Dirty Blood

It had been a week since the new raid opened.

That meant the raid dungeon would reset after today.

So far, numerous raid parties had attempted to challenge [Plague City Pest], but not a single party had cleared it.

My Chewy-Squishy Raid Party was also stuck at the last boss, [Pest, the Source of Dirty Plague].

The massive beast, draped in green plague energy, was silently glaring at the party members.

How many tries had this been? I couldn’t remember the exact number.

I vaguely knew it was over 70.

“Eugh…”

I’m losing energy. It felt like standing before an insurmountable wall.

If I was feeling this way, wouldn’t the other party members feel the same?

The party members’ faces were also deeply shadowed.

This is when I, as the raid leader, need to buck up.

Because I’m the raid leader who leads all these people.

The break time was over. I stood up and said.

“Everyone, get ready.”

At my words, the party members got up and prepared their buffs.

The main tank, Dogric, also rose from his seat, his shield in hand.

“Entering.”

And so, the battle with the final boss began.

[Come to die again? I’m sick of this.]

Pest, the source of the plague, dripping with dirty blood, slowly approached, dragging its massive body.

The blood, flowing down as if melting, soaked the floor, scattering plague energy around it.

It was Pest’s most basic pattern.

The longer the battle, the more this boss room would fill with the plague energy Pest shed.

There was no way to erase the plague energy. Those attacking Pest had to fight with the [Dirty Blood] debuff on their bodies.

As time passed, the stacks of Dirty Blood increased.

If you accumulated too many stacks, you would take continuous damage that even healing couldn’t handle, so detox potions and cure skills were essential.

But even those were just temporary measures. Detox potions and cure skills didn’t completely remove Dirty Blood.

They only reset the stack count.

Pest’s most basic strategy.

Maintain the number of Dirty Blood stacks only as much as you can handle yourself.

The main tank, who directly takes Pest’s attacks, accumulates Dirty Blood stacks faster.

Therefore, the priests’ cure skills had to be directed at the main tank.

Mages’ and warlocks’ ranged skills flew in, and warriors’ and rogues’ blades tore through Pest’s body.

Each time, the green blood that fell to the floor spread in all directions.

When Pest’s health dropped to 80%, the Plague Swamp pattern was activated.

Pest’s massive body completely melted down, filling the entire boss room and greatly reducing the players’ movement speed.

At this time, the stacking speed of Dirty Blood was twice as fast as before, so you had to carefully calculate the cooldown of the detox potion.

But the Plague Swamp pattern didn’t end there.

Pest, melted into the floor, manipulated its body to create huge waves towards the users.

It wasn’t a very difficult pattern. Before the wave hit, a red area was displayed in that direction.

You could easily escape by using dash-type skills or movement skills like Blink.

“Wave pattern!”

Along with my warning, a red mark appeared on the floor.

The attack range of the wave was displayed as is.

The mages within the wave’s range quickly used Blink or the Ice Barrier skill to protect themselves.

The wave pattern was successfully avoided, but the dealers’ health was in tatters.

The stacks of Dirty Blood had accumulated excessively.

As the Plague Swamp slowly began to disappear, everyone used detox potions and health potions.

And the attack began again.

Pest used the Plague Swamp pattern every time its health was reduced by 10%.

If you miscalculated the damage and failed to match the cooldown of the detox potion, you would die from the Dirty Blood that quickly soared due to the Plague Swamp pattern.

Because of this, you had to deal damage until just before Pest activated the Plague Swamp pattern and match the detox potion cooldown of all party members.

If you matched the party members’ timing and consumed Pest’s health to 50%, Pest’s next pattern would appear.

It was the clone pattern.

“Pest’s health 50%! Clone pattern starting!”

In response to the main tank’s warning, Pest’s body melted into the floor.

Immediately after, a guy called [Pest’s Clone] appeared in the center of the boss room.

The clone had the same specs as Pest, but didn’t use any special skills.

While the sub-tank, who had been waiting on the side, was leading the clone to the corner, a red mark appeared in the area where the dealers were gathered.

Wave pattern.

But it wasn’t an ordinary wave pattern. Pest, who had created the clone, used the wave not once, but twice.

The plague wave crashed twice, and the dealers died.

A wave that crashes twice. Because of the randomly generated attack range, if you were unlucky, the wave could fall again on the spot where you used Blink.

This time, 5 people died. The priests, who had to use cure on the main tank and sub-tank while using detox potions on themselves, didn’t have time to use resurrection skills.

Helena’s Time Acceleration skill didn’t apply to resurrection-related skills, so it was useless even if used.

“Focus damage on the boss!”

The Plague Swamp pattern ended, and Pest reappeared.

I warned the dealers in a loud voice. Because Pest and the clone looked exactly the same, there were times when they would accidentally hit the clone instead of the boss.

When Pest’s health is consumed to 30%, the final pattern is activated.

The clone that Pest summoned turns into a giant plague whirlwind and starts to follow one user intensively.

The range of the whirlwind was long, and the movement speed was also fast, so only a limited number of people could kite this whirlwind.

If you catch the clone before Pest’s health is consumed to 30%, this whirlwind pattern doesn’t appear.

Instead, the dirty blood flowing from the body of the dead clone covers the entire map, shortening the time it takes for the debuff to stack.

The clone wasn’t a pattern made to be caught. It was a pattern to make it into a whirlwind and drag it around like this.

I was in charge of dragging the plague whirlwind around. Because I had the [Charge], [Leap Strike], and [Flight] skills, and the Berserker’s passive made me the fastest.

Wave pattern that started with the whirlwind pattern.

People who didn’t anticipate the range of the continuous plague waves and the whirlwind were wiped out.

Too many dealers died.

If the damage is insufficient, the battle will be prolonged. This means that the priests, who have to use Cure, will quickly run out of mana.

Retry.

Again!

***

It was almost 10 o’clock, the time we had promised.

In the end, we couldn’t get past Pest’s wall again today.

“Hoo- Everyone, you’ve worked hard. Let’s disband~”

I had to open my reluctant mouth. I had to say words I didn’t want to say.

But what could I do? The time we had already promised was approaching.

The party members also looked disappointed, but they couldn’t bring themselves to suggest that those who had time should try again.

I was about to return with the party members using the return stone.

Suddenly, a unique hit sound effect, *pik-*, burst out, and my body was dyed green.

Of course, the use of the return stone was also canceled.

“What?”

The debuff [Dirty Blood] activated at the very bottom of my vision caught my eye.

I didn’t even enter the boss room. The boss, Pest, was also standing still in its place without moving.

It was incomprehensible. Why the hell was I inflicted with Dirty Blood?

“What…?”

“Did someone start the boss battle?”

The entire party was panicking. They also seemed to have no idea why they were inflicted.

I frowned.

You couldn’t use the return stone while afflicted with [Dirty Blood].

It was a debuff that couldn’t be removed with Cure or detox potions, so you had to die once to get rid of this state.

Of course, death wasn’t the only way. The [Dirty Blood] debuff disappears by leaving the dungeon.

But we were already deep inside the raid dungeon. Who would walk all the way to the entrance of the dungeon?

“It seems like a bug. Everyone will have to die once.”

At my words, everyone nodded. They chose death with me.

I left those words and ran straight out of the building.

Pest’s boss room was in the highest place on this map.

Jumping out of the building meant you could naturally die from fall damage.

The party members who had the same thought as me fell from the building after me.

In that way, 40 people fell to the floor and turned gray.

While lying on the cold floor, looking at the party members, a very foreign existence caught my eye.

A small demon wearing the effect that signified the [Dirty Blood] debuff was wandering around.

The demon, scattering green blood, was an imp that hell priests summoned and took with them.

It seemed that the small imp was the one who infected the party members with Dirty Blood.

The party members who were resurrected from death confirmed that the [Dirty Blood] debuff was gone and immediately disappeared using the return stone.

I watched the party members from a little distance away from them.

The hell priests who were carrying the imp were also using the return stone right away.

There was no imp around them. It was because the skill was canceled upon resurrection.

I carefully asked Chloe, who was just about to use the return stone.

“Chloe-nim?”

“Yes?”

“By any chance, does the imp you summon and take with you not have separate health?”

“Oh, I think so? I think I’ve never seen an imp die, even if I died.”

Chloe left those words and disappeared with the light.

I quickly sent a message to Chloe.

Yeon-[Chloe-nim, have you tried summoning an imp?]

Chloe-[Imp? I’ll take it out now.]

After that, a short silence followed.

I carefully sent a message to Chloe.

Yeon-[Chloe-nim?]

It seemed like something had gone wrong.

I quickly used the return stone.

After a long casting time, my body was teleported to Lunaris Capital City with a pillar of light.

It was the moment I arrived at the return location. A unique hit sound and green blood splattered in front of my eyes.

*Pik-*

When I turned my head and looked back, green blood was flowing from the body of the NPC who manages the return stone.

The NPC was afflicted with the [Dirty Blood] debuff.