Chapter 111: Invitation (1)

The World Boss Raid has been cleared!

A monstrous being on the edge of godhood, who tried to summon a sea of primal magma to consume all players gathered on the battlefield, froze in place and slowly sank. 

It was a creature that seemed impossible to defeat, let alone stop its frantic final assault, yet under Dua’s command, the players moved in perfect unison, breaking through each pattern of attack.

…

–Whether that could even be called “command” is another story.

And, with the demon temporarily immobilized in its frenzied state, Dua declared her domain and struck down the boss. 

The demon’s remaining health drained entirely, causing it to enter an invincible state, sealed within the ice.

It seemed as though the Guide had orchestrated this for a “second round” teaser in a future event.

–This Guide, though…

What kind of surprise event is this? 

Reinforcing the boss’s patterns is one thing, but without Dua, this would’ve been a complete party wipe!

***

Once the battlefield had been roughly cleared after the boss was defeated, a message announcing the World Boss Raid’s successful completion appeared, and rewards were distributed according to each player’s contribution.

Everyone left with smiles, seemingly pleased with their rewards. 

Given that Dua essentially did everything, no one seemed to have any complaints.

After parting ways with my friends, I stayed behind with Alia, who explained the domain that Dua had manifested.

“So, it means that once a god reaches a certain level, they can project their own concept into reality, right?”

“Exactly. However, it takes a considerable amount of training even for gods. You must reflect the essence of your godhood or faith, creating a divine image that manifests your concept into the real world.”

Listening to her explanation, I realized that this act of domain declaration resembled the reality-capturing capsules in Rudera, the ones the Guide had provided us before. 

After all, Rudera was technically a projection of my own concept.

But why can’t I do something like that?

“It’s only natural. As I said, godhood must be fully mature to reach that level. It would take at least thousands of years of training or the growth of one’s image to make it possible. The fact that she achieved it as a young god is, if anything, remarkable.”

***

Even Alia, who rose to the position of the god of war through sheer talent, took over a thousand years to do so. 

So if I want to be able to use something like that, I have a long way to go.

But if she’s been around for less than a year and can already manage that level of power with her human avatar, does that make Dua a genius?

“Of course, it’s possible thanks to her absurd talent. But this likely wouldn’t be possible in the real world. We should consider it a partial manifestation enabled by being here in Rudera with you. Also, she may have absorbed some remnants of the past god Duamutep.”

Either way, there’s no denying that our Dua achieved a heroic feat without the help of any teacher or others. 

I’ll have to shower her with praise when I see her later.

***

In the empty [Dimensional Battlefield]

A small figure moved within the deserted field left for future events.

A place where, just moments ago, countless players had gathered in chaotic throngs. 

Now that the event had ended, not a single living soul remained.

Except for one.

The demon sealed within the ice.

“So this… is a great demon on the brink of godhood…”

A figure walked slowly towards the towering glacier. 

Upon reaching it, she removed the robe that covered her head, revealing her golden hair flowing alongside two sharp horns—the hallmark of a succubus—and small, cute black wings.

“The Great Demon Meiru.”

Lakrimosa, lost in thought, placed her hand upon the glacier’s surface.

“If I release this… surely…”

Standing there for a moment, she seemed to resolve herself. 

She channeled her magical power into her hand, recalling the family she loved more than anything else in this world.

***

After the World Boss Raid ended, the players’ community was abuzz with stories of the raid.

–What rewards did you all get?

• I got a ton of Labyrinth Coins.
  They gave out so many.
• I also got Labyrinth Coins.
  I barely froze a bit of lava with an ice spell, and I received rewards worth a full 30 days of streaming.

–At this rate, joining the raid is a must! Even players who just ran around without contributing much got a load of rewards.

• If the rewards are this good, it’s worth participating even if you’re powerless.

In the immediate aftermath of the raid, discussions were naturally filled with talk about the rewards.

Title: The original server players sure act high and mighty, yet they can’t seem to handle anything properly.

Content: They bragged about including us or not, but when it came to breaking through the Great Demon’s attack patterns, wasn’t it all thanks to our Dua? 

They didn’t know a thing.

Comments:

–Pathetic mortals wouldn’t have done a thing without our ice magic and wards.

└ So, did you even get any contribution points?

Comments:

– “Oh, grandpa, your comment reeks of dentures.”

– “So, which of you ranked high in contribution points? None of you, right?”

At some point, the conversation shifted to the rivalry between servers. 

This was due to the top-five contributors being publicly displayed.

World Boss Raid Top Contributors

• The highest contributors receive special rewards. 1st Place: Dua – Contribution Rate: 72.95%
  2nd Place: Dalk – Contribution Rate: 5.17%
  3rd Place: Eran – Contribution Rate: 2.43%
  4th Place: Hita – Contribution Rate: 1.03%
  5th Place: Robina – Contribution Rate: 1.01%

Among the top five, players ranked 1st, 3rd, and 5th were all from the newly established server, belonging to the guild “Nokjukdan.” 

The overwhelming contribution rate of the 1st place player made the gap even more noticeable.

Players from the established server, who had previously dismissed newcomers as weaker due to their humble origins, struggled to accept this shocking outcome. 

Although it was indeed possible only thanks to Dua, an outlier in strength, the reality was hard to swallow.

The established server players, unable to accept this, began muttering,
– “These devious scoundrels are now employing every trick and scheme in the book!”

And so, the tension between the servers continued to grow.

***

“World Boss, huh…”

After Laura-tang’s livestream ended, Dragon Lord Iosif set down his display, leaning back in his beloved chair to read the latest world news gathered by his guardians. 

It was the first-ever World Boss Raid Event in Rudera.

Given that this was also the first event since the GM’s dormancy, he should have participated as a protector of this world. 

However, he had prioritized watching Laura-tang’s live broadcast, which kept him from joining.

“Was something like that really happening…?”

According to his guardians, the players had, unexpectedly, united instead of fighting amongst themselves.

“Unexpected indeed.”

Considering the nature of the continent’s inhabitants, Iosif had expected infighting over rewards or contribution points, which would have disrupted the raid.

“Human… girl.”

While scanning the reports from his guardians, Iosif’s gaze paused on information about one particular girl, repeatedly mentioned. 

When the boss went berserk and threatened to wipe everyone out, she had rallied the players with nothing but her voice and delivered the final, decisive blow herself.

It seemed she was the key to this extraordinary outcome. 

Far from hindering them, she had played a critical role in unifying the players.

Regardless, he should look into this further.

***

Just as Dragon Lord was mulling over his next steps, a notification chimed.

“Eh?”

A message arrived from the Demon King, Diana.

[RuderaFang]

[Demon King] Diana has invited you!
Check it out now!

→ View Details

“…An invitation?”

***

Somewhere in Rudera,

In a small room designed for minigames, Demon King Diana was fully engrossed in something.

In front of her, various characters from Rudera’s races, cutely simplified in deformed form, were stacked in neat piles. 

She swapped the position of an Elf character with a Dwarf character in the center.

Pop!

Three Dwarf characters gathered and burst with an adorable sound, and the score on the scoreboard beside her rose. 

Satisfied, she returned her focus to the game.

“…Oddly fun.”