The Heavenly Demon Gets Raided (2)
The Heavenly Demon had seized absolute, untouchable power in the Thread streamer server in just two short days. The method had been ridiculously simple. After all, she herself was a walking disaster.
Bae Min-hwang, the host of the streamer server, had predicted this situation to some extent. Hwaryeong was never the type to hide her strength. Predicting her actions wasn't difficult when she'd already shown the world, across countless games, just how much power she possessed and exactly how she moved. In reality, she was doing exactly what everyone expected her to do. She attacked others to get what she wanted, tamed one of the bosses simply because its fur looked soft, made a fortune gambling, raided a boss under the absurd pretext of making her pet's coat fluffier, and delivered brutal punishment to anyone who dared touch her circle. The fact that she accomplished all of this alone, and with her bare hands, was far beyond common sense. But aside from that part, it was just another day in Thread.
That was why Bae Min-hwang saw no reason to restrain her. If her outrageous behavior had truly been a problem, wouldn't he have asked her directly to restrain herself? Instead of holding a raid meeting like this.
So why had this raid meeting, attended by most of the team leaders in the streamer server, even formed? The reason was simple and very human.
It just looked like it would be fun.
Think about it. Everyone gathered here had played Thread for a long time, whether on stream or off. Naturally, they'd slain the bosses that existed here countless times and grown sick of the endless player-versus-player conflicts. Yet even while thinking they were tired of it, the unique charm of Thread kept these veterans hooked. And into that stagnant pond had dropped a new piece of content called Hwaryeong.
A boss far more powerful than any enemy they'd ever faced before! And on top of that, she was a MyTube cheat key whose name alone could skyrocket view counts. How could streamers like them possibly pass up this opportunity?
With motivation coming from so many angles, the people gathered in the meeting room were bursting with enthusiasm. It was hard to believe these were the same lunatics who poured twenty out of twenty-four hours into Thread.
“First, let’s confirm the combat capabilities of this special boss in the streamer server.”
Standing at the center, Bae Min-hwang calmly listed off the various feats Hwaryeong had accomplished so far. The time she had knocked out the Giant—a calamity once thought completely unconquerable—with a single punch. The way she had toyed with and slaughtered a Dragon, the hated enemy of long-time Thread players. The moment she had suppressed the Ruler of the Forest with nothing but killing intent and turned it into her pet. And the murmurs grew louder as he described how bosses that the people here had once stayed up all night trying to strategize against had been destroyed on first sight.
One person raised their hand from the crowd.
“Um… I get that this boss is completely broken, but what are her exact specs?”
“Hmm. Roughly speaking, she can run faster than the Ruler of the Forest, has enough strength to send a Giant flying, uses all sorts of bizarre techniques, and since she’s humanoid and small, she’s also difficult to hit.”
“Whoa…”
“And she can ignore the implicit rules, too.”
Raid bosses had certain rules in place for the sake of enjoyable gameplay. For example, no matter what nonsense the tank pulled, they weren’t supposed to ignore them and attack the healer. That sort of thing. But Hwaryeong could ignore all of them.
Because she was a player, not an AI.
“…Can we even clear this?”
Someone blurted out the words after listening to Bae Min-hwang’s deadpan explanation. The half-laughing remark, born from sheer disbelief, perfectly summarized the current situation. Preparing for a raid was fine, but was it even possible to defeat a monster like that?
Bae Min-hwang smiled and answered.
“Isn’t that what a raid is supposed to be? If it works, great. If not, oh well.”
If the raid succeeded, they would achieve the feat of defeating an unprecedented monster called Hwaryeong. Even if they failed, they would still secure plenty of buzz and streaming entertainment. And even if it ended in a pathetic showing, they’d only get flamed by the viewers. There was no real loss.
“Still, succeeding would be more fun for us, so let’s give it our best. First, let’s start with strategy.”
The meeting, now under Bae Min-hwang’s full command, grew increasingly heated as time passed. Strangely, not a single person brought up the question of whether it was fair for over a hundred people to gang up on one person.
Because the opponent was Hwaryeong.
“This is turning into real work.”
Covering Neungneung-i’s fur in foam with the shampoo the alchemist had made was quite the laborious task. There were several problems. First, Neungneung-i’s size. This creature that looked like it could bite an elephant in half was not something that could be finished in an hour or two of scrubbing by hand. On top of that, Neungneung-i hated baths. Whether it was the fragrant scent of the shampoo it disliked or simply because it was wary of me, the beast kept looking for chances to run away. Of course, since I had warned it beforehand, Neungneung-i had no choice but to obediently follow my orders.
There were other issues too—its fur was too coarse, no matter how much I washed it the black grime never seemed to disappear—but in the end, it all came down to how much time I was willing to invest.
After much hardship, I finally finished shampooing and ordered Neungneung-i to rinse off. Had it finally given up after suffering for so long? The creature that had initially refused to even enter the water now trudged into the river and began rolling around, trying to wash the shampoo away.
“Wait.”
“Woof?”
“Hold still.”
When I first made it enter the water, it had been filthy anyway, so I hadn’t cared if it rolled in the dirt. But not now. I had gone through all that trouble to shampoo it thoroughly. If it got covered in mud again, it would feel like dirt was getting in my own eyes.
“I’ll wash you myself.”
The moment I declared that I would wash Neungneung-i myself, the donation flew in. It probably meant whether it was possible to wash such a massive wolf with human hands. Hmm. Of course it wasn’t easy. This wasn’t the modern world with all its convenient tools, so everything had to be done manually. I could manage somehow by using what I possessed, but I had no desire to get my own body wet. Therefore, I would use Taoist magic.
I drew a picture upon the world. Creating water was the very first thing I had learned from Baru. I didn’t know how it had been in the past, but now that I was proficient, there was no discomfort in using it. The moment the picture was completed, the river water surrounding Neungneung-i rose into the air and crashed down upon it.
Startled by the abnormal sight, Neungneung-i tried to flee, but I suppressed its movement with killing intent.
“Hey now. I told you to stay still, didn’t I?”
“Whine! Whiiiine!”
“Endure it. What kind of Ruler of the Forest are you if you can’t even handle this much?”
As I continued pouring water over Neungneung-i for quite some time, I noticed someone approaching from afar. It was Pipi. The girl who had run all the way here on her own two legs tried to catch her breath the moment she reached my side.
“Hw… Hwaryeong-nim…”
“Calm your breathing first. You won’t be able to speak properly like that.”
After some time had passed and she had finally regained her composure, Pipi gave an awkward smile.
“You have plenty of money. Why didn’t you find suitable transportation?”
“I did get a ride until nearby. But apparently they couldn’t come all the way here because they were scared of Neungneung-i.”
Goodness. Even animals can be quite timid. I wonder what part of this adorable child they found so frightening.
“So, what is the matter?”
“Ah, well…”
The story Pipi delivered was this: A massive number of people currently in the Thread streamer server had formed an alliance. Their target was me. They planned to combine their strength to defeat me, the one who had claimed the position of the strongest being in the current Thread world.
“How interesting.”
“Interesting?! Over a hundred people are going to gang up on you!”
“No matter how many fools who don’t even understand the basics of martial arts band together, do you truly think they can defeat me?”
I wouldn’t deny that numbers were an important factor in war. However, in the face of overwhelming difference, everything becomes meaningless. No matter how many of them there were, they wouldn’t even be able to inflict a single wound on me.
“Is… that so?”
“It is.”
Hmm. It has been quite a long time since I last became the target of an assassination attempt. I experienced it quite often in the past, but ever since I destroyed the righteous sects and crushed the government army, no one had dared touch me. I was rather curious to see just how entertaining they could make this for me. I hoped they would come at me with sincere intent to kill.
While I was thinking that, the moment finally came when no more filth flowed out even as I poured water over Neungneung-i. When I stopped using the spell, the wolf’s fur drooped pathetically as it looked up at me, gauging my reaction.
“You may come out now.”
The moment I spoke, the creature dashed out and began shaking its body vigorously to fling the water off. Given its massive size, the amount of water it shook off was enormous. I managed to avoid it without much difficulty, but Pipi, who had been standing beside me, was not so lucky. She stared blankly at the droplets flying toward her, got hit by them one after another, and collapsed onto the ground.
Seeing Neungneung-i whining with its drooping fur and Pipi beside it, completely out of her senses, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was quite the amusing scene.
“My dear viewers. How long do you think it will take to dry Neungneung-i’s fur until it’s soft and fluffy?”
“Hmm. This is troublesome.”
I had wanted to enjoy Neungneung-i’s soft, fragrant fur, but it seemed obstacles kept appearing before me.