The More the Healer Gets Hit the Stronger He Become

4 – Destination (1)

“Is it because the wounds… have healed to some extent…?”

A shiver ran down his spine. If this speculation was correct, to increase his muscle strength, he had to endure blows from those insane monsters.

And it had to be severe, to the point where bones were exposed.

“Asper’s Fist of Flame…”

Kang Woo muttered the enemy’s name.

[Upgraded with the blessing of ‘Fist of Asper’.]

When he saw the phrase, “Can only heal outside of battle,” he wondered what kind of absurd skill this was.

But now, its intention was clear.

Get stronger by getting hit and healing.

Not just getting hit, but getting hit a lot.

“Sigh…”

Psycho. That Fist of Asper guy was definitely a psychopath.

It wasn’t like monsters politely waited for you to heal; trusting that kind of healing to become stronger was faster than crossing a river by stepping on floating rocks, rather than reaching strength 100 by getting hit.

“…If I get hurt, does my strength go up?”

Muttering a sudden thought, Kang Woo quickly raised his hand and slapped himself.

Snap.

To be curious about such a thing, there must be something wrong.

He was definitely going crazy due to this ridiculous environment.

He pondered for a while, expressing his dissatisfaction, then glanced back at the path he had taken.

Despite spending quite a bit of time seated here, not a single sign of popularity could be felt.

“…”

Kang Woo, who had been emitting waves of heat, suddenly became quiet as if lying.

Even if he tried to hide it, his fingertips trembled.

Hills that increase strength? What good are they?

It’s game over if you die here.

Despite waiting for quite some time under the pretext of resting, no one followed. This meant he had to break through the unknown path alone.

There was an option to continue waiting, but it wasn’t a very good idea.

The Tower, which opened its doors on the first of every month, allowed only ‘organisms’ to pass through. It was impossible to bring Earthly things like clothes or food into the Tower.

In other words, if he waited for someone here and no one came, he would have to fight monsters without properly replenishing his energy.

Even with full health upon entering the Tower, without healing, he had suffered serious injuries to the point of death.

But fighting those insane bastards with even lower health here? It was akin to asking for death.

Gangwoo made a decision.

He had to move.

Before getting more hungry and tired. He had to move now.

His actions after the decision flowed like water.

Gangwoo first looked down. The basic clothes automatically worn upon entering the Tower were torn and stained red.

Gangwoo swiftly tore the right sleeve, or rather, the rag-like right sleeve, with force. Then, due to the torn left sleeve that kept turning forward, he tore that off as well.

In an instant, he transformed into someone with a sleeveless attire, but it was better than fumbling with a staff.

After tidying up his clothing to some extent, Gangwoo carefully examined the dead dogs.

“Can they be of any use?”

They weren’t even good enough to use as medicine, as there was nothing usable about these damn puppies.

If only their teeth were a bit bigger, he might have thrown them as weapons, but their small, sharp, and densely packed teeth were inappropriate for memorabilia.

Gangwoo, who had thrown a dog in a previous battle, picked up one of the somewhat intact dead dogs after a brief hesitation.

Striking the staff cleanly and dying neatly pleased him, as there were no injuries from the trauma.

It felt awkward to think about carrying around the corpse of a dead dog, but it was better than dying.

Kang Woo, who thoroughly checked even his shoes, took a long breath and moved forward.

It was time to move towards the end of the trial.

***

Stealthily.

Kang Woo cautiously navigated the cave, holding his breath.

This damn cave was absolutely random in its structure.

With passages sprawling like ant tunnels, there were over six intersections he had encountered so far. Everywhere looked so similar that it was impossible to tell if he was going the right way.

[Pass through the cave and reach the opposite side.]

When the trial began, the system clearly stated this. Pass through the cave and reach the opposite side.

It was puzzling how to pass through such a damn cave, but on the other hand, he had thoughts like this.

“Do the paths eventually merge?”

In the end, countless intersections always merged, leading to the same destination.

It might be too optimistic a thought, but there was no other explanation.

There was no map, and finding the way was as simple as that.

Moreover, the current location was the first floor of the tower.

If the difficulty was like this from the first floor, there would be even greater trials waiting on the upper floors. At that time, the current survival probability, statistically calculated so far, was not understood.

Even though most people give up and return from the lower floors, a 70% survival rate for such a difficulty level seemed absurd.

“Of course, the current difficulty level isn’t exactly sane either…”

f*ck.

Curses swirled in his mouth.

The most common phrase he encountered while studying before entering the tower was, ‘You can never pass through any floor of the tower unless you form a party.’ But here he was, alone from the first floor.

‘As if being alone wasn’t enough, do I have to adjust the difficulty?’

Walking, lost in various thoughts, Kangwoo stopped in his tracks.

He didn’t want to know this way, but Kangwoo realized his prediction was correct.

These damn forks in the road were converging again.

If not, there wouldn’t be a person’s body found in the labyrinthine path alone after the female magician died.

Huuu.

Kangwoo took a deep breath.

Otherwise, he felt like he might vomit right away from the nauseating sights.

“Huuk…!”

The gender was male.

The round shield lay nearby, suggesting an awakening of physical abilities.

Judging by the size of the shield barely covering the upper body, it seemed to be distributed like a sword, but unfortunately, the sword was not visible around the black.

“Uwaaah-.”

The damn bastards didn’t send the man off gracefully.

The man’s corpse was completely ravaged by the teeth marks of the dog, and it was so damaged that the original appearance could not be discerned.

“Haa-.”

Barely suppressing the urge to vomit, Kangwoo staggered forward.

As Kangwoo approached, he made an effort not to see the man’s corpse right in front of him.

Consciously avoiding one spot, he scanned the area and spotted an object.

[Basic Round Shield. Stamina +1]

It was when Kangwoo cautiously picked up the shield that was lying nearby.

“Ah…”

Caught off guard, the face he met was familiar.

“Did you see it too, sir? Th-the corpse! You didn’t just now!?”

“W-what…! Student, put that down…”

It was the middle-aged man he had been talking to at the Square of Beginnings.

“U-ugh-.”

Kangwoo quickly covered his mouth. If he had been a little slower, he would have let out a scream.

The sight of the person up close was horrifying. It was even worse because Kangwoo recognized the face.

His hands and feet trembled. At the same time, his mind snapped back into focus.

He had to move. Otherwise, the one lying over there could have been him.

Creak-.

Startled by the sound, Kangwoo looked ahead.

He saw three bloodstained beaks near their mouths.

“Damn it…”

Those were the guys who killed the middle-aged man.

The reason for his certainty was simple. One of them had a torn piece of the man’s clothing hanging from their mouth.

The monsters approached cautiously with wary eyes.

Fortunately, one of them seemed to have injured its leg during the battle.

Kang Woo lowered his body and dropped the shield he had picked up.

The distance between him and the monsters was about 10m.

Although it was heavy, it was the time to use the guy he had reluctantly brought along.

From Noble mtl dot com

Thunk-.

Kang Woo forcefully threw the monster’s corpse towards the one limping towards him.

Crash!

Whether it was due to his increased strength or a momentary focus to survive, the flying monster’s corpse hit the target.

aaah!

As soon as one of them was attacked, the other two rushed towards him with a terrifying momentum.

Kang Woo quickly picked up the shield and positioned it in front of his upper body.

Thud!

He pushed away the charging monster with his shield and swung his staff at the other one.

“These bastards.”

Perhaps because they have hunted humans before.

The staff didn’t hit, and the one that hit the shield didn’t seem to suffer much impact.

aaah-.

The two monsters surrounded Kang Woo from both sides, tearing his clothes apart as if mocking him.

“I will definitely kill you guys!!”

Shouting to suppress the trembling in his heart, he let out a roaring sound.

Right behind, there lay the lifeless body of a middle-aged man, just by turning his gaze.

An ending unlike others. Despite the fearful heart, Gangwoo tightened his shield and staff even more firmly.

If he doesn’t pull himself together, he will really die.

Gangwoo, with determination, forced a smile.

“If you don’t come, I’ll go first.”

Left, right. Measuring the distance, Gangwoo dashed straight towards the one on the right.

Kyakgyaggyaeng-!!

The monster quickly turned and fled as Gangwoo approached.

He could catch up with a bit more speed, but doing so would expose his back to another one chasing from behind.

Having made his decision, Gangwoo swiftly turned his body and swung the staff at the one rushing from behind.

Peok-!

Hit by an unexpected blow, the monster flew into the air without even a scream.

Kyaaa-!

Before catching his breath, he heard the monster’s cry from behind.

Before turning his gaze, Gangwoo moved his hand first. It was his left hand, holding the shield.

Kkaegang!

With the thought of a gamble, he vigorously swung the shield, fortunately knocking the approaching monster away.

Turning his head belatedly, he saw a dog staggering on the ground, either hit on the head or injured.

“Ha-. To think I fell victim to these things.”

During the first battle, amidst the urgency, I couldn’t realize, but fighting again made it clear.

Those foolish bastards, when they charge, always jump aiming for the upper body.

If they had rushed in and torn apart my legs first, I wouldn’t have been able to fight like this.

“Die.”

Squelch-!

Having confirmed the breaths of the two extinguished, Kang Woo approached the remaining one.

The creature that first received a blow squirmed on the ground.

Squelch-!

Silence settled in the once tumultuous cave.

Considering how noisy it was, the fact that there were no more appearing suggested that these three were all in the vicinity.

Although the vitality he had filled during the brief battle seemed to be draining away, Kang Woo didn’t want to rest here.

“…Paid the price with my shield.”

Kang Woo muttered and moved forward.

He didn’t have the courage to look back.

***

After that, he encountered five more crossroads.

Monsters that didn’t appear even after walking for a while in the beginning started to increase in frequency after acquiring the shield.

Usually two or three, but when facing four at once, I truly almost died.

Thud. Thud.

The side of Kangwoo, walking with the staff as a cane, was robust with vitality despite the fatigue.

It was the wound inflicted when he encountered the four.

The wound occurred as soon as it was received, and though he healed with magic, he could only use it twice due to insufficient power.

As a result, his strength had increased to 6.7, but Kangwoo was far from pleased.

His side, which hurt as if it would tear apart with the slightest movement, made him realize in real-time that enduring such pain was necessary to become ‘stronger.’

Thud. Thud.

Leading his aching body, Kangwoo continued the forced march, deteriorating both physically and mentally.

But he couldn’t stop.

If he didn’t move his body right away, it felt like he would collapse from exhaustion.

Thud.

Kangwoo, staggering forward, stopped his steps.

Unlike the dark surroundings with sporadic torches, the end of the corridor was filled with bright light.

Could he have finally arrived?

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Kangwoo’s steps quickened. At this moment, even the painful side seemed somewhat bearable.

As he approached, the brightness of the light was dazzling, but he gradually adapted and it became tolerable.

Tap.

Having reached the end, Kangwoo stopped the staff that had been moving busily.

“Damn.”

He had finally arrived at the ‘opposite side of the cave.’

A massive door exuding a bright light that seemed to be the endpoint of the trial.

In the vast space, positioned 30 meters away from the door, a colossal assembly existed. About twenty puppies guarded their places, their crimson eyes flashing.