Chapter 8: A Battle Fit for a King
Sung Jinwoos body tensed as he formulated his next move.
The 'King of the Swamp' watched as its prey was cornered by the object it had launched, waiting for the human to dodge upwards.
'Crafty Snake...'
Both sides were blocked by walls, leaving only upwards as the only way to avoid a collision.
'The moment I jump, that thing will send an attack without delay'
Taking a deep breath, Sung Jinwoos eyes narrowed as he decided his next move.
The subway train charged forward, encroaching on Jinwoo as he remained still.
Contrary to beasts predictions, Sung Jinwoo did not dodge, instead he launched a full strength punch towards the train.
Flesh and steel collided causing Sung Jinwoo to be pushed back slightly whilst the Subway Train before him lifted slightly.
Jinwoo wasted no time, sliding between the small gap, his mind focused on getting out.
Dust flew high into the air from the collision, robbing the two sides of their vision.
As the dust settled, Kasaka looked around for an injured Sung Jinwoo before it noticed the sound of glass shattering and frantic footsteps approaching it from the side. Much closer than expected.
Sung Jinwoo bared the pain of a wounded arm. Despite its black and blue appearance, the bones were still in tact, though there was not a single muscle that hadn't torn.
Kasaka rose up high as Jinwoo arrived next to him, lifting his tail to slam the human beside him.
Predicting this, Sung Jinwoo slid beneath the Snakes head. His slide stopped directly in front of the scales as he kept his body low, twisting himself as he delivered a kick with his full strength.
Its muscular body flew backwards.
Something Sung Jinwoo did not miss.
Launching into a sprint, Jinwoo sprinted forward before jumping high letting the momentum carry him over.
The dazed boss noticed Sung Jinwoo as he was seconds from landing on 'The King of the Swamps' head.
A second too late.
Sung Jinwoo reached into his inventory, withdrawing the one weapon he had left.
Its large crack reflected Sung Jinwoos do or die maneuverer.
"I REFUSE TO DIE!"
A battle cry left his lips as he gripped his dagger stabbing it into the Kasakas eye.
Blood exploded from the wound as its iris filled with red.
Frantically shaking its head, Sung Jinwoo didn't let up, he stretched his leg towards the working eye of Kasaka before driving his foot into it with full power, blood dripped from his lips slightly as he gritted his teeth.
As both eyes exploded with fountains of blood, Sung Jinwoos grip lessened, causing him to be thrown off, his body spinning like a throwing star before crashing into the ground.
The impact alone sent a cough of blood out of his mouth.
His laboured breathing was overshadowed by the screaming of Kasaka.
'I need to move... I need to move!'
Sung Jinwoo screamed to himself.
However his body refused to listen.
Suddenly, a panel appeared before him.
A panel that felt like a death sentence.
'FATIGUE: 100'
The small panel which he hadn't had to pay much attention to so far, suddenly became the only thing Sung Jinwoo could focus on.
His focus was so intense, he failed to notice the looming shadow over him.
It wasn't until the shadow covered him fully in darkness that he noticed the large body above him planning to flatten him.
'MOVE!'
'MOVE!'
'I NEED TO MOVE!'
His body was so exhausted that he could only scream his pleas internally.
Death approached him faster.
The body grew bigger.
Sung Jinwoo braced his limp body as much as he could, relying entirely on his low levelled vitality stat. His natural reaction to close his eyes won over.
Kasaka crashed to the ground. Its body completely covering Sung Jinwoo.
Silence dominated the room.
'LEVEL UP'
The electronic sound rung in his mind.
'LEVEL UP'
'LEVEL UP'
Like a jolt of electricity, the sound caused Sung Jinwoo to open his eyes, revealing a horrifying sight before him.
Razor sharp teeth hung above him.
Yet, they did not get any closer. The beasts maw was completely still.
Noticing the fear of death had left his body, Sung Jinwoo rolled to the side away from Kasakas maw.
"Seriously..."
He soon noticed what had happened. His saviour, the battered Train.
"It probably died mid drop and used its last strength to try and crush me... What a vindictive reptile!"
Fortunately, the train from earlier which had been a cage for Jinwoo had taken the brunt and momentum of Kasakas body, stopping moments before it crushed him.
Sung Jinwoo stood up, with a body full of vigour.
"The refreshing feeling of levelling up, I am definitely going to get addicted at this rate!"
Savouring the taste of victory, Sung Jinwoo approached the overgrown snake.
As he did, a plethora of panels appeared, catching his attention.
'[NEW] Title: Frantic Farmer'
'The player has an increased chance of receiving additional and rare drops from all slain entities.'
A determined smile sat upon his lips as Sung Jinwoo read his new title. It was clear that the hours he had spent in the dungeon repeating his battles over and over, had brought him some impressive gains.
Without stopping he brought forth his drops from the battle, something which caused his eyes to widen in shock.
'[NEW] ITEM: Kasaka's Venom Fang '
'RANK: C'
'TYPE: Weapon'
'A dagger made from the Venomous fang of King of the Swamp Kasaka. Kasakas venom remains deeply rooted within the blade causing two additional effects.'
'EFFECT: Paralyse - The opponent will be paralysed when struck by this weapon.'
'EFFECT: Bleed - The opponent will have their health drained at 1% every second when struck by this weapon.'
'[NEW] ITEM: Blue Venom-Fanged Scales'
'RANK: D'
'TYPE: Material'
'Scales from the Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka, its sturdiness prevents even the hardest of earthen metals from marking it.'
'[NEW] ITEM: Kasaka's Venom Gland'
'RANK: A'
'TYPE: Potion'
'The venom gland from the highly venomous Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka. A small dose of the venom produced by this is enough to kill a man instantly. '
'EFFECT: Kasakas Hardened Scales - Player will take 20% less physical damage.'
'EFFECT: Withered Husk - Player strength stat will decrease by -35 for 1 hour.'
A sharp glint flashed in Sung Jinwoos eyes as he looked over his rewards. His hard fought battle had ended with him receiving two brilliant items as well as some fun materials for him to play with in the future.
"That so called Potion sounds way too dangerous for actual battle - wait! I can see the class types for the items now?"
It seemed that his level ups had brought new functions for him to use.
'I wonder if the shop is available now'
His mind wondered, before he noticed the world around him fading. Well, that wasn't quite right. His surroundings were quickly morphing into scenery he was much more used to.
The tidy station platform burst through the instance dungeon leaving a startled Sung Jinwoo in the middle of the platform.
'Note to self, take caution after killing the instance dungeon boss, I could get into some really sticky situations coming out of one of those!'
Contrary to his current worry, the platform was silent. With his improved sense Jinwoo noticed that he could not detect a single person.
Looking up at the platform clock, he noticed all trains had been cancelled despite the time only being 7pm.
"At least I wasn't in there for days, a few hours is insane considering the amount of hunting I did"
One of Sung Jinwoos questions was promptly answered, giving him one less worry.
Deciding it was best to head home, he quickly straightened out his clothes before putting a new hoodie on. Fortunately he had extra clothes from the hospital stay, otherwise getting arrested for public indecency would have been a poor way to celebrate his victory.
It felt odd not experiencing fatigue anymore after such an intense wrestle with death.
The cold night breeze swept across his face as he passed through the entrance he had entered from once before.
A refreshed smile crept upon his lips before a voice sounded out behind him.
"Excuse me Sir! You should not be here!"
The voice was full of exasperation, though it was still respectful.
As Sung Jinwoo turned towards the voice to see a police officer, around the same height as himself standing with crossed arms.
Loosening the grip on his blade, Sung Jinwoo went to apologise.
Only for his actions to be stopped by the flustered officer before him.
"That knife! Are you a hunter sir?"
Jinwoo nodded as he put away 'Kasaka's Venom Fang'.
"In that case, you are needed over at Block C, please allow me to guide you!"
His tone was urgent as he turned, not even waiting for Sung Jinwoo to respond.
As for the hunter himself, he was curious as to the lack of people around and the giant mana presence he was feeling some distance away from them.
'If I had to guess, its a dungeon break...'
The two walked the desolate streets together, all the while, the officer relayed the current situation to Sung Jinwoo.
According to him, a dungeon had broken out after the last raid team had failed to clean it out. The Hunters association had responded immediately but most guilds were currently out clearing dungeons themselves. Therefore the team that had been assembled was a group of lower ranked hunters. Despite this, they had managed to clear out every enemy assaulting the city, with the exception of the boss.
"They have been battling the boss for a while now, but they seem to be struggling so any little help is significant right now!"
Sung Jinwoo understood what the officer was suggesting, a subtle way of saying he didn't expect much help from him but its helpful anyways.
'I assume they have probably asked a strike team from the major guilds. Well I will just head over and see what I can do.'
His eyes turned in the direction of the mass of mana that his levelled up 'Perception' had noticed.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BritishNovelist
BritishNovelist Took a bit of a while to come out but it isn't dead guys!
I plan on making his relationships with specific characters different so eventhough this is a mainstream event, it will change his interactions with other characters so please bear with me!
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