Special Dungeon, Black Werewolf

Noah woke up with Alice leaning on his shoulder. He lightly held her head up and got out from underneath. He then carried her up in his arms and brought her into the tent. He laid her in a sleeping bag and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

He then got out of the tent and opened his explorer map.

"Still have two dungeons nearby we didn't run, I'll run through them before Alice wakes up." He then started walking in the direction of the dungeon.

Noah pulled out the Black Estoc from his inventory and hung it to his left. He then unsheathed it and brandished the newly crafted blade. The thin, two-finger wide, black blade was ready to slay.

It was an E class weapon with two passive skills, 'armour pierce' and 'corrupting wound'. From the two he especially liked the 'armour pierce', which reminded him of the fight he had with the Mutated Queen Spider where he couldn't pierce its upper bodily defence, he was hopeful that this sword would overcome that for him.

The blade was tailor-made for him and his fighting style. His sword fighting style was heavily influenced by his fencing skills. So having a blade with an incredibly sharp tip worked in his favour.

After having a good look at the blade Noah resheathed and walked into a nearby dungeon. Alice was sleeping, but he didn't want to waste the time he would be awake.

...

[You have entered a dungeon]

As he stepped in he felt a chill go down his spine. The dungeon's atmosphere was different from the ones he had gone to before.

It was darker than normal as rather than torches a blue crystal lit up the path. With the dim lighting, the path itself was much wider and taller.

As Noah moved in deeper he started to hear howls coming from deeper within the dungeon. The path ended and led to a large opening.

[Black Wolf]

F Class

Level 10

A black wolf near the entrance saw Noah and growled. It then ran at him like a shadow attacking with its razor-sharp claws. Its level was the highest he had seen till now.

Noah had sensed the wolf, he drew his sword and slipped past the wolf as he slashed. He then turned around to see the wolf with a large wound in it. The act was performed in a flow, the blade was so fast that it couldn't be seen.

The wolf didn't seem to mind the injury and attacked Noah again.

Noah moved the side letting the wolf pass by him like a bull at a rodeo. As it ran by his side he cut down, causing another long gash. The sword was rather light and sharp, it only needed a light wave to injure the wolf.

This speed and sharpness were achieved by combining the attributes of the Black Estoc and the upgrading of the Sword Mastery skill. The 10% increase in speed and 30% increase in strength the skill gave was now a much higher increase because of his higher strength and agility attribute. Plus, his sword did additional magic damage.

The wolf moved a bit to the side causing the wound to not be too deep. It then moved a set distance away and started to slowly walk around Noah, analysing him.

Noah stood in place, locked in a staredown with the black wolf. He didn't waste more time, he had a clear advantage, so he attacked first. He sprinted forward and quickly appeared before the wolf. He followed with three rapid stabs. The wolf dodged the first but the other two went through it, killing it.

Noah picked up the copper it dropped and gave its corpse a second look. The wounds were smaller than when he had caused them.

"The wounds on its body were healing, it looks without Corrupting Wound it might have been much harder to kill."

Noah was quite surprised by the strength of the dungeon. The Black wolf was much stronger than all the monsters he had normally faced in dungeons. It blended well in the surroundings and fought cautiously.

It also had high defence, strength and speed with a strong regeneration factor. Without the Black Estoc, he would've turned back now. Fighting a large group of such monsters would kill him.

Now more cautious, Noah walked in further. Taking in the surrounding. As he explored the dungeon he killed Black Wolves along the way getting a further appreciation of their strength. Even being noticed by a group of them. They were as fearful as he thought. Fighting in an organised and took much longer to kill them.

Halfway through he ran into two special types of Black wolves in a pack in front of him.

[Black Wolf]

F+ Class

Level 10

[Alpha Black Wolf] (Elite)

F+ Class

Level 11

He charged at them and started the fight. The wolves saw him and howled. They then attacked as well. Noah slid between them like an eel. As he did this, his sword moved in a fast waving motion cutting each one as he passed, it was so swift and smooth that it gave the effect that a string had cut through all of them.

Noah manoeuvred between them as if he was flying. His agility was so high that he was easily able to dodge their attacks. As he killed the second last of the pack he took a sudden sidestep. The Alpha black wolf attacked. Its body was much more muscular and larger than the others, it also gave a sense of fear to anyone that saw it.

Compared to the Alpha Wolf, the others were cannon fodder. Noah's senses judged it as something stronger than him. He wouldn't be able to handle it without going all out. Cold Mind activated and slowed down the world. He pulled out the gun from his holster and equipped it to his left hand. He activated his Strength Boost skill on himself and attacked.

SHING! The black bade moved at its fastest as it struck. It stabbed into the wolf pushing him back. The moment the wolf used to stand back up, he embued his blade with mana. He then immediately used the slash to lacerate its flesh. The bleeding wound almost immediately stop but the wound didn't close, the Corrupting Wound effect stopped the wound from healing completely.

This was the Mana Slash skill he had learned from the training ground. It didn't have a fixed amount of mana needed for it to work so he could vary the strength of his slashes. Blessed Mind helped him instinctively know exactly the minimum mana he need to deeply injure the wolf.

The two went back and forth. Noah was barely able to dodge all its attacks, even with Cold Mind he couldn't stop himself from getting a few scratches.

He shot with his gun as he retreated, the wolf chased and quickly caught up. Noah covered his sword in mana and swung it back as he spun to his right at the wolf behind him. The sword slashed at its side, Noah didn't stop and used Flash Step to appear above it on the opposite side.

In its blind spot, he followed with another slash using all of his remaining mana.

The wolf was slain and Noah fell to the ground heavily breathing. He deactivated cold mind and drank a healing potion.

Even after that hard-fought battle, the Alpha Black Wolf had only dropped copper, a large pile of it though.

"It was strong. Second time seeing an elite monster, it really is on another level. Now only the Dungeon Lord is left."

During his theory classes, he had been told the basic categorization of monsters. Where Elite was the rank above unranked monsters. The first time he had seen one was at the small goblin village he had slaughtered where the Goblin Chief was an Elite.

After resting for a while and completely recovering his mana, Noah got up.

A large black door embedded with blue crystal stood before him. On it engraved carvings of man and wolf. With a large full moon on the side.

He pushed the large metallic door to open. Then entered the Dungeon Lord's room.

[You have entered the Dungeon Lord's Lair]

In it, a large grey-furred bipedal wolf stood. Around 3 meters tall with a muscular chest. It was a combination of features of a wolf and a man.

[Black Werewolf] (Dungeon Lord)

F+ Class

Level 11

The werewolf greeted Noah with a long howl.

[You have been cursed: all attributes -5 {59s}]

Noah was surprised by the sudden debuff. He held his gun and shot with it. As he did he moved around while keeping a distance.

The werewolf charged at Noah, the bullets weren't effective. It ran at him at high speed.

Dodging to the side, Noah watched the wolf stop and turn. He reacted first and stabbed with his sword. After this, he used the large body of the wolf as a step and with Sonic Leap jumped over it. Giving himself time to distance himself from the Werewolf.

"I need to keep a distance until the debuff wears off."

Firing his gun he was able to hold off for a minute and finally moved back in to close combat. As he did he used Strength Boost and Cold Mind on himself and charged.

His sword danced in his hand as it sliced. The werewolf failed to block his swift blade and was left with several cuts.

Noah noticed as he fought the injuries were healing at a visible pace even with the corrupting wound effect. If he didn't kill the dungeon lord soon it would heal most of its injuries.

Noah layered wounds after wounds but the werewolf still fought on, like an undying soldier. When it finally couldn't take anymore it opened its mouth.

Black Wind Burst!

A burst of black wind sent Noah flying back.

Full Moon Howl!

The wolf loudly howled similar to when he first entered. This time he didn't get the debuff message but Noah wasn't happy. The dungeon lord had buffed itself. Its body grew larger and ferocious.

The next round had begun. The pace of the battle grew, as the Werewolf now seemed to have an unceasingly large amount of energy.

Noah downed a potion as he retreated and shot with his gun. He then charged again. With the large increase of his attributes, he was able to keep his Cold Mind active for much longer. But it had already been more than a minute and it didn't seem like the fight would be over soon.

The Werewolf seeing that it couldn't get the advantage howled again during the fight.

Intimidation Howl!

[You have been cursed: all attributes -5 {59s}]

Noah was pushed back, he fired his gun as he quickly recovered his balance. He was now at a complete disadvantage against the wolf. He was on a complete defensive. The wolf claw would leave red marks of blood on his skin as it slid by him.

The moment the debuff ran out, he took a step and teleported behind the wolf. At this moment he continuously used mana slash to leave four slashes in a row. He then used its back to launch himself away as he shot with his gun. By the time he landed a message rang in his ears.

[You have slain the Dungeon Lord]

[Achievement 'Solo Clear': +1 Mana]

A few silver coins dropped as well as a key and a book.

The book was an enhancer.

[Bullet Rebound (Silver): bounce the bullet in the air causing it to change direction (Restricted to Firearm Mastery)]

Noah kept the book. The enhancer was good but was still only silver rank. It didn't warrant the life-threatening fight he had just gone through to get. The other drop, the key, was an old fashioned design made of a type of metal. Looking at it he was reminded of the door in the room. He had passed by it when he was fighting the Dungeon Lord but had been too busy fighting the Dungeon Lord to acknowledge it.