Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: World Boss, the Green Dragon (1)
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[World Boss]
[Green Dragon]
[HP 159,900,540/200,000,000]
KRAAAAAAAH—!!
The ground rumbled.
A Dragon Fear that shook the very mountains and trees spread out, momentarily freezing the nearby players.
The Green Dragon's eyes glinted sharply as it glared at the players before it.
Its massive scales shimmered like steel.
The house-sized World Boss, the 'Green Dragon', flashed its reptilian eyes and slowly inhaled.
A low hum emanated from it.
Its massive chest expanded, and a unique luminescence, characteristic of a Green Dragon, began to glow from deep within its maw. Its mouth slowly opened, and a verdant energy began to swirl violently inside. The light grew stronger, illuminating the inside of its mouth like a small sun.
Standing confidently before that destructive power, the guild master of 'Plan B', the Swordsman 'Gyuam Jo Hyeon-su', shouted to his raid party.
"Even a power that seems irresistible can't break through invincibility skills! We'll proceed in the designated order!"
The moment his words ended.
*Flash!*
A destructive force, a mixture of pure energy and poison, poured out toward the players.
*WHOOSH!*
The intense green energy tore through the air, spreading as if to engulf the entire forest. Its brilliant light dyed everything around it green.
The plants in front of the 'Dragon's Lair', a massive cave carved into the rocky cliff where the World Boss raid was taking place, were ripped from the ground by the gale accompanying the breath attack.
*RUMBLE!*
*Fwoosh!*
The raid members' figures blurred as they rapidly moved backward through the breath. Then, their bodies were sequentially protected by ice, water bubbles, and talismans.
*Sizzzle—!*
The seemingly endless power of the breath gradually weakened, and the 'Plan B Attack Squad', having mobilized everything from party protection to personal invincibility skills, succeeded in resisting the World Boss's first breath attack.
Jo Hyeon-su let out a crass laugh.
"Kekeke, good. Everyone survived this time. Indeed, it wasn't an impossible pattern to overcome."
"Returning to tank the guardians!"
Immediately, two sub-tanks engaged the two Iron Golems.
[Iron Golem]
[HP 48,050,049/50,000,000]
The attacks of the guardians, 'Iron Golems' covered haphazardly in green dragon scales, were also extremely threatening. However, thanks to the sub-tanks drawing aggro, the main damage dealers could focus their attacks solely on the Green Dragon.
*THUD!*
The two guardians' aggro was drawn back to the sub-tanks.
"Everyone, pop your potions and antidotes! This whole area is a poison zone now! Don't be stingy with your potions!"
At Jo Hyeon-su's command, the raid members consumed both potions and antidotes.
The lingering poison mist's damage-over-time, left by the Green Dragon's breath, hindered their progress.
The initial antidote dealt with the accumulated poison, but until the cooldown reset, any further stacking poison damage had to be brute-forced with potions.
Overwhelming HP, a wide-range breath attack, poison mist damage-over-time, two guardians, and terrifyingly powerful normal attack patterns.
The 'Green Dragon' was truly worthy of being called a 'World Boss'.
*WHOOSH!*
The Green Dragon's massive tail, thicker than a human torso, swung around in an instant. The enormous range of the tail attack encompassed the entire raid party.
*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*
"Ugh!"
"Aargh!"
Although they each used their counters, they couldn't completely absorb the damage. The HP of two ranged damage dealers, who hadn't fully recovered from the poison mist, wavered precariously.
Still, if they continued the fight like this, it seemed they could reach the next special phase.
However, the nature of this area as a 'Faction Battlefield' made it impossible for Plan B's Jo Hyeon-su to focus solely on the boss.
"Damn it, things were going so well. Those GG Clan bastards, they've been quiet for a while. What's this now?"
Jo Hyeon-su's heart began to race.
Plan B guild members had reported through the guild chat that the situation in the 'Verbeia Forest' Faction Battlefield, where the World Boss raid was taking place, was changing rapidly.
"They say the Alpharion Empire's offensive has intensified! It looks like we can't continue the raid for much longer!"
"Should we pull out?"
"Of course, they won't be able to clear it, but we can't just whittle down the World Boss's HP for them. We're resetting for now! We'll have to push those Alpharion Empire bastards back once and then try again."
The main force of the 'GG Clan' had reached the vicinity of the Dragon's Lair. They would break through to this point in no time.
As Jo Hyeon-su retreated little by little while dealing with the Green Dragon's normal patterns, a martial artist in a red robe entered his field of vision.
Seeing him, Jo Hyeon-su ground his teeth.
"We Got Married...!"
"Hehe, Mr. Jo Hyeon-su. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
*Thump!*
The guild master of the 'GG Clan', 'We Got Married', leaped toward Jo Hyeon-su with a slick smile.
*BOOM!*
*CLANG!* *Screeech.*
"Ugh! A PvP build!?"
After blocking the explosive punch from We Got Married, who had stamped his foot hard and lunged forward, Jo Hyeon-su's body was pushed back several meters.
If it was piercing damage that went through a player's block, it had to be a PvP build focused on anti-personnel stats.
"We Got Married, you should know you can't switch your gear inside a Faction Battlefield. Are you planning to fight the World Boss with a PvP build?"
"Of course not. I may not possess the qualities of a great raid leader and the skills of an arena champion like you, Master Gyuam, but even I know that dozens of people couldn't take down a World Boss with PvP builds."
"Then!"
"The team that will be taking on the World Boss today isn't the GG Clan's attack squad."
"What!"
At We Got Married's bombshell statement, Jo Hyeon-su hastily looked around.
*CRASH, BANG!*
"Gah!"
"Ugh!"
The members of the 'Plan B Attack Squad', who were in their PvE builds for the World Boss, were being cut down helplessly by the GG Clan's main force. This was because the entire main force of the GG Clan that had broken through Plan B's defensive line was in PvP builds.
There was no one who appeared to be part of a World Boss raid team in a PvE build.
"So the plan is to push us out first and then send in the raid team. Heheh, I'll retreat for now, but I hope you bastards get a good taste of the Green Dragon's ferocity."
If he died here, he would be hit with the Faction Battlefield re-entry penalty cooldown.
Jo Hyeon-su decided on a strategic retreat and took out a special return scroll.
The only option left for him was to use the remaining Plan B alliance members inside the forest to try and stop the GG Clan alliance's raid team from entering as much as possible.
Blocking their first entry wouldn't be easy. However, by the time the GG Clan's World Boss raid team was wiped out by the Green Dragon, the Plan B alliance would have regrouped. After that, his plan was to intercept them inside the forest to prevent them from re-entering.
If he then took the time to push out the GG Clan's main force, he would be able to comfortably attempt the World Boss again.
"Kekeke!"
*Fwoosh!*
Leaving behind a crass laugh, Jo Hyeon-su used the return scroll, and his figure soon vanished from the 'Verbeia Forest'.
The Green Dragon had already returned to its lair the moment the raid team's players left its aggro range.
We Got Married stared for a moment at the spot where Jo Hyeon-su had disappeared.
Then, he looked up at the sheer cliff where the Green Dragon's lair was located and muttered softly.
"Red and White guild. The GG Clan will hold off Plan B, so we're counting on you for the Green Dragon raid."
***
I stuck close to Chris's side, watching the Plan B attack squad retreat.
KRAAAAAAAH—!!
Watching the Green Dragon let out a victorious roar and return to its lair, I let out a sound of admiration.
"Oh."
Indeed, it's on a different level from a mere wyvern. What incredible presence.
But on the Astria Continent, dragons are nothing more than slightly larger, more powerful wyverns.
It's just that the gap created by that simple difference is so enormous that dragons have become World Boss-class monsters.
High above the Dragon's Lair, on that dizzying cliff where the World Boss raid had taken place, thirteen players were gathered.
This was the full force of the raid-oriented guild, 'Red and White'.
Chris turned around and looked at the thirteen members of the raid party, including herself.
"It's nice to see everyone. It's a bit much that the first full meeting of the Red and White guild is on the front lines of a World Boss raid, though."
Light smiles spread across the faces of the raid members.
I, too, stuck close to Chris and looked over their faces.
Besides Chris's party, there were two other vanguard parties.
These were the members of 'Red and White' who would be joining us in large-scale raids like this from now on.
I saw a familiar face as well.
"Little Swordsman, good to see you. Haha, sorry about that time with the power-leveling."
A Warrior scratched his head and smiled at me.
I gave a slight bow.
A male Warrior with the ID 'Leroy Hopkins'. He had used our power-leveling service once when his party members weren't around.
He was the one who had hurt me, but thanks to him, Chris and Iseulbi met, so I don't hold any grudges against him now.
So he was the leader of a 4-person vanguard party. No wonder he dealt so much damage, even as a power-leveling customer.
The leader of the other party was a male Ranger with blue hair.
He also greeted Chris.
"I'm 'Seopseobi', leader of the Seopseob Party. We recently moved our entire party's faction to the Alpharion Empire for the World Boss raid."
I tilted my head.
I feel like I've seen that person somewhere before, too.
Hopkins's party, Seopseobi's party. A total of eight people.
Chris's party, four people.
No-Name party, one person.
Here, a raid party of thirteen members was formed.
Chris looked over the members and began the briefing.
"We've already discussed the raid strategy over video call in the group chat, so I'll skip the detailed explanation."
Hopkins stroked his chin and nodded.
"The Green Dragon, huh. Its presence is definitely different from what you see in videos. Do you think things will go as planned?"
"I'm even more certain now. We might even be able to clear it in one go. The Plan B attack squad left behind a lot of information."
"Ooh."
"Indeed."
Gasps of admiration erupted from the raid members at Chris's bold declaration.
"Everyone brought their Levitation Potions, right? If you drink one and fall from the cliff, you can avoid taking fall damage."
Beimerung looked down from the cliff and whistled.
"Whew, to think of entering via a route from the top of the cliff. I don't know about anything else, but the view is certainly great."
"It's a long way around, but it lets us avoid unnecessary PvP. And we get to find things like this, too."
Chris patted my head and looked around.
Two giant ballistae were hidden in the bushes atop the cliff. They would surely be needed for the World Boss raid.
"A World Boss with wings. Seeing the ballistae here, it must have a flight pattern once it's below a certain HP. Understood? For now, the two Rangers, please remain up on the cliff."
Seopseobi and the other Ranger nodded. They would use the ballistae to aim for the dragon's wings when it takes flight.
Cherni asked Chris.
"The breath attack is extremely dangerous. Should we use party protection skills sequentially, like the Plan B squad did?"
"After using all the party protection skills, the ranged dealers become vulnerable to the Green Dragon's wide-area physical attacks. Even if Plan B had continued, their ranged dealers would have been wiped out before the protection skills' cooldowns were up. Rain found something. We're going with that method."
I pointed to the 'Iron Golem' guardians on either side of the Dragon's Lair, which had returned to standby mode.
"Those green scales covering their bodies, they look like shields, don't they? I'm sure if we defeat them..."
"I see."
Hopkins nodded.
The other raid members seemed to understand as well.
The green scales covering the guardians would serve as objects to block the breath attack.
However, the guardians have 50 million HP. All the damage dealers will have to focus their attacks to take them down quickly.
"To do that, the range of the party protection skills will be limited to the dealers around the guardians. The Green Dragon's main tank will be positioned outside the skills' range."
"If the main tank dies, we have to start over from the beginning. I can understand why Plan B chose to just pull aggro on the guardians and focus their damage on the boss. If the tank who has to face the 'Green Dragon's' patterns alone doesn't get party protection..."
Listening to Seopseobi, Chris looked at me.
"Rain, will you be okay?"
"No problem."
I said, looking up at Chris. She gave me a smile that seemed to say she trusted me completely.
*Gulp, gulp.*
I drew my sword and drank the Levitation Potion.
The simulation was over.
The first World Boss raid, the conquest of the Green Dragon.
Raid Leader, Chris.
Main Tank, Rain.
*Step.*
My body, its descent slowed by the Levitation Potion, began to fall toward the bottom of the cliff.
Chris leaped off the cliff as well, as if following me.
*WHOOSH!*
Cutting through the wind, Chris was suddenly by my side. She squeezed my hand tightly, her eyes shining as she spoke.
"We'll clear this in one go."