Emperor of Solo Play

 ­ A Cave in Mt. Bima (1)

All new Warlord players feel a bit of doubt as they go through the tutorial.

Should I be playing this game? Is it too late to ask for a refund?

Such thoughts quickly disappear as they train in the Training Dungeon.

Their thinking changes after fighting various types of monsters in the Training Dungeon and reaching level 10.

“I might be quite talented at this.”

They become confident.

They have no choice but to become confident.

In reality, an average guy won’t win fighting bare-handed against a big dog. Even if you give a knife to a grown man and ask him to kill an attack dog, he won’t be able to.

But during the Training Dungeon, players face up against wolves, tigers, anacondas, and all sorts of monsters you can’t even see in a zoo. Not only that, players can always leave a video footage of their fights. With a bit of editing, they became the protagonist of a movie.

As such, it was only obvious they would become confident. It was also another objective of the Training Dungeon.

It was training!

It was a system built to boost players’ confidence in battles.

Upon reaching level 10, these confident players learned new skills, and the rich ones would come out to the field equipped with all sorts of expensive items.

The field was also a spectacle. Forests and mountains untouched by human hands. In this vast world, players became the dwarves or elves they saw in Lord of the Rings. They had full assurance that their adventure would become a heroic tale.

But as soon as they entered field battles, they became Hobbits. Not the courageous kind, but the one in danger.

When they began fighting monsters in forests and mountains, they learned the difference between Training Dungeon monsters and the real ones.

“Uwak!”

It was a 3-man party.

It was a typical beginner’s party of a swordsman, magician, and healer. One couldn’t even tell their classes apart by looking at their clothes.

“Are you retarded, how did you fall?”

“Oi! Throw your magic at it! We have to save that fuck!”

“Hold on; I’m still casting it. Also, if I throw it now, he’s going to get hit too.”

“Just do it!”

The first monster they faced in the field was a monster called Deadwood Wolf.

It was a level 15 monster, a wolf looking like it was carved out of a withered tree. It had a longer body length than normal wolves, but its overall size wasn’t particularly big.

It wasn’t all that strong either. It was on of the weakest level 15 monsters. As one might expect from its thin and withered appearance, it had a weak defense. It was something players could easily kill with the weapons they received from the Subjugation Association. On top of this, they were extremely weak to fire magic. A level 10 fire-attribute magician could easily kill with 2 casts of Fireball magic.

It was even nicknamed the woodbag. The name obviously came from sandbag, except it was woodbag because of its appearance.

Although only level 10, a 3-man party should easily be able to kill it. The party’s plan was to have the swordsman hold it off from the front while waiting for the magician to prepare his Fireball.

But a problem occurred when they went into battle.

The swordsman threw his body towards the Deadwood Wolf as planned, and he blocked the wolf’s attack with his wooden shield. He then readied his stance and prepared for its next attack. Until then, everything went smoothly.

The problem occurred when the swordsman accidentally tripped on a rock. As soon as he fell, the Deadwood Wolf jumped onto his chest.

It was in a mount position.

It wasn’t easy to shake off a mounted opponent. Not only did one need power, but also technique. But how many people would have had such an experience before?

“H-Help me! Save me!”

Growl, growl! Right in front, the Deadwood Wolf let out a rough roar, injuring the swordsman with its teeth and claws. The two watching from the side panicked and didn’t know what to do.

“Shit, what do we do?”

“I don’t know!”

It went without saying that the party wouldn’t have a happy ending if they continued hunting without a swordsman.

Just like this, many beginner players experience a real field battle at the cost of 48 hours.

But there were some who didn’t have a single need to pay such a cost.

Hyrkan.

Faced up against a blue werewolf on his way to Mt. Bima, anyone would think it was inevitable that he pay the price.

As a necromancer, he had even put all his stats into strength. He didn’t have any special items either. The only thing he acquired at level 10 was a new curse magic. He didn’t have the money to set his items. Everyone would say he needed to experience Warlord’s bitter taste.

Not only that, but the blue werewolf was also one of the strongest level 15 monsters.

One could tell it was nothing to mess around with just from its appearance. It was 180 cm tall with long, hanging arms. On these arms were four claws that were as sharp as knifes. Through its blue fur, one could see its red eyes and protruding mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It was enough to cause even high-level players to coward in fear.

In fact, it was as strong as it looked.

Because of this, it was given the nickname, Beginner Killer!

Even a 3-man party would have difficulty dealing with one.

But Hyrkan, who had run into this monster, had an expression full of smiles.

‘Nice, a decent one right from the start. Blue werewolf skin is money and the bones… I’ll try using them as Skeleton Fragment ingredient.

Blue Werewolves were a fittingly rare spawn in the field.

Thanks to its nickname, Beginner Killer, the blue werewolf was a name that players looked up at least once or twice. Videos of blue werewolf hunts guaranteed certain amount of views.

Since Hyrkan ran into a moneymaking monster right from the get-go, there was no way he wouldn’t be happy.

“Start Camera.”

At this moment, the thought of losing didn’t cross Hyrkan’s mind.

If he had put all stat points into magic power and intelligence, it might have been hard, but he had put his into strength.

In Warlord, strength affected the body’s physical capabilities, like the horsepower of cars.

In other words, there was no reason Hyrkan would fall behind in strength or speed.

Of course, since he didn’t put any points into stamina, it would hurt quite a bit if the blue werewolf hit him.

But for Hyrkan, such a thing was his daily life.

In one way or another, swordsmen invested points into stamina. Tank types put most of their stat points into stamina, while the striker type, who fought against monsters in the front-line, also invested some points into stamina.

But this applied to players who were playing the game normally.

Hyrkan, who had to catch up to players who started the game a year earlier, couldn’t afford to stop and do what others would normally do.

Plus, there were advantages of being a latecomer – the legacy of the early players. One could watch monster hunting method videos to reduce battle risk, and get items that were proven to be useful.

Hyrkan used such extreme battle strategy to make a name for himself. He wasn’t worried, scared, or nervous because of his lack of stamina.

Most importantly, Hyrkan had a helper.

Hyrkan threw a Skeleton Fragment he was holding onto. As soon as it made contact with the ground, it became bigger until it took the form of a Skeleton Warrior. Holding a sharp bone-knife, the Skeleton Warrior showed hostility towards the blue werewolf as soon as it appeared.

It opened its mouth and let out a silent roar, while two blue flames burned inside its eye sockets.

The blue werewolf didn’t cower in front of the Skeleton Warrior’s burning gaze. Instead, it strengthened its red eyes. In a battle of spirit, it wouldn’t back down.

Growl!

The blue werewolf let out a cry and jumped towards the Skeleton Warrior.

Swish, swish!

It swung its two arms in a rough, random manner. The Skeleton Warrior didn’t charge towards the blue werewolf nor did it maintain a small distance from him. Instead, it distanced itself by a wide margin, avoiding the attacks, as if the spirit it had just shown were all pretense.

It was Hyrkan’s teaching.

As in boxing, it was best to maintain a small, delicate distance and counterattack every time it avoided an attack. However, such a thing was close to an art. It was something both sides had to work together to film in movies.

It was undoubtedly difficult.

As such, there was no need to risk danger and stay within a range of counterattack.

Big!

Far!

It just had to avoid the attacks without counterattacking in mind.

The Skeleton Warrior didn’t need to counterattack. That was Hyrkan’s role, who would appear stealthily after their clash.

‘Okay.’

In front of Hyrkan, who had been hiding his presence, the back of the blue werewolf could be seen. As soon as Hyrkan caught sight of it, he ran.

Rocks, tree roots or tree stumps didn’t hinder Hyrkan’s charge in the slightest. He was a predator running towards its prey.

By the time the blue werewolf noticed Hyrkan’s presence, it was too late.

Stab!

The sharp knife Hyrkan received from the Subjugation Association already pierced through its spine into its ribs.

At the moment it was stabbed,

Growl!

The blue werewolf turned around with a pain-filled cry. As it turned, it swung its arms like a whip. It was an instinctive reaction to attack whoever was behind it.

Having expected such reaction, Hyrkan had already let go of the knife and had lowered his body under the blue werewolf’s waist. And as he lowered his body, he charged towards the blue werewolf’s left leg, aiming at its knee joint, making the blue werewolf fall.

Thud!

Losing its balance, the blue werewolf fell backward. Its head hit the floor, and its red eyes shook. At the same time, the knife that was stuck on its back borrowed the force of impact with the ground and pierced through its chest.

Then, as if it had been waiting for this to happen, the Skeleton Warrior jumped onto the blue werewolf’s chest.

The Skeleton Warrior then stabbed its bone-knife straight into its chest.

Stab!

The knife didn’t go too deep into the chest, and it didn’t match the triumphant spirit the Skeleton Warrior was showing.

The Skeleton Warrior then pulled out its bone-knife and repeatedly stabbed into the blue werewolf’s body as if it wasn’t satisfied.

Stab, stab!

Faced with this continuous barrage from the Skeleton Warrior, the blue werewolf let out a never before heard cry.

Kuuhung!

With this cry, the blue werewolf used its right arm to smack off the mounted Skeleton Warrior.

Thwack!

The Skeleton Warrior flew off effortlessly. It couldn’t be helped as the Skeleton Warrior was too light.

Upon taking down the blue werewolf, Hyrkan distanced himself and prepared for his next move. After seeing the Skeleton Warrior fly off and seeing his magic power fall from the right corner of his eye, he helplessly shook his head.

‘You have to stab it once and fall back… looks like I’ll have to teach it how to properly do the mount position.’

After removing the obstacle from his chest, the blue werewolf stood up.

And when it did,

Whish!

It staggered for a moment, then held itself up straight. Even so, it was in quite a sorry state.

From the dagger pierced into its chest and three wounds made by the Skeleton Warrior, blood was flowing out like a broken faucet.

If this were reality, it would have been dead already.

But it was different in the game. The same went for players. No monsters died just because they had a hole in their chest. Even if half of their heads got crushed, they would be alive. The only way to instantly kill a monster was to cut off its head completely. Even so, this didn’t work on all monsters.

Damage of this scale only counted as significant damage.

‘Alright, bleeding’s started.’

The fight was more or less over. It would die if he just dragged it out.

Except!

Hyrkan had to be careful not to give it any time to recover. Monster possessed something called recovery mode. When they entered his mode, they regenerated their wounds and HP at an astonishing rate. It was important to make sure it never went to this state.

A monster entered its recovery mode when it didn’t take damage for a certain period.

In other words, you have to continue attacking.

But there was no need to risk danger to try to pull out the dagger from its chest. At this point when the monster’s level was low, there was a more efficient method.

Somewhere along the fight, Hyrkan had picked up a rock, which he now threw towards its head.

Smack!

With an incredible sound, the blue werewolf’s head shook. Watching this, Hyrkan grinned.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve done rock throwing. I used to love doing this.’

A tip.

A sizable damage could be dealt to low level monsters just by throwing rocks at them.

For continuous damage, there was an even better way. In raids, it was the absolute basic of basics to use throwing weapons to prevent monsters from entering their recovery mode.

The blue werewolf glared at Hyrkan and opened its mouth.

Kwaaang!

[Blue werewolf becomes enraged.]

It was a cry full of rage.

Blue werewolf. It couldn’t have been more than a few days that it spawned in the world of Warlord, but in its short life, this must have been the first time a rock hit it.

Of course, this wasn’t why it was enraged. Just as the alert said, it entered an enraged status just because.

‘Looks like it took a hefty amount of damage.’

Monsters in rage mode have simpler behavior.

To let out its anger, it showed only hostility towards its enemy. It wasn’t cautious about its surroundings, as it prepared to give its bones to obtain the flesh. In gaming terms, its aggro could be completely controlled.

The blue werewolf charged towards Hyrkan.

It looked terrifying as it ran enraged with its eyes turned and blood flowing.

But the smile on Hyrkan never disappeared.

‘You shouldn’t’

Snap!

‘look at me, you know?’

Snap!

As soon as Hyrkan snapped his fingers twice, the skeleton warrior who had been standing at its flank flew towards the blue werewolf like a bullet and delivered its bone-knife deep into its side.

Stab!

Even so, the blue werewolf continued charging at Hyrkan. It seemed liked it was using its final breath to deal a blow to Hyrkan.

Whish!

The blue werewolf swung its arm with enough force to crush Hyrkan’s head. Hyrkan easily dodged the attack by leaning backward. Evasive maneuvers like this only appeared when Hyrkan was fully at ease.

‘This is going to be quite the picture.’

At that moment, the smile on his face quickly turned stiff before it disappeared.

“Shit!”

He even let out a curse.

Hyrkan finally realized.

‘The hahoe mask! Shit, I forgot to wear my hahoe mask!’

He realized that he made a grave mistake.

Editor’s note: Since this has been a long info dump, just wanted to remind everyone that his previous guild was called the Hahoe Mask guild and that they would fight wearing hahoe masks.

Translator’s note: If you guys haven’t looked it up, here are some different types of hahoe masks: https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/6f00d512784059.5626d11489adb.png