The Howling Plains
I knew the Warrior's Howl was meant to strengthen my summoned creatures, but the way Yeonhee kept fussing over me made the corners of my mouth twitch upward anyway.
"Huh? Is Ilwol standing next to you by any chance?"
When Bae Jua noticed Yeonhee glancing at empty air, she seemed to realize I was there.
"Ah, yes. He's standing right beside me."
"Whoa—?! For real? A skeleton soldier is actually in stealth mode right now~?"
"That's right."
"Um, could you show him to us for a second~?"
"Well..."
Yeonhee quickly scanned the second-floor café. When we'd first arrived, two other tables had been occupied, but now everyone had left. The entire floor belonged to us alone.
"Then... just for a moment..."
"Yesss~"
When Yeonhee lowered her voice, Baek A-rin instinctively hunched her shoulders and whispered too. But her long rabbit ears kept twitching nonstop, completely betraying her excitement.
What a cute addition to the group.
Feeling a sudden mischievous urge to startle her, I waited a few seconds before revealing myself.
"...Kyaa! Whoa!! It's real!! This is insane~!"
"Uhh...? Uwaaah!"
Baek A-rin clapped like an excited seal, her voice loud enough to shake the second floor. For some reason, Ham Eun-young hurriedly pulled out her hand mirror and gripped it tightly while staring up at me. Was she planning to smack me with it if things went wrong?
I'd known from the first time I saw it that the mirror wasn't ordinary, but it definitely wasn't meant for hitting people.
"Aish— Eun-young unnie! He says he's not dangerous at all, so put that mirror down already—"
"Ah? O-oh..."
"Waaah! For real! This is so cool, whoaaaa—"
Baek A-rin's awe showed no signs of stopping. She even stood up and started circling me, inspecting every angle.
"Hey bunny, don't touch him. Yeonhee doesn't like that."
"Okaaay~ Got it~"
Yeonhee didn't bother denying Bae Jua's warning. Only after another ten minutes or so did the conversation finally move forward.
"Let's head to Red Owl. It's the absolute bottom tier."
"Haa— that place again... Fine! I'll just think of it as going to build team synergy!"
"Thank you."
"......"
We talked for another thirty minutes before parting ways. The next day, we met again at the entrance of the dungeon known as Wolf Cave.
"Whoa— the air up here is so refreshing."
"Right? Heehee~"
"Wow... The scenery really is different. So open and clear."
This dungeon, where Lesser Dire Wolves were the main monsters, wasn't covered in forest like most E-rank dungeons. To reach a decent hunting spot, you'd have to cross an endlessly wide plain—and almost without fail, you'd get surrounded by a wolf pack along the way.
Whether you could overcome that encirclement or not was the core challenge of this dungeon.
Ghosts occasionally appeared in the forest, but the most common monster was something called Grey Mold. These were colony-based creatures that were difficult to deal with. When attacked, they released a gas with a slowing effect as defense. If you underestimated it and breathed the stuff in, you'd eventually find yourself completely immobilized and become their prey.
That's why the standard strategy was to fight on the plains rather than heading into the forest.
Not far away, three men were openly ogling our party members with sticky gazes. They showed no interest in Yeonhee or Ham Eun-young, whose faces were mostly covered, and instead focused entirely on Bae Jua and Baek A-rin. Baek A-rin, who revealed her figure quite boldly, was clearly their main target.
But Baek A-rin seemed used to it and ignored both the stares and the comments. Bae Jua, who must have heard plenty about it already, simply asked, "You're pretty popular, huh?" and acted like it was no big deal.
After reaching D-rank, Baek A-rin had casually uploaded a few training videos to Nutube. They unexpectedly went viral, so quite a few people recognized her now. From the way she talked, it seemed she'd been dealing with this a lot lately.
After all, with her rare rabbit beastman traits, she was bound to stand out no matter where she went.
"Shall we get going then~?"
Naturally, Baek A-rin had become the leader of this party. At her signal, we began walking toward the vast horizon.
Several other teams set out at the same time as us—all of them composed entirely of men. Of course they weren't trying anything sinister, but men were simple creatures. They probably just figured they'd follow the same path we took if they could.
I used to be a man myself, so I could roughly guess why they were acting like this. Still, having to drag along these pathetic guys begging for attention was pretty annoying.
Why did hunters act perfectly normal in society but turn into brainless recruits the moment they stepped inside a dungeon?
"Sigh— Just think of it as dogs barking~ They'll get tired and fall behind soon enough."
"Ah, yes."
"People stare more because you dress like that. Try wearing something normal."
"No way~ Fighting feels uncomfortable if I wear too many layers~"
She says it's for her own comfort in battle, so it's hard to argue.
I stayed alert in case the humans lost control. After walking for about thirty minutes, the first signs of battle finally appeared.
Awooooooo—
Even though it was morning, the wolf howl pierced our ears clearly.
"Ugh— I'm so sick of this already!"
Just like how every E-rank dungeon had goblins, every D-rank dungeon seemed to feature wolf-type monsters. Both Yeonhee and Jua would have to endure the constant howling for a while.
And I knew the real moment they'd grow truly sick of them was when something was riding on the wolves' backs.
But that wasn't something to worry about yet.
Awooooo—
Whether to pressure their prey, communicate with their pack, or just for fun—the wolf howls followed us the entire way, growing louder and more intense.
"Looks like they're about to attack soon~"
"Is there anything we should watch out for?"
"Hmm— Nope! Just beat them up like you're smacking dogs~ They try to come at us in formation, but they're only Lesser rank. Their combat power and experience are still immature."
"I see..."
Since they didn't have any special skills, her words made sense. However, their claws had a fairly high chance of inflicting the status ailment Bleeding, so caution was necessary.
The Bleeding status caused continuous damage like poison, but it didn't stack. Instead, moving while bleeding increased the damage proportionally, making it potentially more lethal during combat than poison.
Tadatadat—
After crossing one of the plain's ridges, we saw a pack of about thirty wolves moving in orderly fashion to flank us. They maintained a clever distance, matching our pace for a while. Their dark brown fur stood sharply like blades, and their bodies were one and a half times the size of large dogs. Drool dripped from their exposed fangs.
Just from their appearance, they gave off a genuinely threatening aura.
They kept shifting their heads, carefully observing our party's strength.
Has it been that long? They look bigger than I remember.
Or maybe the overall level of monsters in this timeline had increased. Either way, the ones my senses picked up were definitely five to ten percent larger than in my previous life.
Near the rear two-thirds of the wolf formation, one individual stood out with particularly sharp eyes. Every pack—whether ten or a hundred—had a leader. It was probably that one.
"Huh? Those people behind us are gone?"
Just as Bae Jua said, the group that had been harassing us had vanished from sight. In fact, they'd disappeared several minutes ago.
"Even though they're Lesser, their intelligence isn't much different from Dire Wolves. They probably went after the weaker-looking hunters first."
That was correct. These creatures had a habit of roaming in packs of at least a hundred. The remaining seventy had likely gone after the sixteen hunters behind us, while these thirty had stuck to our side. But they couldn't decide if they could take us on alone, which was why they simply kept watching without taking action.
"Hey, A-rin, isn't this because of you? It feels like they're hesitating after sensing the power gap."
"Ohoho— Is that so? Those pups are pretty quick to notice things."
"No... On second thought, it can't be because of you. It's probably because of Ilwol."
"You're saying I'm weaker than a skeleton?"
"Probably?"
"...Looks like I'll have to show them. The power of the Martial God hidden in my left arm."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing."
Whether the dungeon felt too easy for A-rin, who had already graduated from it, or whether it really was because of me, the wolves' stance didn't change for a while. But after another ten minutes, twenty more wolves that had fallen back joined them, and the pack finally made their move.
"They're within range now~!"
"Everyone get into position!"
Yeonhee first summoned her Spectre, Chehwa, and sent it straight into the heart of the wolf pack.
"Chehwa, you have to fight while calculating the distance where our link stays active!"
Chehwa
⊳ Physical immunity and life drain abilities activated
⊳ Link distance maintained with summoner
[Hwaaaaaah—!]
It seemed she still couldn't send the Spectre very far. She'd only prepared the spell in advance and was waiting for them to approach.
Whoosh—
Kyaaang—!!
Chehwa entered the wolf formation and began swinging its sharply materialized arms wildly. The actual physical damage might not be huge, but since it drained life force, the wolves would suffer considerable harm.
The wolves tried to attack Chehwa with their front paws, but their strikes only cut through empty air. To land a hit, they needed to counter exactly when the Spectre materialized, but they didn't have the ability to make such precise judgments.
"Ehh?! It's a Spectre!!"
"Oh? Yeonhee, is that a new summon?"
"Yes!"
At Yeonhee's energetic reply, Baek A-rin and Bae Jua exchanged glances and nodded. It seemed they felt they'd made the right choice teaming up with her.
The wolves had been rushing in to surround us, but their formation was thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of the Spectre in their center. A monster their attacks couldn't properly hit. And every time they were struck, their strength strangely drained away.
Having instinctively realized it was a bad matchup, the wolves began swarming toward one side.
Are they running away?
But after gathering and growling for a moment, they instead charged back at Chehwa and attacked recklessly. Then—
Thud—!
[Hwaaaaah!!]
It seemed Chehwa had been hit during the brief moment it materialized. Its body rapidly grew fainter. Still, pulling that much aggro alone was more than enough. It had done its job at 120%.
The start of battle is magic! Take this!
I'd practiced inside the Dark Space, but I wasn't confident I'd actually hit anything.
Fireball
Whiiing— Boom!
Kang—??
Damn it...
Leaving behind yet another fireball that had flown way off target, I charged into close combat alongside Baek A-rin.
As I ran, I tried using the Warrior's Howl I'd obtained in the canyon.
"Clack clack clack!! (Warrior's Howl!!)"
It was a shame it didn't come out as a mighty roar, but the effect was real!
The warrior's roar empowers allies!
Muscle Strength +3