NOVEL NEXT Chapter 364
After defeating the mid-bosses blocking our way, we finally reached the boss room.
“It’s a Dragon!”
“The real boss!”
As soon as we laid eyes on the black-skinned Dragon, a cutscene triggered.
-LV.100 Black Dragon Malarkhes
-Foolish humans, how dare you come this far…!
-Defeat the intruders, my children…!
-Clear out the Lesser Dragons pouring from the gate! You must eliminate all the Lesser Dragons to deal damage to Malarkhes!
The black Dragon, the boss, opened dimension gates on both sides of the map.
With that, monsters started pouring out.
-LV. 78 Lesser Dragon Warrior
-LV. 79 Lesser Dragon Archer
-LV. 81 Lesser Dragon Commander
“I’ll handle the left side. Just one healer stick with me.”
It was a briefing we had grown accustomed to from Kayak. The team felt reassured and entrusted the left side to her.
“I’ve still got mana left…?”
“I’ll save my area skills!”
Thanks to Kayak’s performance, the biggest beneficiaries were the backline, including the Mage and Healer.
They no longer had to chug potions, unleash skills, and calculate cooldowns like before.
Even amidst such chaos, Kayak was dodging dangerous attacks while managing her health.
The Healer keeping an eye on her just needed to throw in buffs now and then, while the Mages conserved their energy and prepared to face the true boss.
Once we defeated all the minions summoned by the boss…
-KRAWRRAWRRA!
-Malarkhes descends to the ground! Seek safety!
With a ferocious roar, the entire map was suddenly dyed red.
Every area turned red was a danger zone, with only a small corner of the map remaining untouched.
Just like when we faced Alphenheim, the raid gathered in one spot.
“They mixed all the boss mechanics we’ve encountered so far.”
“True.”
“But it’s not that hard! We might clear it on the first try!”
Kayak nodded in agreement. This felt like a reasonable difficulty.
It seemed like the Taker intentionally adjusted the difficulty, knowing this was a light server. If it were made too hard, it would just kill the mood while we struggled with strategies.
Anyway, the goal was within reach. Kayak tightened her grip on the sword and said.
“Here it comes, everyone focus.”
*
[Kayak is really going to claim the Dragon Slayer, huh?]
Have we reached the 5th gate?
-Kamilla is worthy of it for sure ㅇㅇ… I, a current 11-year raid veteran at level 172 Dread Hunter, guarantee that.
-To be honest, she deserves it lol. How much have we all struggled?
-Kayak was carrying the raid all by herself.
ㄴ For real, she looked like she was doing the work of 2-3 people.
ㄴ I was in awe when I saw her soloing a named mid-boss.
ㄴ I never thought I’d see such physical skills in a game like this, stacking blocks like a kid….
I never expected to see such physical skills in a block-stacking game for kids…
ㄴ The Taker Is surprisingly putting in a lot of effort, so there’s plenty of physical elements in play.
ㄴ Just Kayak…
ㄴ Imagine if Dragon gets the final hit stolen; that’d be legendary, LOL.
<I knew about Kayak, but only by name>
I’ve never seen the broadcast, so I just found out while watching Hana Guild, and the person seems quite decent.
Personally, I have a good impression of Ye-na for speaking her mind.
– Well, no one else would say such things except Kayak.
– From a Hana Guild fan’s perspective, thanks for taking the lead even though it’s not your own guild.
– Why isn’t the Offspring being kicked out?
ㄴ The Offspring isn’t the type to be kicked out; Ye-na was serious.
ㄴ The Offspring is just a little slow, but normally pulls their weight…
– I don’t get why Han-yul isn’t getting rid of Ye-na.
ㄴ Honestly, they’re not cut out to be a guild leader;;
ㄴ There’s a backstory to it all.
ㄴ Originally, it was a small guild, but it grew unexpectedly; at first, they didn’t plan to raid, but since people wanted to, Han-yul was forced to take on both guild leader and raid leader roles.
ㄴ It’s just that Ye-na has more viewers than Han-yul.
ㄴ LOL, that’s exactly it; the sheer difference in viewer count made it hard to complain.
ㄴ From the start, they should have just not accepted anyone, but since the viewers kept pestering to allow guild joins…
ㄴ But without Ye-na, it would just be the Hako Guild, one-person show.
ㄴ Let’s recruit Kayak, who has 10 times the viewer count instead.
ㄴ The actual physical skills are also 10 times, yeah.
ㄴ Wow! Her chest size is 10 times!
ㄴ ?
– That Ye-na has a surprisingly sneaky side; if Han-yul had said anything, she could’ve truly buried it behind the scenes.
ㄴ Right now, she’s the one getting trashed online, having spoken spitefully to Camilla.
ㄴ Honestly, it did come off as spiteful.
ㄴ Do 50 million Kayak fans look like a joke to you, huh? HAHA.
ㄴ She’s someone who used her viewer count to look down on others, so I don’t feel sorry for her at all, LOL.
<Breaking News) Camilla is so excited with the upcoming 5th challenge that she’s having a surprise meltdown, LOL>
She declared she’s going to cut off the Dragon’s head, LOL.
– Look at the Hana Guild kids panicking, LOL.
– Please don’t do that in front of others…
– After dealing with the fake madness (Ye-na), meeting the real madness (Kayak) must be dizzying, huh? HAHA.
– In the meantime, the Offspring is busy taking notes about the virtues of a big company.
ㄴ Why are you taking notes on that? LOL.
ㄴ The Offspring is also a little nuts, isn’t she?
ㄴ A surprise protest… the virtues of a big company…?
ㄴ Both Taker and Kayak are kind of out there, huh?
ㄴ I guess it’s true that the higher the number of viewers, the lower the intelligence.
ㄴ Han-yul shaking his head as if he’s gotten used to it is just ridiculous, LOL.
ㄴ How many times have they seen this kind of behavior while raiding…?
….
<? Did Kayak just lose the last hit?>
<Kayak failed the dragon slayer run, LOL>
<Camilla is roaring in fury, LOL>
<Who the heck got it? What the hell? LOL>
<Hana Guild, you crazy fools, are you really backstabbing like this? LOL>
Life, as it turns out, is quite the trickster.
You never know what’s right around the corner, and things never go as planned, so before you know it, everything is unfolding in the opposite direction of what you envisioned.
…
The Dragon was indeed a formidable foe.
An ancient being that had lived for over hundreds of years, a true master of mana who could cast spells just by speaking.
But it wasn’t a match for me.
– GRAAAH…!
– Malarkhes’s health has dropped below 30%!
– Malarkhes is casting the skill ‘Berserk’!
The Dragon’s movements suddenly accelerate. It starts thrashing its tail and breathing fire, putting up fierce resistance.
“Berserker mode!”
“Those who are weak, step back for a sec!”
“That guy’s gonna unleash his breath!”
With a helpful system message announcing Berserk mode, there was no way I was going to get squashed by a blind attack. It felt like an easy mode that even newbies could enjoy.
The pattern itself wasn’t that difficult. As long as you focused well, even beginners could clear it with confidence.
If I felt this way, it was pretty obvious how others would feel.
“Easy, super easy.”
“I was holding back because it felt like I was setting up a flag, but this is definitely a clear!”
“Hana Guild has defeated the Dragon!”
Amid the excited crowd, I launched myself toward the Dragon. I didn’t care whether it was breathing fire or not.
[Wait, are you seriously jumping into the flames? LOL]
[How badly do you want to chop off the Dragon’s head? LOL]
[You’re in a real hurry, huh?]
[Don’t let the last hit get stolen by Hana Guild after we’ve drained its health!]
[The vibe says it should go to the Broadcast Host, yeah.]
[For real, it should go to Kayak; she brought us this far!]
[GRAAH, right back to raid status!]
– Malarkhes was hit by the breath!
– You are burned!
I plunged through the breath and landed atop the Dragon’s wing membrane. I could hear my teammates’ voices from afar.
“Kayak!”
“Let them enjoy themselves.”
“That means she’s really excited.”
“Like we talked about earlier… you all know, right?”
It seemed like the Guild Members were now used to my antics, as they didn’t bother trying to stop me. They spoke as if it was just another day.
I felt a slight disappointment there.
I used to find it entertaining when everyone panicked whenever I did something crazy back in the day.
[Were you doing it on purpose?]
[I came from another room and the Teacher has totally lost it now.]
[I don’t care about my image… that’s just Camilla for you…]
Speaking of which, it seemed the Hana Guild wasn’t really planning to aim for the Dragon.
Despite me blatantly charging at the Dragon and flaunting my desire for the last hit, they showed no particular reaction.
‘Are they saying they’ll let me have it?’
“Is it happening?”
I had been tense, anticipating a fierce battle for the final blow, so I felt a bit deflated, but honestly, this wasn’t such a bad turn of events.
After all, regardless of how it happened, I was getting a Dragon Slayer.
[But is it for sure that we get a Dragon Slayer if we slay a dragon?]
[It’s not guaranteed, but if we catch the Dragon, there has to be something.]
[Since they dropped hints about Dragon’s blood or something, it should be the first person who catches it.]
[Dragon Slayer Kayak (Jin) ㄷㄷ]
[This time, I’m really going to catch it!]
Hanging onto the Dragon’s wings, I was relentlessly pounding on its scales, and I could see its health bar dwindling down.
Only about 5% left.
– Malarkhes writhes in agony!
– Kraaaar!
I swung An-sae with excitement and shouted.
“Hang in there, An-sae! I’m going back in!”
As I said that, a radiant holy light began swirling around my sword.
It was a buff. I didn’t know who cast it, but I could tell my attack power was increasing in real-time. Since we were so close to finishing it, couldn’t someone have done that a little earlier?
That was when it happened. As the light enveloped my sword, a cutscene began playing again.
It was a scene of the black Dragon Malarkhes flapping its wings in pain and then collapsing.
– Krraaaah!
– Malarkhes has been defeated!
– Congratulations, Hero! You have vanquished the evil that plagued the Taker server!
System messages began pouring in one after another. The screen shook violently as if an earthquake had hit.
“Wow, look at those effects.”
“WE caught the Dragon! The Hana Guild caught the Dragon!”
“Congratulations, Kayak!”
Guild members cheered, jumping around as they congratulated me. I was just awkwardly brushing my hair back in response.
“Not at all, it’s all thanks to you all.”
“Oh, you don’t need to be humble at a time like this.”
“Right! We’re the ones who rode on Kayak’s coattails!”
“By the way, are you not interested in games other than the Abyss RPG? We have a dealer position open in our engineering team….”
[Countless handshake requests ㄷㄷ]
[As expected of Camilla!]
[Hurry up and release the Dragon Slayer, LOL]
[Han-yul is trying to recruit into the engineering team in the meantime, HAHAAHA]
In the midst of all this, the once-dark sky suddenly brightened, and another system message began to flow.
-To the brave Hero who defeated the Dragon.
-I, the Archangel Seraph, express my gratitude on behalf of the world.
-Hero ‘Seok-hoon,’ step forward to receive the title of Dragon Slayer.
“…?”
“What?”
“Seok-hoon instead of Kayak?”
A chilly silence fell in the Dragon’s lair.