Rapits Potion, Really the Best!

I only ever hated the Gald Cup, yet Do-hee’s sudden call was nothing but a giant question mark for Mazia. As the boss, however, this was a situation I simply could not ignore. Server-first hidden class and then server-only dungeon boss roleplay? Fine. Mazia could reap as much as her luck allowed. But when MoovGun poured gasoline on the roleplay fire, the viewer count shot past fifty thousand. Do-hee rarely saw numbers like that outside of concerts or special broadcasts. And when that many people wanted something, failing to deliver would ignite a blaze. Not a metaphor—a real, massive fire. The kind that would overwhelm every manager on duty.

What exactly were fifty thousand viewers waiting for? More roleplay between Mazia and MoovGun, or the Demon King doing something worthy of the title. They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stayed glued to the stream because they had expectations. Keeping the six-way split screen in this atmosphere? It would be an engraved invitation for comments like Parallel only cares about promo now and their sense is completely dead.

So this was the best move for now. At least while Mazia played the Demon King.

There was a little pushback, but Jia’s broadcast layout was sorted. She really was an employee who listened well. The moment I told her to, she started the Demon King Castle guide.

“Then, before the Demon King Castle opens at ten, I’ll give you a quick introduction in advance. I think it would be good for Mr. Wicker if more people came and enjoyed it.”

It was absurd that the Demon King herself was advertising for people to storm her own castle, but it was essentially Mazia’s user baiting and close to viral marketing. The more hits she took, the more Serena potions she could drink.

Two hours later, at ten o’clock. The moment the Demon King Castle finally opened for the first time. Just as promised yesterday, Roofkr’s raid team was the first to set foot inside. If it had been a simple paid clear, it wouldn’t have drawn this much attention, but the honor, exclusive mount, and broadcast clips that came with first-clearing it meant a lot to streamers. This was a high-stakes run.

They would fight with everything they had. He wasn’t confident in roleplay, so he would speak normally, but since he had willingly taken the job, he had to give it his all. And the most important thing was the Rapits potion. Rapits potion—it really was the best.

“Shall we watch the first party’s run, then?”

The Demon King Castle was advanced enough that sitting on the throne in the audience chamber let you view the raiding party in spectator mode. I had only performed the sitting motion, but the game apparently had a special animation for it. When I deliberately set the camera to third-person so my face was visible, the viewers gasped and said it looked convincing.

Thanks to Roofkr’s party arriving in full end-game gear with reinforcements pushed to the maximum of +10, they blew through the first floor in an instant. Mobs swarmed them, but they pulled every bit of aggro and used area-of-effect magic plus alchemist-crafted molotovs to wipe the entire wave in one stylish explosion.

The second-floor labyrinth took some time as they got lost, but they still reached the third floor with eighteen minutes remaining on the clock. There were three rooms before MoovGun’s fourth chamber. Thanks to the Wicker server mode equipment and enhancements, their damage was savage. In vanilla 64 Cubics the final boss Void Dragon died in one minute thirty seconds. The giant tree spirit in the next room and Jormungandr after that each fell in under two minutes. With roughly twelve minutes left, they arrived at the final third-floor chamber where MoovGun and the three-headed hound Cerberus waited.

I had placed him on this floor specifically to mess with MoovGun. Some viewers seemed to have caught on, but the man himself completely missed my intention.

No matter how hard MoovGun tried, he wasn’t wearing the Demon King armor like me, so surrounding and beating him was inevitable. The fact that he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠managed to take out two members of the full sixteen-man party using Cerberus’s shield was honestly impressive.

Once MoovGun fell, what awaited them was the fourth-floor banquet hall—a secret area still unrevealed to the public. I deliberately didn’t show it on my own screen because I wanted each streamer to discover it on their individual broadcasts. I waited leisurely as time ticked down… When only five minutes remained on the raid timer, the party kicked the audience chamber doors open in a frenzy.

I had been sitting arrogantly on the throne. With a heavy clank of armor, I rose. The Demon King armor doubled my height; the long black cape billowed in the wind that poured through the shattered windows.

Just by walking forward steadily, the chat exploded with dramatic lines from old manhwa. I understood the feeling. I personally found it funnier when the boss acted pathetic, but some people loved watching a streamer dominate, climb higher, and wield overwhelming power. The excited viewers right now were probably the ones drunk on the idea of Demon King Mazia mowing down invaders like fallen leaves.

However, I had only ever cut down monsters, never players. I didn’t really understand PVP in this game. Monsters were cleanly divided into melee and ranged, but players freely switched between bows, swords, and even magic. Even after watching Roofkr’s party fight from the first floor, I still didn’t fully get it. So my strategy was simple: get hit and learn. I had never experienced this kind of fight before.

I gripped a Serena potion in my hand. Combat preparations complete. I simply stood still. Roofkr, the party leader, shouted loudly.

“You wrote the title yourself and sent it, didn’t you?”

“Since you got stronger with the money I lent you, how about taking off one piece of armor?”

The battle began with the arrow Roofkr fired after his loud shout. Its speed was incredible; unlike the slow fireballs, parrying it was practically impossible. The arrow slammed straight into my skull. From what I had seen earlier, a headshot with full reinforcement, buff food, and special enchants easily dealt two hundred damage, but thanks to the 95% damage reduction, the number that popped up was a mere ten. The expression “it tickles” was perfectly accurate.

With the Skeleton Knight debuff leaving me only two hundred and fifty HP, if Roofkr’s arrows—the highest DPS in the party—only did that much, then…

Even so, Roofkr kept drawing his bow without hesitation. The rest of the party began to move as well. Warriors with swords ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠charged, mages prepared their casts. No matter how good the gear, numbers and time eventually win. That was normal PVP. Without the item in my hand, I would have fallen within the remaining four minutes.

Roofkr, who had been firing arrows nonstop, finally sensed something was wrong and raised his hand.

After dozens of sword strikes that left scratches on the armor, dozens of fireballs and ice shards, and even a rain of arrows that turned the black armor into a porcupine, I was still perfectly fine. I simply kept gulping down potions.

I muttered in my usual businesslike tone. As I said before, I wasn’t confident in roleplay.

“Rapits potion. It’s really the best.”

When Roofkr shot another arrow in confusion, I drank another Serena potion. Same tone. Slightly flat.

“Rapits potion. It’s really the best.”

As I kept drinking potions and steadily advanced, I soon stood right in front of Roofkr. The others had backed off as I approached, but he remained standing. He asked me,

“Fifteen hundred—”

Before I could finish, Roofkr spun around and yelled at his own party members.

It was an abrupt betrayal. Everyone in the party Roofkr had formed looked dumbfounded. The most shocked was Ronze, who had been sharing main DPS with him.

I drew the demonic sword I had been carrying on my back. A sinister red aura flowed down the blade like a net, dripping like water only to burst into flame and vanish. The killing intent radiating from the black armor and the red-glowing demonic sword was intense. The moment Roofkr saw it he started flattering me.

Roofkr was sent flying by my merciless swing. His nearly full health bar dropped by half in a single blow. Shocked by the unexpected destructive power, he muttered,

I walked over and slammed the sword down on Roofkr’s head where he lay sprawled on the floor.

Another smack. Three hits and Roofkr was down. It wasn’t about the money. I just didn’t like that he kept calling me “Demon King.”

Anyway, when Roofkr suddenly took three hits and collapsed, it became the signal to resume battle.

But the flow was completely different from before.

“Rapits potion. It’s really the best.”

Now that I understood how the raid attacked, I no longer stood still. Above all, Roofkr—the source of the highest damage—had died, so I charged at Ronze, who dealt similar damage. Whenever my health dropped I drank a Serena potion. If an opponent tried to create distance, I sent out sword energy to hit them. Its travel speed was similar to an arrow, essentially like firing a slow bullet. A gun? As someone who loved Battle Colosseum, guns were my favorite weapon.

And when an opponent on the verge of death tried to drink a Serena potion, I recited the same line again.

“Rapits potion. It’s really the best.”

After that, the battle needed no further explanation. I took every warrior’s attack and recovered with Serena potions, while sniping the ranged attackers with sword energy. They fell one by one, helpless. As long as they didn’t focus their attacks during the three seconds it took me to drink, I wouldn’t die. Unless someone figured out the strategy, I was invincible.

And the invincible me kept repeating the same words. When charging—Rapits potion. When defending—Rapits potion. When parrying—Rapits potion. I like Rapits potions. Rapits potion, it’s really the best.

Before long the news reached Iona, first-generation member of Rapits. The messenger was Ronze, who had charged the Demon King Castle twice, been destroyed both times, and returned like a beaten dog.

There had been no secret deal. I had never asked her to promote us. From the beginning, Mazia was someone Iona had been wary of, fearing she would steal Rapits’s share of the pie. Why would that person promote them? Yet it couldn’t be dismissed as nonsense. The sudden flood of new viewers was obvious from Iona’s rising viewer count and the chat that had begun to simplify.

Serena, the owner of the Serena potions that granted Mazia her immortality, was in even worse shape.

Serena’s viewer count had reached fifteen thousand—an all-time personal high. As if on cue, those viewers were all shouting the same thing. Not at Serena. At Serena potions.

When something incomprehensible happens, humans instinctively feel fear. That was exactly what Iona was feeling right now.

“Just… why…?”