Chapter 195
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Garai Raid
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"The toys have arrived."
Garai's bored voice echoed through the grand hall.
Ever since arriving at the forward base, he had faced no interference from humans except for a single battle. Thanks to that, preparations for invading the human realm had proceeded smoothly.
Even so, the humans' unusually quiet movements had led Garai to wonder if they had given up on the war against them and resigned themselves to extinction.
But that didn't seem to be the case. The sounds of battle rang out, and the magic power of the most capable monster among those in the fortress had vanished.
- P-Powerful humans have appeared!
Sure enough, the monster in charge of construction at the forward base came rushing in with a frantic report. Garai slowly raised his hand toward it.
"No need to worry. The humans can't do anything to this fortress anyway."
Garai's arrogant voice filled the hall once more. And he had every right to be confident.
He was Garai, one of the Twelve Calamities at the pinnacle of the darkness monsters—practically their right-hand man. As long as Garai lived, this forward base would never fall.
The humans might cause some damage with their attacks, but that was no real issue.
The magic circle designed to shatter this prison-like world could only be resolved by defeating him. And that circle was about to activate soon.
Once it did, he could use the power of Chaos's Revival Stones to resurrect endlessly, driving the humans who kept re-entering the dungeon into despair. No matter how many times they revived, there would be nowhere left to run in the human realm.
"They're coming with what they think are elites, at least..."
It would all be futile in the end. With that thought, Garai flashed a sinister smile as he awaited the humans.
Minguk kept pushing through the fortress path.
Dealing with a named monster's attack patterns wasn't difficult. He'd run through the strategy simulations in his head countless times, and handling surprises wasn't much trouble either.
But the relentless march without rest led to mistakes in even Minguk's leadership, and careless moves from some team members brought the raid crashing down like a house of cards.
After using several Revival Stones, the Imperial Guard finally reached Garai's throne. Exactly a little over eight hours had passed since entering the dungeon.
"How many tries can we get?"
"What about the remaining time?"
With Garai's throne right in front of them, Minguk turned the question back to Chloe.
No one knew how long the fight would last. But he figured they could manage about two tries in an hour.
It might sound like plenty of attempts, but with scant intel on the enemy and the raid team needing to get familiar with Garai's patterns, there was no room for complacency. Time was always in short supply, no matter how much there was.
The opponent was a monster they knew next to nothing about.
'And besides...'
He himself needed time to adapt to Garai's patterns.
The final boss guarding the throne was the strongest foe Minguk had faced yet. And it wasn't just any monster—Garai was Baranoras's superior and one of Garuda's trusted lieutenants.
This was going to be no easy fight.
"73 hours."
"...Why did it go up again?"
But Minguk tilted his head at the response.
They'd entered with 71 hours left and spent eight inside. That should have left at least 63. Yet the dungeon timer had increased instead.
"Maybe because we destroyed the fortress facilities?"
Bridget ventured after a moment's thought. But her idea was quickly challenged.
"So smashing dungeon structures extends the timer? What kind of nonsense is that?"
"But Bridget has a point. While we were gone, new structures popped up in this dungeon, right?"
"Yeah. Thinking about how the timer suddenly shrank before, maybe our destruction does affect it somewhat."
"Catching the named could have done it too."
Various opinions flew around. But no one knew the real answer. What mattered was they'd bought a bit more time to try Garai.
"Let's start the briefing."
There wasn't much to brief with so little intel anyway.
If anything, the Imperial Guard members had more combat experience. Still, Minguk went over Garai's patterns and his countermeasures in detail, like reviewing wrong answers.
He planned to iron out issues that arose during fights through successive tries.
"Alright, time for the first try."
"Hoo... Let's see if we can take it down."
With prep complete, Chloe clapped her hands like a battle cry and stood.
"Revenge for our comfy raid leader who's sitting this one out!"
"Bridget, Celeste isn't dead yet."
The other heroes steeled themselves too. At most, they had two or three days left. In that time, the fates of Vietnam and countless others hung in the balance. And the first try began.
"The toys have come crawling!"
The Imperial Guard charged bravely at Garai, who spat obnoxious words the moment they met.
"Positions, now!"
The tank used taunt to grab Garai's aggro, letting the dealers circle to the flanks and rear. Healers slotted in between.
It was a surrounding formation Minguk had devised for Garai's attacks.
'With this setup...'
Every raider would be in range of at least two healers, and they could easily handle Garai's gaze attacks.
According to the Imperial Guard, Garai's gaze targeted wherever its eyes fell.
"Kuhahaha! Pathetic!"
The bird-headed monster's fist cleaved the air. A punch packed with immense power. But the Imperial Guard's main tank was no pushover.
Kwaaaang!
The clash of fist and shield boomed across the battlefield like nothing human. That sparked the tank and Garai's fierce exchange.
Kwaang! Kwang!
Each massive impact shaved huge chunks off the main tank's HP.
But it wasn't enough to alarm the healers. If anything, it was far more stable than when Hyun-ah faced Baranoras.
'They said its physical specs are near 8-star...'
The Imperial Guard's guess seemed spot on. Yet they'd still failed tries nonstop, meaning Garai's special abilities were seriously threatening.
"But that's actually easier for me."
With countless try experiences etched into body and mind, foes that relied on raw specs were tougher than those with complex patterns demanding tactics.
Minguk lacked experience—he needed specs to endure enemy attacks. And Garai fell into that raw-spec category.
"Melee dealers on the left, pull back a bit more."
"No need to step into attack range. Don't push it!"
"Heal the main tank!"
Even on the first try, Minguk led calmly.
He wasn't new to monster fights, so no tension froze him up.
Garai seemed to see the taunting tank as the biggest magic threat, focusing solely on her.
Its eyes occasionally scanned the field, which was a minor concern, but so far, no big issues.
"Hmph!"
Then it happened. Mid-attack on the main tank, Garai spun around.
Minguk's danger sense spiked. That monster was definitely targeting him.
A Garai pattern flashed in his mind. This had to be the infamous gaze attack.
As Minguk reflexively dodged back, Garai lunged like lightning, swinging its fist.
Bwoooong!
The monster's fist grazed Minguk's nose. A split-second slower, and he'd have eaten it full force. But Garai's assault didn't end there—Minguk knew it well.
"Run right!"
Ignoring the stinging pain in his nose, Minguk circled the field counterclockwise.
Thumping footsteps behind confirmed Garai was chasing to smash him. But the pursuit didn't last.
Deeming Minguk uncatchable, Garai turned back to the main tank. Returning to position, Minguk muttered,
"The gaze attack's faster than expected. Gotta stay focused, or it's dangerous."
"...You dodged it pretty well, though?"
Lea, one of the Imperial Guard healers, said with a blank look.
The attack had been too fast for her eyes, yet male Minguk evaded by a hair's breadth—like a choreographed movie fight.
"Got lucky."
"Luck's a skill. Dodging it at all is impressive. Our ex-raid leader couldn't and lost her hero career."
Minguk chuckled at the healer's words. Hero career over? A bit premature.
Well, restoring Celeste's magic would come after downing this beast anyway.
"Bridget, watch the gaze!!!"
"Whoa?!"
"Lea! It's on you!"
Having tasted the gaze once, Minguk read Garai's moves easily. Boss tells were second nature from mobile VR training.
But his teammates dodging was another story. Dealers handled it fine, but healers with slower reflexes struggled.
"Just run somehow!"
As long as healers didn't die to follow-ups, recovery magic fixed everything but death.
"Tank taunt! Debuff management—Dian, focus!"
Despite minor issues, they were adapting to the threatening gaze and progressing smoothly when—
Chyarararak!
Garai pulled back from punching the main tank, spreading its wings wide. Its massive feathers filled the sky.
'This is...!'
Dian's "trash attack" for sure. This pattern doomed any heroes closing in.
"Everyone, fall back!!!"
Before Minguk finished, they were retreating. But one wasn't.
"Kyaaaak!!!"
The tank's instinct to protect teammates kept the main tank in feather range. She took the volley bodily and dropped. Minguk called wipe without hesitation.
Not a total loss, though. They'd seen the gaze and confirmed feathers—stronger than described.
'Even a tank dies like that...'
No blocking that.
Not a spec gap either. Imperial Guard were all 8-stars with top gear.
Ppuu pegged Garai as a 9-star darkness monster, strategist type around 8-star specs.
Factoring that in, the feather attack needed a different approach. Minguk was methodically gathering intel for the strategy.