Rumble, Boom, Kaboom!

Of all things, the bomb equipped inside the spear was an Archisus Silver Bomb. It dealt additional damage to undead creatures like Golgol-i!

"Aaaargh?! What is this?!"

"What are you so surprised about, you bonehead?! Did my words go in one ear and out the other?!"

Heuk-heuk shouted, sounding utterly exasperated. He had warned him so clearly, so why on earth did the guy throw it anyway and then act shocked?

"N-No... Why on earth would my Lord... What did I do wrong...?"

"If you did anything wrong, it's having absolutely no situational awareness! That weapon was designed like that from the very beginning!"

"I see. Did my Lord bestow this weapon upon me because he believed I would master it?"

"No, you lunatic!"

Heuk-heuk beat his chest in sheer frustration. Did that bastard's intelligence drop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even further after becoming an Elite Dragon Death Knight?! In truth, it was because his loyalty had grown even stronger after his rank increased, but from Heuk-heuk's perspective, it was incredibly stifling. Please, get a grip!

"Very well. I shall launch the next attack!"

With a metallic clack, the sound of the next bomb loading into the spear echoed. Heuk-heuk didn't even want to know what kind of bomb it was.

It's not some kind of anti-dragon bomb, is it?

"Hey! I told you to stop throwing it!"

"But if I do not throw it, how else am I supposed to attack?"

"..."

Heuk-heuk fell silent, completely tongue-tied. It was true that the giant beast monster possessed incredibly high magic defense, and because it had received an Authority from the Hungry Chaos, it also had an absurdly broken recovery skill. Striking it with ordinary magic wouldn't even leave a scratch!

"Use another weapon! Don't you have the weapon you originally used?!"

"Understood."

Golgol-i drew his signature weapon, the Dragon Death Knight's Sword. While it lacked the bizarre skills of the explosive spear, it was a solidly powerful weapon. It was a blade that even possessed magical attack power, thanks to the Death Knight's signature energy of death!

"Hyaaaah!"

Golgol-i rode Heuk-heuk and launched another attack. A surging black aura erupted from the tip of his sword, striking the giant beast.

Only then did the two realize why the Kaojedacha had been staying so still. It had been stunned after being hit by the explosive spear earlier! In the midst of that, Golgol-i had put away the spear and started hacking at it with a sword that barely dealt any damage, so it was only natural that the opponent would recover from the stun.

"Kroaaaarrr!"

The Kaojedacha roared ferociously and twisted its massive body. Its maw gaped wide, aiming to swallow them whole.

"The spear! Get the spear out!!"

"You absolute fool! This is all your fault!"

Golgol-i cursed Heuk-heuk. If Heuk-heuk hadn't told him to draw his sword, things wouldn't have turned out like this!

"I said I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know this would happen?!"

"Is saying sorry going to solve this?!"

Golgol-i hastily pulled out the explosive spear and threw it wildly. The loaded bombs exploded with a deafening racket, disorienting the Kaojedacha.

Boom! Kaboom!

Taking advantage of the chaos, Heuk-heuk flapped his wings like mad.

"Wind of the Black Dragon! Whirlwind Dash!"

His movement speed surged, and Heuk-heuk quickly widened the distance. He was desperate to avoid being swallowed by the Kaojedacha.

"Keep throwing the spear!"

"There is definitely something wrong with this spear! What kind of spear explodes when thrown and explodes again when it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠returns... It must be defective!"

"It's supposed to be like that! Just throw it! I even cast a barrier for you!"

"But..."

"Just throw it!"

At Heuk-heuk's frantic urging, Golgol-i finally threw the spear. Every time the throwing spear flew, it exploded, spun around, and returned to Golgol-i's hand. It was truly a well-crafted weapon that was incredibly annoying to the opponent.

...The only problem was that it was also incredibly annoying to Golgol-i!

Kaboom!

Since it occasionally exploded upon returning, Golgol-i was driven absolutely out of his mind.

"Good. They're luring it over nicely."

"...Your summons are incredible."

"They've always been pretty capable."

Golgol-i and Heuk-heuk's conversation didn't reach Tae-hyun's party. Ryu Da-young muttered in involuntary admiration. Even among top rankers, it was rare to have such outstanding summons or pets.

It's not a real dragon, is it?

"Is the opponent weak to explosions? It flinches and stops every time one goes off."

"That's great. We've found a weakness."

Lee Se-yeon and Tae-hyun conversed, sizing up their opponent. Every monster was bound to have a weakness. Some monsters were weak to the fire attribute, some to the ice attribute, some to explosions, and some to the Archisus attribute... From the looks of it, the Kaojedacha seemed rather weak to explosions despite its sturdy defense. After all, it kept flinching and stopping as if stunned every time a bomb went off.

"If it reacts like that to bombs that aren't even that big, maybe it's not actually that strong?"

Lee Se-yeon felt a glimmer of hope as she watched the Kaojedacha. Contrary to what the Garuda NPCs had said, the raid seemed surprisingly manageable.

"True, normal boss monsters usually shrug off bombs of that scale. Is it really over level 600?"

"I hope not..."

If Heuk-heuk and Golgol-i, who were currently fleeing for their lives, had heard this, they would have wailed, "No, you're wrong! It's definitely over level 600! It's ridiculously strong!" Unfortunately, Tae-hyun's party was far away.

"It's coming. Get ready to fight."

The two summons had successfully managed to lure just one. A giant, serpent-like monster was fluttering as it flew toward them.

"By the way, didn't you say you'd let them have it?"

"Ah, right. I almost forgot."

At Lee Se-yeon's words, Tae-hyun recalled what he had said earlier. Hadn't he promised to let Ryu Tae-su and Ryu Da-young take on one of the targets?

"Alright. Let's step back."

"No matter how much I think about it, it feels like you're just bullying them..."

"I told you, I'm not. Why would you think that?"

Lee Se-yeon wasn't entirely convinced, but she decided to go along with Tae-hyun's plan for now.

"It's coming! Initiating attack!"

Ryu Tae-su shouted as he charged forward. Ryu Da-young, the tank, moved up beside her brother to support him.

"?!?!"

But why were there only the two of them?

"Huh?"

"Good luck, both of you. I'm rooting for you!"

"Wait, Player Kim Tae-hyun, did I do something wrong...?"

Ryu Tae-su was flustered. Before they knew it, Tae-hyun and Lee Se-yeon had retreated far into the background.

Instead of fighting, Tae-hyun cast his buffs to the maximum. Divine Authority skills enveloped the two, followed by additional buff skills. Of course, the buffs were incredible, but they were still utterly bewildered.

"Captain, why are you doing this too?!"

"Kim Tae-hyun suggested it."

"Is this a test?"

"It just looks like my brother is being bullied..."

While they were talking, the Kaojedacha arrived right in front of them. Heuk-heuk and Golgol-i screamed.

"Master! This guy is no joke! Its defense and health are terrifyingly high, and it even contracted with the Hungry Chaos to use some bizarre recovery skills!"

"...!"

Tae-hyun was startled. He had thought it was just a somewhat large and sturdy monster, but it could use skills like that?

I thought it was weak because the bombs worked so well on it.

If it was contracted with the Hungry Chaos, it couldn't be underestimated even if its level ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was low. After all, the Hungry Chaos's Authorities were basically a collection of cheat skills! It was a creature packed with dirty tricks like Absolute Defense, Absolute Recovery, Absolute Attack, and so on.

Do I even have a skill like that...?

Though startled, Tae-hyun's body moved first. If the opponent was borrowing the power of the Hungry Chaos, he had to cut off that connection first.

Tae-hyun unleashed every single skill in his arsenal that could hinder or debuff the opponent. Tae-hyun was an Avatar who had plundered... no, collected the Authorities of various religious orders. These Authority skills possessed power on a completely different dimension compared to Heuk-heuk's magic.

"!"

To think it could dispel a significant portion of Archisus's Curse, even if not completely. Tae-hyun had fought the Hungry Chaos a few times before, so he had expected something like this, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Is Archisus's Authority really this weak?

Indeed, considering Heuk-heuk's curses couldn't even scratch it, the fact that it worked this much was remarkable. In fact, the other skills...

It just dispelled everything!

Tae-hyun was about to curse the two gods but stopped himself. Come to think of it, minor gods like Sadiq or Salabian were below Archisus's level anyway.

Yeah, I didn't expect much from them anyway.

"Kim Tae-hyun, what's the plan?"

"We can't afford to take it easy. Let's use everything we prepared."

At Tae-hyun's words, Lee Se-yeon nodded. Instantly, undead erupted from all directions. They were her absolute elite undead, who had been lying in ambush within the clouds!

Death Knights riding atop Bone Dragons and Bone Wyverns unleashed a barrage of spears and arrows, targeting the Kaojedacha. Although the damage was negligible, blocked by its scales and hide, it didn't matter. There were plenty of others to deal damage.

"Kroaaaarrr!"

As the beast spun and unleashed a shockwave, the surrounding undead were shattered to pieces. Lee Se-yeon bit her lip. Those had been quite the elite undead!

"Kweeeeeeek!"

Having used its skill, the Kaojedacha ended up taking damage itself due to the curse. The beast thrashed wildly in the sky.

"...First, we need to bind its skills."

"How?! Curses and magic aren't working!"

"Since bomb damage goes through, we'll have to rely on bombs."

With those words, Tae-hyun closed the distance to the Kaojedacha. He began throwing bombs wildly while simultaneously swinging his sword.

Hitting, detonating bombs to stun, and hitting again. Although the damage wasn't massive, Tae-hyun was successfully keeping the Kaojedacha completely locked down. On top of his high Engineering skill, every single bomb Tae-hyun possessed was an item of terrifying destructive power. Despite its colossal size, the Kaojedacha couldn't do a single thing to Tae-hyun.

"Tae-hyun, aren't you going to use your newly acquired swordplay?"

"Uh..."

Tae-hyun hesitated.

If I make a single mistake while using it, Lee Da-bi will get caught in the blast too...

With bombs, his skill level was so high now that there was zero chance of malfunction, but the Explosive Swordsmanship of Madness was different. One mistake, and an explosion would trigger backward, dealing damage to Lee Da-bi!

"I don't know what you're worried about, but it's totally fine to use it! Go ahead!"

"Really? I'm going to use it then. No complaining later, okay?"

"...Is it some kind of skill that drains party members' HP to boost damage?"

"No, it's not quite like that."

Even if it were such a skill, Lee Da-bi was fully prepared to sacrifice herself if Tae-hyun was the one using it. If it was Tae-hyun, she would even co-sign a loan for him, let alone let him use a skill on her.

"Well, alright. As long as I don't fail, it'll be fine..."

"Just what kind of skill is it...?!"

As Lee Da-bi spoke, she immediately came to realize. Ah... So this was what kind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of skill it was!