Chapter 009 – Ahenna’s Forest (2)

The people that emerged in front of Sungjin were, once again, of different physique and races . A bespectacled young Westerner, a white-haired old man, a very short Southeastern Asian, and a tall white man .

But truth be told, their actual physique, size or race did not matter . The more reliable indicator of their strength was the titles they earned until now . Sungjin looked up and glanced at the titles .

The young Westerner had “Novice Swordsman”, the Southeastern Asian had “Novice Scout”, the white-haired old man had “Lumberjack”, and the tall white man had the “Hooligan” title . Sungjin shook his head in disappointment upon seeing their titles .

No one was particularly talented . But it was alright . As it was now, Sungjin had enough combat spec to solo this raid’s objectives for a Full Clear . The Operator began the mission briefing .

Phase 5 – Ahenna’s Forest Raid
Objective – Hunt the Wolf Queen ‘Ahenna’
Time Limit: 25 Minutes .

[Complete the objective within the Time Limit . ]
[If you cannot, you will die . ]

Once the Operator’s briefing ended, the tall white man with the ‘Hooligan’ title stepped forward and addressed the group .

“Gentlemen, gather up so we can see your ugly mugs . ”

The man truly embodied the word ‘Hooligan’; a tattoo covered his shoulders, and he carried himself with a subtle air of arrogance and authority .

The ‘Novice Scout’ Southeastern Asian man and the bespectacled ‘Novice Swordsman’ hesitated for a moment and moved closer to join the ‘Hooligan’ . The Hooligan complained .

“Wow… all I get are these weaklings . ”

The ‘Lumberjack’ old man and Sungjin maintained their distance from the campfire, watching wordlessly . The ‘Hooligan’ took a note of it and addressed them .

“Hey, Old Jack, can’t you hear me? Get over here . And you, Master Hunter? Get over here if you don’t want to die . ”

The mood was just horrible, much like the first Raid .

‘…I’ll have to carry out this raid by myself again . ’

Sungjin gave up trying to solicit cooperation . It didn’t even matter as he did not require their help . He had enough skill and power to complete the raid by himself . The only part that gave Sungjin insecurity was the secret location and the hidden boss .

Even though Sungjin was confident he could fight any battle perfectly, he didn’t feel the same when it came to searching and defeating the hidden boss within the time limit .

‘In the end, the biggest obstacle is the time limit . ’

[The Raid begins in 1 minute . ]

Before the Raid began, Sungjin called upon the Operator .

“Operator, add all stat points to Dexterity . ”

[Dexterity rose by 80 points . ]

Raising Dexterity was the obvious choice . After the tutorial, he didn’t feel that anything in this raid could seriously threaten him .

He could already cut the strongest mob in this forest, the Grizzly Bear, in a single strike . Instead of raising strength, it made more sense to invest in Dexterity to increase his speed even further .

But now that he had invested in Dexterity, he was regretting investing into Endurance .

‘Maybe I wasted the points . I know I have to raise it at some point, but speed is more important right now . ’

And while Sungjin was reflecting over his point allocations,

“Hello hello!”

From the woods, a thin man walked out . The 6th person . Everyone’s gaze was drawn towards him .

He was carrying a rucksack almost as large as his body . When Sungjin saw him, he recalled his memories from the past .

‘Oh yeah, he exists . ’

“I am the wandering merchant Aindell . Please purchase some goods from me before the raid begins . Since we are way out in the boonies, the goods here will be more expensive than those in a regular shop . He he”

The Operator’s cube only sold items during the first chapter . Now the only place available to buy them from was the Black Market .

But from time to time, Wandering Merchants arrived at the raid location to sell on site . The Hooligan approached him .

“Who the **** are you?”

The Merchant smiled sheepishly .

“As I explained, I am the wandering merchant Aindell . I sell potions and other small goods . Also…”

The Hooligan gripped him by the collar and lifted him up threateningly .

“You don’t get Coins, give me all you’ve got, bitch”

A warning came from the Cubes .

[Warning:]
[Attacking a non-hostile lifeform will cause penalties from the Raid Rewards . ]

The Hooligan let go of the merchant immediately .

“Whoa whoa . That’s no good at all . My bad, sorry about that . ”

“Cough cough . . ”

Aindell let out few fake coughs and continued .

“As I was saying, the wildlife here are afraid and weak to fire… . So I recommend purchasing some Salamander’s ash . For archers, I also sell fire arrows . I don’t need to explain how useful Recovery Potions are, right?”

At his sales pitch, ‘Novice Swordsman’, ‘Novice Scout’, and even ‘Lumberjack’ lined up and bought items from the merchant .

“Three Salamander’s ash please . ”

“How much are the fire arrows?”

“I want three Salamander’s ash too, and three Recovery Potions . ”

The others quickly spent their coins earned from the previous raid on consumables . Their actions made sense since they all just wanted to survive .

[Raid begins in 30 seconds] .

The Hooligan watched for a few moments, and then hesitantly asked,

“Hey, uh… give me some Salamander’s ash too . ”

He was also able to purchase an item . The Merchant did not hold a grudge against the Hooligan and magnanimously sold it at the same price . Aindell directed his gaze towards Sungjin once he was done finalizing the transaction .

“Sir, do you need any items?”

Sungjin declined, shaking his head .

“Hehe, understood . ”

He smiled and laughed jovially . But Sungjin found that to be even more unsettling . He could not tell if this was a human or something else .

‘Is it like an NPC in an MMORPG?’

The Operator finally began the countdown .

[Raid will commence in 10 seconds . 10, . . ]

‘I guess it’s nothing strange when there’s even an Operator . ’

Sungjin pushed aside his thoughts and drew out his sword .

“Hey, I told you to get over here!”

The Hooligan tried to get Sungjin to join him, but Sungjin replied

“Be careful and move as a group . Hunt the lone Wolves and Bears so you won’t die . Be careful about the Pumas that suddenly drop out of trees . ”

Sungjin suggested to them .

[2, 1, 0 the Raid Begins!]

At the same time as the raid start, Sungjin dashed into the dark forest . He heard Aindell’s voice from behind .

“I will remain in this location . If you need consumables during the middle of the raid, please come by at any time!”

Hearing that, Sungjin thought to himself .

‘There is no chance of that happening . I need to save up money and buy my Katana . ’

*

Sungjin rapidly hunted every wild beast he could lay his eyes on as he charged through the forest . He hunted packs of wolves led by the Dire Wolves, as well as Pumas that silently dropped out of trees .

“Guwah!”

A grizzly bear charged at a speed unfitting of its size . But Sungjin cut it down in one swift strike . Thanks to more than 200 points invested in both Strength and Dexterity, any wildlife that came in contact with his sword was cut down like a piece of paper .

Sungjin didn’t concentrate on the fights, but rather on finding anomalies in the area . Clearing the raid was not high on his priority list .

Clearing the Chapter and having high contribution points were nice . But because Sungjin had both the Heart of Gold and the ‘Master Hunter’ title equipped, missing out on a few stat points and Black coins were acceptable .

The most important thing was the Item rewards obtained from the hidden bosses and locations . These items were guaranteed to be rated ‘Heroic’ at the minimum . Items he would gladly spend tens of thousands of Black Coins in the market to buy .

From time to time, Sungjin saw Direwolves mixed within the crowd . Unlike other mobs, even he couldn’t take them on lightly . They were strong, dexterous, and most importantly, cunning .

They called upon Gray wolves to perform cooperative attacks . Of course, the side that perished were the wolves .

“Haa… . Operator . ”

Sungjin addressed the Operator after spending a considerable amount of time cutting the animals apart to pieces .

“Time?”

[19 minutes 49 seconds remaining . ]

He spent almost 5 minutes turning the forest inside out .

‘It should be fairly close now…’

The Wolf Queen ‘Ahenna’ was not in a set location . She appears automatically after the number of wolves slain pass a certain threshold .

“Kwah!”

Sungjin quickly twisted his body and spun around with his Katana . Above, a Shadow Puma was cut from the neck to its armpit .

‘These guys always ambush just as I forget about them . ’

When Sungjin was about to sheath his Katana, he spotted a Gray wolf between the trees . Sungjin drew the Katana out once more .

But, unlike other Gray wolves, it neither attacked nor watched him . It faced the sky and let out a howl .

“Awoooo~~”

Soon, other wolves in the area joined in .

“Awoo Awoo”

The surrounding was now filled with the howl of the wolves .

“Awoooo~!”

With so many wolves, the howling continued without an end . Listening carefully, Sungjin could tell .

“…She’s here . ”

And as if to confirm his feelings, the Operator announced the arrival of the boss .

[Warning! Boss Monster]
[The Queen of Wolves ‘Ahenna’ has appeared!]

A Moment later, a wolf twice as large as a Grizzly Bear appeared . Cunning eyes and a coat as white as snow, Ahenna looked almost divine .

‘But foes are foes . ’

Sungjin prepared himself, drawing his Katana .

“AWOOOO~”

Ahenna howled in the wind, and a dozen or so Dire Wolves appeared at her side . Each of the Dire Wolves brought with them several Gray Wolves . Sungjin quickly estimated their numbers .

‘Just a rough guess… 50 to 60…’

The most difficult part about this raid was that there was a massive numerical disadvantage .

‘Last time, I had great teammates, and so we were able to overcome this Boss somehow…’

And while lost in thought, he was interrupted by voices coming from behind him .

“Where is she? That queen bitch?”

“I think I heard the howling from over there, sir… . Wait, wha wha?”

“What the hell? That gigantic beast is a wolf? We’re supposed to fight that?”

Sungjin did not turn . It was obvious who it was . He gripped his katana tightly and bit his lips .

Translation Notes:

Sungjin received 60 status points from the tutorials, yet his stat points rose by 80 . We have contacted the author and will hear back from him shortly .

Also, we have proposed that it is strange that Sungjin (after having already seen many NPC-like characters from the previous life) would muse about Aindell being like an NPC from an MMORPG . Again, we will keep in touch with you if the author decides to make changes .