The Master of Strength

Grrr

“Ha…”

Myeonghu let out a sigh of relief as he saw a Great Fox King step out of the bushes.

Rawrrr!

A smirk appeared on his face as the fox turned aggressive and launched towards him.

Slash!

The Great Fox King struck out with its claws.

‘500… yup, just about average strength.’

He thought that it might have been a different monster because of the new location, but it ended up just being the same.

Bang!

[Level Up!]

The fox collapsed to the ground after simple punch.

-You have obtained the Great Fox King’s Pelt

-You have obtained the Great Fox King’s Claws

He picked up the items then stared into the forest pensively.

“Where is this place?”

From the Claw Key he learned that it was some kind of special forest and that it hand a certain relation to the Great Fox Kings since this is where they originated from, but he didn’t know much else.

“Let’s keep going.”

He began walking once more, but was soon forced to stop due to the rustling of bushes. He stood his ground and stared in the direction of the sound.

“Ha… to think this guy used to make me tremble at its sight.”

He thought as he saw another fox emerge from the thicket.

Grrrr!

This Great Fox King also attacked immediately upon seeing him, but this time Myeonghu didn’t allow its claws to reach him as he punched out first.

Bang!

[Level Up!]

He picked up the items from the corpse at his feet, while he thought to himself.

“Isn’t this weird?”

The Great Fox King definitely felt like it should be a Boss class monster, but suddenly they were so commonplace.

“Is it because of this area?”

He looked around but just saw trees and grass, nothing out of sort that would make this environment any more special to justify so many Boss monsters.

“Strange, could it be that it’s actually at the bottom of the food chain in here?”

The thought brought a smile to his face as he trembled in excitement.

“That would be absurd, it that were the case just what would the real Boss look like?”

Myeonghu’s expression turned serious as he remembered the first huge fox which chased him down, the one which was incomparably more powerful that all the other Great Fox Kings he’d faced.

“Yea, if it’s him he might be a boss here….”

Still, this was only his conjecture as he didn’t have enough information yet. He once again set out on foot, exploring the area.

He kept walking until the bushes began to shorten and the trees thin out. He then heard some sounds in the distance.

…

…

“What is that?”

Although he could hear something, it was too far away for him to make it out.

As he walked in the direction of the sounds, they became clearer and clearer, until he finally stopped in order to figure it out.

Grrrr!

“Hey! Heal!”

“…”

Although he still couldn’t understand everything, it was enough to give him a good idea of what was going on. He picked up his pace as he ran through the forest.

“Lauren, please heal Bangte!”

“Alright!”

“Back away from me I’ll use an AoE! ICE!! Keep up the pressure!  

“Got it!”

I had arrived at the location and was observing from behind a bush. There was a party of four players hunting a single Great Fox King.

“Protection!”

The player holding a shield shouted out confidently, causing a white membrane to form around his shield. Bangte bashed the Great Fox King’s head with his shield, forcing it to step back.

“Nice!”

“I’m ready! Fire strike!”

A magic circle formed at the fox’s feet, causing it to become rooted in place before a pillar of fire erupted from beneath it.

Grrrr!

After wailing in pain, the fire soon disappeared and the Great Fox King collapsed to the ground.

“Whoa….”

“Phew”

The players let out a sigh of relief.

“What a big score! We got 3 drops!”

Bangte who looting the items shouted out excitedly, causing the other party members to smile.

‘…Well.’

Myeonghu was unsure how to proceed, but eventually simply walked out to meet the group.

“Oh?”

They party which was now taking a break, seemed quite surprised to meet another player here.

“Hi, I’m Myeonghu”

“Oh, I’m Fabian”

Fabian who was wearing brown robes responded right away.

“…”

“…”

An awkwardly long silence followed our exchanged greetings. After it had gone on for a bit too long, Myeonghu finally decided to speak out.

“I have something I would like to ask….”

“I’m sorry but our party is made up of friends.”

“…?”

Myeonghu felt even more awkward seeing Fabian cut him off, and even mention something about a party of friends. Clearly he had misunderstood his intentions so he set out to clear things up.

“That’s not it….”

“I’m really sorry, but that’s just the way we like to play.”

Fabian had cut him off again, causing his expression to harden. The only thing he really wanted to learn was about this location.

“Well, my question was….”

“Sorry, but we really are just a group of friends.”

Fabian repeated, then after given Myeonghu a quick glance, continued.

“I don’t think we’d be able to protect you.”

Fabian said after looking at his items. Although Myeonghu felt somewhat annoyed, he didn’t want to alienate them before getting some information about his place.

“That’s not….”

“Sorry.”

Fabian cut him off once more.

‘Just what is up with this guy?’

He was truly becoming upset after being interrupted so many times.

“Do you think that if you keep pleading we will feel sorry for you?”

This Fabian character was truly beginning to test his limits, but he swallowed his indignation and spoke out once more.

“I just wanted to ask a question, I have no desire to join your party.”

It was only now that something finally seemed to click in his mind as his face flushed in embarrassment.

‘Wasn’t he trying to join our party?’

Clearly he had seen Myeonghu’s rookie equipment and taken him for a noob which was trying to be carried.

“Then is this your first time coming to this place?”

Fabian asked, to which Myeonghu simply nodded.

“Ah ha, sorry about that, my mistake. What did you want to know?”

Myeonghu just let out a small sigh before asking.

“What is this place?”

“It’s known as the Nine Tailed Fox Forest, but since most of the monsters in here are Great Fox Kings, most of us just call it the Great Fox King Forest. There are only 3 monsters which can be found in here, Great Fox Kings, Monstrous Fox and the Nine Tailed Fox Boss.

“Ah…”

Myeonghu nodded as it now made more sense, after which Fabian continued.

“Great Fox Kings can vary between level 60 and 70. As for the other two, no one’s ever hunted them so we don’t know anything except for their names.

“How does one leave this area?”

“Oh, remember the Claw Key you used to get in here?”

“Sure.”

“You’ll need another one to get out. See that groove in the middle of the rock over there?”

Fabian said while pointing at a rock at the edge of the clearing. It had a rather large hole in its middle.

“By inserting the Key, you can return to whatever place you came from. They can be found scattered across the map.”

“I see.”

“But it’s quite hard to obtain those Claw Keys… although we are able to hunt Great Fox Kings, it could defeat you with its eyes closed. It might be easier to return by simple dying.”

“….”

Myeonghu didn’t even bother correcting him.  Myeonghu could certainly understand his logic due to his own poor equipment, but he still felt annoyed.

Suddenly, a growling sound came from behind the bushes.

Grrrr!

A great Fox King’s roar rang out and everyone except for Myeonghu swallowed nervously, staring at the bush in question.