"See, to kill a dragon, just aim for the neck, the scales are least effective there," Orelia jumped down from the headless dragon corpse and smiled.
Even though both were on the same level, she could solo kil a dragon while everyone else was struggling to survive.
That was the kind of difference between their skills.
And by her own words, she was playing support build.
He could not even imagine what her damage build looked like.
"If I keep going this way, I will never be able to close that gap..."
Rowan was struggling inside.
He had gained an upgrade; his stats per level were higher too, but just thinking about that skill gap made him feel hopeless.
So he did the only thing he knew how to do.
Risk his life for a better outcome.
The rules for entering a dungeon were simple, you had to be registered before going in.
The only time you needed to meet a minimum party requirement was if you wanted life insurance coverage. If you were willing to die, nobody stopped you from going solo.
Rowan selected a nearby gate. An E rank dungeon, the same rank as the one he had just cleared with five members.
He put all his status points into powering himself up.
---
[Status]
Level: 2
Class: Assassin (E) / Soul Reaper (Tier 2, SSS)
[Stats]
Strength: 3+2=5
Agility: 3+3=6
Vitality: 2
Dexterity: 5
Magic: 2
Status Points: 0
*[Skills]*
[Sneak (E): Slightly conceals your presence. Always active.]
[Dash (E): Increases Agility by 10% for 10 seconds.]
[Soul Reserve (SSS): Adds a new resource called "Soul Points." Accumulates by being near the death of living things.]
[Soul Harvest (SSS): The souls you reap grant you the choice to steal one of their skills.]
[Soul Devourer (Tier 2, SSS): Makes your next attack target the soul; damage dealt to the body is proportional to the strength of the target's soul. On hit, temporarily steals the target's stats proportional to damage dealt. Can be cast at range.]
[Specter Form (S): Temporarily transforms you into a soul state for 2 seconds, ignoring all damage from the material world.]
[Reaper's Body (SS): When damaged, spend SP to recover. Prevents instant death.]
[Magic Barrier (E): Creates a magical barrier.] * 1
---
After registering on the app, Rowan went in alone.
It had been a long time since he did this. Leading a human resistance army meant always having someone beside him — going solo was something he had rarely done for a while.
Getting inside, cold light shone from above as two moons beamed down and illuminated the night sky.
'A plain?'
Rowan quickly ran through his options. At rank E on open terrain the enemy types were limited — mostly beasts. Elves only appeared at rank C or higher, not here.
His hand gripped his shotgun as he wandered deeper into the forest. The trees whispered in the wind, and as he pushed further in his senses began picking up life signatures. Around twenty of them, not far ahead.
And it looked like they had picked up his too.
"Grrrr..."
A group of large wolves began to growl as they noticed him. Roughly twice the size of a normal wolf, they hunted in packs — a dangerous enemy even for a group, let alone someone going alone. They were exceptional at overwhelming a single target.
Rowan's heart thumped as excitement flooded through him.
The wolves spotted him clearly and howled with savage fury before clawing their way toward him fast.
Rowan steadied his shotgun and fired. The blast made the wolves flinch, and those hit with lead went down injured, pellets tearing into them as blood dripped from their wounds.
But those that were not hit kept coming, spreading out to circle around him.
Rowan kept his feet moving, firing as much as possible while keeping the herd at distance.
His bullets were too shallow to kill these wolves outright — unlike goblins, their power and durability matched that of a grizzly bear, with twice the speed and the coordination of a pack.
The shotgun roared but the pack was many and he could only fire so many rounds before running dry. The wolves closed in the moment the opportunity arose.
Rowan drew his knife and blocked the first attack, getting pushed back from the force before grabbing its head and twisting its neck. Then another wolf came from behind and bit into his leg.
"Agh!"
Even if he could heal, the pain was very much real.
Rowan spun and drove his knife into the wolf biting his ankle, but then another wolf leaped in and chomped down on his arm.
'This isn't good!'
[You have suffered damage. Spending 4 Soul Points to recover.] [Soul Points remaining: 10]
Before the other wolves could pile on, he was forced to flee by shifting into a soul-like state and blinking out of the material world.
[Specter Form] [SP: 9]
He rematerialized not far away, hand quickly grabbing shotgun rounds and reloading.
The wolf pack rushed in, jaws open wide, feet thundering. This time he shifted his strategy.
'Change of plans.'
[Soul Devourer] [SP: 8]
The bullet transformed into soul energy and blasted through the entire wolf pack in soul shards, dragging pieces of their souls out of their bodies. When the souls snapped back, the wounds appeared on them physically.
But this time the damage was far deeper. Soul Devourer had enhanced the bullet and directed the damage straight into their souls — far deadlier than it normally could be. Like a shotgun through wet tissue.
Half the pack dropped dead as the bullet pierced their hearts and brains mid flight. Most of those that survived were now riddled with holes, their speed drastically reduced.
Still, more than ten wolves jumped in, forcing him to fend them off with the shotgun.
He picked some off before facing the last five.
One leaped at him and got blasted mid air. Another tried to rush him down and took a shot to the head.
Then another lunged from the side as he dodged, with one more coming from behind. With experience now behind him, Rowan activated [Specter Form] and turned incorporeal, letting the two wolves collide into each other before reappearing behind them.
He pressed the shotgun point blank and blasted one's skull apart, then racked and dropped the other.
Only the last one remained, head low, growling.
He simply looked at it and shot it where it stood.
Rowan looked at the injured wolves scattered around and drew out his knife.
To save bullets he finished them all off one by one before starting to harvest their [Mana Cores].
[You have suffered damage. Spending 2 Soul Points to recover.] [Soul Points remaining: 8]
[You leveled up!]
"You guys really did a number on me..."
Rowan would have died many times over by now if he had fought these wolves fair and square.
He came out with less SP than when the fight started, and that was a loss in his book.
Which made him even angrier at himself. That he could be this weak after everything he had been through.
Was it because his stats were lacking? Or maybe because his skills stock was not enough?
Or had he simply relied on others for so long that he could no longer handle things solo anymore?
Whichever was the answer, Rowan knew one thing clearly.
He was WEAK.
And he hated it!