Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 35
>Chapter Title: Yesterday's Enemy is Today's Enemy
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Chapter 35
Panicking, he looked around, but Kaiser was nowhere to be seen.
He figured maybe he'd entered first, so he pushed deeper inside, but it was the same.
"No, fuck... what the hell!?"
The guy who'd clearly been there right up until they entered the boss room had vanished into thin air?
It was the kind of nonsense that would make ghosts wail.
Forget keeping up appearances—curses were the only thing that came out.
Creak—clank.
Creeeak—.
As if matters weren't bad enough, elite soldiers were approaching with metallic clangs.
At this rate, there was no escaping their aggro.
"Where the fuck did that bastard go? Did he crash or something!?"
"No, it says he's still logged in?"
"Then what the hell? Did he emergency quit the dungeon?"
Emergency quit.
A convenience feature that let you forcibly bail from the dungeon—but only before entering the boss room.
Sure, there was a two-hour penalty dropping your HP to 30%, but it wasn't a terrible trade-off, so plenty of people used it.
You could head to an NPC and down a special potion to wipe the penalty, too.
But once the boss raid kicked off, no dice.
It was to stop trolls—if someone bailed mid-fight, most parties were staring down a wipe.
Which meant...
"That fucker... he sniffed it out."
"Goddamn, no wonder he dodged everything."
"You shot so goddamn obviously, that's why!"
"What're you yapping about? You're the one who told me to fire!"
"Not the time to scrap among ourselves, dipshits. Snap out of it."
The bastard had caught on to their plan.
No helping it now.
If they didn't want the death penalty, they'd have to grit their teeth and clear the damn thing.
"Let's take out the elite soldiers first. I'll handle boss aggro—the rest is on you."
"Shit... fine."
Small mercy: they were all endgame-ready pros.
With a mage in the mix, no fuckups and it was doable.
Thwack!
Bastard Sword stepped up first.
To snag the elite soldier's aggro.
[Unique ability 'Showdown' activates.]
[Until the showdown with your marked target concludes, defense and HP rise 50%.]
'Tch. What a pain.'
Unique ability 'Showdown.'
A hero god's signature move—insanely potent for digging in your heels.
It let a swordsman like Bastard Sword pull off sub-tank duty without shame.
Kirik...
The goblin elite soldier froze at Bastard Sword's sudden appearance—then he struck first.
[Bastard Sword used 'Triple Slash.']
A standard skill: three rapid slashes to upper, mid, and lower body.
Nothing fancy, but Bastard Sword's version was different.
[Trait 'One More Hit' triggers.]
[Attack count increases, landing an extra blow.]
A trait that tacked one extra hit onto any skill.
Turning a triple slash into a quadruple. The elite soldier's eyes went blood-red from the unexpected vital hit.
Kirik! Kyaaak!!
[Red Goblin Elite Soldier marks 'Bastard Sword' as enemy.]
[Trait 'Tenacity' activates.]
[Aggro locked in.]
Undeterred, Bastard Sword went after the adjacent elite soldier too.
It locked onto him just the same.
Like bulls flipping out over a red cape—pure tunnel vision on Bastard Sword.
"Aggro's locked here!"
"Got it. I'm marking now."
Only then did the Holy Knight move.
Leaving Bastard Sword to juggle those two, he pressed deeper—and a goblin appeared that made the elites look puny.
Kiiii...
Matching the Holy Knight's 180cm-plus frame in height and bulk.
Not ripped muscle, though—just waddling blobs of fat, paired with that sleazy goblin sneer that wrinkled noses.
Still, those fiercely gleaming eyes sent chills down the spine.
[Goblin Chieftain]
-Title: Rare-grade Dungeon Boss
-Type: Goblin
-Traits: Coward, Selfish Defense, Vengeance
-Description: Chieftain of a great goblin tribe.
Only goblins carrying the bloodline of the greatest ancient goblin warrior can claim the title.
The current chieftain's blood runs thin, though—too cowardly to hide it, too timid to step up and manage his weight.
But he's still the tribe's chieftain. He knows rage for his kin's sake.
The Goblin Chieftain himself.
Kiiiiiiii!
Just as the description said—seething with rage.
[All Goblin Scouts eliminated.]
[All Goblin Soldiers eliminated.]
Over the deaths of his comrades.
Over his own frailty that doomed them.
[Trait 'Vengeance' activates.]
[Until every 'human' in the dungeon is wiped out, the Goblin Chieftain's stats surge and battle instincts boil over.]
And at the humans—the true culprits.
"Look at those peepers."
A coward trait was basically a penalty.
A weak-willed mind that froze up and botched fights.
Trash tier for a rare boss—but pair it with vengeance and it synergized like hell.
Power scaled with dead allies and raw fury during payback.
The coward's endless self-loathing over dooming his tribe flipped to rage—and that rage hit back twice as hard.
Boom! Crash!
"Urk...!"
The shield-bashing force was no joke.
No fancy moves—just wild haymaker punches. But even that was a nightmare to block.
Still, he could hold.
Simpler patterns than Arde's goblin warriors—no real bells and whistles.
No need to interrupt; just tank it out. Burdensome, sure, but not impossible.
[Unique ability 'Endurance' activates.]
[Damage reduced while holding posture.]
[Trait 'Unyielding Frame' triggers.]
[Body grows heavier, knockdown chance sharply reduced.]
And that was his wheelhouse.
Local god or not, a tank mainstay with solid rep—and endurance-tuned traits to boot.
"I'm holding! Burst it down quick!"
"Ri—!?"
Chapchae was mid-forceful reply, starting his cast—
When he froze, staring blankly into empty air, then bellowed in disbelief.
"You—that fuck why the hell are you here!?"
His shout was loud enough to yank the eyes of the two glued to their marks.
"What the—huh?"
"What? Why's that guy...?"
They turned—and locked up.
It was straight-up absurd.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps echoing from beyond the boss room entrance.
Strolling in leisurely, like he was out for a walk.
It was Kaiser—Do-hyun—the guy they'd been desperately hunting.
"Dodging everything my ass... couldn't land a hit even with it gift-wrapped."
They snapped to at his sullen grumble and howled.
"You—how!?"
"Wasn't there—how'd you slip in!?"
"That fuck's gotta be hacking!"
Do-hyun just smirked at their yells.
He'd already clocked their true colors—but the situation made their maskless meltdown hilarious.
'Guess my hunch was spot on.'
Never missed on vibes like this...
No wonder he trusted his enemy-sense implicitly.
Ninety percent-plus hit rate so far.
'Hiding with Backstab was smart.'
Backstab: teleport behind a target.
Didn't work on objects.
But corpses?
Not alive anymore—but not quite objects either. Worth a shot?
On that hunch, right as they entered the boss room, Do-hyun Backstab'd a goblin soldier corpse.
'Worked on dead bodies, huh.'
Big success.
Slipped from sight in a flash, hunkered at the corridor bend till it felt safe—then looped back to the boss room.
From behind, it was a shitshow.
The second he vanished, they unloaded a torrent of F-bombs—spilling their whole plan.
"Hacking for real... sounds like you heard it from somebody."
"N-no..."
Even that reaction sealed it.
No doubt: tied to the grudge-holder.
And who else could that be?
"Assassin kid, huh? His buddies?"
"..."
Only those assholes bore grudges right now.
Speechless? Bingo.
Heard the guy got presence-killed—yet here they were, subcontracting revenge. Not right in the head.
'Figures he'd post that crap online.'
Dumb or deranged...
These ones weren't total idiots, though.
"Wait. Won't deny we're your enemies. But you need us to clear this."
"..."
Bastard Sword pinned by elites.
Holy Knight tied up with the chieftain.
Just Chapchae left—a glass-cannon mage, shit in a 1v1.
Versus a monster-DPS swordsman who wasn't some scrub.
They clocked the bad odds and jumped straight to bargaining.
'Shrewd.'
Did he stare in surprise get misread?
Clang!
Kiiiiieh!
"Ngk...!"
Holy Knight shield hoisted high.
Bastard Sword grinding out blocks on two elites.
Chapchae gulped hard watching them, then pressed on calmly.
"You get it—mages are mandatory here. Need a tank for aggro too."
"Mm."
"So truce for now. We're eating all the aggro—no way we can gank you mid-raid. No point."
Fair point.
Sane folks wouldn't swing at him with aggro maxed.
Selfish Defense meant they needed the mage to clear, too.
Smart play to team up.
"Pass."
Under normal circs, anyway.
"Wha—gack!?"
Splat—!
Warmth bloomed in his chest. Chapchae's trembling hand rose.
Impaled on a massive greatsword.
He looked up—Do-hyun gripped it inches away. His lips worked in shock.
Crunch—!
[Player 'Top10ClassArchmageChapchae' killed.]
[Player 'Top10ClassArchmageChapchae' flagged 'Villain.' Ruled self-defense—no karma gain.]
'Villain confirmed.'
Death-penalty jitters tipped him off—spot on.
Was braced for a karma tick, but nope.
Do-hyun stayed cool. The other two? Not so much.
"Chapchae!? You psycho—killed the mage?"
"Sick bastard! Trying to wipe us all!?"
Holy Knight and Bastard Sword lost their shit, bellowing.
Furious even while aggro-wrangling.
Do-hyun grinned slyly at them.
"Know my motto?"
"What the fuck's that matter right now!"
Brushed off the rage.
"Never team with backstabbers. Don't care if they eat me or I eat them—link up and it always ends ugly."
Learned that the hard way in Delrock.
Dived into his first game straight out of cushy modern life: Delrock.
Raw talent shot him to #1—but smooth sailing? Hell no.
Green Do-hyun got schemed on endlessly in that world.
Early days, ate dirt more than once.
Scams from merchants with wild cons.
Poison in buff food.
Fake parties pulling assassinations.
'Got real sick of it.'
Some pitched "truces till the crisis passes."
Made sense situationally—took 'em.
Day they crushed the foe? Massive legion rolled up.
The "ally's" army.
Planned to clean up enemy and Do-hyun both.
Years clawing through that meat grinder taught him.
'Yesterday's enemy is still today's enemy.'
Yesterday's foe as today's bro?
Pure fairy-tale bullshit. Proverb fodder only.
Once an enemy, always. No sharing the sun.