Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 15 –  Euphoria

—–CROW—– 

[The Hour of the Wolf has come.]

The sudden notification window was accompanied by a loud wolf howl.

-Awoooooooo!

At the loud howling, the shepherd girl and I both raised our heads at the same time.

This was a safe zone, so there was no need to worry about being attacked by wolves, but the atmosphere was unusually ominous.

[The detection range of all wolf-type monsters is increased to the maximum. This change lasts until dawn.]

Come to think of it, the sun was already setting. I had heard that wolves become stronger at sunset.

But increasing the detection range to the maximum, this was a bit different.

Normally, the detection range of wolves wasn’t very wide, but I heard that they could detect challengers in a bleeding state regardless of distance.

I was currently being tracked by all wolf-type monsters, and if their detection range increased to the point of ignoring distance on top of that…

It meant that virtually all the wolves in this field would rush straight towards me. Including the field boss, the king of the wolves.

“Tsk.”

At this rate, I had to completely give up on moving until sunrise.

There was no way to move while protecting an NPC from hundreds of wolves.

It was a good thing I ran to the safe zone without resting on the way. I almost failed the quest.

How did the first-generation hunters, who received this quest when they first came up to the 2nd floor, clear it?

-Flap.

I took out a blanket from my inventory and laid it on the ground. It was something I used in the 1st floor labyrinth area.

When I was raising my one-handed sword mastery, I ate and slept in the labyrinth to increase hunting efficiency, even if just a little.

To get proper rest, a bed was necessary, but even just a few blankets like this were enough to camp out for a day.

“Um, Adventurer… What are you doing?”

While I was setting up camp, the shepherd girl spoke to me. Come to think of it, I was treating her like a folding screen.

I knew she was different from the NPCs in the 1st floor village, but even knowing that, I couldn’t help but not pay attention.

“…The sun has set, so the wolves will be active. Let’s wait until dawn before we go.”

Even as I spoke, I was confused about whether I was speaking correctly. I should have practiced beforehand.

“Ah, camping. Flanders and I also sometimes spend the night outside.”

-Woof!

“F-Flanders, saying it like that makes us sound so pathetic. Let’s think of it as a camp.”

Since the shepherd could even understand dog barks, it seemed like I could say anything.

****

The shepherd girl took out simple food items from the pouch on her waist and laid them out.

There was jerky, pieces of cheese, and biscuits that looked like hardtack. They didn’t look very delicious.

I also took out a white roll from my inventory and chewed on it. As I brushed off the bread crumbs and put them in my mouth, the unique sweetness filled my mouth.

I had been eating it every day, so I was sick of it, but I couldn’t give up the level 3 luck buff it provided when consumed.

“Wow…”

As I was eating the white roll with a frown from the annoying sweetness, the shepherd girl sitting on the blanket sent me a sparkling gaze.

Did she want to eat this?

Come to think of it, even this tiresome white roll was originally a dessert close to a luxury item.

“Here, have some.”

Since I had plenty rotting in my inventory anyway, I took out a few more white rolls and gave them to the shepherd girl.

The shepherd girl declined while drooling, but after being offered a few more times, she accepted as if she couldn’t resist.

Then, as if she had never refused, she started gnawing on the white rolls at high speed like a hamster, her eyes shining.

She sure ate it deliciously. Anyone who saw her would think she had been starved for days.

I left the shepherd girl alone, forced down the white roll, and opened the open community.

[2nd Floor Field Area Monster Summary ver.3.3]

[Wolf King Lobo Pattern Summary & Strategy]

[2nd Floor Field Boss Tips.txt]

I searched the community for information about the 2nd floor area monsters, especially the wolf types, that I had roughly read before.

I skipped over the latest materials and strategy guides that I had read several times, and gathered information mainly from the old posts written by the early hunters.

And I engraved each piece of information about the monsters written in the posts into my eyes, and started to memorize all the fighting methods and patterns.

There was still a long time until sunrise when we could move again.

And I had no intention of just letting this time slip by.

[The detection range of all wolf-type monsters is increased to the maximum. This change lasts until dawn.]

Where was the reason to just stay by the shepherd girl’s side and block the approaching wolves? Didn’t it say that all the wolves were coming towards me?

The wolves couldn’t enter this safe zone anyway.

Then I could just leave the shepherd girl here and go out and fight.

If I killed all the wolves in the field tonight, it would be completely safe until the respawn time, right?

No need to gather mobs, how convenient.

****

After telling the shepherd girl to ‘stay here quietly’, I took my sword and shield and came out of the safe zone.

Even though I was in the safe zone, the aggro was still drawn. Outside, a huge number of wolves were waiting.

It was too many to count. There really could be hundreds.

I came out boldly, but was it really possible for me to kill all these wolves alone?

I didn’t know.

Even if I finished them all off in one hit, if there were hundreds, I would have to attack hundreds of times.

I remembered a post I saw on the internet a long time ago, ‘McGregor vs 500 Grandmas.jpg’.

There were various preconditions, but the conclusion was that the grandma army could win with an exchange ratio of about fifty to one.

There was also a similar post, ‘100 Bat-Wielding Dae-ho Lees vs 1 African Elephant’.

There were many different opinions on that one, but most people thought the Dae-ho Lee army would win.

In the end, it was a matter of endurance.

How long can a single strong person maintain their best condition against a large number of weak opponents?

The stats that could be checked in the status window were only four: strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence, and endurance or physical strength were not separately indicated.

Of course, every time my stats increased, I felt that my physical strength improved, so it was certain that some stat was affecting it.

Would my stats, equivalent to level 50, hold up until I defeated hundreds of wolves?

Well, I wouldn’t know until I tried.

****

-Crash!

I swung the [Royal Knight’s Sword] and cut off a wolf’s head.

Even without using skills, most wolves could be dealt with in one hit like this.

But sometimes there were wolves that couldn’t be dealt with in one hit. It wasn’t because my attack power was lacking.

-Grrrr!

A large black-furred wolf jumped up and pounced on me. I wanted to dodge, but I was already surrounded by wolves.

I had no choice but to extend my shield and block it with strength, then stab the sword in my right hand and pierce its neck.

“Huuup!”

Then I pulled out the sword, raised it again, and slashed the neck I had already pierced once more.

Only then did the black wolf completely fall, surrounded by light, and disappear.

These guys were the problem. They were just physically too big to cut off their heads in one hit.

If the angle was right, I could somehow send them off in one hit, but it wasn’t easy when I was surrounded by wolves on all sides.

I needed a bigger and stronger weapon. The [Royal Knight’s Sword] couldn’t handle these guys.

-Thud!

I finally had to take out [Grax’ar’s Bone Axe], which I thought would be useless.

I hadn’t been able to enhance it yet, so the attack power was a bit lacking, and it didn’t receive the effects of mastery, so the overall performance was lower.

But simply because it was big and heavy, I could defeat the large wolves more efficiently than with the [Royal Knight’s Sword].

-Crash!

I cut off the head of a large black wolf with the bone axe in one go. Then I stabbed and killed the smaller brown wolf that followed with the sword.

[Grax’ar’s Bone Axe] had low basic durability, and unlike the [Royal Knight’s Sword], I didn’t have a spare.

So I couldn’t just use the bone axe, I had to switch between it and the sword, and only swing it at the right moment.

“Haa, haa… ha, damn it, haa.”

Breathing heavily, I stored the shield in my inventory and held a weapon in each hand.

Since the wolves were rushing in from all directions, there was no time to block with the shield and counterattack. This seemed to be better.

-Arrooo!

“Damn it!”

I stabbed and killed another wolf that rushed in without giving me a break. Goddamn it, this was hard. Should I just go back?

My lungs felt like they were shrinking. My side ached as if it were being squeezed. My mouth tasted sweet, and my lips were dry.

Thanks to my high defense, I hadn’t suffered any major injuries, but areas like the back of my hand and face were scratched by claws and stung.

“Heh, hehe.”

But when I checked the levels I had gained in the meantime, my thoughts were soon overturned by the boiling euphoria.

I could still do it. It would be a shame to miss this opportunity for explosive leveling. I decided never to stop.

“Come on, you bastards.”

I whipped my tired body and continued to defeat and kill the oncoming wolves.

[You have acquired Passive Skill: Battle Endurance Level 2.]

—–CROW—–