Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: World Boss, 'Green Dragon' (3)
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CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Each time the Green Dragon's massive foreleg slammed down at me, I moved lightly to evade it.
Thud.
On the third and final stomp, I placed a hand on the dragon's enormous foot, vaulted on top of it, and spun my body.
Whoosh!
Fsh-fsh-fsh-fsh!
Glittering around me, starlit sword strikes repeatedly hammered the dragon's scales.
Clang-clang-clang!
A repulsive force, like striking a Named monster's barrier, traveled up my sword and into my arm. I unleashed one last powerful strike and used the recoil to land on the ground a short distance away.
The defensive power of the scales covering the dragon's entire body was truly formidable. The 200 million HP was overwhelming on its own, but considering its defense, it wasn't something that could be measured in simple numbers.
This was a World Boss.
Even with over a hundred users swarming it and unleashing attacks, its HP barely budged. However.
Fwoooosh!
The dragon lifted both its feet to bring its entire body crashing down, casting a colossal shadow over me. It looked as if a massive building were collapsing on top of me.
I used the recoil from striking the scales to create enough distance. One backward evasion and one Flash should be enough to get out of the stomp attack's range.
Tap.
After using backward evasion, my body was still within the dragon's massive shadow. But if the dragon flattened itself out like this, its neck would be right nearby.
The neck—the only part where I could ignore the dragon's defense and deal massive damage. But there weren't many opportunities to attack it.
Chk.
Ignoring the dragon's body descending just above my head, I assumed the starting stance for Flash.
Flash!
Craaaaash!
Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!
Flesh scattered and green blood gushed out. My sword, which had penetrated without resistance, left a thin, long gash on the dragon's neck. My body, now a flash of light, had precisely carved through the dragon's neck between the gaps in its scales.
Kaaaaah-!!
Feeling a sharp pain, the dragon immediately raised its body, thrashing and twisting its head as if snorting in fury.
I watched it and grinned.
If it's going to hurt that much, you shouldn't have tried an attack like that.
Rumble!
"Rain! We're joining you!"
Along with the sound of the second guardian falling, Chris's shout reached me.
Hearing her voice, I surveyed the battlefield.
This wasn't a solo play this time.
My first raid with my comrades.
Immediately after defeating the first guardian, the Red and White guild's attack squad had split up: the melee DPS took on the remaining guardian, while the ranged DPS began chipping away at the dragon's HP.
The dragon's current HP was.
[World Boss]
[Green Dragon]
[HP 160,851,050/200,000,000]
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
Green scales that had fallen from the guardian's body were driven into the ground by the squad members, forming a barricade.
Kaaaaah-!!
At the same time, the prelude to the dragon's special phase, its breath attack, began.
Fwoooom, Rooooar!
The dragon's massive body leaped back, landing with its back to the cliff. And then.
Wooooom!
Crack. Rummble!
Immense energy gathered around the dragon's slowly opening mouth, and the ground around it cracked, breaking off into chunks of rock that began to float.
"Aah! It's the breath attack!"
"Dodge! To the corners!"
The dozens of individual users and unaffiliated parties who had survived until now began to scatter in a panic.
"Rain, over here!"
Chris urgently gestured toward me.
All the Red and White guild members had moved in perfect sync, gathering behind the scale barricade.
Rummble!
I shook my head slightly and looked at the chunks of rock that had begun to float around the dragon.
I can use those.
While it's breathing fire, the dragon is defenseless.
This was my chance to freely attack the dragon's most vulnerable spot, its neck.
Ranged magic attacks are blocked by the scales around the neck and can't deal much damage, but.
My sword, which can penetrate between the scales.
Tap-tap-tap!
Having finished my calculations, I ran forward.
"Rain!"
Leaving Chris's worried shout behind me, I instantly closed the distance to the dragon, stepping on a rock that had just broken off the ground and leaping into the air.
Two, three, four times. Leaping off the consecutively rising rocks, my body reached the dragon's head in the blink of an eye.
Wooooom!
Starlight was focused to its absolute limit on my sword as I soared through the air.
I felt the dragon's eyes meet mine.
Spin.
I rotated my body, assuming the starting stance for Flash in midair.
At the same time, the powerful energy gathered in the dragon's mouth erupted forward.
Roaaaaar!
Flash!
Cutting through the blinding green flash of light and past the corner of the dragon's mouth, I managed to land on its neck.
Even though I was just behind the breath's attack range, the aftershock was immense. A terrifying vibration shook my body as I stood between its scales.
Strands of white hair fluttered before my eyes.
Shake, shake. I shook my head once and began to swing my sword.
Fsh-fsh-fsh-fsh!
Aiming for the gaps between the dragon's scales, my sword relentlessly dug in. I thrust, stabbed, and gouged. Flesh and green blood splattered. I shook my head again, now soaked in the green fluid, and activated my bracelet's cooldown reset ability.
And again, the starting stance for Flash.
Rummble!
The breath attack was still ongoing.
That damn Green Dragon. Was it planning to ignore a single mosquito on its neck and deal with the nuisances in front of it first?
But this is going to hurt a bit.
I took precise aim at the gap between the dragon's scales, now widened from my attacks, and executed Flash.
Flash!
Thwump-thwump-thwump!
My second Flash, which sliced through the dragon's neck between the scales, finally managed to tear off several large scales.
Kaaaaaaah-!!?
The dragon let out a pain-filled roar and began to thrash about, twisting its neck violently.
The breath attack couldn't be sustained and had to be cut short.
Thud.
I leaped from the dragon's now wildly moving neck and landed lightly on the ground.
"Rain! Are you okay?"
Chris, who had run over to me at some point, asked with a worried expression.
What do I look like right now? Have I turned into some green monster covered in dragon's blood?
"We're still in the middle of the fight. See that over there?"
I pointed to the wound on the dragon's neck where the scales had been torn off.
Chris's eyes lit up.
"If we aim there."
I looked at Chris and nodded.
It won't be affected by the Green Dragon's powerful magic resistance from its scales.
Kaaaaah-!!
Meanwhile, the dragon, having finished its rampage, fixed its eyes on me. Flames of fury flickered within its pupils.
Tap-tap-tap!
I moved quickly, returning to the main tank's position.
The poison mist that began to slowly spread across the entire combat area after the breath attack wasn't affecting our attack squad.
I smiled, looking at the faint green light enveloping my body.
"A regular dungeon mechanic. Just as I thought, it works in a World Boss raid too."
The 'Poison Resistance' buff, obtainable through a mechanic in the 'Poison Spider's Nest,' a regular dungeon in the Verbeia Plains region.
If you obtain it and then leave the dungeon without defeating the Poison Spider's Nest boss, the buff remains.
The poison mist, which constantly inflicts poison damage, is the biggest hindrance to the fight. However, with the 'Poison Resistance' buff, there's no need to drink antidotes in the mist, and you don't take any damage over time.
The poison mist is taken care of with this.
The dragon's powerful resistance and defense from its scales have been nullified.
We blocked the breath attack without taking any damage.
All that's left is the flight pattern.
Kaaaaah-!!
I met the dragon's bloodshot eyes head-on and raised my sword.
[World Boss]
[Green Dragon]
[HP 115,476,057/200,000,000]
The individual users were wiped out by the first breath attack. The GG Clan's main force is holding back the opposing faction at the outskirts of the forest.
Currently, the only ones left on the battlefield in front of the dragon's lair are the members of the Red and White guild's attack squad.
However, the dragon's HP was decreasing at a much faster rate than when hundreds of users were attacking it.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Kaaah--!
The Red and White guild's ranged DPS precisely aimed at the spot on the dragon's neck where the scales had fallen off, unleashing their skills.
Flash.
I used the dragon's attack patterns, using Flash whenever its neck came within my attack range.
BOOM!
Death of Death, who had appeared beside me and slammed a Crushing Fist into the dragon's neck, gave me a slight smile. I smiled back in return.
"Is it okay for you to fight up front? The patterns are difficult."
"It's main tank practice."
Fwoosh!
Tap-tap!
With those words, Death of Death swiftly used a backward evasion to dodge the dragon's sweeping foreleg.
Rumble! Thud!
Kaaah-!?
The dragon, about to stomp its hind leg, flinched for a moment. It seemed bewildered.
"Knghhhhh! Lerooooooy! Hopkiiiiins!"
Thump, thump!
Hopkins and another Warrior had stopped the dragon's hind leg.
An energy in the form of blue flames was rising from the Warriors' bodies.
The Warrior-exclusive Tower of Training skills, 'Iron Body' and 'Power Struggle'.
The overwhelming power of the Warriors, clad only in strength-stat gear, had managed to momentarily halt the massive dragon's movements.
Boom-boom-boom!
Magic from the ranged DPS poured onto the immobilized dragon's neck.
The dragon's HP finally dropped below 50%.
Kaaaaah-!
Flap!
The dragon's massive, folded wings flapped once.
Whoooooosh!
"Ugh!"
"What is this!?"
Swept up by the gale that raged at the same time, the members of the Red and White guild's attack squad had no choice but to lower their bodies and retreat to a distance.
Flap, flap, flap.
With each beat of its wings, the dragon's enormous body was slowly rising into the air.
One could hardly imagine a body tens of meters long rising into the air.
It was a sight that seemed to casually defy the laws of physics.
The second special phase.
The prelude to the flight pattern had begun.