LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 124
[Title]
Current Progress of the ‘Abyssal Tree’ Raid by Each Party.txt (+1554)
[Content]
First Raid of Astria Online
This is the progress of the ‘Abyssal Tree’ strategy.
The dungeon has opened, and the first weekend is passing.
I’m sharing what I know about the progress.
‘Hong Baek’ party cleared the 2 Named Enemy.
‘Skada’ party is progressing on the 2 Named Enemy.
‘Dajung Dosada’ party is progressing on the 2 Named Enemy.
‘White Bone’ party is progressing on the 2 Named Enemy.
Other parties are progressing on the 1 Named Enemy.
[Comments]
– For real? How come?
– There are people posting screenshots of their progress.
– Yeah, I know people in various parties.
– Even if the strategies aren’t out yet, we can still hear about the progress.
– Ugh, it’s frustrating. Every streamer has been struggling at the 1 Named Enemy for days, and we’re still not seeing the 2 Named Enemy! Yet, there’s already a party that cleared it.
– I think Kyuam’s party might clear the 1 Named Enemy today.
– Jo Hyun-Soo, haha!
– Kiki-kki, haha!
– I also saw the Woo Gyeol party at the final phase of the 1 Named Enemy.
– Wow~
– The match-up of Woo Gyeol vs Jo Hyun-Soo is the most exciting! Haha!
– For real, haha!
– So, has the Hong Baek party seen the last boss already? Whoa, whoa, whoa!
– No news on them seeing the last boss yet.
– What are they stuck on?
– Huh? Didn’t they clear the 2 Named Enemy late yesterday and are resting?
– No way. They should be trying to see the patterns and prepare tactics by extending their trial time.
– Seems like there’s a mid-boss.
There was a mid-boss before the 1 Named Enemy too, so it roughly adds up.
Here’s the summary:
Area 1
Mid-boss ‘Ant Corrupted by Magic’
Named Enemy ‘Black Dragon’
Area 2
Mid-boss ‘???’
Named Enemy ‘???’
Area 3
Mid-boss ‘???’
Named Enemy ‘???’
– This makes sense.
– Nice and clean.
– The mid-boss Ant in Area 1 also seemed like a Named Enemy level.
– We’re just facing 6 bosses, huh?
– But there are 48 people alone progressing on the 2 Named Enemy from three parties on the Korean server, yet I haven’t heard anything about the mid-boss in Area 2?
– It’s the White Bone and Gal’s parties, right? Aren’t they posting videos?
– They’re also an advance team, so how would they post?
– There might be areas that are non-existent or some that exist.
– Still haven’t heard about anyone progressing on the 3 Named Enemy, so I expect there will be a mid-boss before 3 Named Enemy.
– Wow, but the progress of the Hong Baek party is overwhelming.
– For real, they seem like they’re going to clear everything up to the last boss in the first week! Haha!
*
[Title]
I’m a member of ‘White Bone’ party. 2 Named Enemy wiped. (+2072)
[Content]
We gathered since this morning for our first try, but four hours in, and we still can’t get past the basic patterns.
Among the Gal party, we are the fastest progressing, but I seriously can’t find the rhythm.
I got the raid leader’s permission to post this video.
Let’s try to figure this out together.
How the hell do we do this?
(Video)
[Comments]
– Whoa.
– This is insane!
– What the? I can’t see the attacks.
– It’s too fast!
– Is that ‘Death Knight Jacam’?
– HP 500 million, haha!
– The Black Dragon had 200 million, haha!
– Isn’t there a gimmick? Usually, if HP jumps like this in the next phase, it can usually be lowered by some gimmick.
– Look at the basic patterns. Does it look like we can see any gimmicks?
– Seriously, it’s way too fast. The tank is just blocking and countering all the time.
– Yeah, there’s no time to deal damage. The melee dealers are dying left and right from the aftereffects!
– Should we go ranged-tank?
– The White Bone tank is just blocking. If the tank is like that, how can a ranged dealer tank? Haha!
– (Author) Yeah, ranged-tank is impossible. You can see, if the aggro person moves away, the sword flies right at them. And that sword isn’t messing around. It has almost zero cast time and sweeps through half the combat area, right? How long can we survive in front of that?
– True; I just saw it. What’s that sword?
– It spreads to the tank side and even behind us, haha!
– Wow, that’s crazy. Regular attacks are AoE, haha!
– Reminds me of someone’s mom! Haha!
– Ultimately, we have to adapt to see the next patterns, huh? But I think we’ll still manage after trying for a while, right?
– Do those patterns even allow room for adaptation? I feel like even if we watch for a month, we might not succeed.
– The difficulty of the basic pattern is extreme, and even if we assume we see the special phase, we also need to discover gimmicks to lower HP in there.
– The 2 Named Enemy is a wall of lamentation.
– I think Woo Gyeol and Jo Hyun-Soo’s parties will see the 2 Named Enemy today, and it’ll be chaotic on the stream, haha!
– What about the White Dog…? Aren’t they broadcasting?
– I also wanted to see the White Dog, so I cried, ㅠㅠ
– You’re telling me that high-tier talent like White Dog isn’t raiding with the Hong Baek party?
– Yeah, it’s been talked about since the first day of the trial, but now it seems certain.
– There was a confirmation shot of them clearing the 2 Named Enemy. There were 12 people without White Dog.
– Or maybe they’ve been working so hard that they’re having a healing raid on a loose schedule…
– They might actually be doing it alone…
– Suddenly, [‘Noname’ Raid…] something might pop up, right?
– Haha!
– But it does make me anxious.
– Seriously, if that happens, it’ll be chaotic, right…? It’s not just a dungeon, but a raid?
– From what we’ve seen of White Dog’s movements so far, it doesn’t seem like a joke.
*
Leaving behind the remains of ‘Flame Spear Soldier’ and ‘Ice Shield Soldier’, I stood at the door to the innermost depths.
Crick, crack.
The dark trunks let out a bizarre sound as they parted.
Finally, I stepped into a large circular space.
Woo-ooong.
An eerie energy was emanating from the center and spreading in all directions.
It was exactly like the center of the World Tree.
However, what was emanating from that center was not the green light of life but the purple aura of death.
And within that purple sphere…
Woo-ooong.
An entity revealed itself.
“…….”
I quietly gazed at the demon.
Its attire was a robe that covered its whole body snugly, but the fabric seemed to be made of crow feathers.
Many demons don’t dress appropriately. The martial arts demons usually go without tops. The female demons sometimes do wear clothing, but it usually looks quite revealing. It didn’t seem like he was a muscular martial arts type. The only thing that indicated he was a demon was the horn on his head.
He had an unexpectedly handsome face. What’s the colloquial term? Let’s say, he looks like a parasite ghost. If we had to compare, he resembles the 2 Named Enemy Dark Elf ‘Supply Officer Galroban’ from the forward base.
I let out a gasp and spoke a word.
“Oh, it’s a crow.”
“Cough, cough. That’s not wrong. But to call a first-time opponent a crow, you’re quite the bold guest.”
He chuckled softly.
He was rather gentlemanly.
He slightly opened his eyes and introduced himself.
“I am Crow, who oversees the north of this world.”
Ding!
[3 Named Enemy]
[Level 53]
[Northern Commander Crow]
[HP ??? / ???]
I smiled back.
“Oh really? I’m Rain.”
“Hero from a thousand years ago, the White Sword. I know.”
“……!”
That surprised me a bit.
Other NPCs didn’t know me, but this demon did.
Is he a demon that has lived for over a millennium? I’m not entirely sure about the lifespan of demons, but all the ones I’ve met until now were completely new faces. Though, to be fair, the top brass of demons had all been purged by our hero party.
The existence of ‘ma’ is born from pure magic.
Demons are originally beings that didn’t exist in Astria. If we must clarify, they are invaders from another dimension. There could very well be another world that could be called the demon world, and they came over from there.
They attempted to invade this world again. A world that had once failed. That must be because the god has died.
Destroying a dimension without a god might be easier than eating cake.
As I looked at him with a slightly wary gaze, he continued to speak.
“I know the past, that Lucifer fell by your hand.”
The name of the demon lord I had defeated slipped from his lips.
“Oh really? Has another demon lord been born? I doubt there will be anything different this time.”
“To beings born from ‘ma’, there is, in fact, no concept of demon lord.”
He shook his head.
What does that mean? Does it imply that there’s something above the demon lord?
Receiving my questioning gaze, Crow smiled oddly.
“The being you once called demon lord, Lucifer, was originally an angel of this world. I believe he was also referred to as the Demon Lord when he led the demons.”
“……!”
The image of the two angelic golems from the ‘Ancient Shrine of Berveia’ surfaced in my mind.
Archangel Dominion, and…
Fallen Angel Valiel.
“Valiel?”
“Indeed, so you are a hero, for knowing that name. Yes, that being, once an angel, raised rebellion against the god of this world and joined the army of magic.”
Crow looked surprised as well.
“The goddess’s mistake was dividing her power among the angels she had given life to, and then trying to lead this world with those children.”
I stiffened my expression.
The puzzle began to fit together.
The ancient dwarves.
Why they protected the ‘Everlasting Flame’ by crafting underground labyrinths.
The form of angels the dwarves saw manifested as golems in the ‘Ancient Shrine of Berveia’.
There had been a war of angels in this world before I arrived. And when all the angelic forms that the goddess had birthed were destroyed during that war, the goddess also lost her power.
I had never seen angels when I was active, so I’m sure.
I, born anew on the Continent of Astria. The goddess entrusted everything with only the Holy Sword and then perished when it was all over. This suggests that her power must have drastically weakened even before she called my soul to this world.
If one of the divine beings that govern the world has turned against us, it’s only a matter of time before dimensions walk the path of destruction.
However, one question remains.
Why did they fall?
How could a being that might be seen as an avatar of the goddess separate from her and be born with free will?
The reason for their corruption.
“Why…?”
I muttered absently, the question lingering.
“I believe you might know. A being that doesn’t belong to either the upper or lower dimensions.”
He smiled sweetly.
Pure magical being, Crow.
He seemed knowledgeable about many things.
The conversation with Han Yeoreum echoed in my mind.
Upper dimension, lower dimension.
Normalization.
Simulation.
Overwriting.
Unbeknownst to them, the truth that they considered their entirety was just the ant society looked upon from an upper dimension.
Existences like chess pieces on a chessboard.
Is that what entities of the lower dimension are like?