The Rhythm of the Perfect Counter

The first clear was still in the normal try phase, so no one expected to clear the newly revealed phase in one go. There could be unknown patterns, and if a new gimmick appeared, clearing it on the first try was practically impossible. In that sense, Minji clearing Palakus's desperate struggle pattern in a single attempt was nothing short of miraculous. Especially since it was the pre-bugfix version of the desperation pattern, her performance was downright absurd.

Anyway, the current situation was no different.

Bolekia shed his pristine white armor, now devoid of even a single speck of dust, and began to radiate an endless surge of dark blue ominous energy. Then he—no, she—shaped the shadow into the form of a sword and gripped it firmly in her left hand.

"Dual swords?"

"Uh-oh, that's bad."

"Dual swords are a symbol of certain defeat..."

Afterward, she crossed both arms, took a brief breath, and—

Shhhk—

The dark blue shadow rippled and slashed across the necks of the three players. The supporters had no time to react before they were instantly killed, losing three valuable dealers in an instant.

Honestly, dying in one hit wasn't that strange. Once they entered the third gate, most of Bolekia's patterns were either instant kills or dealt massive damage that was practically fatal. That was why the Naise squad had analyzed every single pattern, optimized their responses, and prepared countermeasures for each one. But now that they had entered a new phase with new patterns, those preparations had become meaningless.

This was the classic "if you don't know it, you eat it" situation. Most RPG raids worked that way.

More than half the dealers were dead, and they had zero information or strategy for the new patterns. So was clearing impossible? Not quite. Bolekia had only 15 lines of HP left, and with an end-game spec party, three people could still clear it.

"Okay."

On top of that—

Ting—

Even though it was a pattern they had never seen before, Seongna's ability to guard without hesitation was decisive for their clear potential. The utility of creating damage windows was more important than anything else in a raid.

"...Huh?"

As the high-spec users focused their damage, Bolekia's HP rapidly decreased.

Bolekia's HP had already dropped to 11 lines and was approaching single digits.

But—

Even at 10 lines remaining, no one had expected another gimmick pattern.

Bolekia moved to the center of the field and raised both swords high. The shadow sword in her left hand wrapped around the greatsword in her right, merging back into a single blade. A contradictory yet imposing sword shape formed from intertwined golden light and dark blue shadow.

Bolekia drew the blade back behind her, lowered her stance, and prepared to swing it horizontally in a wide arc. The thought "Something big is coming" flashed through everyone's minds. At that moment, what caught Minji's eye wasn't Bolekia, but—

Tap—

She didn't hesitate long. Minji wasn't the type to overthink things in the first place. What about the others?

Unlike Minji, whose attention had wandered, the others had been so focused on Bolekia that they only now noticed the [G] prompt. Should they press it? When? Like Perfect Guard, maybe at the exact moment the boss attacked?

Those who failed to press [G] in time were exposed to Bolekia's sword strike and instantly killed. Some had tried to guard at the right moment, but they paid the price for ignoring the warning that "shadow" attacks could not be guarded. In the end, only Seongna and Baek Ryong-gak successfully pressed [G].

Did that mean they had definitely survived?

"Is this a rhythm game?"

No, it wasn't.

Bolekia swung her sword at the players while Baek Ryong-gak and Seongna parried with their own weapons. The moment the sword was swung, those who failed to defend were instantly killed. For those who succeeded, dark blue shadows flew toward them. On Seongna and Baek Ryong-gak's screens, shortcut keys appeared one after another, reminiscent of a rhythm game.

"Screw it!"

Q, W, E, R, A, S, D, F—the gimmick required pressing various letters in sequence at precise timings.

Minji had never been particularly interested in rhythm games, but this gimmick posed no real difficulty for her. Perfect Guard and rhythm games were both ultimately about timing—and Minji was a natural at hitting timings.

With each key press, the shadows were pushed back one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by one, their force gradually weakening. Bolekia seemed to be reaching her limit as well, slowly being driven backward.

Not everyone possessed Minji's precise timing ability, however.

Crack—

The moment the timing was even slightly off and a [Bad] judgment appeared, the defense was immediately broken and the player was consumed by the shadow and killed. With Baek Ryong-gak down as well, only Seongnyeo remained. The silver lining was that they were in a dealer setup rather than a supporter one, so there was still a slim chance of clearing—

But clearing 11 lines alone, even with a half-dealer setup, seemed impossible.

The chat reactions and the fallen party members shared the same sentiment. Yeah, this was done. They couldn't clear it. Theoretically possible, but realistically... To avoid disturbing Minji's concentration as she kept trying, they had muted their mics, but no one held much hope.

It felt wrong to tell someone working so hard to just give up. Just as everyone had quietly resigned themselves—

With that message, Seongna's one-handed sword pierced through the shadow and reached Bolekia beyond it.

At the same time, Bolekia's HP dropped dramatically.

With that, the probability of clearing had skyrocketed. The difference between 1 line and 11 lines was enormous. In this moment where everyone watched with bated breath, the calmest person was Seongna herself.

First, focus on dodging. Since I don't know the patterns, trying to deal damage recklessly might get me killed. Play it safe.

Confirming that the swords had split back into both hands, she noted that the left-hand shadow sword couldn't be guarded, so she focused entirely on evasion.

Shhhk—

Bolekia's left-hand sword grazed past Seongna by a hair's breadth. Since the Saint class wasn't particularly mobile, even focusing on evasion meant these close calls were inevitable.

Thanks to that, the spectators were the ones suffering. Every time Bolekia swung her sword, the viewers instinctively regressed to their primal ape state with cries of "Whoa fuck," "Ughhh," and "Aaaagh!" The spectating party members weren't faring much better. If anyone had seen this scene, they might have suspected the entire group was devolving together.

Shhhk—

Boom—

She continued focusing solely on evasion. With only one line of HP left, there was no need to rush. Still, why did this boss keep using only the left hand? It was about time for a right-hand pattern, right?

As Minji focused on dodging, she caught Bolekia pulling her right hand back. That pattern was... the one where she drew her arm back and swung horizontally in a wide arc. In the current situation, it was the perfect pattern—large, slow movements, and a guardable golden sword attack.

While preparing to guard, Minji suddenly thought: Even with one line left, could she actually finish it this time? Even in a dealer setup, her Saint was only a half-dealer. Dealing damage after a normal guard probably wouldn't be enough to take down the last line. So what then? Wait for the next pattern? What if it never came? What if it kept spamming the shadow sword pattern forever? But committing to damage while guarding also carried high risk. If she failed the guard, it would really be over.

Ah, whatever. This was giving her a headache. When had she ever thought this long before acting? If it didn't work, too bad. If it did, great. That was how it had always been. Let's just do that this time too.

A white glow gathered on Seongna's one-handed sword. The same golden light gathered on Bolekia's blade as well. As both prepared to strike at each other, Seongna was the first to thrust her sword forward.

"Haaah!"

Seongna's sword swung wide toward the enemy. Bolekia also began swinging her sword at Seongna. If both continued toward mutual destruction, Seongna would naturally be the one to fall—

Tap—

Seongna's swinging motion was canceled by the movement skill Minji had input as a follow-up. Immediately after—

Ting—

She parried Bolekia's attack with a guard and used skill cancel to secure the guard timing. For what might be the final damage window, Minji chose the most difficult channeling skill to use in this battlefield. Attacks flew in with no time to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠charge, and hitting a boss that was constantly moving was no easy task. But now? Thanks to the Perfect Guard, the pattern was canceled midway, creating roughly 1.4 seconds of damage time. Plus another 1.6 seconds until the next pattern's wind-up. Altogether, about 3 seconds—but that was enough.

White light gathered once more on Seongna's one-handed sword. The light coalesced around the blade, forming the shape of an even larger sword of light.

The moment casting finished, a massive sword of light flew toward Bolekia. As if attempting one last desperate struggle, Bolekia tried to slash Seongna with the shadow sword in her left hand—but

Flash—

The sword of light pierced Bolekia's heart first.