The Master of Strength

“I really want to pick them up…”

He muttered to himself as he stared at the many items sprawled across the ground. Although the urge to collect them was nigh irresistible, he knew that the Giant Wolves were not some weak monsters that he could simply ignore.

-Grrr!

-Grrr!

The pack of wolves slowly began to close in on him. There was still quite a distance between them and one might be tempted to pick up the items, but Myeonghu knew better. They could move at incredible speeds so he couldn’t afford to turn his back to them for even a second.

“Fifteen…”

He was faced with another pack of 15 Giant Wolves. He glanced at a nearby corpses and focused briefly on the items.

“I’ll end this in five minutes!”

He made his decision as he rushed to meet the wolves.

-Aooo!

The head wolf howled once more into the air and rushed up to meet his charge. His pack soon followed and a Giant Wolf among them even leaped into the air, flying towards him.

“…!”

Myeonghu saw the Wolf soaring through the air towards him and worried if he were to be hit by its unknown ability, it might even lead him to becoming stunned, at which point he’d be in some serious trouble.

‘I already know that if I hunt them normally I’ll lose half my health, if I were to get stunned….’

He couldn’t afford to make any mistake such as getting debuffed this early or allowing too many bleeding stacks to land, else he would be the one dying here today.

Tatata

He quickly cast off his worries and made a sharp turn

Thud!

–Grrr!

The Giant Wolf which had jumped towards him was unable to change direction in midair, and landed were he had stood just moments ago. It growled in frustration as it leaped towards him once more.

“…!”

Myeonghu frowned upon seeing the wolf jump once more.

Tatatak

Myeonghu changed direction again, as he ran up to meet the other charging wolves.

Thud!

–Grrr!

He heard a growl from behind him as the jumping wolf had just missed, but he couldn’t afford to look back and see if it would leap again, because the other Giant Wolf charging at him from the front was now only 3 meters away.

Sriik! Bang!

They exchanged blows as it slashed down with its claws while Myeonghu landed a decisive punch on its stomach.

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -220 HP per second]

-Grrr!

The Giant Wolf slumped down to the ground with a dying whimper, but not before leaving him with a nice Bleeding effect. Myeonghu however didn’t even take the time to read it as he jumped to the side.

Thud!

–Grrr!

It looked like that fellow was still jumping around, trying to catch him. Myeonghu ran up to this Giant Wolf which had tried to jump on him three times in a row, but there was also the rest of the pack which he had to keep in mind.

‘Three…!’

There were three wolves approaching his back as he went to deal with the jumper, bringing it to a total of four Giant wolves near him. A smile formed on his face as he prepared to spring the trap.

Suaah!

A white light gathered in his fist, and just as the closest wolf was about to slash with its deadly claws, he pounded the ground with his fist.

Bang! Sriik!

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -210 HP per second]

Showing great agility, the wolf’s slash actually managed to hit him in time.

UwooOong!

However the land beneath the trembled as a booming sound rang out, tossing the four nearby Giant Wolves into the air.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The plopped down on the ground soon after, as Myeonghu focused on the remaining ten.

-Grrr!

-Grrrr!

The rest of the pack were more cautious as they began to circle him, looking for an opening. It was now that the real battle started as he wouldn’t be able to kill several at once any longer.

Sriik! Bang! Sriik Sriik!

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -200 HP per second]

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -230 HP per second]

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -215 HP per second]

He suffered multiple slashes which he endured in exchange for ending one of their lives.

Sriik! Bang!

This was repeated multiple times until the last of them finally collapsed on the ground.

“Fuuu…:”

Myeonghu let out a sigh of relief as he checked his remaining health.

“Huh…?”

He barely had 10,000 of his original 300,000 health. Even now he was still losing HP due to the remaining bleeding stacks. He swallowed down hard as he began to do some quick math to figure out how much bleeding damage was left.

“Fuu…”

He was relieved by the result. He would just barely manage to hang on. A couple seconds later he was finally no longer suffering from any Bleeding, so he checked his remaining health.

“Just barely…”

Myeonghu knew how down to the wire it had been when he saw his 5,000 HP.

He then looked around at the 30 corpses lying around him, 15 of which were fresh from his recent battle. He walked to them and immediately began collecting his spoils.

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

.

.

-You have obtained the Fang of the Giant Wolf.

“Wow, it’ll take quite some time to gather them all.”

Myeonghu looked around, he had just finished picking up the items from 5 corpses, but there were still 25 more to go. 

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

He went back to picking up items with a satisfied smile.

Just as he was moving on to the next corpse, he heard a growl.

-Grrr!

He instantly froze as he gulped in fear.

‘Uh… did I hear wrong?’

Last time around a new pack had appeared just as he had finished his hunt, surely he couldn’t be that unlucky for it to happen again. He brushed it off as he began moving towards the corpses.

-Grrr!

However just as he had taken another step, he heard the growling once more and the smile vanished from his face.

He slowly turned to look towards the source of the sound and was left speechless by his terrible luck

“…”

-Grrr!

-Grrr!

A large pack of Giant Wolves had once again appeared, 15 of them just like the previous times.

“Ugh…”

Myeonghu groaned as he looked at his remaining health. Although it was recovering at a decent pace, it wasn’t nearly enough to fight these new monsters.

“This place must be a meeting ground for those damned muts!”

Myeonghu who had already resigned himself to his death shouted angrily. He knew he had no chance of running away since their Agility far outstripped his own and only death would await him that way.

Suaaah!

A white light gathered on his fist.

He then proceeded to create some distance between himself and the pack, slowly edging backwards.

-Grrr!

As he stepped back the Giant Wolves gradually picked up their speed. Upon arriving at another corpse he expertly bent down and picked up the item.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

–Aooo!

The leaders of the pack chose this moment to charge forward at full speed, and Myeonghu punched the ground before him.

UwoooOng!

The earth trembled and those closest to him were sent into the air. Myeonghu didn’t even bother looking as he sprinted to the next corpse and continued to collect items.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Fang of the Giant Wolf.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

[Level Up!]

The Giant Wolves crashed down on the ground resulting in an additional level, but he didn’t even bother looking at the message.

‘Just a bit more!’

The most important thing for him right now was to pick up as many items as possible.

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Fang of the Giant Wolf.

-Grrrr!

-Grrrr!

He heard the wolves’ growling getting ever closer as he moved on to the next corpse.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

Sriik!

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -200 HP per second]

Just as he was picking up some items he suffered from one of their claws. He turned to look at his assailant and was relieved to see that the stunning option of his ring had taken effect. Myeonghu simply ran away from it towards the next corpse.

Sriiik!

[You have been afflicted with Bleeding for 10 seconds, -220 HP per second]

On his way there another Giant Wolf had caught up with him and slashed him in the back. Unfortunately this time around the ring’s stun didn’t appear and he suffered from itrs follow up strike.

Sriiik!

Finally then it became stunned and was frozen in place.

‘2000!’

He had just lost 2000 health in a single hit, causing him endless worry. At the moment he only had enough health to taken on 5 more of such attacks, leaving him with little time to pick up items before he’d lose his life to these shameless wolves. He could punch out and kill his assailant, but in that time he’d suffer another strike, so of course he went for more items instead.

‘Items are the priority!’

He hadn’t come here to level up, but rather to gather enough Quest materials. He quickly ignored the stunned Giant Wolf and picked up some loot.

-You have obtained the Red Blood of the Giant Wolf.

-You have obtained the Claws of the Giant Wolf.

Sriiik!

Just as he was done picking them up a new set of claws bore down on him and Myeonghu glanced at his remaining health.

He was left with only 300 HP after the last attack, but it quickly ticked down to 100 as Bleeding stack took effect and then disappeared entirely shortly after.

[You have died]

His vision began to darken as the message was the last thing he saw.