[The high Luck stat weakens the status resistance of the boss monster, Black Mage Hagwid Elwin.]
[Special option of the Half-Dragon Dagger, Dragon Fang (Lvl. 20) Paralytic Poison has been activated!]
Having witnessed the effect of Paralytic Poison countless times while hunting the Pirarucu the other day, Dahav knew exactly how much time he had.
The paralysis lasted about 1 to 2 seconds.
After a brief moment of surprise, Dahav couldn’t afford to miss this luck.
If Elwin didn’t consider himself a boss monster, the paralysis effect would at best last one second, or at worst only half that time.
Though short, it was more than enough time to corner a mage whose defense was weak.
Whish—
With the sharp sound of wind, Dahav’s new form moved.
As if riding a favorable breeze, he struck three consecutive attacks in an instant.
Elwin, freed from paralysis, assumed a defensive stance, but it was too late to correct his already broken posture.
All three attacks targeted his vital points with precision.
[Perfect Fatal Spot Attack!]
[Perfect Fatal Spot Attack!]
[Perfect Fatal Spot Attack!]
There was no need to check the message log to confirm the effective hits.
Elwin was screaming in agonizing pain.
“Howl!!”
Though the atmosphere was tense and demanding, Dahav did not relax as if enjoying himself.
As a boss monster, Elwin’s stamina was naturally high, but more importantly, there was a second phase triggered when his HP dropped below 30%.
‘Black Aura…’
The black aura signaling the start of a phase change began to slowly spread from Elwin’s body.
Seeing it alone gave one goosebumps and made swallowing dry saliva difficult.
“This is the real deal from now on.”
Most would agree that the first phase of a raid was just a warm-up.
The lower the level 110, the more proportionate the difficulty, and Elwin was no exception.
“Well… well… where are you all? Hurry, come out! Thron of Insecta!”
Elwin’s shout spread the black aura throughout the room.
***
If a level 20 user entered the Black Mage’s Laboratory alone, the success rate of clearing it was about 0.01%.
They said only one out of a thousand would succeed.
Considering that over 90% of those thousand were scouted from recognized guilds with proven talent, it was undeniably a brutal difficulty.
Despite such a low success rate, the Black Mage’s Laboratory was ironically mentioned as one of the ‘Trophies’ acknowledged even by Wilhelm of the Domain of One, and continued to be used as a challenge stage.
-I bet there will be only a handful of people who can solo clear the Black Mage’s Laboratory before the ASA service ends.
This wasn’t an idle guess.
Wilhelm shivered for only one reason.
-Sure, if you clear it with a party, there are plenty of walkthrough videos and it’s doable, but the blackened mode of the second phase is beyond imagination—maybe a difficulty equivalent to a certain angle.
The second phase, ‘Thron of Insecta’, appears when the boss monster’s HP drops below 30%.
Those who attempted it faced Elwin while distracting or briefly restraining Amor de Croixoruc in the first phase, but nearly 100% of the time, they met crushing defeat in the second phase.
-Phase 1’s Amor de Croixoruc was cute in comparison. I didn’t even realize how I died in phase two.
-Elwin’s difficulty level changes completely before and after the 30% HP mark.
Others could only agree with Wilhelm’s words.
Wilhelm even added,
-Still, who are these people that manage to succeed? You just have to face it head-on. Haha, kidding. They’re destined to become Super Players soon. Innate talent, the right skills—all perfectly aligned. These users are the ‘Lurking Dragon’, the 21st century’s ideal who never stops challenging and failing endlessly.
Wilhelm ended the interview passionately, and indeed, those who solo cleared the Black Mage’s Laboratory soon reemerged as Super Players and proudly made their names known worldwide.
***
The black aura oozing from Elwin’s body seeped into the inspection cameras attached to the walls and ceiling.
Inside Dahav’s mind, countless strategy videos played over and over.
Videos of users with enough talent to be called Super Rookies who were utterly slaughtered by the second phase “Thron of Insecta.”
‘Really, such a cruel pattern.’
It was the moment the infamous name made sense.
Every single bee displayed on the ceiling and walls began to crawl out simultaneously.
For balance, the maximum number of active bees was limited to ten, and though weakened compared to what they’d seen near the entrance or deeper inside the cave, that wasn’t even the problem.
Infinite respawn.
No matter how many bees you killed, they would endlessly spawn from the inspection cameras.
Meaning during the fight against Elwin, you had to constantly be aware of the bees and fight them too.
If that was the case—
‘There were so many that the concept of defense became meaningless.’
Even if you knew where the attacks would come from, it was doubtful whether you could block all the bees.
It was a phase that had to be dealt with solely by evasion.
The boss monster, along with more than ten moving targets including Amor de Croixoruc from the first phase, had to be monitored and dealt with all at once.
If it was just about holding out against weakened bees, those with potential could manage somewhat.
But humans have a limit to their concentration, and mistakes were inevitable.
If that happened, it was over.
‘If I fought like that, I’d last at most five minutes.’
In reality, those five minutes were calculated assuming he could dodge all the bees’ attacks.
Once Elwin finished casting and began unleashing his magic, lasting even two minutes would be difficult.
That’s why Dahav had devised a strategy.
“Guys, fall back!”
He shouted towards the ghouls holding aggro on Amor de Croixoruc in the corner.
This was his plan from when he first obtained the Link Cadaver.
Use the bees to control the bees.
It was the most difficult part of the boss raid—the unstoppable rampage of Amor de Croixoruc inside the boss room.
Normally, it was a nearly unthinkable method.
Those who attempted solo clear kept Amor de Croixoruc restrained with prepared skills, while users entering with parties assigned specific members to hold aggro in the corner.
To unleash such a huge Amor de Croixoruc freely?
The moment anything went wrong, the raid would end in failure.
It was an extremely risky tactic.
‘But I have no reason to be in danger.’
No matter how skilled and controlled, solo players could not afford to fight Amor de Croixoruc without restraining it.
As a summoner class like Dahav, if even one minion was injured, he had to devote himself to healing.
Even if, by chance, he summoned death-defying ghouls, their mana would eventually run out, and the summons would disappear, causing problems.
For party players lacking skill, moving to the correct position during phases risked losing aggro on Amor de Croixoruc or getting killed by other bees.
‘But neither applies to me.’
He didn’t need to fight with those countless bees attached.
The ghouls were scarcely imbued with the concept of death, and the mana efficiency to maintain them was off the charts.
There was no reason for a lack of ability when he was planning to control even the ghouls personally, down to the smallest detail.
Flash! Flash!
As the enormous Amor de Croixoruc moved recklessly, the relatively smaller bees were forced to whirl around.
Though only five seconds passed before the number quickly replenished—a laughable short time—it was an excruciatingly long moment for Dahav, who never missed a single second.
Tadak—
Amor de Croixoruc, which should have been keeping the ghouls under control, was now being trampled on by them, signaling that victory was already in sight.
Having had a previously broken gap covered with all-out defense on the vital spot was another mistake by Elwin.
When you curl up to block a specific part, inevitably other parts become vulnerable.
Although he dodged the fatal spot attacks, as the saying goes “little drops of rain soak you through,” Elwin’s HP steadily dropped below 10%.
It seemed as if victory was going to be easily claimed.
‘But catching the boss this recklessly means nothing.’
If it were 2040, maybe, but 2038 had yet to see Wilhelm’s arrival and required much preparation.
People of 2038 didn’t know the difficulty of the Black Mage’s Laboratory well, so simply clearing it might have felt a bit disappointing.
‘That’s why I prepared something.’
Dahav sharply stepped back, creating distance from Elwin as he halted his relentless barrage of bot swarm attacks.
“I’ve prepared a gimmick for the viewers, just in case this is too easy and boring!”
Dahav spoke as he started putting the armor he had been wearing into his inventory.
“From now on, to personally raise the difficulty, I will proceed without any armor equipped.”
This was just a game.
Not like the superhumans or hunters in novels or myths who manipulate internal energy or magic.
Everything was converted to numbers in the system—proper logic governed the damage dealt and received.
In such a ‘game’ system, killing a boss monster without armor?
And not even as a high-defense tank, but as a summoner class with notoriously poor tanking ability?
One hit, even a slight critical, would be a death sentence.
Furthermore, Dahav’s gear was at least rare or unique quality with additional slots, so he was taking an absurd risk.
“How can you…”
Elwin’s face showed obvious shock as Dahav disarmed himself and stripped off his armor.
Dahav, on the other hand, smiled.
“This is the attack method.”
He wasn’t removing his armor just for showmanship.
It was the strategy for the second phase’s attack method that had sent so many rookies to their deaths.
Elwin’s first phase showed the essence of the mage class.
That is, high attack power and low defense.
Once entering the second phase and dropping below 10% HP, Elwin’s characteristics evolved to the next level.
His attack power was maximized, and defense dropped, but he was surrounded by a very special aura.
Drain Bite.
Drain Bite was an aura specialized in absorbing the defense of living enemies.
‘Before the aura and attack method were revealed, many died in Elwin’s laboratory.’
Before this was known, Elwin was nearly impossible to lock down.
When raiding a boss monster, especially one with strong magical attacks, the fixed notion was that a tank with high defense was essential.
That notion became poison because of the aura.
The more party members and the tougher their classes, the harder it was to kill Elwin’s second phase.
“Of course, that doesn’t apply to me now.”
Solo play, and moreover, ghouls were not living beings.
Removing armor could be a double-edged sword, but Dahav had no intention of allowing Elwin to attack anymore, and he had the skill Wings Beyond the Shore.
Simply put, Elwin’s defense dropped, making the attack easier.
“Don’t tell me…”
Flustered, Elwin stammered, but Dahav quickly cut him off and moved forward.
‘It’s troublesome to carelessly bring up a decent story.’
The act of removing armor had to remain a showmanship gimmick, especially since he was uploading to I-tube.
Seeing Dahav rush headlong, Elwin furrowed his brows and raised his staff, chanting spells, signaling the start of another fierce clash.