Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented – Chapter 170

[Named]

[Level 55 Fusion of Nightmares]

[HP 79,944,112 / 100,000,000 (80%)]

Black golem. Final named boss.

A seemingly simple special pattern of crushing down with its entire huge body.

However, if there’s no space to dodge, it becomes a nightmare itself.

“Crazy…!”

Chris was shocked.

Boom, boom, boom!

The party protection skills possessed by Chris’s attack team all disappeared after three jumps.

Thud!

The golem stomped its foot again.

A precursor to the fourth jump.

Chris, Bae Merong, and Cherni are ranged classes.

Unlike the Swordsman and Fighter’s counter, Evasion, they each have a standing invincibility skill that can be used even when there’s no target.

But in the process of gathering in this narrow space, everyone used up their standing invincibility skills. The cooldown hasn’t returned yet. Being a first-time pattern, they didn’t have the presence of mind to save their invincibility skills.

How many more jumps will there be? The fourth jump is approaching. There’s no way to deal with it currently. Deathly Death, being a Fighter, can use Evasion, but it’s impossible as he can’t target the golem in the air.

“Ugh.”

Whoosh!

The golem leapt into the air again.

In about 0.5 seconds, it will crash down again in this narrow space.

“Let’s use backward evasion for now…!”

Tap tap!

But, waves of magic surround everything.

The maneuverable battle area is only the narrow 8-meter circle where the pillar of holy light strikes down.

The movement distance of each class’s backward evasion is also 8 meters.

The backward evasion movement distance of Chris’s party members gathered in the center far exceeds the radius of the maneuverable circular range.

“Ah, oops!”

Gurgle.

The magic swamp swallowed Chris who used backward evasion.

Deathly Death also used backward evasion, but was consumed by magic after leaving the holy power’s protection range.

[Party member ‘Chris’ has died]

[Party member ‘Deathly Death’ has died]

Crush.

Roll.

Cherni was crushed by the golem’s heavy body, and Bae Merong who tried to dodge to the edge was knocked back as is.

[Party member ‘Cherni’ has…

“Hehehe, Lee Jaewook is so funny. He became jerky.”

“Why was I the only one crushed!?”

Next to Bae Merong giggling and Cherni complaining, Chris and Deathly Death analyzed the named boss.

“We’ve learned the normal patterns to some extent, but the special pattern is no joke.”

“A sticky black fluid fills the battle area, and the battle area is limited to an 8-meter diameter circle. Just gathering all 4 party members is a challenge to begin with.”

“What do you think the criteria for the safe zone creation location will be?”

“Hmm… Fixed for each phase? The initial safe zone was at 7 o’clock assuming north is 12 o’clock, right? The special phase came out at 80% HP, so if it’s in 20% units, this kind of thing will come out 4 times in total. Or it could be three times, with 80% at first, then 50%, 20% like that.”

“Either way, at least 3 times. Phew, it’s not easy.”

“But we have to do it. We’ve finally come this far. Judging by the fact that no first clear message has appeared, Rain isn’t done yet either. Even if she dealt with the snake women before us, she would have inevitably taken time in the process of activating three Divine Marks alone.”

Chris grinned.

“It’s a chance for us, who have been chasing after Rain all this time, to get a first clear after a really long time.”

Bae Merong chuckled.

“Hehe, four people doing their best to beat one person in a dungeon where solo play is extremely disadvantageous?”

“This is when we need to beat her, when else will we ever beat Rain?”

Chris looked around at the faces of her party members.

The hero who once worked with comrades in the past.

Now walking alone.

Chris could somewhat guess Rain’s feelings.

This is the world Rain lived in.

Rain’s sense of mission that no one can understand.

Even Chris, who is close to Rain, has only just begun to glimpse the past bit by bit.

But there will be many mountains that Rain will have to overcome alone in the future.

They need to show the strength of reliable friends that the lonely hero can depend on.

Chris’s eyes shone as she made plans for the next try.

“Now, let’s decide the order of using protection and invincibility skills.”

[Named]

[Level 55 Fusion of Nightmares]

[HP 19,445,007 / 100,000,000 (19%)]

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A rain of light began to fall on the central open space of Celestial Basin.

Ooo–!!

The Fusion of Nightmares continued to pour out a swamp of magic while emitting bizarre resonance sounds with its entire body.

But it was different from before. This time, it couldn’t cover the entire open space with swamp. The continuously falling holy power light was punching holes here and there in the black swamp.

“Next, 12 o’clock direction! A path has opened!”

Tap tap!

The golem that entered the magic generation pattern in the center doesn’t jump for a while. Chris’s party members approached the Fusion of Nightmares by moving here and there through the holes starting to form in the black swamp.

Ooo–!

Rocks burst out from the Fusion of Nightmares as it trembled. The black rocks forming the golem’s body floated up into the air one by one, and soon fell here and there.

Boom, boom, crash!

“Struggling pattern! We’ll deplete the remaining HP right here while being careful of the judgment range of falling rocks!”

[Divine Descent]

[Cooldown 5 minutes]

[Greatly increases the stats, attack power, critical chance, and critical damage of all party members (Duration 30 seconds)]

Chris’s Yin-Yang Master party member buff skill, ‘Divine Descent’, activated.

Whoosh!

Blue light swirled around the party members’ bodies.

“I’ve been holding back for a long time!”

Roar-!

Deathly Death’s body became the form of a dragon and slammed into the fusion’s abdomen. The Fighter’s Flash Slash position skill, ‘Dragon Fist’, blazed.

Boom!

Ooo-!?

The fusion, shaken greatly once by that impact, raised its arm full of holes while howling, but had to stop its action as is.

Cherni chuckled while raising his wand.

“Inconvenient not being able to move? CC skills are finally working now.”

The water elemental Undine’s ‘Underwater Prison’ possessed by the Elementalist stopped the fusion’s movement. Chris’s ‘Sealing Talisman’ skill stuck around had weakened the fusion’s CC immunity.

Boom, boom, crash!

Deathly Death moved at high speed, continuously pounding the fusion’s body. Chris’s talismans exploded all over the fusion’s body.

The fusion formed by gathered black nightmares was about to meet its end here and now.

“Finally a timing to use the ultimate skill!”

Woong!!

Blue energy blazed at the tip of Bae Merong’s staff after finishing the long 10-second casting.

The Mage’s ultimate skill, ‘Arcane Burst’.

Flash!

Boom boom boom boom!!

That flash split the open space of Celestial Basin amidst the white holy power falling like rain.

Ding.

[‘Chris Attack Team’ party has succeeded in the first clear of the elite dungeon, ‘Celestial Basin’!]

○

The final boss battle ended.

The ‘Fusion of Nightmares’ that fell to my sword returned to being simple rocks.

Beautiful rain fell on the open space, sparkling.

Holy power rain also fell on the remains of the black rocks that were the Fusion of Nightmares.

The rocks that had been stained black gradually regained their original color.

“Oh.”

I picked up a rock fragment that started emitting a faint light and let out an exclamation.

[Holy Stone]

[Enhancement Item]

Mithril exposed to negative energy for a long time, its properties changed over the long years.

Mithril purified by holy power had become a substance with overwhelmingly excellent absorption of all powers.

That absorption power is above premium magic stones.

Of course, the power this contains is just the weak holy power created by the Divine Mark’s holy magic circle.

I should enhance Astaroth, the beloved sword that will continue to be with me, first.

Woong.

When I placed the holy stone on Astaroth, it was soon absorbed with a strong light.

[Astaroth]

[Magic Stone Enhancement MAX (Attack Power +100)]

[Holy Stone Enhancement 1/10 (Holy Attack Power +10)]

[Legend Grade]

[Attack Power 500]

[Human Attack Power 500, Additional Human Damage 30%]

[All Skill Damage Increased by 60%]

[Socket 1: Premium Red Echostone (Life Steal +300)]

[Socket 2: Premium Green Echostone (Agility +50)]

…

“Hmm, good.”

The addition of the newly created ‘Holy Attack Power’ stat.

This stat will be a great help in future battles against beings of evil.

The item to farm here is holy stones, huh.

I’ll have to run around a lot to apply it to all kinds of accessories.

Looking at the strengthened Astaroth with satisfaction, I headed towards the dungeon’s exit portal.

Woong.

There are various cases of people at the newly opened elite dungeon. There are many parties currently trying inside the dungeon, but the front of the dungeon is also crowded with people trying to form parties and challenge, or those who came out to catch their breath from the vicious difficulty.

Many people were gathered in front of this elite dungeon, Celestial Basin, as well.

Thump thump.

I walked confidently through them.

It’s a bit awkward to say it myself, but I’m somewhat of a celebrity.

Quite a few people recognized me and approached to talk.

“Oh, it’s Rain-nim.”

“Whitey-nim! You’re cute today too!”

“Did you clear the new dungeon?”

“Ah, um, yes.”

“Kyaa! I’m talking to Rain-nim for the first time! Your voice is so pretty!”

I answered timidly. The female users around squealed.

I smiled awkwardly and stepped back a little.

I don’t blindly avoid people anymore. But conversations with unfamiliar people are still a bit difficult.

Among the users gathered around me, I could see some people I had met while running buses, with whom I was somewhat acquainted, but most were unfamiliar faces due to the large number of users.

As expected, being around many people is burdensome.

I wonder if Chris unnie is still trying.

Stride stride.

At that moment, someone started approaching, breaking through the crowd gathered around me, breathing heavily.

“Grrrr!”