The named monsters defeated in the Elite Dungeon so far were monsters with agility stats that far surpassed those of the current level users.
With my current agility, my mind may understand, but my body just couldn’t keep up.
Fortunately, thanks to the ‘Block’ skill that can negate most attacks, I’ve made it this far.
Whomp!
Ksh!
The Orc King’s battle hammer spun violently above his head, and as he slammed it down, the surrounding ground shattered, sending sharp stones flying up.
That pattern.
To take down the Orc King, I had to break that special pattern.
In fact, the Orc King’s other patterns weren’t particularly threatening.
But the shockwave from the hammer strike was an attack that couldn’t be blocked by the ‘Block’ skill.
Still, thanks to the pre-movement of spinning the hammer above his head, if I was aware of it in advance, it wasn’t hard to respond.
I just had to create some distance.
The problem was, the combo pattern that followed that movement.
Boom!
The Orc King, having slammed down his hammer, stomped hard, and his massive body soared into the air.
[Backward Evasion (E)]
[Dashes quickly 8m backward to evade attacks from the front (invincible while casting)]
[Cooldown: 8 seconds]
[(E rank) Increases movement speed for 5 seconds after skill activation]
Ksh!
I activated my Evasion skill, swiftly maneuvering my body.
A skill that allows me to evade all attacks regardless of my current agility, almost like teleportation.
Ka-BOOM!
The massive body of the Orc King, which had soared into the air, landed squarely where I had just been.
A huge crater formed in the middle of the arena.
I glanced at that spot and broke into a cold sweat.
No need to check; there’s no way I could block that.
If I got hit, it would surely be instant death.
Thump, thump, thump!
“Grrrah!”
The Orc King swung his battle hammer and charged toward me.
I raised my sword in response to that hammer.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
The impact hit me hard, but I managed to block the follow-up charge attack.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
And immediately, the ‘Thrust’ skill activated, leaving wounds on the Orc King’s body.
Little by little, I could chip away at HP.
[Block (D)]
– Blocks attacks within a 180-degree forward arc.
– (D rank) Damage reduction rate increases upon successful block.
[Thrust (Strong) (D)]
– Deals a strong thrust attack to a single target.
– (Instant activation) If successful with ‘Block’
– (D rank) Can be consecutively activated.
The upgraded Block skill of the swordsman effectively shielded against the Orc King’s colossal battle hammer attack, while the consecutively activated Thrust skill allowed me to chip away the Named’s HP faster than before.
I couldn’t keep avoiding a direct confrontation forever.
The attack skills of the swordsman required coordination with the Block to perform optimally, forcing adaptation to the Named’s patterns.
Powerful attacks that couldn’t be blocked have pre-movement indicators.
Support monsters, aka minions, don’t show up.
I adjusted my stance and smiled.
“Easy.”
It was easy.
The Level 2 Named, who had been accompanied by Orc mages, had been much tougher.
“Grrrah!”
Whoosh!
I blocked the sideways swinging battle hammer and quickly burrowed into the Orc King’s space.
“Hah!”
[Level 3 Named]
[Level 16 Orc King]
[HP 14211/30800]
*
*
[“Chris’s Raid” party successfully defeated the Elite Dungeon, “Orc King’s Cave!” announced the Orc Forest region.*
Crash!
The massive body of the Level 3 Named, the “Orc King,” collapsed to the ground.
“Phew.”
Chris sighed as she tucked away the talisman.
The female mage with pink hair, Bae Merong, flashed a “V” sign.
Cherni, the earth spirit user with impressive muscular customization and brown hair, leaped for joy.
“Chris’s Raid has completed their first elite dungeon defeat!”
“Uha-ha! Are we the first again?”
“Don’t celebrate yet. It took longer than expected.”
“Certainly, the Level 2 Named was the Wall of Wailing.”
Chris nodded at Cherni’s words.
“The upcoming elite dungeons will be even tougher.”
The fighter, Deathly Death, murmured as he looked at the fallen Orc King.
“The Orc King was easy. If I activate my ‘Heaven and Earth Splitter,’ I could handle it alone.”
“But you struggled with the Level 2 Named.”
“Uh, ugh, that’s true. Even now that we’ve succeeded, facing two Orc mages at once, I honestly wouldn’t be confident.”
“Well, it’s an elite dungeon. From here on, dungeon play will be with party members.”
Elite dungeons are fundamentally created with party play in mind.
There was no need for a solo play that would significantly increase the difficulty.
Chris walked over to the Orc King’s corpse.
“Now, it’s time to check the drop items.”
“Kyaah! Did Bae Merong’s mage staff drop?”
“I hope a spirit user’s wand drops!”
“Wait, everyone, don’t touch anything yet. I smell a Gauntlet.”
As each party member wished for their own weapons, Chris checked the drop item.
[Orc King’s Gauntlet]
[Elite grade]
[Attack Power: 60]
[Increases damage of counter skill ‘Knockout’ by 20% on successful counter]
“It’s a Gauntlet.”
“Aah…! What about Bae Merong’s staff!?”
“It wasn’t a wand!?”
“Ugh…!”
Bae Merong and Cherni sighed in dismay.
Deathly Death clenched his fist with his eyes shut tight.
Chris chuckled and handed the Gauntlet to Deathly Death.
“Don’t worry. We still need to farm accessories, so we’ll keep running this dungeon.”
“And what if our job class weapons don’t drop?”
“Um. Then we’ll have to sell it, right? We can sell it through the auction house? Price… well, it’s the first elite dungeon weapon, so we should get a decent amount.”
Chris opened the auction house and checked the categories.
Then, an item caught her eye as she looked at the Orc King weapon category.
“Huh?”
Clearly, the first clear announcement had gone off.
She had heard news that other parties close to the first clear were still stuck at Level 2 Named.
But what was this item that was currently on the auction house?
[Orc King’s Onmyoji Jewel]
[Elite grade]
[Attack Power: 60]
[Increases damage of ‘Demon Sealing Technique’ skill by 10%]
An elite weapon from the Orc King dungeon that provides a special option to increase damage of the Onmyoji’s main dealing skill, ‘Demon Sealing Technique,’ by 10% unconditionally.
Price is…
“1 gold…?”
Ding!
[“You have purchased ‘Orc King’s Onmyoji Jewel’]”]
Chris quickly bought the Onmyoji Jewel.
For 1 gold, that’s about 100 silver, roughly equivalent to 1 million won in current cash market.
Having amassed a significant amount of gold just in case, Chris had more than enough to spend.
Of course, since it’s a passing weapon, once other parties start to clear elite dungeons, the price would plummet, but at this early game stage, investing 1 gold felt worthwhile.
Chris tilted her head.
“1 gold, huh?”
Setting aside the fact that there was already another cleared party besides her own, this game was filled with whales willing to invest hundreds of thousands of won for fast growth.
If the Onmyoji Jewel had been priced at 5 gold or more, Chris wouldn’t have hesitated to buy it; she had that level of financial power.
*
“Woahhh! It’s Chris’s Raid!”
“They went beyond just the Level 1 Named shown during beta testing, achieving the first complete clear of all Named in the live server!”
“When will the strategy video be released?”
“They probably won’t release it until the advance teams finish their farming. They need to stay ahead.”
As Chris’s Raid exited the dungeon, countless users gathered at the entrance of the ‘Orc King’s Cave,’ exclaiming in awe.
Chris urged her party members to prepare for the second raid.
“We’re going to keep running this dungeon until our party farming is all done. Everyone has enough time, right?”
“Yes! Bae Merong already took a leave of absence!”
“Same for me. Did you know the virtual reality and leave rates skyrocketed since ‘Astria Online’ officially opened?”
“Well, this body and Chris are in their final year, so even if it’s for training, you first-years taking leaves makes me uneasy as a senior.”
As Chris smiled at her lively party members and the users that had gathered around, she noticed a user slightly separated from the crowd.
White.
Chris’s favorite color.
A user with silvery-white hair, who was quite short and might’ve been easily overlooked.
Eep!
The white hair seemed to perk up.
Her head turned slightly, and the side profile that appeared was…
“Ah!”
Chris instinctively covered her mouth.
So cute!
The slightly youthful appearance was graceful like a doll, and there was an inexplicable sharpness to her aura.
Yet at the same time, she seemed round and had an oddly noble demeanor.
Her gemstone-like eyes, shining like obsidian, had a captivating presence that emerged through the strands of white hair partially obscuring one eye.
Was she around 140cm tall? Did she customize to make herself smaller?
If one were to customize to such a small figure, it would be difficult to move due to the dissonance with their real body.
However, there was no sign of awkwardness in the girl’s movements.
She was a small girl, something rare in the adult game ‘Astria Online.’
Chris approached the girl as if entranced.
At that moment.
The girl looked toward Chris.
Startled, the girl jumped back slightly.
Quickly!
Her tiny body moved away swiftly.
“Uh, um!”
Whoosh!
The little figure quickly disappeared into the depths of the ‘Orc King’s Cave.’
“Ah.”
Chris stared at the spot where the girl had vanished, feeling inexplicably disappointed.
“Chris, what are you doing over there? We’re all set up!”
Cherni, the earth spirit user, called out to Chris.
“Huh? Oh, nothing.”
Chris felt as though she had been bewitched for a moment.
She shook her head vigorously and approached her party members.
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