It'd be easy to go mad from pain and wildly trash about, but that would mean losing the opportunity of proximity with the Cerberus, so Hal stayed his hand in pain, as he waited for the end of the three minutes to come, and it was almost here.
'....178, 178, 180!'
As soon as the timer in his head went off, Hal called on the system and finally revealed his hidden trump card.
'Collect the first reward, now!'
He immediately collected the first reward from the daily quest, he had saved up until now.
[Reward 1: 'Full recovery of the current physical condition' has been applied.]
Swoosh!
A blue light enveloped him and all depleted health reverted to their normal state.
[HP: 500/500]
Even his tattered left arm was good as new, in the blink of an eye.
Hal didn't waste time in making his move, this was his chance, he thought.
His eyes gleamed coldly as he reached out a hand and gripped the second neck of the Cerberus before stabbing his dagger right in the middle of its head.
Crack!
A cracking noise was heard as the skull of the Cerberus middle head cracked open, due to the insane strength Hal had applied to the blow.
"Whimper! Whine!"
The Cerberus whined in pain, as it was no longer in the rage mode. Thus, it could now feel pain properly.
It sustained a major injury and got into a frenzy trying to escape, but the harder it struggled, the firmer Hal's grip on it became, and the faster his dagger moved.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
The Cerberus bit into Hal's hand as it struggled to the bitter end, but the battle had already been decided by then, as Hal wasn't letting up on his attack, despite the pain he felt in his hand.
"Whimper! Whine!"
Hal stabbed it in the head one more time and moved to deal with the killing strike.
The Steel Talons of Kaisan Lycan now traveled lower down from the neck and stabbed the Cerberus's chest.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Soon enough, the monster's fighting spirit became dull, and with it, its resistance grew weaker and weaker.
"Whimper...."
In the end, the heads of the Cerberus fell to the side lifeless.
Tti-ring!
[You've defeated 'Hell's Gatekeeper: Cerberus']
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[New skill 'Stab' has been learned.]
It was just a kill, and his level went up by 4, which showed how difficult the battle was.
Hal only let go of the Cerberus neck after confirming its body going limp with his own eyes. The heavy body sprawled to the floor without any resistance whatsoever.
Blob!
Hal rested his hands on his knees. "Ha-ah."
Only now could he breathe a sign of relief.
"Oh, I almost forgot.... items."
After calming himself down, Hal reached towards the Cerberus.
Hal hoped the reward would get better than it already was.
Tti-ring!
[You've discovered item: 'Gatekeeper's necklace', take it?]
[You've discovered item: 'Key to the castle's gate', take it?]
[You've discovered item: 'Cerberus's Molar, x3', take it?]
"Take them all."
A steel necklace originally found around one of the Cerberus's neck, a black key, and three molars appeared in his hand.
[Item: 'Gatekeeper's necklace'.]
Rarity: A
Type: Necklace
Agility +20, Perception +20
[Item: 'Key to the castle's gate'.]
Rarity: A
Type: Key
The key to unlock the gates of the Demon's castle. Can only be acquired after killing the Gatekeeper.
[Item: 'Cerberus's Molar'.]
Rarity: None
Type: Miscellaneous
"Ohh."
"This necklace can boost both my Agility and Perception points by 20?"
"That's great."
The rewards were extremely good, each one of them with a rarity A, except for the miscellaneous Molar, but the new skill 'Stab' had made up for that, so all in all, Hal was content with today's rewards.
Hal held the Cerberus necklace in his hands and scrutinized it.
The thing was, it was shaped like a roundish metallic choker with spikes spouting out in regular intervals, so no matter what the description from the system, it was a... dog collar.
"Mm."
Hal closed his eyes and tilted his head backward while thinking about how he could wear the necklace without looking weird.
He decided to try it at least once and brought it up to his neck.
Then a message popped up.
Tti-ring!
[Will you wear item: 'Gatekeeper's Necklace'?]
Hal fell into another bout of dilemma before helplessly murmuring his answer.
"....Sure thing."
Then a surprising thing happened, the necklace slowly disappeared from his view.
"Huh? Where did it go?" Hal asked no one in particular.
[You're not wearing item'Gatekeeper's Necklace'.]
"Huh? Is that so?" Hal wondered and hurriedly summoned his status window.
[Stats]
Strength: 45
Stamina: 30
Agility: 55
Speed: 33
Intelligence: 30
Perception: 50
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 20%
"Holy cow!"
Both his Agility and Perception were increased by 20% for real. The option was now in effect, in other words.
It looked like he didn't have to worry about walking about with a dog collar strapped to his neck. Hal sighed in relief.
'Next up are the Molars.'
Hal summoned the Store next.
He sold the 'Cerberus's Molar' and got 200 thousand coins for each. He sold all three off right away.
Soon, 600 thousand coins entered his hand.
[Current Coin: 750, 535]
"What kind of japtem is this expensive?"
It was a rather reasonable baseline to judge the strength of the dungeon. In other words, the difficulty of the dungeon would be extremely high.
However, that didn't mean it was impossible to be cleared.
Fact?
It meant his rewards would also be higher. That was proven from the rewards, he got from killing just one monster, compared to the whole day spent in the Whitley stadium.
If he saved up coins in this fashion, then it wouldn't be long before he got to lay his hands on those high-ranking items in the store.
'That is, as long as I get to clear this tower...'
Hal stared up at the towering tower.
Crackle! Pop!
The very top of the structure was completely shrouded in a dark fog. He had to enter there, to confirm his suspicions on the matter.
But, Hal shook his head.
'Now's not the time.'
He barely managed to kill just a Gatekeeper; how would it be facing the inhabitants of the dungeon?
So, he decided to wait for now. Leave and come back later, when he was stronger, cause he was sure of something.
Just as the description said, this key to the Demon's Hellspawn, was something he wanted.
An endless stream of leveling up, valuable bounties. This blessing had it all.
And one day, he'd be able to claim everything. It may be long, but it was sure.
He wouldn't stop until he did.
So, although he was slightly unwilling, he still stored the black key inside his inventory.
Hal stared at the structure, with a face full of assurance.
"Await my return."
'Definitely, very soon.'
With a smile on his face, he left Hellspawn.