Chapter 8

The cadaverous wolf monsters with mostly bones remaining simultaneously dashed toward them from the fog. From what he could see, there seemed to be 13 of them.

What an unlucky number.

‘Can my sword combo skill be used to attack several targets at once? Or will its effect disappear if I change targets while it’s active?’ Hiro wondered as he looked at the incoming wolf monsters.

Only one way to find out.

[Sword Combo Skill (Level 5) MAX]

He pointed his greatsword at the Dark Wolf at the forefront of the pack. He held it in the position for a second, and…

“Release!”

Whoosh!

Splat!

Hiro forcefully slashed the monster’s thin body, harshly throwing it 3 meters to the side. Right behind it, the second monster already had its jaws open wide to devour him.

Splat!!

[2x Hit Combo]

Fortunately, he had a sharp sight and fast reflexes. Just after he got rid of it, another one fiercely lunged at him from a little to the side, prompting him to change his swing direction from a vertical swing to a horizontal stab to its direction.

Splat!!

[4x Critical Hit Combo]

“It worked.”

Another Dark Wolf ended up killed with one strike. However, two more instantly rushed at him from two different directions.

Splatt!

[5x Hit Combo]

One wolf down, but…

Crack!

[Health -150]

The other one managed to stick its sharp fangs into his arm as he swung his sword.

[Sword Combo has stopped.]

“Damn it!”

Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Get away, you bad doggie!”

Because of the surprise attack from another person, the monster released Hiro’s arm and dashed backward.

Hiro looked at Liberty with surprise. She was actually using the magic staff as a bat!

[Dark Wolf (Level 15)] [Health 400/1,000]

He quickly ended the fight. In the end, he managed to eliminate the 13 Dark Wolves and collected a total of 1,500LSC.

Ding!

[Base Level Up 1x (Level 13)]

Ding!

[Job Class Level Up 1x (Level 8)]

Ding!

[You obtained 3 Energy Potions.]

“You’re amazing!” Liberty exclaimed, praising Hiro’s capability.

Hearing this, he turned to look at the girl. She was not of much help at all in that first attack. Not only that, but the bonus EXP, total LSC, and items dropped had to be divided by two.

He did not know whether he should feel grateful or unlucky that he invited the girl to join his party.

Even so, he still gave her his best smile.

Ding!

[You received a new title, ‘Gorgeous Smile’.]

When he looked back at Liberty, he found that she was staring at him with a stunned expression and her face had turned red.

“What?”

He was about to brush it off and keep going when suddenly, a message popped up.

Ding!

[You have unlocked Bloodsteal (Passive). (Skill points required to activate.)]

[Bloodsteal – A basic barbarian passive skill. When damaging an enemy with a physical attack, player will gain 5–10% HP. Chance to gain the maximum percentage increases with the skill level.]

Hiro activated the skill without hesitation.

[3 skill points used.]

[Bloodsteal (Passive) has been activated. (Level 1)]

Now that he had this skill, he could save potions and, in turn, save LSC since he would need to buy fewer potions or perhaps even none.

While he was thinking about this unexpected, pleasant gain, Liberty suddenly pulled his arm somewhat roughly.

[Holy Water]

Splash!

The burning sensation on his skin made him pull his arm out of reflex.

“What are you doing?”

“You might turn into a Dark Wolf like them because of the bite!”

“…”

He couldn’t believe the girl brought a real-life myth into the game.

While he was still flabbergasted by her reason, a string of notifications suddenly appeared, startling him.

[Health -50] [Health -50] [Health -50]

“…”

‘What’s going on?”

His HP was gradually draining, and it did not show any signs of stopping. Moreover, blisters began appearing on the area she poured the Holy Water on.

“Just what the hell???”

‘Is it because I’m a half-demon?’

Liberty panicked when she saw the blisters on his arm. Out of subconscious habit, she splashed the other bottle of [Holy Water] she had in her other hand.

Splash!

“Aargh!”

[Health -50] [Health -50] [Health -50]

A painful burning sensation covered his body. It felt as if he was going to melt.

“Ah!” Liberty realized what she had just done. “Sorry! Oh my God, what have I done!?”

The girl hurriedly blew his blisters repeatedly hoping it could help him.

On the other hand, he did not say a word and let her try to blow the pain away. Even though the burn was painful, he could not bear to get angry when he saw her cute panicked expression.

While the girl was still blowing his blisters, Hiro thought about what happened. He received the string of notifications about his depleting HP due to the effect of [Holy Water]. From this, he ascertained that the demon race had an allergy or weakness against holy water.

Though, now appeared another problem: He did not know how to overcome it.

[Health -10] [Health -10]

However, luckily, after only 50% of his HP was left, the HP decrease from the [Holy Water] became lower. Now, Hiro could move his arm normally and use it to hold and swing his weapon around. His body had also considerably recovered, albeit not fully.

He vigilantly looked forward.

‘There’s still one more.’

In the fog in front of them, a pair of deep red eyes had been silently observing them from the distance. The moment Hiro’s eyes met it, a shadow—the owner of those eyes—came out of the fog.

Ding!

[You have unlocked a New monster information]

[Shadow Wolf (Level 18)]

[Race: Beast/Demon]

The monster looked at him as if it was about to tear him from limb to limb before devouring him. However, this didn’t shake him up.

Hiro tightened his grip on his greatsword’s hilt.

Suddenly, the monster swiftly dashed toward him from the side. At the same time, Hiro swung his sword to the side to parry its claws.

Clank!

The Shadow Wolf did not have a solid body like the Dark Wolves he previously fought. Instead, its body seemed to be made of black smoke that gathered, like an evil spirit with red eyes.

‘A demon-beast mixed race, huh?’ he inwardly thought while maintaining his position. Be it him or the monster in front of him, both of them were strongly pushing toward each other.

The monster dashed back a meter, creating some distance. The next moment, the black smoke seemingly howled and formed a black wolf-like creature standing two meters tall. But that was not all.

The creature was standing with two legs like a human would.

“A werewolf!?” Liberty exclaimed in surprise.

Grrr… The Shadow Wolf growled while looking down on them. Hiro stabilized his position and readied himself to fight against the creature when…

Bang!

A silver bullet was shot past him to the wolf and hit the center of the monster’s chest. Unfortunately, it missed its target, the wolf’s heart.

Before Hiro knew it, Liberty had taken out a pistol and smoke was coming out of its barrel.

Ding!

[Enemy has been inflicted with the Burn effect from the silver bullet.]

The [Burn] effect caused its target, the Shadow Wolf, to experience excruciating pain, especially in the spot where the silver bullet was stuck. The monster groaned and tried to claw the spot where the silver bullet was in as an attempt to get it out.

And the second bullet was shot. And the third.

Bang! Bang!

One of the bullets pierced the monster’s left eye, and the other pierced its skull right between its two eyes.

After a moment of silence, the monster fell and completely stopped moving. The deep red glow in its eyes also slowly began to dim before it finally disappeared.

“What weapon did you just use?” Hiro turned to ask the girl behind him.

Of course he was curious. She only used three silver bullets, yet they were enough to defeat the monster stronger than all 13 Dark Wolves combined.

Liberty smugly smiled, proud of her ability. To answer Hiro’s question, she then held the silver pistol closer to him.

Hiro used his HUD system to read the weapon’s information.

[Legendary Weapon: Hellsing Whisper (Pistol)]

[Tier SSS] [Rank Upgrade 5/5]

[Damage 190 Accuracy 15 Magic power 187 Aspd 5 Crit 10]

[Refinement: Damage increased 24% (Max Level)]

[Enchantment: Holy attribute]

[Rank 5 Special Weapon ability: (Enhanced DEX) Increases attack by 80 % of DEX. The first 3 bullets will be critical hit with 200% critical damage]

[Unique skill: Hellsing Whisper is a blessed weapon used by the strongest demon’s hunter. Damage of the first 3 bullets increases by 200% and ignores armor if the target is demon/unholy. One of these bullets brings burning effect on target (Cooldown 3 minute) (AP Cost 1000)]

[Can be used for all job classes.]

[Privileged Weapon]

[Untradable]

[Signature: Liberty]

“…”

Was this real!?

“SSS-tier!? Privileged weapon!? Rank 5!?” Hiro exclaimed in disbelief.

All of a sudden, he wanted to snatch the weapon from her hand.

“Are you all right?” Liberty pulled her weapon back and hid it from his sight when she noticed Hiro’s bright eyes.

“Libe, where did you get that pistol?” His heart was beating fast from the excitement. Not only was it SSS-tier, but it was also a legendary weapon!

The girl did not immediately reply. She thought hard, trying to remember where she got the pistol.

“I don’t remember, I think someone gave it to me. Hmm… Ah, a fairy gave it to me!” she happily said, seeming proud for remembering. The two wolf ears on her head were even moving from the joy.

He could not take his eyes off them. At that moment, Hiro felt something inside him push his hand to reach for Liberty’s wolf ears.

Snap!