LoneWolves (2)

The Ice Wolf let out a loud howl as we approached it. It's eyes turned toward us and it pawed at the ground. A dungeon boss was usually trapped in its room. If that rule still held we could take turns draining its power and resting.

Since we were all solo players we changed into pairs of two. Three was pushing it, we weren't really known for teamwork. Trying to coordinate would only slow us down. It would be better to fight like this and stay out of each other's way.

We slowly slashed away at its health. Unlike normal monsters bosses would drop items for everyone depending on their contribution to the fight. So fighting in intervals kept it mostly fair.

The flood of low level 6 and 7 attackers hardly scratched at the wolf. But overtime you can even die by paper cuts if you get enough of them. DoubleEffect took a nasty hit to his side and sat the rest of the fight out to avoid dropping his HP further.

"E-Ack I hate how much pain hurts in this game!" he yelped moving aside. The rest of us instantly filled in as a rotation. His gap left room for us to obtain better drops.

Finally the HP of the large wolf dropped below 5%. The it let out a moan that shook the entire cavern. From several tunnels behind it dog beasts started charging in.

"Uh oh" Firefly mumbled "it brought friends."

"Shoot I'm out!" yelped PurpleLily as she ran to the edge of the cavern and started up a large boulder out of range of the dog's attacks.

"Same" said MidnightFury looking really upset over the matter.

The rest of the guild retreated. A thing about solo players, most know when to give up to avoid death.

I on the other hand, well my style could be classified as suicidal at times. Sure the large bolder was out of the boss room and high enough that normal dog beasts couldn't reach. But you know what was also large and out of range of the small dog beasts? Yep, the wolf.

I ran toward the wolf. The dog beasts were still out of range. All I had to do was go up before they got to me. I focused on the wolf's tail, as I slid past its jaws. At first the frozen floor had been a hindrance but now it was like a cheat code slide.

I grabbed one of the large crystals on its tail and held on as the tail lifted back into the air. Then I let go of the tail and let myself fall toward the wolf's back. I managed to land on another large crystal, grabbing another small one before I fell off.

The wolf hissed in anger and spun around trying to knock me off. I thrust one of my daggers into its skin to use as a grip. It tore into the flesh making the wolf even angrier.

I glanced around the room from my bucking bronco ride. The other solo players were watching me like I had lost all sanity. Well I probably had. The room looked like it was originally made as a trap dungeon. Dog beasts completely covered the ground like a moving sea. I couldn't even see the ice below them anymore and more were still coming in.

I reached over and grabbed another crystal working my way slowly up the wolf's neck. I found a bare spot on its skin, a weak point? Perfect! I slammed both of my daggers down into it and started shredding away. If I kept this up it should lose the rest of its HP.

After I killed it how to get to the rock alive though? Eh I'd deal with that when it came.

I sliced through the wolf's muscles as its howled and tried rolling on me.

"Haha stinks to be you" I muttered to myself as the crystals around me completely shielded me from its attempt.

It stopped moving. Huh what's it up to now?

Ding!

[You have gained the unique skill IceBlade Magic]

[You have gained item Jacket of the FrozenCrystal Wolf]

Oh it's dead....

Ooh a skill, and a unique one at that. Fun! And an item neat!

I looked around my current trapped position under the ice wolf. Well this could be a issue. Dog beasts surrounded the area and tried pawing through the crystals to get to me but I was safe as long as I stayed in the center.

Oh wait! An evil smile crossed my face. Oh this was just way to perfect for words.

A free EXP machine!

I stabbed my daggers between the crystals killing off the dog beasts that couldn't attack me back.

[+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp]

......…

Several hours later.

"Hey guys are you even killing these things?" I yelled hoping they could hear me. What part of the cavern had the wolf landed in anyway?

"Yeah but they just keep coming. This could take days!" yelped Firefly.

[+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp]

"I think we're going to have to spend the night here" commented MidnightFury.

"Hey RoyalBlue you still good over there?" asked PurpleLily.

"Loving the free EXP could use a snack though. Did you guy end up with drops from the boss as well?" I asked.

"Yep." Replied ShadowLance. "Seems to follow normal boss rules."

[+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp]

A good thing I always packed food and water. I gulped down a bottle feeling myself shiver. Oh right I had a coat now. I pulled it on.

[Jacket of the FrozenCrystal Wolf: Stats....: unique item, evolves with the player's stats.]

"Ooooh" my eyes were shinning.

Guess I should also try out that iceblade magic. I focused on the skill and ice started to radiate off of my strikes. So fancy. The jacket protected me from the cold I was like a true ice master now. This had to be cheating it was like having the power of a mage and an assassin!

[+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp] [+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp][+250 exp]

Finally four days later....

"FREEDOM!" I yelled, as the last dog beast collapsed to the ground. Just in time to the AI had originally given us 5 days for the so called tutorial phase.

I started hacking away at the ice crystals on the wolf to get out.

MidnightFury was laughing "Freedom was it? You still look very stuck to me!"

I shot him a glare "Oh just help me out would ya. These crystals are worse than iron!"

Smirking he helped me break free.

Now that we had time to think again I pulled up the guild board and gasped in shock.

RoyalBlue: Level 24

Firefly: Level 17

DoubleEffect: Level 15

PurpleLily: Level 16

ShadowLance: Level 18

MidnightFury: Level 20

Normally a player would take about one hour for each level up between 1-5 eight hours for levels 6-10 and one day for a level up between level 11-20, after level 20 skill would come into play more but each level up could take as long as a week to a month.

We were clearly an inhuman guild at leveling speed. Granted we had been having a field day at our personal EXP machine.

We had become monsters ourselves over the last four days.