The Champion Wave
Sketching out a rough plan in my mind, I shook my head and looked back down at the wolves swarming below. After tossing a few more skeleton bombs into the ranks of wolves regrouping their formation, I hurled myself downward. I picked off the ones still reeling from the damage first, driving my dagger into them again and again.
Acquired a minuscule amount of experience. As expected, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a level-up. These creatures and I were separated by at least five ranks, so it was better to abandon any expectations from the start.
Acquired a minuscule amount of experience.
Awooouuuu—!! Without even a moment to catch my breath, a howl signaling the second wave rang out. The deep resonance from their chests was far stronger than that of ordinary wolves, and the hunters all turned their heads toward the cave entrance at once. I took advantage of the brief lull to move toward where our party was positioned.
They’re holding up better than I expected.
The summons’ stamina looked a little depleted, but their defensive line remained solid. I felt a surge of satisfaction. However, Baek A-rin, stationed at the very front, was drenched in sweat as if it were raining. In an isolated space like this, fighting while half-naked was extremely dangerous. Even at a glance, her exposed arms and thighs were covered in wounds of varying sizes.
Those wounds will heal quickly, but isn’t she underestimating the bleeding too much…?
A hunter should never think “this is nothing” no matter who the opponent was. A-rin tended to let her guard down against enemies weaker than herself.
“Haa— Ilwol, you’re here. It’s finally the champion wave. Fighting more than two of them at once is a bit much.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll cover you with rocks.”
Watching the exhausted A-rin, I wondered if it might be better for her to hone her fundamentals in this dungeon a little longer before moving on. Or perhaps she could join a government agency and hunt villains. With her speed, sharp hearing, and one-on-one combat ability, that path seemed to suit her perfectly…
Awoou— While I was lost in thought, the boss finally revealed itself. The Lesser Dire Wolf Champion. It was larger than the regular wolves and had small horns sprouting from its head, making it easy to distinguish. Of course, those horns were merely decorative now, but once these wolves evolved further, they would display an entirely different fighting style.
Dadadadash— Ten boss-level wolves had appeared in total. Two of them charged straight toward us without hesitation.
“Why are they coming after us first when we’re tucked away in the farthest corner?!”
“Huu— Fine. I’ll take both of them. Leave the rest to you guys!”
A-rin stepped forward as if to say she could handle this much on her own. Perhaps because she had more experience in D-grade dungeons than the rest of us and had taken on the role of party leader, she seemed unusually eager to act alone today. There was no need for it, but if she insisted, stopping her wouldn’t be polite. I decided to watch and see. Maybe she was planning to show off Lightning Step again. I sharpened my focus on her movements.
Following the two wolves rushing at us, two more champions came charging in. Four in total.
“……! L-let’s fight together!! We’re one! Team play! Team play!!”
A-rin, who had charged forward so boldly, quickly retreated behind me and shouted.
“Haha! Come at me, you mutts!”
“Geez… A-rin, why do you live like that, seriously…”
“What? What did I do!”
Bae Jua fanned her own face while watching her friend’s antics.
“Four of them is tough. I don’t know why half of them came to us, but I’ll block the path first!”
After pulling her hand away from her flushed face, Bae Jua used her favorite skill, Rock Barrier, to seal off part of the path ahead. As the wolves split into multiple paths trying to get around it, A-rin and I each took one, while Lizard No. 1 and Deonni No. 2 handled the remaining two. Lizard No. 1, who had only recently evolved, would have a difficult fight against a champion, but Deonni No. 2, an Orc Warrior far higher in rank than the wolves, would handle it with ease.
“Surround them! There’s no training inside the dungeon!”
Of course, as Yeonhee said, there was no need to fight fair one-on-one. Even just holding one in place was enough for the summons to swarm like a pack of bees. Yeonhee’s arrows and Jua’s rock magic, Rock Fist, constantly targeted the champions’ blind spots. A-rin, already locked in one-on-one combat beside me, skillfully deflected the wolf’s front paw and fang attacks while steadily accumulating damage. The champion possessed overwhelming physical abilities compared to regular wolves, but against A-rin, those advantages weren’t enough to land a clean hit.
While A-rin was pushing her wolf back, I had already driven my dagger into my champion’s neck and pinned it to the ground. The fight was over in an instant.
Kekekeng—! After feeding a bomb to the one charging at me and grabbing it by the scruff to slam it down, the battle ended. Strangely, it felt more troublesome when surrounded by five or six regular wolves.
Defeated the Lesser Dire Wolf Champion!
Acquired Rune of Swiftness (Intermediate)!
Acquired a small amount of experience!
Lesser Dire Wolves were easy to suppress because they fought purely with physical strength, but once they evolved further, they would be nothing like this. The horns on the champions weren’t for physical combat—they were body parts imbued with magical potential. Remembering the lightning that would eventually shoot from those horns, these creatures seemed like nothing more than cute pet dogs.
Thud! Thud—!
“Azaa!! Haa, haa— How’s that, you damn mutts!”
A-rin, her arms covered in blood, kicked the back of the champion she had taken down with a satisfied expression. True to her specialization in one-on-one combat, she had subdued her target faster than Lizard No. 1 and Deonni No. 2, who were fighting alongside other summons.
“Churoaaak!!”
Lizard No. 1, coordinating with the lizard troop, was still struggling. It seemed unable to keep up with the champion’s agile movements, and its machete kept slicing through empty air. Meanwhile, the wolf’s claw attacks had torn open Lizard No. 1’s hide in several places, exposing raw flesh and drawing blood. However, once the Spectre joined in to assist, the tide turned instantly, and the remaining champions were soon subdued as well.
Even with the summons coordinating their attacks, it had taken time to defeat each champion, likely due to the stamina drain from bleeding. As a result, many summons were now struggling against the regular wolves that had begun flooding back in. At that moment, a clear singing voice echoed from somewhere, and the summons’ bleeding gradually began to subside.
――♪
…Ham Eun-yeong is definitely proving useful.
Her skill didn’t just dispel mental magic—it could also delay the worsening of status ailments. A bard with abilities that provided multiple effects. She was a talent too valuable to let go.
Hmm… Mage, bard, close-range dealer…
If the summons took on the tank role, then all we needed was a proper long-range physical attacker or a mage more specialized in offense, and the party composition would be complete. Since Yeonhee already handled the ranged attacker role, two names immediately came to mind for the mage position: No Hayun, the ice mage, and Yu Dali, the nature mage. However, Yu Dali’s personality overlapped a bit with Bae Jua’s, which was slightly disappointing since both leaned toward support roles. On the other hand, No Hayun had a solid affiliation, so the fact that we couldn’t keep her long-term was a drawback. Her unpredictable nature was also a factor, but that wasn’t a major issue since I could control it.
If we formed a guild with that kind of composition…
I leapt back into the swarm of wolves and began sketching out an ideal future in my mind.
―――
“Kuh, it’s over. Haha.”
When the seemingly endless wave finally came to an end, Bae Jua looked at the cavern filled with wolf corpses and managed a smile. With dried blood and chunks of flesh clinging to her face, her expression looked like something straight out of a horror movie, but thanks to it, I could see her face again without her glasses. After brushing off the mess from her face, she still wore a somewhat displeased expression.
She looks so kind just from her face…
It was hard to believe that someone with such a face had extorted runes from the people who had been chasing us earlier.
The summoning circle has disappeared. Please exit the cave.
This is a reminder. The barrier will be activated soon, so everyone please exit the cave—
The staff member outside signaled for everyone to leave.
“Huu— Yeonhee, how was it today?”
“I had fun. It was hard to adjust at first, but… I think there’s a unique kind of enjoyment in experiencing a boss fight for the first time.”
“Haha? You really are unique, Yeonhee.”
“Ah… Is that so?”
Only one hunter had died—torn apart and dragged away while floating in the air—but many others had suffered near-fatal injuries. Still, perhaps because of the relief that it was over, everyone’s voices sounded surprisingly bright.
Where did that ridiculous rumor even come from… Was it that guy? The one with the red hat.
The face of the man I had met during the promotion test flashed through my mind. I had been thinking about him at least once a day anyway. That way, if I ever ran into him again, I could deal with him immediately. While it wasn’t accurate to say the boss fight had ended smoothly when someone had died, boss fights were inherently high-risk, high-reward. That was why the lingering spirits never participated in them. Unlike fields where monsters appeared steadily, boss fights had far too many variables and were much more dangerous.
Those whose faces were bright despite the grueling battle were the ones who had gained something, while those with sour expressions had earned little. Securing a high contribution ranking wasn’t an easy feat.
“We seem to be in the top ranks for contribution.”
“Yeah! Thanks to you, Yeonhee.”
“Not at all, hehe—”
“We got a lot of runes since they’re guaranteed drops, but the values are… Even if they’re random, after all that hard work, shouldn’t they reflect that a little?”
Our party had obtained eleven Runes of Swiftness, including the four extracted from the champions after the boss fight. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a satisfying haul, but none of them exceeded a value of 17. That was why Jua was so frustrated.
After catching our breath for a moment, we quickly left the Wolf Cave. The boss stage had lasted nearly an hour, and darkness was slowly settling over the dungeon. We had the summons carry torches to light up the surroundings as we walked. This would definitely draw a lot of monster aggro, but if they came at us, it would be a welcome bonus for me.