Alone Against the Tower - Chapter 16

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Chapter 16: Field Boss Battle

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

I'd charged in full of confidence, but doubts kept piling up. Could I really handle this many by myself?

That doubt and despair didn't change even after the number of wolves I'd taken down passed fifty.

I'd killed so many, yet there was still no end in sight. This was nothing like the many-against-one fights I'd gotten used to on the first floor.

Even when I deliberately fell into traps full of Goblins, I'd never wondered if the enemies would keep coming forever.

Then, in the middle of the fight, one notification completely turned that despair on its head.

[Level Up!]

I reached Level 41 only a few hours after becoming Level 40 by defeating the Goblin Lord, the first-floor boss.

I'd been stuck at Level 39 for quite a while, so I hadn't thought much of it when killing the Goblin Lord pushed me to Level 40.

The clear reward had been massive, and considering all the experience I'd built up until then, it seemed reasonable enough.

But Level 41 was a different story.

It meant the wolves I'd killed had already given me more experience than clearing the first-floor boss.

From that moment on, the endless pack of wolves before me began to look like an infinite feast.

The number of enemies seemed limitless? If they were limitless, wasn't that even better? When would I ever get another chance to grow this much?

A smile gradually crept onto my face, and I fought in a near trance, swinging my weapon.

As time passed, there were moments when my stamina ran low and I found myself in danger. There were times I almost died.

Still, I kept smiling the whole time. The dramatic changes in my Status Window filled me with joy.

Seo Jinhyeok Lv.44 (Warrior)

HP: 325/660

MP: 310/340

Strength: 62 (54+8)

Agility: 48 (44+4)

Durability: 50 (44+6)

Intelligence: 46 (44+2)

My Strength had broken past 60, and my Durability had reached 50.

I'd gained four levels in a single day. It reminded me of when I first entered the Tower of Trials and grew explosively by monopolizing resources.

And that wasn't all. Fighting hundreds of wolves hadn't only raised my level.

[Battle Awakening LV.2]

[Battle Persistence LV.4]

The levels of the two skills I'd acquired for unknown reasons during combat had suddenly risen.

I thought I understood those skills now. Looking back at when their levels increased, it was obvious.

My heart felt ready to burst, a sickly-sweet taste filled my throat, and my vision blurred so badly I thought I couldn't move another step.

Yet when I still moved to avoid a wolf's attack, Battle Persistence leveled up.

When crisis struck after I had fought for a long time, the moment I sensed mortal danger, snapped my eyes open, and counterattacked, Battle Awakening leveled up.

I couldn't be certain, since it had only happened once.

Just as their names suggested, the skill levels had risen when I kept fighting and when I suddenly awakened in the middle of battle.

The cause and effect were clear. My actions, or perhaps my growth, were reflected in my skill levels.

I'd heard that first-generation Hunters tended to have both more skills and a greater variety of them than their levels or classes would suggest.

The old Hunters from before strategies had been established must have acquired their skills this way too.

The first-generation Hunters' words about experience and items not being the entirety of one's build hit differently now.

"Nice."

Grinning, I closed my Status Window and tossed aside [Graksar's Bone Axe], which had shattered after its Durability hit zero.

-Grrrrrrr...!

A gray wolf stood before me, its body overwhelmingly larger than any of the others.

After I wiped out the entire pack of hundreds of wolves, the field boss of this field finally came lumbering out.

The king of wolves, this bastard was my last opponent today.

* * *

The field boss of the second-floor field area, known on the Open Community as Wolf King Lobo.

While I was tangled up fighting the Wolf Pack, I'd wondered what I would do if this bastard attacked me.

The fact that it only crawled out after all its underlings had been dealt with made it perfectly clear why it was called a king rather than a leader.

Then again, what king in the world would leave their soldiers behind and come out to fight first?

"Hey, aren't you coming at me?"

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

Honestly, I was in terrible shape right now. My HP was already down to half.

I'd kept recovering by drinking potions now and then, but I'd been hurt so badly that plenty of wounds remained.

My face and hands, which hadn't been protected by armor, were especially wrecked. Every joint in my body creaked with pain.

More than anything, I was completely out of stamina.

Honestly, even standing still was hard. I wanted to lie down anywhere. I was nowhere near peak condition.

But it was only a field boss. Considering my build, I should be able to win without much trouble even like this.

-Awooooooo!!

As if it understood my taunt, the Wolf King let out a long howl, and a system message appeared.

[The reason it could become king despite being unworthy was that it had an exceptional companion by its side.]

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

Fuck. Was something different again this time?

Come to think of it, I'd read somewhere that wolves used howling to communicate with their companions.

-Tap tap tap tap!

As if proving I was right, a white wolf suddenly sprang out from somewhere, its swift footsteps racing closer.

The white wolf was similar in size to Wolf King Lobo, though slightly smaller. Blue light glowed in its eyes as it moved behind me.

[BOSS - Lobo and Blanca]

Right. You were really going to gang up on me again?

Fine. Let's do this.

* * *

The greatest trait of wolf monsters was their explosive reflexes and speed compared to their other abilities.

Of course, my Agility stat was also absurdly high, so I rarely lost out in speed.

In the dogfight that had just gone on and on, I had outrun not only normal wolves but even named-class wolves.

But the white wolf that had appeared now seemed capable of moving at almost the same speed as me.

It was two against one. If I let my guard down, I might take a serious hit. Stay sharp.

-Tap!

Leaving the unknown enemy, the white wolf Blanca, alone for now, I rushed at Lobo first.

I'd already figured out almost all of Lobo's combat patterns from strategy posts on the Open Community. I should test Lobo first.

-Kraaaang!!

As I charged head-on, Lobo let out an ear-ringing roar. It was the Fear pattern, which inflicted Fear on the Challenger.

Anyone hit by this pattern suffered a paralysis status effect whose duration varied based on the affected Challenger's build.

Paralysis was a pretty dangerous pattern, but it meant nothing against a build like mine that had cleared the first floor solo.

Ignoring the Fear pattern, I charged in and launched myself high. I was aiming for that ugly, foul-smelling maw.

-Crunch!

Using Sword Charge, which counted as a charge attack, I drove my glowing blade straight into Lobo's eye.

For a wolf, it had a body the size of an elephant, so targeting a specific part wasn't difficult.

I stepped on the blade embedded in its eye and climbed onto Lobo's back.

I was about to pull out a new sword from my inventory and stab its neck over and over, but Blanca moved at just that moment.

-Swish!

Blanca was even faster than I'd expected. The way it moved was strange too.

It wasn't running across the ground. It moved as if it were sliding across ice.

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

I quickly thrust out my shield and smacked Blanca's snout as it lunged at me.

-Crack!

The shield, swung with Strength past 60, shattered Blanca's teeth with terrifying force.

It was fast, but Blanca seemed correspondingly fragile. Well, that was only fair.

Then, perhaps enraged that Blanca had been sent flying by a punch to the face, Lobo shook its body violently.

"Tch."

I had already been hanging on awkwardly, so I had no choice but to fall too. It didn't really matter.

Lobo's patterns didn't seem much different from the community strategy posts, and Blanca wasn't as much of a threat as I'd expected either.

It was fast, but speed was all it had. Its strength and durability weren't anything special.

-Kwang!

Lobo charged again, sinister red light pouring from its eyes. I casually stepped aside and watched Blanca.

Blanca rushed in a beat later with that strange sliding movement again, and I met its teeth with my shield.

-Clang!

Blanca clenched its jaws like it wanted to crush my shield, but my shield, enhanced to its maximum level, wasn't going to break from something like this.

I calmly raised the straight sword in my right hand and activated Brandish.

That was when it happened.

-Crack!

The blue glow in Blanca's eyes flared fiercely, and the shield pressed against its teeth began to freeze.

"What the fuck?!"

Despite my surprise, the skill I had already committed to activated anyway, and I slashed Blanca's leg from an awkward posture.

But even after taking a fairly deep cut, Blanca showed no intention of letting go of my shield.

-Tap, tap tap!

With me briefly held in place, Lobo came rushing at me, its flaming teeth bared.

A unique pattern belonging only to [Lobo and Blanca], one the Open Community didn't know about.

Fire and ice attribute attacks.

"Fuck."