Hard Boss Hunt
Hard Boss Hunt
Tier 2 Grand Peach Juice is now in effect.
Your Cosmic Malice curse effects are reduced by 20% for 100 seconds.
- The oath of brotherhood, kyah~
- Haruru really gets the romance of it all.
- This guild’s atmosphere is way too good, lol.
That wasn’t all. The guild uniforms we’d picked out last time had the others in suits, while I wore a black hoodie and black dolphin shorts. And now it was time to hunt the Hard Black Fox and dress it up with ears and a tail.
"All right! Let’s go."
- Let’s gooooo
- Smash the Hard Black Foxhhh
"We’ll do a guild raid sometime later. Come then."
A guild raid.
You might say, isn’t boss hunting already a raid? But it was completely different. Still, given everyone’s current specs and the fact that there was so much to prepare, this wasn’t the time for it just yet.
- Kyah~
- That’d be fun.
- We’re getting a legendary broadcast later, whoa.
- Kyah, lol.
- How far ahead did Haruru plan this, seriously?
Well. That would be nice, but as long as Guild Master Yu Hun was standing firm, the odds of that were practically zero. From the beginning, the point of stirring up internal conflict wasn’t to make the guild collapse—it was to keep that bastard too busy to focus on me while I grew stronger in the meantime.
"Right. Anyway, that’s enough about the Ruination guild. I’ve got to go hunt the Hard Black Fox now, so I might not be able to keep up with chat or donations. Please mind your manners on your own, okay..."
- Kyah.
- Our lord and savior Ru Ru.
- Please avoid the manners-policing, thanks.
"Should I pick one of you as an example and move on?"
- Eek
- Eek
- Save me
- Emergency! Emergency!
"The audience count’s been climbing like crazy lately, so I really can’t just let things run wild. I’ll reluctantly appoint a temporary manager for the duration of the Hard Black Fox hunt."
- Yeah, that makes sense.
- Right call.
- Why is Haruru so good at running a stream?
- Give me manager.
One of the many unspoken rules of internet broadcasting: never give the manager role to someone who asks for it. And I’d already told the company in advance, so one had been assigned.
"A future manager from Shining Parade, someone who’s always supported us from behind the scenes, will be taking care of things for us."
- Hello, future manager.
- The mini-jer has entered, whoa.
- Feels like the first time seeing them in Haruru’s stream.
- For real, lol.
- I thought she was an unknown VTuber?
- I heard she got kicked out of Shining Parade and was waiting to graduate already.
"I wasn’t kicked out. We get along fine. I’m even doing a collab with ChaeMone later. So, manager, please take good care of us. If possible, I’d appreciate temporary mutes rather than permanent bans."
- Kyah.
- Our lord and savior Ru Ru.
- GOAT.
For now, I pushed chat and donations to the back of my mind and focused all my attention on the Hard Black Fox.
⊳ Party Leader - Haruru (Dealer: Coble)
⊳ Party Member - Monemone1123 (Support: Astrologer)
⊳ Party Member - Ulsan’s Pride Jeong-yong (Tank: Guardian)
⊳ Party Member - ClearSkyBlue (Support: Wind Mage)
The debuffer had been swapped out for a support, but the build was still the same: all-in on one dealer. It was time to show off the full damage of full-transcendence SSS-grade Mika and a five-element Cosmic Blade without holding anything back.
Everyone in the party, including me, boarded the SSS-grade Ceres. The spaceship looked like a fighter jet, and once you got inside, the camera angle shifted as if you were playing a first-person shooter.
- Whoa, what is that, seriously?
- They’ve got stuff like this in Unknown Universe?
- Honestly, the quality in this game is pretty good, huh?
- What do you mean, there’s no such thing, lol.
- Don’t overdo it.
- Seat belts are important, though.
"I did. You guys hurry up and fasten yours too. If you wear a seat belt, your survival goes up by 30 percent."
- Wait, why does that actually exist, lol.
- How far did they even implement this, crazy ass game, lol.
- Still, for all the money they squeeze out of people, maybe they really did reinvest it properly.
"Pretty incredible, right? I’ll ask the pilot about it. What do you think? Is it implemented well?"
"Hmm. It feels like they only copied the surface-level stuff."
"I figured. If they implemented it perfectly, the game would get way too complicated. You can really see the developers’ sense there."
- Lmao.
- Look at the way you changed your tune.
- Yeah, perfectly implementing it would be nonsense.
I checked the other party members. They all sent me the OK emoji.
"All right, let’s go. Captain!"
"Yes. I’ll make your journey a comfortable one. As the captain responsible for the safety of today’s voyage..."
If I left him alone, he might accidentally say his real name and the airline name too, so I blurted out in a panic.
"Sir! It’s a game, a game!"
"My work habits kicked in before I knew it..."
- At least he didn’t say the airline name, lol.
- You can’t stop the in-flight announcement voice, yep.
"There’s me, isn’t there?"
- What
- What
- Hmm...
- Yes...
- Ru-chan is more cute than pretty, honestly.
- Eek.
- Eek.
- There’s no way I’d fall for something like that.
- Whoa, I almost got banned.
"That wasn’t ban bait. I was being sincere..."
- What?!
- Huh?
- This room is brutal with the ban bait.
- Endure it! Endure!
- Haaah...
- I have to hold back.
- Ugh, I can’t take it anymore.
- Ew.
- Ah.
- Ah.
- That donation is insane.
- True.
- Get rid of the loyalist.
"Why is that a mole? That’s a very helpful person."
We climbed toward the space road. Unknown Universe was surprisingly polished in a lot of areas, and among its most praised features was the space backdrop. If I exaggerated, it really did feel like traveling through space.
- Oh.
- Kyah, the graphics are insane.
- For real, lol.
- The graphics are actually top-tier for a game.
"Exactly. It’s a game that was surprisingly well received for its graphics. I even talked about that on my very first Unknown Universe broadcast, but back then there were tons of haters, so it never got acknowledged. They said it was worse than the mobile games coming out these days."
- Whoa.
- It’s way better than mobile games.
- Damn haters, seriously.
- Ugh, those hater bastards.
People always say internet broadcasting is a place where public opinion can flip 180 degrees overnight, but seeing it turn this fast made it hard to believe even with my own eyes. I got so excited I shouted:
"I should start Unknown Universe right now and pull an SSS-grade spirit, right?!"
- That might be a bit much...
- No matter how you spin it, that’s not it.
- I’ll settle for B-grade.
"Yeah, maybe an SSS-grade is a little too much. B-grade would be enough, I guess..."
As the word road suggested, a space backdrop reminiscent of an asphalt highway stretched out before us. If we kept going down this path, we’d eventually meet the Black Fox, but it wouldn’t be letting us pass so easily.
The captain, with S-grade flying ability, would handle the driving, so I wasn’t worried; still, maybe I should take some of the burden off us.
Aside from the driver, each party member aboard the spaceship was handed a space machine gun. Using those, we were to mow down the things that blocked our path toward the Black Fox.
"Are you guys any good at FPS games?"
"The only FPS I’ve ever played was Opx Tanker, so... my aim’s not great."
I’d heard that about Jeong-yong already, so what about Mone?
"Well, I’ve got an SSS-grade Raphael, so I can probably hit things even if I just shoot vaguely."
"Fair enough. If you’ve got an SSS-grade spirit, even the bullets get bigger."
- What the hell, lol.
- So aiming wasn’t even necessary.
- What can’t you do with money in Unknown Universe?
-[damage] HP
B-grade Black Fox Minion has appeared.
The Black Fox was a boss made of fox-shaped nebulae. As expected, its minions were just black cloud-like things shaped vaguely like foxes.
"Haruru-nim."
"Yes. There they are. Fire!"
I immediately brought my aim to bear and fired. Honestly, if this had been a real FPS, I would’ve missed. But because I was holding full-transcendence SSS-grade Mika, even lazy shots hit their mark.
Boom!
◈ Over Kill!!!
- Kyah.
- Cut.
- Why is the damage so high, lol.
- Those bullets are huge, lol.
- Wow, that aim was godlike (full-transcendence SSS-grade Mika).
- At this point, even B-grade is just Over Kill by default.
"Why would a cloud thing be a fox?"
Using the brief opening, I summoned my fox ears and tail.
"See? Fox ears, tail... A fox has to have something cute about it."
- True.
- Hmm...
- Then Haruru wasn’t a fox after all.
- Ah.
- Ah.
- Then it checks out.
"No, B-grade is enough to do this too. And the reason the damage looks so good is probably not just because I’m strong, but because of the SSS-grade Ceres."
With a standard spaceship, you only got the basic space machine gun. But with Ceres, your magazine capacity jumped to ten times normal, and you could even operate a Ceres machine gun that let you boost damage and add elemental attributes using spirits.
"And that’s not all. With a standard spaceship, only 70 percent of your own combat power is reflected, whereas the SSS-grade Ceres reflects 120 percent."
- Kyah.
- That’s broken as hell.
- No wonder it’s basically mandatory.
"On top of that, if you have an SSS-grade light spirit, you can fire a laser cannon in addition to the machine gun!"
- Whoa.
- At this point, isn’t an SSS-grade spirit mandatory too?
"Surprisingly, an SSS-grade spirit isn’t mandatory. Of course, if you’re pushing to the absolute limit, then yes, but unless you’re an internet broadcaster like me, there’s no need to go that far..."
"If I get my paycheck later, do you think I could spend just a million won and dabble a bit?"
"Ah, n-no, that won’t do, Jeong-yong."
- A million won as a little dabble, whoa; what kind of game is Unknown Universe, seriously?
- Jeong-yong’s little brother is built different.
- No! Save Jeong-yong-hyung!
- There goes all his overtime pay.
It was while I was chatting casually with the viewers, feeling much more relaxed, that dust seemed to gather across the screen and a swarm of minions appeared again.
"Haruru-nim! Not one, no—there are at least ten of them."
"Yes, you two conserve your mana... It’s time to use the laser cannon infused with the fierce light of SSS-grade Mika."
- Krrr~
- Let’s go.
- Seriously, what can’t you do with Mika?
With a thunderous roar, the pitch-black universe burst into light. Afterward, the tidal wave of trash mobs all turned to ash and vanished.
"Nice! We’re even farming the bestiary while we’re at it."
That’s when it happened. A hole appeared on the screen, and an abnormal phenomenon began. The monitor hadn’t broken; it was one of the game’s random event content triggers.
The Black Fox grows even angrier!
The Black Fox Road is beginning to warp.
A wormhole has formed.
You may now choose whether to enter the wormhole.
A wormhole.
One of the random abnormal events that appears at Hard difficulty or higher.
If you enter, the difficulty of the hunt skyrockets. Naturally, the rewards also skyrocket to match. According to the operators, the chance of it appearing rises if you overkill trash mobs too often, so was that why it showed up?
- A wormhole, whoa.
- Let’s go, let’s go.
- Probably appeared because you overkilled a lot?
"Does stuff like this really exist? That’s fascinating. Or maybe I’m hallucinating because I’ve been doing overtime."
"No. You’re seeing it correctly."
"Haruru, what should we do? Should we enter the wormhole? Or..."
There was no need to even ask.
- That’s a lot of talking.
- The person driving is an airline captain, though?
- If you don’t go into the wormhole, you lose your right to the top spot, yep.
- Skip the wormhole?
Just like chat said, I couldn’t let this chance slip away.
Smiling at the donation, I answered, "Our party currently has the strongest pilot available and, later on, the strongest dealer there will ever be—me, Haruru. Of course, the other two are also obviously amazing. The wormhole won’t be a trial. It’ll be a blessing."
And with that, I turned the course and drove us straight into the wormhole.
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