194. Grim Reaper
194. Grim Reaper
***
Ding.
A hologram about the Grim Reaper appeared at the front of the cave.
*
————
【Grim Reaper】
—Level 80.
Damage Increase + 197%
Movement Adjustment + 92%
All Physical Damage Resistance 50%. Magic Resistance 70%.
Immune to Stun and physical status effects.
Immune to Magic Status Effects.
*Owned Traits.
- Death God (If three attacks land successfully, the target dies instantly)
- Death Scythe (The range of the scythe the Grim Reaper wields can extend farther than it appears)
- Wizards' Scream (Magic damage from Class 4 or below is nullified)
- Preemptive Attack (If the first opponent encountered attacks first, it will always strike faster than them)
- Troll Blood (Regeneration Adjustment)
————
*
Serin stared at the hologram and let out a hollow laugh.
"Really flashy."
Compared to the first Orc Lord she'd encountered, this was a dazzling display of options beyond comparison.
Among all the absurd traits, the option reading 'Magic Damage Resistance 70%' caught her eye first.
Combined with the Wizards' Scream trait, it was practically an option telling wizards not to even bother.
[Look at those flashy options lololol]
[Wait what the hell is a raid mob doing here lol]
[Did the physical and magic damage resistance go up even more?]
[They expect you to solo that thing?]
[Lololol still weaker than a raid though]
[Isn't Troll Blood insane? This is gonna be a long fight, how do you even deal with that for real]
[Rin still looks relaxed though?]
Serin smiled faintly as she watched the chat go wild over the hologram.
"I'm not that relaxed either."
She wasn't thinking she couldn't beat the Grim Reaper. But the fact that a Named Monster that should appear in the final stage had shown up in Stage 3 of the trials bothered her.
She couldn't even begin to guess what would appear in the next stage.
As I felt a chill slowly wrap around my body, I tightened my grip on the Crescent-Moon Weight so I could react at any moment.
And then she saw the Grim Reaper's form slowly emerging from the front.
A single skull with glowing red eyes above a jet-black robe that looked as if it had been painted with pure darkness. And a massive scythe radiating an eerie light, as if asserting its overwhelming presence even through the black robe.
"A new offering."
The Grim Reaper recited its signature line upon first encounter. Then it raised its massive scythe and pointed the tip of the blade toward me.
The massive scythe's form was barely visible, as if it had been steeped in darkness itself.
"Why don't you attack?"
She taunted the Grim Reaper as she faced it.
With the Preemptive Attack trait in play, striking first would be like shooting myself in the foot.
"I shall... harvest your soul."
The moment the eerie voice rang out, the massive scythe carved a huge arc through the air.
Slice.
The scythe swung from where it stood might have looked puzzling at first glance, but Serin could clearly see something formless slicing through space toward her.
CLANG!! SCRAAAAAPE!
Even though she had braced herself, her body was shoved back hard across the ground. Serin let out a small hollow laugh at being pushed back, feeling from the very first exchange that the attack power was far from ordinary.
She had been using Swift, and even then she could barely react. The Grim Reaper's strike was both fast and ferocious.
Serin released Swift and quickly moved to counterattack.
—Bloodstained Step.
Serin's form began carving red footsteps across the cave floor as she surged toward the Grim Reaper.
Tap-tap-tap!
Serin launched herself into the air and spun her body.
Slice.
The Grim Reaper carved through the air again with its massive scythe, and a line of pitch-black was drawn as if it were an attack with enormous range. The cave terrain gouged out along the line's trajectory.
—Single Kick.
Serin kicked through the air, deflecting the attack, and began shooting toward the Grim Reaper.
Swooosh!
Her pure white silver hair scattered as the Crescent-Moon Weight in her hand began to radiate a bright blood-red light.
The Grim Reaper simply stood in place watching her, then twisted the corner of its skeletal mouth as if amused.
—Spatial Distortion.
The Grim Reaper's massive scythe spun once in a great circle.
For an instant, Serin experienced a strange phenomenon as if her vision had warped, but just as she had anticipated, she rotated her body and deployed a skill.
—Explosive Spike.
Serin, who had been falling toward the ground due to the Spatial Distortion, suddenly launched her Crescent-Moon Weight straight down at the ground beneath her.
BOOM!!
The explosion slammed into the ground, and the shockwave launched Serin's body forward once more, accelerating her toward the Grim Reaper.
"Impressive."
The Grim Reaper swung its scythe quickly, as if surprised.
Slice.
Serin twisted her waist and evaded, then deployed her most destructive skill.
—Ghost Dance.
A dance meant purely for destruction. As Serin's body spun like a dancer, the Crescent-Moon Weight traced enormous arcs of blood-red lines, indiscriminately hammering the space in every direction as if tearing it apart.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!
The Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in intense blood-red light, slammed into the ground with devastating force, then burst through the air, ghost-like, aiming for the Grim Reaper's head as it carved out massive blood-red lines in rapid succession.
The Grim Reaper, having allowed such merciless attacks, raised its massive scythe once more as if nothing had happened.
It swung the scythe quickly toward Serin, who was unleashing destruction through her dazzling dance.
Slice.
A massive scar formed along the cave floor following the scythe's trajectory.
Whoosh!
Serin broke off her skill chain and, as if performing acrobatics, deflected the attack and threw her body behind the Grim Reaper.
'This is so annoying.'
Serin couldn't help but frown as she flung herself through the air.
She was landing hits, but they weren't translating into fatal wounds.
Unlike fighting the Orc Lord, she couldn't use the option of batting away attacks. In this battle, she had to push the Dancer passive 'Dancer's Vitality'—which restored stamina the moment she evaded an attack—to its absolute limit.
Because to kill a Grim Reaper with the Troll Blood trait, she had to hammer skills into it without a moment's rest.
—Heavy Spike.
As blood-red light gathered intensely around the Crescent-Moon Weight, Serin gripped the blade directly and drove it toward the Grim Reaper's heart, its core.
The Grim Reaper quickly turned its head and brought its own arm up against the Crescent-Moon Weight.
Crunch!!
The jet-black robe tore roughly, and the Grim Reaper's gaunt bone crumpled and twisted violently.
"Seriously. This is ridiculous."
She was dumbfounded by the Grim Reaper taking a defensive move that seemed more fitting for a troll.
***
One-Person Raid.
It wasn't as if there were no recorded clears.
As a kind of special performance, Jeanne d'Arc had cleared 'Grim Reaper's Labyrinth,' one of the raid dungeons, a year ago.
Her raid clear video, released live through the official TSJ NewTube channel, was more than deserving of the description "beyond human."
Facing a raid monster alone—dodging every pattern meant for a coordinated group of players and neutralizing instant-death patterns with parries—was in itself unreal.
The words she spoke at the end of the raid hit like a shock.
—If you can dodge all the visible attack ranges and parry the instant-death patterns, then all of you can do it too.
Coming from someone who had landed hundreds of parries over a thirty-minute raid, her words meant it was theoretically possible. Since then, no one other than Jeanne d'Arc had ever achieved a solo clear.
......
"Is this Jeanne d'Arc or Rin...?"
Minha, staring at the screen as if entranced, muttered the words blankly.
The solo raid video was famous enough that it was no exaggeration to say nearly every pro player had seen it.
And even most pro players couldn't bring themselves to attempt a solo clear following Jeanne d'Arc.
Landing dozens of parries might be possible with luck.
But landing hundreds of parries over thirty minutes—no one but Jeanne d'Arc herself could do it.
And now, Rin, who had been fighting the Grim Reaper in extreme close quarters for ten minutes, reminded him of Jeanne d'Arc in a certain way.
Like walking a tightrope over a cliff, she had already narrowly dodged the Grim Reaper's attacks hundreds of times.
Slice.
The Grim Reaper's scythe grazed past through the silver hair whipping in the aftermath of the fierce attacks.
At other times, the massive scythe's edge passed chillingly close, as if skimming her face.
Even in those moments, Serin didn't so much as blink as she relentlessly pressed her assault.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash!
Following the Crescent-Moon Weight hammering the Grim Reaper's entire body, blood-red lines continuously radiated crimson light, as if trying to dye the space red.
Now, without a single word, Rin seemed fully focused on the situation as she performed acrobatics in close quarters with the Grim Reaper.
The Grim Reaper's red eyes flared as it signaled the start of an instant-death pattern.
『Death shall come for you.』
An eerie voice that resonated through space itself.
—Mark of Death.
And then a skull symbol suddenly appeared above Serin's head.
One of the Grim Reaper's instant-death patterns had been triggered.
Following the Grim Reaper's scythe as it thrashed wildly through the air, countless pitch-black lines began surging toward Serin as if they had a will of their own.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash!!
"Wow. I would've given up right here."
Minha watched the screen, shook her head, and muttered.
The Grim Reaper's strength after using an instant-death pattern was only just beginning.
Creeeeak!
Immediately after, Serin gripped the cord of her weapon so hard it felt like it might snap, and suddenly began swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight like mad at the countless black lines surging toward her.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!!
The blood-red trajectories traced by her right hand struck precisely at the center of each surging line, bursting into brilliant clusters of light.
This wasn't a skill. It was simply the application of parrying to neutralize an instant-death pattern.
[Jeanne d'Arc, OMG]
[She's parrying just like Jeanne d'Arc, for real]
[Is this Jeanne d'Arc or Rin?]
[Parrying with a Crescent-Moon Weight instead of a sword, doesn't that make Rin even more impressive?]
[Lololol this is Stage 3 of the Cave of Trials?]
At some point, Minseong had been silently watching the screen, unconsciously projecting himself into Rin's situation.
He figured he could parry the instant-death pattern that had just occurred, but thinking about the endless chain of instant-death patterns that would follow—he figured it'd just be easier to give up, like Minha said.
"Minseong, with this level of difficulty, you think they'll give out a Mythic-Grade Item?"
"Who knows. Everything's random, and the Cave of Trials has a pretty notorious reputation."
When Minha asked curiously, Minseong shook his head and said he didn't know.
Still, the benefits of the choices shown so far had all been exceptional, so he didn't feel like the rewards would be small.