I Gave Up Being Stronger

The Players gathered in the Dragon’s Nest were top-tier Players on their respective Servers, but all of them perceived Julius as a being of a different dimension. When he appeared, most of them froze, and some were overwhelmed by a terror they dared not resist.

‘I…I need to run away.’

Several Players’ minds were paralyzed by a fear they had never experienced before. They even forgot about Kim Chul-Soo’s spectacular bombardment. The only thought they had was to escape from this place. Fortunately, as Chul-Soo’s Babylon Cannon hit Julius, the magic circle for escaping the Dungeon was activated, and simultaneously, three Players sprinted toward the magic circle with all their might.

“Aah!”

“Aaah!”

Furface gritted his teeth. ‘You fools!’

In their rush to escape, they had been blinded to everything else.

‘Can’t you see the falling magma?’ Furface could feel the tremendous heat of the magma flowing from Julius’s mouth despite it being a considerable distance away. If even a single drop touched them, it would instantly melt them away.

‘They’re done for. They are out of their minds. They can’t think straight.’

Furface jumped up. He transformed his hair into rock and hardened it, then crossed his arms in an X to block the falling magma and deflect it sideways.

‘Ugh!’

While he managed to block the impact reasonably well, part of his hair melted from the intense heat. The heat spreading throughout him made it harder for him to breathe. Even though he was confident in his defensive abilities, he realized something.

‘This palace is beyond my level!’

The falling magma wasn’t even an attack. In human terms, Julius was only bleeding. Just from this one encounter, Furface felt that Julius’s strength was far beyond him.

‘If he starts attacking, there is no hope for us.’

Unfortunately, their party didn’t have many Tanks. Julius could instantly wipe everyone out before the damage-dealing Players could prepare their attacks.

‘I never imagined he would be this powerful…’

[“I will kill you all.”]

With Julius’s chilling voice, pillars of fire began to erupt everywhere. The magic circle was still far away, and the Players with weak defense would surely be annihilated. At times like this, focusing and choosing the right direction was pivotal.

“Nick! Jasmine! I will protect you two!” Furface shouted.

Nick summoned a giant fiery squirrel, and Jasmine played a fire-resistant flute to increase fire resistance. Now, it was a matter of luck. Those with good fortune would live, and those without it would die.

“Everyone, run to the exit!”

Jasmine did her best to help the Players. “This Julius is on a completely different level from before! We must flee!”

Although Dungeons were known for their unpredictability, this was beyond the norm. Looking at the flames engulfing their surroundings, Jasmine felt dizzy. ‘The Fire Dragon was never this powerful before…!’

For reasons unknown, Julius had become much stronger. Or perhaps this was Julius’s true power. There was no time to analyze the reasons. The important thing was to somehow escape and survive. Jasmine desperately played her flute, trying to increase the Players’ fire resistance.

‘I’m running out of mana! Why is the magic circle so far away?’

Moreover, some Players were still showing baseless confidence against Julius, frustrating Jasmine. ‘I can’t save all of them. I need to give up on those idiots.’

Failure to grasp the dire situation meant inevitable death. That was an obvious principle. She could not save everyone. Her flute’s sound enveloped the fleeing Players. Without her Skill, the Players’ skin would have melted.

‘Still…’

Thanks to Jasmine, most Players were able to escape. The giant fire squirrel that Nick summoned ran toward the magic circle with Jasmine on its back.

‘But Furface is still there…!’

The Tank, Furface, was struggling to block the falling magma chunks to protect the other Players. He seemed to be having difficulty running, likely due to having exhausted his stamina. From a distance, Nick shouted, “Jasmine! You might be the last one!”

Nick had done his best too. He had constantly communicated with the fire squirrel to save as many Players as possible, and Jasmine was essentially the last one.

‘Furface, I’m sorry,’ Nick thought.

Saving Furface seemed impossible. Flames were gathering in Julius’s mouth as the dragon hovered in the air. This was one of Julius’s signature attacks, called Fire Breath. When that hot breath of fire would strike the ground, no living being on the surface would remain.

Nick had an epiphany. ‘This isn’t a being that humans can subjugate. Reinforcing our strength? That is meaningless in the face of overwhelming power.’

Nick felt this to his core. Most of the Players gathered in the Dragon’s Nest felt the same.

“Furface!” Jasmine shouted.

At that moment, Jasmine’s mana was depleted. She could no longer produce any flute sound, and the fire-resistant barrier protecting the Players disappeared like melting snow.

‘No!’

She had overexerted herself. At this rate, all the other Players would melt away. That was how intense the heat here was.

‘Huh?’

When they arrived in front of the magic circle, Nick pulled Jasmine down.

“Jasmine, hurry!”

“Nick.”

Strangely, Nick seemed unaffected. The other Players also appeared to be fine.

“Are you… okay?” Jasmine asked.

“Of course I am. Why?”

The giant fire squirrel gently bit Jasmine’s nape and threw her toward the magic circle. Jasmine was still confused until that moment. “How is everyone okay…?”

Even though the sound of her flute had disappeared, no one was hurt. Even Furface, who was enduring stronger flames far away, seemed okay.

‘How is this possible?’ Jasmine thought.

[You have escaped the ⌜Dragon’s Nest⌟.]

Jasmine could not solve her curiosity.

***

Furface stared at the pillar of fire descending upon him. ‘At least I didn’t succumb to fear.’

When Julius had first appeared, Furface had been too terrified to move. It wasn’t that he was weak, but rather that Julius was such a terrifying existence. But in the end, he overcame it. As a Tank, he had done his best.

“Everyone! Live! Survive and return to your families!” Furface shouted as if he were giving his last words. Then he looked at Chul-Soo. “Was that good enough?”

“Yeah. A bit less dramatic, but it will do,” Jin-Hyeok replied.

Furface waved his arm, and the pillar of fire engulfing him dispersed. He collapsed to the ground, all strength leaving his body.

‘How is this possible?’ Furface thought. “I can’t believe you could cast your Absolute Barrier on everyone, Chul-Soo.”

Furface was sure that Chul-Soo was a Tank, an all-rounder Tank that possessed sleep resistance, sound wave resistance, physical resistance, fire resistance, and even area-of-effect attributes.

Furface had vowed not to be surprised anymore, but his standards as a Tank were completely shaken. Hair was falling out all over his body. “My hair… it’s falling out.”

“Why? My Absolute Barrier was sturdy.”

“I think it’s an internal issue.”

‘Can I call myself a Tank? Am I truly a Tank?’ Furface’s pride as a Tank, which had sustained him until now, was crumbling to pieces.

Jin-Hyeok glanced behind him. Four more Players had remained here with strong spirits and determination.

“We will help you, Chul-Soo.”

“I can be of great assistance.”

“Let’s join forces to subjugate this tyrannical Fire Dragon!”

Jin-Hyeok shook his head. “I’m going to defeat Julius by myself.”

“What nonsense!”

“We absolutely can’t let you face him alone!”

“I don’t run from enemies. Even if it costs me my life.

Thwack!

[You have used the Skill ⌜Taming (Physical)⌟.]

“Now, everyone, move to the magic circle.”

Blood trickled down the foreheads of the four Players. Their eyes lost focus.

“To the magic…”

“...circle…”

“Moving…”

They staggered toward the magic circle like zombies.

“Furface, I need you to follow them,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“But…”

Jin-Hyeok raised Miri. “Do you want to be tamed too?”

“N-No!”

“Do you really want to commune with me?”

“I said no!”

With patches of missing hair, Furface trudged toward the magic circle. He had already noticed something strange.

‘The Fire Dragon should have already used his Fire Breath, but…’ A massive fireball had formed in the air, but the dragon had not released the breath attack. ‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.’

His pride as a Tank had been shattered. He realized that he needed to be as powerful as Chul-Soo to be considered a Tank. Someone like him wasn’t even a Tank. As self-loathing enveloped him, Jin-Hyeok’s words reached his ears.

“Hey, Furface. You were an excellent Tank.”

[You have escaped the ⌜Dragon’s Nest⌟.]

After escaping the Field, Furface cried for a long time.

***

Jin-Hyeok looked up at the sky and said, “I get the gist of what you’re feeling, Julius.”

He had been able to read Julius’s true feelings since their first encounter. Jin-Hyeok didn’t see the Fire Dragon Julius as a tyrannical being. He was just Chul-Soo Land No.1000, a fragile and pitiful existence desperately wishing for death more than anyone else.

“I know why everyone underestimates your power. It’s because you deliberately let Players escape alive, isn’t it?”

He could also understand why Julius was now gathering energy for the Fire Breath. “You thought if you attacked with all your heart, I would get angry enough to kill you.”

Yet, Julius was hesitating to release his attack, worried about what could happen if Chul-Soo died.

Jin-Hyeok sighed. According to the original plan, he was supposed to overwhelmingly defeat Julius, but he couldn’t. “How could I attack you when you’re the Chul-Soo Land No.1000?”

This changed everything. Stars only existed because of their fans. No star would attack their fan. If they did, they wouldn’t be a star, after all.

Jin-Hyeok could hear Julius’s urgent voice.

[“B-But…”]

It sounded like the voice of someone who had their last hope for chance snatched away.

Jin-Hyeok sighed again. “Do you know why you keep failing to die?”

[“T-That’s…!”]

After coming here, Jin-Hyeok saw clearly why Julius couldn’t kill himself. “It’s because you keep using your seduction technique.”

[“Seduction technique…?”]

In Jin-Hyeok’s mind, a seduction technique meant disarming the opponent by seducing them with an attractive appearance or personality. In that sense, Players froze the moment they saw that enormous face. To Jin-Hyeok, it seemed like an excessive seduction technique.

“When you were in the form of a child at the previous checkpoint, no one was scared of you, right?”

At that moment, the energy that Julius had gathered in his mouth for the Fire Breath exploded. It had surpassed its critical point and self-destructed.

[“Oh, no!”]

A massive pillar of fire erupted toward Jin-Hyeok, who raised his right hand and split the fire pillar in two.

“Fortunately, seduction techniques don’t work on me.”