𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓𝟏
Of course, despite my determination, catching Deshon right away was difficult.
“Uwaaaaah! I finally did it!”
“Wow, really!?”
Guild member Yuke rushed out of the gate leading to the Trial of Light and let out a rough roar, announcing his success. All the guild members who were sitting down were startled and approached him.
“Haha! It was nothing. You can all succeed too.”
‘As far as I know, that was his 7th attempt.’
The first attempt was free, so that means he spent a total of 600 gold.
How much is 600 gold in cash?
Jaehoon had said that even just being an executive of a large guild would earn you a lot of money, and it seemed that was true.
For reference, 600 gold is over 10 million won in cash.
But he gained a skill enhancement, so in a way, I was thinking it was a profitable deal when Yuke approached me with a very proud look.
“Vice Guild Master. I’ll help you now. Let’s go retrieve the sacred relic quickly.”
“Ah…… I’d like to, but there’s a problem.”
I had already told others, but Yuke, who was taking the Trial of Light at the time, didn’t know, so I told him again.
I explained that there was a raid boss called Deshon wandering around the area where the apostle was, making it impossible to explore freely. Yuke nodded as if he understood and quickly came to a simple conclusion.
“Then we can gather guild members and run a raid.”
“……”
Does he intend to get all the guild members killed?
It wasn’t that I was looking down on my fellow Emperor Guild members, but they were lacking in many ways to catch Deshon.
So, I briefly explained what skills Deshon uses, and after hearing that, Yuke seemed to realize that he wasn’t an easy opponent to catch, and said with a slightly disappointed expression,
“I thought we could run a raid after a long time.”
He seems to be the type who enjoys raids.
Anyway, I wasn’t too worried since I was planning to catch Deshon alone, but the rest of the guild members seemed to think otherwise and soon began discussing amongst themselves, leaving me alone.
“Should we meet with the Osiris Guild?”
“To help with the quest? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What’s there to worry about? Deshon won’t use his skills right away, so we can search for a bit, run away if he appears, and repeat that. We’ll eventually find the location of the sacred relic.”
“Then we’ll need to bring guild members.”
“None of us have exploration skills.”
‘Huh?’
I was just listening, but the executives were reaching conclusions incredibly fast.
But are they really going to call them?
I wanted to try catching him alone if possible, so I hurriedly stepped forward and spoke before things proceeded any further.
“Ah, don’t call them. I’ll do it.”
“Vice Guild Master?”
“I can explore too. And even if I’m detected by Deshon, I can run away safely.”
In addition, my exploration skills had been proven during the first main scenario.
Although it was a result created through Intuition, the executives had no way of knowing that, and they seemed to think what I said made sense, as some of them nodded.
“It’s true that Rudin-nim might be better than guild members…… but isn’t it too much for you to do it alone?”
“It’s okay. Just clear the Trial of Light.”
A simple yet difficult request.
Yuke, who had already cleared the Trial of Light, showed a nonchalant smile, but the remaining guild members fell into a gloomy state again.
However, thinking that it was decided, I decided to start moving.
* * *
‘Hmm, there are still no people.’
After explaining the situation to Yua and leaving a message that I would be back, I was able to return to the area where Deshon was.
The problem was that there was no Deshon, as well as no people.
When I first came here, there was only one player and I didn’t see Deshon, so it seemed like there was a condition for him to appear or he was hiding.
‘Should I just wander around?’
With the thought that I might be able to find Deshon if I wandered around, I unsummoned the Griffin and decided to just walk around aimlessly.
‘Ah, before that, I should change the Phantom Shift command.’
Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.
More than half the time I used this was to avoid enemy attacks, but the name felt a bit long for its purpose of evasion.
So, I changed the name appropriately and smiled with satisfaction as I continued searching for Deshon.
Step- Step━
Where could he be?
With that thought, I moved around, only dealing with giant scorpions and Beluin’s Remnant Thoughts that rushed at me from all directions, but I couldn’t even see a trace of Deshon.
‘If he’s not going to appear……’
Thinking that maybe he only appears once a day, I decided to find the location of the sacred relic first, albeit regretfully. I was about to use Intuition, but before I could, I felt the ground I was standing on shake.
Rumble━
“……?”
As I looked around at the sudden change, I saw the figure of Deshon, whom I had been searching for so long, appearing very faintly like a ghost from one side.
But why is he appearing like a ghost?
‘Was he a ghost-type monster?’
Based on my memory of fighting him directly, I didn’t get that feeling at all, but since he appeared that way, it might be good to remember that he might be a ghost-type.
Of course, even if Deshon was a ghost-type, I had the Shield of Light, which was effective against them, so I wasn’t worried about that.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield.”
[S-rank Skill. Jayer’s Guardian Shield is activated.]
Anyway, if he showed himself, all that was left was to fight.
So, after activating the Guardian Shield, I waited for Deshon to fully reveal himself, and the initially faint Deshon gradually took on a clearer form.
[Deshon, Wandering the Desert, reveals himself.]
[Raid Boss Monster. The battle with Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, begins.]
“Blink.”
Whoosh!━
Elsyke’s Phantom Shift, renamed.
I changed it to a short two-letter word that’s rarely used in everyday conversation. I instantly approached Deshon and used Thunder Strike, dealing over 100,000 damage as soon as the battle began.
Kwaaang!━
[Skill Damage……]
‘It would have been nice if Ust was here.’
Unfortunately, I couldn’t summon Ust.
Not only could I no longer change my title, but he was also unable to be summoned for several hours due to the damage he had previously taken from Deshon.
However, I had judged that I could catch Deshon sufficiently even without Ust, which was why I had challenged him like this.
‘I need to deal as much damage as possible before he recovers……’
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses Sand Tsunami.]
‘Ah.’
I got too close.
Kwaaang!!━
The moment I thought I got too close to deal damage, sand erupted like an explosion, and my body started to float upwards.
[You have taken damage! 17,013.]
‘Damn it.’
It didn’t matter if I got hit by Deshon’s skills since I wouldn’t die, but the fact that I couldn’t see due to the sand was bothersome.
I need to use Phantom Shift to approach him again at times like this!
Bang!━
[You have taken damage! 5,177.]
‘The fall damage is quite high too.’
I ended up taking over 20,000 damage in an instant.
However, I had recovery from the shield attack and the recovery skill attached to the legendary item, so I judged that there was no problem yet. As soon as the sand disappeared, I ran towards Deshon and attempted to attack.
Of course, Deshon didn’t just stand still.
KuoOoooo!━
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses Physical Restoration.]
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare’s health is recovering by 10,000 per second.]
‘It’s started.’
Comparing my damage and Deshon’s recovery rate, my attacks couldn’t be interrupted for at least 10 seconds.
“Blink.”
I continuously used Phantom Shift to approach Deshon, both for quick attacks and to distract him, and used Thunder Strike again to recover the lost health.
Rumble!━
Perhaps angered by the fact that he was continuously being attacked, Deshon raised his front paw and tried to stomp, or tried to bite the ground, counterattacking in his own way. However, I managed to avoid it each time using Phantom Shift.
“Thunder Strike!”
Kwaaang!━
[Skill Damage! 20,306.]
Anyway, I thought I had dealt at least 500,000 damage with such attacks, but since he was recovering 10,000 per second, I estimated the actual damage dealt was around 300,000 to 400,000.
But even that much is enough.
The important thing was that the damage was continuously accumulating, so I couldn’t stop attacking. I started to think about his unique skill, Desert Nightmare.
‘It’s about time he used it.’
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses a unique skill.]
[Unique Skill: Desert Nightmare.]
‘As expected.’
As expected, when Deshon activated Desert Nightmare, sand rose from the ground and wrapped around my ankles.
A skill that only hinders movement without dealing any damage.
Fortunately, I could move sufficiently with Phantom Shift, so it was a meaningless skill to me.
‘But how much health does this guy have?’
The strategy so far is going smoothly.
Avoid Deshon’s attacks with Phantom Shift, move to another location, and continue attacking with Thunder Strike.
I had already dealt hundreds of thousands of damage with this simple method, so I shouldn’t doubt my victory, but I didn’t think he had used all his skills yet.
In other words, it wasn’t time to let my guard down.
And as if to prove my prediction, Deshon brought out a new skill.
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses Curse of Sand.]
[Unique Skill. Desert Nightmare is further strengthened by Curse of Sand.]
“Huh?”
Grab━
Suddenly, the Desert Nightmare, which had only raised sand to grab my ankles, transformed into a clear hand and firmly gripped my leg.
[Due to Curse of Sand, 500 health is absorbed per second.]
‘Absorption?’
It had changed into a skill that absorbed health as well as simply grabbing, but 500 per second was manageable.
The recovery of the legendary item, Eternal Life Arua, was 500 per second.
Therefore, even if my health was absorbed, I didn’t take any damage, but the grip on my leg was surprisingly strong.
‘So, the grip strength increases, and it absorbs health too?’
As soon as I thought that, Deshon’s real counterattack began.
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses Sand Tsunami.]
Damn it, this guy!
“Blink!”
Kwaaang!!━
Seeing the message about Sand Tsunami, I didn’t hesitate and used Phantom Shift, but I couldn’t avoid the natural disaster-like sand tsunami by just moving 50 meters away.
[Skill Damage……]
In the end, I was swept away by the sand along with the damage, but there was no time to lie down leisurely.
Deshon was recovering his health while I was like this, so I tried to approach him again to continue attacking, but I saw about 10 sand hands grabbing my body as if they were waiting.
‘This damn sand!’
“Blink!”
At this point, I realized that even I wouldn’t be able to defeat him without Phantom Shift.
Anyway, I easily escaped with Phantom Shift, got up before being caught by the hands again, and looked at Deshon, who wasn’t far away. Deshon looked directly at me, not the phantom, and opened his large mouth.
[Deshon, the Desert Nightmare, uses Sand Bombardment.]
I didn’t know what Sand Bombardment was, but seeing the sand gathering in front of Deshon’s open mouth and instantly forming a huge sphere, I instinctively used Phantom Shift to get out of there.
Kwaaang!!━
“Ugh.”
[You have taken damage! -5,217.]
I dodged the sand sphere that Deshon shot with Phantom Shift, but the sand sphere exploded as soon as it hit the ground, scattering sand in all directions. Unable to block that, I took some damage.
Naturally, the phantom that was directly hit by the sand sphere disappeared.
At first, I thought I could win easily, but I felt it getting harder every time he used a skill, so I briefly thought about retreating, but shook my head and approached Deshon again.
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