person running . If he had to guess, it was two people running . However, that wasn’t all . Alongside the footsteps, he heard the rumble of some large creature’s steps .

Sungyoon quickly turned around in place .

‘Why now of all places!’

He inwardly cursed as he watched the wall blocking his path . He usually had a route that would allow him to escape danger . However, the tunnel was a dead end .

Sungyoon did his best to remain calm . He raised his s.h.i.+eld and spear in preparation for a battle that may be heading his way .

The sounds were getting louder . Soon, the owners of the footsteps appeared .

They were humans . He saw a man carrying a large s.h.i.+eld reinforced with steel and a sharp axe . The man was a warrior type like Sungyoon . Then there was the woman wearing a white fluttering garb . She looked to be wearing a priestess robe, and she was carrying a short staff over 50cm long . The two of them flinched when they saw Sungyoon . Their faces turned pale when they saw the enormous wall behind Sungyoon .

“I . . . it’s a dead end . . . ”

The man spoke with despair in his voice .

-Koo-reek!

He heard another sound emanating from down the tunnel . It was an ominous and creepy sound . It sounded like something was laughing in a mocking manner . The man and woman quickly turned back .

Boom!

A large cloud of dust created by a foot appeared . It was the owner of the other sound that could be heard alongside the footsteps of the two humans .

It was easygoing . That was Sungyoon’s first impression . It moved like a king sneering down at its peasants . It acted like a cat looking down at cornered mices . It looked like a hyena approaching an injured gazelle . It approached them, its prey, at a slow pace .

Drip!

Cold sweat ran down Sungyoon’s face .

This couldn’t be!

No way!

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d shouldn’t exist on the 3rd floor .

‘Bigfoot . ’

It was named after the unidentified creature from earth . Sungyoon thought about the warning given to him by Jimin before he had come back to the moon .

-Most of the stronger monsters would have been exterminated from the Beginner’s labyrinth by now . However, you have to remember that some of the high ranked monsters still exist, and there are rare instances where they cause harm . Please remember that . -

‘It seems she jinxed it . ’

He knew Jimin wasn’t at fault . However, he couldn’t help feel a bit of resentment towards her at that moment .