NOVEL NEXT Chapter 64
Smack!
“Ahhh!”
As Bae Merong jumped off the last platform, her foot barely touched the corridor floor leading to the exit. Deathly Death pulled her up just before she nearly fell.
“Th, thank you, Deathie Oppa.”
“It’s a basic platform puzzle. You should practice regularly, Junior.”
While Bae Merong stuck out her tongue cutely and gave an awkward smile, a desperate scream from Cherni echoed behind her.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Bae Merong peeked over the edge of the corridor cliff to look below.
Cherni, who had fallen from the platform, was rubbing his bottom, and the surrounding gargoyle golems were slowly approaching him.
Cherni’s face turned pale.
“Help me!”
“Jaewook, just revive and come back. It’ll be faster than taking them all down.”
“Aren’t you saying that too easily because it’s not you!? C, Craaack!”
“Wow, this 19+ game is brutal.”
Deathly Death complained from behind Bae Merong, who was pretending to cover her eyes while enjoying the sight of Cherni getting shredded through her fingers.
“If we waste time here, we won’t be able to catch up to the No Name party. The party with Rain will make remarkable progress in the Named battles.”
“But it’s definitely tough. All the party members have to cross together to move to the next room, right? Or we have to take down all the golems below. It’s hard to balance on that narrow platform floating in the air, and we have to step quickly before it disappears.”
“Actually, everyone fell in the first corridor section. Other parties are probably similar. It’s not a simple section unless you’re at Rain’s level. Even if she crosses in one go, she’ll still have to wait for her party members. Isn’t that right, Chris?”
“…….”
Chris said nothing.
Since entering the dungeon, her mind had been in turmoil.
She thought this time she could uncover the identity of the No Name party member, but Rain had disappeared into the dungeon alone.
Despite the allies in Chris’s raid party, Chris herself had been looking for Rain’s party members since arriving at the dungeon entrance.
Of course, parties share instance dungeons, so they don’t have to enter at the same time. However, it didn’t make sense that the party members they had been struggling with in dungeons hadn’t exchanged a word before tackling the Elite Dungeon.
She planned to greet them with a request to take good care of Rain, and to scold them for not paying attention to Rain’s condition. Additionally, she wanted to inform them about a possible future collaboration for the multi-player raid content.
But she couldn’t find them.
As if they had never existed from the start.
“…Does this make sense? No way, could it be… they couldn’t have been defeated by four people?”
“Chris, what are you thinking?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Chris shook her head vigorously at Deathly Death’s question.
A possibility that she hadn’t considered began to rise in her mind.
Given Rain’s capabilities, which she had seen while partying together, it might actually be plausible.
“Solo play…?”
—
[Named Enemy]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaurus]
[HP 7,340,679/8,600,000]
Thud, thud, thud!
After rolling his feet twice, he slammed both fists into the ground—an area-wide three-hit pattern.
Backward Evasion, flowing naturally into his approach move as the second activation faded, didn’t stop his relentless assault.
Kakakakang!
A strange sound echoed. It was as if metal was striking; it sounded like swords clashing. The Minotaurus’s body felt as hard as solid metal, as if manipulated by a special magical treatment with high-purity magic stones.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The golem turned its body and swung its fist at me. I easily dodged that attack by shifting my body side to side.
The general attack pattern of the Minotaurus involves heavy fist swings. There’s no need to block; a simple body shift is enough to avoid it.
The attack speed was quite fast, an agility that belied its giant frame, which looked to be more than twice my height. Still, it wasn’t overly threatening.
There was one pattern that absolutely had to be blocked.
The Minotaurus suddenly lowered its stance and bowed its head. Its sharp horns shone brightly as they aimed at me. Then, with terrifying speed, it charged upward toward me.
Whoooosh!
Crash!
[Block (A)]
– Blocks attacks from a front 180-degree angle.
– Successful blocking within 0.2 seconds of using (A-rank) skill grants a 10-second “Vitality” buff that increases all damage.
As soon as I acquired the Vitality buff, my body slightly lifted into the air from blocking the tremendous horn attack infused with overwhelming power.
Whoosh.
I spun in the air and executed Moonlight Slash, striking the horn of the beast with my starry sword.
Clang!
I licked my lips as I landed.
As expected, it didn’t get cut.
I want to slice that horn.
Kakakakang! PWAH!*
I slashed at the Minotaurus with my starry sword, casually blowing away its upward strikes with One Flash while maintaining my assault during the duration of the Vitality buff.
There was another reason to be particularly cautious in this battle.
The moment the boss fight began, the entrance I came from disappeared. This cubic room had become a perfect cube.
There was no retreat. I was in a very bad situation. If I couldn’t clear this on the first try, it could end up hurting quite a bit.
In the midst of all this, the Minotaurus’s HP was rapidly decreasing, soon nearing the 75% mark.
Ooooooooh!
Do golems feel pain? It writhed in agony.
I raised my sword and focused on the Minotaurus’s movements.
Behavior different from its general pattern. This was clearly a precursor to entering a special phase.
Ooooooooh!
Crash crash crash!
As the golem raised its body and stretched like it was yawning, blue energy erupted explosively from its body. I reflexively used Backward Evasion.
Flash!
The moment that energy swept across the room, a red light began to blink from the wall at the three o’clock position.
I didn’t miss that light.
I immediately focused on responding to the Minotaurus’s actions while keeping an eye on the wall that had blinked red at three o’clock.
What does it mean? It feels like it’s hinting at using that wall for something.
Click!
After making the first attack on the Minotaurus following the special phase entry, I sensed something amiss.
The sound of my sword clashing had changed.
The damage I was dealing to the golem had decreased. Precisely by half.
The light emanating from the magic stones constituting its body had intensified. And that light was forming a barrier around the Minotaurus.
I had to break that barrier as soon as possible. Otherwise, I would definitely get caught in a time attack pattern.
The gimmick to break the barrier was clear. It was indicating to utilize the wall that blinked red at three o’clock.
Smack!
I quickly backed away from the Minotaurus, positioning myself against the wall at three o’clock.
Ooooooooh!
Thud, thud.
While looking at me from a distance, the Minotaurus rolled its feet twice and lowered its head, pointing its sharp horn at me.
I’ll draw it into a ranged pattern and have its charge collide with the wall that blinked red.
Like a matador.
Thud, thud, thud!
The Minotaurus began to charge at me with its horns raised.
During its charge, I couldn’t deal damage. Of course, trying to land a reduced amount of damage wouldn’t help much. What mattered was breaking that barrier as quickly as possible.
The direction of the charge must not deviate. The longer the barrier remains, the tighter the noose of the time attack pattern will be around my neck.
Swish.
As the Minotaurus’s charge reached my feet, I used Counterattack to sidestep its rear end.
Boom! Crash!
Ooooooohm!
The moment its massive horn struck the wall, red light burst forth from the wall, shattering the Minotaurus’s barrier. The Minotaurus fell to its knees, entering a groggy state.
“As expected.”
Kakakakang!
I immediately began striking the body of the kneeling Minotaurus.
[Named Enemy]
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Minotaurus]
[HP 4,365,500/8,600,000]
The Minotaurus’s HP dropped to near 50%.
It was just the right amount to trigger the second special phase.
PWAH!
With my final One Flash, I brought the Minotaurus’s HP below 50% and kept an eye on its movements.
Ooooooooh!
Crash crash crash!
Like the 75% section, it executed an area-wide attack once, and one side of the wall blinked red.
This time at the nine o’clock position.
Tapdaptap!
As I quickly moved to position against the nine o’clock wall, the entire room began to shake violently.
Kaboom kaboom kaboom!
“What!?”
I quickly lowered my stance and regained my balance.
This special phase felt different. There hadn’t been any shaking like this before.
Click.
A strange sound resonated.
Crreeeak.
The walls on all sides began to move slightly backward, separating from the floor.
Through that gap, only utter darkness could be seen.
I momentarily forgot to observe the golem and stared blankly at the moving walls.
“Wow.”
This dungeon completely separates the walls of the boss room.
As the four walls diverged, they began to spin rapidly.
Kaboom kaboom kaboom!
The sight of the walls rotating in one direction amidst strong vibrations was truly a spectacle.
With a dazed expression, I gazed at the spinning walls.
A maze. A cube-shaped room structure.
It wouldn’t seem weird if the walls began to rotate or the room itself moved. After all, there were old maze movies themed around cubes where the rooms kept shifting.
But I never thought the walls would actually move. If the ancient dwarves’ technology and the mana of the magic stones collaborated, could such a feat be possible?
Click.
Before long, the separated walls ceased rotating and reassembled back into the room.
Tapdaptap!
I snapped back to reality and quickly moved.
The wall that had blinked red before was no longer at nine o’clock.
Fortunately, I hadn’t lost track of the original position of the rapidly rotating wall.
The wall that used to be at nine o’clock moved to twelve o’clock.
Thud, thud, thud!
As soon as the rotation stopped, the Minotaurus’s charge was aimed at the twelve o’clock direction where I had moved.
Crash! Rumble.
The Minotaurus, which had crashed its horn into the wall, once again dropped to one knee. At the same time, the barrier was completely destroyed by the red light bursting from the wall.
I raised my sword toward the now-motionless behemoth.
Alright, this is how it’s done.