Ssalmuk Hero's Capitalist Streaming — Episode 9

In the world of Laika, an Epic monster is a powerful creature sometimes referred to as an "Elite Monster" or a "Unique Monster."

It couldn't hold a candle to a boss-tier monster, of course, but it was still in a league entirely beyond ordinary mobs.

What made Epic monsters especially dangerous was that each one possessed at least one unique skill, so the standard approach was for two or three players to party up and tackle them together. After all, it took at least one dedicated person to decipher the gimmick and lock the skill down.

Granted, a solo run wasn't impossible if your stats were strong enough to back it up……

Clank—

A Level 9 Dave, dressed in gear that looked like it had been salvaged from a rag pile, was obviously not that kind of case.

Awooooo—!!

Which meant the Constellations had no choice but to panic from the very start.

Even "Profligate 2nd Imperial Throne," the very Constellation who'd set the mission, was among them.

No matter how much this mission had been designed to mess with the host, nobody had imagined a scenario where he'd charge in without even forming a party.

And so the Constellations were certain of one thing.

In just a few moments, that naive little player would……

be battered half to death by the Moon Shadow Wolf's skill, jolt awake in terror, and tear his Return Scroll without a second thought.

Grrrrrrowl—!

But no matter how much of a racket the Constellations kicked up, Dave didn't react at all.

Instead……

Tat-tat—!

he simply licked his lips(?) and hurled himself at the Moon Shadow Wolf.

Obviously I already knew.

I knew that if I couldn't evade Moonlight Surge, the Moon Shadow Wolf's signature ability, I'd end up on death's door in a single hit.

Which was also why I knew the easiest path to taking this thing down was to break the gimmick itself and shut out its unique ability entirely.

The Howl was the trigger condition for Moonlight Surge.

Denying that Howl was, by the book, the easiest of all the Moon Shadow Wolf strategies.

But……

'I haven't fought it that way since run three.'

For someone who'd killed the Moon Shadow Wolf several thousand times over, there was no reason to put up with that kind of tedium.

Why?

Because I could just dodge everything.

And no, I'm not talking about dodging through raw physical superiority.

Stat for stat, the Moon Shadow Wolf obviously outclassed my current build by a wide margin.

Reacting to the attack visually and evading it was as good as impossible.

But…… the trick was to pre-position myself, ahead of time, in the spots where Moonlight Surge simply couldn't reach, according to the wolf's attack pattern.

Tat-tat—!

Exactly like this.

Kill a Moon Shadow Wolf ten thousand or so times, and there are patterns you learn whether you want to or not.

It's not like I memorize them with my brain, either.

My body simply reacts on its own, every single time.

Moonlight Surge always came with a wind-up — a howling tell — and simply reading that tell had become enough for me to instinctively find the blind spot.

For a talentless hero-in-training trying to survive, this level of effort wasn't a choice. It was a requirement.

Grrrrr—!

And once you reach the point where that's possible, the moment Moonlight Surge fires actually becomes the best window to deal damage.

While the Moon Shadow Wolf rode the moonlight in its charge, it was left completely defenseless.

My shovel, thrust upward at precisely the right moment, drove straight for the back of the wolf's neck.

Shraaak—!

Realistically, my attack power alone could never punch through that hide in one go.

But with the wolf left wide open by its own Moonlight Surge, momentum dragging it rapidly in the opposite direction……

Shhhk—

even a small force could deal explosive damage.

In other words — a counter attack.

In Laika, this method of turning an enemy's own speed and strength against them is called a Counter Attack.

Kyaaak—!

Blindsided by the sudden agony, the wolf shrieked and stumbled backward.

It must have been stunned.

It had been such a clean counter that if my weapon had been a proper high-grade 2T blade instead of a junky iron shovel, it might have dropped the beast to critical condition in a single blow.

Honestly, I was a little surprised myself.

I'd aimed for it, sure — but I hadn't expected it to land that beautifully.

Was countering always this easy?

Baring its teeth wider against the pain, the beast lunged back at me with fresh ferocity, this time going straight for my throat.

Awooo—!

Now was when I actually needed to be on my toes.

Fighting it in an unrehearsed free-for-all, outside its scripted patterns, was the harder part for me.

Not that it was beyond me, of course.

Swish—!

Dodge what can be dodged.

Tat-tat—

Block what can't be dodged. Simple as that.

CLANG—!

Keep your focus absolutely locked in, and there's always a way.

KAAAANG—!

A crisp, ringing sound filled the clearing — the kind of note you'd expect from two blades of forged metal grinding against each other.

The iron shovel meeting the wolf's claws head-on.

Proof that my parry off the shovel's spine had landed, clean and true.

And 99% is practically knocking on the door of a Perfect Parry, isn't it?

That's supposed to be genuinely difficult, too……

Kang! Kang! KANG!

After batting away its flailing forepaws in quick succession, I slipped straight into the wolf's guard, twisted my whole body, and slammed the shovel's handle into its belly——

Thud—

then carried that rotational momentum straight through, raking the shovel blade up and into the back of its neck once more.

SHRAAAK—!

This was the spot I'd been aiming for from the very beginning.

A wounded area naturally becomes the most vulnerable weak point on the body — and nothing in the world deals more damage than striking that spot with precision.

Grrrrr—

The wolf's HP gauge had already been carved down past 30%, which told you everything: the strategy worked, and it worked hard.

The stunned reactions of the Constellations pulled an involuntary smile across my face.

Adorable, the lot of them.

They seemed to have plenty of questions……

CLANG—!

SHRAAAK—!

Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly free enough to give a lecture right now.

AWOOOOOO—!

Because the wolf's eyes had gone completely feral, and it was howling yet again.

Meaning it was winding up for a second Moonlight Surge.

If I fumbled the timing here and let the second surge fly, then no matter how well I'd done up to this point, my only option would be tearing that Return Scroll.

So I focused.

And a single step.

Tat—!

That one spare movement was all it took to slip out of Moonlight Surge's path.

SWEEEEE—!

Moonlight Surge simply wasn't the kind of skill that could redirect its trajectory mid-charge.

And now it was my turn to punish the beast.

When a big skill fails, a big risk follows — that's just how it works.

CRACK—!

My shovel's spine hammered into the back of the wolf's skull with a satisfyingly heavy thud.

But an ordinary(?) hit like that wasn't going to accomplish much.

My iron shovel had lower attack power than the basic starter gear the village chief hands out, so plain old hits like this could never deal serious damage.

Which is to say — this too was just buildup, setting up the strike at its weak point.

"Hup."

I reversed the descending shovel and drove the iron handle hard up under the wolf's jaw.

THWANG—!

The jaw snapped upward, and the wounded back of its neck was left exposed whether it liked it or not.

Into that exact spot, I buried the shovel blade once more — no mercy, no hesitation.

SHHK—!

This time, the blow ignored ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a full 70% of its defense.

Meaning it hurt even worse than the last one.

Grrrrgk—!

The wolf bubbled out a pained snarl through clenched fangs.

And now — the final phase.

Just a little more focus. That's all it would take.

The key to this final phase was making sure the wolf could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never fully trigger Blood Rage.

The moment it smelled my blood, the ability would grant it life drain while boosting its speed by roughly 1.5 times.

Plenty of beast-type Epics carried it, and once you let it activate, things got ugly fast.

The life drain dragged fights into grueling wars of attrition, and the speed boost doubled the difficulty of every gimmick besides.

For someone as badly outgunned in raw stats as me, it was a situation to avoid at all costs.

And how do you keep it from going off?

Whoosh—

Simple. Don't take any damage.

Meaning: don't get hit. At all.

CLANG—

SHRAAAAK—!

As the battle's tempo climbed higher and higher, the Constellations' chat accelerated right along with it.

It felt like my viewer count had quietly ticked up in all the chaos, but I decided I'd check the numbers after I finished strangling the wolf.

Grrk—!

With the last of its strength, the beast lunged to clamp down on my forearm — so I jammed the iron shovel into its mouth instead, drew the dagger from my hip in a reverse grip, and drove it into the back of the wolf's neck without hesitation.

Thud— thud— SHRAK—!

And my final strike succeeded in severing the beast's breath for good.

Even by my own account, the fight had flowed as smooth as water.

'Ha……! Nailed it.'

With my current stats, I didn't think I could've put on a cleaner raid than this.

I'd been confident I could win, but I hadn't expected to win this cleanly, this flawlessly.

From the opening counter attack all the way to the near-perfect parry.

Pulling off a performance like that against an Epic with more than double my stats.

Fights on the official server definitely resolved more according to plan than they ever did in the beta.

Did I…… actually awaken or something, crossing over to the live server?

Anyway……

Maybe it was because this was my first Epic hunt since entering the official server, but the dopamine hit was substantial.

Epics really do have the best loot feel.

Watching the rewards I'd been counting on roll in one after another, a satisfied smile spread across my face all on its own.

A free title upgrade, on top of a nice pile of junk-drop loot.

And the fact that it dropped the utterly useless junk item, the Mark of Moonlight, confirmed it — this wolf was, without a doubt, the same Moon Shadow Wolf I knew.

Heh heh.

With Constellations actually marveling at the show, my satisfaction doubled.

Now I'd pop off my Deboning trait to photocopy some LP, collect the mission reward on top……

and that would be a perfect start to the day.

But just as I was rolling around drowning in my own happiness, something happened that made my eyes go completely round.

Vmmmmm—!

I hadn't expected it. Not even one cell of me had.

A beam of light suddenly erupted from the Moon Shadow Wolf's corpse.