Chapter 1
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Boss Down, Let's Begin (1)
“Tremble in fear, you lowly beings of an inferior dimension!”
Earth.
The dawn of the new year, 2018.
With the world's festival, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and Korea's festival, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, just around the corner,
massive videos appeared over cities all across the globe.
In the videos, horned demons straight out of a cartoon were shouting. They called themselves Demon Kings and demons, and declared the extinction of humanity.
Then, thousands of dungeons appeared throughout the world.
Countless monsters poured out of the dungeons. Kobolds, gnolls, goblins, orcs—pathetic monsters armed with primitive weapons such as pitchforks, stone axes, and crossbows.
And yet, people were terrified of these primitive monsters.
It was painfully cliché, but guns, missiles, tanks, fighter jets, and every other form of modern weaponry and ordinary physical force were completely ineffective against them.
But then, something truly astonishing happened!
Awakened beings capable of standing against the monsters appeared.
Hunters who absorbed the “Coins” dropped by slain monsters and wielded their own unique “Avatars.”
Avatar — Incarnation
The word, meaning the manifested body of a god, came to be used for the beings manifested by Hunters.
Avatars could appear in various forms, from gods to heroes, and manifested differently depending on the Hunter's personality, abilities, or hidden talents.
These Avatars were semi-transparent like ghosts. They appeared behind their Hunters, amplifying their abilities, or moved on their own to exterminate monsters.
The Hunters pushed the monsters that had appeared on Earth all the way back to their original lairs—the dungeons—and grimaced as they stood before the dungeon entrances.
Tutorial Dungeon
Those words were inscribed upon 2,888 dungeon pillars throughout the world.
Humanity had driven the monsters from the surface of Earth at the cost of a staggering 1.1 billion lives.
But then people realized something.
The tutorial had not even begun.
Two years later, in 2020, an angel's video appeared before humanity, which had been consumed by despair.
“I, Archangel Metatron, appeal to humanity. Everyone. We angels have suppressed the Demon Kings and dimensional invaders as much as we could with our power, but we have reached our limit.
“All we could do was impose a few laws and restrictions upon them...”
The angel clenched her lips in frustration and shook her luxuriant golden hair before continuing.
“The Great Summoning will begin soon. Hunters will be sent to the ‘Final Dungeon, Babel’ one after another. You must climb all the way to the top of the Tower of Babel, defeat the Demon King, and clear the dungeon.”
“If you fail to clear Babel within twenty years... far stronger monsters from Babel will be released. They will slaughter all of you and take over this dimension.”
“But despair is not all that awaits you there. We angels will support humanity to the greatest extent possible. Hunters, you can grow infinitely stronger within Babel. The blessing of the higher dimension is with you.”
GOD BLESS YOU.
May God's blessing be with you.
“Backline! Throw some curses and firepower at it! Nothing you're doing is even scratching it!”
“We're going all out! You guys should try holding the front line! It's charging all the way into the backline!”
“Moooooaaagh!”
The mythical beast known as the Minotaur charged forward with its horns leading the way.
The frontline fighters who had been whining at the front panicked and scattered to the sides.
Seeing that, the backline fighters cursed in disbelief and ran without even looking back.
“Eeeeeeek!”
Among them, the second-year Hunter Ju Gonghyeok ran in the most pathetic manner of all.
He had even thrown away his only weapon, his sword.
‘I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I want to live!’
As Gonghyeok desperately ran away, dribbling a little urine in his panic, he caught his foot on a rock and fell.
The palms of his hands were horribly scraped, and after rolling across the ground several times, Gonghyeok was unable to move for a moment.
He stared blankly ahead, even drooling, as though he had lost consciousness.
Or perhaps he had been possessed by something.
“Why are you just standing there like an idiot?! Move, you useless bastard!”
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
BOOOOOM!
At the Hunter's sharp shout, Gonghyeok suddenly snapped back to his senses and rolled forward.
The Tutorial Dungeon boss, the Minotaur—the Cowhead's heavy stone club had just slammed into the ground beside Ju Gonghyeok's temple.
‘I almost died immediately after regressing.’
He had been dazed because he had only just regressed.
If he hadn't regained his senses at that exact moment, his head would have been crushed, and he would have been forced to regress yet another time.
This was his thirteenth regression, but the point in time at which he regressed was different every time.
Other than the time he had regressed while on the verge of wetting himself and nearly ended up doing exactly that while dazed, this was the first time he had regressed in such a precarious situation.
Crunch—SPLAT!
The kind Hunter 10 who had just given Gonghyeok such a friendly warning was struck by the vicious stone club, and his stomach burst open.
‘Well, he's dead.’
Ju Gonghyeok briefly prayed for the soul of Hunter 10, a man he saw once every twenty years and whose name he had already forgotten.
Then he quietly activated his power.
‘Avatar, Observer ON.’
A translucent Avatar appeared behind Gonghyeok, spreading a web-like structure with its hands and bringing up multiple screens.
It was the only Avatar Ju Gonghyeok possessed at this point in time: Observer.
A reconnaissance and surveillance-type Avatar, its basic ability was Analysis.
Observer busily tapped away at the calculator and keyboard on its arms.
Soon, a map appeared in the corner of Gonghyeok's vision, displaying the Minotaur's weaknesses and information, along with the current state of the party.
The situation was this: eight frontline fighters—now seven—and four backline fighters.
A total of twelve members of the assault party had reached the end of the Tutorial Dungeon and were currently fighting the boss, the Fierce Minotaur.
It was a boss monster that had respawned with a title attached to it, something that happened with an eight percent probability.
Boss monsters that appeared with titles such as “Fierce” or “Prime” possessed higher stats and more varied attack patterns.
The assault party had been assembled to raid an ordinary Minotaur, so the unexpected appearance of a Fierce Minotaur had already resulted in casualties.
[Tutorial Dungeon No. 598 Boss: Fierce Minotaur]
Strength: 111[E]. Durability: 85[F]. Agility: 41[F].
Technique: 22[F]. Mind: 10[F]. Willpower: 46[F]. Mana: 15[F].
Skills: Crude Victory Synthesis (F). Crude One-Strike Firework (F). Foolish Berserk (F-).
Advantages, Disadvantages: ??
Gonghyeok's eyes caught the Minotaur's Strength, which had reached 111[E].
Stats were ranked alphabetically, with every hundred points advancing them to the next grade.
Moreover, as the grade increased, the actual strength of the stats tripled.
For example, there was only a one-point difference between Strength 100[F] and 101[E]. Yet if 100[F] allowed someone to lift 150 kilograms, 101[E] would allow them to lift 450 kilograms.
Gonghyeok scanned the other Hunters.
They were a mediocre bunch with stats averaging in the twenties, including their leader, Park Juntae, the Bronze Giant.
Then Gonghyeok's eyes widened.
Under the Minotaur's blood-splattered feet, someone Gonghyeok loved more than anything else was trembling pitifully in fear.
‘Why are you there?’
Gonghyeok was stunned for only a moment.
There was no time for this.
She was in danger!
‘I have to save her. No matter what!’
Gonghyeok clenched his teeth and charged forward.
He snatched up the Hunter Sword he had thrown away while fleeing and raised it.
“Oppa Gonghyeok! Come back! You're in the backline! How far are you going?!”
Ha Yeonsi, the owner of absurdly gifted stats, called out to Gonghyeok from behind.
‘Right. I was in the backline.’
Gonghyeok's Avatar was E-rank, with mediocre stat enhancement and no combat specialization. It was a reconnaissance and surveillance-type Avatar whose specialty was analysis.
The sword in his hand was a cheap Hunter Sword purchased from a market stall. Yeonsi had bought it for him so that if a monster ever slipped into the backline, he could at least hold it off for five seconds.
It was only natural for a struggling novice Hunter who had barely managed to join the assault party to cower before the imposing sight of the rampaging Cowhead.
That was what Ju Gonghyeok from five minutes ago would have done.
But the Ju Gonghyeok standing here now...
Well.
He had become completely insane.
“Uh, wait. Oppa Gonghyeok! You're going to die! You're going to die! Don't go!”
Gonghyeok didn't even turn around to look at Yeonsi, who was screaming with a pale face.
With the cheap Hunter Sword strapped across his back, Gonghyeok charged straight at the Minotaur.
As Gonghyeok pushed past the trembling frontline fighters, he saw the Minotaur in the midst of its rampage.
And beneath it, his precious girl was in a precarious position.
With his current Agility, which was barely enough to shake in fear, there was no way he could even see the Minotaur's attacks.
Rather than trusting his reflexes, he simply had to predict the Minotaur's attacks.
Tap, tap, tap. One, two, three.
Gonghyeok lightly bounced his sword and moved to the rhythm.
One, two, three. One, two, three.
Here it comes.
“MOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The Minotaur activated its One-Strike Firework (E) skill and brought its club crashing down on Ju Gonghyeok.
A chunk of flesh exploded.
COUNTER ATTACK!
“M-MOOOO!”
Gonghyeok swung the Hunter Sword from his shoulder and slashed at the hand gripping the club.
The Minotaur's clumsy fingers went flying.
“Puhak!”
Remembering the sensation from his novice days for the first time in a long while, Gonghyeok couldn't help but laugh.
‘How does covering yourself in God-tier weapons and rare skills actually make the combat feel less satisfying?!’
Whether it was a difference in stats or anything else, the result was obvious.
He had slaughtered these walking beef steaks thousands upon thousands of times over his thirteen regressions.
He could see exactly how their attacks would come even with his eyes closed.
The rest was simple: plant the blade into the predicted location at the predicted rhythm.
[A spectacular counter has been unleashed! You have...]
[Agility +1......]
Ignoring the game-like messages that only Observer could display, Gonghyeok spun around once like a Marseille Turn and slipped underneath the Minotaur.
He saw it.
The gruesomely mangled corpse of a Hunter.
And, shyly exposed amid the sea of blood, a pristine white rectangular form.
A bond between two people that had continued for two hundred years.
DiX Plus.
—Warning: Smoking is a cause of lung cancer and various other diseases...
Tobacco smoke contains carcinogenic substances such as naphthylamine, nickel, benzene, and vinyl chloride...
Gonghyeok swiftly picked up his beloved companion, which was filled with such touching advice, and shouted.
“Hey, you! Lighteeeeeeer!”
“What?”
“Give me a lighter! Can't you see I'm in danger right now?!”
“MOOOOOO!”
The Minotaur swung its remaining hand at Gonghyeok, who was between its legs.
THUD!
“Gyeeeeeeeok!”
COUNTER ATTACK!
Gonghyeok grabbed the spear of a dead Hunter and used it on the spot.
The spear embedded itself directly into the Minotaur's descending hand.
Gonghyeok repeatedly hacked at the Cowhead's heel with the Hunter Sword as he shouted.
“I said give me a lighter! Do you not understand what I'm saying?!”
“Ah, all right.”
‘Seriously, why now?’
Looking bewildered by the bizarre sight, the Hunter tossed over a plastic lighter.
The Minotaur danced a tap-dance of agony, mooing repeatedly, while Gonghyeok dodged its threatening stomps and caught the lighter.
Click—
He quickly put the cigarette between his lips and took a deep drag.
Cigarette smoke thoroughly violated the pure twenty-year-old body of Gonghyeok.
“Hoo. Now this is what a regression should feel like.”
Whoosh!
The Minotaur's hand, with the spear still embedded in it, swept past Gonghyeok's head.
“Hey, you bastard. What kind of upbringing did you have? Didn't anyone ever tell you that making a ruckus next to your elders gets you killed?”
After taking another drag, Gonghyeok ground the cigarette out against the Minotaur's bloodied heel.
Behind the Cowhead's sturdy knee, he spotted the bulging flesh of its knee pit.
Using the chipped Hunter Sword, he severed the knee pit and its elastic tendons.
A blood-soaked bovine leg appeared through the ragged, shredded cross-section.
“Gyeeeeeeeok!”
Another scream rang out as the Minotaur fell onto a knee it could no longer support.
The first strike split its club-holding fingers.
The second slashed its knee pit and forced it to kneel.
It was a combination Gonghyeok had predicted in advance.
His timing had been slightly delayed because he had taken the opportunity to enjoy his regression item, but that didn't matter.
The third strike naturally targeted the Minotaur's head, which had now entered his range.
All traces of its ferocity were gone.
Its innocent eyes were shedding tears as it mooed like a calf searching for its mother.
‘You're practically opening your mouth and begging me to stab you.’
Dodging the arms flailing about like a child, Gonghyeok thrust his sword with all his strength into the Cowhead's open mouth.
‘Such a vivid red. What beautiful color. That's some first-rate beef tongue.’
Gonghyeok split the soft red tongue with the stone floor and drove the sword deep into its throat.
The Minotaur's innocent eyes flew wide open, and its entire body convulsed.
CRITICAL HIT!
[You have dealt a critical blow to the boss monster! 50% of the defeat reward belongs to you, Master!]
A fountain of blood erupted from the Minotaur's mouth.
The Hunters around them stared at Ju Gonghyeok in shock at what had happened in the span of only seven or eight seconds.
It would have been nice if the raid ended right there...
Grip. Grip.
The muscular hand of the dying beef steak grabbed Gonghyeok's leg.
‘Haaah... damn, I'm out of breath. I pushed myself a little too hard.’
The final tongue-splitting strike had gone in too shallow.
He had moved his body too much because he was enjoying the act of regressing.
From the beginning, such movements were too much for someone with less than twenty points of Agility and Durability.
He had somehow made up for it with technique and experience, but it had fallen exactly one inch short of instantly killing a boss monster with over 80 Durability.
Gonghyeok's leg shuddered before bending in a grotesque direction.
‘Oh, so you're not going down that easily either. Is that it?’
With pain reflected in his bloodshot eyes, Gonghyeok stared directly at the Cowhead.
The Cowhead likewise glared at Gonghyeok with murderous eyes as blood sprayed from its wounds.
To anyone watching from the outside, it was a horrifying scene straight out of hell.
Gonghyeok twisted the sword embedded in the Minotaur's neck with every ounce of strength he had left, then raised one hand and drove it into the Minotaur's eye.
The Minotaur's convulsions had now been reduced to something resembling a vibrating massage chair.
He could feel his hand tearing through tough nerves and solid muscle until it reached the dura mater surrounding the brain.
“Quit struggling and just die, you bastard. I'll be sending plenty of your buddies to the afterlife soon enough. The Demon King and his Four Heavenly Kings, right?”
Gurgle, gurgle.
Foam and vomit surged back up following the fountain of blood, and its eyes rolled completely backward.
Gonghyeok had stirred its brain into a complete mess. There was no way even a boss monster with that much Durability could withstand it.
[Hunter Ju Gonghyeok has dealt the final blow to the dungeon boss, ‘Fierce Minotaur’!]
[Raid Damage Ranking: 1st — Ju Gonghyeok, 82%. 2nd — Park Juntae, 6%. 3rd — Ha Yeonsi, 5%......]
[48 Purple Coins have been dropped!]
[You have dealt more than 80% of the damage to a Minotaur-type boss alone!]
[You have acquired the title ‘Horn Breaker.’]
[Achievement ‘Soul's Match Dye (1)’ progress: 1/3!]
[Skill Coin ‘One-Strike Firework’ has been dropped!]
[‘Minotaur's Horn’ has been dropped...]
[‘Minotaur...... ......]
[Seoul's 8th Assault Party has cleared Tutorial Dungeon No. 598.]
Everyone in the boss room came running over.
“Hey, you! What the hell are you?! Are you all right?”
“Look at his leg! It's completely wrecked! Get him out of here!”
“What the hell happened? Hurry and take care of that corpse over there!”
Several people worked together to pull the Minotaur off him and spoke to Gonghyeok, but Gonghyeok remained completely limp without answering.
He had charged forward with the intention of not getting hit even once and executed a clean slaughtering combination worthy of a master butcher.
He had even leisurely enjoyed his kick-and-slash routine, only to run out of steam at the end and be forced into a desperate brawl.
Embarrassed by how pathetic the finale had been, Gonghyeok closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.
‘Ah, I totally embarrassed myself at the end. Damn it.’