Mythic Being (2)
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on one place.
Thirty people all staring at the same spot would have been funny, like a herd of meerkats on alert, but nothing about the situation itself was funny.
It was a moment in which everyone’s fate hung on that ridiculous spinning wheel.
The wheel spun furiously, seemingly uncaring whether it understood our feelings or not, turning on and on under the influence of mana.
If I think about it in terms of probability…
Statistically speaking, the odds of landing on a Mythic-grade result were vanishingly small.
Three in five hundred.
And of course, the odds of getting a Legendary-grade monster weren’t especially high either.
Ideally, an Heroic-grade named monster would be best, but even if a Legendary monster came out, we could handle it well enough.
Though that depends on the type…
Our expedition members were strong enough to deal with a Legendary named monster by sheer specs alone.
If something on the higher end of Legendary showed up—one of those beasts on the verge of ascending to the next rank—that would be another matter, but I figured most of them could be taken down.
Then I started hearing the sound of someone swallowing hard.
They must have realized the wheel was slowing down.
After a short while, it slowed enough that I could see it with my own eyes.
It was only natural that everyone breathed easier whenever the white-marked Mythic segment passed by.
The same went for the gold-marked Legendary segment.
“J-Just a little more!”
I heard Deokgu yelling, and I could feel the Black Swan members silently cheering from the side.
With a series of soft clicks, the wheel began to lose speed, and the place where it finally came to rest was the gold segment.
Right next to it was the purple section, but it stopped one slot short.
“Ah…”
A chorus of disappointed groans rose up.
Still, that’s fine.
This was something I could live with.
Good. We did it. Yeah, this counts as a success.
It wasn’t Mythic. That alone was enough to let me relax.
[The wheel has stopped.]
[The Legendary-grade named monster Skeleton Knight Baan has been selected.]
-So it’s Skeleton Knight Baan. If I remember correctly, he was once a being of this continent who possessed the soul of a Hero.
Someone was enthusiastically explaining something, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Everything I needed to know about him was already visible to my eyes.
I had no interest in his backstory or how he ended up here. The only thing that mattered was whether we could clear him or not.
A melee type that can use unique magic.
His unique spells were Energy Drain and Summon Skeleton.
I could guess what the latter did well enough, but the former didn’t clearly indicate how it was triggered, so I checked the sub-list again and found a little more detail.
A magic circle on the ground.
That was the kind of pattern you could identify with your eyes closed: don’t step on it.
I had no idea what he had looked like when he was still human, but his build was definitely large.
He was clearly taller than an average person—probably over two meters—and his appearance was more like that of a mercenary than a knight.
It wasn’t something I’d confirmed through Mind’s Eye, but to me he didn’t feel like one of those higher-end named monsters on the verge of ascension.
At best, he was mid- to low-tier Legendary. We could definitely win.
Of course, the sheer presence he exuded was undeniably that of a Legendary monster.
He wasn’t some clattering pile of bones that looked like it would shatter if you tapped it once.
Green light gleamed from the gaps between his eye sockets and bones, and even the weapon in his hand radiated a distinctly ominous energy.
If I’d encountered him alone, I would have run at full speed without looking back.
But I wasn’t alone now. And the strategy for beating him looked fairly straightforward…
So I just need to avoid Energy Drain.
First priority: avoid the magic circles that appear on the ground.
The annoying mobs would be handled by the front line.
As for the first spell, the best move was to pull Jung Hayan aside and brief her directly. I casually opened my mouth, and Hayan, who had quietly drifted over, came into view.
“Hayan.”
“Y-Yes, Oppa.”
“Prepare floating magic. For everyone.”
“Ah! Y-Yes.”
“I’ll give the signal from my side. Always use triple casting for the chant. The floating spell has to stay in the last slot. Keep it ready at all times so you can release it the moment you get the signal.”
“Y-Yes. And… if we reduce the output a little, w-we can handle four spells.”
“Then do that.”
Even this one, too…
So it wasn’t just talk when they said the museum manager was a human blessed by mana.
In fact, quadruple casting wasn’t something you could do just because you had mana and affinity for it.
Before mana’s blessing, the real question was whether you even had the brain to memorize four spells at once.
A genius.
Of course, there was a drawback: when you memorized multiple spells at the same time, the firepower dropped a little. But early on, when you still needed to figure out a monster’s patterns, testing with smaller spells wasn’t a bad idea.
By then, enough time had already passed.
Manager Max was still explaining the monster, but the Skeleton Knight had already finished preparing for battle.
Seeing that, Max nodded and continued.
I’ve rambled on a little too long. It seems I’ve kept you all waiting for Baan’s battle. Then! I wish you luck, Museum Explorers.
“We’ll begin combat preparations.”
Kim Hyunsung murmured quietly, and everyone began getting ready in their own way.
After Max’s voice faded, the Skeleton Knight slowly raised his sword.
With a heavy whoosh as the greatsword swung, a sharp sound split the air as something tore through the wind.
Does it cover ranged attacks too?
It must have been some kind of mana discharge.
I wasn’t startled, of course.
My brain had already stored the manual for this kind of attack a long time ago.
Holy power flooded into the shield-bearing front liners, and the tanks moved to block the line ahead.
The mages began casting, while the front line, excluding Kim Hyunsung and Park Yeonju, held position and waited.
“Good.”
Without even speaking, everyone seemed to understand the pattern.
So this is why people talk about experienced hands.
Everyone here had some degree of experience.
Before the manual I’d crammed into my head, each of them already understood how they should move.
“Grrr… Grrr…”
As soon as he raised his hand, skeleton soldiers began springing up from the ground. I had no choice but to open my mouth immediately.
“Deokgu, Hyunsung, and Yeonju are the main team. The rest of the front line, make a wall with your bodies and clear the soldiers first. Pull the named monster off to the right. Until the next wave of soldiers appears, ranged units focus all fire on the named monster. When the soldiers show up again, clear the soldiers first. I’ll send a separate signal if the pattern changes. The defensive mage team should keep shield spells up at all times to deal with ranged attacks like the one we just saw.”
“Aight!”
Only Deokgu answered.
But everyone else must have understood.
Kim Hyunsung, Park Yeonju, and Park Deokgu dashed forward quickly, closing in on the named monster.
Once those three moved out, it was already a certainty that aggro would be pulled.
He had a brain too, so he’d probably wanted to deal with the rear first, but there was nothing he could do when persistent front-liners clung to him and refused to let go.
At this point, he had no choice but to rely on the soldiers he’d summoned.
He’s probably hoping the trash mobs will solve it for him, but…
Jung Hayan’s first spell came out in an instant.
“……!”
Damn, that’s fast!
Magic erupted along with some incomprehensible sound.
A massive fireball, completely unlike the ones I’d used before, began falling.
And not just one—multiple, at the same time.
Kwaaaang!
The deafening blasts shattered the mass of summoned skeletons to pieces.
I’d thought those unimpressive bones would collapse right away, but apparently they weren’t that weak.
A translucent defensive barrier sprang up among the enemies.
So there are skeleton mages too. No, did he summon different classes?
It was another reminder that this wasn’t called a Legendary monster for nothing.
Skeleton archers drew their bows, and shields also began to form around our side.
Mages on both sides chanted their spells.
With the fight looking like it might drag on, I immediately shoved a hand into my pocket and pumped mana into the Dragon Breath Potion.
Whiiiiing!
After the sound rang out, the potion flew from my hand and exploded with a tremendous blast, beginning to melt through the enemy shield.
As if waiting for that opening, the spells our mages had prepared came crashing down on the enemy line.
Good.
The trash mobs pressing in here were being held back brilliantly by our front line.
There was no way this could turn around now.
When the back line was safe, it meant the raid was going well.
Just summoning soldiers burns through energy by itself.
If he was summoning them by class, he might be consuming even more mana than I’d guessed.
I could roughly see how he fought.
He drew out mana that could be used for Energy Drain and kept pouring out skeletons with Summon Skeleton.
And the caster himself was a strong enough knight to withstand a coordinated assault from Kim Hyunsung, Park Deokgu, and Park Yeonju.
If we hadn’t known the strategy for this boss, we’d have had a hard time of it.
Considering how much damage Energy Drain itself could do, I figured any expedition that took this guy on without a plan would be reduced to a scene of people screaming for their mothers and fathers the moment the first drain landed.
“The main force’s mages are concentrating fire on the named monster Baan. The remaining soldiers will be handled directly by the front line. Third party mages, maintain shield spells. Once the second summon starts, the front line will build the wall again.”
“Understood.”
What surprised me a little was how well Park Deokgu was doing.
Of course, without the priests, Kim Hyunsung, and Park Yeonju, he might not have been able to hold out—but he was steadily blocking the sword swings like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Good job! You damn pig!
I couldn’t help but think all the effort I’d spent training him had finally paid off.
“Focus damage on the named monster again. No, the third summon is starting. Large-scale forces. Thirty mage corpses—archers, snipe the mages first.”
“Yes.”
I also sent Yuliena out as I spoke.
Of course, it wasn’t as though there were no injuries at all during the battle.
In this kind of fight, it was impossible to avoid every stray arrow or blade.
What annoyed me a little was…
“The front line may be having a hard time, but please try not to get injured if you can. It looks like the named monster is recovering mana through the wounds caused by the soldiers. It’s only a small amount, but be careful.”
“Yes.”
Even the skeletons he summoned had a drain ability, however weak it might have been.
The fact that he’d pulled in a large-scale summon during the third wave was proof that he was getting desperate.
I figured the next one was coming soon.
Just as expected, I saw the named skeleton raise one hand high.
The moment he brought it down, I hurriedly spoke.
“Jung Hayan!”
“We rise together!”
After some weirdly adorable incantation, the bodies of all thirty people instantly began lifting into the air.
Once I’d confirmed the floor beneath us, I could only be grateful I’d prepared the floating spell in advance.
This isn’t a magic circle you can dodge.
It wasn’t the kind that appeared at the target’s location. The entire space we were fighting in was the area of effect. There was nowhere to escape to except the sky.
What a cheat…
Even with high agility, it was impossible not to touch that floor.
There was no denying he had the stature of a monster strong enough to be called Legendary.
His unique skills were definitely so far outside the norm that they could be classified as broken.
And yet…
My eyes are even more broken, you damn skeleton bastard!
Somehow, the skeleton’s skull getting caved in by Kim Hyunsung looked almost pathetic in that moment.
Take your reward, Hyunsung!