One positive thing about this not being exactly like the game was that the add-ons did not respawn every time I died.
Small mercy since I had to take down twelve wolves, die seven times before finally coming face to face with the boss wolf.
How did I know it was a boss mob? Well, it had a fucking health bar I was chipping away at.
Alpha Beowolf was its name, and the health bar was mostly full, since it seemed rather intelligent compared to the other wolves.
Every time I tried to swing my sword at it, it blocked, actually blocked with the plethora of bones that were on its body.
I backstepped, letting the claw pass through my body before I stepped forward again, my sword sliding into its shoulder, before I could twist and break it off. I was batted away, leaving my sword embedded in its shoulder.
I rolled on the ground before getting up to my feet, looking up to see it charging at me on all fours, ignoring the blade that was in its body.
I grunted in annoyance. It was more like a pest with a health bar rather than a boss mob.
I clenched my fist in a last desperate attempt at retaliating and rolled forward, avoiding a swipe from its claws. As I got to my feet, my fist impacted the skull mask on its head, and a resounding crack broke the relative silence of the forest.
Surprisingly, it wasn't my hand that broke, considering the condition it was in, but the mask of the Beowolf.
I watched blankly as the health bar dipped down considerably, more than my sword ever managed to drop it when hitting the bones.
Strike damage was better against the bones, noted.
The Beowolf staggered, shaking its head, and I took this moment to grab the hilt of my sword that was still stuck in its shoulder and twisted harshly, before pulling the blade out.
The health bar dropped past half, and I backed off, gripping the sword properly with both of my hands.
The Beowolf roared at me before it stood up...
Since when could it do that?
I took a small step back, watching it warily. One of its hands was hanging limp, considerably limiting what it could do.
I raised my sword slightly, waiting for a moment for it to make the first move.
I wanted to reach for the Estus Flask badly, my body was aching, my hands trembling as I tried to catch what breath I could manage.
And then, it roared, its hind legs exploding in motion as it barreled toward me, its only functioning hand heading down toward me.
I rolled forward, right into its functioning side, avoiding the hit, and my blade sliding into its side for a moment, before ripping out a chunk of its abdomen.
Finding my footing, I took a few steps back and watched as the hulking body of the Beowolf dropped down to the ground, releasing a pitiful groan, before it started to slowly dissolve...
"What?"
I panted, catching my breath for a second. It died too quickly, I thought there were a few more minutes of fight left in it...
I looked down at the health bar, and yes, it was drained. That was weird.
I looked closely at its body for a second, noticing that my final slash managed to cut through where its spinal cord would be, and blinked.
"Ah, that makes sense..."
I muttered, walking a little closer, crouching down to observe the disintegrating body. From what I could see from the opening, the bones were a thing in the beast's, but no stomach or intestines, weird, if they didn't have stomachs and couldn't get hungry, why did they attack on sight?
Primal instinct?
I didn't know, and I doubted I would find out any time soon.
I watched as it finally disappeared, and a screen popped up in front of me. I read over the text for a moment and took a deep breath.
Mastodon Greatsword.
It was good, great, honestly.
But... But a shield would have been...
Well, beggars can't be choosers, I guess... I went into the inventory and equipped the Greatsword, which was a questionable decision. I could barely use a normal sword, but I would learn. I had a lot of time.
I looked down at my soul count and hummed appreciatively, fifteen thousand from the Alpha Beowolf, and the thirty-six thousand from the other wolves I killed just to get to the boss.
Since I needed Twelve Dexterity for the Greatsword, I put four levels into the stat, bringing it up to the minimum. and I also needed... Thirty strength while I only had fifteen.
But that was only for using it one-handed, I could wield it normally if I used two hands.
But just to be on the safer side, I put five levels into Strength, bringing it up to twenty. The rest I distributed between Endurance and adaptability, bringing them up to twelve and fifteen, respectively.
That one horde of wolves and the boss together got me seventeen levels and a new weapon, overall a great haul.
I hummed, looking down at my waist and pulling out the greatsword, grunting slightly before I wrapped my other hand around the handle as well. It was heavy, but not as heavy as I thought it would be, honestly.
I held it in my hands for a moment, but I knew that it would get heavier sooner or later, so I rested it against my shoulder.
I adjusted it slightly before I widened my stance for a moment and swung at a tree. I watched with wide eyes as the Greatsword slid through the tree, exploding from the other side.
The tree fell, and I stood still for a moment, not knowing how to process this. I thought it would chop off a bit of the side, not... not this.
"Maybe because of the Strength stat?"
I muttered and slid the greatsword into the ground, walking over to another tree. The Beowolf's mask cracked when I punched it, so if it was indeed because of the strength stat, I wanted to see what it could do now that I had twenty instead of fifteen.
I cocked my hand back and punched, my fist sinking into the tree trunk. My fist sank into the bark and burst out on the other side, leaving a fist-shaped hole in the tree.
I grunted, my other hand pressing onto the bark and, with a bit of effort, pulling it out.
I stared at the hole for a moment, bending down slightly just to make sure before humming.
I would need to test a few more things, that was for sure.