NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Werewolf
As the light around him pulsed—brightening, then fading—Lucas suddenly appeared in a strange new landscape.
The environment looked oddly familiar. It resembled the barren hills he had seen earlier outside the dungeon entrance. The ground stretched out in all directions in a lifeless yellow hue, almost as if he had been dropped onto a giant mound of loess. The soil underfoot and the rolling hills nearby were all the same dull earthy yellow. Not even grass dared to grow.
Just as he was about to explore, a system prompt flashed before his eyes:
> You have entered the Level 20 dungeon: "Ogre Lair."
Difficulty: Hard.
Objective: Eliminate the Boss to clear the level.
Be cautious!
"Huh…" Lucas murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. Could the strange terrain outside the dungeon be because the energy from this place is leaking into the world?
That theory would explain why the area around the dungeon entrance was so different from the lush jungle and greenery surrounding Tomorrow Sea City. A patch of wasteland in the middle of a forest didn't make sense—unless it was being warped by dungeon energy.
Do all dungeons have this effect? he wondered. Or is this just another example of the game blending into reality?
He didn't dwell on it. After picking a direction, he moved out—his eyes locking onto a tall, broken sentry tower rising in the distance. It was the only visible landmark, and that made it a good place to start.
As he neared the tower, he caught sight of the enemies guarding this dungeon. They weren't ogres—not yet, anyway—but rather terrifying wolf-like creatures standing on two legs. They were werewolves, each over six feet tall, with snarling muzzles and sharp fangs. Some held rusty swords and battered shields. Even at a glance, Lucas could tell they were no ordinary enemies.
Curious, he threw a detection scroll at one of them. A display appeared:
---
Enemy: Werewolf Warrior
Level: 20
HP: 3,850
Attack: 460
Physical Defense: 350
Magic Defense: 300
Skills: Bite, Slash, Howl
---
Lucas frowned. These guys are stronger than normal monsters of this level—by at least 30%. Maybe it was because they were dungeon monsters? Or maybe the difficulty bonus applied here.
Worse, they weren't isolated enemies—they moved in small packs. Lucas could already see a group of them patrolling together. Two more were posted as archers on top of the sentry tower, bows in hand and eyes glowing red with aggression.
"So that's why it takes a full team to clear a dungeon like this," Lucas muttered. If a solo player tried this, they'd be swarmed and overwhelmed in seconds.
In a typical team, the tank would lure enemies away one by one. The priest would heal, the damage dealers would focus down targets quickly, and ideally, someone would take out the archers on the tower first before the melee enemies even noticed them.
But Lucas didn't have a team. He was solo.
Time for plan B.
Reaching into his inventory, he drew his dagger and activated his Stealth skill.
> Invisibility: The assassin's core skill. Render yourself invisible for 3 minutes unless attacking. Can only be activated outside of combat.
Normally, Lucas didn't rely on Stealth. It conflicted with his powerful awakening talent "God-Killing Blade," which lost effectiveness when hidden. But in this case, avoiding detection was more important.
He crept silently toward the base of the sentry tower.
From below, he could now see the werewolf archers clearly. They hadn't noticed him. Time to strike.
He targeted one and activated a new Level 20 skill: Backstab.
> Backstab: Teleport behind the target and strike for 250% physical damage.
In a blink, Lucas vanished and reappeared behind the first werewolf archer, plunging his dagger deep into its back.
1120 damage!
The werewolf shrieked in pain, its health bar plummeting by a third. "Not bad, but nowhere near the damage I do with my God-Killing Blade active," Lucas thought, shaking his head.
Still, there was no time to hesitate.
The werewolf archer howled in rage and spun to counterattack. The second archer raised its bow, already preparing to fire.
Lucas smirked. "Too slow."
Before his first target could respond, Lucas struck again with a blinding slash from his left hand.
4560 damage!
The werewolf archer collapsed instantly.
Lucas turned on the second archer, who had just loosed an arrow—only to fall dead before it reached him.
In less than ten seconds, he had cleared the tower's biggest threats.
Grinning, he muttered, "I guess being sneaky isn't my thing after all. I prefer head-on chaos."
He looked down at the werewolf warriors below, who were snarling and pacing restlessly.
"Let's have some fun."
Lucas jumped down from the tower, landing hard on one of the werewolf warriors' heads.
Surprisingly, the attack dealt over 100 points of damage—an impressive number for a non-skill attack. It was only possible thanks to the absurd bonus from his awakened talent.
The werewolf stumbled, nearly falling, but growled and slashed back. Lucas flipped away effortlessly, dodging the counterstrike with a smooth leap.
He retaliated with a clean dagger slash to the enemy's spine—delivering 4360 damage and instantly killing it.
The other werewolves howled in fury, their red eyes glowing even brighter. They charged with swords raised, ready to avenge their comrade.
But Lucas was prepared.
Thanks to weeks of non-stop grinding—especially in the brutal Dark Forest—his combat instincts were razor-sharp. He moved like wind, side-stepping slashes, ducking swipes, and weaving through the chaos with precision.
His agility stats were high, his movement fluid, and every counterattack struck like lightning.
White light flashed again and again as his blades found their marks.
In less than ten seconds, every werewolf warrior around him had fallen. Their bodies twitched on the ground as enormous red damage numbers floated over their heads.
Lucas didn't even stop to admire his handiwork. He bent down and collected the dropped materials, shoving them into his spatial backpack with practiced ease.
"Alright," he said, dusting himself off. "I've got a good grasp of how these werewolves fight. Time to move on."
With confidence, he continued deeper into the dungeon.
Wave after wave of werewolf monsters tried to stop him.
They failed.
Lucas tore through them like a blade through paper.
He moved fast, clean, efficient—slaughtering more than a dozen waves of enemies without breaking a sweat.
Finally, he reached the innermost part of the dungeon.
The air grew heavy. The sky above seemed to darken. A massive shape loomed at the center of a crude stone arena.
There stood the BOSS—a monstrous ogre, twice the height of any werewolf, with iron chains wrapped around its arms and a boulder-sized club slung across its shoulder.
Its glowing red eyes locked onto Lucas.
It let out a roar that shook the earth.
The final battle had begun.
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