Chapter 5 – Day 2, 2nd Floor Battle

“Nothing… Nothing?”

An Su-hyun’s eyes widened as his expectations were betrayed. The shattered box was empty. He couldn’t see anything among the pieces of wood. But my vision was different.

[Item has been registered in the inventory.]

[Use the command ‘Inventory’ to show your current possessions.]

[If you want to take something out of the inventory, focus on the name and used the command ‘Eject.’

“Inventory.”

Then I could see what I obtained from the box.

[Maram’s Leather Gloves. Equipment item. Rank D.]

[The personal effects of a first class boxer. It is made from well-polished crimson bear leather. If the weapon isn’t a magic sword, it isn’t unreasonable to be able to grab the blade with the glove.]

[Significantly reduces the load on the arm bones/muscles/joints when worn.]

“Eject.”

As soon as I shouted, something heavy fell into my hands.

It was a pair of very dark brown leather gloves. They covered my elbow to the first knuckle of my fingers.

“I-Inventory!”

An Su-hyun shouted in a panicked voice but nothing came up. I looked at the gloves while listening to him shout two then three times.

“Inventory! … Inventory!”

There was a strap to tie it like shoelaces and proper places where I could put my fingers. It was comfortable. I hadn’t tied the strings yet but I could feel that the texture perfectly adhered to the shape of my arm. Once I made a fist, the parts attached to my fingers gently folded. Indeed. This truly was a glove.

“That came out from the box?”

“Yes. It’s good.”

An Su-hyun bit his lip.

He crossed his arms and I could see everything he was feeling without him saying anything. He said the words with his own mouth so his pride didn’t allow him to argue for the item.

I started walking again with a casual expression. I could feel his greedy gaze towards my gloved arm.

“You’re not a boxer…”

Just when he was going to try and dispute it… The first monster appeared.

[Blind Mouse. Type: Animal. Rank H]

[Wild mice have inhabited caves for generations. Sometimes the adults can grow as big as a calf.]

A creature the size of a small puppy appeared in front of us. Instead of eyes, it had antennae on the pink furless body. H? ABCDEFGH…

Wherever it was on the alphabet, it didn’t seem like a strong monster. While I was thinking this, An Su-hyun suddenly jumped out. He turned around and excitedly kicked it.

Bam!

The kicked rat struck the wall, had a few spasms and stopped breathing.

[Meat can be obtained if there is suitable cutlery.]

“What? Nothing dropped.” He looked down at the dead mouse. Even though it wasn’t a tiger, An Su-hyun looked proud that he had caught something. If he had received a talent from his previous action then I would have seen it on his face. But it didn’t feel that way at all.

There was no need to observe An Su-hyun as the fact was soon disclosed. After they killed the mouse, small animals started to appear on their path.

[Luminous Bat. Type: Animal. Rank H]

[Bats that enjoy animal blood. They are timid and the strength of their teeth is very weak. They mainly hunt blind mice.]

[Flat Salamander. Type: Animal. Rank H]

[They secrete body fluids that induce nausea in predators in order to survive. There is no toxicity unless ingested through the mouth.]

They were all like the cave mouse. Monsters that couldn’t even kill young children.

“These scum! Ick! Ick!” An Su-hyun was very motivated.

I suppose it was due to the box a little while ago. It seemed like he had determined not to let me snatch anything in the future. He couldn’t kill all the monsters alone, but was kicking diligently trying to anyway.

Then he suddenly looked into the air and shouted.

“Eh? What is this?”

He expressed so clearly that he had received a talent. It was the first time he received a talent. An Su-hyun stared at his legs that were covered with the fluids of rats and salamanders.

Then he suddenly kicked the air. Was it a kick?

Certainly An Su-hyun had successfully killed the monsters just through kicking.

“What is it?” I asked and for a moment, it seemed like An Su-hyun was going to answer. But he closed his mouth and smiled.

“It’s nothing.”

“….”

It wasn’t nothing.

I estimated that he got the kicking talent after kicking 10 or so times.

I looked down on both hands. I had vambraces. It was an acquired item. If it was possible for kicks, then wasn’t it possible for punches? I decided to prove my hypothesis.

I beat the small animals with my fists.

Bam!Bam!

It happened when I killed exactly 12 monsters.

[Talent has been acquired.]

[Talent – Punching: The efficiency of your fist will increase according to the level. Muscle strength, stamina and reflexes have slightly increased.]

“…”

I was pleased to see it but I maintained my indifferent expression. An Su-hyun had been watching me for a while. When I didn’t show any signs that I’d gained a talent, he developed a superiority complex.

We continued to advance through the maze.

“Eh!”

An Su-hyun shouted and moved forward again.

It was a wooden box.

Bakak!

The kicked box was once again empty. An Su-hyun gazed at the air.

He had obtained an item.

“Inventory!”

His grin was so wide that it almost went up to his ears.

“Eject!”

He was holding a sword in his hand.

The blade was around 30cm long and the leather sheath had very stylish workmanship.

I couldn’t see the details of the item with my eyes.

“Rank C, isn’t it awesome?”

He said as he pulled the sword from the leather sheath. The silver blade had a vertical centre groove and looked quite sharp.

“Okay. It’s good.”

An Su-hyun studied my face as much as the blade.

He smiled as if he came to the conclusion that his sword was much better than my gloves.

“Yes yes. No matter how much you train, the human body clearly has limits. I needed a weapon.”

He wielded the sword and whistled.

Fortunately, they arrived at a room shortly after that.

The narrow passage widened and stairs leading down could be seen in front of them.

[Stairs. It leads to the 3rd floor.]

[Changes in the following floor: Dungeon space has expanded. You can encounter +1 explorer. Monsters below E rank will emerge.]

“What the heck, it’s over?”

An Su-hyun didn’t say anything else so I decided to measure the width of the open space. I took a few steps to the left and a wall appeared. If I walked a few steps to the right then there was another wall. The other side was the same so it was probably a 20 metre square room.

“Hey, don’t wander off alone, let’s go together.”

An Su-hyun followed me closely. We moved to the other side of the room.

“Heok!”

“…!”

This time, I was just as surprised as An Su-hyun.

It was because there was a likeness of a human leaning in one corner.

“… Is that a training dummy?”

It was literally like An Su-hyun said. It was the dummy that was used to practice drills and forms. Someone had put clothes on the dummy. The top and pants were reminiscent of martial arts movies.

[Wooden Dummy, Scold. Type: Golem Rank E.]

[A device used since ancient times to train young pupils. The last recorded action seemed to be the basic behaviour of a technique but it is unknown until you try it.]

[Inactive state. It won’t activate unless it is attacked first.]

[Named Monster.]

“Ah~. Is this the boss room?”

An Su-hyun also obtained knowledge about the dummy. He suddenly tried to kick but I blocked grabbed his shoulder.

“What the!?”

Was he confident about fighting it himself? He shot me a nasty expression and shrugged. Of course, I didn’t pay attention.

“Rank E is three stages higher than the monsters we’ve fought.”

“So?”

He was stubborn until the end.

This bastard, was he 100% confident he could win?

“If there is an emergency then we can escape to the stairs over there.” An Su-hyun pointed to the stairs.

His words weren’t wrong but I had no intention of going down here. I still didn’t know how much of this map was left.

“I think…”

“No, I hate it.”

In fact, I had been thinking about punching him. There was one reason to help him here and that was if he held the sword, I would be able to steal it.

But An Su-hyun’s curiosity exceeded my thoughts. He kicked the dummy so suddenly that I couldn’t stop it.

Creak.

The dummy shook for a moment before raising its head.

I moved back two or three steps.

An Su-hyun raised the sword and laughed.

“Okay, let’s play…”

Bam!

It was a quick jab, reminiscent of a boxer.

The problem was that An Su-hyun was the one hit.

The moment that it happened, An Su-hyun’s nose was crushed.

The punch came from the dummy.

“…Eh…?”

I was surprised at the unimaginable speed. In addition, there was a strong impact. An Su-hyun groaned and couldn’t fight back.

Unfortunately, the dummy wasn’t as stupid as him.

Bam!

Once again, an outstretched fist struck An Su-hyun’s abdomen.

His waist formed a ‘ㄱ’ angle.

The bar on top of his head was reduced by about a tenth.

“…Keok.”

Before the moaning even finished, he was hit again by an uppercut.

At this point, I made a very obvious judgement. I turned around and ran. In fact, it was probably the right move. It might be funny to say, but the dummy was a pro.

I lost my footing for a moment due to the unexpected strength.

Deopsseok.

I’d only taken a few steps when I felt cold fingers grab my collar. Had it caught me? I turned around.

I made the right choice to block with my arm.

Bam!

It didn’t hurt so much due to my gloves, but my body stumbled back. Being hit was a big deal. Almost instinctively, I fell back and crouched.

The dummy immediately crashed into me and got into the mount position. It was similar to the UFC matches that I watched to relieve stress during the exam period. The dummy’s fist hit my belly.

Bam!

[Current Balance: 114/123]

Bam!

[Current Balance: 112/123]

Bam!

[Current Balance: 108/123]

Surprisingly, the power itself wasn’t that fearsome. Perhaps there wasn’t much different between it and me.

The problem was the mindless speed and skill, as well as the metal material at the end of its fists. This was used to teach ‘young pupils’?

Bam!Bam!

The punches continued without stopping. I opened my eyes and looked up at the dummy.

“Eu…”

I could see a look of utter confusion on An Su-hyun’s face. My HP Bar was gone down due to the uppercuts I couldn’t block. The dummy turned around.

I carefully raised my body. This was a chance.

With all my strength, I hugged the dummy from behind. I put my arms between the armpits and held them together. It looked like the dummy didn’t have that much strength after all. It was crazy but the dummy could be grabbed like this!

“Hit it!”

I shouted to An Su-hyun.

“…Ah.”

An Su-hyun was currently in a bad condition. His eyes were at half mast. His whole body was shaking.

“Hit it! An Su-hyun!”

“Ah… Eu…”

At that moment, the dummy changed its posture. It turned its joints into a position impossible for humans and started trying to escape from my arms. It was a heavy blow to An Su-hyun.

Jjalgrang!

The sword fell from his hand and hit the ground. An Su-hyun ran away from the dummy that was still tangled up with me. There was a faint smell of urine coming from him.

“Hey!”

An Su-hyun’s footsteps couldn’t be heard as he disappeared out of sight. He had run down the stairs. At the same time, the dummyl had completely escaped.

Quark!

It instantly grabbed my collar and pulled me away from the stairs. It seemed like the dummy didn’t want to let my get away.

I tried to squat down like I did before. This time, the dummy was faster. Its fist struck my abdomen.

Bam!

It was a fist I couldn’t stop with the vambraces.

[Current Balance: 85/123]

Too much pain. It felt like my intestines were twisting.

“Keo… Heok…”

I held my belly and desperately tried to retreat. My back hit a wall. The dummy was coming towards me like a terminator. I was going to die here.

[The level of a talent has risen.]

[Pain Tolerance LV 4 -> LV 5. Related abilities have increased.]

[Opening benefits received from reaching LV 5.]

[Technique: Limiter Release has been acquired.]