Chapter 68 – Helm Ogre (1)
[Your Level has risen.]
A pleasant sound was heard.
‘It won’t give me any time to rest.’
However, the moment Hyrkan heard the announcement for his level up, he frowned instead of having a happy smile on his face. He threw his body towards the battlefield in front of his eyes.
Hyrkan ran towards a battlefield that held two 3 meter giants with black and ragged skin. They had rock-like skins. Seven Skeleton Warriors, and a golem was nearby.
Level 90 monster. Black Troll.
Their tough skin meant they had high defense, and they also possessed an astonishing regeneration ability. They also gave a very substantial amount of EXP. This monster had ruthlessly swung its club at Hyrkan a moment ago.
He was sent flying after a critical hit. After Hyrkan healed his wound, he was about to eat a consumable item when he leveled up as one of the Black Troll died.
The level up bonus recovered him fully. Since his Stamina and Magic was filled to the brim, Hyrkan got a little bit of a breathing room.
‘This is so tiring.’
He swallowed his complaints. The Black Troll ran towards him, and its club came down like lightning. He sidestepped the blow, then he slid between the Black Troll’s legs to escape.
Then he quickly came to a stop.
After a quickly leap, he stabbed the White Mamba Fang Sword into the Black Troll’s back.
Poo-oohk!
White Mamba Fang Sword. It was a level 70 Unique Rank Item. The main attribute of items were a.s.signed randomly. Instead of Strength and Stamina, it rolled Wisdom and Magic. Hyrkan had purchased it at a cheap price at auction. Even at a very conservative price, he had purchased it for 38,000 gold.
For the general public, it was a ridiculous price, but Hyrkan felt as if the price had been a bargain.
[The Black Troll was poisoned by the White Mamba’s Venom.]
White Mamba Fang Sword’s secondary attribute, Poisoning!
The damage caused by the Poisoning was quite strong. Moreover, the Poisoning Magic worked very well against Trolls, who had a powerful skin regenerative property. Even if its regeneration was strong, there was still a finite HP. Its HP didn’t recover. It only recovered its wounds. The effect of the poison continued as it disregarded the regeneration ability.
Moreover, the sword’s damage was also powerful. This fact was evident when the sword pierced through the very thick leather of the Black Troll in a single breath.
When the sword was embedded deep, the Balck Troll’s regeneration ability activated. Its skin started to regenerate around the still embedded sword. Hyrkan had a b.l.o.o.d.y smile on his face. With both his hands holding the sword, he pressed both his feet against the Troll’s back. He looked akin to a climber using rock climbing techniques.
He was skillful and sure in his techniques.
There was a reason why Warlord users took the Climbing Test. In Warlord, the Rock Climbing technique was an absolute requisite skill. It was used, while fighting against any monsters over midsize. If one was capable of sticking to the monster’s body, it gave one the opportunity to give constant damage to the monster.
Choo-roong!
In this position, Hyrkan unsheathed his other sword from his waist, then he tirelessly moved the blade to make countless cuts on the Black Troll’s back.
Sss-ooht, sss-ooht!
Every time he made a mark with his sword, he saw the wound heal immediately. It was a chilling sight. However, the damage was most definitely acc.u.mulating, and the Black Troll’s HP was quickly and abruptly decreasing.
Ooh-uhuh!
Finally, the Black Troll turned his attention toward Hyrkan. The aggro was steered towards Hyrkan. The Black Troll started struggling to catch Hyrkan, who was stuck to the Black Troll’s back.
The Black Troll didn’t perceive the Skeleton Warriors in the front holding terrifying weapons.
It was a mistake.
What’s worse, the Skeleton Warrior that had been facing the Black Troll earlier was the Black Orc Skeleton Warrior with the Orc Hero’s Sword in his grasp. The sword had the power to ignore the target’s defense…
Suh-guhk, suh-guhk!
In a flash, he dealt significant damage to both its knees. It wasn’t a wound the Black Troll could ignore. Moreover, that wasn’t the end of it.
Ddul-goo-ruk, ddul-goo-ruk!
The Skeleton Warriors didn’t let this opportunity pa.s.s. They ran towards the Black Troll, while making bone rattles. There was a horn attached to their skulls. It was the Madness Helm, and it made them much more fearsome. Moreover, through Hyrkan’s repeated teachings and continuous battles, the combat AI of the Skeleton Soldiers had already reached a professional level.
When the Skeleton Warriors saw a crack, they charged forward like eels swimming towards a crack.
After they ran in….
Pook, shweek, kook!
All kinds of sounds that could be made by swords. .h.i.tting flesh was made.
Ooh-uhuh!
The Black Troll’s yell spread out wide into the surrounding. During all of this, Hyrkan tirelessly moved his sword. As if Hyrkan was trying to pull a sword out of the ground, he put both feet on the Black Troll’s back, and he pulled out the White Mamba Fang Sword.
Pooh-haht!
He extracted his sword, and an arc of blood fountained into the air. Hyrkan dismounted to the floor. Hyrkan rolled once as he dropped, and he came to his feet unharmed.
Ooh-oh?
The being that had been frustrating the Black Troll by skillfully attacking its back had fallen to the floor. The Black Troll turned his head towards Hyrkan.
It meant he turned his back on the Skeleton Warriors, who had been tormenting the Black Troll!
Sheek!
Hyrkan had a deep smile underneath the Hahoe Mask.
[Hyrkan]
– Level : 75
– Occupation : Magician
– t.i.tle : 39
– Stat : Strength(649)/Stamina(219)/Intelligence(352)/Magic(467)
‘The Hunting Dog Set’s Options are fantastic.’
After he distributed the Stat Points earned from the level up, Hyrkan checked his Stat Window then he put on a slight smile. He had bought this set under the market value in preparation for reaching level 70. He was satisfied with the Shadow Dog Set’s Options. No, it exceeded his expectation. Now that he was well-off in terms of Stats, it also enriched Hyrkan’s heart.
Of course.
‘Still, why are there so many Shadow Dog sets being released? Today I saw at least 10 full sets come on the auction. Will the price drop in the future?’
He had spent a lot of money to purchase the Shadow Dog Set. He paid 37,000 gold to purchase it, so this was a fresh worry for Hyrkan. Since he had invested his entire net worth into commodities, he felt like a stock broker looking at one’s stock daily. He understood how they felt.
This situation was basically asking for trouble. Hyrkan looked at himself as he shook his head from side to side.
‘Let’s only think about the good things. Good thoughts.’
Hyrkan forced himself to think positive thoughts.
‘Well, my level up is progressing very well.’
The most positive news was his level up pace. Currently, Hyrkan’s level up pace was unrivaled. His goal was to raise 10 levels in a month. At this pace, he’ll be close to becoming the top ranker within a year. Moreover, he have gained 5 levels from the Parung Forest in only 13 days. It was a very surprising level up pace.
‘I’m most definitely closing the distance with the rankers.’
Currently, the highest level on Warlord was 134. Of course, Perfect One Sulwoo was the one to achieve the top level. The top 100 Ranker was 125. Hyrkan was only level 75, so those levels looked very far away. However, Hyrkan was slowly and gradually narrowing the difference.
It was a very positive sign.
‘……this was the result of too many monsters being here. It’s problematic.’
Moreover, the situation wasn’t something normal.
Parung Forest.
It was teeming with Black Trolls over level 90. It also had field boss monsters like the fearsome Red Eye Ogre. This was the hunting ground where the so-called Red Eye appeared. It wouldn’t have been a problem if this was the only thing he had to be worried about.
The problem was there was a very small amount of users permanently stationed at the Parung Forest. Moreover, not many users hunted here. Currently, the Parung Forest didn’t even have a village nearby. Not many users used this place as their stage.
The reason behind it was complex. If one wanted to make a village here, one would need a powerful guild to make the village at Parung Forest. The Parung forest wasn’t a bad hunting ground, but a lot of effort would have to be put into making the village. Effort wasn’t the only problem. In the end, there wasn’t a suitable location where a village could be built.
The EXP was quite nice here, but the difficulty of this location could give trouble to even the level 90 users.
Most of the current Warlord users were between latter half of lvl70 or early lvl80s. From their perspective, the Bulca.s.s mountain was much better option than the Parung Forest.
There was no need to suffer by coming to the Parung Forest.
This was the reason why the Parung Forest was overflowing with monsters.
Unless there was a large influx of users to the Parung Forest, the number of monsters would continue to increase, and at a certain point, it would be too difficult to hunt here.
Of course, the practical users retreated at that point. There was no need to risk their lives to stay here.
However, Hyrkan had a task he must pa.s.s in the Parung Forest.
‘I’ve searched the Parung Forest for nearly a fortnight, yet I haven’t found any clues.’
Maeung’s Request.
He had to find monsters akin to the Bear Warrior. He needed to find a monster wearing equipment like a person.
However, to his knowledge, there weren’t any monster wearing armor within the Parung Forest. The Black Trolls and the Red Eye Ogres didn’t equip themselves with items.
‘Maybe this is like the instance of the Dragon Lizard. I might have come across a Quest Monster with a very low probability of…’
If the Parung Forest kept producing a higher number of monsters than expected, Hyrkan had no choice but to retreat. It would be better than dying. However, this meant his quest completion would be pushed to a later date.
Hyrkan bit hard at his lips.
‘The Strormhunters are probably about to graduate from the Bulca.s.s mountains.’
If Hyrkan’s quest was delayed here, the Stormhunter’s Quest line would converge with his.
This meant he will be in direct compet.i.tion with the Stormhunter’s guild. Would it be possible for Hyrkan to win against them?
The probability wasn’t that high.
Also, he didn’t care if some other guild overtook him, but Hyrkan’s pride wouldn’t allow him to fall behind the Stormhunter guild.
Hyrkan stood up.
‘Should I have entered into a community at that time?’
At that moment, Hyrkan thought about what happened 10 days earlier.
There were only about 10 user groups operating in the Parung Forest. It was a very low number. If one considered the size of the Parung forest, it could support over 50 teams hunting at this location.
These 10 groups were composed of outstanding players. The average level of the party members was level 95. Basically, they were at the cusp of being promoted.
The users, who were at the cusp of being promoted, usually overworked themselves to quickly reach level 100.
It didn’t matter if it was strenuous, hard and not profitable. They looked for a hunting ground where they could level up in the shortest amount of time possible.
This was also true for the Alto Family.
They were a group of 5 people, and all of them were level 98. They only needed 2 levels before they all reached level 100. They had come to the Parung forest, since they didn’t have to worry about running out of monsters here. It didn’t matter to them that this place was a much more difficult place to hunt.
It was great at first. The place was overflowing with monsters, and the Black Troll’s EXP was quite substantial.
However, the Alto Family was starting to feel their limit recently.
“Now we have to fight at least three of them at every encounter.”
“If we only meet Black Trolls, we’ll be fortunate. Recently, aren’t all the Black Trolls being accompanied by smallfrys?”
The number of monsters weren’t decreasing. Instead, it was actually increasing. It was how the Warlord’s Regen System was set-up. The Warlord Regen System took into consideration of additional users showing up at a map. This was why the system regenerated a higher number of monsters in the field compared to the users.
However, no new users had come to this map recently. Eventually, the number of monsters in the Parung forest expanded, and it was up to the users to hunt them down.
“What’s the status of our consumables?”
“We might have to go visit the castle once. Or we might have to call in the traveling merchant. I don’t think we’ll be able to hold out until level 100.”
The biggest problem was the party had used more consumable items than planned as they tried to survive the overtaxing battles.
“We were so meticulous in our preparations….”
“Didn’t you say in the beginning we wouldn’t be able to use it all even if we tried?”
“It’s a money drain. Will we be taking a loss, because we came here?”
“It’ll be hard for us to make any profit. If we are lucky, we might break even.”
The Alto family let out a sigh. It wasn’t too hard to go back and restock their items. However, the goal of reaching level 100 would be delayed by a day or two. This made that option unpalatable. They were like 3 day starved dogs with food in their near future. Endure! That’s what they told themselves. Still, they were reaching an end to their patience.
It also meant they couldn’t overstretch themselves. It was preferable to waste one or two day in-game instead of wasting 48 hours from the Game Over. They were players who had bought a 20 thousand dollar system and they were paying couple hundred dollars per month on the game. They knew which scenario was more profitable.
Still, they couldn’t help, but be filled with regret.
“We should have just given the money to the Hahoe Mask, and we should have asked if he could carry us on his bus.”
Their regret centered around the Hahoe Mask Hyrkan.
“He is soloing in this place. I still can’t believe it.”
“I saw it with my own eyes, but I still can’t believe it.”
Since the Parung forest was a stage with a small number of groups, everyone knew who was operating there.
They had also developed their own community, and they helped each other when the need arose. Since no village was nearby, this arrangement increased their survivability. The community also allowed them to make personal connections, and it might benefit them in the future. At the very least, they were sharing the same hunting ground, so they were of similar levels.
This was why the Alto family had invited Hahoe Mask Hyrkan to the community, but they were coldly turned down. At the time, everyone thought, ‘What kind of person is that?’, but now they were in awe of the Hahoe Mask’s skill.
The fact that the Alto family had to leave before they could reach level 100 made them feel a sense of loss.
“He’s an amazing b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
“It is rumored that the Hahoe Mask summons Skeleton Warriors, and one of them wields the Orc Hero’s Sword.”
“The Orc Hero’s Sword?”
“He gave a Skeleton such an expensive item? Is he some kind of heir to a rich family?”
“Ah, I’m jealous. If only I could pay2win like the Hahoe Mask, my level would be….”
“Hahoe Mask. I bet he eat steak and wine everyday. I bet he imports only the highest quality of coffees.”
“Stop it. I bet he is too tired of meat, so he eat caviar with a spoon like ice cream.”
The sense of loss they felt made them think about all kinds of things. It happened at that moment.
“Huh?”
One of the user, who was listening to this rubbish conversation, suddenly stood up in place as if he had heard something.
“The Toon Party has sent a request for a rescue.”
“The Toon party?”
Toon Party.
Like the Alto family, the Toon party were composed of members close to advancing into level 100. It was a 5 man party that the Alto family had gotten acquainted with around a fortnight ago.
“It seems we are the closest to them. What should we do?”
“We aren’t complete strangers with the Toon party. They helped us out before. We have to leave anyways, so let’s help them then leave. Also, isn’t the Toon party more powerful than us? Shouldn’t they have no problem in taking care of couple Black Trolls?”
“Did they find the Red Eye?”
At the question, the man used voice talk to have a brief conversation, then he answered his party member’s question.
“It’s an ogre, but they are saying it is an ogre wearing a helmet?”
“What?”