Chapter 17: Post Battle Rewards

Jacob’s shout successfully attracted the humanoid gargoyle’s attention. It locked its eyes with his small figure holding a massive sword.

Roar!

It lunged forward at him. Jacob didn’t step back. He also roared and jumped forward. Bob’s sword was big enough to look like a greatsword in his hands. He used all the strength he had and swung it at his enemy’s rapier.

Clang!

The ground shook from the collision, sending pieces of broken ground flying away. Even Bob and Sumei were thrown back from the shock wave. But they didn’t bother about their condition and stared at Jacob’s standing figure in shock. Because…

“H-he pushed it back!” Sumei didn’t know what else to say. The gargoyle had moved back just a few steps. But it did nothing to lessen her shock. She looked between the giant Bob and average sized Jacob. Clearly, his small size didn’t hinder the enormous strength he held.

But Jacob wasn’t pleased at all. He had figured out some rules about his stats from fighting different monsters. It was slightly difficult comparing their levels with his level and stats. But he did what he could and had even reached some conclusions. But the result of this clash upset him.

‘If it’s not supposed to have over 20 attribute points in each stat as a peak E-rank boss, how is it still okay? I even put in all my 26 strength!’

Jacob remembered the feeling of crossing a small barrier . It happened when his strength reached 21 at the Demonic Cows. He had simply thought it was a feeling brought about by his significant increase in power. But now he knew he had crossed a barrier back then. But his 26 strength still wasn’t enough to overpower the boss in front of him.

“So these bosses might have more attribute points in their stats. Or this one’s got an advantage in size and weight. That’s most likely why I cannot simply overpower it,” Jacob murmured thoughtfully. But he didn’t get more time to think.

Roar!

The gargoyle ahead of him seemed to be humiliated. Its wings spread wider as if it was about to fly. The stone on its body seemed to get darker suddenly, as if it became coated with mana.

“Now!” Jacob shouted. He had no time to admire its transformation.

Sumei and Bob were also waiting for this moment. They unleashed all their strength in their attacks on the knee gems. The gargoyle’s transformation ended and it was about to move. At this moment, two distinct cracks resounded.

Jacob grinned. He held his greatsword and focused on his opponent. Sumei and Bob immediately stepped back.

The gargoyle awoke from its transformation and felt something missing. It tried to move its body and didn’t feel its legs. But when it looked down, they were still there. Just as it was about to get confused, its gaze landed lower and saw the obsidian gem’s shards on the ground.

Roar!

Its rage seemed to grow even more. It looked at Bob and Sumei, knowing they shattered its gems. Since Bob seemed to be tougher, it moved its wings and jumped at Sumei, eliciting a cry from her. But Jacob ran towards Sumei at the same time.

“Move!” he roared.

Despite nearly being frozen by fear, Sumei jumped back. She narrowly missing the gargoyle’s rapier that pierced through the hard ground. The boss retrieved its weapon and was about to pursue Sumei.

Clang!

It was pushed back by Jacob’s attack, and fell on the ground. A narrow dent formed on its thigh. Jacob went back to Bob’s old job and kept the boss occupied.

Since the boss was no longer using its legs, the fight became a lot easier. But it constantly used its wings to change locations. Thankfully, it was too heavy to actually fly with them. But even the occasional jump it made upped the difficulty of the battle.

Bob and Sumei targeted the two shoulder gems. Every time the gargoyle attacked Jacob, they struck it. But this time, the boss used its wings to interfere with their attacks. For every four or five attacks on Jacob, they could get one hit. It ended up being a long battle.

Ten minutes later, the trio sat on the ground, exhausted. Every muscle fiber in their body seemed to scream in pain, and they didn’t want to move. But the battle was still not over.

Jacob looked ahead of them at the gargoyle that lay on the ground. Its shoulder gems were shattered as well and it couldn’t approach them. Only its wings were moving and trying to help it stand, to no avail.

“Its easy to write all this down. But… we nearly failed.” Jacob’s tone held no joy. They had followed a proven guide to this dungeon, but it still nearly killed them multiple times. Their scarred body and torn clothes were a testimony to how close they had been to death multiple times.

Bob nodded, still breathless, while Sumei shook her head.

“We didn’t nearly fail. We nearly died.” She took a deep breath and shared some of her feelings. “We didn’t prepare enough for this. I… I think I cannot continue to do this.”

‘She wants to quit?’ Jacob thought with slight regret. But he didn’t blame her.

The pretty girl had plenty of scars on her limbs, with plenty of cuts on her clothes. It was a miracle her face was not scarred and her clothes were not completely torn, leaving her nude. Bob’s big size made him a bigger target, so bled more, but the condition of his armor was better since it was bulkier.

“Then I’ll miss you,” said Jacob. He meant it as a farewell.

“W-what? Why will you miss me?” Sumei’s ears went red. But her long hairs covered it. She was taken aback by his unexpected response.

Now it was Jacob’s turn to be confused.

“Didn’t you say you’ll quit the team since you no longer want to do this?”

Sumei’s racing heart relaxed. In fact, she didn’t know why it began racing.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that before every dungeon dive, we need to train for each monster found inside. This is especially important for our Graduation Exam. We cannot go unprepared like this!”

Both Jacob and Bob nodded this time. Jacob kicked away the arrogant ‘I am the chosen one’ and ‘I can do anything’ mentality just because he got his system.

It was his overconfidence that got them in trouble this time. He had felt that if he had clearly explained the dangers inside the dungeon, the other two wouldn’t want to go with him. So he stayed silent, knowing that his system would help him overcome this challenge.

“Ready for the last strike?” Sumei asked. Even in this situation, she respected Jacob’s request to kill steal, and this made him happy. Bob, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy contributing to the team and rarely made and requests.

“Thanks!”

You are reading story I Also Level Up at novel35.com

The trio surrounded the boss. It roared at them while moving its gigantic wings. But without its limbs, there was little it could do. Jacob still held Bob’s giant sword and began hitting the monster’s neck. After five hits which it tried to dodge, a gargoyle’s head rolled on the ground.

A moment later, the boss monster vanished, leaving behind some items. It immediately attracted Bob and Sumei. Jacob’s system began bombarding him with notifications.

[Level up!]

[Congratulations! You have defeated your first boss type unit.]

[As a reward for your achievement, you have unlocked a passive skill—detect intent.]

Jacob was expecting the level up. But the second notice blew his mind off.

‘Passive skill? Detect intent? Is it what I think it is?’ he thought in excitement and immediately opened his stats.

[Status Window]

Name: Jacob Maxwell

Level: 10

Class: None

Title: Demonic Hunter

HP: 100

MP: 19

Tiredness: 0

[Stat]

Strength: 27

Stamina: 22

Agility: 20

Intelligence: 19

Perception: 19

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Detect Intent Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 2

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

‘So I’m already level 10? Is there some level up quest or do I simply go to level 11 and so on? And what about 19 MP? What use does it have? Aah! Too many questions!’

Jacob felt both happy and annoyed. But he kept the questions aside and focused on his new skill that was already at the maximum level.

[Skill: Detect Intent Lv. Max]

Type: Passive

Cost: None

You can detect any sentient being’s intentions towards you. This skill can be toggled on or off. You will be notified of any evil intent towards you even if the skill is toggled off.

“W-wow!” Jacob’s mouth was left open. “Just wow!”

He stared ahead in a daze as the description of the skill once again flashed across his mind. He knew he had gained something extremely awesome this time!

“Yeah, it’s fantastic.” Sumei approached him while showing her hands. “Look.”

Jacob had wanted to explore his skill further but gave up on it. He turned towards her and saw her body give a faint golden glow. It was like she was a celestial fairy that had descended to the mortal realm.

You can find story with these keywords: I Also Level Up, Read I Also Level Up, I Also Level Up novel, I Also Level Up book, I Also Level Up story, I Also Level Up full, I Also Level Up Latest Chapter