The First Raid (1)
BOOM!
As planned, a thunderclap ripped through the sky above the field, tearing open the air to reveal a massive circular raid portal.
The scenery within the ring gradually blurred, turning pitch black as it emanated powerful waves of mana, rippling ominously.
"Let's go."
Serin flashed her golden-glowing eyes and took the lead.
The Kingdom guild members, all in combat stance, followed suit—and mixed in among them were Jeonghyeon and Philip.
"Our first raid... This is exciting!"
Despite his words, Philip's face was brimming with confidence, no trace of tension as he casually dusted off his arms.
"It'll be easier than those zombie minotaurs."
Jeonghyeon grinned with the thrill of battle, utterly relaxed, and stepped into the portal.
***
The raid party consisted of about fifteen members, excluding Philip, Jeonghyeon, and guild master Serin.
"Five healers, five melee DPS, five ranged DPS..."
Not a bad composition.
"Isn't that a lot of healers?"
Philip asked. And rightly so—in the dungeons and fields he knew, healers were like nobility, so rare you were lucky to even glimpse one. He'd never partied with one in his life; from the moment he awakened, guilds had been scrambling to scout them.
But rumors swirled that a single healer's presence could make or break a party's survival rate, clear speed, even the quality of loot. They were that precious.
And here, five of them in a party of not even twenty.
"Overkill investment."
Jeonghyeon nodded in agreement with Philip's question.
"But for a guild like Kingdom, losing one life is a bigger deal than losing dozens of random hunters."
He didn't love framing hunters' lives like military assets, but it was the truth.
These were Serin's handpicked elites. Losing even one was unacceptable.
'My guildmates are family. I'd sacrifice myself before letting them die.'
To Serin, that's what they were.
Jeonghyeon wore a complicated smile.
"It's here!"
Right on cue, the raid monster appeared.
Its overwhelming size resembled a massive stone wall at first glance. A colossal body—like dozens of golems fused together—hovered precariously high in the air, supported by four enormous pillar-like legs firmly rooted to the ground.
"Mount of the Great Mountain, huh."
Jeonghyeon identified it instantly.
The monster native to the northernmost snowcapped peaks of Afraksas, where Philip's Epic Weapon, Soul of the Mountain, lay dormant.
Jeonghyeon could feel in his bones that Demon King Malekith was definitely tweaking the difficulty for hunters.
About... ten years?
That's how long it took human hunters to conquer Mount of the Great Mountain. For reference, the Mount was a common monster there—like a goblin.
SCREEECH!
The Mount seemed to sense its enemies and shifted its massive frame. Chunks of the stone walls that made up its body broke off with the motion, crashing to the ground with heavy thuds!
BOOM!
The stone fragments that slammed into the earth began to move on their own, as if gaining souls.
"Whoa. The golem's dropping mini-golems."
Philip, facing a golem for the first time, gripped his mace tighter.
"Annoying, but no big deal. Assign two healers to the ranged DPS for the trash mobs, three to melee. Then the boss is ours—the three of us."
Jeonghyeon said this to Serin without even drawing his weapon, arms crossed.
"What do you think?"
Junseok cut in with a scowl, interrupting.
"They let you tag along, and now you're playing guild master?"
"Why? Jealous we're hitting the boss without you? You're on DPS command. Who else is gonna lead the field?"
Junseok's lips twitched upward for a split second, pleased, but twisted back into a grimace.
"That's not the point, asshole. We make Kingdom's strategies."
"Fine... suit yourselves."
Jeonghyeon shrugged indifferently, raising both hands, then pulled his weapon from inventory.
Seeing the blade that had nearly gutted him days ago, Junseok flinched.
"We're just testing you. Don't forget that."
As Junseok bared his hostility openly, Serin assessed the battlefield, then bellowed.
"Melee DPS gets two healers. Hold those approaching golems. Ranged DPS, hit the boss golem from afar!"
"Mount of the Great Mountain."
"Yeah, the boss Mount of the—don't interrupt."
Jeonghyeon shrugged sheepishly under her golden glare, playing it cool.
"Just thought you didn't know the name."
Serin's razor-sharp blade pressed against his chin.
"You. And you. Draw the boss's aggro with me. We'll finish it when it's worn down. Got it?"
"Sure. Just pull aggro? Don't worry about the rest?"
One of those precious guildmates you cherish is gonna die that way. Even so, Jeonghyeon figured she'd learn soon enough and nodded.
"Then, charge."
Serin shot forward like an arrow. For mobility, clad only in light armor, golden wings sprouted from her shoulders.
Always jealous of that.
Solgaleh's Feathers. A skill that nearly perfectly covered the blind spots inevitable in her close-range style. For a grounded human, it wasn't perfect flight, but damn close—a godsend skill unique to Serin, which even Jeonghyeon lacked.
Only the top-tier dragons—Solgaleh, Agnatan, and Mulnirn—could grant it, and only one per awakener. The talisman, an awakener-exclusive skill of absurd rarity and performance.
WHOOSH!
Serin practically flew at the Mount, whipping her sword-whip around its leg.
"Hup!"
SHRRRKK!
She yanked the chained blade, carving a deep gash into the leg.
"GRRROO!"
The Mount wailed grotesquely, trying to pull back too late—the blade dug even deeper.
"A mere monster...!"
Serin reeled in her sword, flitting between legs with Solgaleh's Feathers.
"Daring to...!"
Her whip-sword extended massively, bridging leg to leg.
"Look down on a hunter!!"
SHRRRIP!
As Serin retracted to original length and soared skyward, the Mount's leg severed completely. Off-balance, it toppled.
RUMBLE!
The golem crashed down in a flawless sword dance, thrashing helplessly without its leg or center of gravity.
The mini-golems sprouting from its body belatedly turned to aid the main body, but...
"Not a chance! Think I'll let you?!"
Junseok bought time with rapid strikes, while ranged DPS unleashed spells and arrows on the main body.
A toppled giant was just a sitting duck.
Kingdom's flawless teamwork was about to end the raid effortlessly, without Jeonghyeon lifting a finger. He alone gripped his faint tension tighter, preparing for the next phase.
If it were that easy, why bother with a raid?
He infused mana into his Demon King's Eye, activating Attribute Domination.
"!"
Philip, sharing his master's resolve, readjusted his mace and lowered his stance, ready to charge on command.
"Over before we even tried!"
Junseok mocked Jeonghyeon, thrusting his spear into golems.
As victorious Kingdom pressed to finish it...
SCREEECH!
The Mount began crawling grotesquely across the ground.
"What the...?!"
Junseok fussed, aiming his toothpick spear at the giant.
Its shattered leg twitched, reforming into a new body that floated up—four pillar legs emerging like a mini-Mount, landing firmly.
"It... multiplied?"
Even Serin blinked in shock, her golden eyes wavering for the second time since meeting Jeonghyeon.
The original Mount rose like a building via gravity magic. It had sacrificed a body chunk for new legs—smaller now, but back to form.
In seconds, one Mount became two: small and large.
"Fuck! Die!!"
"No!"
Before Serin could stop him, Junseok exploited the reconstruction gap, impulsively shattering another leg.
CRACK!
His Thunder Dragon Thrust struck at blinding speed, pulverizing the last leg. The Mount flopped comically again... but...
"Shit... this make any sense?"
The broken leg regenerated into another mini-golem. The Mount sacrificed more mass, shrinking further but reforming.
Worse, the shell fragments from ranged DPS split too—half-human size to three meters.
We were shocked at first encounter.
Why the Mount was a pain. Why even strong hunters avoided the northern peaks, despite treasures.
Like a planarian splitting in half to become two, it endlessly divided and regenerated.
Clueless hunters wore down in endless attrition, then got crushed when it unleashed full power.
"That's why I said handle trash with adds, and we three take boss."
Jeonghyeon and Philip finally stepped forward after spectating.
"What?"
Serin's temples throbbed with irritation and fury at this unseen pattern—and Jeonghyeon's nonchalance, like he'd known all along.
"Your choice, Kingdom guild master Han Serin."
Jeonghyeon smirked, savoring her expression.
"Hand command to me now and win, or attrition with the splitter till you lose a few comrades for a pyrrhic victory."