Heading northwest from the refugee village, we reached the Western Wolf Den.
In Lost Sky Online, the map only revealed areas you’d actually visited. Everything else was hidden under a black shroud.
Right now we were slowly peeling back that shroud as we moved past the dungeon entrance.
Truthfully, there wasn’t anyone else around who could spend as many enhancement stones as we could. Sure, maybe someone could buy a pile through cash top-ups, but in our village we’d already monopolized every single enhancement stone. Drops would eventually circulate more widely as hunting continued, but for now, we had them all.
“In the field, if you’ve got the headcount, you can push farther out somehow. Mobs respawn slowly and the area’s wide, so you can kite them or just have mages and archers kite around and focus-fire. But a dungeon doesn’t work like that. If your gear’s not up to scratch, you can’t even hunt at all.”
Try running around with weak gear and you’d just end up with more mobs chasing you until you got flattened.
“At minimum, you need to be able to stand your ground for at least a hit or two, otherwise there’s no way to hunt.”
Unlike the barren outside fields, the dungeon was a damp, dark-brown earthen maze of tunnels stretching endlessly. Except for the entrance, it was pitch dark, so Charming cast a Light spell and illuminated the surroundings.
Pretty bright, actually.
“For now I slotted in Light, Fire Arrow, and Bind. Once we’re set up, I’ll switch Light out for something else.”
A glowing bird flitted around Charming, scattering bright light that drove back the darkness.
“Pretty.”
PrettyGirl reached out, trying to catch the shining bird, but her hand just passed through its translucent body.
“Can’t grab it, huh…”
She sounded a little disappointed, then immediately gave up.
“Good thing we’ve got Light. Without it, one of us would be stuck lugging around a lantern right now.”
Shield Warrior gave a look of relief. Mages really did earn their keep everywhere.
Without Light, someone would have to carry a lantern constantly—a hassle—and without even that, dungeon hunting would end pretty quick.
“Definitely empty of people.”
“Yeah, the conditions here really aren’t welcoming.”
Shield Warrior and I walked point, talking.
“You’d think at least people desperate for a hunting ground would come, but there’s no one at all.”
“Anyone who came in with unenhanced gear probably just wasted potions and ran back out.”
As we advanced, our maps gradually filled in. We weren’t going to get lost, but without a map this place would be a nightmare maze.
No mobs near the entrance, but after a single turn at a fork we spotted them.
War Wolves.
Bipedal werewolves, about 1.8 meters tall, gray manes bristling over corded muscle, jaws torn wide with sharp fangs jutting out.
Getting bitten by that would hurt.
“Totally different from the wolves outside.”
Charming’s voice tightened as she gripped her staff in both hands.
“Those guys felt like puppies compared to this…”
PrettyGirl chimed in. Puppies? They didn’t look like puppies to me. Maybe she kept a big dog at home—like a Siberian Husky or an Alaskan Malamute.
I’d seen werewolves in the field before, but compared to the War Wolf in front of me, they were like boys next to grown men. Muscles aside, this one was even wearing proper armor.
“Just looking at it, you can tell it’s strong.”
At least level 18 or higher.
When we got close, the War Wolf spotted us and lunged, frothing at the mouth. Not exactly an aggressive mob, but once you crossed a certain distance, it would charge. Definitely no longer a beginner’s zone. If the fields were a playground, this was a real hunting ground.
Shield Warrior stepped up immediately. His shield blocked the War Wolf’s heavy claws sweeping upward from below, but the impact lifted him off his feet before he landed again.
“What strength!”
Just blocking once made him grit his teeth, frustration echoing through the cave. If even Shield Warrior—who had sunk plenty of points into STR and VIT—was struggling like this, we had a problem.
As the War Wolf’s follow-up attacks slashed down, Shield Warrior’s HP plummeted. No good. I immediately raised my sword and cut in.
With me joining, the War Wolf kicked Shield Warrior back and immediately turned on me. Quick judgment. Its AI was clearly more advanced than the Forest Orcs’, who had just stood there taking hits.
This one was even high in AGI. Its rush speed, the short, snappy swings of its claws—fast.
I angled my newly acquired Wolf Longsword and the Forest Longsword, deflecting its claw swipes and trying to slip inside—but instead it charged shoulder-first.
I snapped back quickly, thrusting my blades forward to keep it at bay. It halted, then backed off again.
It was obviously stronger than us, and faster, though not impossibly so. The real problem was character stats. With low specs, my body simply couldn’t keep up with my instincts—frustrating.
But most of all—weapon specs.
No matter how fast it was, my senses could track it, so I wasn’t in danger of getting hit. But one of my blades was still a Forest Longsword, and its damage output was pathetic.
A few clean strikes with the Forest Longsword barely made it flinch, like it wasn’t even scratching it. In contrast, a stab with the enhanced Wolf Longsword made it wary right away.
While I dodged its attacks up front, Shield Warrior charged back in and Charming launched Magic Arrows from behind.
Judging from the short charge time, she wasn’t fully charging—meaning damage was reduced.
“At this range, I can’t hit otherwise.”
Charming judged by eye, explaining.
“If we make it more chaotic, I might be able to get full charges off.”
PrettyGirl, waiting on standby in case more appeared, exchanged a glance with Charming. Charming nodded back.
What are they planning?
After firing one more Magic Arrow, Charming switched spells. A green light flared in her palm, a circular magic circle I’d never seen before.
【Bind!】
After a brief charge, she pointed. Vines shot up from the ground, coiling around the War Wolf’s legs.
At that exact moment, PrettyGirl bolted forward with her glaive and drove it straight into the War Wolf’s chest.
“Graaaah!”
The beast that had shrugged off every blow until now let out its first scream.
PrettyGirl’s follow-up was a frenzy. Her glaive flashed and hacked in dazzling arcs, tearing into the War Wolf until it staggered, reeling from the damage.
Named gear really was worth it. And fully enhanced, at that.
Bound by the ankles and harried from mid-range by the long glaive, the War Wolf collapsed without being able to respond.
A damn solid combo.
PrettyGirl stood over the fallen beast, glaive lowered, her face flushed with excitement as she turned back to us.
***
Jaejung once shared something he’d realized while hunting.
“The shorter the avatar, the more AGI gets a subtle boost. The taller, the more STR.”
“They really hid everything in here, huh.”
“Yeah. Didn’t notice at first, but when the stats went up, you could feel the difference in movement. Same listed numbers, but different. And male characters get a little more STR, females a little more AGI.”
“So if a guy’s tall, he gets a solid STR bonus?”
“Exactly. And if a girl’s short, her AGI spikes to a noticeable degree. But this stuff doesn’t show up anywhere—no percentage, no value.”
The fact he figured it out was impressive in itself. Definitely not the kind of guy you’d beat in a game of pogs. Maybe I could do that someday too, once I was more used to this. According to Team Leader Yoo Hyesun, it was possible. Maybe just a matter of practice.
Watching PrettyGirl now reminded me of that talk with Jaejung. AGI… factoring in her female avatar and her height, her movements really were sharper than Shield Warrior’s.
They weren’t perfect comparisons—he’d built STR/VIT, she’d built STR/AGI—but even if Shield Warrior had gone AGI, PrettyGirl would still move faster.
Level scaling and hidden bonuses made her movements fluid, perfectly suited for handling a glaive.
With Charming’s spell support, she could probably solo a War Wolf easily.
My eyes drifted to the Forest Longsword.
If I could just swap this out for another Wolf Longsword, I’d really be able to fight properly. No matter how sharp my movements, the weapon’s spec gap was maddening.
Compared to the Wolf Longsword, the Forest Longsword barely put out a quarter of the damage.
Next time, I had to get another Wolf Longsword. Best case, it would drop as loot.
Following the twisting corridors, we killed a few more roaming War Wolves before finding a decent spot.
Only one narrow entryway, a pit that kept line of sight blocked unless you came close. Two War Wolves patrolled inside.
“What do you think? With two, we can sync respawn timers and hunt continuously.”
“Sounds good to me.”
PrettyGirl nodded, then Charming and I followed. It was a solid location.
Shield Warrior signaled us and crept toward the two War Wolves. One turned its head. Planning to pull just one?
But as soon as one turned, the other followed. Linked mobs. One already locked onto Shield Warrior. I sprinted at the other—if it joined him, we’d be in trouble.
As I closed in, the War Wolf crouched and lunged. I dodged its long claws and slashed its neck with the longsword. Out in the field, that usually caused stagger, but dungeon mobs were clearly tougher.
If once isn’t enough, then keep cutting.
I stowed the Forest Longsword altogether. Too little damage, just dead weight. I’d commit fully to the Wolf Longsword.
Dodging its rapid claw swipes by a hair, I carved the same spot on its neck over and over. At last it staggered, arms dropping limp.
“Let’s finish this one first.”
On my signal, Charming and PrettyGirl hammered the staggered War Wolf with glaive strikes and Magic Arrows until it collapsed.
Immediately, Charming Bound the one Shield Warrior was holding, and we all swarmed it. With a mournful howl, it fell cold to the floor.
“Bit tough, but doable.”
Shield Warrior tapped his shield with a grin. He was tanking better now—HP bar no longer see-sawing wildly. He’d figured out the rhythm.
EXP was climbing visibly, and this camp looked ideal: hold the spawn, reap steady exp and loot.
“As expected, Jooho, you can stagger dungeon mobs too. I’m glad we trusted you and came in. I doubt anyone else could solo-stagger them like that.”
I just shrugged.
“Only managed it because I’m down a blade. Definitely harder to force a stagger.”
“Then we’d better get you another sword fast.”
I nodded. I wanted that second Wolf Longsword badly.
“Let’s see… the drops…”
Shield Warrior checked the floating items where the War Wolf had vanished, then froze.
“Wolf’s Soul?”
A green-glinting ore, fist-sized, unlike anything we’d seen before, hovered there.