It is said that there is a 200-level limit.
A limit for those people who were dreaming of gorgeous lives as players.
Dungeon difficulty spikes when it reaches level 200.
The monsters are more intelligent, and their methods of attacking also had great variations.
When a player reaches this point, he has three options.
The first option is to give up.
Return home, live a safe and normal life until you have to go through dungeons again to make a living.
But always stop at the 200th level.
The second option is to push through.
The third option is death.
In many cases, many players have lost their lives because they did not recognize their limits.
The second option is only possible if you had a party.
Hunting alone is impossible.
It was common sense.
There were many reasons for party hunting.
The main reason is that the level of monsters increases significantly at the 200th level.
Their size, physical strength, attack power, defense – the level rises in all respects.
While it’s tough enough to face these monsters, there’s an inevitable ace monster that players must also face.
The ace monster is exponentially more powerful than the base monsters.
The second reason for party hunting is to reduce the risk.
Dungeon-hunting is like a game, but it is not a game.
It’s game over once you die.
There is no respawn.
Therefore, the risks had to be reduced as much as possible.
Of course, no player has ever tried solo play.
Several dazzling players have tried solo, but it always ended terribly.
Death.
As the data piled up, the other players are unavoidably discouraged, until no one attempted solo play anymore.
***
-Don’t overdo it.
Han Yu-ra’s voice was heard through his earpiece. She sounded worried.
Even the swordsman on his shoulder has expressed concern.
[I’m quite worried about you. In fact, no one using common sense would do this. Only a crazy person will do this.]
“I agree,” Jin-woo answered. Only a crazy person would do this.
[But your awakening defies common sense, too.]
Jin-woo raised his head and looked inside the dungeon.
A rugged canyon stretched out before his eyes.
The sky was full of dark clouds, and a chilling cry of a monster came from far away.
[I mean, dragons live here…]
The name of the dungeon is Dragon Canyon.
It was a dungeon equivalent to Level 250.
“They are a little different from the dragons you know,” Jin-woo muttered to the swordsman.
[Yeah?]
Yes, the dragons that appear here are…”
Kugung-!
The ground shook.
Then, a huge creature popped out of the ground.
Its head was a dragon’s, but its torso is similar to an anteater.
A seven-meter anteater.
There were several of them.
“There they are.”
[What are those things?]
“Earth Dragons. It’s one of the high-level monsters, but it has little intelligence. However, its defense and attack power are excellent. Most of all, they are troublesome because they can attack from underground in an instant.”
An Earth Dragon’s average level is between 200 and 250.
Although its attack power is weaker than the Level 300 Giant Snake, they are equal in terms of defense.
“Yu-ra, please start streaming,” Jin-woo spoke through his earpiece.
-Wouldn’t it be better to try just one first?
“It’s okay. Please start right away.”
-Huh! Okay. Start!
The glow on the drone turned green.
The ring display was opened to check the broadcast status.
[Access number: 1,170 people]
Instantly, the number of connections was growing.
Subsequently, the chat went crazy.
-Dunhill Master: Huh? Are they not Earth Dragons?
-A goat: Hull! Why is Jin-woo in the Dragon Canyon?
-YDA131: Can you see anyone around him?
-red007: Crazy! Solo play?
-Eun Camp: No way! No one does that these days!
Jin-woo found the reactions fun.
Most of them called him crazy.
There were also rumors that he had a party with him, hiding from the camera.
Of course, there were worse things, such as people saying he’s going to commit suicide, or that he is overdoing it for greed.
Some of them wished for his death.
“Why do they have this resentment against me?” He asked the swordsman.
[If a person rises to fame, jealous people begin to appear.]
“But why would they wish for my death? Isn’t that too much?”
[They don’t gain anything from it. Just common people saying common things. Don’t mind them.]
“I’m getting curious…”
Thung!
Jin-woo pulled out his sword.
“If I clear this place without dying, how would they react to me?”
[I’d like to see that, too.]
The swordsman flew up to the drone and sat on it.
[Do it!]
“Okay!”
Jin-woo took a fighting stance.
“Dokgogu Sword!”
[Skill: Dokgogu Sword is activated.]
The sword shone goldenly.
“Crure-!”
The Earth Dragons burst into low cries, before plunging to the ground.
Although they were also named dragons, it has a lower intelligence than his other namesakes.
They are close, Jin-woo felt instinctively.
It was a dangerous situation.
The swordsman coached him.
[Manage your breathing.]
Jin-woo focused and did the inner air movements that the swordsman taught him.
Suddenly, he felt an enormous force within his body.
[Skill: Cheonma Shingong is activated.]
[Additional power is applied to the Dokgogu Sword.]
[Calibration system does not apply.]
“Ahhhh!”
The power of the red sphere within him was released through his shoulders in the form of a huge, strange shape.
In some ways, it looked like a devil or a ghost.
The chat window went up in a frenzy due to its appearance.
Messages went up so quickly that it was impossible for them to be read.
“Here it is again!”
The true moon used to kill the Giant Snake.
Calibration system? Jin-woo thought. He didn’t know exactly what it meant.
[Concentrate!]
The swordsman shouted as if he knew that Jin-woo was thinking about other things. He calmed himself and focused.
[Cheonma Shigong is all about control.]
He operated the energy and sent it to his lower body, allowing him to jump higher than he thought possible.
“Oooh yeah!”
Dudududu-!
The Earth Dragons popped out of the ground, at a speed that didn’t fit their sizes, causing earthquakes within the dungeon.
But Jin-woo is already in the air, digging the ground with his feet as he jumped powerfully.
Kwajik-!
Boom!
His jump caused a major explosion!
The explosion blew away the Earth Dragons that popped out to attack him, sending them all flying in the air.
[Cheonma Shigong Limbo.]
The swordsman sounded satisfied.
Then, Jin-woo raised his sword once more.
“Red Moon Sword!”
The sword shook violently.
The golden glow of his sword began to turn red little by little.
[Adjust the power. The power you cannot control is not yours.]
Now, the sword is covered entirely in red light.
[Skill: Red Moon]
[Calibration system does not apply.]
He ignored the notification and swung the sword once more.
An intense red glare filled obscured his sight, and all the viewers on the screen could only see the red glare.
After a few moments, the red glare subsided.
Jin-woo landed lightly on the ground.
Then, bodies of Earth Dragons who were split in half began falling around him.
-Blood Trail: One Cut Man! That was glorious!
The chat window erupted.
One Cut Man is back.
* * *
Han Yu-ra doubted her eyes.
This doesn’t make sense!
There are things that you can’t believe even after seeing it with your eyes.
And she wasn’t alone.
The support team who were on standby in case of emergency had the same reaction.
The people in the chat window were the same.
Solo play against Level 200 monsters…
He didn’t just defeat them. He overwhelmed them.
The worries she had earlier is now a little bit embarrassing.
At first, she didn’t understand Master Park Tae-sung.
Why did he allow Gang Jin-woo?
There was tremendous internal opposition against this move.
Also, Gang Jin-woo was given preferential treatment.
The greatest conditions were provided to him.
Even if he is the first legendary skill holder, the majority’s opinion was that he was being treated too excessively.
Nevertheless, Park Tae-sung pushed for it.
But now…
It was an excellent choice.
She could only look forward to what Jin-woo could do in the future.
* * *
Cheonma Shigong and Red Moon method.
The two skills have something in common.
They were not skills learned using skill cards.
There was also something different when using them that Jin-woo didn’t find in other skills.
[Swing from left to right.]
Quark!
The Dragon in front of him was split in half easily, even if he was thinking about other things.
Calibration system.
At first, he didn’t know what it meant.
But now, he had an idea.
When a player shouts a skill to activate it inside a dungeon, they automatically unfold like in a game.
It was like a well-written program.
No one questioned it.
But since his Cheonma Shigong and Red Moon method were not skill cards, they do not attack automatically.
He had to swing the sword and make the proper movements through his will.
Wedge-!
At that time, the Dragon in front of him was wielding a spear.
He lifted his arm and blocked the spear.
Caen-!
The sound of iron colliding was deafening.
The impact was enough to make one stumble backward, but he had the efficiency of the Geumgang Fireball.
In an instant, he was already under the Dragon.
“Cre?”
Fook-!
He stabbed the sword under the Dragon’s chin.
“Kurr… … .”
It crashed, bleeding.
He looked around.
There were thirty dead dragons around him.
[Gang Jin- woo]
[Level: 277]
[Strength: 100(117) Agility: 82 Stamina: 60 Mana: 60 Inner Air: 180]
[Holding Skills: Linguist, Dokgugu Swordsmanship, Red Moon Swordsmanship, Geumgang Fireball, Cheonma Shingong]
All his stats increased.
With the mana increase, he is now able to use the Dokgogu sword longer.
He checked the Dokgogu skill further.
[Dokgogu Sword]
[Level: 98]
[Attack Power: 117]
[Durability: ?]
[A sword that grows with you. You get a 10% bonus experience.]
It has not reached level 100 yet.
It was unfortunate that the sword level is not very high.
A hero-grade weapon usually had three times attack power higher.
I need to buy a weapon next time, he thought.
The octopus’ shop came to mind.
I have really bad luck with the draw.
The last time he tried it in the shop, he got a regular card and a luxury card.
But what is that…
As he thought about his luck, he noticed something strange in one of the cliff walls.
The swordsman noticed his expression.
[What’s wrong?]
“A little over there…”
[Where?]
Jin-woo raised his hand and pointed at it.
[Isn’t it just an ordinary cliff wall?]
“Its color is slightly different.”
[Color?]
The swordsman flew to the wall and examined it closely.
[Huh? You’re right!]
It was really subtle and hard to notice from a distance.
But the color was really different.
[Nice eyes.]
“When I was a guide, it could be fatal to miss even a small thing. It would be dangerous for visitors if there are secret passages that monsters can use in a dungeon.”
Jin-woo reached out and touched the wall. Even the texture was different.
“I’m sure…”
He clenched his fist and knocked on the wall.
Tung-!
Tung-!
It sounded hollow.
There must be something inside.
“Yu-ra, pause streaming.”
-Okay.
The drone’s light has changed.
-What happened?
“I found a secret passage.”
He took out his sword and swung as hard as he could.
Kwaang!
The wall was cut as easily as cutting tofu.
And beyond it, a long passage appeared.
“Bingo.”