LS 108

Dohee was running a recording program on the same computer he used for streaming. While the raid members gathered near the entrance to restock their potions and repair gear before re-entering, they chatted amongst themselves. As Dohee scrubbed through the recording to find and skip to the relevant section, various opinions were exchanged.

— Should we just try taking the hit from the orbs?

Yeohoo responded to Yeojin’s question.

— I don’t think you can just take the hit and destroy them.

— It looked like the orbs stayed near the edge of the map for a bit before disappearing. Maybe it’s something like breaking them, or designated players have to absorb them? Feels like one of those mechanics.

Tando’s comment drew agreement from Dohee.

“That sounds right. Look here, I’ll show you on the stream.”

He slowed down the playback of the recording and hovered the mouse cursor over the moment when the orbs appeared, switching between them and the raid members’ feet.

“Here. Four orbs come out – two white, two black. I couldn’t catch it clearly earlier in the chaos, but watching it again, you can see it. Look under each person’s feet. See those faint circular zones? The radius is kind of small. Mine was white, but right here next to me, Tando and Oreckthat had black ones. I’m thinking maybe the person with the white zone has to go to a white orb, and the black ones go to black orbs?”

That’s when Moonhyuk, who’d been silent until now, spoke up.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to destroy them.”

— Huh? Why not?

Yeojin asked, and Moonhyuk continued.

“When I was dodging earlier, I accidentally used a skill on an orb, but it didn’t do any damage. There wasn’t even a health bar… So, yeah…”

It had been like catching a rat while backing away, completely by accident. After hearing that, HealerHyung typed in chat:

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Can we divide the groups based on the color of the circle under our feet??

“Looks like Tando, Oreckthat, Healerboy, and 4Evil are black zones, and the rest are white.”

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Oh, so it’s not party-based, just random… 😭

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: It splits 4 and 6, and there are four orbs, so maybe it’s 2, 2, 3, 3 formation for the mechanic.

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Let’s go back in, push until that pattern triggers, then split by zone color and follow the orbs.

“Sounds good. Ready to re-enter?”

Just as everyone agreed to push the mechanic again, a donation alert popped up on Dohee’s stream.

[PRIVERSIVA has donated 5,000 won!] When the orbs disappear, something bursts out of Rabiuna’s body like bam!

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“Thanks for the donation. Hold on, everyone. Don’t go in just yet.”

Rewinding the footage as the donor had suggested, they reviewed the moment the orbs vanished. Sure enough, something like a gust of wind burst from Rabiuna’s body right as the orbs exploded, and that’s when the entire raid was wiped. At first, it was hard to tell what caused the wipe because the timing was so close. But after watching it a couple more times, they realized it wasn’t the orbs themselves that caused the damage, it was the burst from Rabiuna’s body.

While watching, Yeohoo spoke up.

— I think we don’t need to destroy them or anything. I think we’re supposed to enter the orbs. You know that similar mechanic in the server raid with Neon?

Everyone in the raid agreed immediately. Neon, a boss available once players reached level 100 during the server raid, had a similar mechanic. During the fight, a large blue orb would appear, and before the boss’s circular energy burst exploded, all party members had to jump into the orb. If even one person didn’t make it in, the whole party would wipe. It was a confusing and difficult mechanic at first, but players had since gotten used to it and could handle it easily.

Yeohoo continued:

— It feels like a variation of that Neon wipe mechanic. Let’s split 2, 2, 3, 3 by color like 4Evil said and check if we can enter the orbs that match our zones.

“Okay.”

The raid team made another attempt to re-enter. World raids allowed players to receive clear rewards once a week. Until the dungeon was manually terminated, players could re-enter from the entrance. If the raid leader chose to end the run with everyone’s consent, they could reassemble and re-enter later. Once a clear was registered, re-entry for the week was locked.

This restriction was put in place by the developers because world raids gave generous gold and item rewards. If players could farm the dungeon repeatedly, it would lead to uncontrollable gold inflation. However, if a player left the dungeon through improper methods – like force-quitting the game or leaving without consent to troll others – they wouldn’t be able to re-enter for the rest of the week with that character. They could try with another, but given the high level entry requirement for world raids, only veteran players with multiple high-level characters could realistically attempt that. Most treated each attempt as precious.

Anyway, once the raid members re-entered Rabiuna’s lair, they pushed its HP down to 70 bars much more smoothly than before. Moonhyuk now used the right skills at the right moments without any callouts. He was improving noticeably with each re-entry. Dohee had no idea who taught him, but it was so impressive it made him want to give the guy a kiss – which, sadly, he could not.

“We’re almost at 70. Check under your feet and get ready. Check your color and split toward the nearest matching orb.”

Right as Dohee finished speaking, Rabiuna’s health hit 70 and the same pattern began. Just in case, Dohee cast Hand of Bayan to shield the team. Yeohoo’s urgent voice came through his headset.

— Oreckthat, IngSupp, Yeojin, and SoftRiceCake are black. The rest are white.

“Okay. Oreckthat and IngSupp go to 12 o’clock. Yeohoo and SoftRiceCake go down to 6. Me, Yeohoo, and Tando take 3 o’clock. The rest go to 9 o’clock!”

— Got it.

The raid team moved with precision in response to Dohee’s commands. He cast a movement speed buff.

“Hyung, speed buff, please.”

“Yes!”

Moonhyuk also cast a movement speed buff on the party members, following Dohee’s lead. When Dohee reached the orb, he tried a short damage skill. Just like Moonhyuk had said, it did nothing, no damage at all. That’s when Yeohoo rushed past Dohee’s character and dove straight into the orb. In that instant, the orb seemed to absorb Yeohoo’s character, pulling him inside.

— Yeah, you’re supposed to go in!

As Yeohoo shouted, the rest of the raid members dashed toward the orbs. The moment the last character vanished from the map, Rabiuna let out a surge of energy. A beat later, the orbs exploded and spit the raiders back out onto the ground.

[System] Your vision is reduced due to the ‘Abyssal Darkness’ debuff. (5 seconds remaining)

— What the hell is this debuff? Heal! Heal! Someone heal me!

Yeojin shouted in a panic. Just in time, Hand of Bayan came off cooldown, and Dohee cast it, showering the party with healing and shields. Yeojin’s dangerously low HP began to climb. Meanwhile, Rabiuna continued its basic patterns, but with the reduced visibility, the screen had darkened, and players were getting hit left and right. Even Tando was now fully focused on party care.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Fuck this scorpion bastard, fr

As SoftRiceCake cursed, the reduced vision effect faded. At the same time, Rabiuna’s body had taken on a slightly translucent look.

“What’s with its color now?”

Dohee muttered in annoyance, and Moonhyuk chuckled beside him. Then Moonhyuk spoke up.

“Looks like it shed its skin.”

“Shed?”

Just then, the map darkened to a shadowy gray, and a system message appeared.

[System] ‘Dark Rabiuna’ has evolved to the next phase!

[System] You now take 10% additional damage when hit.

[System] ‘Dark Rabiuna’s’ attack patterns have become more powerful.

“Wait, hold on–!”

Dohee didn’t even get a chance to warn the team before Rabiuna’s tail struck Oreckthat. Up until now, the tail just knocked players away, but this time, it was different.

[Raid] Oreckthat: ??

[Raid] Oreckthat: Let go! LET GO OF ORECKTHAT!! ૮( ꒦ິ⍣꒦ີ)ა

Like a poor chicken skewered on a stick, Oreckthat was impaled by the tip of Rabiuna’s tail, dangling in the air as he was slammed into the ground repeatedly. Each impact shaved off nearly half his HP. In an effort to save him, HealerHyung and Moonhyuk threw everything they had at him, and Oreckthat spammed the potion key the moment the cooldown refreshed.

[Raid] Oreckthat: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ it hurtsヾ( ๑´д`๑)ﾂ

Eventually, his character was flung all the way to the edge of the map and collapsed, barely clinging to life with about 20% HP remaining. Dohee clicked his tongue and spoke toward Oreckthat.

“You saw that, right? Watch out for the tail.”

— Poor Oreckthat.

— That was basically a kebab.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Oreckebab LOLLLLLLL

Jokes flew around the chat. Leaving the whimpering Oreckthat behind, the raid charged at Rabiuna again with full force. No more major mechanics appeared after that, so the team was finally free to burn down Rabiuna’s HP without interruptions. As the boss dropped below 30 bars, everyone stayed tense, expecting another phase shift.

And sure enough, Rabiuna didn’t disappoint, raising its massive pincers, it let out a thunderous roar. Circular magic zones appeared all across the map, and quicksand rapidly formed around them. Most players managed to jump out in time, but Yeojin and 4EvilPrettyGirl, slowed by their poor movement speed, got caught.

[System] ‘YeojinHae’ has died.

[System] ‘4EvilPrettyGirl’ has died.

They were pulled under and instantly reduced to 0 HP.

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: ……?

— What the fuck! Give us time to dodge, goddamn it! This character is slow as hell!

While Yeojin and 4EvilPrettyGirl vented their frustration, the rest of the team ignored them and kept hammering away at Rabiuna. Its HP began dropping rapidly.

“Almost there!”

Dohee called out as he unleashed all the attack buffs that had just come off cooldown. The team dumped their ultimates and burned through the last of their DPS skills. Three bars. Two. One.

[System] ‘Dark Rabiuna’ has been vanquished.

[System] Cleared: ‘A Harsh Desert Where Even One Oasis is Hard to Find’!

[System] You have acquired the goddess Kelatus’s first divine relic, ‘Banjo’.

As the system messages for the clear rolled in, the quest log updated automatically.

Tears of the Demon Hunter #.1-1

Defeat ‘Dark Rabiuna’ (Normal) 1/1

Clear ‘A Harsh Desert Where Even One Oasis is Hard to Find’ (Normal) 1/1

Acquire Kelatus’s First Divine Relic ‘Banjo’ 1/1

— That was easier than I thought?

Yeohoo’s casual comment popped up, and Dohee nodded.

“Yeah, but don’t let your guard down. Phase 1’s just the warm-up.”