Chapter 3- Level Up!
(TLN: Thanks for the donation Colby. I’ll probably have a chapter of LoL out tomorrow.)
“Ha. This dungeon is a real dungeon?
He thought it was a slang, but it didn’t seem like it.
His head throbbed, so he pressed his hand onto his temple.
Woojin let out a sigh then he sorted through the message in front of his eyes.
It was a sufficiently shocking situation, but Woojin wasn’t shocked. Instead, he felt a feeling of familiarity.
“Isn’t this too similar to the Planet Alphen?”
Woojin had fought fiercely to survive in that place. The planet of Alphen was none other than a game world. No. Should he characterize it as a new world with a game setting?
“Did earth change? Or is it only like this for me?”
Woojin puzzled over it, but he couldn’t come up with an answer. He just wanted to take a subway train yet he had entered a dungeon. By the look of it, earth must have gone through some kind of change in the past 5 years.
“Let’s go back out first.”
If he can’t ride the subway, then he’ll just ride the bus. As Woojin tried to head back, an invisible barrier barred his way.
“Huh. Jeez.”
Woojin scratched the back of his head. He had no idea what the Return Stone looked liked, so he was in a bind.
“I guess it was locked for a reason.”
His curiosity made him open this place. He wanted to head back, but now he was complete stuck. He had no choice, but to find the thing called Return Stone to escape this place.
“Let’s see.”
He had lost his magic. He wasn’t sure why, but his trained body was still the same. Moreover, he had over 20 years of survival experience.
He looked through an out of business store, and he was able to find a coat hanger.
Ggee-reeek.
He easily took out the pole from the coat hanger, which he made into a simple club. However, he was disappointed.
“This is too light.”
He looked around the adjacent store. In the middle of the mess, there was a hammer.
Boo-oong. Boong. (TLN: sfx swinging hammer)
“This might be useful.”
Woojin took the hammer, then he swung a chair onto the floor. He tore the back of the demolished chair out. After smoothing it over, he was able to make a decent shield that would be able to take a couple hit.
“Should I depart?”
He didn’t know what the Return Stone looked like, but he had been told the basic monsters had been summoned. He wasn’t sure about his level of preparation, so he felt a sense of uncertainty. However, it was a situation where he couldn’t retreat backwards.
He had no choice, but to go forward.
Woojin walked as he relied on the blinking florescent lights. Then he felt a weird sensation coming from the subway’s restroom. It was a sticky sensation as if someone was watching him.
He stealthily lowered his body. He picked up a piece of tile then he threw it.
Che-eng.
It reacted at the sound made by the tile hitting a glass door.
“Koo-rooo.”
It let out a grotesque shriek. It had a strange appearance, so much so that one wouldn’t think this creature would exist on earth. It looked like a dog, but it possessed large ears like a rabbit.
It was a creature that shouldn’t exist on earth, but Woojin knew this monster well. He had faced off against this monster countless times at the Planet Alphen.
“Drabbit.”
“Kwaah.”
The Drabbit ran in as it threateningly revealed its twin fangs. It used its large hind legs, which composed half of its body, to charge by jumping. It was the Drabbit’s specialty, and its only method of attack.
Boom.
As soon as he blocked with his shield, he swung the hammer.
“Ggoo-rook.”
As he struck the Drabbit, it rolled onto the floor as it let out a scream. Woojin didn’t hesitate. He ran forward to press down on its neck then he used the back of the clawed hammer to pierce it.
When a familiar monster showed up, he didn’t feel much threat from it, but he couldn’t let his guard down. He had to go for the sure kill when he had the chance to kill it.
This was the basic and essential rule one needed to heed in order to survive against a monster.
The Drabbit’s body sagged as it let out a moan akin to a wind escaping. Afterwards, Woojin hurriedly checked his surrounding. The Drabbit had a characteristic where they traveled in a pair.
As expected, another Drabbit jumped out, and it flew toward him with its scary mouth open. The shield he made out of the back of a chair was already broken from the last attack.
Woojin hefted his hammer then he swung it.
Kwa-jik!
“Ggueeeek.”
The clawed hammer accurately pierced through the Drabbit’s mouth, and it stuck out from the back of its head. He had timed it perfectly as he used an exquisite thrust to execute a counter.
“How come this feels like a deja-vu?”
Woojin remembered the first time he was summoned to the Planet Alphen. He was so shocked and afraid. However, his situation right now was more favorable than before.
“How is it possible for the monsters of Planet Alphen to show up here? Even this dungeon feels out of place.”
He felt an unknown sense of danger. The feeling felt too familiar to him.
The message that showed up in front of his eyes, and even the monsters starting to emerge were something that wouldn’t have been strange on Planet Alphen. However, this was earth.
The problem was this was a subway station on earth.
“I guess I’ll level up if this continues.”
This was one of the reason why Woojin was able to survive on Planet Alphen.
That place was like a game world. No, Woojin might have felt this way since he was a human from earth, who was familiar with games.
It might be that world’s law of nature, but it had felt like a game for Woojin. The only difference was that the world wasn’t a virtual reality. It was real.
Levels had existed, and Woojin had developed into a full level Necromancer. He hadn’t reached the end of the road, but he had met the Dimensional Administrator. So he returned to earth without much regret.
He had lost all of the magic he had accumulated, but he hadn’t cared. He thought his abilities wouldn’t be needed on earth where he didn’t have to worry about dying any more.
However, he found himself entered into a dungeon, and he could only desire after his lost abilities. If it was something on par with the Drabbit, then he could face them without feeling any panic. However, if there were stronger monsters here then it might be too dangerous for him.
The most optimal situation was to earn the Return Stone without meeting a stronger monster.
“If this place is similar to Alphen, a monster should have it or it should be emanating a distinct energy.”
If it was a stone or an item with an ability then its existence itself should let out an energy. He looked over the two monsters, but they didn’t possess any unique mana gem called Bloodstone.
“These bastards are worthless.”
Woojin left the corpses of the Drabbit where he searched them, and he hid himself next to a pillar. He thought it would be great if a nearby monster would come here after smelling the blood. Even if none showed up, he could restart the search after gathering himself.
“Queereek?”
Two Drabbits showed up, and they started circling around the corpse of the dead Drabbits. They looked like dogs, but their sense of smell wasn’t that developed. They used their hearing to locate the location of other beings.
Crack.
Woojin purposefully stepped hard on a piece of tile to reveal his existence.
“Qweeeeee!”
The two Drabbits simultaneously ran towards him, and they jumped towards Woojin.
Woojin grasped the hammer, and he performed a baseball swing.
Puh-uk, puk!
The two Drabbit jumped with a time difference between the two. He crushed the Drabbit’s head in succession. Then a message popped up in front of his eyes.