Chris's 'Red-White raid party' was continuing their arduous attempts.
Roooaar-!
Boom, boom, whoosh!
Clang clang clang, whack whack whack!
"Ugh!"
"Aah!?"
The Black Dragon swung down its front paws while quickly rotating its body. The ranged dealers within range of its tail hurriedly used response skills, but were stunned by the large damage breaking through their guard and had no choice but to be knocked back far away.
The Tree of the Abyss 1st Named boss, 'Black Dragon' was less than half the size of the previous area's World Boss, 'Green Dragon'.
It may seem obvious, but being smaller didn't mean it was weaker.
The Black Dragon's magic resistance and defense were no less than the Green Dragon's. It was agile due to its small size. It even knew how to handle strange powers.
Woong!
Black energy gathered around the Black Dragon, and it soon took the form of spears.
Swish, swoosh!
The twelve spears created by the Black Dragon shot out in all directions, tracing bizarre trajectories.
Chris, who had been tracking the trajectories of those spears to the end, shouted the moment they approached her close range.
"Now!"
Woong!
Whack whack whack!
Bae Merong on the melee dealer side, and Yeon Minah on the ranged dealer side. The Mages' ranged protection skill 'Mana Barrier' they cast protected the party members.
Chris grinned at Bae Merong.
"Bae Merong, nice! It's hard being on the melee dealer side, right? You're working hard."
"Yeah, I've done a lot of melee positioning while running buses too."
Bae Merong was skillfully responding to melee patterns leaking behind the tank and protecting the melee dealers.
They can't carelessly use precious invincibility skills with long cooldowns like 'Ice Prison'. Normal patterns must be responded to with appropriate skills each time.
There's also the method of relying on each raid member's invincibility skills, but if even one person fails to resist and dies, it becomes very difficult to proceed with the strategy. If there are skills to protect party members, they should be actively utilized.
In fact, the tank Deathly Death has the hardest position.
No matter how small the Black Dragon's size is, it was too far for protection skills to reach him at its head.
But he skillfully responded to the Black Dragon's patterns while actively utilizing Left Nimble Move, Right Nimble Move, resistance judgment after counterattack, and backward evasion.
The Black Dragon's attacks, terrifyingly fast and powerful even in normal patterns. It took quite some time for all party members to get used to it.
Whether elite dungeon or raid, it's ultimately a matter of repetitive practice.
The final conquest speed is divided by how quickly they become accustomed.
And the Red-White raid party, composed of all skilled users, got used to the patterns in a relatively short time.
From this attempt, all party members were skillfully responding to patterns.
[1st Named Boss]
[Level 53]
[Black Dragon]
[HP 180,154,007 / 200,000,000 (90%)]
Chris, checking the Black Dragon's HP, shouted to the raid members.
"From now on is the real thing! Special phase from 90%, let's firmly put it in our heads and find a strategy!"
Rumble rumble-!
Flap, flap.
As HP dropped below 90%, the Black Dragon started flapping its wings.
Whoosh!
The raid members' bodies were pushed back by the gale caused by those wing flaps, and the dragon's huge body started floating in the air.
Flight pattern, attack impossible state.
Flap, flap, flap.
Roooaar-!
The Black Dragon's body soared into the air of the Tree of the Abyss where the ceiling couldn't be seen.
Soon after, a storm of demonic energy spewed out by the dragon engulfs the party members.
The breath that continues endlessly until all party members are wiped out wasn't a pattern that could be dealt with by party protection skills.
It was truly a wipe skill.
In the previous attempt, four raid members died and eight remained to face this pattern, but they couldn't find a solution.
"This time for sure."
Chris's eyes wandered around.
It's different from the previous attempt when they faced the special pattern in a rush.
There should be a special gimmick to cancel the dragon's flight state. Or something like a barrier to get through the breath without damage.
Woong!
Soon Chris's eyes confirmed purple magic circles rising from three places in the combat area.
Magic circles just big enough for one person to barely stand on.
The three magic circles generated on the outskirts of the combat area formed a perfect equilateral triangle.
Tap tap tap!
Chris quickly ran towards the magic circle generated near her while ordering the other Yin-Yang Master 'Top Fishing Catch'.
"Top Fishing-nim, you can see a magic circle nearby, right!? Please step on that!"
"Okay!"
Tap tap tap tap!
He reacted quickly. The raid party's Mage Yeon Minah also checked the surrounding situation and started running towards the remaining magic circle.
By the time Chris reached the magic circle, Top Fishing Catch, who was closest, arrived at the magic circle first.
The moment he put his foot on the magic circle.
Strong purple energy surged up from the magic circle.
Flash!
Boom!
"U-uwaaaaah!!"
Top Fishing Catch's body evaporated with a scream.
[Raid member 'Top Fishing Catch' has died]
After that, the magic circle disappeared as if it had done its job.
Chris turned pale.
"What!?"
Can't step on it?
That's the only special object?
Yeon Minah, who checked the situation on the opposite side, hesitated for a moment, then covered her body with the Mage's personal invincibility skill 'Flame Protection' and stepped on the magic circle.
Swish swish swish swish!
"Kuaaah!"
As Flame Protection was instantly stripped away, Yeon Minah's body evaporated too.
[Raid member 'Yeon Minah' has died]
Were two out of three fake magic circles?
Then, is this the real one?
Tap tap.
Chris used backward evasion while simultaneously covering her body with the Yin-Yang Master's protection talisman and stepped on the magic circle.
Swish!
As she stepped on the remaining magic circle, green light burst out. And soon disappeared.
Chris gently opened her tightly closed eyes.
No damage came in.
Changes in the combat area?
Crack.
[Ent Tainted by Demonic Energy]
[HP 100,000,000 / 100,000,000 (100%)]
"Wh-what!?"
"It's that Ent from earlier! Three Ents!"
Whoooosh-!
Simultaneously with the first reaction of the magic circles, three Ents were generated in the center. They attacked the raid members while swinging their tree branches.
At Chris's feet where the magic circle disappeared, there was one green sphere.
[World Tree's Essence]
[Gimmick Item]
[Power planted by the World Tree in the Tree of the Abyss that took its vitality]
Tap.
Chris immediately picked up the green sphere and threw it at the nearest Ent.
Whoosh!
Light burst from the Ent hit by the sphere Chris threw.
Soon vitality circulated in the Ent's branches, and green leaves started growing.
[Purified Ent]
[HP 100,000,000 / 100,000,000 (100%)]
"Th-this was it!"
But that was the end.
The one purified Ent tried to fight against the two Ents tainted by demonic energy, but it wasn't enough.
Shortly after, the Black Dragon's breath mercilessly engulfed the Red-White raid members.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
Special phase time limit exceeded, raid party wiped.
"Let's summarize at this point."
"Special pattern starts at 90%. Black Dragon flies. Three magic circles appear."
"Demonic energy burst out from the magic circles Yeon Minah-nim and Top Fishing Catch-nim stepped on."
"And green light burst out from the magic circle Chris unnie stepped on, and a gimmick item called 'World Tree's Essence' came out."
"The Ent hit by that changed to a purified Ent."
The Red-White raid members gathered at the entrance of the 1st Named boss, organizing the information obtained from this attempt.
Deathly Death muttered while stroking his chin.
"Hmm... Three Ents tainted by demonic energy, one purification item. The numbers don't match."
"The other two magic circles must have roles too."
Chris was reviewing the video recorded during this attempt.
Black Dragon HP 90%, flight pattern starts, then three magic circles generate.
"...Huh?"
The three magic circles were generated one by one with a slight interval.
The order was, the magic circle near Chris was first.
Chris nodded.
Because it's a virtual reality game with vision limited to the front, you can't watch the entire combat area alone. But if there's a recorded video, it's a different story.
"There seems to be an order to step on them. Let's try in the order the magic circles were generated in the next attempt."
90% special phase.
In the center of the 1st Named boss combat area, melee dealers were each drawing aggro from the Ents.
Whoosh! Whack whack whack!
"Kuk, not yet!?"
"Three Ents, it hurts too much!"
Tap tap tap tap!
Swish!
This time Chris stepped on the last magic circle and obtained the green sphere.
"Okay, last magic circle completed! Throw them all!"
Whoosh!
Woong!
As the three Ents hit by the World Tree's Essence obtained by the ranged dealers were all purified, they gathered together and started radiating green light.
The green energy emitted by the three Ents soon formed a hemisphere-shaped barrier.
Chris's face brightened.
"This is it! Everyone gather inside this!"
At the same time as all raid members entered the green hemisphere.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The Black Dragon's demonic energy breath that spewed out mercilessly covered the entire combat area.
The raid members didn't take damage.
Swish.
As the breath stopped, the Ents that exhausted their power were also absorbed into the Tree of the Abyss.
Flap, thud.
Roooaar!!
The Black Dragon finished flying and landed on the floor of the Tree of the Abyss.
And let out a roar full of discontent.
The raid members' faces brightened.
"We, we got through it."
"First special phase cleared!"
Chris shouted boldly.
"Good, we'll go to the end like this! We just need to repeat the same for the next special phase!"
However, today's attempt had to end at 60%.
The first special pattern was kind.
From the second special pattern is the real thing.
The difficulty increased exponentially.
Demonic energy spears generated around the flying dragon tormented the ranged dealers performing the gimmick.
The number of magic circles to erase and Ents to purify had increased to four.