CH 7

In Zenoris, raid quests become available once reaching level 210.

Raids are divided into field raids and dungeon raids. Field raids are generally easier and simpler. That’s why all the quests from level 210 to level 220 are field raids.

It was time for raid quests.

The first accessible field raid quest was the White Dragon Hunt.

The white dragon that inhabits the northern snowfield is a restricted area, a threshold of 50 players is required for entry.

After Yoo Chae’s explanation and advice on how to complete the raid quest, we immediately moved to the snowy area. At the entrance to the restricted area where the White Dragon resides, players waiting for the raid to start were gathered.

[Party] Yoo Chae: Once the raid starts, chatting would be difficult

[Party] Yoo Chae: So Hyung, can I hear your voice?

[Party] Yoo Chae: like in discord

[Party] I’m sleepy: Discord ㄱㄱ

[Party] Yoo Chae: Please tell me your code

[Party] I’m sleepy: YooJi-han#62146

When I turned on Discord and gave my discord name, a friend request came right away.

This guy’s discord name was the same as what he used in Zenoris, Yoo Chae. Back then I didn’t want to bother with it and used my real name. Had I known it would be like this, I would have changed it to my game username first.

[Party] Yoo Chae: Wait a minute

[Party] Yoo Chae: I’ll call you.

The chat stopped for a moment.

Wait. Could it be just the two of us talking on the phone?

‘It’s a bit awkward...’

I’m not a very shy person, but it was a little uncomfortable to talk to someone I had known for less than a week on a call. It might create an unpleasant situation.

[Party] I’m sleepy: Are you talking to me without anyone else?

[Party] Yoo Chae: Yes

[Party] Yoo Chae: Of course

When I asked him, the answer that came back was quite resolute.

Guess I can’t help it... It’s not like I can refuse and say no to the raid now.

[Party] Yoo Chae: Come

Yoo Chae urges with an attitude that makes it somewhat hard to refuse. I slowly moved my gaze to the program window. There was no one else in the room he invited, only the two of us.

I plugged in the microphone that had been put aside because I had no reason to use it until now back onto the headset and returned to my original position before participating in the call. Yoo Chae, who had entered before me, started talking first after a moment of silence.

“Hyung?”

“……Uh.”

An unfamiliar emotion rushed up and my hand that held the mouse trembled.

“Is it awkward for you to speak like this?”

“... No, it’s not awkward.”

When Yoo Chae heard the soft and tentative voice from the other side, he laughed, making the situation even more awkward. It was the first time in my entire life that I spoke to someone that I had only known for a few days in a game, so I wasn’t used to it.

Hearing his voice actually makes me feel less like chatting. Before I lose my mind from the brewing silence, Yoo Chae brought up the main point at the perfect time.

“See the rock in front of you over there? If you click that, you can participate in the raid.”

“Okay.”

As we went through the area filled with players and got closer to the entrance of the restricted area, I saw a blue rock that Yoo Chae must be speaking about. When I clicked on it, an opaque window with usernames popped up.

There are currently 47 people participating in the raid. When 50 people are gathered, it starts, so if there are 3 more people that join, the raid will start.

“It’s not bad to have only three spots left. After all, people usually gather pretty quickly at this time of the day.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. From 8pm to 10pm, a group gathers around immediately… After 11 o’clock it will probably slow down a little with the returning numbers. It’s a weekday after all.”

Yoo Chae continued to explain. He has a voice that girls will swoon over when they hear it. Still, he talked to me in a comfortable manner, so my tense shoulders relaxed a little.

“It’s starting now. Hyung, have your weapon ready.”

As he said, the three numbers were filled quickly and the entrance where entry was restricted before had opened. I hurriedly entered the restricted area with my staff and Yoo Chae followed right after me.

The white snowfield with swirling snowflakes was spread wide in front of us, and in the center of it, a huge white dragon can be seen. Suddenly, a thunder-like rumble sounded.

<System> You have entered the battle area. Pay attention to your safety.

<System> The Lord of Frost is nearby. The Debuff will begin due to his presence.

<System> Field entrants are automatically given the quest ‘Subdue the White Dragon’.

There were three debuffs given by the White Dragon: movement speed reduction, attack speed reduction, and recovery speed reduction.

“Hyung, I’ll give you this, so wear it.”

With the debuff, the movement speed has been significantly slowed down. Knowing this, Yoo Chae handed over a coat to me.

“If you wear this, your movement speed and recovery speed will return to normal. Only two of the three debuffs can be blocked, so keep in mind your reduced attack speed.”

Since I am a mage, it didn’t really matter if the attack speed was a little slow. I put on the coat that I was handed with and replied reflexively.

“Um, thank you.”

“Yeah? It’s no p-…………”

Yoo Chae’s voice, which had been steadily explaining without a change in pitch, suddenly shook violently after I said thank you. Before this, his voice flowed like we were chatting normally.

“I’ll tell you its movement pattern.”

Unlike before, Yoo Chae spoke with a slightly flustered tone.

“Field dragons in aggro have differing movement patterns depending on their health percentage. See the gauge at the top?”

“Is it the one that says 30?”

“Yeah.”

As he had said, at the top of the game screen, there was a bright red health gauge. Looking at the 30/30 gauge, I was able to guess how much hp the White Dragon had without having to listen to the explanation.

“Down to 25 hp, it’s quite easy because the tail swipe and the stomp are visibly different in action and timing. It’s a good time to unleash skills, so make sure that we fill up at least half of the required damage during this time.”

Both the level quest and the raid area entry quest could be cleared only by inflicting 500,000 or more damage to the White Dragon.

I don’t know how much skill damage the White Dragon will take depending on the defense, but it’s clear that the more I hit, the better.

“From 24 hp downwards, the dragon will fly to the sky, so it gets a bit tricky, but if you control your skills as usual, Hyung, that would be enough.”

“I heard that it uses magic too.”

“That’s right. From 24 hp, the dragon uses Hailstorm and Thunder from above. However, the speed is not that fast, so you just have to watch the floor markings and avoid it.”

Of course, it’s easy to avoid if it gives markings on the floor. I nodded.

“And?”

“It will be shooting breath attacks at 17 hp… This is a bit tricky. The attack power is also high, so if you weren’t wearing that coat, Hyung, it will be considered a deadly[1] attack as soon as you get hit.”

“How do I avoid it?”

“It traverses the entire map and spins around once, so you can use the evasion technique at the right timing. The direction is always clockwise.”

“I see.”

“And from 5 hp downwards, meteors will pour down. I will explain more of this to you then, since it’s a bit hard to explain it with words.”

“Hmm.”

I was still a little nervous about what I should do and wanted to make it clear about what to do again. However, I had no choice but to accept it due to not having time to ask for a reexplanation. As soon as the conversation with him was over, a video of the white dragon howling appeared, and the raid began in earnest.

[All] Herrera: You guys are crowded around 7 o’clock[2];

[All] Herrera: There’s a lack of people at 12 o’clock

[All] Kola: Who is a buffer or healer here??

[All] Rabbit woof woof: Whoever is the sharpshooter in front of me move away

[All] Rabbit woof woof: You’re bothersome for moving backwards

As soon as the video ended, 50 users rushed at the White Dragon. As Yoo Chae said, it was to fill up the damage during the moment where the pattern was easy. I also mixed among them and cast spells as much as I could.

Thanks to the fact that they were in a party together, Yoo Chae’s chain damage was much more distinguishable from the damage numbers of other users. While the others did 2,000 or 3,000 damage or so, Yoo Chae continued to pour over 20,000 damage by himself.

The white dragon, who had been wailing from being beaten by 50 people, flew away with its huge wings wide open. It was exactly the moment when the health gauge reached 24/30.

Thud!

A hailstorm and pure white thunder, which causes wide-area stun when nearby, randomly fell on the field.

I was more wary of the Hailstorm than the narrow-ranged Thunder and moved around it. The users who were stunned due to the hailstorm were hit by thunder and started to collapse one by one.

[All] Rabbit woof woof: Ah, long-distance bosses are frustrating

[All] Coffee Aroma: It’s too late, there’s blood all over the place;;

[All] Shadow Drawing: No, it’s just that we’re lacking long-distance attackers..

[All] Shadow Drawing: I have to change the field arrangement to fill 25 people in the far distance

[All] Mishare: Surely the speed at which the gauge decrease shows the level of the game

It was noticeably slower than before. There were about 16 ranged attackers, but since the number was smaller than that of the close-range fighters, the attack power was also weakened.

Roaaar!

Still, after steadily whittling down the gauge, the dragon came down to the ground again. Then it opened its mouth wide and let out a long, pure white fire.

It was Breath, a skill that only boss dragons had. It was clear that the dragon was breathing out in a clockwise direction, but it was slightly more difficult than I thought to use the evasion technique in the right timing.

“As expected, you are doing well.”

When I barely escaped the fourth breath, Yoo Chae, who had been playing the game quietly, praised me. It was a compliment from the person who told me the pattern, so I quietly accepted it.

Unlike me and other novice players, who are busy avoiding the breath attacks, the gauge quickly decreased due to the power of Yoo Chae and other veteran players, who skilfully dodged and kept attacking back. After the 8th breath, the white dragon whose health gauge reached 5/30 started flapping its wings again.

Finally, it was Meteor time. If you survive this turn, you can catch the White Dragon. I immediately stopped casting skills and asked.

“What should I do?”

“Come to my side.”

As the white dragon climbed high into the sky, it created a bright red fireball, the number 10 appeared on the screen. It meant that after 10 seconds the meteor was going to pour down.

“See the blue stone in the front? When the meteor pours, the stone turns on the shield. That is the only way to avoid it.”

“Is that at the end of the 12 o’clock position?”

“Yeah. There’s four. The 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock positions are at the edge of the map. Meteor will fall a total of 4 times, and in each time, we have to move to a different stone.”

I ran quickly as I listened to the explanation and arrived at the 12 o’clock position. At the same time, 10 seconds passed, and a large meteor fell with a deafening roar. It was a daunting moment.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to make it in 10 seconds on the next turn though.”

It was impossible to summon a pet because the field quest was in progress. Looking at Meteor inside the opaque shield, Yoo Chae confidently answered the question.

“That’s why I told you to stick with me.”

Yoo Chae put his golden chain away and took out a red chain instead. Clack clack, the character of Yoo Chae turned the chain round and round as if he was charging a skill.

“Hyung, please send me a bond request.”

“What?”

Is there such a thing? Curious, I right clicked on Yoo Chae’s character and a new item called [Bond Request] was added to the list.

When I pressed it, my character was closely attached to Yoo Chae’s character. That’s what this was for.

“Is there such a skill?”

When I asked this question, Yoo Chae said in an excited voice.

“It’s one of the hidden skills of the chain job”

Just as the Meteor ended, Yoo Chae swung the long chain and swirled it towards a pole in the distance. Me and Yoo Chae’s character, who were sticking together, flew to that place in an instant.

“The hidden skill is good, but it seems like a skill that can’t be used often.”

“I certainly can’t use this anywhere other than these types of situations...……”

“Yeah. After all, there are few chain users.”

Easily moving to the 3 o’clock stone, we survived the second Meteor without any problems.

Other users asked a nearby buffer to increase their movement speed or received teleport help from a max level wizard. Those who were running ignorantly were brutally beaten to death by Meteor.

If you survived Meteor, then what comes next was easy. Since Meteor was the final skill, the white dragon that came down to the ground was attacked by everyone and collapsed without making a click. When the health gauge reached 0/30, a bright light burst, and the quest was completed.

[All] Rising full moon: ㅅㅅㅅ3

[All] Script: ㅅㄱㅅㄱ4

[All] Kankan2: ㅅㄱ dragon

[All] Mishare: Good work~

“Hyung, have you filled the required damage amount?”

“I filled it.”

I opened the completed quest window and checked how much damage was dealt. 502,361 damage. It was really a narrow success.

“I passed the required amount by about 2,000 damage and barely did it.”

If I had hit even one less, then the quest would have been unsuccessful. Still, the level quest and field quest experience came in at the same time, so it was rather salty.

“Hmm. Hyung, what kind of staff are you using now?”

“Luna.”

“I think the damage dealt is less because of the staff. Wait.”

When the White Dragon died, we were automatically kicked out of the area. Yoo Chae took out his inventory and immediately set up a trade.

I frowned at the staff that was placed on top of the trading window.

“I do not need it.”

“It’s not expensive, Hyung.”

Yoo Chae replied straight away, as if reading my thoughts.

“As I’m used to the staff I am using right now, it will be hard to react quickly in the upcoming raid quests.”

“What’s different about using this?”

I looked at the staff on the trading window. It has the 4 same stats as I have. There is no difference in attack power or durability. However, the Lux 2.0 written at the bottom of the spec window was a bit suspicious.

“Hyung uses elemental skills often, so the Solis staff will be more useful.”

“What is the extra spec at the bottom?”

“That’s just… It doesn’t matter. It’s like extra damage, but 2% isn’t that big.”

“……”

I was suspicious and didn’t want to accept the transaction, so I opened the auction house window to check its price. The answer to every problem will always be in the auction house.

I looked through the list of staffs at the auction and saw a few things tagged. Let’s see... 4 lvl Luna staff. The price of Lux 1.0 is about 5,000 gold. It’s not super cheap, but the staff price was not expensive.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal? Then it’s not a big deal to receive it.

I lightly pressed accept deal to get the staff.

“Thank you.”

As soon as I held it, the blue jewel embedded in the tip of the staff shone brightly. This is the first time I’ve seen this effect.

“What the..”

In response to my gratitude, Yoo Chae spoke in the brightest voice I had ever heard today.

“Use it well, Hyung.”

—

Author’s Note

1 Deadly: The state on the verge of being impossible to survive. Even one hit will kill you.

TL Note:

2 [O’clock] usage means like they are talking about the ground in a clockwise area. Think of the land like a clock and clockwise direction. Then the markings will be of the 1-12 hours

3 [ㅅㅅㅅ] It’s a clapping emoji

4 [ㅅㄱㅅㄱ] It’s the disco dance; it’s something like a pattern for it