332. An Incomprehensible Difficulty
332. An Incomprehensible Difficulty
***
-10:02.
-10:01.
-10:00.
The moment the timer passed exactly five minutes, it suddenly stopped in place.
Whoosh! Rattle!
The wyvern's membrane, which had been trying to block the pure-white Crescent-Moon Weight that split the air, tore wide open in an instant, and at the same time, something grotesque occurred.
"...!"
Like molten iron melting into lava. The skin of the red-skinned wyvern melted away.
Serin, who had been eyeing it with puzzlement, soon realized that the monsters around her were melting away just the same.
The monsters that had been surging in endlessly stopped moving as well, and every monster in sight melted away, absorbed into the pitch-black ground.
A sudden stillness.
With room to catch her breath, Serin turned her gaze around even as she registered the unexpected situation.
Sua, who had been on my right, had pushed slightly ahead of the front line. Yujeong, who had been on my left, was quickly approaching me.
"Hah... seriously. It's overwhelming. I feel like this is the first time I've experienced a section this brutal."
As I watched Yujeong pant heavily, completely out of breath, I exhaled without thinking.
"I think it's been harder than I expected, too."
Even as I spoke, I suddenly felt a thirst that shouldn't have existed. The monsters had surged in endlessly, enough to make me feel overwhelmed, and I hadn't been able to think about anything except fighting them.
Vaguely in my field of vision: an orc's axe, a werewolf's claws, a wyvern's fangs—even the massive iron lump an ogre had been swinging.
Even now, I was instinctively dodging attacks while swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight. Never mind the stream—it had been hard to even pay attention to the other two.
"......."
Just as I was briefly catching my breath, Sua, who had been ahead, quickly approached.
When our eyes met, I caught the emotion in Sua's gaze without meaning to.
'...Disbelief?'
Sua's gaze held an emotion that seemed to say she simply couldn't understand.
Ding! Ding!
At that moment, a massive warning alert appeared, and a hologram filled my vision.
*
————
【Demon-Corrupted Harpy Queen】
—Level 85.
Damage Increase + 87%
Movement Adjustment + 193%
All Physical Damage Resistance 50%. Magic Resistance 40%.
Immune to Stun and physical status effects.
*Additional Traits.
- Ultra-High-Speed Flight
(Receives additional adjustments to nearly all movement in proportion to Agility. Additionally gains 74% Movement Adjustment.)
- Harpy Queen
(As the queen of a race, she possesses an overwhelming presence. Those whose existence does not match her standing receive a 20% Agility penalty while fighting her.)
- Blessing of the Wind
(All attacks gain additional Wind Element damage, and she possesses high resistance specifically against the Air element. Additional Wind Element damage 20%, Air Element Resistance 70%)
- Featherlight
(Gains an absolute evasion adjustment against physical attacks, and can even evade magic. 15% chance to evade physical attacks, 10% chance to evade magic.)
- Charm
(Her extraordinarily outstanding appearance has become a power that transcends race. Deals 50% bonus damage against all human or human-type members of the opposite sex. Inflicts the 'Charm' status effect at regular intervals. Against the same sex, the effect is reduced to 20%.)
『Due to the special nature of appearing within a raid, her traits have been strengthened and changed to 5.』
————
*
[The Harpy Queen will appear in 3 minutes.]
Along with the notification that she would appear in three minutes, another timer appeared and began counting down from three minutes.
The flashy hologram displaying the Harpy Queen's various traits and abilities appeared in my vision with a familiar feel, but more than anything else, my eyes went to the level first.
'The Harpy Queen is level 85...?'
Even more than all those absurd traits, the Harpy Queen's level itself looked far too abnormal. I wondered if it was because this was a raid, but it still surprised me.
Level 85 was a level I hadn't easily encountered even in Black Ark.
And that was the Harpy Queen.
"...The Harpy Queen?"
Yujeong seemed to have seen the same hologram too; she spoke in shock and looked dumbfounded. Just then, Sua rejoined us.
Sua, who had been panting and catching her breath for a moment, turned her gaze toward the distant darkness and moved her lips.
"It seems like we're caught in some kind of bug right now. From the moment we entered Phase 2, the difficulty calculation has been nothing short of abnormal."
Sua, who had maintained her composure the whole time, explained in a flustered voice.
"We're caught in a bug right now?"
"Yes. Monsters that shouldn't appear in Phase 2 appeared. Named entities of a level that should appear at least in Phase 4... and on top of that, we're a 3-person party right now, aren't we? Then it makes even less sense."
As Sua shook her head repeatedly, insisting that something was wrong, I found myself looking into the darkness as well.
It hadn't revealed itself because of the limit timer, but within the darkness of the cave, a single red gleam now sat where there had been none before, glowing eerily.
Only then did I begin to understand the situation a little.
The way all the monsters had melted away and vanished. The way the attacks had stopped. It all seemed to have happened because that Harpy Queen had appeared.
"A bug... yeah, there's really no other way to see it."
When Yujeong nodded, saying she thought so too, I found myself wondering why.
'Something's off.'
I felt a strange sense of dissonance. No—more precisely, it was closer to déjà vu, as though I'd experienced a situation like this somewhere before.
And before long, when one memory surfaced, I understood why.
'The Cave of Trials.'
Thinking back, the difficulty had been strange all along, starting with the Cave of Trials I'd gone through.
A constant string of difficulty that neither the viewers nor I could understand. And now even this raid's difficulty was bizarre.
It was enough to make me feel as though the Cave of Trials was overlapping with this situation.
I'd heard that a raid's difficulty was determined by the number of participants and each person's combat power.
Right. That was how it was supposed to be.
"..."
In that instant, I barely managed to hold back words of shock from spilling out.
"Considering the raid entry penalty, should we push back the Five Million Project schedule, or go in the direction of rearranging it?"
"Right. If it's a bug, there's nothing we can do. It's really disappointing, though..."
Even as I watched Sua and Yujeong exchange words, already concluding it was a bug, I suddenly couldn't even decide what I should say.
How could I put it in a way they'd accept in this situation?
"..."
I bit my lip hard as all kinds of thoughts filled my head.
Because if the hypothesis I'd just formed was really true...
'This situation... is definitely not a bug.'
I didn't know what kind of system or standard Another World used to measure players. But only now did it feel as though a chilling truth had been hidden inside that system all along.
A truth I hadn't consciously considered until now.
A fact I could have noticed, yet had somehow kept glossing over.
It felt as though that truth had belatedly come to find me in person.
As if asking why I'd only realized it now, a chill seemed to breathe against my ear.
'...Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa.'
If I based the hypothesis on her existence... then everything made sense.
I had no idea how Another World recognized the existence of Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa, but there was no other way to explain this abnormal difficulty. If I used Cheon Ryuhwa as the standard, everything from the Cave of Trials back then to this raid now could be called an 'appropriate' level.
As I was now, I'd lost the power I'd built up in that world, so I fell short compared with the Heavenly Demon. Without the traits and equipment I'd once possessed, even I was a far cry from my prime.
"So anyway, Serin. I really think giving up here is the right call."
"Rin seems really disappointed about giving up, though."
As I stayed silent, lost in thought, Sua and Yujeong exchanged a few words.
Watching them, I tried hard not to let anything show on my face.
...Right now, I had no way to explain Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa.
'If I awaken the Divine Blood and directly reveal Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa's form again...'
I considered it for a moment, but decided it made no sense.
I still didn't know whether there were cases of skills changing a person's personality. The Heavenly Demon treated me favorably, but I had no idea whether she'd play along with me. Even what I should say to Sua and Yujeong right now was uncertain.
Things about the Five Million Project contract.
Postponing this raid. Or terminating the contract.
I could also dismiss the situation as a bug and contact Another World about it, among other options.
Just as all sorts of thoughts were flooding in—
"Ah! Could it be because I formed a familiar contract yesterday?"
When Yujeong offered a new opinion, my gaze went to her without thinking. Meeting my eyes, she continued as if she'd just realized something.
"The skill ability called True Ancestor's Craving. As you two are feeling right now, it's an incredibly good skill, so maybe the raid difficulty went up because of me. If that's the case, then giving up on the raid now would be meaningless, wouldn't it? And Another World is famous for having no bugs, isn't it?"
The more Yujeong talked, the more she nodded as if she truly believed it, and I found myself looking at Sua.
Meeting my gaze, Sua spoke with a subtle expression.
"It's hard to deny that possibility, but... still, isn't the difficulty too high right now...?"
When Sua answered with that subtle look, I suddenly added something, as if possessed.
"Wait. Actually, I was thinking that maybe the difficulty spiked because I got a hidden class. I heard that when a raid measures a user's stats, it includes everything—stats and skill proficiency. The Moon Dancer trait grows stronger in proportion to the techniques I've learned, so..."
Honestly, I'd blurted it out on momentum, but even I wasn't sure what we should actually do.
But even so, giving up on the raid now would be pointless. Even if we entered again later, it would surely be just as difficult.
...Then a thought struck me.
'Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa—can I do it without her power?'
This difficulty that Sua and Yujeong couldn't accept. Overcoming it purely with my own strength.
Plenty of negative thoughts surfaced, but at the same time I could see a sliver of hope. As I was now, having obtained the hidden class Moon Princess, perhaps it might actually be possible.
—Clearing this difficulty that had been applied based on Heavenly Demon Cheon Ryuhwa.
- 0:09.
- 0:08.
The three-minute timer at the edge of my vision had already ticked down to nine seconds.
"...So then. Should we really go ahead and try to proceed?"
When Sua spoke with an odd expression, I nodded.
"Yeah. It won't be impossible. I think it might be doable."
"What... Rin, you're a really passionate person, aren't you? Then I'll add my vote for proceeding too."
When Yujeong smiled brightly as if strongly agreeing with me, Sua gave a small nod.
0:01.
Immediately after, when the three-minute timer hit zero—
From the far side of the cave's darkness, a woman of beautiful form revealed herself.