Emperor of Solo Play

 ­ Chance and Danger (3)

[You have entered an instance dungeon.]

The moment Hyrkan entered into the darkness, he found himself in a space about 300 square meters wide. The ceiling was 4 meters high, while the floor was octagonal with columns in each corner.

‘A ring.’

The stage felt similar to an MMA ring.

Then.

Prrrrr!

The sphere of light on the Skeleton Warrior’s head jumped with force and reached the ceiling. Then, streams of light began shining down on the dark space. The light streams did not brighten up the stage, but rather mixed with the darkness to form a dim lighting.

Tension filled the air.

‘Nice.’

Hyrkan liked this atmosphere. The video he was taking was coming along his expectations.

Then, when the streams of light began to reveal what was hidden in the darkness…

Krrrr!

The monster showed itself with a roar.

‘Werewolf.’

Hyrkan quickly recognized its figure. It wasn’t particularly hard to do.

‘It’s a bit big, though.’

Even so, the werewolf in front of him had several differences compared to the blue werewolf he faced earlier. This werewolf was over 2 meters high with very long arms. Its thick claws resembled Captain Hook’s hook. Besides, its fur was black, not blue.

‘Mm?’

But what caught Hyrkan’s attention the most was…

‘Is that?’

His eyes.

‘Black Marbling?’

His eyes had a mix of red and black like a marbling. It was truly grotesque.

‘Well, damn.’

The corner of his mouth went up.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d run into a quest related to the Corrupt Count here?’

Corrupt Count.

It was Warlord’s first main scenario quest.

Warlord’s main scenario was a huge current. Players had to go through this current to get to the next story.

‘The last main scenario quest I was part of was the fourth, Army of the Dragon.’

Before he returned to the past, Hyrkan had participated in the fourth main scenario quest.

Corrupt Count, Immoral Prince, Ruined Kingdom… although Hyrkan couldn’t even play the supporting role in these first three main scenario quests, he made a meteoric rise to a leader position in the Army of the Dragon. This was when the Hahoe Mask Guild began to make a name for itself.

No one knew for a fact how many main scenario quests there were. Tobot Soft had considered this information a top secret. What was important was that the rewards of the main scenario quests were amazing. First, titles were given out like candy. The difference between owning and not owning main scenario quest titles was huge.

Second, the attention was on a completely different scale. Main scenario quest related videos weren’t treated like ordinary videos. They sold well even as paid videos. Over 10 million people purchased the final battle video of the third main scenario quest, the Ruined Kingdom.

Of course, core content like this was hotly contested by the Top 30 Guilds. The leaders of the main scenario quests were always from the Top 30 Guilds. Not only did they have the necessary information and manpower to complete these quests, but they also bribed or utterly destroyed their competition.

Hyrkan was now in possession of tip of that iceberg.

‘The Corrupt Count quest should already be well on its way…’

The main scenario quest was a one-way bridge. One quest led to another and so on and so forth. Because of this, those ahead of him should already have finished a large portion of the main scenario quest. There wasn’t much left for Hyrkan to take for himself.

Of course, it didn’t mean he didn’t like it.

‘I can’t say no to this.’

His thoughts ended there.

Monsters corrupted by the Corrupt Count were far stronger than regular monsters. They were incomparable to the blue werewolf Hyrkan had killed before.

Snap snap!

Without a warning, Hyrkan snapped his fingers twice. The Skeleton Warrior charged at the Corrupted Werewolf with fire ablaze in its eyes.

Meanwhile, Hyrkan used his right index finger to write on the palm of his left hand.

Demon.

Immediately after he wrote this word…

[You activated the Demon Curse spell.]

An ominous dark aura appeared on his left palm.

“Grant Curse.”

Hyrkan touched the blade of his longsword with his left hand. Then, the longsword’s blade absorbed the dark aura like a sponge.

This was all Hyrkan had in his arsenal.

What was important from now was how he could utilize the weapons he had.

After finishing the curse magic, Hyrkan looked on ahead. The Skeleton Warrior and the Corrupted Werewolf would close their distance at any second now.

“30 seconds.”

Hyrkan only had one expectation from his Skeleton Warrior.

To hold its ground for just 30 seconds.

Hyrkan didn’t have the slightest hope of the Skeleton Warrior killing the Corrupted Werewolf by itself.

It just had to hold its ground for 30 seconds. Then everything would go smoothly. He had hopes as well. After all, the Hero Slaughterer himself had given it 1 on 1 lessons, even going so far as to go all into strength.

It. Will. Endure!

But when Hyrkan had his hopes up the highest…

Thwack!

A stunning sound flowed out.

‘Ah.’

It was the sound of the Corrupted Werewolf’s arms smacking the Skeleton Warrior’s head off. The head hit the nearby wall, and soon the body also flew next to its head.

Two.

With just two swings of its arm, the Corrupted Werewolf easily subjugated the Skeleton Warrior. The Skeleton Warrior on the ground had X’s for its eyes, just as Hyrkan’s mouth was watching this scene.

‘Fuck this.’

It seemed that it still needed some more training.

Luckily, Hyrkan had profited at least a little from the exchange.

‘Its speed and power are both outstanding… but it’s not to the point it’s impossible.’

It was undoubtedly fast, but it wasn’t so fast that Hyrkan couldn’t dodge it.

Plus, seeing as how it didn’t completely destroy the Skeleton Warrior even with 2 hits, it meant its attack power wasn’t so strong as to one-hit KO Hyrkan.

‘Four hits? No, probably three.’

Three hits.

It was the ticket cost for a one-way trip to Figur’s Castle. As an added service, Hyrkan would be stuck sucking on his fingers for 48 hours in the real world.

Most people would say they’re in a desperate and dangerous situation. After all, there was no way to run.

It wasn’t much different for Hyrkan. He felt as if he was standing on the edge of a cliff. The moment he stepped backward, he would fall to his death. He felt like his heartbeat was getting faster even though such a thing should be impossible in the game.

‘Three lives. It’s a perfect number.’

Hyrkan liked this feeling. It was the type of feeling he would never be able to achieve in the real world. The feeling that he was alive.

“Haaat!”

With a loud shout, Hyrkan charged at the Corrupted Werewolf.

Snap snap.

He snapped his fingers twice while running. The Skeleton Warrior absorbed Hyrkan’s magic power and quickly restored itself. Its eyes turned back from Xs into blazing fires.

Whoosh!

At that moment, the Corrupted Werewolf swung its arm at Hyrkan, who had entered his range. With a bone-chilling sound cutting through the air, blackness entered Hyrkan’s left field of vision.

Whish!

Hyrkan ducked and dodged the arm, as strands of his hair were cut by the werewolf’s claws.

It was truly a hair’s breadth apart. Immediately after the mortal danger passed by, a new danger arrived.

The Corrupted Werewolf swung its left arm at Hyrkan who had continued charging towards it after dodging its right arm. Its left arm traced a diagonal path. It wasn’t something Hyrkan could dodge simply by ducking!

Whish!

But Hyrkan just leaned his body to the right, dodging the difficult path of the werewolf’s arm rather simply. It looked as if the Corrupted Werewolf was moving its arms following the movements of Hyrkan’s shoulders and arms.

At this point, even a bystander would be able to tell that Hyrkan was purposefully dodging the Corrupted Werewolf’s attacks by a hair’s breadth.

The reason…

‘I see it.’

Was something only someone watching from Hyrkan’s perspective could tell. The moment Hyrkan passed by a potentially life-threatening situation, he saw the side of the Corrupted Werewolf wide open. This was his aim.

Hyrkan lightly scratched his side with his longsword. He didn’t plan on making any deep wounds.

[The Corrupted Werewolf falls under the Demon Curse.]

His goal was to afflict the curse.

After his successful attack, Hyrkan breezed by the Corrupted Werewolf’s back and distanced himself from it.

The Corrupted Werewolf turned to follow Hyrkan’s movements, and Hyrkan also turned after he sufficiently distanced himself.

The two of them stared fixedly at each other.

Krrrr.

With a low growl, the Corrupted Werewolf let out its frustration.

Hyrkan simply taunted the Corrupted Werewolf by waggling his left index finger back and forth towards himself.

Then.

Stab!

The Skeleton Warrior that had finished restoring itself had thrown itself on the werewolf’s back with its bone-knife.

Growl!

The Corrupted Werewolf let out a shriek, and the Skeleton Warrior quickly jumped off and distanced itself. The Corrupted Werewolf did not chase after the Skeleton Warrior, but rather pulled off the bone-knife stuck on its back. Then, it furiously threw the knife at the Skeleton Warrior as it glared angrily at it. The Skeleton Warrior did not shy away from its intimidating glare.

Meanwhile…

‘Let’s see.’

Hyrkan was slowly and stealthily closing the distance between him and the Corrupted Werewolf.

Krrr!

However, the Corrupted Werewolf quickly turned its head towards Hyrkan and revealed its razor-sharp fangs.

‘So he gets aggroed when he’s attacked, but quickly changes aggro when he’s on alert.’

After finishing up his thoughts, Hyrkan charged towards the Corrupted Werewolf without a shred of hesitation. There was no need for hesitation. He knew the role he had to play, and that was to draw the Corrupted Werewolf’s attention. If he did, the Skeleton Warrior would act as his teeth and bite down on the Corrupted Werewolf.

★★★

The Skeleton Warrior stared at the monster in front of him. Of course, a sense of intimidation or fear did not exist in his mind. He was only waiting for an opening.

His ill-tempered master, the one he was eternally loyal to and the one that occasionally attacked him, would provide that opening.

Click click!

The Skeleton Warrior charged.

He was a dart, and the dartboard was the monster’s back. The Skeleton Warrior had already accumulated an enormous sum of scores, and this would be his last.

Stab!

The Skeleton Warrior’s bone-knife dug into a wound he had made previously. The bone-knife had dug deeply into the wound, and only the hilt of the knife could be seen from the outside. At that moment, it heard the sound of two snaps from its master. Because of the continued attack order, the Skeleton Warrior did not run.

Bite!

It bit down on the monster’s back. It had dug its fangs into it. But seemingly unsatisfied, it also dug its claws into the monster’s back. With its sharp claws, it furiously scratched the monster’s body.

The monster’s body quaked.

At that moment, strength began to boil from inside the Skeleton Warrior’s body.

Stab!

The Skeleton Warrior’s two hands grabbed onto the monster’s flesh as if it was sand, and its mouth bit off the monster’s flesh. After biting off the monster’s flesh, the Skeleton Warrior opened its mouth and pointed it to the sky, letting out a soundless wolf-like cry.

★★★

[The Skeleton Warrior killed a very strong monster. Skeleton Warrior and its related skill proficiencies rise greatly.]

[Skeleton Fragment skill rank rises to Rank E.]

“Hm?”

The alert marking the end of Hyrkan’s 5-minute fight was different than what he expected.

‘What did it say?’

Hyrkan changed his concentration to hearing the alerts as if he was trying to listen to a malfunctioning radio.

[You completed the quest, A Cave in Mt. Bima.]

[3 new titles have been registered.]

‘Eh?’

Hyrkan was surprised once more.

‘3 titles?’

Thud!

Then, a static noise interfered with Hyrkan’s hearing. It was the sound of the Corrupted Werewolf’s body falling on the ground.

“Whew!”

Seeing its body fall on the ground, Hyrkan let out a breadth for the first time since the fight started.

He had fought while holding his breath.

His original plan had been to do a victory ceremony and say some cool words. However, the words he had prepared beforehand had long since disappeared amidst the sudden news.

‘Let me straighten out the situation first.’

Hyrkan first checked his left arm, where a large wound could be seen. His elbow and shoulder. Two long scars could be seen where the Corrupted Werewolf scratched him. It was quite surprisingly that it hadn’t fallen off. Of course, he couldn’t move the arm as he wished. Hyrkan grabbed his left wrist like it wasn’t his. Then, he brought the watch towards his mouth.

“End Camera.”

His first profit – the video.

Hyrkan turned the dial on his watch and turned on the quest app.

‘The quest is complete.’

His second profit, the quest rewards, had been received.

Up until now was what Hyrkan had been expecting and wanting.

But.

‘A skill rank up already?’

There was an additional profit. Hyrkan moved his fingers to turn on the skill app.

[Skeleton Fragment]

– Proficiency: Rank E

– Number of skeletons able to be summoned: Warrior (2)

‘I thought it’d happen right before I hit level 20…’

His Skeleton Fragment skill had ranked up. It had progressed much quicker than he expected.

It seemed that the game had judged the Skeleton Warrior, not Hyrkan, to have killed the werewolf as it had delivered the final blow. Attack-related skill proficiencies often went up in such cases.

‘Good for me I guess.’

Though sudden, it was a nice surprise. With the Skeleton Fragment skill rank-up, the stats of his Skeleton Warrior went up as well. Plus, he could now summon two. He had such battle prowess with just one, but now he could summon another. Just the thought of it made Hyrkan happy.

But rather than rejoicing, Hyrkan immediately looked for his fourth profit. He checked the title-related messages on his watch.

[You obtained the title, Rising Star.]

It was the title he had been aiming for.

[You obtained the title, ‘One Who Challenges the Position of Hero.’]

‘Oh? A Hero-series? Well, considering I solo-cleared an instance dungeon and first-killed the werewolf, it’s not too surprising.’

Although he knew about the title beforehand, he didn’t expect to get it here. And finally.

[You obtained the title, ‘Pursuer of Corruption.’]

It was a title Hyrkan had no connection to in his past life.

With that, Hyrkan completed his inventorying of his profits. The calculator in his brain finished its calculations, and after seeing the result, Hyrkan let out a grin.

“That’s right!”

‘Things are finally going my way!’

However, at this moment, Hyrkan didn’t know… that the real jackpot had yet to come.