Emperor of Solo Play Chapter 165:
Chapter 165 – Trace of Bokan (1)
1 .
Koo-oohng!
The Frost Golem Snake, which boasted an enormous body length of 8 meters, appeared . The monsters had been stumbling backwards, but now they quickly turned their gazes towards the Golem in fright .
The shaggy Orangutans weren’t small . They were 2 meters tall, and every one of them had crude instruments for weapons . Moreover, they wore a very crude wooden mask . This was why one couldn’t see their expressions, but their actions clearly showed what emotion they were feeling .
Confusion .
Ooh-ggi-ggi! Ggi-ggi!
It was as if they weren’t satisfied with expressing their confusion with their actions . The 10 masked monsters let out a sharp cry . Their cries intermingled with each other to make a very unpleasant sound .
As if angered by this sound, the Frost Golem Snake opened its mouth wide towards the source of the sounds . White Frost exited from the Frost Golem Snake’s mouth, and it brushed past the monsters . The cold terror made the Masked Monster Orangutans shake in fear .
However, the Frost Golem weren’t the ones to defeat the source of the noises . It was the Skeleton Knights and the Skeleton Warriors . The monsters were blocked off by the Frost Golem Snake, so they really were like mices trapped in a jar . The Skeleton Knights and Warriors ruthlessly cut down the monsters as Frost swirled around them .
Kah-ahng!
In the beginning, it sounded like steel clashing on steel .
Poohk!
However, it quickly turned into the sound of swords cutting through flesh . Winter arrived in the green forest, which was occupied by the Masked Monster Orangutans .
Suddenly, flame erupted from one side .
Hwah-roo-roo!
It was a Griffin . It had the body of a lion . It also possessed the head and wings of an eagle . The Fire Golem had changed into the Griffin, and it flapped its wing to fly in the air . It let out an enormous flame from its mouth as the forest was turned into a sea of flame .
Ggi-ee! Ggi-ee!
While the forest was burning up, the masked monsters shot spears and arrows toward the Griffin Fire Golem flying above their heads . The arrows and spears left clear wounds on the Golem’s body, but fire quickly filled in the wounds .
The anger expressed by the monsters were egregiously futile .
While the monsters were focused on the Griffin Fire Golem, the Mini Ogre Skeleton Warriors quickly infiltrated the burning forest . They were small, but in certain aspects, they were as scary as the Skeleton Knights . The burning forest completely erased their presence .
They moved towards the Masked Monster Orangutans like assassins, and the Mini Ogre Skeleton Warriors targeted the lower half of the monsters .
Thighs were stabbed . Their knees were cut and their calves were severed .
When their legs were attacked, the Masked Monster Orangutans fell in place . Two or three Mini Ogre equipped with level 190 Unique weapons fell on the monsters . These weapons were too expensive for most normal Users to purchase . These weapons started hacking the fallen monsters into pieces .
Ggi-ee! Ggi-ee!
The sharp cries that had filled the forest was disappearing one by one .
However, in this battle, the largest curse wasn’t the winter or the flames . It was the black fog that was filling this stage .
[The King Orangutan fell into lethargy . ]
This monster was the king of the Masked Monster Orangutans . The King Orangutan was a level 240 middle boss .
In truth, no Users had any informations regarding this monster . This was the only stage where the King Orangutan appeared . Moreover, it had been only four days since this Orangutan’s Forest was found by a User .
When it became cursed, it started to pound its chest with its two hands like a gorilla .
[The King Orangutan’s Shout has chased the Curse away . ]
It had nullified all Debuff type Skills, and this was also the first time this setting was revealed .
After gaining confidence, the monster unfurled its crouched body . It was also the first time anyone saw the 6 meter tall monster stand at full height .
‘Ok . ’
Everything he was seeing now was new . However, Hyrkan wasn’t flustered .
‘I think I have a rough idea on what is going on . ’
It seemed he had figured out something . Hyrkan immediately gave the command for an attack to the waiting Death Knight . It was as if the Death Knight had been eagerly waiting for the signal . The Skeleton Steed let out its joy as it charged towards the King Orangutan .
Hyrkan was watching from 300 meters away, and he grabbed a Bone Spear . As he grabbed the Bone Spear, he immediately put a recovery Item within his mouth . It was very sour, and his tongue tingled . It was like the candy one ate on a dare .
Hyrkan furrowed his brow .
It was sour, but the effect was indisputable . His magical energy quickly climbed, and Hyrkan used the magical power to imbue a Curse on the Bone Spear .
On top of everything, this Bone Spear wasn’t made out a common Bone Ingredient . It was a Bone Spear made using a level 190 Boss Monster as ingredient .
It was incredibly powerful, and it was expensive .
He was burning money .
There was no other way to describe what he was doing, but he didn’t worry about the monetary part of the game .
He didn’t let it linger in his mind .
He only focused on the battle .
‘There is no cool time to the Dispel skill, and it can be used in an unlimited fashion . However, it has to pound its chest every time it wants to use the Skill . ’
King Orangutan .
As mentioned before, this monster had never been revealed to the world yet . Hyrkan was the first to discover this monster .
Even if Hyrkan combined his current experience with his past memories, he had never seen this monster in Warlord .
This was a natural course of events . From now on, Hyrkan would experience things he had never experienced before .
However, Hyrkan wasn’t flustered by it . There was no reason to be flustered .
‘I just have to stop it from pounding its chest . ’
Hyrkan had experienced too much to be taken aback by anything .
He proved that his determined attitude wasn’t a bluff when the Death Knight and the King Orangutan started to fight . Hyrkan took the situation into his own hands .
The battlefield was loud . It was like trying to make a phone call in a very noisy rock concert . It was an annoying environment, yet Hyrkan’s concentration allowed him to hit the bullseye . It hadn’t been a short distance . Hyrkan’s spear flew 300 meters before it was embedded in the King Orangutan’s body .
[King Orangutan was hit with the Sloth Curse . ]
[Curse Infection was activated on the King Orangutan . The curse has spread to the surrounding . ]
As predicted, the King Orangutan couldn’t dispel the curse . The Death Knight didn’t give it time to pound its chest .
At that moment…
[Your Level has increased . ]
The Level Announcement that notified Hyrkan reaching a higher level of 220 was heard .
2 .
[Hyrkan]
– Level : 220
– Class : Lich
– Title : 227
– Stats : Strength(2855)/Stamina(1855)/Intelligence(1952)/Magic Power(2222)
– In possession of the Ancient Power of ‘Frost’
“Ah . ”
Level 220 .
Even he thought his Level Up pace was ridiculous, yet Hyrkan had an unsatisfied expression on his face . There was an expression filled with worry behind the Hahoe Mask . He wasn’t worried about his Levels, Stats, Item setting and the current hunting speed . There was no way these issues would worry him . Instead, he was thrilled about those aspects of the game . Before he had returned to the past, he had dreamed about hunting this way .
‘Do I really have to go back?’
If looked in a certain way, his progress was the root of his worry .
‘Ah . This is driving me crazy . ’
He was doing too well .
Hyrkan wanted to maintain his Level Up pace . Most Users dreamed about hunting like him . He had the best Item setting, and he didn’t need to hold back in using recovery Items . Moreover, he didn’t have to worry about gathering **** items, since he was financially well off . He was basically monopolizing a hunting ground, and his Level Up pace matched what he experienced when his level was in double figures .
If he hated this, he shouldn’t be playing this game .
However, he had reached a point where he had to clean up the loose threads . He was already level 220 . After passing the level 200 mark, he had never visited the Class Tower yet .
‘I have to receive the Quests, and I have to learn new Skills… . At the very least, I have to visit the Class Tower… . ’
The problem was the fact that he had to cross over the Urugal mountain range to consolidate these loose ends .
Currently, the only rest place in the Black Continent was the town near the Heard Fortress ruin . The Heard Fortress town was getting bigger by the day, but it would take a long time for a Class Tower to be erected .
He had already anticipated the problem . In the past, the most annoying part of operating in the Black Continent was the travel .
This was why he had refused to go back at level 210 . He promised himself that he would go to the Class Tower when he was level 220 .
‘Still, the [Steel Golem] will surely be of help to me . I’ve also gained enough Skill Rank to acquire [Curse Shower] . ’
It was time for him to make good on his promise . If he kept pushing back a promise he had made to himself, he might die later on, because he lacked certain Skills . It would be better for him to go than regretting his inaction in death .
Moreover, there was no actual downside in going to the Class Tower for Hyrkan . Instead, he would gain a lot by going there .
There was only upsides to obtaining the [Steel Golem] Skill . There was no way he would suffer a loss .
The Skill allowed him to summon an Iron Golem, and its usefulness was beyond description . Its best attribute was defense . Its defense couldn’t be compared to the defense of the Earth Golem and the Frost Golem .
If he used the Clay Play skill to borrow the Spec of a monster with great defense, he could use Hardening to create a massive shield .
Then there was the romantic in him, who wanted to obtain it .
‘I want to mount Skeleton Magicians on the Iron Golem like Rich Lich… . ’
Rich Lich had used a combination of the Iron Golem and the Skeleton Magicians . The Iron Golem was like a moving castle wall, and it defended the Skeleton Magicians . The Skeleton Magicians let out a continuous barrage of magic behind this protection .
On top of it all, the fact that he would have 3 Golems was incredible in itself .
He’ll be able to defend attacks from three sides .
Currently, the Golem were mainly used in two ways . The Earth Golem was used to block the road, and the Fire Golem was used to gather the monsters .
Since most monsters couldn’t outnumber him anymore, Hyrkan was able to use this method .
This method was even effective against the Boss Monsters .
In such a situation, what would happen if the Iron Golem appeared to close the third side?
It would create a stage . It was a perfect stage where the Death Knight could go nuts!
Moreover, the [Curse Shower] was a very good skill . The Skill allowed a shower to fall, which could give Curse Effect to his enemies . It was an AOE Curse Skill . Recently, his Curse Skill proficiency reached a point where he would be able to learn this skill .
If he gained these Skills, he would basically achieve another Spec Up .
Moreover, the enemies he had to fight weren’t merely monsters .
‘There’s the Five Star **** . Moreover, the Stormhunters have gone through a significant Spec Up . ’
The Five Stars and the Stormhunters were also operating out of the Black Continent . They weren’t as fast as Hyrkan, but they were quickly increasing their Specs . They were quickly handing out Unique and Rare Rank level 200 Items to their members .
On the other hand, Hyrkan’s Item setting had remained the same . He couldn’t Spec Up . There were no Items better than the ones he was wearing right now . This was the price of being one of the leaders in this race .
In such a situation, there was no better way to Spec Up than to learn a free Skill from the Class Tower .
‘Recently, the traffic around the Voodook’s tunnel has lessened, but… . If it comes to it, I could join a party as a third wheel . ’
The current situation at the Voodook’s Tunnel was added to his list of worries .
‘I have no choice . ’
3 .
‘Maybe I should have crossed over by dying? It took me 2 days to get here, and it’ll take me two days to… Shit . If I could fly over the Urugal mountain range using the Wyvern Golem, I could do a round trip in one day . I have a mount I could ride, but the game mechanic won’t allow me to fly it . Fuck this game . ’
After obtaining his Skills from the Class Tower, he quickly moved his feet as he looked at the Skill descriptions .
Every second felt wasteful to him . Hyrkan didn’t bother hiding his identity as he descended the Class Tower . When he exited, there was a significant amount of attention directed towards him, but he was indifferent to it . Even if a User came up to him to ask for a screenshot, he planned on tripping the User and running away .
However, the one to stop his hurried steps wasn’t a User . It was a NPC .
“I have a letter for the disciple of Ahimbree-nim . It is addressed to Hyrkan-nim . ”
He had received a letter .
If the NPC had said it was just a letter, it wouldn’t have been able to stop Hyrkan’s steps . The problem was the person, who had sent it .
‘Ahimbree?’
Aside from the nickname of Rich Lich attributed to Hyrkan by the Users, he had a lot of Titles within this game . Arbiter of Corruption, Hero of the Hiban Kingdom… . If this was really a fantasy world, he would have a hard time hearing his name mentioned, because he had too many titles .
The title mentioned right now was Disciple of Ahimbree . It was a Title he had earned a long time ago, and it had almost faded into his memories . Hyrkan tilted his head in confusion, then he became delighted by the news .
‘I’m sure Ahimbree gave Skill Book Quests after lvl 200 . Could it be?’
This morsel was delicious enough to stop him in his tracks .
“Who sent me this letter?”
Hyrkan immediately became courteous, and he treated the NPC with more respect .
“It is from Ahimbree-nim . He personally left it here . He left instructions for me to deliver it when I see his disciples . ”
Hyrkan smiled .
‘I keep hitting the jackpot . ’
4 .
“Did you hear the news?”
Sohank shrugged his shoulders at Natal’s question .
It was a gesture that said, ‘What the **** are you talking about?’
“I’m talking about our take over . ”
“Ah . You mean the Fighters guild?”
Sohank continued to speak as if the news wasn’t noteworthy .
“It’s a good move . They have a lot of User good at fighting . Ah . I’m not saying our guys aren’t good at fighting… . ”
“I understand why we are taking over the Fighters guild . Still, I don’t get the reason why we have to be in such a rush . The First Head usually never fails to give us a heads up, and he almost never rushes any business dealings… . ”
Sohank patted Natal’s worried shoulders .
“At the very least, he isn’t messing up the deals . Don’t worry too much about it . Above all, we have another opportunity thanks to the First Head . As he had said before, we would have never gotten this opportunity if we hadn’t gambled everything in coming west . ”
When he mentioned the opportunity, Natal nodded his head . However, his expression refused to relax .
“In truth, we had to do something if we want to go up against them . ”
At Sohank’s words, the two of them turned towards the large mountain range in the distance .
It happened at that moment .
“Sohank-nim! Let’s fight once more!”
A carefree voice was heard coming from somewhere . When the source of the voice was located, one could see a User with his sword out . It was as if the User had readied himself for a battle . The two Users, who had been looking at the mountain range, looked at each other when they saw the new User .
Natal looked at this User with a very annoyed expression on his face .
“Kiyote!”
“Ah . It seems Natal-nim is here too . How are you doing?”
“Why do you keep making trouble for me . ”
Kiyote .
He was a User, who had become incredibly famous through PVP . The love calls from the 30 great guilds had been sent his way for a long time . It was difficult to hit the jackpot through PVP, but at the very least, you could get one’s basic needs through this content .
This was why everyone was surprised when they heard Kiyote had entered the Hydra guild .
First, Kiyote had ignored significant amount of contract fee in the past . He wasn’t interested in money, and he hadn’t been interested in the Hydra guild, since they didn’t really deal with PVP contents . There was no common ground between the two parties .
This was why everyone was curious . Why did Kiyote enter into the Hydra guild? What did the Hydra guild use to entice this User?
“I made it clear when I entered the Hydra guild . I’m allowed to challenge anyone at any time for a PVP match unless there is an unavoidable engagement . ”
This was the reason why he had joined .
The Hydra guild had drawn the line at not killing each other, but the Hydra guild agreed to let Kiyote challenge anyone to a PVP match if the situation allowed it .
There was no stronger Users than the ones in the 30 great guilds . This guild was filled with skilled Users .
His reputation took a bit of a hit when he was killed by the Killer Sinclair, but Sohank was still one of the top Strikers in Warlord .
From Kiyote’s point of view, this was the most enticing reason that made him join this guild .
It was rare to be able to do PVP match with a skilled User, who represented one of the 30 great guilds .
In truth, Natal put up the most ferocious opposition to this deal . Natal had expressed his discontent regarding the deal when the Nine Heads had a meeting .
Sohank was their most important fighting power, and he didn’t want Sohank to waste his time and effort in humoring Kiyote . Natal wouldn’t stand for it .
However, in the end, the Hydra guild accepted Kiyote into their folds . It was passed through a vote of majority as 8 Heads agreed with the decision . When it was such a decisive vote, Natal had no choice, but to accept it .
“A deal is a deal . ”
Unlike Natal, Sohank welcomed the addition of Kiyote .
“What conditions?”
“Let’s fight with no Skills . You possess the power of Darkness, so how could I win against you in terms of Skills?”
“What about Items?”
“We’ll go with what we have on right now . A handicap of that level would spice up this fight . ”
Sohank let out a smile . He actually welcomed Kiyote’s challenges . He was satisfied with Kiyote’s presence .
Natal shook his head from side to side as he looked at Sohank . The one, who welcomed Kiyote the most, was none other than Sohank . Sohank was called the most important fighting power amongst the 9 Heads, but it was probably hard being the only skilled User of his level in the guild .
In such a situation, it was imperative for them to add Users that didn’t fall below their expectations .
This made Natal think about another User .
‘If we are taking over the Fighters guild… . Will Whistling Pitbull be added to our ranks?’
Even the Fighters guild had a hard time dealing with the Whistling Pitbull . It boggled Natal’s mind that it would be his job to handle the Whistling Pitbull now .