The Paladin Who Raises a Protection Paladin

Streamer Irea raises a Protection Paladin.

The streamer known as Irea.

He was skilled enough to have been a pro gamer in the online card game Whiteverse, which had dominated the scene years ago.

《Let's head to Gemstratholme today!》

Irea was also quite good at analyzing the game.

While he couldn't exactly be called "extremely popular," his comments and analyses carried enough weight to set the community on fire.

The way he would seriously turn on a notepad during his streams and explain things in detail reminded people of a university professor, and many viewers loved that serious attitude.

When Irea saw Jeong Hana's party recruitment post in the local chat, he immediately moved his mouse.

“Since this is my first time running this dungeon today as well, I’ll join the knight and give it a try.”

Jeong Hana naturally accepted Irea’s party request.

“This party looks good. The Destruction Warlock’s combat power is a bit low, but the healer and the other Warlock have high power, so it should be fine.”

Official.

In the community, that was what they called Irea’s various stories, theories, and claims.

“I’ll give you my official take after we do some farming. I haven’t even seen the boss’s face yet, guys.”

While waiting for Irea’s party request, Jeong Hana had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already picked up a random Rogue rolling around in the wild.

“Alright then, I’ll drop one official before we go.”

As the tank, Irea entered the dungeon first. He looked at the scenery before him and spoke.

“A Protection Paladin is great when fighting undead!”

It was also his earnest wish.

“No. I didn’t receive any particular buffs. This dungeon just happens to suit Paladins perfectly.”

Irea was different from Kang Minseo.

He had the map of Gemstratholme he’d gotten from the Lost of Fantasy Head site open on his left secondary monitor while playing.

Of course, that map was extremely lacking compared to Jeong Hana’s knowledge.

It didn’t mark how many enemies would appear along the path or which elite mobs were roamers, so marking skull and square targets took quite a while.

But ultimately, unlike Kang Minseo, he was the type to do things himself. Thanks to that, Jeong Hana could just relax and focus purely on healing without having to explain anything.

“Alright, since a lot of you keep asking, I’ll explain it again.”

Having just finished clearing the enemies at the entrance, Irea spoke as he took the lead.

“First of all, a Protection Paladin is different from a Protection Warrior—”

The moment Irea passed under the large archway while talking, there was a heavy clunk. Iron bars slammed down behind him, blocking the path.

The instant Irea realized he was trapped in the mechanism, he immediately checked the healer’s position.

He had met an enormous number of healers across countless parties. He knew from painful experience that in emergencies like this, a Protection Paladin couldn’t last even ten seconds before dying.

‘This looks fucked… huh?’

Lost of Fantasy was not a game where healers could comfortably cast heals.

If the distance between the healer and tank grew too large, or if there was an obstacle in between, you simply couldn’t heal even if you wanted to.

Irea, who had grasped this concept faster than anyone, always placed a star marker above the healer’s head whenever he formed a party.

And that star marker was currently standing right next to the trapped Irea, beyond the iron bars, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Wow, the knight really has good sense.”

Not only that, the two Warlocks Jeong Hana had dragged along by the collar—Im Harin and Lee Siwoo—were also standing right beside her.

The only one left standing forlornly beyond the iron bars was the random Rogue they had picked up without explaining any of this to.

Along with the Rogue’s pitiful message, corpses began rising beyond the iron bars and attacking the party.

The party was instantly surrounded by seven undead, but Irea saw it as a perfect opportunity instead.

“Okay, okay… There was a little commotion, everyone, but this is actually the perfect time to explain. There’s nothing complicated about a Protection Paladin’s tanking.”

When Irea calmly used the Consecration skill, holy light began pouring out fiercely across the area he had targeted.

“You decide where you want to tank, drop your Holy Ground skill, and immediately turn on Holy Shield. You all know how important this is, right? Holy Shield lasts ten seconds with a ten-second cooldown, so you must keep it maintained at all times.”

Irea immediately activated Holy Shield exactly as he described.

“And… yep, that’s it. Maintaining Holy Shield and Consecration costs mana, so you calculate that carefully. Use Judgment to generate extra threat so aggro doesn’t bounce to the other DPS. That’s all you need to do.”

“Well, here’s a little extra tip. I showed this in Undead Academia too, but Paladins have a skill called Exorcism, so you can deal more damage against undead.”

After finishing his explanation of Exorcism, Irea had nothing more to say.

Unfortunately, despite his hard research, that was currently the extent of what a Protection Paladin could do.

He had desperately tried swapping between his various Seal skills and Aura skills to bring out the best possible tanking performance, but…

That was it. No matter how much he studied, he always reached the same conclusion: Protection Warriors are just better.

‘But something feels different today…?’

To be honest, Irea had expected a wipe.

Even normally, if a huge wave of enemies suddenly appeared, he could pull wide-area aggro once, but after that the DPS would scatter damage everywhere and aggro would bounce wildly, making tanking impossible.

‘Why isn’t the aggro bouncing?’

Irea couldn’t figure out the reason.

But it was simple.

Jeong Hana had simply told Lee Siwoo and Im Harin to wait five seconds after the Protection Paladin started combat before they began their proper damage rotation.

“Anyway, since we didn’t wipe, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠let’s keep going.”

Irea’s Protection Paladin, which had usually felt so precarious that it bordered on being a burden, felt strangely reliable today.

After checking the incoming messages, Irea scratched his head.

“Wait, this is weird… Guys, am I the only one who thinks so? Did we get a stealth patch or something……”

“Ah, seriously, what is this…? If it’s this stable, I might even be able to run dungeons with Danina next time?”

Irea was going crazy wanting to know why he felt so sturdy today.

‘There’s definitely something different here…’

Despite having suggested a ten-minute break, Irea ended up hitting the replay button on his own stream and began doing a post-mortem analysis.

“It’s exactly the same as usual… Drop Consecration, maintain Holy Shield, swap seals while watching mana, throw Judgment…”

His gear hadn’t dramatically improved since yesterday, so he could only tilt his head even more in confusion.

“Huh? What is this beneficial effect?”

He finally noticed the buff that kept appearing on him every time the boss used a powerful skill.

“This… isn’t this Blessing of Sacrifice?”

True to his nature as an analytical streamer, he immediately identified the buff on himself.

“Wait a second……”

Blessing of Sacrifice obviously couldn’t be cast on oneself.

Irea rewound the replay and confirmed that every time the boss landed a basic attack, both his and Jeong Hana’s health bars fluctuated at the same time.

Having realized the truth, he couldn’t hold back and immediately sent her a whisper.

“Wow… This person really is……”

Irea’s expression turned to one of admiration as he stroked his cheek.

‘She’s so different from every healer I’ve met so far. Can someone really be this different…?’

All the healers he had met until now were people who couldn’t press anything beyond buttons one and two.

Almost none of them actively used the various utility skills a healer possessed.

No, he didn’t even expect that much. He simply wished they would at least use basic heals with some sense.

“As expected… PaladinJjangjjangman really is on another level……”

Irea let out a sigh of admiration and reached for his keyboard.

Irea wore a satisfied expression as he lifted his hands from the keyboard.

“Uh… Let’s take it a little easier, everyone.”

From level 1 to level 60.

For Irea, who had never had a single peaceful day while running the Four Major Dungeons, Jeong Hana’s healing felt like heaven itself.