LS 121

As soon as Dohee finished speaking, small statues rose from the four directions of the map. Centered around the Demon Hunter in the middle, the statues appeared at the 1, 4, 7, and 11 o’clock positions, each a different color.

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Oh!! These are the statues that popped up on the map in the teaser right before the wipe mechanic

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: It’s those same ones

Healer quickly typed in the chat. At those words, Dohee instinctively tensed up and glanced at the hotkey where he had placed Batienjine’s skill. There was no telling when or where a wipe mechanic might suddenly appear.

But the Demon Hunter’s HP bar was still at 200 lines. Would the wipe really come out this early? Already?

Dohee scanned the statues that had emerged on the map. The one at 1 o’clock was yellow, at 5 o’clock orange, at 7 o’clock scarlet, and at 11 o’clock red. The colors got darker in clockwise order. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like this was the same wipe mechanic from the teaser.

“Everyone, be careful.”

Before the words even left his mouth, a small vortex shot out from the Demon Hunter’s body.

— Ah, fuck, wait!

The vortex hurtled toward Noodle, who was clinging close to the boss and dealing damage. With no time to react, Noodle collided with it. In an instant, his HP dropped, and an alert popped up saying his character had died.

— What the hell was that!?

Ignoring Noodle’s baffled voice, the rest of the raid team quickly tensed up. While not as close as Noodle, both 4Evil and Dohee had also been near the boss, and they pulled their characters back to increase distance.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Wasn’t that vortex yellow just now???

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Or am I seeing things? LOL

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Noodle got sucked in so fast I couldn’t even tell LOL

Yeohoo responded to RiceCake’s message.

— I think it was yellow? Looks like the vortex matches the color of the statues. Let’s watch carefully when the next one appears.

But just as Yeohoo said “next,” that chance never came. As if mocking the raid team for expecting another vortex, the Demon Hunter in the center suddenly raised both hands to the sky and let out a strange roar. In the blink of an eye, the entire raid team was wiped out.

— What, we only get one chance…?

Noodle grumbled with a voice full of guilt and embarrassment. It made sense, his mistake had led to the wipe.

— Sorry. But I mean, Strikers have to stick close to deal damage, it’s just the way the class works.

— Yup, next Noodle mukbang coming up~

Noodle apologized sheepishly, and Tando responded playfully. Thankfully, that helped the raid team laugh and shake off the mood.

While the team regrouped in the safe zone, Dohee rewound the recorded stream to take another look at the mechanic.

DDD777: Is this real? They’re already floundering the moment they enter Phase 3?? LOL

IfThere’sAFlowerInThisWorldIt’sMe: Try it yourself, jackass

IcedAmericanoTransfusionUrgent: Honestly they’re only this fast thanks to the Swamp Bomb LOL Beautiful and Xeno both made it to P3 but haven’t even seen the first mechanic

DDD777: Just saw Xeno buying Swamp Bombs at the exchange LOL

MostlyCloudy: Swamp Bomb prices just doubled LOL did this much supply even exist in SoGod??

K8k3: Bet everyone’s scrambling to craft and sell now LOL

AngelWithWings: Gotta farm that gold~ LOL

silverstriker: Noodle probably… didn’t mean to… don’t hate the poor Striker too much….

DoubleBlack: These random maps are fucking wild LOL

BirdThatWakesUpEarly: Phase 3 is pure hell… and I have to go in the day after tomorrow…? LOL

MostlyCloudy: For real LOL potion prices in the SoGod exchange are exploding right now. All the raid teams aiming for full clear are buying everything out LOL

TargetLocked: Are they actually gonna clear this today?

youtututu: Probably… maybe they’ll go until dawn??

DigitalLover: What was that mechanic? You touch the vortex and just instantly die?

MomDaughterSoGodFan: Idk;;; but was it really yellow? LOL how did y’all even see that

Glancing through the chat, Dohee didn’t see anything particularly helpful. The only good news was that, so far, the Human raid team was still ahead of the others.

Dohee rewound the video to the moment the first vortex mechanic appeared.

“Look at my screen. I’ve got the 200-bar vortex mechanic up.”

— Watching. Was it yellow?

Yeohoo asked. Dohee played the video back in slow motion. It took only about two seconds from when the vortex was emitted from the Demon Hunter to when Noodle got hit. Slowed down, it was clearly yellow.

“It was.”

— I think the vortex targets the person closest to it?

Tando’s suggestion made a lot of sense. At the time, Noodle had been the closest, and the vortex had unerringly gone after him.

— Then you have to run the second that pattern starts, huh.

Following Noodle’s grumbling, Yeohoo offered his thoughts.

— I think the statue and vortex colors are matched, right? Since the system doesn’t give us any hints, it probably isn’t a very difficult mechanic… My guess is that one person waits near the vortex spawn, grabs aggro, and leads it to the statue of the same color. Has anyone tried hitting the statues?

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: I spammed skills at the statue LOL

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Did zero damage LOL

If what RiceCake said was true, it meant the statues couldn’t be destroyed with skills. Yeohoo’s theory seemed to hold some weight. Dohee rewound the footage to review Yeohoo’s suggestion.

“So for example, if a yellow vortex comes out, someone grabs aggro on purpose, then leads it to the yellow statue, right?”

— Yeah. And this is just my guess, but if the first vortex is yellow again, maybe the sequence goes clockwise, yellow, orange, scarlet, red. Or maybe not.

— So who’s gonna take aggro?

Tando’s question was followed by a moment of silence. Dohee quickly ran through the options in his head.

Ranged DPS weren’t suitable for pulling aggro. They usually kept their distance from the boss to deal damage, and except for Yeohoo’s class, most ranged characters were slow movers. If one of them accidentally touch a vortex, it could be disastrous.

That left melee like Noodle or 4Evil, or maybe a healer or supporter who could move freely and wait nearby to pull aggro. But even that plan had issues.

“The vortex just now came from behind the boss, but is that always the case? What if I’m waiting behind the boss to pull aggro, and it comes out the front instead? Then someone in front would be closer than me, and the vortex would go to them instead. If they’re not expecting it, they could get hit by accident.”

— True. Then how about we just go in and test it one more time? We check whether the vortex always comes from the same direction or if it’s random. Once we hit the 200-bar mark, everyone should assume they might pull aggro and be ready.

Yeohoo cautiously suggested they do another blind attempt. And surprisingly, the one who saved the day was 4Evil.

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: I have a plan

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: ???

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Warlords have a skill called “Victory Shout”

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: When I use it, all aggro is pulled to me for about 15 seconds

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Honestly, it’s not a skill I use often so I usually leave it out

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: But if the team agrees, I’ll bring it this time

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: When we hit the 200-bar mark, I’ll use it on the boss

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: That way, the first vortex will come to me no matter what

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: I’ll handle the first mechanic

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Everyone else can stay far away

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: After I guide the first vortex, the next person can come closer and wait to grab the second one

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Sound good?

“Wow…”

Moonhyuk let out a low exclamation.

“That skill exists? I didn’t know.”

Even Dohee, who prided himself on being a seasoned SoGod player, had temporarily forgotten about it. “Victory Shout” wasn’t commonly used by Warlords in raids. At most, a few brought it to help other DPS with damage windows. But in a situation where no one knew which direction the first vortex would come from, it seemed like a pretty solid plan.

“I think it’s a good idea. What about the rest of you?”

[Raid] Oreckthat: Reckthat approves!! ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: What a broken skill LOL

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Then I’ll wait nearby and grab the second vortex aggro!

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: [HeaveHo Emote] I can do it!!

The rest of the raid team agreed with 4Evil’s plan.

[RattataURattata has donated 2,000 won!] Warlord is OP lol, that skill’s busted, nerf it already;;;

[OhNoMyPreciousChild has donated 1,000 won!] LMAO people yelling for nerfs the moment something’s good. Y’all need to appreciate Warlords more ^^

WithLoveDoItchu: These people are nuts LOL. They always want nerfs for every class but their own

tivtiv: Nerf everything except Moon Master~

IDCreationTookForever: Like that’s ever gonna happen LOL

“Okay, let’s go with that. Healer will take the second aggro, and I’ll handle the third. Who’s doing the last one?”

— I’ll do it.

Noodle volunteered to pull the final vortex aggro. His voice was full of resolve, as if determined to redeem himself for the earlier wipe.