The named monsters of the elite dungeon that I had defeated so far had agility stats far surpassing those of current level users.
With my current agility stat, my body couldn’t keep up even if my mind understood.
Fortunately, I have made it this far thanks to the ‘Block’ skill that can block most attacks.
Whoosh, whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Thud.
Boom!
The Orc King’s battle hammer rotated violently above its head, and as it slammed down, the surrounding ground shattered, causing sharp rocks to spring up.
That pattern.
I had to break through that special pattern to tackle the Orc King.
In fact, the Orc King’s other patterns weren’t very threatening.
However, the attack caused by the shockwave spreading from slamming down the battle hammer, the Orc King’s special pattern, was impossible to ‘Block’.
Still, since there was a preliminary motion of rotating the battle hammer above its head, it wasn’t difficult to respond if you knew about it in advance.
You just need to create distance.
The problem was the combo pattern that came with that motion.
Boom!
The Orc King, having slammed down its battle hammer, stomped hard, and its massive body soared into the air.
[Backward Evasion (E)]
[Quickly propel your body 8m backward to avoid frontal attacks (Invincible during casting)]
[Cooldown 8 seconds]
[(E rank) Movement speed increases for 5 seconds after skill activation]
Pitter-patter.
I activated the evasion skill to move my body quickly.
A skill close to coordinate movement that can avoid all attacks regardless of current agility stat.
Boom!
The Orc King’s massive body that had soared into the air plunged down where I had been.
A huge crater formed in the middle of the cavern.
I broke into a cold sweat as I glanced at that spot.
Without needing to check, that can’t be blocked.
If I get hit, it’s certainly instant death.
Thud, thud, thud!
“Krururuk!”
The Orc King charged at me, swinging its battle hammer.
I raised my sword towards that hammer.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
The impact was strong, but I could block the following rush attack.
Thwack thwack thwack!
And the immediately activated thrust left a wound on the Orc King’s body.
Like this, I just need to chip away at its HP bit by bit.
[Block (D)]
-Blocks attacks from the front 180 degrees.
-(D rank) Damage reduction rate increases on successful block.
[Strong Thrust (D)]
-Delivers a strong thrusting attack to a single target.
-(Instant activation) When blocking succeeds
-(D rank) Can be activated consecutively.
The Swordsman’s Block skill, which had increased in rank, excellently blocked the Orc King’s massive battle hammer attacks, and the thrust that could now be activated consecutively allowed me to chip away at the named boss’s HP faster than before.
I couldn’t always avoid direct confrontation.
The Swordsman’s attack skills, demonstrating their full performance when chained with blocks, demanded responses to the named bosses’ patterns.
Strong attacks that can’t be blocked have preliminary motions.
Support monsters, so-called adds, don’t appear.
I smiled as I adjusted my stance.
“Easy.”
It was easy.
The 2nd named with the Orc Mages was actually more difficult.
“Krururururuk!”
Whoosh!
Clang!
I blocked the battle hammer, swung in from the side, and quickly dove into the Orc King’s embrace.
“Haaah!”
[3rd Named]
[Level 16 Orc King]
[HP 14211/30800]
* * *
[‘Chris’s Raid Party’ has succeeded in the first clear of the elite dungeon, ‘Orc King’s Cave’!]
The Orc Forest area announcement flowed out.
Thud.
The massive body of the 3rd named, ‘Orc King’, fell to the ground.
“Phew.”
Chris sighed as she put her talisman in her bosom.
The pink-haired female Mage, Bae Merong, made a V sign.
The brown-haired Elementalist Cherni, with impressive muscular customization, also rejoiced as if he could jump.
“Chris’s Raid Party, first elite dungeon clear complete!”
“Uhahah! Are we the first this time, too?”
“Don’t rejoice. It took longer than expected.”
“Certainly, the 2nd named was a wall of tears.”
Chris nodded at Cherni’s words.
“The elite dungeons that come out from now on will be even more difficult than this.”
Fighter Deathly Death muttered lowly while looking at the fallen Orc King’s massive body.
“The Orc King was easy. If I activate the ‘Heaven and Earth Shattering Technique’ inherent in this body, I think it’s a level I could handle alone.”
“You were shitting blood at the 2nd named though.”
“Um, certainly. Even now that we’ve succeeded in clearing, honestly, I’m not confident if I had to face two Orc Mages at once, let alone a single Orc Assassin.”
“It’s an elite dungeon. From here on, it’s a dungeon to play in parties with companions.”
‘Elite dungeons’ are basically dungeons made with party play in mind.
There was no need for solo play where the difficulty would increase significantly.
Chris walked to the Orc King’s corpse.
“Now, it’s time to check the drop items.”
“Kyaa! Did Bae Merong’s Mage staff come out?”
“I hope an Elementalist wand came out!”
“Wait, don’t touch anything. I smell knuckles.”
Leaving behind the party members, who each wanted their own weapons, Chris checked the drop item.
[Orc King’s Knuckles]
[Elite Grade]
[Attack Power 60]
[Increases ‘Uppercut’ combo skill damage by 20% on the successful counter]
“It’s knuckles.”
“Ah…! What about Bae Merong’s staff!?”
“It wasn’t a wand!?”
“Hmm…!”
Bae Merong and Cherni let out sighs.
Deathly Death clenched his fist with his eyes closed tightly.
Chris smiled and handed the knuckles to Deathly Death.
“Don’t worry. We must finish farming accessories for everyone anyway, so we’ll keep running it.”
“What if weapons for our job classes don’t drop?”
“Hmm. We’ll have to sell them, I guess? We can sell through the auction house? As for the price, hmm, since it’s the first elite dungeon weapon, we should be able to get quite a good price.”
Chris opened the auction house to check the categories.
And in Chris’s view, who checked the Orc King’s weapon category, one item appeared.
“Huh?”
Clearly, the first clear announcement had appeared.
Chris had also heard that other parties close to the first clear, within her knowledge, were still stuck at the 2nd named.
But what is this item currently listed in the auction house?
[Orc King’s Yin-Yang Orb]
[Elite Grade]
[Attack Power 60]
[Increases ‘Demon Sealing Technique’ skill damage by 10%]
An elite weapon from the Orc King dungeon with a special option that unconditionally increases the damage of the ‘Demon Sealing Technique’, the Yin-Yang Master’s main dealing skill, by 10%.
The price is.
“1 gold…?”
Beep.
[You have purchased ‘Orc King’s Yin-Yang Orb’]
Chris quickly purchased the Yin-Yang Orb.
1 gold equals 100 silver, about 1 million won in current cash value.
It wasn’t an amount Chris couldn’t use, having bought plenty of gold in preparation for contingencies.
Of course, as it’s a transient weapon, the market price will drop sharply once other parties start clearing the elite dungeon consecutively, but at this very early stage of the game, it was worth investing 1 gold.
Chris tilted her head.
“1 gold, huh.”
Setting aside the fact that there was a party that cleared it other than her own, this game was full of big spenders who would easily invest a few million won for quick growth.
If the price of the Yin-Yang Orb had been 5 gold or more, equivalent to 5 million won in cash, Chris would have purchased it without hesitation. Chris had that level of financial power.
“Woooah! It’s Chris’s Raid Party!”
“Not just stopping at the 1st named revealed in the beta test, they’ve achieved the first clear of all named bosses on the live server!”
“When are they releasing the strategy video?”
“They probably won’t release it until the advance parties finish farming? They need to stay ahead.”
As ‘Chris’s Raid Party’ emerged from the dungeon, numerous users gathered at the entrance of ‘Orc King’s Cave’ and exclaimed.
Chris urged her party members to prepare for the second clear.
“We’ll keep running this dungeon until our party’s farming is complete. Does everyone have enough time?”
“Yes! Bae Merong has already taken a leave of absence!”
“Same here. Did you know that our virtual reality’s leave of absence rate has increased tremendously since the official opening of ‘Astria Online’?”
“Hmm. While it might be considered practical training for Chris and me as we’re in our graduating year, you first-years taking leaves of absence… As your senior, I can’t just stand by.”
As Chris was smiling, watching her noisy party members and the users gathered around, she noticed a user who wasn’t part of this commotion standing a bit apart.
White.
Chris’s favorite color.
A user with silver-tinged white hair, who she almost missed at first glance due to their quite short stature.
Twitch.
That white hair seemed to twitch.
The face turned slightly, showing a side profile.
“Ah!”
Chris unconsciously covered her mouth.
So cute!
The impression that still retained a slightly young look was doll-like, elegant, and even exuded an inexplicable sharpness.
Yet it was round and somehow looked dignified.
The obsidian-like, shining eyes that seemed to draw you in were clearly visible through the white hair that slightly covered one eye.
Is the height in the mid-140cm range? Did they reduce it through customization?
If you customize with a big difference from your own build, it would be difficult to move your body due to the discrepancy with your real physical body.
But the girl showed no signs of being awkward with her body.
A girl with a tiny build is rarely seen in ‘Astria Online’, an adult game.
Chris approached the girl as if entranced.
At that moment.
The girl looked towards Chris.
Start.
The girl’s body seemed to jump slightly.
Pitter-patter!
The tiny body moved quickly.
“Uh, um!”
Whoosh.
The girl’s form quickly disappeared into ‘Orc King’s Cave’ depths.
“Ah.”
Chris stared at where the girl had disappeared for a while, feeling an inexplicable regret.
“Senior Chris! What are you doing there? We’re all ready?”
Elementalist Cherni shouted toward Chris.
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing.”
Chris felt as if a ghost had possessed her for a moment.
She shook her head vigorously once and approached her party members.