At Least a Year

"…You're kidding."

"Is this for real?"

"Lea! Lea! Lea!"

"She's not letting us back in."

Outside the entrance to Lea's nest, the players who had been celebrating their sweep of ranks one through six now stood staring blankly at the entrance sealed shut before them. The quest they had been given was on an entirely different level from anything that had come before.

"Come on, even the rankers couldn't take this thing down…"

"We are the rankers now."

"True."

"Ah."

The Corrupted Ogre Lord. Level 65. A raid boss. Looking at the level alone, players sitting in the high fifties might have thought it was nothing special — but a boss was a boss. Countless top rankers and guilds had thrown their combined strength at the thing for months and still failed to bring it down. Of course, a large part of that failure came down to the raid parties' complete inability to cooperate with one another. Even so, the Ogre Lord remained formidable. If it had been an easy target, a single raid party — or a coalition of two or three — would have finished it off ages ago.

Nya-nya let out a deep sigh.

"What do we do? Lea said not to come back until we've killed it. And she's sealed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entrance completely."

"We went from goblins and orcs to this…"

"Uuuugh…"

"The rewards are insane, though."

Not twenty thousand — two hundred thousand experience points. In a situation where levels were already getting harder and harder to raise, what would two hundred thousand EXP mean?

"Like… seventy, maybe?"

"Yeah, somewhere around there. Hard to say how much the EXP bar will jump, though."

It was certain that the six of them would reach a height no one else could touch. The title of True Disciple of the Fire Dragon would also be vastly superior to "Apprentice Disciple" or "Official Disciple" — but the real prize was the selection right. Every gaze turned toward Nya-nya.

"If we're lucky, we each get one shot at it."

Just like Nya-nya's Frost's End. The chance to claim a legendary weapon that could flip the entire meta. Neither the quest nor anything Lea had said mentioned "first clear only," so every one of them who had received the quest could complete it. Nobody said it out loud, but they had all been desperately envious of Nya-nya's staff.

Haring's expression drooped the moment she thought of that staff — then she steeled herself with fresh resolve.

"Alright. This time I'm getting something proper of my own."

"If Nya-nya fires off that staff even once, wouldn't that just one-shot it?"

"If Nya-nya uses it, she'll pass out on the spot."

"Still worth it if one shot kills the thing."

"Or we could try clearing it with other rankers…"

"They'd go feral fighting over the last hit."

"But can we even take it with just us…?"

Lea's disciples put their heads together, but no real strategy emerged. That was only natural. None of them were veteran rankers — they were either complete newcomers or casual players who had simply been enjoying the game. They had no detailed knowledge of raids, no pattern data on the Ogre Lord, no power analysis of any kind. There had been a broadcast of the early coalition raid against the ogre, but it had cut off mid-fight. After that, every solo raid party's attempt had failed to get past the early-to-mid stages. Unless you smashed your face against it yourself, there was simply no way to learn.

"Anyone know someone from the coalition raid?"

"Not me."

"Same."

"Wouldn't Heurisk know?"

"Oh! Right — he was in the coalition party. If we just ask Lea to let him out for a quick chat…"

"Pretty sure that guy quit. And even if he told us anything, it'd probably be completely useless on purpose."

"Ah."

Silence settled again. The players worked every connection they had — the Prollasia Gallery, forums, anywhere — and came up empty. They even asked Evan, once of the advance party (no longer; he only ran the main story now), but he was a player who focused on main quests rather than raids. There was no reason he would know the Ogre Lord's detailed patterns.

Haring scratched her head, then raised a hand slightly, drawing every eye toward her.

"…There is someone who might know, actually."

"?"

"Who?"

"…Ugh, damn it."

Do I seriously have to ask him for this?

Hajin — professional streamer of Frolazia and the rank-eleven player — found himself in a peculiar situation.

"Who the hell…?"

In the span of a single week, his ranking had dropped nearly seven places. He had no idea who had climbed over his head, but the sudden reshuffling of the board in just seven days was bizarre. He wondered if other rankers had stumbled onto some hidden piece or other — yet the names of every ranker he actually knew were sitting below him. Meanwhile, most of the upper ranks were set to private. The ranking system only displayed a name if the player registered it in the Hall of Fame. Which meant the new faces who had shot up the board were complete unknowns.

"Did a whole group grab some hidden piece together or something?"

Hajin filed the question away and focused on the work in front of him. He needed to level up as fast as possible, clear his hidden quests, and get into the ogre subjugation. The Ogre Lord hunt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been stalled for months, and the noise — both in-game and on stream — was getting loud. Honestly, part of him just wished someone else would kill the damn thing already. From a streaming perspective, landing the last hit and monopolizing the glory would be ideal, but letting the whole situation drag on like this wasn't great either. Viewers hated boredom more than anything.

CRACK!

"Hajin! We cleared this side!"

"Okay! I'll handle the report!"

"Got it!"

As always, Hajin finished mopping up the swarming ogres alongside his guildmates and fellow streamers, then turned back. Most of the other raid parties had already pulled out, but maintaining a presence like this — keeping the quest's influence from fading — still mattered. And they were high-level monsters, so the EXP was decent enough—

"What the hell is she on about."

Hajin frowned and glared at the chat window that had suddenly popped into the air. Haring. Real name: Jin Ha-rin. His little sister, and the first person to ever find the dragon. She had begged and begged to play Frolazia, so he had gotten her a console — and before he knew it, she was already deep into a hidden quest. He found it equal parts impressive and annoying, and had considered dropping by to check on her, but he had been far too busy to spare the attention. He hadn't really felt the need to go over there, either.

"Kill it? This thing?"

Hajin stared at the floating chat window with half-skeptical eyes. He knew the dragon wasn't some ordinary NPC. As a streamer, he was well-versed in community gossip, and Heurisk getting permanently banned had been a massive incident — anyone in the upper ranks or the streaming scene would have heard about it. Naturally, if the dragon herself stepped in, the Ogre Lord would go from "ogre" to "was an ogre." But could Haring, a mere disciple, actually take the Ogre Lord down?

Is the hidden piece she got over there really that good?

"That legendary weapon did look pretty sweet. If I teamed up with her… nah. The second I show up, everyone else will pile in."

Hajin was famous enough that a single move from him would draw people swarming from every direction. Haring, on the other hand, was a nobody — she could attempt a stealth subjugation without attracting any attention.

The contract was sealed.

"Nice…"

A full week had passed since every last hero left the nest. At last, I was savoring some real peace. No more heroes training in the clearing and wrecking my beauty sleep. No more heroes showing up day after day to bang on the entrance. All I could hear was the chirping of little birds and the cool ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rush of the wind. Freedom. Absolute freedom.

I had thrown up a barrier — the kind I normally only used when going out — across the entire nest, so no amount of thrashing from those heroes would get them through.

Sprawled out in my full dragon form, I wore a smile of pure victory.

"Hehehe. I gave them a hard quest, so it'll take them forever, right?"

According to Adela, the Ogre chieftain was strong enough that even the greatest heroes of this generation couldn't take it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down working together. You'd think becoming a hero would mean you could handle a single ogre boss, but these were mass-produced heroes, so I decided to cut them some slack. The important point was this: the Ogre chieftain was strong, and the heroes were weak.

"It'll take at least a year."

No matter how much I had trained them, no matter how much stronger the quests had made them, they were still going to need time. They'd probably throw themselves at it over and over, dying the whole way.

I burrowed deep into my plush nest and closed my eyes.

Not more, not less — just three solid years of sleep.