First things first, I needed to figure out my end goal.

What was it that i wanted?

If I go unprepared, even if I might have thought I was prepared, I’ll die. What I needed was the ability to run away. Yeah.

That was easy.

I needed the speed to be able to outrun an animal that had four legs. No. I needed to have the kind of speed that would outrun a cave wolf boss and not get caught in a chase.

Tap. Tap.

I tied my shoelaces and tapped the ground with my feet. I’m not that fast of a runner to begin with. I could do about 100 meters in 13 seconds..ish? It was pretty fast for an average person, but I would be considered slow if compared to sprinters. I’d be cave wolf snack in seconds if I tried to run away like this. I need to be able to do under 10 seconds if I might have a prayer of outrunning that beast.

I did a light sprint back and forth in the left trail to get a feel for the terrain. I don’t know if it’s because of my up in endurance, but I wasn’t winded in the least.

Now it was time to sprint like hell. I went down and got in position..then kicked the ground to help me get a running start. I almost fell a few times since the ground wasn’t really level. After I did this about five times, I could feel my body get a bit lighter.

“Yes.”

Tap. Tap.

The sound was different. Every time I took a step, it almost felt as if the length of the ground was shrinking. But I couldn’t be happy with just this.

I needed to feel lighter. I needed to be faster.

Woosh!

I could hear the sound of wind whipping past my ear. I could taste the humid air filling my lungs. I could feel my heart pumping the oxygen throughout my body. I could hear he bu-bump of my heart and blood vessels pumping the blood. It now felt as if my body was floating through the air.

More. A little more. As fast as I can. No, more than that.

“Huk. Huk. Huk.”

After I snapped back to attention, I realized everyone was staring at me with wide eyes.

****

[0,5,850]

I saw that I upgraded twice. The first time, I used up 500 reward points..and the second time, I used up 1000. There was no way for me to find out exactly how much faster I was now but, seeing everyone’s reaction, it should be enough for me to outrun that thing.

“Uh..you..what the hell was that just now?”

Manager Kim stuttered as he tried to get the words out.

“What do you mean?”

“Whoa. SunbehOppa. Did you know you were just flying?”

“I flew?”

“Well, you weren’t exactly flying. But it almost looked like it.”

“We heard a loud noise behind us so we looked back, and we saw you kicking the ground running at us. You were taking a few meters every step. It looked like you almost like you were stepping on air.”

Glasses girl said.

“Wait wait?”

“That you were stepping on air..?”

“No, not that. You said that you heard a loud noise?”

“Yeah. At first it was just stomping noises, but later it sounded almost like an earthqua..”

“Damn! Everyone run into the right trail right now! Jung Sooah! You take this and if the wolf starts heading towards the left trail, throw it!”

I didn’t have the time to revel in my new upgrade. I handed one of my pepper bombs to her.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“The wolf is going to come! Hurry!”

There was no way the wolf wouldn’t have heard something that sounded like an earthquake.

“Over..over there.”

Cho Youngoo said with a stammer in his voice.

Grrrrrr.

The sound of growling rung throughout the dungeon.

Luckily it didn’t start running at us. It was staring at us..probably observing us at first.

“Manager Kim. Once I throw a pepper bomb, take everyone to the right trail.”

“Me? How? Everyone should look after themselves.”

“Please.”

“Shit. How about you?”

“I’ll distract him and lead him to the left trail. Once you make sure it follows me in, everyone run out of the dungeon and get help.”

“SunbehOppa! That’t too dangerous..!”

“Just do it!”

I wish I had more time to explain. But the wolf was now coming down the hill and running towards where we were. I raised my hand and threw the pepper bomb.

“Run!”

“SunbehOppa! If you die, I’ll kill you!”

Is she stupid? How does that make sense?

The pepper smoke spread out into the air. This type of weapon was more grievous to a wolf with its sensitive nose and eyes than to a human. There was no better way to make sure the wolf would attack in my direction than this.

“This way! You wolf bastarrrrd!”

I started yelling out while backing up. This pepper smoke should not only irritate the hell out of him, it should also take away its vision and sense of smell. The only thing it would have left to rely on would be sound – and my voice was ringing throughout the dungeon.

I ran into the left tunnel trail.

I could see its huge shadow chasing after me.

I yelled out while running.

“Come here, stupid!”

“Grrrr!”

It was growling with its fangs baring menacingly. If I were to gauge its level, it was probably between level 2 and level 3. But compared to a regular monster, a boss had a higher chance of dropping an item.

If I could kill it, there was a good chance I could make out with something super valuable.

I got into a position that would let me run away at any time and looked at the wolf. It kept shaking its head and sneezing. Hahaha the pepper. Maybe I could attack it right now.

But I didn’t do anything. It could be faking it.

Without any warning, it sped at me. I knew it!

Since I was in position, I quickly ran for it. The wolf’s speed seemed so slow to me. But because it was so much bigger, it would be able to cover more distance so I couldn’t drag it out. The more I dragged it out, it would catch up to me.

There was nothing to think about. I had to first lure it into this trail, run a lap and come out of the dungeon.

The wolf was really running now.

The race had begun.

***

Stomp! Stomp!

My body felt as light as a feather. Every step I took felt like I was being propelled forward. It was certainly not an exaggeration to say that I was indeed stepping on air. It felt like I could be doing 100 meters in about 6.5 seconds.

The wolf was sprinting as fast as it could. The wolf was indeed faster than me. But the cave’s terrain wasn’t straight, but curvy. Luckily I was used to it and it wasn’t.

“Ha. Ha.”

I could see the end of the tunnel now.

This is the first place I almost fell.

I could see the pothole.

It was probably due to the water dripping from the ceiling. If I don’t slow down, I would definitely slip and fall.

The wolf opened its mouth in preparation for swallowing my head whole. I crouched low and jumped over the hole while the wolf slipped as soon as it stepped into the water-filled hole.

The wolf tumbled and smashed into the tunnel wall. Powder from the ceiling drifted down to the wolf in puffs.

“Hmm?”

I looked back and smiled at my good fortune. A stalactite on the wall had pierced the wolf on one side. It was struggling to get up.

This could be the best chance I had at attacking and killing it. Jackpot.