“Right now, the number of War Wolf Warriors we can face head-on is probably three at most.”
Shield Warrior coolly assessed our strength. Three warriors at once was the maximum—based on heavy potion consumption. Two would be ideal.
“If a mage gets mixed in, we’re done.”
“Yeah, that checks out.”
My assessment didn’t differ from Shield Warrior’s. One bout was enough to get a read. I hadn’t met a mage yet, but if they were as troublesome as the warriors, hunting might be impossible. At this point, five archers might actually be better.
Fortunately, as we followed the dirt-wall corridor, we only ran into patrol wolves in pairs. Hunting in the corridor for long is the same as sticking out your neck and asking to be killed. If patrols overlap while you’re on one, it turns into a disaster. We killed fast and kept moving.
“No mages showing up.”
Even after going quite deep, no sign of the mages I’d been hoping for. We saw a few rooms along the way, but they were all warriors—so we didn’t even consider entering. Most rooms had three or more warriors.
A little farther in, we actually saw people hunting. First party we’d spotted on the 3rd floor. They’d taken a room; eight players—full party.
They noticed us in passing, gave us a glance, then focused back on their hunt. With a full party and no empty slots, they had no reason to care. And we were only four.
“So there are people hunting on the 3rd, after all.”
We all nodded at Shield Warrior’s comment. It wasn’t like we thought there’d be nobody. With a full party, decent gear, and sufficient level, this floor could definitely be a good hunting ground.
We found a few more parties after that—almost all full parties. No wonder that guy earlier asked if we were only four; everyone else came down to the 3rd with full groups.
Every empty room had three or more warriors. Not doable for us. We searched farther and finally found a decent spot.
“Two warriors and one mage.”
Shield Warrior peeked into the room and withdrew.
“Should we take it?”
“Yeah, the count looks good.”
The 3rd floor wasn’t fully packed yet, so we could still pick a room we liked.
Charming and PrettyGirl nodded.
“Shield Warrior and I will tie up the warriors. PrettyGirl and Charming, go for the mage.”
PrettyGirl could handle warriors, but for stability, I should take that aggro. The mage needed to melt fast, so PrettyGirl and Charming would tag-team it.
“Going in.”
By now, Shield Warrior and I had the hang of it—we could hold 1:1 against a warrior without hemorrhaging HP. At first there’d been no room to breathe; now we could spare a glance around.
A quick look at the War Wolf Mage told me nothing special—PrettyGirl and Charming shredded it. PrettyGirl ate a couple of the opening Magic Arrow and Fire Arrow casts, chugged a potion, closed the gap, and then pounded away with her two-hander. Charming’s spells kept landing in steady succession.
With the mage melted, PrettyGirl and Charming helped us, and the rest wrapped up quickly.
“The spells are way too fast.”
PrettyGirl, unable to dodge the rapid casting, wore a mildly disgruntled look. I doubted I could dodge those either—for spells fired with near no-chant precision, dodging is hard.
“How’s the spot where the fire hit?”
“I’m fine.”
“It doesn’t hurt or anything?”
“Mm… it’s just like, ‘Oh, I’m on fire.’ That level.”
“Good. That’s a relief.”
So it didn’t hurt. I’d worried it might. If being on fire actually felt like burning pain, more than half the playerbase would probably quit. There has to be a limit to realism.
I wondered how it would feel for me. Curiosity struck.
“Hey, Charming.”
“Yes?”
Called out of nowhere, she looked at me, puzzled.
“Can you hit me with one Fire Arrow?”
“Huh?”
She didn’t look like I was a weirdo, but she did look a bit at a loss.
“I’m just curious—what fire-type magic feels like.”
“Oh! Then—”
We briefly disbanded the party, and Charming cast Fire Arrow at me. On hit, my HP dropped, the struck area burst into a roaring flame effect, and my HP started ticking down.
There was a little sting from the impact recoil, but not a burning pain. Good. If the RTP suppression flagged this as pain, I really might have quit.
“Got what I needed. Thanks.”
“Want another?”
She smiled innocently, raising her hand and aiming at me. I hurriedly waved her off.
“I’m good. Please spare me.”
“Kidding.”
Charming chuckled and re-formed the party. She had a quirky side, too.
After a while of farming the respawning War Wolf Warriors and the mage, one thing became clear.
“Mages don’t drop Wolf Souls.”
Shield Warrior sounded mildly disappointed. I felt the same. The warriors, by contrast, were giving us one every few kills. No sign of the grimoires we wanted. Drop rate seemed stingier than expected.
“How are your potions?”
“Almost gone.”
PrettyGirl checked. Shield Warrior was about the same, and Charming had long since handed hers over. The party was nearly dry.
“Return to town?”
Charming reached for her return stone, but Shield Warrior lifted a hand to stop her.
“Let’s do it a little differently this time.”
***
“Don’t look back—just run!”
Shield Warrior led, with Charming and PrettyGirl behind him, and me last. We sprinted across the 3rd-floor dirt corridor. The patrolling War Wolf Warriors were snarling, a good ten of them now chasing us.
“There! The entrance!”
Since she could make contact, PrettyGirl grabbed the slower Charming’s hand and practically dragged her up the corridor. Shield Warrior and I held for the briefest moment, then followed up the stairs.
On the 2nd floor, Charming and PrettyGirl collapsed, pale and shaken.
“So this works.”
I let out a hollow laugh. The 3rd-floor War Wolf Warriors chased us only to the entrance, then didn’t follow up the stairs. If they had, we would’ve had a catastrophe on the 2nd—forum headlines like “Mass PK by Mob Train.” Unleashing that many warriors on 2F would be a disaster.
“I had a feeling it would.”
Shield Warrior grinned, and our laughter finally shook off the tension of being chased by a horde.
“Sometimes you look like you were born to play games, Shield Warrior.”
“In other VR titles there are lots of instanced dungeons, not open ones like this. Tanks usually sprint ahead, pulling every mob and getting pounded while the rest stampede after. I remembered that and tried it—and it works.”
“Experience really is everything. I wouldn’t have thought of it.”
Shield Warrior just smiled, clearly pleased with his idea.
“They really aren’t coming.”
PrettyGirl stared blankly at the 3rd-floor entrance, as if worried they might pour out any second. Charming seemed delighted with the experience—being chased by monsters that would kill you if they caught you.
But what if we go back down and they’re all balled up waiting? Here’s hoping they just returned to their original spots.
“Alright, let’s go buy potions at the entrance.”
Shield Warrior clapped lightly, and we all finally snapped to and stood. The 1st and 2nd floors were so crowded—halls and rooms alike—that we could pass through almost as if there were no mobs.
Outside the dungeon, the middlemen we’d seen before were lined up. We approached the nearest group.
“Welcome!”
“We need potions.”
“How many?”
We bought potions from the middlemen at more than double the town price, packing our belts full, and offloaded some heavy inventory items below market price.
Expensive or not, saving the trip to town made it feel more convenient than wasteful.
“Still pricey, though.”
Shield Warrior sounded a little regretful. He was sensitive to market rates; Charming and PrettyGirl didn’t seem to care—they’d already bought theirs and were waiting.
“Head back right away?”
Shield Warrior was a hunting fiend. Would there ever be a day he suggested taking a break?
***
“What do you do every night? More porn?”
“I told you, no.”
Slumped halfway over the counter, I lay sprawled while Yeonji looked at me with an unreadable expression. Did she think all I watched was porn?
“Lost Sky.”
“You play that too? I thought you didn’t game.”
“Well… it turned out that way.”
“Must be nice.”
“What is?”
“Lost Sky. Students can’t play it even if they want to.”
Right—full adult title. Saying “adult game” sounded wrong. Not that kind of adult.
“I saw the boards—it’s a mess.”
“Yeah. Practically a protest. They’re hitting the Game Rating Administration Committee site every day.”
So Yeonji was interested. You wouldn’t know that otherwise.
“They must be exhausted over there. Every student in the country is converging on them.”
She burst out laughing at that.
“Heh. Yep. And there are student groups on other portals too.”
Hard to get her to smile, and here she was laughing at something so odd.
“The ones spamming the game’s homepage must be the same kids?”
“Probably. If each leaves just one post from school on their phones, it goes into the hundreds easily.”
“Everyone’s grinding themselves down then—the admins deleting, you all posting. No bans?”
“Ban future customers? They’d have to be out of their minds. As long as you don’t swear, it’s fine.”
“If I were in charge of ZUN’s site, I’d have banned you already.”
“Then you’d get fired.”
“That’s why I’m not doing it. So what’s the mood?”
“I dunno. Officially it’s still ‘no,’ but in news articles on the portals, they’re giving ambiguous answers that leave the door open.”
“That’s a shift. At first it was ‘over my dead body.’”
“Do we not have the numbers? Revenue would skyrocket.”
“And the backlash would too. From parents.”
“My dad’s fine with it.”
I thought of the boss for a moment. He’d probably tell his own daughter to study. Maybe. Who knows.
Either way, a decision would come soon. One complainer is a crank; ten are weird; a hundred draw mild interest; a thousand, ten thousand, and the snowball becomes a problem.
“Hope it works out.”
“Of course.”
I didn’t tell her to use that time to study. Maybe I was more indifferent than I thought. I figured people would handle their own business and left it at that. I wasn’t the meddling type. And I wasn’t about to lecture anyone; better not to say what you can’t take back.
With a shared topic, she talked more than usual. Conversation runs on interest, after all.
“I heard you’re quitting here?”
“Ah. Yeah. Time to prepare for things.”
“Hmmm… I see.”
She looked like she had something to say but was stalling.
What was with her? Was she actually going to miss me? We weren’t that close.
“Let me see your phone for a sec.”
“Huh?”
“Ah! Don’t get the wrong idea! When you go back to school later—you’ll be on campus, right? Show me around then. It’s awkward to just walk in. I might end up going there too.”
She practically snatched my phone and punched in her number.
“If you ghost me, you know what happens, right? I’ll storm your house.”
Yes, ma’am. Of course.
I’d never asked her grades, but she’d have to hustle. It wasn’t an easy school for me to get into either.
After Yeonji left with a rare bright smile, I cleaned for a while, and then Jaejung and the boss oozed out of the VRS, limp as noodles. Could they really run that hard every day? The boss looked like he needed tonic.
I brought drinks and water; they gulped them down in perfect sync. A few days of gaming together and they looked like father and son.
I wouldn’t be seeing this in a few days.
“You logged out a bit early today.”
The boss seemed to have his breath back; he returned with snacks and munched. Jaejung dug in without a second thought. At this point they were treating the shop’s stock like their own, and the boss didn’t care. Maybe that’s the true ideal for a part-timer.
“We finally got it.”
The boss clenched his thick hand into a fist.
“You bag something good?”
“Of course! We killed the Twin-Head War Wolf. Probably world first, too.”
These guys… doing everything like they’re the main characters. I glanced over; Jaejung just shrugged.