Chapter 15
A tentacle of jelly erupted from the King Slime.
Wham—
“Guhk—”
My attack, which I'd thought would work just like before, bounced right off.
The tentacle slammed into my stomach, driving me into the ground.
I’d been far too careless.
I must’ve let my guard down after clearing the previous boss and the other floors so easily.
“Fuck… That hurts like hell.”
The spot on my abdomen where the tentacle hit throbbed.
Fortunately, I hadn’t sustained any serious injuries.
But the pain wouldn’t fade easily.
“Kgh….”
But I couldn’t just stay still.
If I did, I’d obviously take another hit and be completely out of the fight.
I immediately picked up the kitchen knife I’d dropped and watched the thing.
It looked much like the one I’d seen on Floor 1, except now it had several tentacles.
Those must be its real means of attack.
I watched the tentacles move, trying to figure out their patterns as best I could.
Boom—!
Dash—!
In response to my movements, all the tentacles shot toward me at once.
By my rough count, there were about ten.
I tracked the paths of the incoming tentacles with my eyes as best I could.
Boom—
One, two.
Dodging the tentacles raining down on me like a bombardment...
I closed the distance in an instant,
and used my Cooking skill to harden the Slime’s skin, but...
[Effect reduced by 50% due to insufficient user capabilities.]
That damn “insufficient capabilities” message left me feeling helpless.
Whoosh—!
Wham—
“Ghh…! You little bastard…!”
I was struck by another tentacle,
and rolled across the ground, losing all the ground I’d managed to cover.
“Tch, guess I have no choice but to use it.”
The distance between me and the Slime kept growing.
My stamina was dwindling, and I was sustaining injury after injury.
It was a pretty desperate situation, but...
I was also starting to piece things together.
Why couldn’t I reach that blue mass of jelly?
Was it a lack of technique? An information gap? A bad matchup?
None of those.
It was simply the overwhelming difference in power—our capabilities.
Its speed, the weight of its attacks, and its toughness felt like an impassable wall.
It was too much for me to handle at my current level.
In a word, the difference in our levels.
“…I’d hoped to save this.”
But it wasn’t impossible to overcome.
It was a bit of a shame, though…
Whoosh—!
“Phew….”
I dodged the incoming tentacles and opened the System Window.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Stats
Strength: 5
Agility: 12.5
Magic: 10.2
Stamina: 4
Free Stat Points: 25
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
The stat points I’d been saving up, without using any until now.
Honestly, I’d wanted to save them and use them gradually,
but I had no choice.
They might not even be enough to close the gap now.
‘Add 5 to each of Strength, Stamina, and Agility, and 10 to Magic.’
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Stats
Strength: 10
Agility: 17.5
Magic: 20.2
Stamina: 9
Free Stat Points: 0
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
At my command, the stat points were distributed in an instant.
I ignored the messages saying the points had been allocated and my stats had increased,
and charged straight at the King Slime.
Fwoosh—!
Boom—!
“I can actually see it properly now.”
The strange satisfaction and exhilaration that came with my stats rising.
I could clearly feel how much faster I’d gotten,
and the distance between me and the King Slime gradually shrank.
Maybe it sensed something was off about me, because it swung its tentacles even more fiercely.
But they only grazed me.
Not one of them managed to hit me.
I couldn’t dodge them perfectly with my reaction speed alone.
My Agility stat was still a little too low.
But I’d already figured out its tentacle patterns,
and, more than anything, the openings whenever it swung them.
I could clearly see that the tentacles’ movements didn’t flow smoothly from one to the next.
Whoosh.
Boom—!
I took advantage of those openings, dodging the tentacles one by one,
and made it right up to the King Slime.
And then.
“You’re about to get turned into butter mochi, you bastard.”
Fwoosh.
Stab—!
I plunged my kitchen knife into its body while using my Cooking skill.
It was the same technique I’d used when I first defeated it.
But this time was a little different.
Stab. Stab. Stab—
It was rougher and more forceful.
I kept activating my Cooking skill as I stabbed and tore at the same spot with my knife.
Until I could see the core.
There was no concern for dignity or anything like that.
I just kept going until I killed it—until this damn mass of jelly disappeared from before my eyes.
I’d been stabbing and burning it for a while when—
Crrrkkk.
Wham—!
With almost half its body blown away, the King Slime twisted its tentacles together and launched them like springs in one last desperate attack,
“Shit…”
The tentacles pierced my left side, and I had no choice but to be flung away from the Slime.
“Cough— Hgh— Hgh—“
Even breathing was hard.
Fortunately, I’d expected it to make one last desperate move and twisted my body, avoiding a fatal hit,
but I think the ribs on the side where that tentacle hit were broken.
It wasn’t my heart or my head, but it still hurt just as much.
My vision reddened and blurred, and I felt the strength drain from my body.
At that faint, inexplicable sensation, my eyes slowly began to close.
Just then.
‘No, I’ve only made it to Floor 5. You’re telling me to die here?’
A strange anger welled up inside me.
Life had already been damn hard as it was.
I’d finally Awakened and made it here, and this was the end?
No way.
“Even if I… die, I’m taking you with me…!”
I forced my body, which felt like it was already falling apart, to its feet.
My right arm creaked, and my left arm wouldn’t move at all.
But the same was true of the thing over there.
Maybe that last attack had been its final one, because all its tentacles had burst,
and its body, which I’d hacked apart, hadn’t regenerated.
Slowly, dragging my useless legs, I made it to the collapsed Slime.
And then.
Stab.
Crack—!
It looked like a pearl nestled snugly in an open clam.
I stabbed and crushed the core.
“Ghh….”
As soon as I crushed the King Slime’s core,
the strength left my legs, and I collapsed right there.
[You have cleared the ???-difficulty Floor 5 Boss Room……]
I couldn’t see some Tower clear message right then.
I could barely breathe,
and my exhausted fingertips trembled.
As my vision wavered like it was fading out and my eyes slowly closed,
in a flash of light,
the sensation of the floor beneath me changed.
Before I knew it, I’d returned to the Tower lobby.
And a single window appeared before my eyes.
[……You have acquired Stat Points and 2 Advanced Recovery Potions.]
It was the Tower’s reward message,
and at the same time, two bottles filled with red liquid appeared in front of me.
“…Fuck.”
I didn’t have time to think.
If I didn’t drink those Advanced Recovery Potions that had appeared at just the right time,
I was dead.
Pop—!
I immediately snatched a potion with my still-moving right arm,
pulled out the stopper with my teeth,
and gulped it down.
I felt my fading vision slowly start to return.
*****
Meanwhile, outside the Tower, at the Seoul Association headquarters.
“Why the hell am I working overtime until three in the morning?”
The Association building was still lit up despite the late hour.
A man in the Association’s administrative division was muttering complaints quietly enough that no one else could hear.
His name was Han Myeongcheol.
He was an ordinary C-rank Awakened and a Hunter affiliated with the Association.
“Sigh… Overtime every day, nothing to do. This is so boring.”
He was always doing the same work and getting the same stimulation, so he was desperately searching for something new,
and, like the consummate office slacker he was,
he was browsing the Gallery on his office computer.
That’s when it happened.
“W-what’s this?”
[ ★ Title: Live Overseas Rankings Updated: New No. 1.]
A top post that immediately caught his eye appeared before him.
It was about the live overseas rankings being updated.
Even though no official notice had come down yet,
intrigued by a post revealing information he himself didn’t know, he clicked to check its contents.
[ ★ Title: Live Overseas Rankings Updated: New No. 1.]
(Photo of ??? filling the No. 1 spot from Floors 1 to 5.)
(Link to the official global Awakened rankings site.)
It was an error, you said, you fuck! Then what the hell is that right in front of my eyes?!
ㄴ Hunter brooooo!
ㄴ Ah, almighty Flame Emperor, protect me with your beautiful flames……
ㄴ Uh… can’t really call that one an error, can we?
ㄴ Upvote if you’re a pissed-off Cheol-bro watching the live rankings lol
ㄴ Upvote lol
ㄴ Huh, why’s that Cheol-bro heading over to the Association? lol
“…It’s real? Th-this is an emergency.”
His face stiffened as if he’d seen something impossible.
[Floor 2 Rankings]
No. 1 ??? [Difficulty: ???] 21,322 points
No. 2 Aquila [Difficulty: Hard] 11,200 points
No. 3 Heavenly Demon (天魔) [Difficulty: Hard] 9,820 points
▼More
He even went to the site just in case, but that only confirmed it was true.
These changed rankings.
There was no way Sangun would stay quiet about it.
He was always the one who reacted most sensitively whenever the rankings updated.
And now, those rankings had undergone a cataclysmic shift,
and it was all but certain that Lee Cheol-ho had been pushed down.
‘Th-then, could it be…’
Gulp—
Han Myeongcheol swallowed as if he’d sensed something.
And as if to prove his intuition was right,
Crash—!
“You said it was an error! What the hell is going on?!!!”
Despite the early-morning hour, Sangun Lee Cheol-ho’s shout began to shake the Association building.
And Myeongcheol realized.
This wasn’t something they could just let pass.