Bab 55: Instant Dungeon
Proceeding down the station stairs, I enter the ekinaka (shopping complexes inside train stations), but instead of having a bright atmosphere, it's instead dreary and bleak. The shutters for all the stores were slammed shut, weeds growing from the cracks in the ground, and a horrid odor which assaulted my nose.
As I proceeded to look around, the sound of scampering causes me to whip my head and find a giant rat. Instead of carrying on with its day, the rat through its entire weight towards me, opening its mouth to show its dangerously sharp teeth which could very easily rip through my flesh.
Dodging to the side, the rat skids across the floor, eventually turning towards me and baring its teeth. Looking just slightly above its head, I read the name ⸢Barbed Tail Jwi⸥ and the color of the name was orange. As if to satiate my curiosity about its name, its tail flicks out in front of it, slamming into the ground, and causing a huge gash to appear.
Once again charging towards me, the rat tries to bite into me again, but instead of dodging, I cock back my fist and shove it straight into its snout. Like almost every animal that happens to get its nose punched, the giant rat recoils. Yet even as it begins to rub its snout with its hands, its tail shoots towards me, forcing me to hurriedly start dodging against its swiping tail.
The rat during this time managed to get its bearings back, once again rushing towards me, its tail swinging out in front of it. Even when its barbed tail hit the store shutters, it simply tore through them, leaving me with no other option than to use one of my katanas.
Apologizing in my heart about the fact that I would be wielding a sword without the proper strength, I pull my first katana from my inventory. Upon the rat making a wide swing with its tail, I rush towards the side of its head before then decapitating it. Seeing it flop dead on the ground, two alarms show up.
⸢ALERT – You have defeated the [Barbed Tail Jwi] ⸥
⸢ALERT – You leveled up! ⸥
Puffing out a breath of air, I turn my head, only to find two more barbed tail jwi's waiting for me. As the two giant rats jump towards me, I weave between them, slicing my katana upwards through their necks. Looking into the shadows, I see two red eyes piercing into me, before receding even further.
Looking at my stat bar, I found that upon leveling up, all my stats had gone up (Strength, Agility, Sense, Vitality, and Intelligence). Stepping over to the rats, I found that they didn't drop magical cores even upon death. This in turn made me turn my eyes to my inventory, finding new items to grace it.
Taking out the item, I found a jwi barb, something that the system classified as junk. However, as a part of its description, it mentioned a store. Simply thinking about it, a store suddenly showed up and gave me the immediate option to sell the jwi barb. In turn, it gave me 25 gold to use in the store.
Be that as it may, the deafening sound of hissing caused me to whip my head towards the shadows where I had seen the red eyes disappear into. Stalking straight out of the shadows, I saw the jwi leading a small army of 11 with even more to come. Thinking that this may be a bit much for the current me, I dump my built-up stat points evenly throughout all my stats, leaving me with a sense of euphoria as my… everything… became less dull.
Smiling at the approaching giant rats, we rush towards each other at the same time. Easily slashing through the first rats, dodging between the barbed tails, and pushing past the line of seemingly never-ending rats, I continued to kill, constantly having the thoughts of my wives and the Sung family to keep me moving, to push past the limits that were forced unto me.
Getting a few seconds of rest, I walk through the station, only to find an even larger army of rats waiting for me behind the ticket gate. And just as I see them, an alarm goes off.
⸢ALERT – You have earned [Title: Rat Slayer] ⸥
Noticing that if I were to use my katana any further, it would lose its edge, I put it back into my inventory. Now with the rat slayer title in my possession, the first rat that comes rushing towards me, I'm able to kill with my fists.
Tearing its barbed tail from its body, I give a war cry before heading into the rat pack, precisely maneuvering my newfound weapon either disabling the rat or straight up killing it with a single swing.
Heaving breaths once all the rats were dead, I stare back at the carnage that I created, finding the rats' blood lining the station pillars. Staring down at my makeshift weapon, I can't help but nod my head.
"This worked out." Opening my Inventory, I read out the contents, "42 jwi barbs, three sharpened jwi teeth, worker clothes, and a hearthstone. That's quite a bit more than I was expecting."
Not even thinking about returning with the Hearthstone, I advance through the station. The further I proceed, the more that I level up, leading to the fights against the monsters to become just a little bit easier. Besides that, I encountered two different enemies, one looking like a badger, the other like a porcupine.
⸢You have slain Long Clawed Osori⸥
⸢You have slain Posion Quilled Goseu⸥
I could feel my original strength coming back to me, and to prove it, the cracks on the black band around my wrist started to get larger.
Carrying on, I also noticed that the monsters would keep respawning, leaving for them to feel fake, and rather predictable once you fought them enough times. Though, the monsters tended to be rather crafty, as the badgers would have buried in the ground to surprise attack me while the porcupines would wait in the shadows, constantly shooting their poison quills from their backs to force me into a precarious situation. Plus, with the innumerable number of rats to tank shots, I was left exhausted by the time I managed to get a serious break.
Looking at the name of the jwi, I found that it had changed color from orange to white. This meant that the monster's strength was in no way comparable to mine now. Ripping a new weapon from the jwi, I look down into the dark abyss that was presumably where the boss of the dungeon was.
Compared to the killing intent I felt at the start of this dungeon, this one was, if not more, twice as strong, giving me goosebumps.
"It can't be that bad right? ...I fought against Muzan after all."
Giving myself a weary chuckle, I march down the mossy stairs. The stairs were many times longer than usual and at the bottom, there was a plateau of discolored, grotesque water. Looking to the center of the room, I see a humongous figure, currently gnawing on something.
As if it felt me staring at it, the monster turns its body, showing its red, beady eyes, blood covered mouth, and the thing that it was eating. Looking above its head, I find it wearing a crown and I read ⸢Vermin Ruler, Rat King⸥ and its color was orange, stating that it was dangerous for me Yet, what bothered me the most, was that the supposed Rat King was eating a jwi.
Dropping the dead jwi's body, the Rat King lets out a blaringly loud screech, causing me to cover my ears as instinct.
The moment that my hands were no longer prepared for it, the Rat King seemed to disappear from where it sat, having rammed its head into my chest, sending me hurtling back into a wall and cough up blood. Seemingly snickering at me, the Rat King slowly walked towards me.
Freeing myself from the wall, I rush towards the Rat King, but instead of defending against my attack, the Rat King uncaringly kept walking towards me. Slamming the jwi barb against the fur of the Rat King, my breath hitches in my throat when it bounces off, leaving no visible injury on its body.
Looking up at the towering figure of the Rat King, it snickers again before twirling around and slamming its tail into my side. Having softened the impact just enough, I don't quite get to the point of slamming into a wall, but the searing pain of that attack remained.
'So, its skin is too tough for me to get through. And its speed and strength are both greater than mine. How do I handle this then?'
I'm not even given time to ponder this question as the Rat King begins to run around me, knocking me back and forth with its tail, while I'm left with seemingly no way to deal with it.
Having had enough of its barrage of attacks, I grab the tail of the Rat King, sending me around in circle with it. Noticing that I had latched onto its tail, the Rat King hoists his tail in front of its face, causing the two of us to stare eye to eye. Yet, this is what I wished for.
Taking the jwi tail that I carried, I slammed it into the Rat Kings eye. Letting out another screech, I bear with it and swing from its tail onto its head. Removing the barb from its now useless eye, I slam it down into its other one, causing its screech to get even louder, making my vision spin. Yet I take the bloodied flail and slam it down into the Rat King's snout.
Teetering backwards, the Rat King's sense of balance fails, and it falls onto it back. I had managed to jump from its head in time, and now I stood on its chest. Looking to its neck, I fall to my knees and begin hammering into it.
The Rat King begins to squirm and almost throws me off, but having been in much worse situations before, my flurry of punches only continues. By the time that the Rat King begins to use its tail to try and knock me from its stomach, I had plunged my hand into its neck and had punctured the neck just far enough to get the bare feeling of its spine.
Plunging my hand even deeper, until my entire arm was encased in its insides, I wrap my hand around its giant spine and begin to pull.
The sound of cracking bones, as well as the Rat King's gurgled cry, are the only two things that can be heard. Letting out my own scream, a loud snap sound out, and the Rat King falls limp.
"As someone who's sole mission is to stand above King, it would have been rather disappointing if I had lost to one."
Resting against the stomach fur of the Rat King, I let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the level up and enemy slain alert, a few chuckles escape my lips. Opening my Inventory, I look at the Items that the Rat King graced me with.
---
[Item: Rat King's Tooth]
Item Class: C+
Type: Katana
Attack: +30
A Katana made from one of the Rat King's front teeth. Able to Infect due to saliva. Grants Slow effect. Can be equipped, stored, or sold.
– Effect 'Infect': Attacked foes lose 2% of their health every 1 second.
– Effect 'Slow': Attacked foes have a chance to have their senses and agility reduced
---
[Item: Vermin King's Brew]
Item Class: A
Type: Potion
A brew made from the blood of the previous Vermin King. Obtainable by defeating Rat King. Unlikely Drop Rate. Drinking it will give you an increase in Intelligence but will weaken your Sense and Vitality.
– Effect 'King's Intelligence': +25 Intelligence
– Debuff 'Bad Health': -30 Sense, - 30 Vitality
---
Looking down at my body, I see my clothes in tatters and along with that, my body begins to hurt as the adrenaline wears off.
"But at least I now have a wastable weapon." I say while pulling out the new blade that I got and flicking the blade, "And for it to made of its tooth and not one of its bones, how hard were they then."
⸢ALERT – The BOSS has been slain. The dungeon's interior will revert to normal⸥
"Finally over." I once again heave a sigh and begin to climb up through the station, strangely not encountering a single soul.
Halfway up the stairs, I hear a rather familiar voice telling me to wait. Looking back down that stairs, I find Jinwoo slowly walking up, obviously in a worse condition.
"So, we both succeeded. Congratulations on getting stronger Jinwoo." I smile.
"I could say the same." Jinwoo gives a large smirk, "Now let's get some rest, that dungeon was horribly tiring."
As we walk up, we talk about the monsters that we had faced. But my face turns stoic when I catch a someone in uniform in the corner of my eye the moment we leave the station.
"Who are you?" Giving full attention to the soldier, he asks, "How did you come out from there? Didn't you hear the broadcast?"
"What happened?" Jinwoo asks.
"Huh, what are you saying now…!" The soldiers' eyes then scan over our clothes and the bloodied weapons that we hold. "Could you two be hunters?"
"Yes, that's right, but…"
"Ah, excuse me. I will guide you, sir hunters. This way."
Going along with what he was saying, both Jinwoo and I follow him to the scene of a Dungeon Break, letting us see the carnage the monsters had caused, as well as the corpses. Yet, our eyes solely looked to the fluctuation of energy, most likely where the boss monster lay.
Arriving at the scene, we see a huge crowd of civilians lined up before police tape, staring at the Hunters who were fighting against a golem of sorts. Amongst the Hunters who were fighting, we spot someone familiar.
"Even after a week… she still hasn't overcome it. Though… that's to be expected… I also…" Jinwoo's words cut off as he held his broken sword out in front of him.
Getting into a javelin throw stance, Jinwoo hucked the broken sword forward, causing the air to visibly part around it, before then planting itself into the head of the golem. As if to add insult to injury, I also threw my jwi tail and had it hit the other side of the golem's head.
Getting dragged away from the scene by Jinwoo, we return to the hospital, being able to relax once again.
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[Title: Rat Slayer] A title given to those who are proficient in hunting rats. Your stats will increase by 40% when facing Vermin-type monsters.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Kogatsu
Kogatsu “Of all things, I liked books best.”
― Nikola Tesla
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone