Chapter 50 – Clash

Ｒｅ​ａｄ ｏｎ ＫａｔＲ​ｅａｄｉｎｇ​Ｃａｆｅ

“Hmm…”

I planted my sword into the ground and fell into thought.

The last Raid Boss of this season. It’s harder than I thought.

The final boss was Cordyceps, which had been controlling all the bosses it had fought until now.

When I entered the boss room, all I saw was a sphere made of Cordyceps, so I honestly thought it looked lame, but every time we fought, the Cordyceps changed into all the forms it had parasitized and fought with, so it was kind of cool.

The Raid was going smoothly, but the problem arose when the boss had 30% HP left.

The boss took on a chimera-like appearance, combining all the boss forms it had parasitized so far, and went berserk.

It unleashed attacks that were so strong they made you involuntarily gasp, and the aggro changed indiscriminately, attacking with no rhyme or reason.

Because of this, the Healers had to heal the Dealers whose HP was randomly dropping, and the Tank had to predict the boss’s movements as much as possible and follow it to block the boss’s attacks instead of the Dealers.

“It’s too tricky and tough…!”

As the Raid Group wiped and resurrected, the Main Tank, Soonchu, sighed deeply and slumped down.

“Here’s some water.”

“Thank you, Arm Length-nim.”

We were currently stuck on the HP 30% pattern and had been trying all day.

However, we weren’t making any progress.

If the pattern was fixed, it would be one thing, but the so-called Crazy Flailing Pattern seemed to be random every time it started, so it was hard to get used to.

As Soonchu said, it’s a tricky and difficult pattern.

The Tank has to follow the boss to protect the Dealers and Healers.

The Healers have to take care of everyone because of the boss’s indiscriminate attacks.

The Dealers have to avoid the boss’s attacks as much as possible and take less painful hits.

The Crazy Flailing Pattern seems to be a pattern that tests pure Physical Skill, not a Gimmick that requires thinking.

But the problem seems to be that the pattern requires an unexpectedly extreme level of Physical Skill.

I said to the Raid Group, who were preparing for the next Try:

“Well, we have an hour left, let’s call it a day.”

Although there was an hour left, everyone nodded and slumped down in their seats.

Everyone was exhausted. Mentally and physically.

“Everyone, get some rest, eat something delicious, and let’s start again tomorrow.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Everyone started logging out with tired expressions, and I, of course, didn’t log out and teleported to the Guild House that I had purchased myself.

“Hoo…”

I lay down on the sofa on the first floor and thought about the final boss, [Abyss Artamin].

Everything from the Gimmick to the Pattern was tricky and difficult. But everyone was doing well, helping each other with their mistakes and cheering each other on.

However, the Crazy Flailing Pattern did not tolerate any mistakes from any of the Raid Group Members.

If you miss the boss’s attack even slightly, someone will immediately get attacked, and the Raid Group will immediately fall apart.

It wouldn’t be this hard if it just ended with getting attacked. The problem is that every time you get attacked by the boss, Debuffs stack up, and the moment that Debuff stacks 5 times…

You instantly lose control of your body and become the boss’s ally, attacking us.

That’s why the Tank with high Fortitude stats has to take the attack instead. Dealers and Healers without Fortitude stats become enemies when they reach 5 stacks, but Tanks have at least 10 stacks, so they have plenty of leeway.

I was lying on the sofa alone, lost in thought, when a shadow fell on my face.

I looked up and saw Pink Berry and Soonchu.

“Oh? Why didn’t you Older Sisters log out?”

“How can we log out when our Guild Leader and Raid Leader, Arang, isn’t logging out?”

“That’s right…!”

“I have to be here, so I’m here. You Older Sisters should go out and rest quickly. I’m much more comfortable here.”

“Still, you have to get enough sleep~ Anna Unnie will be worried!”

“I guess…”

I certainly haven’t been able to talk to Anna lately because of the Raid Tries and rehabilitation training.

“Should I go to bed a little early today…”

“Yeah, let’s do that!”

“Then I’ll go to bed too. You Older Sisters should go to bed early and try hard from tomorrow.”

“Good night, Arang…!”

“Yeah. Good night, Pink Berry Unnie too.”

I said goodbye to Pink Berry and Soonchu, opened the settings window, and logged out of LEORE.

I dove onto the huge bed in the center of the pure white space.

The fluffy bed made me sleepy… or so I thought, but it didn’t. Maybe it’s because my bedtime is fixed, but logging out an hour early didn’t mean I’d get sleepy an hour early.

I went to the Leore Gallery for the first time in a while.

The most popular post at the top was, of course, about the WFK situation.

“Oh? What’s this.”

I was a little anxious because we were stuck on the final boss’s HP 30% Crazy Flailing Pattern, but we were at the same stage as the number one Raid Group right now.

On top of that, the remaining groups from 3rd place onwards were still stuck on the 3rd boss.

“At this rate… I think we can aim for it?”

I slowly browsed the Leore Gallery.

As I was looking at various popular posts, from the strange to the funny, I naturally came across posts about me.

I was more famous in the Leore Gallery than I thought.

“Why am I the Gallju in the first place?”

I’ve only posted in the Leore Gallery once. Just once to post a Guild recruitment ad. But suddenly, I became the owner of the Leore Gallery.

“The Gallju’s identity?”

The content of the post was a discussion about my identity. Some said I was a Mister in his 30s. Others said I was a Net Okama.

The content of the post was that I was so good at the Raid Leader’s role and understood the Gimmicks and Patterns so well that I must be a Mister who has been playing RPG games for a long time.

“Accurate…?”

Of course, the comments were busy cursing the author of the post. There were people who had actually seen me when I went to the Moms Touch collaboration store last time, so the post was deleted by the administrator without any problems.

Honestly, I would have been taken aback if I wasn’t Arang.

None of what the author said was wrong. Everything was true about me. The only problem is that I became Arang.

The next thing I saw was a video of me and Pink Berry perfectly Parrying the last Gimmick, the 4Area 4Line, in the first boss.

It seems that people who were watching Mister Kang Hangil’s stream edited the video of me handling the Gimmick.

Holding the Taseom Sword and Parrying only the head and upper body, which take a lot of Damage, and the tree roots that are stuck in my Arms and Legs. But the moment I get Stunned, Pink Berry pulls me with Rescue at the perfect timing, creating a situation where I don’t seem to be Stunned.

Even I think that looks kind of cool.

I immediately saved the video that the author made. And then I wrote a comment.

[Thank you for making a good video.]

==

Day 11 of Tries.

Everyone was fully charged with motivation, unlike when yesterday’s Try ended.

The reason for this was the link that was posted in this Raid Group chat room.

It was the WFK status link that I had seen before going to bed.

Everyone was only paying attention to our Raid Group and realized that our Raid Group was close to WFK, so everyone was full of fighting spirit.

“Let’s start!!!”

Koo Woong!

[Abyss Artamin]

[■■■□□□□□□□]

The moment the boss’s HP dropped to 30%.

The boss’s body swelled up in an instant, and it became a chimera that combined all the boss forms that had appeared in the Abyss Raid so far.

And then the Crazy Flailing Pattern begins.

The boss wasn’t looking at Soonchu, but was looking at the Raid Group Members with eyes all over its body, and then Charged at me.

‘Nice!’

The boss’s first attack was on me. This was the best situation.

I raised my sword to my right shoulder and ran forward. The sword emitted a clear blue glow.

The boss’s grotesque scythe-shaped arm perfectly matched the trajectory of the sword I swung.

The tip of the sword and the boss’s scythe collided, and a cool and cheerful Parrying sound rang out.

The Taseom Sword bounced back greatly due to the recoil caused by the Parrying, and I was Stunned by the boss’s powerful stats.

Throb.

Unlike me, who couldn’t do anything because of the Stun, the boss nonchalantly launched the next attack.

“Hiyaaaaap!”

Soonchu ran from afar and blocked the boss’s attack on me with an axe.

Thump!!!

However, Soonchu, who was rushing and didn’t even have his balance, was blown to the side by the boss’s attack.

I gritted my teeth and gave it my all to release the Stun even 0.1 seconds faster in the short time that Soonchu bought for me.

Now…!

Kaaaaang!

Second Parrying.

The Parrying wasn’t stacking Debuffs, but the result of Parrying the boss’s attack twice had considerable side effects.

‘I can’t even move a finger…!’

It wasn’t just Stun, but I felt like I was Petrified, and I couldn’t control my body.

As befitting the Crazy Flailing Pattern, the boss continued to attack.

The attack speed was also faster, so if I allowed an attack once, I would get 5 stacks in an instant and lose control of my body.

“Hiyat!”

Kaaaaang!

A dagger, a sword smaller than the one-handed sword I was holding, appeared from behind me, and Belly Cover Charged and Parried the boss’s attack.

Perfect timing, accurate trajectory.

However, Parrying with the Assassin class, which has low Strength stats, was not very effective. Instead, Debuffs did not stack.

“Ugyak!?”

The boss ignored the scythe that was Stunned and struck Belly Cover with another arm holding a sword.

Koo Woong!

The collision of the huge sword and dagger.

Before long, the Jet Black light that was surrounding Belly Cover’s dagger disappeared, and the moment Belly Cover was pushed back.

I, who had released the Major Stun, went in front of Belly Cover and added my Taseom Sword to Belly Cover’s dagger, which was withstanding the boss’s sword that was being swung down.

Kugugugugugung!

“Arang-!?”

“Hold on!!!”

“Okay!!!”

‘It’s heavy…!’

Koo Woong!

The boss seemed to be trying to bisect me and Belly Cover, so it was giving strength as if to crush us by striking its sword with another arm holding a huge sword.

I realized that the moment I released my strength even a little, me and Belly Cover would die in an instant.

‘I don’t have enough strength…!’

The boss seemed annoyed that we had blocked its sword, so it made a Greatsword with another arm and tried to strike us, but

Kwaaaaaang!

“Heup!”

This time, Arm Length blocked it with a huge shield.

And so began the clash with the boss.

I realized that at this moment, the boss, who had been flailing around like crazy, had stopped in this spot to crush me, Belly Cover, and Arm Length with strength.

‘It’s a Gimmick…!’

“Everyone, don’t spare your skills, use your potions, and focus fire on the boss!!!”