Chapter 9: First boss
It was a larger wolf.
Not dramatically bigger—if the regular wolves were about the size of normal wolves, this one was roughly the size of a bear, a kodiak.
Its thick fur was dark brown, almost blending with the cave walls.
Its maw, however, was much larger, stretching into what looked like a permanent grin. It wasn’t smiling.
It simply looked hungry.
Its claws were longer and thicker than those of the other wolves, giving it a far more intimidating appearance.
Still...
This was only a D-Rank dungeon.
The boss was undoubtedly the strongest monster inside, but the raid had brought mostly C-Rank hunters.
As long as nobody made a serious mistake, clearing the dungeon without major injuries should be entirely possible.
The two tanks stepped forward first.
They advanced slowly, shields raised.
The boss, which had been lying motionless on the stone floor, slowly opened its eyes.
The instant it noticed the hunters—
ROOOOAR!
A thunderous roar echoed throughout the cavern.
Takuya blinked.
...Wolves aren’t supposed to roar.
Apparently, this one didn’t care.
The sound alone was enough to shake loose small pieces of rock from the ceiling.
The tanks immediately activated their skills.
Mana surged through their bodies, covering them with a faint glow.
Takuya narrowed his eyes.
Taunt?
That was the first thing that came to mind.
The whole system really did resemble an RPG in some ways.
A moment later, he realized he had been wrong.
The wolf wasn’t focusing on them because of some forced aggro mechanic.
Instead, the mana surrounding the tanks dramatically reinforced their bodies, allowing them to withstand attacks that would normally crush an ordinary person.
Seeing Takuya’s puzzled expression, Jinwoo quietly spoke from beside him.
"It’s Body Reinforcement."
"Oh..."
"I thought it was Taunt."
Jinwoo couldn’t help letting out a small laugh.
"For a second... so did I."
There wasn’t much time for conversation.
The battle had already begun.
Takuya sidestepped to get a clear angle.
"Baby Salamander!"
Twin streams of fire streaked across the room and struck the wolf’s shoulder.
The flames scorched its fur, forcing the boss to shift its attention toward him.
Just as it prepared to charge—
Twang!
Two arrows flew across the battlefield.
One bounced harmlessly off the thick hide.
The second buried itself deep into the wolf’s shoulder.
The distraction created the perfect opening.
One of the swordsmen dashed forward, using the tanks as cover before unleashing a powerful rising slash across the beast’s chest.
The wound was deep enough to draw blood.
At almost the same moment, the axe warrior charged.
He planted one foot on a tank’s shield and launched himself into the air, much like Takuya had done earlier against the wolves.
With a powerful overhead swing, his axe carved across the boss’s face.
A long crimson gash appeared from its cheek to just above one eye.
The wolf staggered...
But it remained standing.
It was wounded.
Far from defeated.
The wolf let out another growl.
This time, however, it wasn’t normal.
Mana surged through the sound itself.
The roar exploded across the chamber like a shockwave.
The two tanks were hit head-on.
Their bodies froze for a brief instant.
Even the hunters standing farther away felt the effects.
Takuya instinctively covered one ear as a sharp pain shot through his head.
It felt as though his eardrums were about to burst.
Jinwoo had it even worse.
The young hunter collapsed onto one knee, completely disoriented by the magical roar.
...That’s stronger than I expected.
At that moment, Takuya understood why raids almost always included hunters above the dungeon’s minimum rank.
Technically, a D-Rank party could clear a D-Rank dungeon.
Realistically...
A C-Rank party was far safer.
The opening created by the roar lasted only a second.
The boss immediately took advantage of it.
It slammed into the two tanks with terrifying force.
Both hunters were thrown backward several meters, their shields barely softening the impact.
When they finally stopped rolling across the ground, blood was already running from their mouths.
"Johee!"
The healer reacted immediately.
A warm green light enveloped both tanks as she rushed toward them, steadily closing their wounds.
Meanwhile, the hunters positioned on the flanks recovered first since they had only suffered part of the shockwave.
Takuya charged.
"Noble Heart!"
Flames wrapped around his fist as he drove a punch into the wolf’s ribs.
The beast answered almost instantly.
Its claws crashed against the armored sections protecting Takuya’s forearms.
Even after blocking, the impact launched him backward several meters.
The moment his feet touched the ground again—
"Baby Salamander!"
Twin streams of fire struck the wolf before it could continue its assault.
At the same time, one of the swordsmen lunged forward.
His blade pierced deep into the beast’s side.
The wolf howled in pain and instinctively jumped backward.
The sudden movement pulled the sword free from the hunter’s hands, leaving him temporarily unarmed.
Before the boss could recover—
Twang!
The archer released another shot.
This time, the arrow buried itself directly into one of the wolf’s eyes.
The monster recoiled with an enraged cry.
"Fire Toss!"
Takuya’s fireball slammed into the wolf’s face almost immediately afterward, exploding against its muzzle.
The beast staggered.
The axe warrior seized the opportunity.
Charging forward, he swung his massive weapon in a wide arc, carving deeply into one of the wolf’s front legs.
The boss lost its balance and crashed onto one side.
Seeing the opening, both Takuya and the warrior rushed in together.
The wolf suddenly snapped its head toward the axe user, jaws opening wide enough to swallow half his torso.
It was going for a killing bite.
Takuya’s eyes widened.
Without thinking, he thrust both hands directly toward the creature’s open mouth.
"Baby Salamander!"
The flames exploded inside the wolf’s throat.
Its entire body convulsed violently.
For a brief second, everything went still.
Then...
The massive beast collapsed.
Silence filled the cave.
The dungeon boss was dead.
Takuya let out a long breath.
So... that’s my first raid.
Almost everyone sat down to rest.
Including him.
It had been far more exhausting than he had expected.
The boss wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful.
In fact, if one of the Monarchs had seen him struggling against a D-Rank dungeon boss, they probably would have laughed.
Still...
The fight had taught him something valuable.
A D-Rank boss possessed at least the combat ability of a solid C-Rank hunter.
Could he have defeated it alone?
...Probably.
Eventually.
But it would’ve been a much longer and riskier fight.
More importantly, it gave him another point of reference for comparing Solo Leveling’s scaling with Digimon.
A normal C-Rank hunter...
...is probably somewhere around the level of an weak to normal Adult Digimon.
Maybe Adult-level Digimon ranged from C to B Rank.
It was impossible to be certain.
Digimon varied far too much.
Some species were absurdly stronger than others.
Lucemon, for example, could stand among the Monarchs despite technically starting from a much lower evolutionary stage.
The scaling simply wasn’t consistent.
While the others rested, Takuya quietly approached the boss’s corpse and activated his D-Scan.
Streams of glowing data flowed into the device.
The number that appeared made him blink.
+3.9 MB Data Acquired.
Nearly four megabytes.
From a single monster.
Compared to everything he had gathered before, it was an enormous amount.
After adding the data from the wolves and goblins, today’s total reached just over six megabytes.
Takuya smiled.
A good day’s work.
D-SCAN
Host Takuya Kanbara
Hunter Rank: C
Primary Spirit Fire
Elemental sync: 12%
Data 6,5 MB
Evolution
• Baby I – Mokumon
(Transformation Unavailable — Incompatible Host Body)
• Baby II – DemiMeramon
(Transformation Unavailable — Incompatible Host Body)
• Rookie / Child – Flamon
(Hybrid special/high rockie) (Partial Transformation — Incompatible Host Body)
Abilities Unlocked
• Smoke • Noble hearth • baby salamander • Fire tail • Flame toss
Side Evolutions Available Rookie
• Candmon (Insufficient Data)
• Ghostmon (Insufficient Data)
• Vorvomon (Insufficient Data)
Requirement: 100 MB of Data
Next Evolution (Locked) Adult / Champion • ???? • ???? • ???? Requirement: 500 MB of Data
He hadn’t noticed it before, but it seemed the system had now integrated his Hunter Rank into the panel alongside his current Data count.
"Just how does this even work?" Takuya wondered as he looked at the screen.
Collecting Data from living beings sounded bizarre... but then again, Jinwoo collected experience points, which, if he was being honest, was an even more absurd concept.
At least DNA could technically be considered data.
"Rookie, we have to go. The dungeon will collapse any minute now," the axe warrior called out. "The reward from the boss crystal will be divided according to everyone’s contribution. We’ll all have to submit a report detailing what we did. If there are any inconsistencies, the Hunter Association will call us in for questioning."
Takuya nodded before standing up and walking over to Jinwoo and Joohee.
"That was quite an experience. Do you do this all the time?" he asked.
The two exchanged awkward smiles.
"Are you going to keep raiding?" Jinwoo asked.
Takuya paused for a moment before nodding.
There was no way he was stopping now.
Especially after discovering that he could gather Data from monsters in the real world—and in far greater quantities than in the Digital World.
Even so, he would probably need dozens upon dozens of raids before reaching the Adult stage. Maybe around ninety... he wasn’t sure of the exact number, but it would certainly take a long time.
"It was fun," Takuya admitted. "But I also had a strange feeling."
"A feeling?" Joohee asked curiously.
"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head, searching for the right words. "It’s like... I can’t use all of my power. I don’t really know how to explain it. It feels incomplete, as if I should be able to transform completely, but something is preventing me."
He wasn’t trying to hide anything from the rest of the party. Even if they overheard him, the worst they would think was that he was an overconfident rookie.
And honestly...
That was perfectly fine.
Unlike many protagonists, Takuya saw no reason to hide his abilities.
Why would anyone intentionally pretend to be weak?
He had never understood that trope.
Maybe it made sense in worlds like Naruto, where powerful people actively hunted talented children.
But this wasn’t that kind of world.
In Solo Leveling, pretending to be weaker than you really were would only cost you opportunities, money, and experience.
Sure, there was the issue of one’s awakening being fixed.
But if his powers naturally evolved over time, all he had to say was that his awakening had been incomplete and later matured.
Considering how unusual his transformation already was, people would probably accept that explanation without questioning it too much.
Simple.
As they walked toward the dungeon exit, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Takuya glanced at Jinwoo.
The young hunter looked exhausted.
Although Joohee had healed his injuries, the fatigue remained. Worse, he had only managed to collect two mana crystals. During the boss fight, he had barely been able to contribute, and unlike healers, he wasn’t guaranteed a larger share simply because of his role.
Financially...
He wasn’t in a good place.
Once they stepped out of the gate, the party dispersed almost immediately.
Takuya walked alongside Jinwoo for a few moments before stopping.
Without saying anything, he took three mana crystals from his bag—one from a wolf and two from the goblins—and held them out.
"I can’t accept those," Jinwoo said immediately.
"You can."
"They’re yours."
"I know."
Takuya smiled.
"But I think is fair"
Jinwoo hesitated.
Takuya wasn’t trying to pity him.
He wasn’t babysitting him, either.
The truth was much simpler.
He was just being nice.