‘Chris’s Raid Party’, which had smoothly defeated the 1st named ‘Orc Fighter’ and reached the 2nd named, encountered a stumbling block.
“Urgh!”
The party’s tank, Fighter Deathly Death, collapsed, unable to withstand the named boss’s attack.
“Oh, no!”
“Kyaah! Big sis!”
“Senior Chris!”
Chris, who was dealing with an Orc Mage that appeared along with the named boss, bit her lip.
As soon as the tank holding the aggro fell, the 2nd named ‘Orc Assassin’ began to rampage.
Even the Mage Bae Merong and Elementalist Cherni in the rear were exposed to the Orc Assassin’s fatal attacks.
“Retreat for now, we’ll regroup!”
At the entrance of the 2nd named area, Chris asked the resurrected Deathly Death.
“Hey, Death. I trust your ability as a tank. Is the 2nd named’s pattern much harder to respond to?”
Indeed, Deathly Death hadn’t allowed even a single fatal attack while facing the 1st named ‘Orc Fighter’.
He caught the counter timing for all of the Orc Fighter’s attacks with excellent reaction speed, and skillfully held the named boss’s aggro even while party members were dealing with the Orc Elite Soldiers.
Even in the early stages of the 2nd named attempt, Fighter Deathly Death showed excellent response ability.
He quickly caught the special attack pattern of the ‘Orc Assassin’ that included rear DPS in its attack range, and his pattern recognition ability was excellent enough to use backward evasion techniques to make attacks focus only on himself.
“…It was like being possessed by a ghost. Even my ‘Momentary Mystic Eye’ couldn’t fully grasp his movements.”
“What? Speak so I can understand.”
“He’s saying he lost sight of the Orc Assassin’s form.”
Mage Bae Merong interpreted Deathly Death’s words.
Chris nodded and asked Deathly Death again.
“How about it, can you hold out in the next try?”
“It seems it will take a bit more time.”
“Alright. Leave the Orc Mages to us, Death, you focus as much as possible on just the Orc Assassin’s pattern.”
Chris looked towards where the 2nd named ‘Orc Assassin’ was while holding a talisman.
“Anyway, if the tank can’t hold out in the end, we can’t clear the named boss.”
[2nd Named]
[Level 16 Orc Assassin]
[HP 17700/17700]
[Level 15 Orc Mage (Ice)]
[HP 3000/3000]
[Level 15 Orc Mage (Fire)]
[HP 3000/3000]
* * *
“Heh.”
I smiled brightly while touching the earring on my ear.
[Orc Fighter’s Earring]
[Elite]
[Strength +5 Agility +5 Intelligence +5]
[Critical Hit Chance +1%]
[Critical Damage +5%]
The first elite grade accessory I’ve obtained!
It was on a completely different level from the rare grade ‘Orc Warrior’ accessories I had been wearing until now.
It even had special options that boosted critical abilities in addition to stats.
If the 1st named drops an earring, the 2nd named should drop a ring.
Probably, the last named, the 3rd named, will give a weapon.
Accessories were items bound on acquisition.
But what about weapons?
I briefly opened the auction house and searched.
“Hmm.”
Although the auction house did not yet have any ‘Orc King’s Weapon’ listings, the category existed.
That means weapons are sellable.
Even if I don’t get a weapon for the Swordsman job class, I could sell it to other job classes for a lot of gold.
It was a pretty good win-win structure.
People with a lot of gold could buy weapons from the advance party of the elite dungeon ‘Orc King’s Cave’ and smoothly farm accessories.
If you completely finish farming accessory pairs and weapons in the elite dungeon, you’ll get a huge spec upgrade.
Only then can you finally graduate from this area and move on to the next area.
Slash!
“Kiieek!”
Certainly, the regular orcs in the 2nd named area were stronger than in the 1st named area.
But my attacks had also become stronger after equipping the ‘Orc Fighter’s Earring’.
I progressed smoothly, dealing with the regular orcs.
And finally, I reached the 2nd named.
[2nd Named]
[Level 16 Orc Assassin]
[HP 17700/17700]
[Level 15 Orc Mage (Ice)]
[HP 3000/3000]
[Level 15 Orc Mage (Fire)]
[HP 3000/3000]
“Eek!”
It seems this game doesn’t let users focus on just one named boss.
The 1st named appeared from the middle, but by the 2nd named, the named boss was waiting for users with support monsters from the very beginning.
The 2nd named, ‘Orc Assassin’, was looking around holding a long, sharp dagger in one hand.
The large cave opened behind the Orc Assassin must be the entrance leading to the ‘Orc King’s’ chamber.
I adjusted the grip on my sword.
Anyway, Swordsmen have the ‘Block’ skill.
It might have attacks that can’t be blocked like the 1st named, but if they don’t come out often, it shouldn’t be difficult.
And the Orc Mages.
I’ve experienced multi-target recognition patterns from the 1st named.
From the leveling process, I’ve grown while facing three or four monsters at once, so I could distinguish threatening attacks mixed in among the barrage of attacks.
I just need to do the same as with the 1st named.
Deal with the Orc Mages one by one, then slowly tackle the Orc Assassin when it’s alone.
Clap!
I calmed my tense heart by clapping my face with both palms once.
“Alright.”
And, I stepped into the Orc Assassin’s recognition range.
Beep.
The Orc Assassin looked at me.
It bared its fangs and gripped its sharp dagger tightly.
The Orc Mages standing on either side of the Orc Assassin began gathering energy in their hands.
Fire and ice magic.
Both would probably deal damage too strong to tank with my body.
Rain, think simply.
Just block everything and deal with them one by one.
“Haap!”
I charged towards the Orc Assassin at high speed while shouting a battle cry.
Clang clang clang clang clang!
The 2nd named, ‘Orc Assassin’s 5-hit combo rushed in instantly.
My sword, with Block activated, kept shaking under the Orc Assassin’s strong attacks.
The Orc Assassin’s 5-hit combo, attacking while quickly moving left and right, would have been impossible to respond to if Block didn’t cover the entire front 180 degrees.
Judging from the Orc Assassin’s movements, this 5-hit combo pattern didn’t seem to be single-target.
If there were party members within the attack range, it would have bounced to them as well.
Boom, boom!
Meanwhile, the Orc Mages’ fireballs and ice arrows kept shooting at me.
The fortunate thing was that all attacks from the named boss and support monsters could be ‘Blocked’.
Even the Orc Assassin’s seemingly ultimate 5-hit combo couldn’t break through the Swordsman’s ‘Block’ skill.
But you can’t move while the ‘Block’ skill is activated.
I slowly moved my body, keeping the Orc Assassin and Mages all within the front 180 degrees so I could respond to all patterns.
The momentary gap when attacks from the three monsters weren’t coming in, that was the opportunity.
I released the blocking stance and moved a little.
Clang clang clang!
But that gap was very short.
I calmly waited for the monsters’ wave of attacks to end while maintaining the blocking stance.
And another gap came.
This time I moved a bit more boldly.
Whoosh!
I quickly reached my target location by activating the backward evasion skill while momentarily turning my body.
Having arrived in front of my desired target, I smiled brightly.
“Arrived.”
Where I had reached was beside the Orc Mage shooting flames.
The Orc Mage, despite being a mage, seemed to trust its sturdy body as it didn’t try to escape from my attack range.
Pitter-patter! Clang!
The Orc Assassin quickly approached and clashed its dagger against my sword.
But now I had both the Orc Assassin and the flame-shooting Orc Mage, a total of two monsters, within melee attack range.
Slash!
My area-of-effect slash attack, immediately activated due to blocking, left wounds on both monsters.
I couldn’t deal damage to the Orc Mage shooting ice arrows from afar, but if I maintain this formation and keep attacking, the flame Orc Mage will fall before long.
After that? I just need to approach the ice Orc Mage and repeat the same actions.
This is the solo strategy for the 2nd named.
I smiled with satisfaction.
[Orc Mage (Fire)]
[HP 1514/3000]
“Chwiiiik!”
The Orc Mage let out a fierce cry.
It had lost nearly half its HP from my continuous slash attacks between blocks.
The other Orc Mage far away hadn’t taken damage, but its ice arrows couldn’t penetrate my block either.
The named Orc Assassin’s attacks were also being blocked by my Block.
They had no way to take me down as I kept activating slashes using the momentary gaps in their wave of attacks to chip away at their HP.
The Swordsman’s front 180-degree Block was an overpowered skill as long as it wasn’t penetrated.
“Hee.”
I flashed a smile at the orcs beyond my sword.
You’re no match for me.
At that moment.
One orc disappeared from my sight.
I was dumbfounded.
There were clearly three, but?
The orcs I could see before me right now were the Orc Mage continuously being hit by my slashes and the Orc Mage shooting ice arrows from afar.
The named ‘Orc Assassin’ was not visible.
My body, bound by the game system’s stats, didn’t react immediately like in my hero days.
This is dangerous.
The moment I thought that.
Stab.
“Kuhk.”
My body convulsed violently.
My vision blurred.
“Ah? Ah?”
Words couldn’t even come out properly from my widely opened mouth.
Why?
I was engulfed in doubt.
I tried to understand what had happened to my body by lowering my blurry gaze.
And, what finally came into view was.
A sharp blade protruding through my chest.
Drip, drip.
What was falling from its tip, my blood?
The sharp thing sticking out of my chest disappeared.
My body, out of control, fell backward.
Thud.
The world quickly darkened.
And soon.
I couldn’t see anything.