Unintentional Trolling

The Bolekia raid, which the game company had openly declared would be of "desperate difficulty," had unintentionally become the ultimate troll. A grueling march had been expected, yet once the raid began, its structure proved surprisingly simple. Instead of complex gimmicks or unfair patterns, it was a pure physical raid centered on short, tight patterns that each player could handle with their own skill. The most distinctive feature was that most patterns could be countered with Perfect Guard. Though the guard system had been changed in this patch, making the same returns as before impossible, the core idea of blocking patterns and creating damage windows for allies remained intact.

With proper use, it was even possible for a small number of players to completely shut down every short pattern. Just like the saint who was currently handling most of the patterns alone by guarding them.

So then, with a few outstanding players handling the short patterns in a short-pattern-focused raid, wasn't the clear just around the corner? That question could certainly be asked. In fact, everyone was thinking exactly that. Bolekia's group gimmicks weren't particularly difficult, so at this rate, shaving off those 300 lines of health was only a matter of time. Whether that would lead to a raid clear or the appearance of a hidden phase remained unknown, but at least revealing that unknown would happen quickly.

However, this guy Bolekia—

From the moment his health dropped below 100 lines, his patterns became seriously twisted.

The third gate of the Bolekia raid could essentially be considered to start at 100 lines.

After calmly acknowledging the player characters, Bolekia drove his sword into the ground. Then, bringing his left hand to his right wrist—

Crack—

He used his own hand to shatter and tear off the armor wrapped around his right arm.

As if his words weren't empty, Bolekia's patterns visibly sped up afterward. However, since that speed was the same level as before the normalization, it simply revealed exactly where the previous bug had occurred.

At this point, someone might ask: "Huh? The Naise party was doing fine even before normalization, so doesn't that mean it doesn't really affect them?"—and that would be correct. It was correct, but only when applied to speed alone. From 100 lines onward, Bolekia's patterns didn't just get faster—they

Boom—

They began casting what was essentially "enhanced short patterns," with large and small changes added to each pattern.

Whoosh—

On top of that, human adaptability wasn't something that could be controlled at will. Even after adapting to fast patterns, facing them again after getting used to slower ones was bound to cause confusion. As mistakes piled up one by one, they would have to start over from the beginning, and with multiple people making errors in turn, the number of tries would inevitably drag on.

For this reason, the Naise party, which had broken through to the third gate in a single day, still hadn't cleared Bolekia even on the fifth day.

The party's atmosphere, which had been brimming with morale just a few days ago, had now somewhat deflated. If tomorrow or the day after passed, it would have been a full week since the raid's release, meaning they would have to start over from the first gate again.

Moreover, the Naise party's goal was to clear Bolekia within a week—the very thing the game company had declared impossible. As that goal felt increasingly distant, it was no surprise that morale had dropped.

Crunch—

Of course, not everyone's morale ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had fallen.

Minji, who had been revived thanks to the porridge Suha had carefully prepared and the supplies sent by Yeoru, was in a better mood than ever.

Everyone gets irritable when they're sick. When the body doesn't move as intended and nerves are on edge from the slightest stimulus, it's only natural. But once that body starts to recover? Like a rebound effect, even small things can lift the mood. In Minji's case, that rebound was especially strong.

Why do I feel so good? I didn't know not being in pain could feel this nice. I should eat all the things I couldn't eat before. Ah, what should I eat.. Oh right, pizza. I'm gonna demolish some pizza today.

Of course, to everyone else, it was a rather absurd sight. Minji had only caught a cold three days ago, yet in that short time all symptoms had vanished and she was fully recovered. It was an unbelievable recovery speed for a human, but since Minji wasn't a normal person to begin with, it wasn't particularly strange.

"But it is really weird. This doesn't make sense."

It was a sharp observation uncharacteristic of Minji. Usually she just quietly went along with whatever others suggested.

Suha knew the human called Minji better than anyone else present. From her perspective, Minji's words were usually completely useless, but every once in a while she would say something right.

Even if they dodged all those brutal patterns and dealt damage without gaps, it still looked like there wouldn't be enough time in Eder's eyes. Most party members assumed that once they reached a certain point below 100 lines, a special gimmick would appear that could shave off a large chunk of health at once. But what if that premise itself was wrong from the start?

As the party leader who had to decide the direction of their tries, Eder began racking his brain.

Crunch—

The Minji who had raised the question was already stuffing snacks into her mouth again as if nothing had happened.

While various possibilities rose and fell in Eder's mind—

Upon hearing Podomat Sachang's opinion, something clicked in Eder's mind. The 100-line patterns started the moment the right arm's armor was destroyed, patterns became enhanced from that point, and then continued without any other gimmicks. But if they applied the "part destruction" Podomat mentioned?

What if there was a mechanic to destroy the armor on the left arm, upper body, legs, and head—all parts? Thinking about it that way, this absurdly difficult short-pattern raid started to make sense. If the goal wasn't to reduce health but simply to destroy the armor, it would become much easier.

Baek Ryong-gak's somewhat skeptical response to the part destruction theory instantly dampened Eder and Podomat Sachang's enthusiasm. Now that they thought about it, he was right. Two days—two whole days. After repeating tries for that long, if a part destruction gimmick existed, they should have succeeded at least once by chance. Still—

A raid without an established strategy was a series of trial and error. They would form hypotheses, verify them, and endlessly eliminate wrong answers. The possibility was slim, but if they didn't try, it would remain just a possibility. They would attempt it regardless of probability, one by one, eliminating that possibility to find the real answer.

That was exactly what a raid try was.

Despite Eder and the Naise party's confident start, there had been no progress for several hours. They had tried using part destruction battle items and focusing damage on the left arm, but the results were always the same.

At this point, they were starting to wonder if their premise had been wrong again.

Thus, the try returned to square one. The new direction was set: after 100 lines, all eight members would survive and pour in damage until the end to completely deplete the health.

Ting—

Having reached 100 lines once again, the Naise party only needed to focus on dealing damage from there—but

With that single line—

Seongna, who had never been the first to fall before, suddenly recorded the first death.

What surprised everyone wasn't Seongna herself, but her viewers. Even in her imperfect physical state due to the cold, she had shown flawless play, making them wonder if she was even human. Seeing her make a mistake like this made them think that she was human after all.

Of course, Minji felt wronged. She had accidentally spilled cup ramen broth while moving her mouse... It was really unfair. Though there was nothing unfair about it. Suha had always nagged her to "please clean up after eating right away," and she hadn't, so it was her own fault.

With Seongna, who had been solely responsible for blocking the short patterns, down from the start, things became difficult. Since the saint class was designed as support, forcing her into a DPS role didn't result in high damage output... but Seongna's true value lay in Perfect Guard, so without her, the entire party's damage would inevitably decrease.

The two who had unintentionally experienced the weight of Seongna's absence began to complain.

Eventually Eder slipped up, making it impossible to guard all the short patterns anymore. Even if Baek Ryong-gak successfully guarded every pattern, without someone to cover the rear once all debuffs stacked, it would be over.

They could say someone else would handle it, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asking people who had never tried it before to do so now would only lower the success rate. In a situation where they couldn't guard and were struggling just to survive instead of dealing damage—

A sudden system message appeared, leaving everyone flustered. What was that? The armor had reached its limit? Block the attack to break it?

Ting—

However, despite the confusion, Baek Ryong-gak's body reacted successfully. He parried Bolekia's sword flying toward his character and landed a Perfect Guard. Then—

Crack—

With the sound of something breaking, the armor wrapped around Bolekia's left arm shattered.

Having unintentionally found the key to the raid, Baek Ryong-gak could now be certain. Ah shit, now I get why it never appeared. The pattern was designed to break one part at a time while focusing on dodging. That crazy girl kept succeeding at everything, so the part destruction never triggered.

Now everything made sense. This infuriating pattern, which had been made purely for dodging, was actually designed to be dodged rather than blocked. While dodging, a noticeably slower attack would appear, and that was when to guard. After that, part of the armor would break, and repeating this process was the strategy for Bolekia below 100 lines.

The developers probably never expected this girl to keep landing Perfect Guards without a single failure. Her excessive skill had caused her to deviate from the developers' intentions—an unintentional troll on Minji's part. At the same time, it could also be seen as the entire party's fault for never suggesting to try not using Perfect Guard even once.

Well, either way—

With the strategy figured out again, only the clear remained.