𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝟑
“Rudin-nim. I heard a rumor that you don’t enter dungeons, is that true?”
“……?”
Suddenly, a guild member with a cute and lively feel, who looked good with short hair, approached me and said that. Was it a question related to me, not the boss? After thinking about it for a moment, I gave her an answer.
“I usually don’t. This is my first time entering.”
“Really? I thought you usually have to hunt in dungeons to get stronger?”
“You get stronger just by getting equipment and enhancing it.”
It wasn’t wrong since I actually got stronger that way. To add one more thing here, I also have an S-rank skill, but I intentionally excluded it because it’s not a skill you can learn just because you want to.
“Ah~ You’re saying the important thing is equipment and enhancement, right?”
And the guild member nodded as if she had heard some important information in response to my answer.
“But doesn’t enhancement cost a lot of money?”
“You have to earn money through quests.”
I don’t know what kind of answer she wanted to hear from me, but I answered normally. Answers that anyone who plays Twilight would know. Nevertheless, the guild member continued to talk to me, maintaining the friendly attitude she showed at first.
“Will you be able to continue hunting after today?”
“Well……”
Anyway, we talked about this and that, and steadily caught the appearing experimental subjects, so we were able to arrive at the boss’s location faster than I thought.
“We’ve arrived. The boss should be here.”
“We got here surprisingly fast.”
“Yes, we’ll take a break first and then go in.”
At the word “break,” everyone sat down and replenished the magic power and stamina they had consumed so far. On the contrary, I didn’t really need a break, so I sat down like them, pretending to rest, and checked the level of Thunder Strike.
‘I somehow managed to raise it to level 3.’
The level didn’t increase much because I used it once every time an experimental subject appeared. Since I could kill any experimental subject with one Thunder Strike, reaching level 3 could be considered quite fast.
“Still, thanks to the vice guild master, we get to try catching the boss.”
“Couldn’t you just catch it secretly without me?”
The guild member who said that then made a somewhat troubled expression.
“To be honest…… it’s possible. But the day you get caught by someone else, you’ll be expelled from the guild and get a kill order, so no one tries it.”
The other guild members nodded at those words. It seemed like they could catch the boss if they weren’t caught, but they couldn’t do it because of the risk.
“This happened before. There was a party that secretly hunted the boss, but a fight broke out over item distribution, and in the end, one person reported them. At that time, all the guild members except the one who reported were expelled from the guild and eventually quit the game.”
“……”
Listening quietly, it was quite a scary story. To think they would report each other after hunting together? Moreover, since the person who reported was safe, it seemed like it would be difficult to secretly catch the boss with people you didn’t trust.
“Let’s get up now. Does anyone need more rest?”
“I’m done.”
“Me too.”
After some time, everyone finished recovering and stood up, preparing for the battle with the boss. They seemed a little nervous since it was a boss battle, but seeing that, I thought they wouldn’t be defeated easily.
“Then let’s go in.”
Cuckoo…… Boom!
After forcing open the thick stone door and entering, there was an old wizard whose face was hidden by a hood. The reason I thought he was an old wizard was because the long white beard growing under his hood was particularly noticeable.
[Purom, the Black Researcher (BOSS)]
“To think you’d come all the way to my lab…… You’re more skilled than I thought.”
‘As expected.’
I couldn’t move. It was a kind of event that happened every time I encountered a boss who could talk.
“But the experiment will be over soon. For the sake of that experiment, let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”
[The battle with Purom, the Black Researcher, begins.]
“Go and eliminate the enemy.”
Boom!-
As soon as Purom’s command fell, something nearby began to move. It was a monster with a huge body of 3 meters, with a hammer and a cannon attached to each hand. Three more such monsters were getting up and approaching us.
[Purom’s 9th Experimental Subject]
“The 9th experimental subject……”
The higher the number of the experimental subject, the stronger it tended to be. So, the conclusion was that this 9th experimental subject was stronger than the 8th experimental subject we fought before entering here, but I wasn’t worried about that.
“I’ll go! Please take care of the healing!”
Two of the 9th experimental subjects approached me, and the remaining one headed towards the guild members.
‘Well, one should be fine.’
If I used Provoke, it would end up being a solo battle. Since we had formed a party, I decided to fight together, so I left one to the guild members and decided to take care of the remaining two myself.
“Thunder Strike.”
And as I used Thunder Strike, I could see the guild members entering the battle.
“Flash Stab!”
“Spear of Wind!”
Kaboom!- Bang!-
It was a pretty decent fighting style. In the front, they launched attacks aiming for penetration damage, and in the back, magic support followed. After briefly observing the guild members’ cooperative attack, I swung my shield towards the approaching experimental subject.
Kwaaaang!!-
[Skill Damage! 4,947.]
‘Second!’
[Skill Damage! 5,988.]
Huh?
Even after launching the second attack, the 9th experimental subject didn’t die. As expected of a monster brought by the boss, it seemed to have a significantly different amount of health compared to the previous experimental subjects.
However!
Kwaaaang!!-
[Skill Damage! 8,354.]
[Acquired 1,213 battle experience!]
‘To think I’d land all the hits like this.’
Especially the last, third hit, showed considerable damage. It didn’t seem like it would come out like this even if I used Giant’s Sprint. What was even more surprising was that I hadn’t even used Jayer’s Guardian Shield yet.
‘If I use Guardian Shield, wouldn’t I be able to succeed in the raid even without Ust?’
Anyway, while I eliminated one experimental subject, Purom, the boss here, wasn’t just watching either.
“Flame Chain.”
Hwarur륵!-
Purom created a chain made of flames and threw it towards the guild member who was dealing with the experimental subject near me. The Flame Chain approached like a snake and bound the guild member, and at that moment, the guild member was unable to do anything and was smashed by the hammer held by the experimental subject.
“Kugh! Heal!”
“I’m doing it!”
“Do you think I’ll just watch that?”
[Purom, the Black Researcher, uses Black Wave.]
‘Black Wave?’
For now, I was able to watch Purom’s movements while fighting leisurely. Something like a black heat haze spread from Purom’s hand towards us in a fan shape, and we, who were in the back, couldn’t avoid the spreading attack.
Chwaak!
[You have taken damage! -100.]
[You have been cursed.]
[You resist slightly due to the related stat ‘Fighting Spirit’.]
[All skills are sealed for 8 seconds.]
“Skill seal?”
“Ah! I can’t heal!”
Fortunately, the sealing time was short. Even if I was sealed until we caught the boss, I could still fight somehow with the Roar of the Thunder Dragon.
However, that was only in my case.
“Aack! No!”
The guild member who was bound by the Flame Chain thrown by Purom couldn’t dodge properly and ended up dying to the experimental subject.
“Damn it, why didn’t you just retreat!”
“Vice Guild Master! Retreat!”
Did they think I was in danger too because the guild member died? If so, it was a funny joke. Anyway, the experimental subject that killed the guild member approached me, and I waited for the seal to be lifted while dealing with the two again.
Pachichik!-
[Hit Damage! 1,853.]
‘It’ll take time to catch it with a hammer.’
It wasn’t really a problem. If 8 seconds passed like this, I could just use Thunder Strike to eliminate it.
[Purom, the Black Researcher, uses Flame Rain.]
“……?”
Flame Rain? Raising my head at the sudden message, I could see a huge magic circle forming, filling the ceiling, and small, baseball-sized fireballs falling in all directions.
‘He uses the same skill as Deronak.’
Of course, there was a big difference in scale. Deronak’s Flame Rain had large falling fireballs, making it impossible to even think about dodging, but……
Bang!- Kaboom!-
‘This much is easy.’
I easily dodged the falling fireballs while moving around the experimental subject. Deronak’s fireballs fell fast, but the fireballs Purom dropped weren’t that fast.
On the other hand, the guild members were dodging in a fluster.
“Aack! How can I dodge this!”
‘There’s no way I can help with this kind of attack.’
I was currently holding onto two experimental subjects. In this state, I couldn’t help the guild members who were positioned behind me, so I could only hope they would survive on their own.
[The curse has been lifted.]
‘Alright.’
“Thunder Strike!”
Kwaaaang!!-
[Acquired 1,213 battle experience!]
After cleanly eliminating the experimental subject, I looked at the last remaining one. I thought that if I just caught this one and dealt with Purom, the boss monster, everything would be over, but the experimental subject acted first.
Kwaaaang!!-
“……?”
Suddenly, something was shot from the cannon attached to the experimental subject’s hand. An attack so fast that even I didn’t know what it was. And a message popped up saying that one of the guild members who was hit by that attack had died.
‘What was that attack just now?’
It seemed like it was aimed at the person with the lowest health.
However, it seemed like it wasn’t an attack that could be used frequently, as it swung the hammer attached to the other hand again. But I easily dodged the normal attack and used Thunder Strike again to attack the experimental subject, and after being hit by all three attacks, the experimental subject disappeared, leaving behind experience points.
Now the only enemy left was the boss monster, Purom.
“Alright! Now only the boss is left!”
“Attack!”
In fact, it was as if I had caught them all, but the guild members didn’t seem to know that and immediately attempted to attack the boss. Could the guild members who couldn’t even catch one experimental subject catch the boss? I watched for now, and as expected, the situation I had anticipated unfolded.
[Purom, the Black Researcher, uses Black Wave.]
A black heat haze spreading from the front. Thinking it was too late to dodge, I just took it, but the result was different from before.
[You completely resist due to the related stat ‘Fighting Spirit’.]
‘Hmm.’
Unlike me, who completely resisted, I could see the guild members screaming and retreating, as if their skills were sealed.
“Skill seal again!”
“Retreat!”
Looking at the guild members, I briefly thought about the current situation. I thought they would be able to catch the boss with just their own strength if I helped them appropriately, but it seemed like I was mistaken.
In addition, the next skill used along with the skill seal was more than I had imagined.
[Purom, the Black Researcher, uses Great Explosion Flame.]
Pabbat!-
At that moment, a magic circle formed beneath Purom’s feet in the center and began to spread rapidly. Somehow, I felt it would be dangerous to be inside the magic circle, so I immediately retreated, and the magic circle stopped spreading just before reaching the outer edge.
And……
Kwaaaang!!-
A tremendous flame erupted from the magic circle. It definitely had a smaller range than the magic Deronak used, but due to the characteristics of this enclosed space, it felt like it had more overwhelming power than any other skill at this moment.
“Woah, woah.”
‘I should just finish this quickly.’
If I left it to the guild members, they wouldn’t be able to fight properly due to the skill seal. It was a bit different from my intention to have a party hunt, but since two people had already died, I thought it would be better to finish it as quickly as possible.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield.”
Pabbat!-
[S-Rank Skill. Jayer’s Guardian Shield is activated.]
Finally thinking of finishing it, I cast Jayer’s Guardian Shield and ran straight towards Purom as soon as the flames subsided. Purom also turned his gaze towards me, the only one left, but I approached him faster and used Thunder Strike.
Kwaaaang!!-
[Skill Damage! 9,304.]
“Keugh!”
As expected, when I used Jayer’s Guardian Shield, the damage was incomparable to before. However, I didn’t stop there and continued with the second and third hits.
[Skill Damage! 10,955]
[Skill Damage! 14,687]
A total of over 30,000 damage!
Moreover, Purom was a magic-type boss. There was no way he had higher Strength than me, so Purom, who was flung far away by the third hit, seemed to be stunned and couldn’t even get up, and I approached him and used Thunder Strike once again.
Kwang! Kwaaaang!!-
[Skill Damage……]
‘He’s still not dead?’
I was amazed by his unexpectedly high health, but that was all. After being hit by the third hit again, Purom fell with his eyes rolled back.
Thud-
‘To think they couldn’t catch such an easy guy.’
Leave a Reply