Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 16 – Field Boss Battle

—–CROW—– 

The first thing I felt when I faced the hundreds of wolves was a sense of despair.

Although I had boldly stepped out, doubts welled up about whether I could handle this many alone.

That doubt and despair didn’t change even after I had defeated over fifty wolves.

Even after defeating so many, there was still no end in sight to the sheer numbers. It was very different from the many-against-one fights I was used to on the 1st floor.

Even when I deliberately fell into traps where large numbers of goblins appeared, I never thought that the number of enemies might be endless.

But that despair was completely overturned by a notification window that appeared in front of me during the fight.

[Level Up!]

After defeating the 1st floor boss, the Goblin Lord, and reaching level 40, I reached level 41 in just a few hours.

Since I had been stuck at level 39 for quite a while, I just thought it was natural to reach level 40 after defeating the Goblin Lord.

Considering the huge clear reward and the accumulated experience points, it was understandable.

But reaching level 41 was a different story.

It meant that just by killing wolves, I had accumulated more experience than the 1st floor boss clear reward.

From that moment on, the endless sea of wolves in front of me began to look like an endlessly spread feast of delicacies.

The number of enemies seemed infinite? If it was infinite, wasn’t that even better? When would I get another growth opportunity like this?

I started to laugh, and I almost entered a state of selflessness as I swung my weapons and fought.

As time passed, there were moments of crisis due to exhaustion, and there were times when I almost died.

But during that time, I kept laughing. The dramatic changes in the status window made me happy.

Seo Jinhyuk Lv.44 (Warrior)

HP: 325/660

MP: 310/340

Strength: 62 (54+8)

Agility: 48 (44+4)

Stamina: 50 (44+6)

Intelligence: 46 (44+2)

With this, my strength stat broke through 60, and my stamina stat reached 50.

I had gained 4 levels in just one day. It was reminiscent of when I first entered the Tower of Trials and experienced explosive growth through resource monopolization.

And that wasn’t all. The battle with hundreds of wolves didn’t just raise my level.

[Battle Awakening LV.2]

[Battle Endurance LV.4]

During the battle, the levels of the two skills I had acquired for unknown reasons suddenly rose.

Now I think I knew the identities of these skills. It was obvious when I looked back at the timing of the skill level increase.

My heart felt like it was about to burst, my throat tasted sweet, my vision blurred, and I felt like I couldn’t move anymore.

Nevertheless, when I moved to avoid the wolves’ attacks, the level of the Battle Endurance skill increased.

When a crisis arose after a long battle, I felt a life-threatening danger, opened my eyes wide, and counterattacked.

That’s when the level of the Battle Awakening skill increased. This only happened once, so it wasn’t certain.

Respectively, when I continued to fight, and when I suddenly awakened during battle, the skill levels increased.

The cause and effect were clear. My actions or growth were reflected in the skill level.

I had heard that the first-generation hunters had a wider variety and number of skills compared to their levels and classes.

The old hunters, before the strategies were established, must have acquired skills like this.

At this rate, the words of the first-generation hunters, who said that experience and items weren’t the entirety of specs, felt different.

“Not bad.”

Grinning, I closed the status window and threw away [Grax’ar’s Bone Axe], which had broken after its durability reached 0.

-Grrrrrr…!

In front of me stood a gray wolf with a much larger body than the other wolves.

After I defeated the hundreds of wolves, this field’s boss finally appeared, moving sluggishly.

The Wolf King, this guy was today’s last opponent.

****

The 2nd floor field area’s field boss, known in the open community as Wolf King Lobo.

While fighting mixed in with the wolf pack, I wondered what would happen if this guy attacked.

The fact that he only showed up after his subordinates were all defeated showed why he was the king and not just the leader of the wolves.

Well, what king would leave his soldiers and come out to fight first?

“Hey, aren’t you going to attack?”

I replaced my half-broken armor with a spare from my inventory and equipped my shield.

Honestly, my current state wasn’t good. My HP was down to half.

I had been steadily recovering by drinking potions, but I was still badly injured due to being hurt so much.

My face and hands, which weren’t protected by armor, were especially messed up, and the joints all over my body creaked and ached.

And above all, my stamina was at rock bottom.

Honestly, I felt like I wanted to lie down anywhere because it was hard to even stand still. I was far from being in perfect condition.

But the opponent was just a field boss. Considering my specs, I should be able to win easily even in this state.

-Awoooooooo!!

As if it understood my provocation, the Wolf King howled loudly, and a system message appeared.

[The reason he could become king despite his lack of vessel was because he had a better companion by his side than anyone else.]

But the system message that appeared was a little different from what I knew.

Damn it, was there something different this time too?

Come to think of it, I had read somewhere that wolves’ howls were a means of communication with their companions.

-Tap tap tap!

As if to confirm my thoughts, a pure white wolf leaped out from somewhere with the sound of fast footsteps.

Similar in size to Wolf King Lobo but slightly smaller, the white wolf, with a blue glint in its eyes, took my rear.

[BOSS – Lobo and Blanca]

Yeah, so this time it was a gank, huh?

Let’s do this.

****

The biggest characteristic of wolf monsters was their excellent agility and speed compared to other abilities.

Of course, thanks to my very high agility stat, I usually didn’t fall behind in speed.

In the dogfight that had continued until just now, I was able to outspeed not only ordinary wolves but even named wolves.

But the white wolf that just appeared seemed to be able to match my speed.

Since it was two against one, I might take a proper hit if I let my guard down. I needed to be careful.

-Tap!

Leaving the unknown white wolf, Blanca, aside for now, I rushed towards Lobo first.

I had already grasped most of Lobo’s combat patterns through the open community’s strategy guides. Let’s check this one first.

-Arrooooo!!

As I rushed in from the front, Lobo howled loudly, making my ears ring. It was the Fear pattern that induced fear in challengers.

When exposed to this pattern, you would be paralyzed for a duration that varied depending on your specs.

It was a very threatening pattern if you were paralyzed, but it was meaningless against my specs, which had broken through the 1st floor with solo play.

Ignoring the Fear pattern, I rushed in and leaped powerfully. My target was the foul-smelling maw.

-Crack!

Using Sword Charge, which had a charge property, I stabbed Lobo’s eyeball with the shining blade.

Since it was a wolf the size of an elephant, it wasn’t difficult to target specific parts like this.

Stepping on the blade embedded in its eyeball, I climbed onto Lobo’s back.

I was going to take out a new sword from my inventory and stab it in the neck, but Blanca moved just in time.

-Swish!

Blanca’s speed was faster than I thought. Its movements were also a bit strange.

It wasn’t running on the ground, but moving as if sliding on ice.

What was that? No, this wasn’t the time to think.

I quickly extended my shield and struck Blanca’s charging snout.

-Crack!

My shield, swung with strength that had surpassed 60, broke Blanca’s teeth with tremendous force.

It was fast, but its sturdiness seemed to be lacking. Well, that made sense for balance.

Just then, as if angry that Blanca had been hit in the mouth and sent flying, Lobo shook its body violently.

“Tsk.”

I was hanging on precariously, so I had no choice but to fall off. Well, it didn’t really matter.

Lobo’s patterns didn’t seem to be much different from the community strategy guides, and Blanca wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought.

It was fast, but only its speed was fast. Its strength and sturdiness weren’t that great.

-Arrooo!

With a menacing red glint in its eyes, Lobo charged again. I moved slightly to the side and kept an eye on Blanca.

With another strange sliding movement, Blanca attacked a beat late, and I brought my shield to its teeth.

-Crunch!

Blanca bit down on the shield with enough force to break it, but my shield, enhanced to the maximum, wouldn’t break from something like this.

I leisurely raised the sword in my right hand and cast Brandish.

It was then.

-Crackle!

Blanca’s blue glint shone intensely, and the shield that was in contact with its teeth began to freeze.

“What the, crazy!”

Regardless of my surprise, the skill I had already started casting was activated, and I slashed Blanca’s leg with an awkward posture.

But even after being deeply slashed, Blanca didn’t let go of my shield.

-Tap, tap tap!

With me momentarily tied down, Lobo charged, its teeth burning with flames.

A unique pattern of [Lobo and Blanca] that wasn’t known in the open community.

Flame and ice elemental attacks.

“Damn it.”

Something like this appearing on the 2nd floor, I couldn’t help but curse.

—–CROW—–