Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

Clang!

Thud!

When an unidentified object came flying at me out of nowhere, I reflexively used Backstep. Where I had been standing, a viscous liquid had dripped down, slowly staining the ground a sickly green.

“Ugh.”

This feels gross.

I glanced at the liquid with a grimace on my face.

Overall, this area was absolutely disgusting. The appearance of the chimeras was bad enough, and their attack methods were just filthy.

That viscous green liquid—getting splashed with it would definitely lead to a bad end. It obviously looked like poison or acid or something.

Thud, thud, thud!

I immediately took off running to the left. Considering the speed of the acid projectiles, I figured that with the speed buff from Backstep, I could easily escape the range.

Clang, clang!

The Angler was still hanging from the ceiling, continuously spewing acid. It sprayed a total of four times, with about a 5-second interval in between.

Given the poison seeping from the green liquid, it was clear that standing on that poison would definitely result in getting poisoned.

Do I even have an Antidote? I briefly checked my inventory. Thankfully, I did have a few Antidotes I’d stashed away just in case. Of course, the best option would be to avoid it entirely.

In any case, I needed to lure that acid to the edges and find a way to take it down.

Fortunately, the first splash of acid had vaporized and faded. It wasn’t a persistent area attack.

I could see a rough strategy forming in my mind.

Dodge the Angler’s acid attack, and execute the special phase gimmick.

Then, the Angler, hidden in the darkness above, suddenly coiled its body.

“?!”

And, as it stretched out its body.

Caw-caw-caw-caw!

A roar, louder than anything up until now, resonated throughout the entire combat area.

“Area attack pattern.”

It was likely a roar that would burst the eardrums of any user exposed to the sound waves, or shake them up inside.

Of course, my body wasn’t affected at all.

I was already prepared for the area attack. As soon as I noticed the prelude, I didn’t hesitate to use the invincibility frame from Backstep.

This confirmed it. This thing was a powered-up version of the Level 1 Named enemy, ‘Black Wyvern’, from the 25-level Elite Dungeon.

This meant it would definitely have minion patterns too.

My instincts were correct. But in a slightly different manner.

After the Angler’s roar, something began dropping throughout the Named combat area.

Thud, thud, thud.

They were the eggs I had seen from the lower levels of this tower.

Just looking at the number of them, there were dozens that had just fallen.

The Level 1 Named Blood-Red Angler was the base form of the Angler chimera.

Snap!

As I dodged the acid and proceeded to crack the eggs one by one, I fell into deep thought.

The placement of the eggs was more spread out than I expected. Plus, they were growing at a rapid pace.

The color of the eggs was changing quickly, transforming into a cocoon-like state. Was this how chimeras grew?

Caw-caw-caw!

Having evaded the third roar with Backstep, I noticed the drastic changes in the state of the eggs when the Named roared.

Rapid growth. That base’s roar was making the chimeras grow at an astonishing speed.

The egg state was manageable. However, it seemed impossible to destroy all the eggs before they all hatched on my own. I’d be lucky if I could take out a third of them.

So, instead of cracking eggs, I decided to stop that act.

There was no need to struggle dodging acid just to crack eggs dangerously.

Once all the chimeras hatch, I’d just take them all down in bulk.

Depending solely on ‘Moonlight Slash’ for area damage would indeed be quite difficult, but right now, I had one technique worth attempting.

Before long, the eggs began hatching one by one.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

“Oh. They are baby Anglers.”

I grinned seeing dozens of small Anglers rising from all directions.

If the baby Anglers were cute, I might feel bad about killing them, but upon a closer look, they didn’t look any different from the base form. They were just smaller. They still measured about my size.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Those baby Anglers quickly charged toward me. The sight of dozens of Anglers rushing at me while letting out shrill cries was reminiscent of a scene straight out of a dinosaur movie.

Their HP was definitely lower than the chimeras from the lower levels, likely due to the rapid growth process. The real issue was the massive number of baby Anglers, coupled with the continued patterns from the Named Angler.

Thud, thud, thud!

I swiftly dodged the base Angler’s acid while working on organizing the baby Anglers in a line.

Then, at one moment, I twisted my body.

Whack.

I set my stance low, bending my knees.

Firmly grasping the hilt of my sword, I took the ready position.

12 meters ahead, and 4 meters wide.

I had thoroughly gauged this skill’s effective range and damage.

I was also ready for the base Angler’s patterns.

Everything was set.

With my eyes wide open, I calmly awaited the moment when the baby Anglers entered my range.

Forward, 2 seconds, 1 second.

The base Angler coiled its body, stretching out for a massive sonic wave attack.

In that instant, all the baby Anglers moved within my range.

Caw-caw-caw!

In a split second, my body shot forward like an arrow.

[One Flash]

[Cooldown 1 minute]

[Invincibility during casting]

[???]

Boom boom boom boom boom!

The mangled remains of the baby Anglers filled my surroundings.

Thud.

Simultaneously, the Named Angler descended from the ceiling.

Caw-caw-caw!

Looking extremely furious, the Angler charged at me while roaring loudly.

I sent a smile toward it over my sword.

“Now you’re done for.”

*

“Okay, Area 2 seems to be laid out similarly. We can move forward by gauging the range of the chimera cocoons like in Area 1. I’ll take the lead, so follow me cautiously in a line.”

“The minion phase seems easy enough. Is it because Sister Chris calculates the detection range so well? Other parties will probably struggle to deal with hundreds of chimeras from the entrance, right?”

With a bright tone, Bae Merong spoke, but Chris shook her head.

“Not exactly. Top-notch parties must have figured out the structure of the minion phase. Think back to the forward base.”

“Yeah, a party without a name certainly wouldn’t take a long, unnecessary battle in this place.”

Czerny, following behind Deathly Death, agreed with that statement.

“Yeah. The Rain I know wouldn’t stall here.”

“Rain’s party probably took down the Level 1 Named in no time, right?”

Level 1 Named ‘Blood-Red Angler’.

As a powered-up version of the Wyvern, this Named had no gimmicks for taking bosses down quickly. We had to straightforwardly destroy all the eggs.

However, for a party like Chris’s, who had experience taking down the Wyvern without relying on gimmicks, this wasn’t that difficult of a structure.

With area attacks resisting with the party’s protective skills and luring the acid to the sides, the four of us moved in perfect harmony to take them all out before the eggs could hatch.

Though there were ways to catch the awakened chimeras, taking on numerous chimeras while responding to area patterns was quite a difficult job. The egg state was indeed the easiest to handle.

“Surely, the parties we should be careful of are those without a name.”

The nameless party with the overwhelmingly skilled swordsman, Rain. Since Chris’s party swiftly took down the Level 1 Named, it was likely the nameless party had similarly breached the Level 1 Named without too much trouble.

“Hey, why is everyone talking about the nameless party? Let’s just focus on our own pace!”

Chris directed her party members’ attention, but just behind her, Bae Merong was chuckling to herself.

“Hmm~? Actually, isn’t it Sister Chris who is most concerned about it?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“With Rain around, you’re totally smitten over him, Sister Chris. You wish for him to do well while also wanting to outdo him, right?”

“…….”

Chris, her face reddening, walked in silence for a moment.

Rain, the cat-like figure that was cautious around humans, how long had she put effort into developing a relationship that moved beyond mere familiarity to take his hand.

At first, Chris had been interested in his cute appearance. But as she got to know Rain, she found herself falling deeper for his mysterious charm.

She felt happy whenever he showed even the slightest smile.

But every time she caught sight of those rare vacant obsidian eyes, her heart sank.

“Something about him… makes it hard to just leave alone, I guess? Sometimes he looks precarious.”

“…….”

The playful laughter that had been coming from behind suddenly fell silent. Startled by the sudden change, Chris turned around, discovering Bae Merong chuckling once more.

“Okay, okay, I see you’re thinking about Rain a lot, Sister Chris. Anyway, you’re not planning to share your perks with us, are you?”

“Of course not. That’s a separate matter! It’s a matter of friendly competition.”

While they bantered, Chris’s party arrived at the upper levels of Area 2 and soon laid eyes on the chimera in the center of the combat area.

“Oh. The Level 2 Named is just sitting there, out in the open.”

It resembled a fierce beast with hair splayed out like a lion’s mane.

Its massive, muscular body felt like what you’d get if the Orc King bulked up a bit.

Chris stroked her chin as she pondered the monster’s appearance.

“Looks like a fusion of a lion and… a larger Beastmen, perhaps?”

“Chris, did you check the Named interface?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by Deathly Death’s startled expression, Chris checked the status window of the Named.

Soon, Chris couldn’t help but wear a similar expression to Deathly Death.

“What… what is this?”

The HP of the Named at the ‘Demon Lord’s Forward Base’ was around 3 million.

The Level 1 Named Blood-Red Angler had 4 million HP.

And the HP of the Level 2 Named was…

[Level 40 Lion Balgard]

[HP 20,000,000/20,000,000]

---