Demon God's Buff Tantrum
A dimensional rift has appeared in the [Abyss Assassin] weekly boss arena.
Temporarily, non-aggressive monsters, Melis, will spawn.
Defeating Melis grants a limited-time buff that applies before the weekly boss.
To fulfill the Demon God's request, the temporary weekly boss event was hastily added and launched.
There was planned official content for a later formal release, but it was thrown in just because of the Demon God's plea.
By clearing trash mobs to gain enhancement buffs, it was designed not just for single-target dealers but also for AoE dealers to take down the boss more easily.
This also served to gather more magitech research data in the process—catching two rabbits with one stone.
As soon as the event kicked off, the Demon King's performance showed a massive damage spike compared to before.
Clear times shortened dramatically, shifting players' perceptions of the new character. Or almost.
Until the spotlight fell on one of the Demon King's damage sources: her summon's bouncing mechanic.
Melis buffs don't stack whether you kill one or two.
But their HP was just high enough that pure AoE from the Demon King's basic attacks or ultimate couldn't clear them reliably.
In the end, the summon's lava attacks—meant for the boss—kept leaking onto surrounding trash.
To add insult to injury, a video dropped of [Knight Ren] sniping one Melis, grabbing a self-buff via passive, and clearing the boss even faster. The community erupted.
"Apostle of Dreams."
"Yes, Demon God?"
"Did you deceive me?"
The Demon God leaned in close to my face.
Even in the dream world where I wielded omnipotence, the immense pressure radiating from her was hard to shake off.
Was I mistaken thinking she'd been acting childish lately?
"No, ma'am."
"Then why is our Lina still viewed so poorly? Nay, it seems even worse than before."
"Th-that... I can explain."
"Explain yourself."
"Normally, in weekly boss fights, clearing event trash mobs grants buffs, right?"
"......Yes."
Her brows furrowed.
"Compared to the single-target dealer [Knight Ren], [Demon King Lina] excels in AoE damage."
"......R-right."
I could see her eyes darting around.
"So I figured this event would boost [Demon King Lina]'s metrics. And it did, actually. But... her core summon damage uses bounce, so a ton of DPS meant for the boss leaked out."
"Wh-what's this 'bounce' thing?"
"Oh, in our game, bounce means the attack hits the primary target first, then subsequent hits ricochet to nearby enemies."
A dealing method that handles mobs well and still works okay against few targets.
We adopted it when releasing the Demon King as an AoE specialist, to make her viable in elite fights too.
It also added some sandbagginess to prevent her from being too OP.
"I-I get it for now...... But why does that damage 'leak'?"
"With bounce, players can't control targets after the first hit. So even if you want to dump everything on the boss, it spills onto nearby trash."
"......But isn't Lina an AoE dealer? Why leak to trash?"
"She is AoE. Her basic attacks and ultimate are all AoE. Only the summon uses bounce. Versatile for both AoE and single-target."
"......I-is that so?"
"Yes. Post-event, [Demon King Lina]'s total DPS and clear times improved massively. It's temporary, but way better than before."
"Then why are they trash-talking our Lina?"
"That's... a mix of factors. First, players without pulls for a new char after having [Knight Ren] bash it to prop up 'one char is enough' vibes. Plus, [Knight Ren] as a limited single-target specialist gets an edge even with buffs."
"......Ughhh! I don't get it!"
The Demon God ruffled her hair wildly.
"Forget buffs—just make Lina stronger! That's an order!"
And here we are.
I glanced at the real Lina, grinning innocently beside the Demon God.
What timing? Just say it.
"Sigh, Demon God. Hear me out first."
"......Gonna spout more weird terms to fool me? Don't try it."
"Argh, just listen. Look, suppose I massively buffed [Demon King Perlerina]'s damage right now. Like, her ult does AoE several times [Knight Ren]'s output."
"......Okay."
"What happens to folks who've mained and invested in other chars?"
"As long as Lina shines, who cares abou—"
"No! They'd rage. And where's that rage arrow pointing?"
"......At you, the dev?"
Ah, right.
I'm the primary target.
"Y-yeah, but not just me. It'll hit the char that ruined balance most. Right?"
"Right......"
"And that's not all. Future chars get compared to her. Weaker? 'Why pull this crap?' Stronger? 'Why pull others then?' 'Demon King ruined the game. Ugly witch who broke it.' Like that."
"Lina's not ugly. She's the most beautiful in this world—"
"No, stop! Just player trash talk. Not literally. Point is, they'd hate on Demon King Lina forever. When she did nothing wrong."
"......Can't have that."
"Right? And not done yet."
"Not done?"
"Think, Demon God. Lina variants could drop. Buffing this one messes up excuses for those."
"Vari... what?"
"Like alternate Lina versions. Say, [Swimsuit Lina] in a bikini?"
Why waste a solid episode scenario and story on one pull?
Spit out variants to milk it dry.
That's why this [Demon King Perlerina]—lava specialist per lore—skipped most skills from her episode, including the ult.
Save the juicy ones for [True Demon King Perlerina] or [Constellation Perlerina] later.
"Sw-swimsuit!"
"Or [Pajama Lina], or even [Loli Lina]."
"Pajamas! Loli!"
The Demon God gaped, shocked by my words.
......She's not right in the head either.
How'd I end up tangled with these weird demons?
"Swimsuit... bikini... rashguard... pajamas... teddy bear PJs......"
"Anyway, Demon God."
"...Huh?"
She snapped out of her fantasies with a dumb look.
"......Don't worry about performance. Hospitality content's ready anyway."
I'd prepped new content for AoE dealers from the start.
The event was just to buy time soothing her.
Planned to drop it right before [Demon King Perlerina]'s hospitality ends for max monetization.
A bit early, no biggie.
Time to scout new sales tactics.
Ways to empty players' wallets beyond powercreep...
What else?
"Like exclusive weapon gear items?"