𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟒𝟗
Well, considering Deronak’s size, it wouldn’t be strange if he turned into dried squid, but Ust got up from his spot without a care. More importantly, could we really catch Deronak with this guy? It was clear that Ust had become stronger than before, but looking at him now, I couldn’t be sure.
‘Well, at least we can run away if things go wrong.’
Unlike with Arnela, the situation itself was good. Taking comfort in that, I could see Ust, who had gotten up again, pulling his long tree roots back.
‘Spiral Thrust?’
As soon as I thought of that skill, I saw Ust’s pulled-back tree roots fly towards Deronak at a ferocious speed. It was fascinating to see the tree roots stretching like rubber bands, but as I continued to watch, the roots pierced right through Deronak’s body.
Bang!- Bang!━
[Summon Hit Damage! 6,626.]
[Summon Hit Damage……]
‘Is that Spiral Thrust always applied as piercing damage?’
I could understand it with Arnela, since she was a humanoid boss, but I didn’t expect piercing damage to work on Deronak, so I looked at Ust with a slightly surprised gaze.
It seems like Spiral Thrust is better than Dark Ray, but is that just my imagination?
Anyway, Deronak, hit by the Spiral Thrust, immediately turned his body and opened his mouth as if to counterattack.
[Deronak, Breathing Flames, uses Fury of Flames.]
‘If it’s Fury of Flames……’
I know what kind of skill it is since I saw it just before. It’s a skill that spews fire forward. To avoid this skill, I had to move behind Deronak, but the problem was that Deronak’s position was quite far from me due to the previous charge.
“Damn it!”
I ran with all my might, knowing I couldn’t give up.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Kwa Kwa Kwa Kwak!!━
My speed, running with an agility of over 1,000, precisely 1,673, could only be described as tremendous. It felt like the world I saw was slowing down. However, the red flames that Deronak spewed flew towards me at a speed that was not slow at all.
“Ugh, Elsyke’s Phantom Shift!”
Hwaaaaak!!━
‘Did I avoid it?’
I felt a scorching heat from behind. Since I felt the heat from behind and not my whole body, it seemed I had narrowly avoided it.
‘Ust definitely couldn’t have avoided it.’
Looking back, as expected, I could see Ust, with his slow feet, getting swept up in the flames without even trying to avoid it. Thankfully, he didn’t die, perhaps due to his enormous health as a raid boss, but I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
Why is that weakness bothering me so much today?
“Kuooo!”
“……!?”
Suddenly, as if Deronak had recognized me moving sideways using Phantom Shift, he turned his massive body around and swung his enormous tail.
‘This is……’
I can’t avoid it. That was the first thought that came to mind. Looking at Deronak’s tail, it felt like a huge building was flying towards me. Furthermore, the speed was not to be underestimated, so I hurriedly raised my shield and immediately felt a tremendous shock.
Kwaaaang!!━
[Armor of Protection takes the impact instead. -7,375.]
“Ugh!”
I was also endlessly flung back by the tail attack and only managed to regain my senses after crashing into the ground several times. And when I checked, it seemed like I had flown at least 100 meters.
‘No message popped up.’
Usually, raid bosses would give a message in advance about what kind of attack was coming, but the tail attack just now seemed to be an exception. Is it because it’s not a skill? Conversely, it also means that I received this much damage from a normal attack, not a skill.
‘So, it’s living up to its size, huh?’
Kuwawawak!!━
When I got up again, Ust used Dark Ray as if he had been waiting. The ray, mixed with the cold attribute, hit Deronak’s face, and seeing the creature’s eyes close, I ran with all my might without hesitation.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield! Giant’s Sprint!”
[S-Rank Skill. Jayer’s Guardian Shield is activated.]
Ust and Deronak. I couldn’t know their exact stats, but I felt like Ust would be at a disadvantage. So, thinking I should inflict damage while I had the chance, I collided head-on with Deronak’s front leg.
Kwaaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 7,917.]
‘Not enough.’
It wasn’t low damage, but I couldn’t end this hard-earned opportunity with just one attack. Thinking so, I swung the Roar of the Thunder Dragon with all my might, and I was surprised by the message that popped up afterward.
[Unable to inflict damage.]
“What?”
Unable to inflict damage?
If I can’t inflict damage, it means Deronak’s defense is at least 5,000. Realizing that, I tried to use Giant’s Sprint once more, but Deronak moved first.
“Kuoooong!”
[Deronak, Breathing Flames, uses Burning Skin.]
Hwarrrrleuk!━
‘What’s this again?’
Suddenly, I felt a scorching heat. Red flames appeared all over Deronak’s body. And since flames appeared all over his body, it was clear that I would take damage just by bumping into him.
‘Should I get out of here?’
Even without the flames that appeared from Deronak, it was about time to retreat. Considering his size, that is. I wasn’t confident in perfectly avoiding his tail swing attack if he used it again.
‘If I had gotten only ranged skills from the skillbook work I did yesterday, I wouldn’t have had to worry about this.’
Thinking about it again only made me feel annoyed. But this annoyance wouldn’t help me in the current situation, so I quickly shook it off and sighed, pondering how to strategize against him.
‘Should I go back and buy a bow?’
That thought briefly crossed my mind, but I soon shook my head. If I couldn’t inflict damage with the Roar of the Thunder Dragon, I didn’t think a bow would make much of a difference. Moreover, now was the chance since Deronak was still affected by the previous fight.
Kwaaaang!- Kwaaaang!!━
While I was briefly lost in thought, Ust once again shot a dark ray, hitting Deronak. Even though his movements were slow and he was taking all of Deronak’s attacks, Ust was steadily attacking.
“Grooo!”
And following the dark ray, dozens of Trees of Death rushed in. Unlike the previous situation where they were wiped out by the charge, this time, the Trees of Death that succeeded in approaching Deronak immediately attempted to blow themselves up.
Boom! Boom━!!━
‘Oh? Do the Trees of Death also have a cold attribute?’
Looking at the area where they exploded, it was frozen, just like the dark ray. Indeed, Ust had been upgraded in many ways after receiving Arnela’s power.
[Deronak, Breathing Flames, uses Destruction Charge.]
In any case, I stepped back to avoid the Destruction Charge. And then I looked at Ust, and as expected, Deronak’s Destruction Charge was practically an unavoidable skill for him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!━
As I watched Ust with that thought, I could see him being trampled miserably, as expected. Additionally, this time, he didn’t even show any sign of avoiding it.
“What should I really do about that?”
If he allows all those attacks, what will happen afterward? Unless Ust was overwhelmingly strong, it was obvious he would fall first. And Ust, who got up again after being trampled by Deronak, was immediately seen counterattacking with an Ice Storm.
Looking at that situation alone, it seemed like there was no problem.
‘But I have to catch Deronak before Ust dies, right?’
Perhaps because the damage I dealt was much lower than the damage Ust dealt, Deronak’s gaze was constantly fixed on Ust. Also, if I couldn’t catch him this time, I would have to face Deronak with full health next time, and if it came to that, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to catch him.
‘I thought Ust would be able to handle most raids by now.’
It was ambiguous whether it was my misconception or if Deronak was a more formidable raid. Anyway, thinking that far, I used Giant’s Sprint again and charged towards Deronak, and Ust was also landing all of his attacks.
Either way, in terms of damage alone, Ust could be said to be better than me.
‘But when is he going to die?!’
The only skill I had that could deal the most damage was Giant’s Sprint. Therefore, I was using Giant’s Sprint whenever there was an opening, but after about 10 more minutes, anxiety washed over me.
Boom!- Kwaaang!!━
‘Those guys from before, didn’t they deal any damage?’
I thought they would have at least shaved off half of his health since they attacked as a guild, but after fighting for about 10 minutes, it seemed like they hadn’t even done that.
And the reason I was so anxious was that the summoning time wasn’t infinite. Currently, my summoning level, including the Guardian Set, was 10. So I could summon for 10 minutes, and with the effect of the Soul Contract title, the duration was increased by 50%, making it a total of 15 minutes.
‘Should I run away when the summoning ends?’
For other skills, I could just summon again. There was no cooldown time for using the skills I had learned. However, Ust was a raid boss, and because he had the penalty of being a raid boss, a waiting time was created for the amount of health he lost.
Moreover, it was impossible for me to catch him alone, so if Ust couldn’t catch him, it was right to return.
‘Looking at it this way, it might be impossible to face all raids.’
The problem of duration. While I was thinking that if I couldn’t catch him within that duration, I would have no choice but to give up on the raid, I could see Ust shooting a dark ray once again.
Kwaaaaaaaang!!━
‘Or is Deronak’s health just beyond imagination?’
Well, looking at his size, it seemed like he would have at least over 1 million health. If his health was around 500,000, wouldn’t he have died already? While I was thinking such thoughts, Ust used Spiral Thrust towards Deronak, who was momentarily frozen.
Boom! Boom!━
“Kuung…… Kuoong……”
“……?”
Suddenly, feeling that Deronak’s cry was strange, I tilted my head and looked at him. Perhaps it was my imagination, but Ust had also stopped attacking. As I watched for a while, I could see Deronak’s body slowly collapsing.
Koo!━
“Ah!”
Did I catch him? It seemed like I did. And as proof that I had caught Deronak, several message windows popped up in front of me.
[Raid Boss Monster, Deronak, Breathing Flames, has fallen.]
[Rewards will vary depending on contribution. However, players who have died will be excluded from the current contribution.]
[Rudin-nim’s contribution is as follows.]
[Damage 639,381. Healing 0. Support 0. Total 639,381. Result…… 1st place.]
[Acquired 11,480,000 experience points!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level……]
[Ding!~ You have acquired 207 gold.]
[Ding!~ You have acquired ‘Unquenchable Flame Staff’.]
[Ding!~ You have acquired ‘Unquenchable Flame Leather Hood’.]
[Ding!~ ‘Unquenchable Flame……]
[Ding!~ You have acquired ‘Ring of Immortality’.]
[Ding!~ You have acquired an ‘A-rank Skillbook’.]
[Congratulations! You have achieved 1st place in contribution in the raid, so you can raise the level of your desired skill by one stage.]
[Please select one skill to level up.]
‘A skill to level up……’
Until now, I had been raising Jayer’s Guardian Shield, but realizing that it wasn’t very effective against a monster of this size, I decided to make Ust a little stronger.
“Karzel’s Card Summoning.”
[Ding!~ The level of the S-rank skill ‘Karzel’s Card Summoning’ has increased.]
[Magic Power 10, Summoning 10 increased.]
“……Is this the end of the message?”
I thought something like an achievement would pop up since I caught Deronak alone, but nothing like that appeared. It seemed like the previous fight was also applied. It was a shame, but it was also hard to blame those who fought before, so I tried to shake off the regret.
‘By the way, if he’s this strong……’
Wouldn’t a Unique item drop? With that thought, I opened the item window and checked the staff, which was the first item I acquired.
[Unquenchable Flame Staff] (Rare)
Description: A staff equipped with the heart of Deronak, Breathing Flames. The heart itself has such strong flame power that if you look closely, you can see the flames blazing. And that flame power comes from powerful magic power, allowing for the use of more superior flame magic.
Attack Power: 70 Magic Attack Power: 320
Durability: 180/180
*Fire attribute skill effect increased by 30%.
*When using a fire attribute skill, 30% chance to inflict Burn (LV20) damage.
*Set Effect (1/6)
━2-piece set effect: Magic Power increased by 20%.
━3-piece set effect: Intelligence & Magic Power increased by 20%.
━4-piece set effect: Acquired fire attribute skills +2 effect.
━5-piece set effect: Activates B-rank skill ‘Flame Armor (LV20)’ every 300 seconds.
━6-piece set effect: Allows the use of A-rank skill ‘Guardian Flame Golem (LV20)’. (Cooldown: 10 minutes)
“Sigh.”
A Rare item.
It didn’t mean it was bad. It was just a sigh I let out at the thought that even after catching such a strong raid boss, I couldn’t obtain a Unique item. Anyway, after checking the staff, I checked the rest of the items and found out that they were all part of a set – Unquenchable Flame Leather Hood, Robe, Gloves, Shoes, and Belt. Just like with Beksha, I got the whole set at once.
“This is good about catching it alone.”
Should I enhance it and put it up on the Real-Time Auction House separately?
If I did that, there would be no need to go catch raid bosses every week. In the first place, there were no more raid bosses I could catch now. So if I enhanced and listed these pieces separately, I could get the golden coins from the Real-Time Auction House for the remaining four weeks.
After finishing checking the set items in that way, I looked at the last equipment item, the ring.
But what is this ring?
There were a total of six set items. Since I had confirmed what those six items were, this ring meant it was an individual item, not part of the set. Feeling puzzled because it seemed like an item I had obtained out of the blue, I decided to check the ring as well.
[Ring of Immortality] (Unique)
Description: A ring containing the power of fire that cannot be extinguished by anything. This endlessly burning ring holds a powerful force within it. There are rumors that it was made from the core of a specific flame monster, but very few people have actually seen it. If you wear this ring, you might be able to expect positive effects and training for fire skills just by having it.
Durability: 200/200
*Fire attribute skills +3 effect.
*Fire attribute skill proficiency gain increased by 200%.
*Fire attribute range doubled.
“……Huh?”
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