[2nd Named Boss]
[Level 53]
[Death Knight Jakam]
[HP 477,755,143 / 500,000,000 (95%)]
Clang, clang!
I blocked the greatsword coming down towards me. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out strongly. The aftershock of the heavy greatsword should have made my legs dig into the ground, but surprisingly, no damage came in. It's complete damage negation due to the 'Just Guard' judgment.
If I were alone, I would have lightly moved my body to escape the attack range while continuing attacks, but the response methods for 'solo play' and 'party play' are different.
Jakam's 4-hit greatsword downswing is not a single set pattern. If you move while avoiding the attack, the 2nd hit will chase after me. In party play, it's very important for the tank to fix the Named boss's head position.
The problem is that in this state of maintaining blocks, it's difficult to input damage between Jakam's quick attacks.
Threat value skill enhancement that only exists for classes that can efficiently perform tank roles like Swordsman and Fighter. Usually, you would spec into threat enhancement attached to blocking, to play in a way that securely takes aggro even with low damage, but.
Swish.
I lowered my posture and maintained a sword-drawing stance.
"While fixing the head position, I can take aggro sufficiently with damage output too."
Clang!
Flash!
On the 2nd hit, I used Flash Strike in that lowered posture to cut through Jakam's waist and pass by. With this, my position became behind Jakam. About 0.5 seconds later, Jakam will turn his body and swing down his greatsword towards me. At the same time, the melee dealers who were safely dealing damage from behind Jakam's body will be included in the attack range.
But.
Swish.
Clang!
Jakam's greatsword swung down on my body positioned beyond space. The attack position was not the rear but the front. I had already returned to Jakam's front. Of course, due to invincibility judgment, I didn't take damage.
"Oh, that!"
Park Jeongkwon's exclamation was heard from behind Jakam. He was the main tank of the Scada raid party, right? He seems to have noticed what I did.
A trick I taught Deathly Death before. Avoid the Named boss's pattern by taking the rear through diving movements or skills, and return to the original position using counterattack while targeting remains. Since I used it from behind, naturally I return to the front again. It's a technique that can pull patterns to the front while using counterattack that turns 180 degrees behind the opponent.
And if you do party play, this is also possible.
"Next, rear sword energy or front sword energy pattern, binary choice! Mages, keep your eyes wide open and prepare Ice Prison!"
Chris's order was heard.
Ah, I didn't tell unnie about this.
"Don't prepare protection skills, just deal damage! The sword energy won't go to the rear!"
I shouted to the raid members. All raid members had puzzled expressions. They must be wondering how I could control a random pattern.
The surprised voice of Scada, the raid leader of the Scada raid party, was heard.
"Is it possible to control the direction of the sword energy?"
It's certainly possible.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Left and right slashing pattern. After avoiding the slash by lowering my head, I carefully watched Jakam's legs.
The retrieved greatsword positioned at Jakam's waist, the greave of the armor twisted 45 degrees to the left. It's rear sword energy. I used counterattack without delay.
Swish.
Boom!
Jakam twisted his waist and sprayed sword energy towards his rear. It's the rear of me who used counterattack, my original tanking position. Of course, there was no one there. I returned to my original position again, making the follow-up pattern face the front.
This is convenient.
After the previous 'normalization patch', Swordsmen could use two types of counterattacks through counterattack enhancement: counterattack turning right and counterattack turning left. At this level, there shouldn't be a lack of invincibility skills in normal patterns even without resetting cooldown. As long as it's not something like Crow's Severe Punishment.
"...What? How did you know? Front sword energy, rear sword energy should be random, right?"
Park Jeongkwon continued dealing damage from behind Jakam with a dumbfounded expression.
That person sure has a lot of questions.
Grrrr! Crow-nim!
Thud thud thud!
Whoosh.
As Death Knight Jakam's armor collapsed, purple energy leaked out from between the broken armor pieces and disappeared into the air.
I turned my head to look at Chris and timidly held up a V-sign.
Scurry.
"2nd Named boss one-try too! Amazing for a 2nd week sub-character team, right? Damage is sufficient too. Rain, good job!"
"You too, unnie."
Little Chris ran over with a bright smile and held my hand.
While we were sharing our joy like that, the Swordsman 'Park Jeongkwon' from the Scada team approached me.
"Um, uh. Rain-nim?"
"Yes?"
"Grrrr!"
"Unnie, he's a raid member..."
I looked up at him. Little Chris growled. I patted Chris's head to calm her down. He seemed to have a somewhat friendly-looking impression, not looking like a bad person.
"How did you know the sword energy direction in advance?"
He seemed to have come to ask what he was curious about earlier.
If you can only grasp the direction of the random pattern, front and rear sword energy, in advance, you can make Mages or Elementalists who need to prepare party protection skills focus only on damage. Park Jeongkwon wants to learn because he's the main tank of the Scada team.
"Hmm..."
It's not difficult to tell him, but can he use it in actual combat? If he makes a mistake, it could be dangerous.
I lowered my posture and swung my sword left and right.
Swish, swish.
"Jakam's 2-hit pattern comes out, right? Right after that, he moves the sword to his waist, you need to look at his feet here."
"Feet?"
Swish.
"Yes. If the left foot turns 45 degrees, it's rear sword energy, if it doesn't turn, it's front sword energy."
"Ah."
Park Jeongkwon made an expression of understanding and puzzlement at the same time.
He scratched his head and returned to Scada.
"...It's sword energy right after swinging 2 hits in 0.5 seconds, you look at the feet in that gap?"
While I was watching his back, Chris looted Jakam's drop items.
[Ring of the Abyss]
[Legendary Grade]
[Strength +80 Agility +80 Intelligence +80]
[Damage Received -14%]
[Critical Damage Received -31%]
[Unique Ability: All damage received from NPCs -10%]
(Bound on acquire)
Little Chris who linked the item looked at me and grinned.
"Full options for damage reduction? Not bad. I'll auction it."
"100 gold."
I raised my hand to make the first bid while timidly looking around at the surrounding raid members.
I got quite close to the Red-White guild members through the offline meeting last time, but it's still a bit awkward dealing with other people. Like the beautiful raid leader Scada from the Scada raid party, or the tank Park Jeongkwon. The two seemed quite close. Are they friends? Will they bid higher? But Scada and Park Jeongkwon just watched me with bright smiles.
"Seems like no one else is bidding? Rain, congratulations! With this, you've matched pairs for both ring and earrings!"
"Oh."
I checked the 'Ring of the Abyss' that entered my inventory and smiled brightly.
And I tilted my head looking towards where the Scada raid members were gathered.
"Why aren't they bidding?"
"Hm? Is there a problem?"
"Those people didn't bid on the 1st Named boss earrings earlier either, and now the ring too."
"Aha."
Chris made a mischievous smile.
"Actually, this is right. Even if we don't say it in advance, it's meant to flow like this."
"?"
What does that mean?
"In this party right now, our Rain is the only main character, you know? You're also the person with the strongest damage."
"Hmm... That's right?"
"As I said earlier, sub-characters can just eat leftover accessories. Of course, there might be people who want to farm sub-characters quickly, but it's more convenient for the party too if the person with the strongest damage specs up."
"Aha."
I felt good.
While comfortably raiding with a party, I could farm all accessories without bidding competitors.
Chris unnie had thought of everything.
"Unnie, thank you."
Hug.
I hugged little Chris's head to my chest with feelings of gratitude.
"Ah, aaah, Rain, wait!"
Little Chris who was flailing soon calmed down in my arms. And she let out a silly laugh.
"Heheh."
[3rd Named Boss]
[Level 53]
[Army Commander Crow]
[HP 1,107,239 / 300,000,000 (1%)]
Flash! Boom boom boom!
Caw-!
Thud thud thud.
I looked down with sunken eyes at the remains of Army Commander Crow disappearing after receiving the raid members' final attacks.
The Army Commander of demons targeting this world. One of them, 'Crow', seemed to have become unable to converse after the first clear. Today's Crow greeted me in the form of a giant crow from the start.
This guy disappearing in front of my feet is just a shell, Crow's illusion. The current Crow is just a farming boss giving items to users.
Should I unravel the curiosity about the existence standing behind them through the next Army Commander?
"As I said in advance, I'll craft and sell the weapons. I'll send the sales details and distribution money after deducting material costs through mail, so you don't have to come find me separately."
Little Chris put all of Crow's drop items in her inventory. The Red-White raid members including the Scada raid members nodded and had satisfied expressions.
"Good work today."
"Please take care of us next week too."
After team 2's conquest ended, the raid members of the two teams disappeared one by one through the exit portal.
Scada also disappeared after a slight bow. Her last eyes were a bit sharp. What's burning in there, competitiveness?
Everyone is working hard. Am I, an irregular, an ecosystem-destroying species? Still, I have no intention of giving up on approaching the truth of this world.
Chris asked in a small voice to me who was constantly patting little Chris's head while hugging it.
"You keep patting today... Does Rain like little unnie? Should I make this character my main instead?"
"Huh? Hmm..."
I thought for a moment.
Big sister, little sister.
Which one is better?
Both had their own advantages.
It's happy to pat little Chris unnie, and it's happy to be hugged by big Chris unnie. Both are happy, but slightly different happiness.
Still, being hugged seems better after all.
"I think I like big unnie better."
Chris's face lit up.
"Right, right? Uhehehe, I can't make my body smaller outside the game after all."
"Small is good sometimes too."
"R-really? Once a week is just right?"
"Heheh. That's a good ratio."
Until I logged out today, I patted little Chris to my heart's content.