He gripped his sword and began to breathe quietly. Around him, two wolves circled, waiting for an opening. The corners of Sung-hoon's mouth twitched upward as he took a long breath in and out. Normally, taking on two wolves is no easy feat, but one was bleeding from its front paw and the other was drooling from the corner of its mouth like it had eaten something bad.
Their fur was matted and skinny, and it was hard to tell if they were in a normal state, but Sung-hoon was undeterred. The two dogs were vicious.
They'd come all this way to kill him for killing all their friends and causing them pain.
'First things first....'
Moving at a crawl, Sung-hoon decided to deal with the wounded wolf first. He couldn't move properly due to the trap he had set. Once he had his target, there was no hesitation.
"Cha!"
With a flourish, he slashed his sword downward from top to bottom. The sword, which had been calibrated by the Inferior Sword Technique and given additional damage by the power of the Three Realms Sword Technique, swung with a fierce sound. But a wolf was a wolf even if it was wounded, and the wolf that had dodged Sung-hoon's sword by stepping back while letting out a sharp screech still charged at Sung-hoon.
Despite the desperate situation, Sung-hoon simply smirked as usual and raised his left hand, which wasn't holding his sword, and brought it toward the wolf.
"Shock!"
"Crack!"
A small bolt of lightning shot out of Sung-hoon's palm and struck the wolf. By putting bonus stat points into his magic, he could use Shock when he reached three points of magic.
Shock, with its low skill and rank, probably wouldn't kill a rat. However, shock was strictly electrical in nature, and even if it was weak, it was inevitable that any living creature would stiffen somewhat upon being struck by electricity, and that slight stiffening was a great opportunity for Sung-hoon, who was right in front of him.
He reversed his grip on the sword and plunged it into the wolf's throat, causing it to collapse, but his joy was quickly followed by a frown.
"Thud!"
The other wolf hadn't missed the opening his companion had created. Its fangs sank into Sung-hoon's shoulder. Pain began to surge through his shoulder, but luckily, his lowest-grade battle coat was worth its weight in gold, blocking the teeth.
He tried to pull his sword out, but it wasn't going to come out easily once it was pierced through the wolf's body and embedded in the ground. Moreover, the wolf's bite on his right shoulder made it difficult to pull it out.
The lowest level of swordsmanship and the lowest level of martial arts he had studied hadn't told him what to do in this situation; he just did what his head told him to do.
Letting go of his sword, he stomped the ground and fell backwards.
"Crack!"
"Son of a bitch. Did you have fun?"
Crushed by Sung-hoon's weight and strength, the wolf groaned as it flailed its legs. It looked sympathetic enough, but unfortunately, the creature Sung-hoon had killed the most was a wolf-like dog. In short, the wolf's appearance did not give Sung-hoon any hesitation.
Boom!
He pulled out a small dagger from his arm and plunged it straight into its neck, feeling the hot blood run down the blade and into his palm. The sensation of stabbing something was more powerful with a dagger than with a longsword. With a look of disgust on his face, Sung-hoon withdrew the dagger and stood up to dust himself off.
Looking around, he saw the bodies of fallen wolves everywhere. He didn't need to count them. Thirty wolves. It was absolutely impossible for an ordinary human to kill thirty wolves with a single sword, and that was true for Sung-hoon as well. But Sung-hoon had managed to kill them all.
"This is going to be a habit."
After the first time I used poison to kill a rat, I was completely sold on the idea of using poison. Mixing a little poison into my food drastically reduced the difficulty of the quest. And it wasn't just poison. Setting up traps was also very helpful. I didn't have the specialized ingredients to make them powerful enough, but the pit traps worked well enough.
I also discovered a combination of skills.
Using the lowest level of Dragon Poison and the lowest level of Trap Setting, I was able to reduce the chances of people realizing that the food was poisoned. Using these different skills, I was able to complete the mission with flying colors.
After some time passes and no message pops up that the quest is complete, Sung-hoon looks around and finds a wolf that is still alive. The wolf, pierced by a longsword, stared back at him.
Push!
-You have completed the Sick Wolf Hunt quest.
-You have fulfilled the Slayer requirements.
-Base reward: 2000 Guilds, +3 Reputation.
-Additional reward: 6000 guilders, +2 bonus stat points, and wolfskin gloves.
-The clear process is being calculated.
-Strength increased by 1. Stamina increased by 1.
In the now familiar room, Sung-hoon began to smile a little. In his inventory, the number 70,000 shone brightly, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing. He had only a few battle rations and poison potions left after building the poison trap, but this was enough to make up for it.
I immediately put on my rewarded wolfskin gloves and opened my stats window. Without hesitation, I funneled both points into my magic and staggered back to my feet, momentarily overcome by a wave of dizziness - no wonder. Driven by the excitement of the hunt and the need to earn his first bonus, Sung-hoon had spent the next two days holed up in the mission station with little sleep. He drank a recovery potion in between, but it was time for a break.
'Most of the initial bonuses have been taken by now anyway.
After repeating the quest a few times and watching the people, Sung-hoon realized that he was quite an unusual case. Most, if not all, of the people were carrying a sword or some other weapon, as if to match their beginner's clothes. Only a handful of people were dressed differently, or carried anything other than the obvious longsword.
One of those few, or maybe a group of them, would form a party and complete the quest.
"Hhhhhhh!"
I staggered down the stairs and saw the group still huddled together. Some were trying to save the party, others were comparing notes on the slips of paper with the quests on them. It was already dark enough outside the window, but they were still pushing through. As he approached the agent, Sarah, who was now speaking, she greeted him first.
"Wow, you're already on...."
"Aaaaah, okay, just be quiet. It's not good to attract attention."
"Hehehe. Still, I'm surprised. Are you feeling okay?"
"What's wrong with me, I'm fine. More than that, do you happen to know where the inn is?"
"The inn? Exit the building and go straight to the right until you come to a large plaza, then turn left and follow it for a while and you'll find it."
"Thank you. I'm very tired and I think I'll go to bed."
"You don't settle your loot?"
"What?"
"The loot."
Sung-hoon was stunned into silence by Sarah's words, his mouth hanging open, but she didn't seem to notice.
"You must have gotten some teeth or leather or something in your quest, and if you take it to the general store, you'll still get a good price for it."
"Ugh."
Sung-hoon groaned for only one reason.
"I didn't take it!
In his eagerness to monopolize the early bonuses, he'd forgotten to take anything from the corpses. I hadn't thought of it that way, since the guild would give me enough for completing the quest in the first place.
"Miss Sarah."
"Yes."
"Can't I go back to a quest location I've already completed?"
"You can, but the quest itself will be reset, and the rewards will be reduced once you've completed it. Do you want to do it again?"
"...Uh, no. It's okay."
Swallowing his tears and smiling brightly, Sung-hoon sighed at the ground and started to leave the mission, but the thought of the stats and 70,000 guilders he had gained today calmed him down a bit. However, once outside the mission, Sung-hoon couldn't help but put his hand on his sword.
"What, what?
The area around the mission was densely packed with people in every alleyway, and if they all focused their gaze at the same time, the recipient of that gaze would be surprised unless they had a very strong heart. As he stealthily brought his hand to his sword, people did not approach him, but merely stared at him from the periphery.
The strange silence was broken by the approach of a boy who looked like he was still in elementary school.
"Uncle, can you give me a penny?"
"Uncle...."
"Oh, no, brother!"
At the word "uncle," Sung-hoon's expression turned sour, and the boy quickly changed his tune and said "brother" instead. And before Sung-hoon could say anything, he dropped to his knees and started sobbing.
"Today, I haven't eaten anything since morning, and I was suddenly kidnapped to this place, so I don't know what's what...ugh. I don't even need much, please, even 1 guilder...."
Seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks, Sung-hoon casually pulled out a guilder from his inventory and was about to hand it over, when he stopped himself. It was then that he realized the identity of the people crowding around him.
"Beggars!
Jerry said that the cost of living was quite high in the Primordial City. The few guilds he'd been given in the beginning had bought weapons and skills, but they probably hadn't been able to fulfill their quests. Even he, who was now fully prepared, had struggled so much in the rat race. The others, not so much.
Those who did manage to complete the quest were fortunate, as they could use the guilds they earned for food and shelter. And those who didn't earn guilds today?
'There will be a mass exodus from the beginning.
I swallowed dryly.