Chapter 43: Breaking the Rules (2)
by AfuhfuihgsExpensive potions gulped like water.
A hidden boss taken down only after tremendous effort.
So why is the reward… in her hand?
Kreetzone almost suffered cognitive dissonance at the sight but quickly composed himself.
‘They beat the Land Kraken… with just two people?’
He blinked in disbelief. That monster wasn’t even supposed to be clearable by two.
[“LOLOLOLOL”]
[“Holy sh*t kek”]
[“Didn’t Kreetzone look so happy yesterday?”]
[“His brain just blue-screened kek”]
[“11 people wiped by a team of 2!”]
[“Kree-boss in tears kek”]
The moment Silverhair revealed the item, Kreetzone’s chat exploded.
Like most streamers, Kreetzone’s viewers had no problem roasting their own streamer.
But Kreetzone didn’t even notice. His mind was elsewhere.
‘Where did she even get that?’
‘Did she team up with another streamer?’
Because it was impossible with just the two of them.
Then the only answer could be a temporary alliance.
That was the only explanation he could come up with.
If they had joined forces with multiple clans and beaten him to it…
“Uh, Silverhair? Where did you get that?”
Silverhair casually dangled the “Quivering Kraken Core.”
Raidel had the same expression as Kreetzone—utter shock.
Like she’d never seen it before.
‘Huh?’
Kreetzone tilted his head.
At first, he thought it was a bit, but Raidel looked genuinely clueless.
‘Aren’t they in the same clan? Didn’t they beat it together? Why doesn’t she know?’
The answer came quickly.
“I went out and got it yesterday evening.”
Yoo Seo-yeon said it like it was no big deal.
“…By yourself?”
“Yeah, alone.”
“…How?”
“I just blocked all the incoming attacks. It died on its own.”
Hearing that, Kreetzone started sweating.
She wasn’t technically wrong.
The Land Kraken only had one weapon: its countless tentacles.
Tentacles aren’t hard. If you block them with a sword, they slice off easily.
Once the tentacles are gone, the body is basically defenseless.
So yes, if you block well enough, you can solo it.
‘But can she even see them?’
The real problem was speed.
If it were that easy, his elite team of 11 wouldn’t have wiped multiple times.
The tentacle strikes were so fast they were practically invisible.
You’d hear a whoosh—then your head would be rolling.
Eventually, all 11 had to huddle like a phalanx and block in unison to barely clear it.
(TL note: Phalanx is a body of troops or police officers standing or moving in close formation.)
And she soloed that?
Technically not impossible.
But only theoretically.
Perfectly defending against all those attacks, alone—when they could barely do it as 11?
That’s just fantasy.
Yet Silverhair turned that fantasy into reality.
The Kraken core she was now toying with was proof.
[“She raided solo?”]
[“Wow…”]
[“Honestly, I’m just impressed…”]
[“No way, right?”]
[“That’s the same item as Kreetzone’s. You can’t buy that. You get it from the boss.”]
[“Kreetzone’s having an existential crisis kek”]
[“Silverhair is cracked fr”]
[“Also her voice is nice ngl”]
Kreetzone’s brow twitched.
His chat was now singing Silverhair’s praises.
And the worst part was—he had no counter.
He’d spent hours trying to kill that thing.
He’d celebrated like crazy after finally doing it.
He’d even bragged about how hard it was to viewers, talking about it non-stop.
And now Silverhair says she did it alone.
His viewers were bound to flip.
And she? Looked like it was nothing.
That only made it worse.
“Anyway, I worked hard to get it, but I have no idea what it’s for…”
Yoo Seo-yeon fiddled awkwardly with the Kraken Core.
She wasn’t trying to mock Kreetzone.
She had incredible reflexes and instincts, but little game knowledge.
When it came to intuition-based combat she was unmatched—but things like crafting and mechanics were weak spots.
“A-hem! That, uh, that’s for the Kraken Greatsword… It’s a cursed weapon material…”
Kreetzone wanted to crawl into a hole.
But he couldn’t not explain.
His chat was already going wild.
He’d just been outclassed by Silverhair on stream.
If he refused to help now, he’d not only look like a loser but also a sore loser.
And Silverhair wasn’t even being smug.
She was genuinely asking.
Getting mad at that would just make him look like a lunatic.
“Kraken Greatsword? I actually needed a new weapon. Is that item any good?”
“I haven’t crafted it myself yet… but I heard it has a vampiric effect…”
His voice trembled like a goat’s bleat.
He stared into the air, avoiding her gaze.
The Kraken Greatsword was known for draining enemy HP.
He’d planned to show it off in tonight’s event.
But now Silverhair basically had the same thing.
“W-Well then, I’ll just… go. I have some urgent business.”
He wanted to escape this humiliation.
Kreetzone made a quick eye gesture to his clan members and turned.
[“Pants-run kek”]
[“Came to flex and got demolished kek”]
[“Truly shameful, Kree-boss…”]
[“That’s a surrender if I ever saw one kek”]
The sweating clan members quickly took the cue.
They had to get out of there fast—
Ding—!
At that moment,
a clear system chime rang throughout the server.
A translucent popup appeared before every player.
[One Month Anniversary Server Event Notification]
‘…What?’
Kreetzone’s escape halted mid-step.
The buzzing chat froze into a sea of question marks.
[“Is the event today?”]
[“Here comes the big one kek”]
[“EVENT HYPETRAIN~”]
Then the hype caught fire again.
Scree—!
A piercing shriek ripped through the sky.
A silver-feathered hawk dove down with incredible speed.
So realistic, it felt like the wind itself passed by.
The hawk circled over Raidel, Yoo Seo-yeon, and Kreetzone’s party, then dropped a scroll.
Shff—
The antique parchment unraveled mid-air before touching the ground.
Holographic text hovered in the air.
All players received the same quest notification.
[“Yo that animation was sick”]
[“Is the event starting?”]
[“Legendary timing kek”]
[“What’s the quest?”]
[“Show us the quest already!”]
[Defeat the Star Demon]
The ancient collector ‘Elderyn’ possesses the pass to the hidden ‘Altar of Stars.’
But nothing comes free. If you want the pass, you must gather 10 specific rare materials!
▶ Quest Objective: Deliver 1 of each of the 10 rare items to collector NPC ‘Elderyn’ and obtain the pass to the Altar of Stars.
▶ Required Materials (10 total):
- Glowing Deep-Sea Pearl (Underwater Cavern)
- Blazing Heart of Lava Stone (Volcano Zone Lava Golem)
- Frozen Ancient Tree Sap (Frozen Mountain Range) …
- Dew of the Awakened Forest Spirit (World Tree Summit)
- Unstable Magic Core Bomb (※ Handle with care!)
▶ Completion Reward:
- Altar of Stars Entry Pass
▶ With the pass, you may challenge the hidden raid boss: ‘Star Demon’
▶ The altar is guarded by an Ancient Golem. Submit the pass to enter and face the Star Demon.
▶ Hidden Boss Raid: ‘Star Demon’ Reward: ???
▶ There are many passes, but only one reward. Only the FIRST party to clear the raid will get the prize.
There’s no silver medal in this game.
Be the first, or be forgotten.
※ The Ancient Golem is immune to all attacks without a pass.
※ Do NOT attempt to brute-force it.
In summary:
- Gather 10 materials.
- Get a pass.
- Enter the altar and fight the boss.
- Win to claim an exclusive reward.
- Only the first team to win gets it.
The rewards weren’t listed—but considering the buildup, they were sure to be insane.
‘Dead… we’re dead…’
Raidel’s expression darkened as she scanned the quest.
‘10 items? From 10 hell-difficulty zones?’
Ocean, volcano, mountain, highlands, cave, forest, desert… how were they supposed to gather all that?
With just two people, the travel time alone was nightmarish.
‘We’re too understaffed…!’
It was blatantly skewed toward large clans.
[“That list is insane; is this a joke?”]
[“It’s a world tour across the whole map kek”]
[“Go from ocean to volcano like a delivery man quest?”]
[“No squad? Then just watch from the sidelines.”]
[“This is tailor-made for Kree-boss kek”]
Raidel’s reaction matched chat’s.
Everyone understood who this quest was made for.
And that ‘who’ was—
“Ahem! Well, now… haha…!”
Kreetzone, trying and failing to hold back a grin.
The more he read the quest, the more his smirk returned.
The shame and humiliation from minutes ago melted away like snow.
‘We basically have this in the bag!’
In contrast,
Raidel still looked grim.
Yoo Seo-yeon was amazing, sure.
But this was a matter of logistics.
No matter how fast they moved, they couldn’t beat 11 people spreading across the map.
And only one party could win the reward.
It was a dead-end challenge.
Raidel turned to Yoo Seo-yeon.
She had a thoughtful look.
Then she spoke.
“Well then. Shall we go craft that greatsword first?”
(TL note: only 5 of the 10 rare items are listed in the source material. The others have been generalised by simply using elipses, ‘……..’)
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