CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 78: WOLFSKIN SET

Ryan let out a muffled groan, but he didn’t scream.

As a seasoned fighter, he knew the most important thing now was to keep guarding against the arrows around them.

Soon, when the small holes in both walls stopped firing, everyone finally let out a long breath.

One of Shane’s soldiers quickly pulled out something like a first-aid kit and started treating the others.

Everyone except Ethan and Shane was hurt, and Ryan was hurt the worst.

An arrow had hit his right knee. It went straight into the flesh and lodged in the bone.

With his usual reflexes, he could have blocked it in time and, like the others, only taken a light wound.

But Ethan’s sudden step back had pulled most of his attention, and he didn’t react in time.

Now Ryan sat on the ground, staring at the arrow in his leg, his face twisted in pain.

What made it worse was that, in his eyes, the weakest one—Ethan—was standing there without a scratch, looking down at him.

Shane walked over, frowned at Ryan’s leg, and asked:

"What were you thinking just now? How could you make such a rookie mistake and miss the danger around you?"

Ryan opened his mouth to explain, but when he met Ethan’s eyes, he lowered his head and kept quiet.

When his teammate pulled the arrow from his leg, Ryan couldn’t hold it in anymore and let out a scream. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Shane soon looked away from Ryan and turned to Ethan. "You did surprise me," he said slowly. "You noticed the change as fast as I did."

Ethan looked calm. Keeping an eye on his surroundings all the time had become instinct for him. He had this habit even before he entered Dawnfall Online, and after the [Berserk Blood Warrior] trial, it only got stronger.

In that trial, he was ambushed and killed by monsters many times.

So when Shane praised him, Ethan didn’t feel it was anything special.

Because of the traps, the team took a short rest, then headed deeper into the cave.

Ryan limped along with them.

Ethan still followed behind Shane, waiting for the thieves to show up.

After about five minutes, they reached another fork.

Ethan checked the way and, using the map, led Shane and the others toward the treasure.

...

Somewhere in the underground caves of Frost Valley.

A tall, middle-aged man with a scarred face stepped out of a cave with a shabby wooden door, pulling up his pants and looking satisfied.

Behind him came the faint sound of a woman sobbing.

An ordinary thief hurried over. He first cast a careful glance at the wooden door behind the scarred man, swallowed, and then said:

"Boss, bad news. The boys found someone entering the caves. They didn’t get lost, and they’re getting closer to where we dump the bodies."

Hearing this, the scarred man’s eyes hardened, and his hands clenched without thinking.

In the underground hideout where they were hiding, there was a special place used just for dumping bodies.

If you put a body in there, by the next day it would disappear without a trace. That way they didn’t have to worry about the stench of rot in the cave, or about disease.

He had also hidden the treasure and money he’d stolen over the years near that spot.

Could those people be here for his stash?

The scarred man, leader of the thieves, had a bad feeling. Besides him, only two others knew where the stash was buried.

Those two were his second and third in command, brothers who had followed him for years.

Had they turned on him? Teamed up with outsiders to steal everything he’d hidden?

The scarred man took a deep breath and told the ordinary thief who had just reported to him:

"Pass along my order. Gather everyone and get ready to fight."

"Also, another useless one died inside. Remember to drag the body out and dump it."

"No—forget that. We’re low on food. Take the body to the kitchen."

With that, the scarred man, the thieves’ leader, hurried away.

The ordinary thief slowly opened the wooden door and went in.

Soon, a woman’s painful cries and sobbing came from behind the door.

Ten minutes later, the thief came out looking pleased, dragging an emaciated, badly beaten body.

...

"Ahhh! You’re finished! When our boss gets here, he’ll kill every last one of you!"

"You’re all dead, all of you!"

A shrill scream echoed through the passage. Ethan, face blank, slowly raised his right foot and brought it down hard.

With that stomp, he drove the threatening thief’s head into the hard ground.

White brain matter and blood mixed and spread across the floor.

Looking a bit disgusted, Ethan wiped his shoe on a cleaner spot.

That was the third thief he’d killed.

After they got past the arrow trap, they ran into more and more thieves.

Shane held back on purpose, and Ethan wasn’t about to miss the chance.

The thieves were much higher level than him, but Ethan’s stats, gear, and combat sense were far above regular players.

Besides, with Shane and the others here, Ethan didn’t have to worry about getting ambushed or swarmed.

He couldn’t one-shot the thieves, but he could usually finish a fight in under thirty seconds.

Ethan looked at the body, crouched to search it, then sighed in mild disappointment.

Only a piece of Green-quality junk. He tossed it into his [Inventory] to sell later when he had time.

The two thieves he’d killed before were much stronger, and they dropped two Blue-quality items he could use.

[Wolfskin Cap]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: Level 10+

[Effect 1]: +2 Strength

[Effect 2]: +2 Defense

[Note]: Part of the Wolfskin Set. Roughly made; it’s about the lowest tier among Blue-quality gear.

[Wolfskin Pants]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirement]: Level 10+

[Effect 1]: +2 Speed

[Effect 2]: +2 Defense

[Note]: Part of the Wolfskin Set. Roughly made; it’s about the lowest tier among Blue-quality gear.

Normally, Blue-quality weapons and gear don’t just raise your base stats. They also have a special effect.

But these two Blue-quality pieces, the [Wolfskin Cap] and [Wolfskin Pants], are on the weak side. They only boost stats and have no special effect.

Still, Ethan read the note and saw "Wolfskin Set."

He knew that in most games, wearing pieces from the same set can unlock a set bonus.

He just wasn’t sure how many more pieces he needed to activate the full Wolfskin Set.

So when he saw that the third thief he killed in the cave only dropped a Green-quality dagger, he felt a bit disappointed.

Even so, Ethan knew that as they went deeper, they would run into more thieves. Completing the Wolfskin Set was only a matter of time.

They kept moving toward the depths of the cave.

After a while, Ethan frowned a little and looked at Shane. Shane looked back at him. Their eyes met, and they reached the same idea.

Shane motioned for Ethan to speak. Ethan said:

"We haven’t seen any new thieves for a while. Looks like they’re gathering to try to take us out."

Shane gave Ethan an approving look, then turned to Ryan with a slight frown and said:

"Everyone, get ready. Stay sharp and focus!"

"If anyone makes another rookie mistake, you’ll stay at the Ice City camp after this and reflect."

Hearing that, Ryan lowered his head and took deep breaths to steady himself.

He had watched Ethan’s fights with the thieves closely, and he was shocked.

Setting Ethan’s level aside, the way he fought felt almost the same as Captain Shane.

That meant if Ethan just leveled up to around Ryan’s level, beating Ryan would be easy.

A faint, bitter smile touched Ryan’s lips. He looked at Ethan’s back and remembered what Ethan said at the start.

So Ethan really could clear all the enemies in Frost Valley by himself.

Ryan had been overconfident.

As that thought crossed his mind, he suddenly noticed Ethan and Captain Shane stop and point their weapons at the passage ahead.

A cold, mocking voice came from the tunnel in front of them:

"Tsk, tsk... There’s a road to heaven and you wouldn’t take it. Hell has no gate, yet you just had to break in."