Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 10 – The Result of Effort

—–CROW—– 

The habit of checking the open community as soon as I woke up remained.

[Tower of Trials #2661 (1/1)]

However, I didn’t check the responses to posts I made at dawn like before. I only checked the number of people in the chat window and immediately closed it.

Today, as always, I was the only one. It had been a long time since I gave up hope, but it was still absurd every time I saw it.

It was exactly half a year since my mother’s death anniversary. It had already been well over a year since I entered this tower.

It’s said that even a week without new arrivals is rare for other servers, but no one has entered this one for over a year.

“Huup!”

I got out of bed vigorously and stretched. Then, I did some light stretching while basking in the morning sunlight.

After deciding to conquer the Tower of Trials on my own, the first thing I did was fix my lifestyle.

The typical lifestyle of a bum, staying up until dawn and waking up in the afternoon, was in itself an enemy of growth.

Now, I’m a perfect morning person who wakes up at 7 AM sharp.

“Let’s go.”

After finishing my light stretching, I left the inn and immediately started running.

Thanks to the stat correction, I could now run all day at a speed that would make Usain Bolt faint.

Waking up my muscles with light exercise like this in the morning noticeably improved my condition for the battles that followed.

After a quick lap around the outskirts of the village, I stood in front of the entrance to the labyrinth area.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials is calling you.]

Before entering the labyrinth, I carefully checked the items in my inventory. Not just potions, but also food like white rolls.

I had more than enough potions, but the inventory capacity wasn’t infinite, so if I used potions without replenishing them, they would eventually run out.

Now, there was rarely a need to use potions in the 1st-floor labyrinth area, but today I needed to be prepared for even the most unlikely scenarios.

Half a year of defeating monsters and increasing my level and skill proficiency every single day.

Seo Jinhyuk Lv.39 (Warrior)

My growth level had reached a point far beyond the limits of the 1st-floor area.

Today, I would defeat the 1st-floor boss and move on to the next floor.

**

Excluding Ranker buses, the smallest number of people to clear the 1st-floor boss was a party of seven with an average level of 18.

The composition was four warriors like me, two archers, and one thief.

No matter how high my level and how good my equipment, it was impossible for me to perform the roles of all seven people alone.

Therefore, despite the superior stats I had accumulated, it wouldn’t be an easy fight.

But to ensure victory, I had made a lot of preparations. I was confident.

“Huu.”

I took a deep breath in front of the boss room. I checked my equipped gear once again.

[+6 Black Leather Armor]

Defense + 85

Agility + 3

Weight: 5

Durability 500/500

Enhancement Attempts Available: 0

First, the armor was a leather armor that prioritized mobility. The defense was lower than the heavy armor I used before, but it had an agility option.

Anyway, no matter how much I increased my defense with items from the 1st floor, I would still be done for if I got hit directly by the boss.

Depending on the situation, it might make the difference between being knocked out in one hit and being knocked out in two hits, but since I was soloing, that difference wasn’t important.

Without party members to help, I wouldn’t even have time to drink a potion, and I would just get hit again and die.

[+7 Royal Knight’s Straight Sword]

Attack Power + 77 (Slashing)

Critical Damage: x 1.5

Durability 350/350

Enhancement Attempts Available: 0

My weapon was the Royal Knight’s Straight Sword that I got while farming treasure chests. I poured a lot of materials into it and succeeded in enhancing it to +7 this time.

This time, instead of mindlessly going all-in on attack power with [Sharp] enhancements, I balanced it by putting 3 enhancements into [Durability] and 4 into [Sharp].

According to the information posts in the open community, the early 1st generation Hunters always invested in both durability and sharpness like this.

If your weapon breaks due to lack of durability during battle, it’s game over. It’s even more fatal for me since I don’t have party members to back me up.

“Let’s go.”

After checking my weapon, armor, and finally my shield, I slowly pushed open the door to the boss room.

[Even among the dull-witted goblins, lacking everything but cruelty, a monarch with the appearance of a ruler is bound to be born.]

[BOSS – Goblin Lord Grax’ar]

The system message announcing the boss battle appeared. I immediately took out a stone from my inventory and took a stance.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaah-!!”

The moment the Goblin Lord roared, I threw the stone with perfect timing.

-Bang!

I wasn’t aiming for the boss, but for the Goblin Royal Guard it summoned. It was a perfect prediction shot, and one of them immediately fell.

It was the crossbowman that fell, good that I took out the ranged one quickly.

I immediately rushed at full speed towards another Royal Guard goblin and smashed its head with the edge of my shield.

Then, I delivered a roundhouse kick to the last goblin that rushed towards me.

My current strength stat was forty-seven.

It was enough to ignore the heavy armor the goblins wore and deliver a massive impact, at least when it came to blunt attacks.

Before, I couldn’t deal with the Royal Guard immediately and gave the boss a chance to attack first, but not anymore.

My strength and agility stats were now at a level where I could defeat the Royal Guard summoned by the boss without giving them any openings.

I stabbed the Royal Guard goblin that didn’t die instantly with my sword to finish it off and took a battle stance.

-Thump! Thump! Thump!

The lone Goblin Lord rushed towards me with a speed that didn’t match its massive size.

The vicious bone greatsword swung with the added momentum of the charge, but my agility stat, which was also over 40, was not too slow to react.

-Whoosh!

I quickly rolled to the right. It was a big movement, but thanks to my agility stat, I had enough time to regain my posture.

The Goblin Lord didn’t falter even though its attack missed and swung the bone greatsword again.

-Clang!

And the swung greatsword was blocked by the shield in my left hand. It might have been my imagination, but the boss’s expression seemed to contort.

“What, surprised?”

The [Medium Round Shield] I got from a large treasure chest didn’t have much difference in performance compared to the [World’s Rabbit Index] I used before.

But a shield is not all about defense. Whether you can actually block an attack depends more on the challenger’s own strength than on the defense stat.

I didn’t know if my strength was higher than that of the rugged goblin monster, but at least I could block attacks that didn’t have momentum from the front.

And if I blocked an attack, the next step was obviously to counterattack.

**

The Tower of Trials is in many ways like a game, so challengers can fight using various skills.

The only skill that a normal class warrior learns upon job change is [Sword Mastery].

However, this mastery skill has several active skills under it, so there are actually quite a few skills you can use.

I took a stance towards the Goblin Lord, which had exposed a large opening. Light gathered on the sword I was holding, and my body moved on its own.

It was the warrior’s basic attack skill, Brandish.

-Slash!

It was the most basic skill, but the power was sufficient.

The Goblin Lord’s thigh was deeply cut, and blood spurted out. It screamed “Graaak” and swung its greatsword.

But just like before, a normal attack without momentum could be easily blocked by my shield.

-Clang!

I blocked the wildly swung greatsword and this time, I dug deep into its shoulder and thrust my sword.

I purposely aimed a little higher, and the sword pierced the Goblin Lord’s muscles with a thud.

The intricately intertwined muscles gripped the blade. I grabbed the sword hilt and climbed onto the goblin’s shoulder as if climbing a tree.

Then, I pulled out the embedded sword and used a skill to stab the back of the Goblin Lord’s neck.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaah-!!”

Its neck muscles were too thick to kill it instantly, but I was satisfied just hearing its scream.

I clung to the Goblin Lord’s back and took out a secondary weapon I had prepared in my inventory.

[+4 Hawk’s Dagger]

Attack Power + 45 (Slashing)

Critical Damage: x 2.5

Durability 100/100

Enhancement Attempts Available: 0

Unlike my main weapon, it was a short dagger with 4 [Sharp] enhancements and no [Durability] enhancements. I held it in a reverse grip and stabbed it into the goblin’s back.

-Stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab!!

I used my maximum strength stat to cling to it and my maximum agility stat to repeatedly stab its back.

The Goblin Lord screamed “Graaak” and struggled to shake me off, but I clung to it like a leech and kept stabbing it with the dagger.

Now I was sure. There might be a difference in physique and attack power, but I was stronger in terms of raw strength.

-Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Realizing that it couldn’t shake me off with just its struggles, the Goblin Lord started running with all its might.

I could see the sturdy wall of the boss room in the direction it was running. It was planning to slam into the wall if I didn’t fall off.

“Alright, I’ll let go.”

-Crash!

I jumped off just before it hit the wall. The Goblin Lord just stupidly slammed into the wall.

I immediately distanced myself and checked the time. The second summoning pattern should be coming soon.

As expected, three Goblin Royal Guards soon jumped down from a kind of turret on the wall and joined the battle.

-Thump.

At the same time, the Goblin Lord threw away its bone greatsword and took out an ax from its waist.

As it took out the much heavier-looking bone ax, the Goblin Lord’s muscles swelled significantly.

“So it’s phase 2.”

It was phase 2, just as I had read in the strategy guide. The attack power of the goblin with the bone ax is much higher than before.

Its muscles swelled up, making it even stronger, so from now on, I would die if I tried to block it carelessly with my shield.

And to make matters worse, the summoned Goblin Royal Guards were all crossbowmen.

It was a very difficult situation where I was unilaterally exposed to ranged attacks, but it was okay.

“Come on then, you bastard.”

The effort I had put in so far would not betray me.

I will win.

—–CROW—–