The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 10

A considerable amount of time had passed since Lee Shin entered the dungeon.

Nom, nom, nom-

Having obtained over ten magic stones while wandering through the dungeon, Lee Shin, still inside, continuously stuffed the food he had packed in his bag into his mouth.

To get his body back to a normal state quickly, he needed to gain some fat first.

He wasn't worried about muscle, as it would naturally follow if he kept fighting.

As he continued to stuff food and water into his stomach, Lee Shin brought up his status and skill windows.

Name: Lee Shin

Level: 1

Path: Madness

Strength I: 4

Agility I: 3

Sense I: 9

Intelligence I: 8

Internal Energy: 4

"Maybe it's because my body was in such a pathetic state when I started, but it's going up incredibly fast. Well, it's still lacking, though."

Though Lee Shin said so himself, his body had gained a considerable amount of weight compared to when he first entered the dungeon.

"Still, now that I've raised my stats this much, it feels like I can move properly."

There are three main ways to raise stats.

The first is continuous training, the second is life-or-death combat, and the third is a fortuitous encounter, like what is commonly called enlightenment or an elixir.

'I got this as planned, too.'

Lee Shin turned his eyes to the skill window.

[Recovery]

-Normal

-By repeating the process of getting injured and healing, the latent life force within your body has been stimulated. From now on, your body will heal wounds at a faster rate than ordinary people.

A skill he had obtained by repeating combat and healing through internal energy.

Looking at this skill alone, it felt a bit ambiguous, but considering that he could further enhance his healing power using internal energy, it was a reasonably useful skill.

"This will shorten the muscle soreness."

Having concluded that, Lee Shin stuffed more food into his mouth and then briefly checked his body's condition.

No wounds, no fatigue, and his stomach was full.

No problems.

Grin-

"Shall we go then?"

Lee Shin smiled, slung the sticky sword, stained with the blood of various Horned Rabbits, over his shoulder, and approached the door in front of him, which was emitting light while drawing a geometric pattern. He gave it a slight push.

Creeeak-

The door opened smoothly, as if welcoming a visitor, and invited Lee Shin inside.

At that, Lee Shin, with a beaming smile of anticipation, entered the boss room.

There was no hesitation in his light steps.

***

Twitch-

A hemispherical stone chamber, like a dome.

Numerous glowing stones were embedded in its walls, shining like stars and brightly illuminating the boss room.

And in the place where the light of the glowing stones gathered and shone the brightest, a black rabbit, which had been curled up with its eyes closed, twitched its ears at the sudden footsteps and slowly opened its eyes, looking in the direction the sound came from.

When it opened its eyes, it saw a human who had entered their abode, turning their head here and there, examining the surroundings.

At that, the black rabbit snorted, thinking it had been needlessly tense, and relaxed its body.

A single, weak human who could do nothing alone.

At that level, it wouldn't even need to step up; its subordinates would be more than enough.

Thinking so, the black rabbit gave a slight glance to its subordinates.

Kyuuut-!

Kyuuuuuut-!!!

At the gaze that contained the meaning that they could play with it to their heart's content, the subordinates rejoiced and rushed toward the human.

The black rabbit's subordinate rabbits were much larger than the Horned Rabbits outside the boss room.

Even though five such Horned Rabbits were rushing at him with all their might, the human, far from being flustered, stood still with a faint smile on his face.

Swoosh-

While quietly watching the situation, the black rabbit momentarily made eye contact with the human.

In that instant, the human's eyes sparkled like a child who had found what they wanted, and curved into a crescent moon.

Paang-!

As the human turned his head and stood still, one of the subordinate rabbits, thinking it was an opportunity, aimed its horn at the human and charged.

A sudden acceleration while already charging at high speed.

It seemed impossible for the defenseless-looking human to deal with it, and the other Horned Rabbits, thinking they had lost the first move, slowly slowed down.

But in that situation, the black rabbit's eyes widened.

The situation was flowing in a completely different direction than they had expected.

"Wow, is this really a boss room? My arm is tingling."

The deepest part of the Horned Rabbit dungeon.

Lee Shin, at its center, smiled broadly and retrieved the sword he had thrust into the Horned Rabbit's eye.

Thud-

The Horned Rabbit, stabbed by the sword, slowly collapsed like a paper doll soaked in rain and fell to the floor as the sword that had pierced its body was pulled out.

***

Chwaak-!

As Lee Shin retrieved the sword that had pierced the Horned Rabbit's head, he glanced at the sword's condition out of the corner of his eye.

Was it a side effect of using it so roughly until now?

Or was the Horned Rabbit's blow just now that powerful?

"Probably both."

Lee Shin swung the sword in the air to lightly check the weapon's condition, then smiled broadly.

The blade was chipped and had started to crack a little from the impact just now.

'Fortunately, it's still usable.'

At this level, he could still swing it more.

Satisfied with that fact, Lee Shin looked at the remaining four as if admiring dolls in a display case.

Were they boss room monsters, after all?

The creatures, about half a size larger than the ones outside the boss room, puffed up their bodies like cats, looking at Lee Shin with wary eyes.

A threatening appearance that would make most people automatically step back.

Thump-

But Lee Shin, on the contrary, approached the Horned Rabbits with a smiling face, as if to say, "come at me anytime."

A faint sense of anticipation lingered in Lee Shin's eyes as he looked at them.

The dungeon had a similar form to what Lee Shin had expected.

But the monsters inside the dungeon were too weak.

So until now, they had been usable for killing time, but not much more.

It was difficult to feel the fun he had expected when he first heard about it from the system.

But he felt that it might be possible now.

Lee Shin was certain of it as he once again looked at the black rabbit and the Horned Rabbits in front of him.

Thump-

"So, attack me."

Having approached right in front of them, Lee Shin said with a playful smile.

He looked as if he was out for a walk, with no tension at all, but the Horned Rabbits couldn't charge.

The scene Lee Shin had shown them a moment ago was seared into their minds, weighing down their bodies and minds.

At that, the anticipation in Lee Shin's eyes disappeared, and disappointment filled its place.

"Haa, I had some expectations since it's a boss room, but it seems this kind of thing doesn't change. Is it because the model is an herbivore?"

'Well, they're just LV.1 bottom-tier monsters at best. It was my fault for expecting anything.'

Lee Shin thought, raising his sword.

From the entrance of the dungeon to the boss room in its deepest part, Lee Shin's stats, which had risen through many battles, had now reached a point where he could handle a sword of this weight.

Paang-!

The moment Lee Shin raised his sword, the Horned Rabbits, which had been frozen still, simultaneously rushed toward him.

It was a decision to attack first before being attacked.

Lee Shin was pleased with the Horned Rabbits' appearance.

There was no fun in dealing with monsters that just stood still.

The opponent Lee Shin wanted was a toy that could play along with him.

The Horned Rabbits' body slams, coming from four directions at once.

That instantaneous speed was definitely not something Lee Shin's stats could handle.

And yet, none of the Horned Rabbits touched Lee Shin's body.

Just before the Horned Rabbits gathered muscle in their legs to explode for an attack, Lee Shin had already moved a few steps away from that spot.

A kind of premonition, created by the combination of Lee Shin's instinct and reason, refined through countless battles and deaths in the tutorial.

The repetitive experience in the tutorial made it possible for him to perform the feat of predicting and dodging the Horned Rabbits' attacks in advance.

Whoosh-

Thinking that they were much better toys than the ones outside, Lee Shin moved his sword.

Just like when he first entered the boss room, he dodged and then held his sword at an angle in that spot.

Just by doing that, the Horned Rabbit would jump into the sword on its own and die.

It was a simple matter, and therefore a bit boring.

Paang-!

So, the moment a lighter sound of something cutting through the air, rather than the heavy sound from before, grazed his ear, Lee Shin smiled in delight.

Lee Shin moved the sword he was about to bring in front of the Horned Rabbit, held it vertically, and brought it to the position of his side.

Kaaang-!!!

In that instant, a rabbit with black fur and a horn, as if it had jumped out of the shadows, collided with Lee Shin's sword.

In that moment, an image of the sword shattering and the black horn piercing his side was drawn in Lee Shin's mind.

'I can't block it. It'll break.'

In a fleeting moment, Lee Shin, who had pictured the future that would unfold a second later, instinctively twisted his wrist and tilted the sword.

At that, the black rabbit, which had shot out like a missile, twisted in the air, narrowly grazing Lee Shin and flying past him.

As Lee Shin dispersed the force and twisted its direction, it had fallen victim to its own power.

However, the creature, which was not much different in size from a normal rabbit, rotated its body in the air, landed easily on the ground, and looked at Lee Shin.

And Lee Shin also met its eyes head-on.

On the outside, it was just a slightly unusual black rabbit with a black horn.

But Lee Shin, who had just exchanged a brief bout, realized that the strength and speed within that small body were stronger than any of the creatures he had seen so far.

And also that the blow just now was not an all-out attack.

The biggest reason Lee Shin was able to somehow deflect the attack with his cracked sword was because the attack just now was, to the very end, a feint.

A feint to gauge Lee Shin's strength and how best to fight him.

Kyuuuuuuk-

As if affirming Lee Shin's thoughts, the boss of this dungeon, the Black Horned Rabbit, let out a long cry, showing off its presence, and spoke to its frightened subordinates.

That they would be victorious.

Kyuuuu-!

Kyuuut-!

At that, the Horned Rabbits, which had been frozen just a moment ago, cried out following the Black Horned Rabbit, broke free from Lee Shin's pressure, regained their posture, and looked at him.

There was no longer any fear of Lee Shin in their eyes.

In the Black Horned Rabbit's eyes, only the fighting spirit to eliminate the enemy who had come to their home remained.

"Yes, that's how you should be."

Lee Shin praised their appearance with a smile and dodged the Horned Rabbits' attacks.

The Horned Rabbits' attacks still couldn't reach him.

But unlike before, the Horned Rabbits were properly combining their strength and pressuring him.

And while Lee Shin was dealing with the Horned Rabbits, the Black Horned Rabbit had once again hidden somewhere.

It was probably looking for another opportunity to attack him.

Lee Shin felt that the situation had changed drastically.

The scales, which had been tilted slightly in his favor until just a moment ago, had been instantly reversed with the appearance of the Black Horned Rabbit.

Even his method of predicting and dodging attacks by seeing the pre-attack movements, as he had done so far, was useless if he couldn't see those movements beforehand.

"Puhahaha."

That's why Lee Shin laughed.

The stimulation that could only come from a situation where both sides were risking their lives, not one where one side was unilaterally hunting the other.

Feeling the sensation he had felt in the tutorial fill his entire body, the corners of Lee Shin's mouth slowly rose.

"This feels good, as expected."

Lee Shin muttered, exhaling, then took a step back and ducked.

A Horned Rabbit's horn pierced through the space where his head had been just a moment ago.

The flame that had been burning in Lee Shin's heart met the wind of a life-threatening crisis and burned bigger than ever before.

And that sensation made all of Lee Shin's senses sharper, providing a strong stimulus to his mind.

Lee Shin smiled, purely thinking that this moment was endlessly enjoyable.

(End of Chapter)