...…

Half a day had already passed since the City Defense – Monster Horde event had started. And the monster horde just ended its fifth wave of the day. And the players were currently taking advantage of the 15-minute break to repair their items and to resupply their utilities and consumables on their inventory bag.

Players could easily recover from the physical fatigue since their bodies were just a virtual body that only needed a little rest to regain its peak form. But when it came to their minds, it was something that was completely different.

A mental fatigue was not as simple as it was. Once someone became tired mentally, that player was not only required to have a decent amount of time to recover. The quality of rest was also needed to be considered to regain its peak form.

Considering this, the players of various independent groups, Adventure Teams, and Guilds decided to do a good rotation of players. They started scheduling the time for the player's rest; the trio of Shin and the other two included.

…

Aside from that issue, there was another one that put a headache for all of the players that were registered for the event. As if having an exhausting battle was not enough, the monster horde wave gave the players more trouble.

It was because of the monsters that were present on each wave. And for every wave that was sent so far, wolves were always present. Or to be more precise, those waves were too focused on wolves. For every wave that was sent to attack the City, another type of wolf would be added to the previous ones that had already been present.

What's more, those additional wolves had the traits that were combined with the ones that had already been revealed; they could either be two hybrids or more. And if you add the fact that these monsters were always in packs, then it was really a troublesome matter.

Dealing with a pack of wolves with a single type was already a trouble, much less a pack with different kinds of wolves; even a skilled player would have a hard time with that kind of pack.

Though, not everyone hated this kind of thing. There were still a few number of players that welcomed such a group of monsters.

And Shin was one of those players.

"Tsk! I don't know whether to like these monsters or not. Dealing with them is hard, but due to one of my skills, killing these monsters is much more fun than being a trouble," muttered Shin as he repaired his items together with the items from Simba.

After that, he took another look at his items before doing one more check at the details of the item that really made him satisfied for now.

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1. Wolf Sovereignty: +30% Additional Damage against wolf related creatures. (WolfKin are not included)

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And if he added the other two passive buff skills from his 'Ruler's Dignity' helm, going against these superior monsters was something that didn't put much trouble for Shin.

After fixing their items, Shin re-equip once again before taking a rest from the next wave.

"Based on this, it looks like the entire first day will be wolf waves," said Simba as he put on his equipments.

Shin took a look at Simba and asked curiously. "Leo, your items are really good. An 8-piece Black Mithril equipment set is really something. But have you seen any item that is higher than black mithril rank?"

Simba thought for a moment before replying. "Well, I did see some items that were in Obsidian Rank. Though, all of them are just quest items while items that had higher rank than that are still unavailable."

He paused for a moment to think about something before adding. "And from the looks of it, items that are in those ranks will only be available at level 200 and above. That is based on the materials that need to be collected for upgrading an item to Obsidian Rank."

Shin's interest was suddenly piqued after hearing that and asked. "Oh~! How sure are you about that?"

Simba shrugged his shoulders while replying. "Well, I have few quests that concern crafting an item with Obsidian Rank. And the materials that I need to collect for that quest are either dropped from the monsters that are in level 250+ and above, or can be found at the neutral maps with Level-220 average levels."

"I see," muttered Shin to himself before going to take a comfortable position to sit.

Or at least, he tried to do it. But before he even managed to take a seat, a bunch of howling sounds could already be heard from the distance.

Awoo~! Awoo~!

Shin released a helpless sigh before abandoning the idea of resting. Then he picked his weapons up for another time before hanging them on each side of his waist. "What a tiring event. And this is only the day one."

And while he was getting ready for another fight. A pillar of light suddenly appeared in front of him before revealing a charming lady with pink hair.

Given that Shin had the Ultra Instincts inside the game, he was able to move his body in time and dodged to the side so that he could avoid colliding with her.

Unfortunately, the girl happened to also move that way, making for Shin's efforts futile.

Ah!

Shin and that figure collided with each other, causing the two of them to lose their footings and became out of balance.

Shin unconsciously stretched his arms forward and embraced the figure in front of him out of instinct before turning his body towards the ground to protect her during their fall.

Thud!

The girl was naturally Cloe, and she was currently having her eyes closed as she was gotten off-guard of what had happened.

She stayed at that position for quite some time, before she felt that nothing happened. Then she opened her eyes slowly to see what happened and that was when she discovered that she was in Shin's arms.

She was surprised at first before having a mixed feeling. Her heartbeat started beating faster as her blood rushed to her face. Feeling the hot sensation on her face, her cheeks turned rosy as she suddenly felt shy and embarrassed.

Even if she used to tease him from time to time, this was her first time being hugged by him. She still felt safe and secure in his embrace, making her wish to stay on that moment forever. It felt so surreal that she was left in daze.

And when she turned her head up, she was greeted by Shin's face that was so close too hers. Even if it was just an accident, her face still couldn't help but turn even redder especially that her body was pressing at Shin's along with her weight.

And her embarrassment intensified when she heard Shin's voice saying. "Yo! You're back early. How was your rest?"

This time, she felt that her face was burning hot. And it was enough to release a hot steam out of her head.

But…

Wasn't she supposedly mad at this guy for calling her an Amazon earlier?

Remembering that moment, Cloe clenched her fingers into a fist before pushing Shin away to escape from his arms. After that, she punched him on the face with all her might.

Pak!

"What do you think you're doing for hugging a woman?" said Cloe as she stood up.

Shin, on the other hand, was staring at her with a confused look at his face. 'What did I do wrong?'

Seeing that look, Cloe threw him a fierce glare while saying. "That is what you get from taking advantage of me. Hmph!"

Then Shin rubbed his cheek before muttering to himself. "Did you ever hear me complain whenever you are the one taking advantage of me openly? What's with this unfairness?"

"What did you just say?" asked the Cloe.

But before shin could say something...

Cough! Cough!

Simba was the one that complained first, saying. "Are the two of you done being lovey-dovey? If not, can you stop being a pair of love birds for now and get ready. The wave of monsters is already coming."

Cloe turned her head at him to redirect her glare. But before anything else, she started chanting out some prayers to cast a buff after buff at the two for the upcoming round of battle.

Meanwhile, Shin did a kick up to stand up from the ground before getting ready from the next fight. And when he looked at the distance to see what kind of wolves that they need to deal with, what he saw was something really unexpected.

Just like before here were a lot of silhouettes that were coming after them. But this time, Shin could see that these incoming corrupted monsters were something that was even more troublesome.

"Werewolves this early of the wave? Tsk! Looks like this monster horde event is going to be a bloody one during its ends," muttered Simba as he looked at the incoming monsters.

...…