Emperor of Solo Play

 ­ Bulkas Mountain Range (3)

A middle-aged man wearing a beret opened his heavily bearded mouth.

“Then I will trust your abilities.”

“Yes sir.”

With that short reply, Hyrkan turned away. In his ears…

[You have obtained the title, ‘The Inaugurator.’]

An alert told him of the new title he acquired. Although he had expected it, he couldn’t help but quiver in happiness. Holding in his desire to yell out in joy, he stepped out of the log cabin he was in. Only after stepping outside did he let out what he was holding in. He clenched his right fist and shook it.

YES!

No matter who looked at it, it was easy to tell the meaning behind his clenched fist.

‘That’s the 3rd title!’

When he stepped into the Bulkas Mountain Range, Hyrkan met up with the Bulkas rangers. That was when he obtained the ‘First to Encounter the Bulkas Rangers’ title. Raising the class-related stat by 7 points, it was quite a fine title.

‘The Inaugurator’ title he just received came from being the first to get quest from a newly discovered castle, town, or area. As it raised all stats by 7 points, it was even better than the other titles.

Moreover, the ‘First One to Step onto the Bulkas Mountain Range’ title raised all stats by 4 points.

Even though he did not level up, his stats had gone up quite a lot.

‘Yep, this is the best part about Warlord.’

There was a reason why Warlord was called a Title War. Since one could receive stat points that would otherwise require 4~5 levels, the competition for titles was obvious.

Of course, this wasn’t enough to satisfy Hyrkan. Any skilled player would have similar titles to boost their stats.

‘Now then, what should I hunt?’

The best thing about discovering a new region was not the titles…

‘What would be popular?’

But the monsters and the hunting guide video.

Warlord viewers wanted new things. No matter strong or weak, amazing or laughable, viewers watched it if it was new. Moreover, videos on new monsters were spread by Warlord fans without the uploader having to do any advertising.

Furthermore, Hyrkan was gaining popularity lately. His Double Bear video got a good number of views, and although it wasn’t as much as Skull Clown, it was enough for his fans to be satisfied. Moreover, thanks to the Double Bear video, Skull Clown received more attention and surpassed 900,000 views.

If he added a new monster on top of it?

‘If it’s the Bulkas Mountain Range, Armor Monkey is probably the best.’

Hyrkan smiled.

★★★

A 1.5 meter tall monkey was wearing an armor and a helmet, and was holding a mace in its right hand.

Kii kii!

The monkey was currently riding on top of a Golem, and was brandishing the mace in its hand. The mace moved nimbly along the Golem’s head, shoulder, and back as it kept pounding into them.

Puhat!

Blobs of dirt fell out from the Golem’s body like flesh.

Whoosh!

Although the Golem swung its arms above its head to catch the monkey, the monkey dodged the Golem’s slow-moving arms easily. At times, it even climbed down the Golem and climbed back up, as if to play with it.

Although they had weight behind them, the Golem’s arms did not amount to much without the speed.

It was being toyed with in every sense of the word.

The one that was most enraged by this sight…

“Ah come on!”

Was Hyrkan who was controlling the Golem 20 meters away with copy mode.

Looking like he was washing his hair, Hyrkan was about to explode. Even so, Hyrkan held himself in, and focused his attention on trying to capture the Armor Monkey.

‘Come on, get caught already. How is this little bastard so nimble?’

What set off Hyrkan’s fuse was…

Kii kii!

The excited screech of the Armor Monkey. Although Hyrkan wasn’t sure if it was really excited or if it was part of its setting, to Hyrkan, it seemed like the monkey was screaming and calling him an idiot.

‘You’re dead.’

Hyrkan canceled the copy mode and charged towards the Golem.

Hyrkan’s figure as he ran seemed very much like a cheetah charging towards its pretty.

Tadat, tadat…

Using all 100% of his strength stat, Hyrkan seemed more like a fearsome predator than a human being.

The distance between him and the Golem quickly fell to 5 meters.

At that moment…

Pat!

Hyrkan converted the momentum from his charging speed into jumping power and he pointed his foot like a spear-tip as he flew towards his target.

Puk!

Then, his foot landed directly on the back of the Armor Monkey swinging his mace madly.

Drop kick!

An attack rarely seen in Warlord struck the Armor Monkey. The Armor Monkey flew like a cannon ball and rolled on the ground seven times after it landed.

Kiik!

The Armor monkey screeched as it rolled on the ground. When it came to a stop, it got up with all the more screeching. It looked towards the Golem, and what entered his eyes was…

Thwack!

Hyrkan’s knees.

After landing his dropkick, Hyrkan had already begun to run for his second attack.

His knee struck the Armor Monkey’s head, and its body followed suit.

This was the power of an all-strength necromancer.

But that was it. Although it was powerful and forceful, the damage dealt couldn’t have been big. After all, the Armor Monkey was a level 60 monster, and Hyrkan was only level 46.

Even if damage was dealt, it would only be enough to draw the aggro.

Kiii!

The enraged Armor Monkey let out an angry screech and got up from the ground once more. It fixed the helmet on its head, hit the ground twice with its mace, and glared at Hyrkan. Then, it charged towards Hyrkan without hesitation.

The distance between them was 3 meters. Considering both of their stats, it would only take a single step to cover the distance.

With a single leap, the Armor Monkey closed in on Hyrkan, as did the mace in its hand.

Kii!

The Armor Monkey’s screech became clearer as it neared Hyrkan.

Whoosh!

At the same time, the sound of the mace cutting the air sounded out. The mace seemed to want to crush Hyrkan’s head. Even in face of such a terrifying attack, Hyrkan did not flinch in the slightest, and simply twisted his body to the side as the mace neared him.

Whoosh!

The mace passed by Hyrkan’s eyes.

Then.

Puhat!

It landed on the ground along with the Armor Monkey. The Armor Monkey’s eyes seemed to flash in surprise as if to say ‘you dare dodge my attack?’

The Armor Monkey got even more enraged and sought to make its next attack. It turned its head towards Hyrkan and showed its teeth.

Thwack!

However, before the Armor Monkey could even take a glimpse of Hyrkan, Hyrkan had already moved to kick his head like a soccer ball.

Kiiii!

This time, the Armor Monkey let out a pained cry as it fell to the side. Watching the Armor Monkey through the hahoe mask, Hyrkan shouted out with a frown.

“From here, I will show you all how to screw with… I mean, how to hunt an Armor Monkey.”

It was the announcement of an Armor Monkey’s death… no, torture.

★★★

[You obtained the title, ‘First to Discover the Armor Monkey.]

As soon as the fight ended, Hyrkan stared at the corpse of the Armor Monkey on the ground.

It was a monster that had greatly annoyed him.

If it was the past, it would have ended with a bit of lashing out. However, the current Hyrkan was different.

‘What if I use this guy as material for Skeleton Fragment?’

It was a habit that had developed after becoming a necromancer.

What monster should I use as material? It was a question he always asked.

In reality, up to now, he had put his focus on sheer battle power. When he was making a Skeleton Warrior, he sought to make one that fought the best. The next thing he looked for was image. It looked the best when all Skeleton Warriors looked the same. For someone who was making a living making videos, it made sense that such a thing was so high in priority.

At the same time, having the same type of Skeleton Warriors was beneficial in most battles. Most necromancers used a defense-first attack-second strategy. In such a fight, it was important for the Skeleton Warriors to move fixedly like a machine. For machines, it was, of course, best to use the same type of parts.

However, Hyrkan’s mind had changed recently. Even if there were more Skeleton Warriors he could use, the amount he could use to attack a single monster was limited. Although he would need more when hunting large-type boss monsters, such a battle wasn’t rare.

Most importantly, the Skeleton Fragment skill itself gave a huge selection of materials.

As long as he wanted to, he could make as many Skeleton Fragment as he wanted. It wasn’t hard to retrieve a Skeleton Fragment either. When a Skeleton Warrior was destroyed, he just had to clench his fist and say ‘retrieve.’ Then, the Skeleton Fragment would return to his hand.

He didn’t need to use the same material, and he could freely change the material he used as long as his cooldown and magic power allowed it.

In other words, he could make a group of Skeleton Warriors of various types.

In a war, variety meant increased utility.

Watching the Armor Monkey melting into an ice-cream, Hyrkan couldn’t help but wonder.

‘How should I use this guy?’

Hyrkan. He was now thoroughly becoming a necromancer.

“Well, I’ll first make it into a Skeleton Warrior and bully it a bit. You dare make fun of me. You won’t die so easily.”

Of course, his personality was the same as ever.

★★★

When the Corrupt Count died, a new era began.

In face of this new era, those who made Warlord their career once again began charging straight ahead. A new era, a new stage, a new content… everyone was on the same start line.

For the Top 30 Guilds that failed to kill the Corrupt Count, it was a chance for them to be in the spotlight. For the guilds that weren’t part of the Top 30 Guilds but were still large enough to rival them, it was a chance to steal the Top 30 Guilds’ live channels and make a name for themselves.

It was the start of a war.

And what the most important thing in this war was to bring as much attention to themselves as possible.

All ways and means were used.

Some leaked a scandal between a beautiful female Ranker and a handsome male Ranker, some declared wars against other guilds, and some leaked weaknesses of other guilds.

However, what stood out the most were not gossips like these.

“Ugo Sanchez reached level 30 in just 38 days. As expected of The Machine’s Rank 3 player. Untalented players couldn’t hit level 30 even with 100 days… isn’t this level up speed a new record?”

“Did you watch Rony Jackson’s new hunting video? It was no joke. I’ve never seen someone at level 20 fight like that. I’ll bet once Rony Jackson grows up a bit more, he wouldn’t lose in a PvP against the Rankers. Although PvE is important, he’s a true monster when fighting against players.”

New, rising stars. They were currently the ones who received the most attention in Warlord.

In particular, Rankers from other VR games who transferred over received the most attention. Someone had made a Rookie Rankings, which received just as much attention as the Top 100 Rankings.

A war had begun for these rookies to become the super rookie that stood above all others.

In the middle of this war…

“Did you watch that video? The Armor Monkey video. It’s a new monster, but there’s already a hunting guide on it.”

“A hunting guide for a new monster? You probably need to pay for it, right?”

“No, it’s free.”

“Someone released a new monster hunting guide for free? Who? What guild?”

“It wasn’t a guild, but a person… someone in a weird getup with a strange mask. What was his name again…”

“A person? What’s his class?”

“Necromancer.”

“What?”

Hahoe Mask Hyrkan. His name was starting to reach out to all corners of Warlord.