[Lee Jeong-Huns POV]

With the light shining bright under the eyes of the statue, I braced myself for what was about to come when like a flash bang, I was blinded by the light.

With the lights still flashing in my eyes, it took a while for me to get my vision back. But even without it, I could tell. I'm in a different location now.

The atmosphere of the area was still the same. cold and unwelcoming. However, winds were howling through the corridors compared to the dead end I was in previously.

Shortly after regaining my vision, it was clear where I was, which was pretty clichéd.

Surrounding me were walls built from stones of various shapes and sizes that managed to hold out a stronghold that later on became a castle. The ceiling of the area was flat and made from the same type of material structures. This would have made this area dark if not for the help from the moonlight.

It was pretty obvious that this was an abandoned castle.

From the far end of the hall, by the corner of the corridor, a hand was placed against the wall, and a figure stood out.

It was someone in a suit of armor.

The system suddenly notified me with a pop-up window. It seems that it had upgraded when I level up more.

"Death Soldier"

Level: 40

HP: 5000/5000

MP: 3000/3000

A mob with a level higher than mine. Even without looking at the stats provided by the system, the mana seeping out of the Death Soldier's body is extremely potent that it would cause a normal human to pass out just being near it.

It wore menacing-looking armor that had 2 spikes on its pauldron while its helmet was covered, covering the face of the person donning the armor. I couldn't determine the conditions of the armor due to some sort of black-looking substance covering the armor from head to toe.

It's...Mana?

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Before I could further inspect, the Death Soldier pulled out his long sword, and in less than a second, he appeared right in front of me, slashing his sword vertically upwards.

Shit, if that attack is a split second earlier, I would have been dead.

Equipping the Heavenly Demonic Sword, I checked the status of the weapon.

[Weapon allowed only 3% of its full potential to you.]

Attack: +300

Agility: +300

3% of its full potential gave a +300 in damage?? That's insane. If it's in its full-powered, how much damage would it do to the enemy?

The Soldier pushed forward and swung his sword at me again. However, this time I exchanged blows with him, striking my sword against his.

Whoever was in that armor is extremely well-disciplined in their swordsmanship. There were a couple of times when I used a feint and different still to gain an advantage in the sword fight however he always managed to either block and parry them with ease and when he was done, he would return to his default stance, right leg forward while holding the sword with both hands with spare space to move around in advance.

With every swing the soldier made, cuts could be heard in the air, from that alone you could pinpoint that the man has a very strong foundation in his training. There was no subtle hesitation nor was there any wasted movement in any of his attacks.

I gripped the sword harder as I swallowed my saliva thinking, how do I do this now?

Covering the blades of my sword with Mana, I calmly stepped forward and stood still. The soldier did the same as both of us were in an exchange looking at each other. As if a bell struck, the both of us clashed again.

- Thhikth

- Keokkthhh

The intensity of the battle grows as he started overwhelming me in terms of strength. However, I have speed compared to him. Weaving to the left, I pushed my foot against the ground and boosted myself forward with the sword aiming at his throat.

The soldier caught a glimpse of what was happening and immediately went into a guarding position by raising his gauntlet up hoping that it could block against the sword's impact.

But this is the Heavenly Demonic Sword. It ran through the gauntlet as well as the head of the soldier cleanly. As I pull the blade out. There was no blood.

"Huh?"

The corpse of the soldier that lay on the ground suddenly disappeared as a wave of shadow grabbed and swallow it into the darkness.

"WAI___", it was too late. The body was gone.

[Level Up]

Name: Lee Jeong-Hun

Level: 35 --> 37

What? Did I get 2 levels from that? I stood still dumbfounded by the turn of events. Maybe this was a blessing after all.

I walked forward slowly while still fiddling around with the system and as I turned around the corner...

...there lies another wide hallway, and in the middle of it was a squad of Death Soldiers.

The Death Soldiers all looked forward in my direction as some of them starts unsheathing their weapons to attack. Swords, spears, shields, mace, and other melee weapons can be seen spread among the soldiers.

Droplets of sweat started dripping from my forehead as I tried calming myself from this situation. There was no way I could get out of this situation unscathed, unless...

**

[Stats]

Strength: 110

Endurance: 100

Intelligence: 95

Agility: 100

Luck: 65

(Points for Distribution: 15 + 20)

"Distribute 20 to Strength and 15 to Speed."

Strength: 110 --> 130 *New*

Agility: 100 --> 115 *New*

**

...I got rid of them all in one go.

With the sudden burst of energy flowing in my body, I bulldoze straight toward the first Death Soldier I saw and immediately went for his legs, immobilizing his movement and impaling his helmet with the sword. As the suit of armor fell to the ground, the rest of the soldiers stares at me and got into their formation.

Two of the soldiers wielding a Halberd and a spear ran straight for me, with the spear soldier thrusting the spear repeatedly. With no place to guard against the spear, I jumped backward trying to gain a distance between the spear user when from the back of my head, the blade of a Halberd came chopping down from the top. With no choice, I evoked [Phantom Cleave], and swung the sword at the arms of the Halberd soldier. It managed to cut off the arm, disabling the soldier's weapon and I ended it with a magic-imbued punch, pulverizing the entire helmet of the soldier.

The spear soldier stood back in his formation with the rest of the other soldiers as I glared at them, still with the helmet of their comrades in my arm saying, "Who's next?'