Ch.136Iserath+

# 136. Iseratios+

Iseratios screamed as it took the first hit head-on.

———————!!!

Normally there would have been a cutscene with some dialogue, but without any of that nonsense, the ice flower flew straight at Iseratios, drilling and burrowing in before spreading in all directions and exploding simultaneously.

A fireworks display made of ice within the flames—or perhaps I should call it an ice flower display.

It was called “Full Bloom,” and it truly lived up to its name.

Immediately afterward, Yuri and Arang arrived perfectly in front of Iseratios to deliver their attacks, while Seyeon drew aggro.

A perfect combo.

“[Melee team, fall back.]”

Since we’d landed the first hit, I pulled our three melee fighters back to analyze the pattern.

“[Yuri, Arang. Damage report.]”

We had agreed beforehand that they would raise their left hand for ineffective hits, right hand for effective hits, and no hand for nullified hits…

Both Yuri and Arang raised their right hands.

‘That’s a relief. Good.’

As Subin began casting again and the melee team retreated to report to me while assessing the situation, Iseratios, who had been screaming and raging, stopped its indiscriminate destruction and fixed its gaze on us.

『You insects.』

“Ugh!”

“Kyaah!”

When Iseratios spoke, my head felt like it was splitting open and my vision spun. Thanks to my high willpower stat and Charisma skill, I recovered first and channeled my mana to shout again.

“[Stay focused!]”

At my cry, the raid members who had been staggering gritted their teeth and endured. But Subin had to restart her casting from the beginning, and Senior Yehyun’s barrier had weakened.

『Disappear.』

‘Fire fart!’

Like someone swatting a bug with their palm, Iseratios raised its right arm and made a downward striking motion.

“Wave of the Underworld,” commonly known as the “fire fart” pattern, which appeared regardless of phase.

It was an area attack where Iseratios released underworld flames in all directions within a certain radius around itself.

The damage wasn’t particularly high, and the activation motion was relatively easy to spot, but it had a short cast time and inflicted a stacking debuff called “Underworld Heat” when hit, which was quite troublesome.

Of course, that’s only if you get hit.

“[Fire fart! Melee team back three steps!]”

As soon as the melee team dodged according to my order, Iseratios released its fire fart.

“Ugh!”

“Argh, shit!!”

It was a close call.

They had already created distance, but I had them move back three more steps just in case, and it was truly razor-thin timing, both in terms of time and distance.

Would getting hit by that not kill us?

No.

Since it would hurt like hell, we needed to be determined not to take even a single hit.

‘Okay. At least we’ve confirmed the fire fart’s range.’

“Yehyun! Focus on the melee team!”

“Got it!”

“[Melee team! DPS!] Subin!”

“Confirmed.”

“Soyu, stand by for healing.”

After the fire fart pattern ends, there’s a small damage window. So I had Yehyun focus flame resistance on the melee team, prepared Subin’s attack for when the melee team would retreat, and readied Senior Soyu’s healing in case of injuries.

『How dare you.』

“[Melee team, retreat!] Subin!”

“Complete.”

“Fire!”

As the short damage window ended and Iseratios prepared its next attack, I pulled back the melee team and immediately ordered Subin to attack.

Just as Iseratios raised its arm, Subin’s spell hit with perfect timing and…

『…How dare you!』

‘Nice, Subin!’

“[Stagger! Damage window!]”

Iseratios froze in place with its arm raised.

Perfect timing. Weak point. Accumulated damage (or critical hit).

When these three conditions were met, you could stagger a raid boss that normally wouldn’t be affected by regular stagger skills—and Subin had managed this difficult feat in our first demon raid.

While it varies by boss, inflicting stagger is generally difficult, and if you time it wrong, it can actually backfire. How well you can land staggers is one of the criteria that separates skilled players from the truly exceptional ones…

Anyway, the fact that we got a “stagger” provided us with a lot of data.

‘The damage is hitting harder than expected. The patterns are similar. Stagger works.’

“[Damage window over! Return!]”

The stagger didn’t last long. So I issued another retreat order.

Everyone was an experienced player and former ranker, so they understood concepts like animation canceling and stagger without explanation, but there’s an enormous difference between controlling a character comfortably through a monitor with a wide field of view versus facing a demon several times your size in person with the pressure of possibly dying at any moment.

That’s why they faithfully followed my orders rather than relying on their own instincts.

And because of the stagger, the delayed attack narrowly missed Yuri.

“Ugh…!”

“Soyu!”

“Serva Nos!”

『For the sin of blocking my path, all shall be reduced to ash.』

While Senior Soyu was healing Yuri, Iseratios moved again. This time, it suddenly raised its left arm…!

『Die.』

‘Shit, too late!!!’

“[Seyeon, block!!!] Yehyun, Soyu!!!”

[Kutjukyeora has activated ‘Fortress of Faith’.]

KWAAAAA———!!!

Laser pattern.

A linear area attack with an extremely short telegraph.

I missed it. More precisely, I was about 0.5 seconds late. Dodging would have been best, but the attack path was already locked onto our main group. I might be able to avoid it, but Subin and the seniors would definitely be caught in it.

So.

I blurted out the next best option my instincts determined without even thinking.

Have Seyeon block it, and focus Yehyun and Soyu’s care on her.

As a result…

“AAAAAAHHHHH–!!!”

“Soyu! Soul Bond on Seyeon!”

“Animae necessitudo! Ugh…”

“[Yuri, Seyeon retreat!] Danya! Take Seyeon’s position!”

“O-okay!”

The 0.5 seconds I missed.

I managed to protect the main group with the next best option, but the cost was high.

Despite receiving focused care from the Arc Bishop and Spirit Master, Seyeon’s agonizing scream as she directly blocked the attack from the relatively high-spec Iseratios.

Even after activating Fortress of Faith, her level 20 skill, she was severely injured in one hit, and Senior Soyu, who used “Soul Bond” to rapidly heal Seyeon, was also in bad shape.

Senior Soyu hurriedly drank a potion and healed Seyeon, whom Yuri had brought back, but… “fear” had once again appeared on their faces.

‘Shit, we need to regroup. Regroup.’

『How annoying.』

But the Underworld Fire Demon didn’t care about our situation at all and was raising flames again.

“[Melee team back three steps!] Subin!”

“Complete.”

“Fire!”

“[Arang, DPS! Danya, just keep drawing attention!]”

Another fire fart pattern.

While Danya acted as an evasion tank in Seyeon’s position to buy time, I could see Seyeon gritting her teeth and standing up.

“Seyeon. [Melee team, retreat!]”

“Order.”

“Good. [Danya return! Maintain formation!]”

As soon as Seyeon and Yuri returned to their original positions, Iseratios raised both arms. Having been watching intently, I immediately gave orders.

『For insects, you’re quite resilient.』

“[Subin, Yuri! Strike!]”

“-Penetration. Piercing Awl.”

“Die, you fucker!!!”

[Saex has activated ‘Desperate Charge’.]

Meteor pattern.

We had two options: dodge fireballs for a long time or interrupt the pattern before activation with perfect timing.

I chose the latter.

Subin with her precision for the timing.

Yuri with her power for the damage.

If we failed, we’d be dragged into a drawn-out fight and slowly die, but I trusted them. Seeing how we were damaging each other, we absolutely couldn’t let this turn into a long battle.

If it became a war of attrition, we would definitely lose.

Realizing this fact, I boldly abandoned the safer approach. So, believing the pattern cancel would succeed, I gave orders one beat faster.

“[Prepare for damage window!]”

A nerve-wracking second.

If the cancel didn’t work here…

I would regret this decision for a long time.

『———-!』

“[DAMAGE WINDOW!!!]”

My faith in my raid members’ efforts and the trust between us wasn’t in vain.

Subin and Yuri’s do-or-die strike momentarily halted the demon’s offensive, and despite facing mortal danger, Seyeon and the others trusted me as their raid leader and once again leaped into the flames, swinging their weapons.

『…』

“[Fall back!]”

The stagger ended. Unlike in games, there was no visible health bar, so I couldn’t tell exactly, but optimistically we’d shaved off about 40%, or at least 33% even by conservative estimates.

After that came fire fart, laser, normal attack, fire fart, fire fart, normal attack, laser.

Everyone moved as one with incredible concentration. While “Command Enhancement” allowed me to give orders in real-time, everyone’s tension had peaked after Seyeon nearly died from a single hit.

The quickness to respond immediately to even the slightest changes.

Since maintaining such intense focus for long periods is extremely difficult, I desperately hoped phase 1 would end around the next attack.

So I deployed Danya, our emergency reserve, to Arang’s position, and had Arang, who had retreated to the main group, use ranged attacks and…

『Consider it an honor.』

“[Phase 2! Everyone, potions!]”

『Witness what true Underworld Fire truly is.』

“[Melee team, rejoin main group!]”

『And then crumble to ash.』

“Moving laser! Clockwise!”

The second half of our precarious tightrope walk with Iseratios, the Underworld Fire Demon, had begun.