Chapter 233 –
The City of the Estranged Wolves (1)
[You won the duel! With the mysterious power of the Rune Hunter, you can duplicate one of the opponent’s runes. Please select the rune to duplicate.]
[‘Silver Moonshadow’ rune selected. Since it’s an Epic rune at level 12, its level will decrease to 6 when registered.]
[New rune acquired.]
[You gain 5 points in Recovery due to the nature of the rune.]
<Rune Information>
◎Name: Silver Moonshadow
◎Grade: Epic
◎Level: 6
◎Engraved Area: Back of Neck
◎Special Effects
: ‘Silver Blessing’ is constantly applied. All equipment, abilities, skills, etc. used in combat contain the properties of silver metal.
: The divinity resonance of equipment being used increases greatly. Divinity can be invested to make equipment perform more effectively.
: Stats increase by 10% when facing curses like commands or undead. These effects intensify proportionally to the Divinity stat and rune level. (*These effects are greatly amplified when facing those who have received the ‘Power of the Moon’.)
…
…’At least I got one.’
I nodded in satisfaction at acquiring a good rune.
I decided to duel the applicants directly in an interview format, thinking I could obtain decent runes, but unexpectedly, acquiring runes wasn’t easy.
There were several reasons for this.
First, most of the applicants I faced were A-grade Holders, so simply winning was not easy.
Also, since I had already obtained most common runes, there were many duplicates.
But more than anything…
‘Victories are rarely acknowledged.’
Since we didn’t fight with all our strength, the system often didn’t recognize it as a [Rune Hunter] duel.
The interview was literally just a place to prove one’s abilities and power.
Even if I could defeat the opponent with my skills, there was no need to fight seriously.
Out of the 97 people who passed the document screening and proceeded to the interview,
I directly dueled 33 of them.
But through those duels, I only acquired 3 runes.
[Normal Rune ‘Whip’ is incorporated into the superior rune ‘Master of Weapons’.]
[Rare Rune ‘Ocean Sword Technique’ is incorporated into the superior rune ‘Brave Eternal Wave’.]
Two of them were incorporated into existing higher categories, and the remaining one was the Epic rune [Silver Moonshadow] that I obtained by defeating Holder Do Seung-min.
[Silver Moonshadow] doesn’t seem to have any special effects at first glance.
It does imbue the ‘silver’ effect to all weapons, equipment, rune effects, skills, etc. being used, but the effect of silver itself has no power in ordinary situations.
‘But it will be effective in this dungeon.’
The ‘werewolves’, whose base rank starts at A, possess tremendous power.
Innate strength, overwhelming speed, martial arts skills that are no less formidable than humans’.
Even their durability is so tough that ordinary attacks don’t leave a scratch.
Especially if a special situation occurs inside the dungeon and a corresponding special rune activates, attacks may not even land at all.
Against them, the ‘power of silver’ is effective.
The power of silver easily pierces their hide and inflicts additional damage.
Ordinary power turns into Divinity and produces special effects.
That’s why I asked Choi Yoo-min and Lee Hyun-ho to mass-produce silver weapons in preparation for this raid party.
Although silver weapons have no effect normally and are difficult to reach high ranks due to the special manufacturing process, they demonstrate tremendous power against special monster forms like werewolves.
‘In that sense, Do Seung-min is an attractive member.’
That’s also why I selected Do Seung-min despite him slightly falling short of the criteria.
[Silver Moonshadow].
If another Holder had this rune that could be the key to this raid, it would be beneficial.
Moreover, since he’s still young and from the same assassin class… I could teach him various things while having him tag along, allowing for rapid growth.
“Ooh – it’s a tense day.”
Lost in thought for a moment, a familiar male voice reaches my ears.
With a tall, handsome build.
Donning the rare armor and helmet gear.
And a flashy sword gripped in his hand.
It was my close friend, Park Jin-woo.
“You came early?”
“Yeah, but this feels awkward. These gears are too expensive.”
Park Jin-woo fiddled with his equipment, looking uncomfortable.
While offensive warrior-types tend to prefer light gear, Park Jin-woo in particular rarely wore any gear at all.
At most, a leather armor and boots?
He didn’t even wear a helmet, saying it obstructed his vision.
When it came to equipment, I just used whatever was available, but Park Jin-woo was quite extreme in that regard.
“Get used to it, will ya.”
So I took this opportunity to gift him some high-end gear.
In other words, everything Park Jin-woo is wearing…
I bought it all for him.
Since all the equipment is at least rare-grade, Park Jin-woo tried to pay me back when I gave it to him, but I flatly refused and just gifted it to him.
There was meaning in returning the favor for the help, known and unknown, that I had received from Park Jin-woo as a friend and colleague over the years.
And also because…
“If the vice-captain’s gear looks shabby, the whole raid party will look shabby.”
I had appointed Park Jin-woo as the vice-captain of this <Ripple Raid>.
As soon as he heard the words ‘vice-captain’, Park Jin-woo immediately scratched his head vigorously.
“Ugh… Do I really have to do that?”
“So are you not going to do it now?”
“No, there are a lot of experienced Holders. Like that person Lim Hyun, and the Royal sign Holder? That person too, right?”
The two Holders Park Jin-woo is referring to.
Lim Hyun and Seong Na-yeon.
They are all experienced and skilled A-grade Holders, perfectly suitable as vice-squad leaders…
But there was a slight problem.
“I told you, there could be a dispersal of command authority.”
The problem was that they were too experienced.
Seong Na-yeon was the prominent sign Holder who took charge of big and small matters in <Royal>, while Lim Hyun was the former squad leader of the <Deep Green Grassland> raid team.
They had great reputations and strong leadership, so many Holders followed them.
Even among the members selected for our raid team now, except for a few, they would trust Seong Na-yeon and Lim Hyun more than me.
Giving them a title with strong authority like vice-squad leader could cause problems in our strategy.
I’m the one who knows best about <The City of the Estranged Wolves>, but if they object based on their intuition and experience, it could get tricky.
“Plus, it’s a bit iffy to assign something to someone from a clan.”
Lim Hyun is without a clan, but Seong Na-yeon is clearly a member of the <Royal> clan.
Giving an important role related to the raid team to a member of a large clan or private clan could make our raid team look influenced by that clan from the outside.
Additionally, other clans that didn’t receive the role could raise complaints.
That’s also why I didn’t assign the vice-squad leader role to Kang Juyeon, who is one of our most experienced members.
“Hey, and you can do well. You have unknown leadership within you?”
“Damn you, how would you know something I don’t?”
“Puhaha.”
I burst out laughing at Park Jin-woo’s frank insult.
The decisive reason I assigned him as the vice-squad leader was that I wanted to draw out his innate abilities.
Park Jin-woo specializes in the warrior class, but he’s also an excellent leader.
In the original work, he clearly demonstrated leadership qualities through a mental awakening, and he even formed this raid team himself, albeit crudely.
If he can show those abilities again this time, it will be a great help to me going forward.
He’s a bit rough around the edges to be assigned vice-captain right away, but he’ll do well.
I’m expecting that from him, which is why I even bought him equipment.
‘Well, he’s the only trustworthy one I have too.’
Among the members of the <Ripple Raid> right now, Park Jin-woo is the only one who is truly ‘my person’.
Excluding Kang Juyeon, there was no one else suitable for the vice-captain leader role besides Park Jin-woo.
It was a decision made amidst tangled interests and complicated relationships.
“So when is Camilla coming?”
I clapped once and asked Park Jin-woo in a casual tone.
At that, he frowned deeply.
“Why are you suddenly bringing up Camilla?”
“I’m curious.”
“Why would you need to know?”
“Oh, so you do know? Have you contacted her?”
“……”
For a moment, the words hit Park Jin-woo right in his face as he closed his mouth.
His expression showed he was completely on point.
Then, with an embarrassed look, he turned his back.
“I’m going to sharpen my blade. See you later.”
“Hey, crazy guy. What kind of weapon do you keep sharpening every day?”
“Don’t know. Don’t look for me.”
And so, starting with Park Jin-woo, the members began gathering one by one.
The high-ranking Holders I mentioned earlier like Lim Hyun and Seong Na-yeon…
Kim Chae-eun, Kang Juyeon, and Moon Ga-eun who returned from Japan.
Akiba, who joined the raid team at my request.
Lee Soo-mi from the recovery class, whom I haven’t seen in a long time.
And even Camilla, whom Park Jin-woo had been desperately waiting for…
Countless other raid members revealed themselves one after another.
“Brother!! An exciting, heart-pounding morning…!!”
“……”
For some reason, there was also one devoted fan who followed me particularly well.
Anyway, there were 9 warriors, 6 mages and archers, 6 assassins, 3 recovery classes, and 2 special classes.
A total of 32 members had gathered at the scheduled time.
There was no need for lengthy introductions.
They quickly came together and maintained order.
And at the center of them all stood me.
Amidst dozens of pairs of eyes gathered there…
I declared in a low, firm voice, “Then let’s begin our strategy now.”
It was the first step towards <The City of the Estranged Wolves>.
The land where unknown information lay buried.
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