I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The stone walls crumbled like Styrofoam, and a hideously formed, gigantic monster burst out from within. The entire corridor shook with each step it took.

As before, witnessing it in person like this, the sense of intimidation emanating from its grotesque appearance was immense. It was even more so because it carried a club that was far thicker and larger than my height.

The monster, having walked out through the wall with heavy thumps, spotted me standing ahead and let out another roar.

ㅡKUOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The roar reverberated deafeningly. My ears momentarily rang. It was worse than accidentally blasting music with headphones at full volume.

If I were to run away now, I could just turn around and sprint. Despite its impactful and shocking entrance, escaping itself wouldn’t be too difficult if I just knew how to properly use the Shift key.

However, I had to take this monster down, no matter what.

No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed like the early game progression would be completely blocked without the Bloodstained Sword. Moreover, the event triggered by defeating the Human Butcher upon first encounter was incredibly crucial to my current situation.

I held the Steel Sword, which the mid-boss had been using, in my right hand and faced the Human Butcher head-on.

In the game, even if you killed the mid-boss, it wouldn’t drop its weapon and would simply vanish, making it impossible to pick up and use the sword it was wielding.

But it was different here.

Assuming this truly was the same Steel Sword from the game, I should be able to kill it in about 20 minutes. Even considering the increased health in Darkest Light mode.

‘No need for dodging, can’t use Parry yet, only Deflect and Roll, huh.’

I mentally reviewed the number of strategies I could employ.

When wielding a blunt weapon, I had to rely solely on rolling to evade attacks since Deflect was unusable. But now, with a one-handed sword in hand, I could utilize Deflect as well. That was enough.

‘The first attack is definitely a charge.’

I took my stance. The Human Butcher roared and charged towards me, its footsteps thudding loudly. Due to its bulky physique, it looked more like a waddle than a run.

The stone wall it collided with shattered and crumbled entirely. I retreated accordingly, inching backward. I needed some space to roll sideways and evade the attack.

I waited for it to get close, then just before our bodies collided, I flung myself to the right. My body executed a perfect roll across the floor, and the massive foot stomped on empty air.

Having cleanly evaded the charge attack, I immediately sprang to my feet and dashed in the opposite direction.

The Human Butcher, bewildered, looked around as I vanished from its sight. Then, as if it had heard my footsteps, it turned its body. Upon seeing me fleeing in the distance, it let out a furious roar.

Ignoring the roar, I searched for the hole created by the crumbling wall and entered it. A bright light poured in from nearby.

Without hesitation, I ran towards the light. The monster, busy chasing me, was closing the distance, practically demolishing the prison walls as it went.

But I was faster. I escaped through the hole where the light was emanating, and a vast open space appeared directly below. I leaped down into the open area.

‘I could just run away like this, but…….’

I glanced at the large main gate of the prison, located on the opposite side from me. That was the only entrance and exit to the prison. Why the only one? Because the remaining three sides were all cliffs.

Even if I were to run away from the Human Butcher instead of coming here from the corridor, I could fight it here at any time before escaping this area.

I had simply skipped all the intermediate steps.

It wasn’t some kind of exploit discovered by users; it was an intentional design by Brightest Darkness 4’s developers. That if you evaded the Human Butcher and returned to where it emerged, you could escape immediately.

With a crash, the Human Butcher, having quickly caught up, landed in the open space. The ground beneath its feet caved in, unable to withstand the weight. Cracks spread across the surrounding earth.

Annoyed by its prey dodging around, it snorted and puffed out its nostrils. Its misaligned teeth clashed, producing a clattering sound.

It’s starting now. I raised the Steel Sword.

I rolled to the side of its left leg and swung the sword at its torso. The tip of the sword dug into its belly, adding another shallow wound. Black blood trickled down from the long gash.

ㅡKUUUUAAAAAAAAK!

I swiftly retreated, dodging the tail that was being swung around wildly. Immediately afterward, it flailed its right arm, sweeping the spot where I had just been.

Even a grazing blow from those flailing attacks meant instant death.

The Human Butcher raised the massive club in its right hand above its head. A pattern where it slams the club down in front and advances forward. I adjusted my grip on the sword as soon as I saw it.

This was a pattern I could counter with Deflect. My body naturally assumed the stance, as if it knew how to execute Deflect even though my mind didn’t.

I slightly angled the sword and supported my right wrist with my left hand. Despite being a human who had never learned swordsmanship in my entire life, my body reacted and moved first.

With a clang, the sword, barely the thickness of a human wrist, blocked the wooden club that was thicker than a person.

To be precise, it deflected the attack. The trajectory of the massive wooden club was altered, slicing through the air to the side.

‘Manageable.’

The impact made my palms throb, but it wasn’t unbearable. Considering my current stats were all 1, I figured I could deflect it much more easily later on.

‘It’s similar to the game. I don’t need to overthink it; it feels like my body automatically deflects the attack if I just swing the sword with the right timing.’

In the game, the player character could deflect all sorts of attacks with a single sword. It could even effortlessly counter the downward smash of a golem whose size dwarfed a castle, so that says it all.

Seeing myself relatively easily deflecting a wooden club far larger than my height, it seemed I wasn’t much different now.

The attacks continued afterward. I couldn’t bridge the gap in strength between the monster and me, so my legs kept getting pushed back, but my stance didn’t crumble.

I deflected the club it slammed down with my sword, deflected it again, and deflected it once more. I repeated this process countless times.

After exactly 10 such exchanges, the Human Butcher’s body momentarily faltered. As soon as I confirmed the pattern had ended, I darted in and swung my sword again. Another wound was etched onto its abdomen.

Having been toyed with and wounded by a human several times smaller than itself for over 10 minutes, it must have been enraged, as it tilted its body to the right and raised its left foot.

The Foot Stomp pattern. I took advantage of the opening to retreat a good distance and catch my breath.

With a thud, the Human Butcher stomped the ground. A cloud of dust billowed outward, carried by the shockwave. In the game, even brushing against that dust cloud meant instant death, but I didn’t know how it would be now.

‘Of course, I have absolutely no intention of testing it out.’

It pulled its deeply embedded foot from the ground and approached again. Its right hand, holding the club, was raised to the side. The 3-Hit Combo pattern.

I rolled to evade the horizontally swung weapon and dashed inward again. Whether I charged in or not, the Human Butcher continued to swing its weapon as it did in the game.

Its belly was already a mess of long gashes and spilled black blood.

‘These kinds of scars didn’t appear in the game.’

With such idle thoughts, I added a couple more wounds and created distance again.

If it weren’t for the Foot Stomp, I could have circled it endlessly, toying with it until it died. But the Foot Stomp pattern was added specifically to counter that, so I had no choice but to maintain my distance.

The situation continued to unfold one-sidedly. Consecutive downward slams, 3-hit combos, Foot Stomp, Body Press, Charge. I pummeled the Human Butcher without even getting grazed.

It roared in frustration and rage, swinging its club madly, but all it achieved was slicing through the air.

As wounds accumulated across its body, the nearby ground became increasingly stained black.

‘It’s about time for the last pattern.’

I inwardly estimated how much time had passed. It should be about time for its health to be depleted and for it to transition into its desperation pattern. The lack of a visible health bar was quite inconvenient in many ways.

I had completed an All Boss No Damage run with the Darkest Light mod applied and even recorded a video of it, so I had a rough idea of the clear times. The Human Butcher was around 20 minutes, wasn’t it?

It took over 2 hours to beat it to death barehanded, but with just the basic Crude Wooden Club, the clear time was drastically reduced to around 30 minutes.

But now, I was wielding the Steel Sword, so even considering my stats were all at 1, I didn’t think it would take more than 20 minutes at most. Shouldn’t that much time have already passed?

As I was organizing my cluttered thoughts with such musings, the monster suddenly halted its movements and began to tremble violently.

‘Got it.’

I inwardly cheered. This was a sign that I had practically cleared the Human Butcher.