Triple Wolf Extermination
He headed to the mercenary guild first.
When he handed over his badge to select a commission, the staff member tilted their head.
"You already have quite a high score?"
"Pardon?"
"Ah, you qualify for a B-rank promotion quest, but you haven't taken it yet."
Only then did Mu-hyuk check his mercenary points.
He had no idea when he'd accumulated so many.
"I must have overlooked it. So B-rank starts at 920 points?"
"Yes. The required 3,000 points are deducted, leaving the remaining 920."
"Then give me the B-rank promotion quest."
"Understood."
Promotion quests were assigned randomly.
Easy or hard, it didn't matter.
He just hoped it was a simple hunting commission.
The staff member looked up.
"Please confirm the quest."
"Ah, yes."
At that moment, a message appeared.
Accepting 'B-Rank Promotion Quest'.
Mu-hyuk nodded.
"Confirmed."
"Good luck, then."
Leaving the mercenary guild, he first checked the quest details.
B-Rank Promotion Quest
📍 Hunt Triple Wolves and acquire their hearts as spoils of war (0/100)
Triple Wolf.
A level 83 monster, a wolf with three heads.
Its body was exaggeratedly the size of a small house, and it had large, sharp horns on its foreheads.
That made its front paw strikes, charges, and bites all lethally dangerous.
"Skeleton Warhorse Summon."
But Mu-hyuk was plenty satisfied just knowing it was a hunting quest.
He pressed forward.
The warhorse began to move.
Clop, clop.
Ignoring the stares from other users, he headed to the warp gate.
*
The west gate of Kabrin Village.
About ten minutes of riding brought him to a small mountain range—the habitat of the Triple Wolves he needed to hunt.
He slowed the warhorse to a leisurely pace.
As soon as he entered the mountain range's outskirts, he summoned skeletons. Thirty-three of them appeared.
He put eight enhanced skeletons in the lead, lined up the Bone Swords behind them in single file, and advanced.
The strong bows and Bone Archers took positions on the same line as Mu-hyuk, while the mages settled behind him.
Kirrik, kiririk.
The characteristic skeleton sounds echoed from all directions.
Reliable bunch.
As he felt satisfied, a wolf's howl rang out.
Halt.
He scanned the surroundings.
Grrr.
The growling grew louder bit by bit.
Not just one or two.
Waiting patiently, six Triple Wolves appeared. With six level 83 monsters, there was some pressure, but Mu-hyuk trusted.
In his current self.
And in his more powerful summons.
Warhorse dismiss.
After dismounting, he drew the sword from his waist.
Transform.
The sword turned into a bow.
Storm. Powerful Arrow Shot.
He aimed at one and loosed an arrow.
Pang!
-580 HP
-1,114 Additional Damage
Special Status: Excessive Bleeding
It twisted its body, so he missed the forehead, but the shoulder was hit regardless.
Satisfied with the rising damage numbers, he smiled.
Of course, he didn't stop commanding.
By now, the six enhanced skeletons had spread out in all directions, each handling one Triple Wolf while the Bone Swords closed in for support.
The remaining two enhanced skeletons guarded the archers and mages.
Strong bows, Bone Archers—rapid fire.
Bone arrows shot out, striking their bodies, and unable to resist his curiosity, Mu-hyuk opened the detailed info to check the damage.
'Strong Bow 1' deals 220 damage.
'Strong Bow 2' deals 219 damage.
'Strong Bow 3' deals 262 damage.
'Bone Archer 1' deals 164 damage.
'Bone Archer 2' deals...
Substantial damage poured in relentlessly. Keeping an eye on the detailed info, he gradually herded the Triple Wolves into one spot.
Mages—prepare attack.
Once they were perfectly clustered.
Kwagwagwang!
Six elemental magics exploded.
'Enhanced Mage' deals 738 damage.
'Mage 1' deals 517 damage.
'Mage 2' deals 505 damage.
'Mage 3' deals...
The damage gap between enhanced and regular mages was clear.
That was enough to gauge.
Mu-hyuk closed the detailed info.
Transform.
The bow became a staff.
Blessing of the Dead.
Purple light enveloped the Triple Wolves' bodies.
-1,233 HP
Transform again.
The staff became a sword.
Wind Step. Storm.
Cleaving through the wind, he dashed to a Triple Wolf's side and slashed at one head.
-700 HP
-1,340 HP
A chilling sensation accompanied silver blood leaking from the half-severed neck wound.
Kraaaargh!
Ignoring the roar, he spun and slashed another neck.
-701 HP
Thus, he inflicted critical hits on all three heads.
Strong bows, Bone Archers—all rapid fire.
Issuing the command, he moved to another Triple Wolf. In this way, he landed three criticals on each of the six, then retreated to the mages' position.
Transform.
Sword to bow, nocked an arrow.
Enhanced Bone 1, 2—move back.
Enhanced Bone 3—to the left.
Enhanced Bone 4—to the right.
Once more, he herded the scattering Triple Wolves back into one spot.
Mages—magic ready.
All enhanced bones—retreat.
This drew the Triple Wolves to the center.
The moment had come.
Kwagwagwang!
The six mages' spells erupted again, and bone arrows pierced the exploding aftermath, severing their last breaths.
Experience gained.
'Triple Wolf Heart (Quest Item)' acquired.
He pulled the heart from his inventory.
It had a bizarre shape.
Gross.
He quickly stowed it away and pressed on.
*
Enhanced Bone 3 blocked the Triple Wolf's charge with its shield.
-143 HP
Enhanced Bone 4 beside it swung its sword down.
Slash.
211 damage landed. The Triple Wolf howled and swiped with its front paw, then leaped to bite Enhanced Bone 4's shoulder—but the bone's thickness prevented easy breakage.
Enhanced Bone 3, who had been shielding, moved in that instant. It swung its sword repeatedly, striking the beast.
-222 HP
-220 HP
But the Triple Wolf was no pushover.
Kraaaang!
Its charges and paw strikes were threatening enough, but the bite damage was especially high. With three heads, three bites came in succession—a real problem. Even now, Enhanced Bone 3 blocked with its shield, but one head slipped past and bit the thigh.
-412 HP
-421 HP
-416 HP
All three heads biting at once shaved off over 1,200 HP.
Blessing of the Dead.
Fortunately, Mu-hyuk healed them at the right moment. But as time passed, the two enhanced bones were inevitably pushed back.
Enhanced bones topped out at around 3,000 HP, while the Triple Wolf had a whopping 40,000.
Still, Mu-hyuk watched.
With only one Triple Wolf left anyway, it was a chance to test the enhanced bones' strength.
Kiririk!
He pushed them to their limits.
They inflicted just over 10,000 damage to the Triple Wolf.
What about three?
Enhanced Bone 1—charge.
Three enhanced bones surrounded it from all sides, swinging swords indiscriminately.
Any taking hits raised shields to minimize damage. He meticulously calculated dropping HP and incoming damage.
Hmm, roughly early to mid-30,000s.
Conclusion: three enhanced bones and one Bone Archer could handle a Triple Wolf.
Very satisfying.
Time to finish it.
Strong bows, Bone Archers—rapid fire.
Nine bone arrows flew out.
Pang!
Immediately, another nine.
Total eighteen.
150 to 250 damage each.
At least 3,000 HP gone in one go.
Mu-hyuk handled the finisher.
Storm. Powerful Arrow Shot.
A critical exploded, killing it.
Experience gained.
'Triple Wolf Heart (Quest Item)' acquired.
With so many more enhanced skeletons, hunting had become incredibly easy. Even against level 83 Triple Wolves, there was no real difficulty.
Step.
He advanced again.
Two more Triple Wolves appeared.
No need for Mu-hyuk to step in.
The skeletons handled them alone.
Kr, kraaaar!
Four enhanced bones formed a squad per Triple Wolf.
Bone Swords flanked left and right.
Nine swords thrusting in left the Triple Wolves helpless.
And that was it?
Bone arrows firing every few seconds embedded everywhere, hindering movement.
The 40,000 HP vanished in a flash.
*
A group ventured into the Triple Wolf habitat.
"This the place?"
"Yeah, definitely saw it around here."
"You really not gonna tell the guild master?"
"Why bother?"
"Still..."
"Hey, hey. We found it. It's fine."
"Yeah, it's fine."
"R-Really?"
"Told ya."
Soon all five users were chuckling.
"But we didn't check the level, right?"
"Gonna now."
"Doesn't a message pop up at first?"
"Said special dungeon, but no level. Probably shows deeper in, but too risky solo, so called you guys first."
"Good call."
"Eh, if low-level, just sell it."
"Wasted on lowbies anyway."
"Heh, if high?"
"We clear it later, obviously."
They chattered nonstop.
Grrr.
Then they fought three appearing Triple Wolves.
"Cross Slash!"
"Downward Strike!"
Two warriors tanked the three Triple Wolves while one archer loosed arrows nonstop. One mage prepped a powerful spell, and the priest monitored statuses, healing as needed.
"Damage!"
"OK!"
The two warriors pulled back.
"Fist of Flames!"
A flame fist from the sky smashed down.
Kuwoong.
The solid damage staggered the Triple Wolf momentarily.
"Nice, again!"
Through organic repetition, they felled the three wolves and grinned smugly.
"Piece of cake."
"Level 83s are on the weak side, but they can swarm five at a time if careless. That's why few users come. Without guild backup, even we might struggle."
"Hmm, average users probably need three mid-80s for five."
"Likely."
"Heh, we're early 80s and it's easy."
"Our gear's top-tier."
"Yeah, cleared two dungeons."
Normal ones, sure.
"Hope this dungeon's high-level. Third clear then."
"Any non-mega guild got three clears?"
"Nah."
"Heh, and it's a special dungeon."
"Jackpot."
"Rewards'll be insane."
Chatting away, they pushed on.
Past the entrance, midway up. There, they veered left off the path. Already a low-traffic hunting ground, the off-path area had zero users.
"Hey, where is it?"
"Almost there."
As he spoke.
Clop, clop.
They spotted a single user riding forward on horseback.