episode_0114

113.

Gimmick-type boss.

In the RPG game genre, there exists something called a gimmick-type boss.

It refers to a boss monster that cannot be defeated by ordinary means and requires uncovering special patterns, structures, weaknesses, etc., to be able to defeat it.

For example, it may endlessly revive if certain conditions are not met, be impervious to any attacks, or require the use of specific items, and so on.

Therefore, when facing a gimmick-type boss, unraveling the gimmick is considered a top priority.

Generally, gimmick-type bosses can be easily conquered once the gimmick is exposed.

In that sense, NPC Jon Kadera can be considered one of the gimmick-type boss monsters.

Because when you don’t know the gimmick, he’s nearly invincible, but once you understand the gimmick, you can defeat him without much difficulty.

Jon is a duplication-type psychic.

In terms of character design, he can create hundreds of duplicates using shadows, making him quite a formidable opponent.

In the game, this was implemented by constantly summoning duplicates at regular intervals.

Even if you deplete his health, he can quickly create new duplicates, making it extremely unreasonable.

However, Jon’s psychic ability had a very fatal weakness.

That is, light.

If exposed to intense light, his duplicates lose their power.

So, during the game, we attacked with light attribute weapons or used items like flash grenades to neutralize Jon’s duplicates.

With his duplication ability blocked, Jon is just one of the moderately strong villains.

Perhaps, his weakness was meant to be a role he had to play in being defeated by the protagonist’s group.

It was necessary to create a powerful villain setting to make the protagonist shine, but if the villain was too strong to be defeated, it would be problematic, so they created a fatal weakness.

A very fatal weakness that the protagonist’s group had to defeat.

In a way, it could be said to be similar to Han Ji-hyo.

She could also use a powerful psychic ability, but could easily be defeated due to her fatal weakness to water.

“Phew, thankfully his weakness is light.”

I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart.

I knew that the world setting of the Romance Hero Academy was reflected in reality, but I was slightly nervous, not knowing if there was something else.

Jon’s psychic ability was so powerful that if the weakness didn’t work, we would have had to run away without thinking.

That guy can create hundreds of duplicates with power similar to his original body.

How do you deal with all of that?

Oh, just imagining it is dreadful.

“Just in case, was using a barrier spell in the middle of a crowded street because his weakness worked out.”

Using a barrier spell in a crowded place was a deliberate action.

If things went wrong, the plan was to release the barrier and escape into the crowd.

Honestly, it didn’t feel right to use people as shields, but from Alex’s perspective, causing a disturbance in the middle of the street wouldn’t be possible.

Moreover, there was no need to track us down by causing unnecessary chaos while fleeing with the auction items.

And causing a commotion could result in being attacked by nearby police, heroes, mercenaries, etc.

From the perspective of the auction thieves, it was definitely not the situation they wanted.

…Ah, probably.

Hm.

“Alex, Jon, So Youn… right?”

I turned my gaze towards Alex and his group.

They seemed slightly startled when I accurately mentioned their names.

They seemed to have no idea how I knew their names.

“What’s up with you, how do you know us?”

Alex’s expression turned wary.

It was a short question, but it contained a lot of meaning.

Who am I, how did I end up in this barrier, why are they targeting themselves, and so on…

Well, from Alex’s perspective, it must have been quite bewildering.

He had just finished a successful theft and was on his way back when he was suddenly kidnapped into the barrier.

He must have been even more bewildered, thinking that no one would catch him.

“You….”

Alex quickly reached into his pocket.

It seemed like he was planning to use the pocket dimension to deal with the situation.

As befitting his nickname of a rogue, he carried various artifacts and items in his pocket dimension.

It would be quite troublesome to take out annoying items and artifacts.

Even without any weapons, Alex was already a top-tier fighter, but adding various items would make it even more challenging.

However, after rummaging through his pocket a few times, Alex could only look bewildered.

Because the leather pouch he had was already gone.

Oh, then where did the leather pouch go?

Here, right here.

“Phew, it wasn’t noticed. Here, take this.”

At that moment.

I heard a woman’s voice next to me.

Gradually, the woman’s figure began to reveal itself.

It was as if she had been hiding her body with an optical illusion and suddenly appeared.

She completely removed the cloak she was wearing and handed me the leather pouch.

It was Alex’s pocket dimension.

“Is this what you wanted to steal earlier?”

This woman’s name is Aisha Nel Illios.

She was a former enforcement unit member who joined the Roxanne faction with Cynthia.

Externally, she was known as a high-ranking skilled individual, but her true strength was close to that of a top-tier hero.

Of course, she would lose if she fought Alex one-on-one, but she was the only one among us who could stand alone against Alex and compete.

Shall we say she was the second strongest person in the current Roxanne faction?

Thanks to her, we were able to capture Han Ji-hyo, Ju Jeong-seon, and David more easily.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Hehe, don’t mention it. It was easy with this cloak.”

Aisha laughed foolishly and fluttered the cloak on her shoulders.

She always laughs like a fool, so you can be fooled, but her character setting is that of a woman who deceives people with a smiling face.

So, it’s a bit scary to be around her.

She is not as faithful as Roxanne and Cynthia, but rather a person who is somewhat worldly.

So, if her eyes roll, she can even deceive people.

Well, thanks to Aisha’s character, we were able to involve her in this plan.

That’s because Aisha is a somewhat corrupt (?) person who readily accepts bribes.

In other words, she is willing to participate in illegal activities as long as the rewards are satisfactory and do not cause significant harm.

If it were Roxanne, she would have thought my plan to intercept the auction items was too cruel, but Aisha seemed to have no particular objections.

Or should I say she seemed indifferent?

“This cloak’s performance is amazing. How did you get something like this?”

The cloak I lent her was a relic.

It was an artifact farmed from the spider’s den last time, and it had the effect of concealing presence, appearance, smell, body temperature, etc.

It wasn’t just invisibility, but rather a power to erase perception?

Thanks to this, when I used a flash grenade to temporarily block Alex’s group’s vision, I was able to sneak up and intercept the pocket dimension.

Ah, why didn’t you attack Alex and his group back then?

If you were to ask me why I didn’t ambush them back then, I would answer like this.

It was impossible.

Because if I had attacked while wearing this cloak, the perception nullification effect would have been completely lifted.

It’s a common setting in games, isn’t it?

Using a cloak of invisibility makes monsters completely unaware of the player.

If you attack a monster while using a cloak of invisibility, it immediately becomes visible.

It can be considered a very common setting.

And this cloak of concealment also follows the cliché setting.

It directly replicates the setting that the perception inhibition ability is released when you decide to attack the enemy.

Well, that was an inevitable setting.

If you could use the perception inhibition ability without any penalty, it would have been a cheating item.

So, they probably put the setting ‘perception inhibition is released when you decide to attack the target’ in the item description.

“Still, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to sneak up and attack them up close with the cloak of concealment.”

If you ambush up close, whether the concealment is lifted or not, what does it matter?

Most likely, even if the concealment was lifted, they would have been defenseless and helpless against a sudden ambush.

But whether it would work on Alex was unknown.

Alex is very sensitive and in a highly vigilant state, he might even be able to see through the perception inhibition ability.

It would be quite difficult to successfully ambush him.

Furthermore, this cloak not only consumes a lot of mana and health but also has the disadvantage of not being able to use it for a certain period of time if the concealment is forcibly lifted.

In a real combat situation, I wanted to avoid unnecessary risks, so I chose a more certain way to gain the upper hand.

That method was to target Alex’s pocket dimension first.

This pocket dimension was a universal warehouse where Alex stored numerous tools, items, equipment, artifacts, and so on.

Seizing the pocket dimension would significantly reduce Alex’s power.

He was someone like me who could create numerous variables using items from the pocket dimension.

But not anymore.

He was now completely at the mercy of the hunt.

By none other than me.

“By the way, this cloak of concealment is really useful.”

Thanks to this cloak of invisibility, I was able to sneak Aisha out of the church without anyone knowing.

I could have made excuses to Roxanne and Cynthia to bring Aisha out, but the problem was someone like Isabelle who might be monitoring the church.

If it was her, she could use her observation ability to monitor the key members of the church.

However, with this cloak of concealment, even the observation ability wouldn’t work.

Also, there was a shapeshifter in the church.

He could only create one or two clones at most, but he was able to create a clone identical to the opponent.

With his help and the cloak of concealment, I successfully brought Aisha out secretly.

Furthermore, using this cloak of invisibility, I was able to approach Alex and his group to a suitable distance and then trap them with a barrier spell.

To activate the barrier spell, I needed to stay within a 4-meter radius for a certain period of time, and if I didn’t have this cloak, I would have been discovered much earlier.

Truly, the cloak of concealment had many uses.

“Y-You, my pocket… did you know what this is?”

“Well, who knows.”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.

Today, I had gathered the appropriate individuals, tools, items, etc. to successfully take down Alex and his group.

Including this concealment cloak, flash grenades, sunglasses for anti-magic, Aisha, barrier mage, eavesdropping mage, defense mage, heroes under Yuseolhyeon, etc.

If I were alone, I could never have gathered this many people and items, but through Yuseolhyeon, I was able to easily collect them.

With time, money, and connections, it wasn’t difficult to come up with the best combination to deal with Alex and his group.

After all, this wasn’t a game, but reality.

If there’s an enemy I can’t take down alone, I just need to seek help from others.

There are plenty of strong people in this world, and as long as they have connections, money, and sufficient rewards, they can be turned into allies.

Given the time I’ve had to prepare, I was confident in capturing Alex and the others without much risk.

In fact, John’s abilities were already neutralized, Soyeong wasn’t a threat, and Alex’s abilities were also going to be neutralized.

Therefore, unless a major unforeseen variable arises, there should be no problem in taking down Alex and his group.

As long as someone like Yudahee doesn’t suddenly intervene, that is.

But judging by their reactions, it doesn’t seem like they came to Busan with Yudahee after all.

And even if Yudahee did come, it doesn’t seem likely that she could break through this barrier and enter in a short time.

Unless she receives help from the observer Isabel and the crusher Ryan, that is.

But did they all really come here?

Isn’t that so?

***

“Yudahee, it seems like Alex and his group were attacked by someone. It looks like they were dragged into the barrier.”

“Oh? Really?”

And all of this was being secretly observed by Yudahee’s group, who had arrived in Busan.