"—Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!! Dammiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!"
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I screamed at this helpless reality.
—I couldn't win.
The enemy possessed defensive capabilities far exceeding a Goblin Knight, and its attacks packed enough power to kill me instantly if even one landed cleanly. Dodging was impossible without activating Fighting Spirit, and while that also applied to the Holy Knight, the monster had one devastating advantage: it could heal itself.
If this were a turn-based RPG, I would already be soft-locked. It was the kind of battle where the probability of victory stayed at zero percent no matter how many times you hit retry.
And this wasn't some scripted loss from a video game.
It wasn't an event premised on a guaranteed defeat; it was the simple, brutal reality that if I lost, I would die.
I sprinted through the Monster Room with everything I had, trying to keep my distance before the Holy Knight could close the gap from the previous clash. I ran as if my life depended on it—because it did.
Ten seconds had passed since I activated Fighting Spirit, and the skill’s upkeep drained another 5 HP. Since Mighty Blade had already consumed 10 HP, I was down to 50. At this rate, even if I just kept running, I only had about 100 seconds left to live.
I couldn't die.
There was no way in hell I was going to die in a place like this!!
I!! Haven't!! Reached the level cap of this Modern Dungeon's level system yet!!
Until I max out my level, there’s no way I can die in peace!!
—Therefore.
"Nnuuoooooooooooo!!?"
Perhaps sensing that I had no way to recover my HP, the Holy Knight stopped pursuing me directly. Instead, it began unleashing Flying Blades with its Sword Aura in rapid-fire succession.
A barrage of slashes tore through the air, whistling past the spot I had occupied just a fraction of a second earlier. They slammed into the walls of the room with a thunderous, non-stop cadence that sounded like a carpet bombing.
I scrambled, rolled, and pathetically threw myself across the floor to evade the onslaught. Somehow, I managed to dodge by the narrowest of margins.
In the tiny gaps between attacks, during those fleeting heartbeats of reprieve, I reached my hand out into the void.
Every time I reached out and tapped the invisible interface that only I could see, my movements grew sharper. Little by little, I began to find a bit of breathing room in my evasions.
What I was doing was simple.
I was manipulating my Status and allocating Skill Points.
However, these were precious points I had been hoarding specifically to dump into Seeker. They were my most valuable assets.
And I was being forced to spend them—even if it was only some of them—on skills I hadn't intended to touch for a long time.
—Now I was officially pissed off.
My resolve was set. More accurately, I had no other choice.
Even after spending all these points, whether I would survive or not was a total gamble. Even with these upgrades, I had no guarantee that I could actually take down the Holy Knight.
Still, as Fighting Spirit drained another 5 HP, leaving me with only 45, I finished the process.
I had allocated my points to the following skills:
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【Skills】
《Goblin Genocider Lv. 1 → Lv. Max》 Deals 4.0x damage to the Goblin Race. During combat with the Goblin Race, all stats except HP and MP are increased by 100%. Experience Points gained from the Goblin Race are increased by 2.0x.
《Mighty Blade Lv. 1 → Lv. 3》 Consumes 30 HP. During the next sword attack, deals 12.0x damage to the enemy.
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I had used every single one of my 6 remaining points.
The reason I didn't max out Mighty Blade wasn't just out of petty spite; it was because if I raised it any further, I wouldn't have enough HP left to actually trigger it.
Once the last point was spent, I didn't just stop running—I pulled a complete 180 and charged straight for the Holy Knight.
"If you don't die from this!! Then it’s your win, you son of a bitch!!"
I screamed as I triggered my skills.
On top of the already active Goblin Genocider, Fighting Spirit, and Berserk, I channeled Sword Aura instead of Magic Sword.
The reason was pure Attack Power.
The Holy Knight could use Healing Magic. Monsters capable of magic tended to have high Intelligence and Spirit.
Based on my earlier strike, it hadn't felt particularly vulnerable to magic attribute damage.
If that was the case, I could assume its Physical Defense and Magic Defense were roughly on par. And if there wasn't a significant weakness to exploit, Sword Aura was the superior choice over Magic Sword.
This was because Magic Sword's damage calculation averaged Strength and Intelligence. For someone like me who had barely touched my Intelligence, using it without hitting a Weakness Attribute would actually lower my total damage output.
So, I used Sword Aura.
With that and Mighty Blade Lv. 3 active, the stage was set.
The combined cost of Sword Aura and Mighty Blade drained 31 HP, leaving me with a measly 14. That was the threshold that triggered the second stage of Blood Vengeance.
My final stats looked like this:
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Strength: 272 (+192) Constitution: 240 (+165) Intelligence: 12 (+6) Spirit: 79 (+43) Agility: 240 (+165) Dexterity: 165 (+90)
————————————————
The pale blue light of the Sword Aura erupted with blinding intensity.
With my Agility having jumped by nearly 40 points, I closed the distance with a newfound, if slight, sense of grace, weaving through the Holy Knight's desperate counterattacks.
But then.
"————"
Seeing that its Flying Blades were failing to hit me, the Holy Knight stopped its barrage. It dropped its center of gravity and braced its shield firmly in front of its body.
The shield began to glow with the light of a defensive skill.
It was going to tank me.
If the Holy Knight dedicated itself entirely to defense, I wouldn't be able to bypass its guard to strike the body. I didn't have the raw stats to force a breakthrough, and the monster's technical skill was still higher than mine.
In other words, this strike was going to land squarely on that shield.
—Fine.
Bring it on.
I knew it would come to this from the start.
And even knowing that...
"I'll blow right through youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!"
Sprint. Approach. Step into range.
I was at point-blank range. Right in front of the braced shield. Right in the Holy Knight's face.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!"
I threw every ounce of my weight into the momentum of my charge. I screamed as if to tear the subconscious limiters right off my muscles, and I slammed my sword down with every single drop of my strength and soul.
It was a strike that utilized a Strength stat of 272 to its absolute limit—a slash multiplied by 2 × 4 × 1.2 × 12.
In other words—an attack with a 115.2x damage multiplier.
A roar erupted.
It wasn't like a lightning strike, nor was it like being at the center of an explosion. It was just a staggering, world-ending roar.
I don't have the words to describe that sound. It was a sound of impact unlike anything I had ever heard in my life.
In the same instant that the roar threatened to deafen me, the Holy Knight was blown backward like a bullet.
It slammed into the wall of the Monster Room in a heartbeat. The entire wall spider-webbed with cracks like a honeycomb, and the monster’s body was buried halfway into the stone.
Its left hand was empty; the shield was gone.
The moment my sword had connected, the shield had shattered into dust, and a deep, diagonal slash had been carved straight through its silver-white plate armor.
However...
"————gh."
Inside my hand, which had followed through with the swing, nothing remained beyond the hilt. The blade of the steel longsword had been reduced to fragments.
To make matters worse, both my arms were screaming in agony.
Even though my Strength and Constitution were high, my low Dexterity meant I had to pay a price for unleashing that much raw power.
I glanced at the status window I’d left open.
HP: 6 / 155
I had taken damage just from the recoil of my own attack.
I was weaponless, and my HP was in the single digits.
If that hadn't finished it—I was a dead man.
Tense and frantic, I stared unblinkingly at the Holy Knight embedded in the wall, praying with everything I had.
Don't move. Don't you dare move. Don't move, don't move, don't move!!
The silence stretched... until the answer of who had won finally arrived in the form of a woman's voice.
—Your level has increased.
"I-It feeeeels soooooo goooooooooood!!"