ALL NOVEL Chapter 18 - Leveling (2)
Chapter 18: Leveling (2)
[Lv. 71 Freed Mad Wolf]
From boss level monsters onward, their level and name are displayed above their heads, with colors changing based on their rank.
“A yellow boss name? That suggests it’s recommended for a four-person party.”
Bosses at level 70 differ in grade.
They possess stronger skills and stats compared to other level 70 monsters, making solo hunting highly discouraged.
However, Yeonwol happened to be in exceptionally good condition. He pulled out two potions from his pouch.
They were buff potions crafted with ingredients painstakingly gathered from the Goblin Sage Hills.
[You have consumed a Lesser Strength Potion and a Lesser Agility Potion.]
[Special potions exclusive to alchemy creators! Additional stats are granted.]
[Strength increased by 15, Agility increased by 12!]
Ordinarily, a regular alchemist would need to be at least level 70 to produce potions of this quality.
Thanks to his past life memories and excellent materials, Yeonwol managed to create such potions.
“Using these rare ingredients to make only low-grade potions was painful, but it’s good I prepared them for emergencies.”
This was precisely one of those emergencies.
-Grrrr…
The Mad Wolf, standing over two meters tall, fixed its gaze on Yeonwol.
Its size made it seem impossible to take on, but the agility and strength granted to players far exceeded the creature’s bulk.
[Sky Thunder Flash]
Tap! With a light step, Yeonwol dashed toward the Mad Wolf, which immediately reacted by raising its forelegs.
Boom! Its sharp claws swung with enough force to deeply gouge the ground.
The swipe accounted for Yeonwol’s movement radius, but there was no sensation of impact.
-Grrrr!!
Why was there no impact? Surely, escaping that range shouldn’t have been possible!
The Mad Wolf hastily turned to its left, using its acute hearing.
Whoosh! Somehow, Yeonwol had vanished like a ghost to its left and plunged a sword into its side.
Compared to the Mad Wolf’s massive size, Yeonwol’s sword was like a toothpick.
However, a large blue skill effect exploded where the sword struck, leaving a deep gash in the wolf’s side.
-Kyarrgh!
With a howl of pain, the Mad Wolf swiped its claws again, but Yeonwol was nowhere to be seen.
He had disappeared from sight again!
This impossible maneuver was thanks to Yeonwol’s sole possession of a “dash skill.”
[Sky Thunder Flash!]
-Kyaaa!!
Typically, dash skills are used to approach the enemy.
Unlike simple movement skills, dash skills have high damage but come with a long delay afterward.
To offset this delay, players must hit the enemy and inflict stiffness or stun effects.
However, if the opponent was too large or resistant to stun, this strategy would be ineffective.
Thus, Yeonwol used the dash skill to evade the enemy’s attacks.
Although it came with a delay, timing it with the Mad Wolf’s attack patterns ensured he wouldn’t get hit.
From the wolf’s perspective, Yeonwol’s movements must have seemed supernatural.
That said, once the Mad Wolf grew accustomed to his strategy, it would no longer work.
[Sky Thunder Flash!]
Yeonwol escaped at the perfect moment using his dash skill, but the Mad Wolf abruptly stopped its attack and twisted its body to cover him.
“Oh no!”
“He’s been dodging so well until now!”
Spectating players let out cries of alarm, but Yeonwol retreated as though he had anticipated it.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“That’s a skill delay cancel! If you seamlessly link your next move, you can eliminate the delay.”
“But only high-level pros can pull off a technique like that…”
Yeonwol’s [Sky Thunder Flash] consisted of a single action: a forward dash followed by a thrust.
If the thrust missed, it left a significant opening, which the Mad Wolf aimed to exploit.
However, every visible opening so far had been deliberate.
A seasoned player like Yeonwol could cancel skill delays with ease.
For example, he could skip the thrust entirely and move again immediately!
[All-Seeing Eye]
His eyes glowed with a violet hue, tinged with silvery light as though reflecting the souls he gazed upon.
After becoming a Necromaster, the ability of All-Seeing Eye had been enhanced.
Against living creatures, it identified “soul weaknesses.”
Hitting those weak points inflicted significantly higher damage.
However, at his current level, the weak points were exceedingly small.
Even for someone like Yeonwol, striking them consistently was nearly impossible.
But… if he exploited an enemy’s opening and used a skill at the perfect moment,
it became possible to deal several times the usual damage.
[Sea-Splitting Blade!]
Believing it had secured the upper hand, the Mad Wolf exposed a massive vulnerability as it lunged with its entire body.
Yeonwol seized the opportunity, using his strongest skill to strike the wolf’s head.
The blow dealt double damage and triggered a critical hit, sharply reducing its HP.
“I can’t use Sea-Splitting Blade often, so I must ensure critical hits.”
Against other Mad Wolves, he would use the skill even if it didn’t guarantee a critical hit.
But this fight was different.
Given the opponent’s immense HP, wasting skills would put him at a disadvantage.
[Sea-Splitting Blade!]
[A critical hit! 2.5x damage!]
Yeonwol timed his skills perfectly, ensuring every use resulted in a critical hit.
To other players, however, it looked utterly bizarre.
“Isn’t that a bug?”
“How come his critical hits don’t activate with regular attacks but always trigger with skills?”
“When I use Power Slash, I almost never land critical hits. Yet, his strongest skill always triggers critical hits.”
“Does the skill have a critical boost?”
“That’s rare outside of classes like archers or rogues. Plus, I watched him fight earlier, and he didn’t land critical hits every time.”
“Then why are they happening so often now?”
This innocent confusion over Elthera Online’s critical hit mechanics spread rapidly.
Clips of the battle were quickly recorded and shared across various forums.
Although the system messages showing damage multipliers weren’t visible from third-party perspectives,
viewers saw the glowing critical hit effects and flooded the comments section.
[User19: Is this a crit hack?]
└[User72: Does this game even have hacks? I’ve never seen one before.]
└[User197: I guess this game isn’t as secure as people think.]
[User107: Doesn’t look like a hack or bug to me… This happens sometimes. I’m a fifth-dan in kendo IRL, and when I focus, I land critical hits consistently too.]
└[User713: LOL, what nonsense is that? If you’re fifth-dan, I’m tenth-dan.]
└[User317: There’s no such thing as tenth-dan in kendo, idiot.]
└[User179: Forget kendo; do you seriously think constant skill crits make sense?]
The controversy quickly escalated.
When a level 150 mage used an investigation skill to reveal that Yeonwol was only in his mid-20s in level, and had started at level 10,
the forums exploded with even more heated debates.
Whether Yeonwol noticed or not, he remained deeply immersed in his own world.
‘Even though I’ve raised my defense by nearly 20%, taking even one hit would be fatal.’
Yeonwol, who didn’t have a guard skill, couldn’t block Mad Wolf’s attacks. So, he rolled here and there, dodging and running around.
But his movements didn’t look unsightly at all.
The sight of a massive wolf charging forward like a beam of light, swinging its forepaws, and Yeonwol rolling at the perfect timing to slash its legs was electrifying.
“That’s what they call the Khazaram Killer….”
“Seriously, his control is insane.”
“How does he dodge all of that? His raw speed seems way slower than mine, even though I’m an assassin.”
“Exactly. His body’s slow, but somehow, he doesn’t get hit at all.”
In reality, Yeonwol’s speed was slow compared to other players in their 50s.
Sky Thunder Flash was his only skill that allowed for momentary acceleration.
Without using that skill, his movements appeared ordinary.
However, Yeonwol hardly got hit by Mad Wolf’s attacks. Even when he did, the damage was minimal.
He anticipated Mad Wolf’s attacks a beat earlier and moved preemptively.
Just a single beat ahead was enough.
While dodging attacks, he simultaneously inflicted wounds on Mad Wolf, accomplishing two tasks at once.
If he wanted to, he might even avoid every hit like during the Khazaram fight.
But that was inefficient.
‘I need to take a few light hits while attacking to hunt faster.’
I only take as much damage as I can survive.
I deal damage until my opponent can’t survive.
That was Yeonwol’s current strategy.
It sounded simple but was far from easy.
If everyone could take only as much damage as they could endure while dealing lethal blows, no one would ever die.
“This is insane….”
During the Khazaram fight, other players simply thought, ‘He’s good.’
They hadn’t fully realized how formidable Khazaram was since they died without doing anything significant against it.
In other words, they didn’t comprehend the extent of Yeonwol’s control.
But Mad Wolf was a monster most beginner players encountered.
Everyone had hunted it for quite some time and learned, through countless hours of effort, that Mad Wolf’s nimble movements were nearly impossible to dodge with a low-level character.
Having been hit by Mad Wolf themselves, they now understood.
How utterly nonsensical Yeonwol’s control was!
Thud!
[Field Boss Freed Mad Wolf has been slain!]
[Level has increased by 3 stages. Some of the experience points have been converted to stats due to the Jumping Level-Up effect.]
Keeee….-
The grueling battle against Freed Mad Wolf lasted nearly 15 minutes, ending with Yeonwol’s victory.
In other words, a level-20-something player had taken down a level-70 boss monster in just 15 minutes!
No matter how one thought about it, it didn’t make any sense.
Even a high-level mage, after summoning their allies and using advanced scouting skills to verify the level difference, couldn’t help but spread the question further.
A mid-level-20s player had hunted a level-70 boss monster.
Inevitably, the discussion led to one conclusion.
[Author: So, it was a hack after all.]
Content: Dodging Khazaram’s patterns for 30 minutes straight without taking a single hit? Impossible. Back in old computer games, there was a hack called a “Helper” that predicted enemy skills and let you avoid them. I analyzed the video, and it seems like he used that. Elthera Online didn’t have any hacks for two years, but now it’s been breached.
[Views: 781,793 / Recommendations: 8,017]
The story about Yeonwol flared up on Edit once again.
Many people argued over whether Yeonwol was using hacks, and some started spamming posts relentlessly, in line with the community’s tendency to gang up and attack someone they targeted.
So-called ‘disturbance posts’ flooded the boards!
Although some posters, who vowed not to stop spamming until Yeonwol provided an explanation, had their accounts suspended, the community remained noisy.
[Author: Yeonwol must explain the hacks!]
Content: After watching the videos so far, there are too many things that don’t make sense. This video I’ve attached is an edited clip of Yeonwol against Khazaram. Every single dagger stab lands a critical hit. Even if an expert aims for vital points to increase the critical hit rate, getting 100% is ridiculous.
[Views: 1,079,712 / Recommendations: 9,613]
The Mad Wolf hunting video sparked controversy, dragging up the old Khazaram video into the discussion.
Even though the developers had already clarified it wasn’t a hack, that didn’t matter anymore.
Everyone claimed it looked like a hack and accused the developers of being incompetent for failing to catch it.
Users flocked to Yeonwol’s Eltube channel to start spamming dislikes.
Even if his fame had risen through view counts, a surge in dislikes could tarnish that reputation immediately!
Thus, controversial Eltubers rushed to upload explanation videos.
But Yeonwol remained immovable.
Without an explanation video, people were certain he was using hacks and criticized him mercilessly.
Of course, some defended Yeonwol.
[Author: Check out this video from top ranker Backchaser.]
Content: This player also lands frequent critical hits. Is he using hacks too? Backchaser is an 8th-dan kendo master in real life. With real skills, critical hits happen frequently, so why are you accusing Yeonwol?
[User7: Show your own video, not someone else’s footage.]
[User89: We know high levels get more critical hits. The problem is when low-level players do.]
└[User107: With those strikes, critical hits are guaranteed, even for low levels.]
└[User89: What’s your level? Over 100? If not, just stay quiet.]
Some swordsman players and researchers provided examples to correlate critical hits with real-life swordsmanship, but most dismissed it as ‘defending hacks’ and accused them of being just as guilty.
A classic witch hunt!
Regardless of the facts, the sudden fame Yeonwol gained made people jealous.
They camped in the community all day, hammering away at their keyboards to drag him down.
Five days passed in game time, and Yeonwol still didn’t upload a clarification video.
Public opinion solidified, branding Yeonwol a ‘hacker’ and a ‘villain.’
Then, Yeonwol poured fuel on the fire.
[Boss Mad Wolf Solo Kill – Yeonwol]
He uploaded a hunting video shot entirely in first-person perspective!
Since it contained far more information than third-person videos, users eagerly flocked to it.
They were ready to pounce at the slightest hint of a hack and completely ruin him.