LS 128

― Holy shit, we actually cleared it!!

― That’s it, right!?

― Damn, my hands are shaking.

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Holy crap, did we really beat it!?

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: My heart is pounding out of my chest

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: [crying emoji] ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Finally!!!!

The number above the health bar read 0.

The Demon Hunter let out a roar and floated into the air. A cutscene had started, one that auto-plays upon a clear. Dohee mashed the ESC key, but all that came up was “Cannot Skip.”

The voice of the Demon Hunter, writhing in midair, began to echo faintly through the headset.

[Demon Hunter] Humans…

[Demon Hunter] You walk the path of destruction by your own will.

[Demon Hunter] Who will bring ruin to the world?

[Demon Hunter] Who will be the one to save it?

[Demon Hunter] All is meaningless.

[Demon Hunter] Yubriel will soon… grraaaugh!!!

And with that, the Demon Hunter’s body scattered into pieces…

Or so it seemed.

― Uh… why isn’t the clear notification popping up?

As the cutscene ended, the scattered fragments rapidly reformed. They shaped themselves into a familiar figure, the Demon Hunter, back again.

“…What the hell?”

Dohee, forgetting he was live, cursed aloud. Then a system alert and quest notification rang out:

[System] ‘Demon Hunter’ has been vanquished.

[System] ‘Traces of the Lost Jubite’ Cleared!

Tears of the Demon Hunter #.1-3

Defeat ‘Demon Hunter’ (Normal) 1/1

Clear ‘Traces of the Lost Jubite’ (Normal) 1/1

The system notification chimes rang out nonstop – ding, ding, ding. Then the Demon Hunter’s voice returned.

[Reawakened Demon Hunter] It’s not over yet, humans.

[Reawakened Demon Hunter] The time has come to set everything right.

[Reawakened Demon Hunter] All shall kneel before me!

― What the hell is this guy talking about…

Yeojin’s voice came out drained and disbelieving.

― Seriously, what is he even saying… nutcase.

Yeohoo muttered under his breath.

Reawakened Demon Hunter

Defeat ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ (Normal) 0/1

Clear ‘Mirage Oasis’ (Hidden) 0/1

Obtain Second Divine Relic ‘Bante’ 0/1

[System] ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ has appeared!

[System] Defeat the ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ and obtain the second divine relic ‘Bante’.

[System] Forcing monitor aspect ratio to 16:9.

As the entire raid party scrambled in confusion, the map suddenly changed. The gloomy landscape was replaced by a blazing desert, sun glaring down, heat haze rising everywhere.

Dohee fought to stay focused and instinctively checked the boss’s HP bar, 30 bars. Not a huge amount. It was still doable.

“Alright, everyone, get back in position and check how many potions you have left.”

[Raid] Oreckthat: Oreckthat’s got 0 pots…. (;＾◇＾;)ゝ

“Okay. Make sure to support Oreckthat. The HP bar starts at 30, so let’s try to burn it down again.”

― Didn’t it say Mirage Oasis was a hidden map, not a hidden phase…?

― Right? Pretty sure this is the first time a hidden boss phase showed up.

― Fuck, I thought it was over and ran around celebrating, what the hell is this?

Voices of frustration burst out. Dohee felt the same. He wanted to scream, too. But he just barely managed to keep his composure.

“It’s not over until it’s over, huh.”

His teeth clenched. Damn Sword of God, what kind of garbage was this design?

They thought they’d secured the fastest first clear in the game. But no one expected to get trolled this hard. It felt like they’d been sucker-punched in the back of the head.

The Demon Hunter, who they thought was dead for good, had come back. “Reawakened Demon Hunter,” they called it. To the raid team, it was just another “30-bar HP boss.”

[System] ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ is now fully consumed by dark power.

[System] ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ enters an enhanced awakened state.

“Knew it.”

That unease hadn’t been for nothing. In his awakened form, the Demon Hunter now glowed entirely white, surrounded by a soft black aura. The system alerts didn’t stop there.

[System] Boss damage increased by 20% due to awakening.

[System] Adventurer damage decreased by 80% due to awakening.

― Are they out of their fucking minds!?

Noodle shrieked. Everyone silently agreed.

With the 20% damage increase, even basic attacks from the boss now took off half their HP. Oreckthat was spamming crying emotes, begging for healing.

And the 80% damage nerf to players meant the HP bar was barely budging. It was maddening. How the hell were they supposed to clear this?

“…Do they want us to win or not?”

The chat was flying by too fast to even read, so Dohee gave up trying. He let out a deep sigh. Then Moonhyuk spoke up.

“Ah, there’s, uh… like some kind of weird rings on both its arms and legs.”

Dohee instinctively turned to look at Moonhyuk. He’d expected him to be worn out, but Moonhyuk’s expression hadn’t changed at all. He was glaring at the monitor, teeth clenched, eyes locked in with intense focus. Sheets of paper were plastered around his monitor, notes on skill cycles that Dohee had shared with him earlier.

In that moment, Dohee snapped back to his senses. This wasn’t the time to be complaining or tired. Seeing Moonhyuk push through, determined to clear the boss no matter what, felt like getting a cold splash of water to the face. If even a newbie was grinding his teeth and fighting like this, a seasoned player had to have some pride. He couldn’t afford to wear out now.

Dohee widened his eyes and examined the Demon Hunter closely. Just as Moonhyuk said, rings emitting a strange purple aura had formed around the Demon Hunter’s wrists and ankles. He’d never seen those before. Dohee asked the DPS:

“Can you damage the rings too?”

― You can, but it barely does anything.

Noodle, who had lots of single-target skills, answered quickly.

“Do you think they can be broken? They look like restraints… Maybe if we break them, our damage will go through properly?”

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: But breaking them’s kinda…ㅠ

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: The damage barely registers?

― When you hit the rings, a little “damage reduced” text shows up.

At Yeohoo’s comment, Dohee nodded.

“So they probably reduce incoming damage. Any idea how to break them?”

― Should we just keep hitting them and see?

Just as Dohee was about to tell Yeojin to go ahead, a loud cracking sound rang out from the rings as raid members continued unloading their skills. The purple rings began to fracture.

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Looks like they’re breaking

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Wait, not broken yet though?

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Keep hitting them ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Then, another system popup appeared:

[System] Fragments of corruption scatter in all directions from the ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’.

[System] Removing all corrupted fragments will reduce the boss’s defense by 150%.

[System] Only adventurers blessed by Khelatrur can remove the fragments.

The boss spun rapidly, flinging corrupted fragments all over the map.

― Yo, this is it! If we get rid of the fragments, we can clear this!

Yeojin’s excited voice came through the headset. Dohee had to agree, theoretically, if they cleared the fragments, the boss’s defense would drop by a massive 150%.

[System] The Blessing of Khelatrur appears.

Golden circles appeared beneath some players’ feet as the blessing activated. Dohee quickly scanned the raid team.

“Not everyone got one. Who has the gold circle under them? I’ve got it.”

― I got it!

― Me too.

― I’ve got one as well.

Apparently, not every player received the blessing. From a quick look, only a few had the golden mark. Just as Dohee was trying to identify who got it—

[Raid] Oreckthat: Ugh, Oreckthat’s dead again!!!!! ૮( ꒦ິ⍣꒦ີ)ა

[System] ‘Oreckthat’ has died.

[System] ‘GOingSupporter187’ has died.

“Ah… I ran out of potions. Sorry…”

The alerts showed that both Oreckthat and Moonhyuk had died. Oreckthat had been out of potions even before the hidden phase, and Moonhyuk, still not used to dodging the boss’s patterns, had also fallen. Dohee clenched his teeth. Eight members were still alive. It wasn’t the worst-case scenario yet.

“We’re okay. Yeojin, Tando, Yeohoo, and…?”

“So with 4Evil and me, that’s five of us. Let’s spread out and go for the fragments.”

Following Dohee’s orders, the raid team split up to clear the scattered corruption fragments. Soon, PrettyHealerHyung typed urgently into chat:

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Getting near the fragments deals DoT damage ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Party 2, I’ll give you shields and heals

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Please don’t stray too far from me

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Yikes, forget it, I’m staying outta this

“If you don’t have the blessing, stay at the edge! Party 1, stick with me and Tando, don’t spread out. Tando, keep the heals coming.”

Just like the healer said, getting close to the fragments started ticking DoT damage. Thankfully, the fragments themselves had low HP and could be destroyed even with basic attacks. Still, there were tons of them, and the constant damage made it a hassle to deal with.

Dohee, Tando, and Healer did their best to keep party members shielded and healed. The unblessed raid members kept themselves out of harm’s way. Once they successfully cleared all the fragments, a system alert appeared:

[System] All corruption fragments have been removed. Boss defense reduced by 150%.

[System] ‘Reawakened Demon Hunter’ has lost part of his power.

Somewhere, the sound of glass shattering rang out. The purple rings on the boss’s wrists and ankles broke into pieces.

“Focus up and burst him down! We’re almost there!”

Dohee gritted his teeth.

They were going to do it. No matter what, they would clear this.