Chapter 22: Raid (2)

Raid

It was the pillar of RPGs.

It was also a type of content where you form a party with other users excluding yourself, work together to defeat the boss, and get rewards.

And I hadn’t done a raid during the two months I played this game.

No, I couldn’t.

My class was a mage.

It was a job called by various derogatory names such as garbage job, squishy, difficult operation difficulty, ranged damage one-trick, glass cannon, etc., in this game.

There was no party that would accept someone like me.

Of course, some viewers said they would go with me, but I refused.

The relationship between the viewers and me had to be that I was the superior and the viewers were the inferior.

The moment I asked for something, the roles would be reversed.

The superior would be the viewers, and the inferior would be me.

And a role that had been reversed once could be reversed again.

That kind of thing had to be thoroughly prevented.

So once, I secretly opened a party myself, but this time, no one sent a join request.

‘At that time, I had already gained a reputation as a malicious PK user. But now it’s different…!’

Today, one of the original raid members had a car accident, so the Paladin guy reluctantly called me as a substitute.

‘Now I can finally do a proper raid…!’

I hovered the mouse pointer over the microphone button.

If I turned this on, I would talk to the raid members.

Gulp!

‘My first raid members in my life…’

I mustered up courage and turned on the microphone.

“…Hello.”

[Hello.]

[Hiya.]

[Pleased to meet you.]

“……!”

Unconsciously, I clasped my hands over my mouth.

Raid members actually exist?

They weren’t all AI or something, right?

I need to stay focused so that tears don’t flow.

‘Is that the Paladin guy?’

Suddenly, the Paladin standing alone on the monitor caught my eye.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t said a word since I joined.

“Doesn’t the Paladin turn on their microphone?”

[No, they say their throat hurts now and they won’t turn on the microphone.]

“Oh dear….”

I wanted to say thank you for inviting me to the party, but I’ll have to say it after the raid is over.

The female Brawler who seemed to be the raid leader organized the party.

The total of 8 party members were divided into Party 1 and Party 2.

Party 1

1.Warrior

2.Rogue

3.Brawler

4.Priest

Party 2

5.Brawler (Raid Leader)

6.Mage

7.Warrior

8.Priest

As soon as I was assigned to Party 2, I greeted the other raid members, and soon after, the raid leader directed the party members.

[Did everyone pack their skill presets? You mustn’t forget things like potions.]

[Okay.]

[Packed.]

“I packed mine too.”

My first raid in my life, my heart was pounding.

It was pounding so much that I grabbed my chest.

‘I guess I can’t help but be nervous?’

This raid was a new raid that had only been released for 3 weeks.

The boss respawned weekly, so once it was successfully defeated, they had to wait for another week.

The raid members had only defeated the boss twice, and I had no raid experience whatsoever.

I absolutely couldn’t make a mistake.

I turned off the microphone and asked the viewers.

“…Can I really do well?”

-Fighting!!

-Don’t be nervous LOL

-Your control is good.

You’ll last for 1 minute LOL

Even so, the viewers didn’t calm down.

I’m wondering if I should tell a fortune.

I watched the strategy videos to avoid causing trouble and memorized all the patterns, but there were always variables.

[Alright, everyone, let’s go.]

[Would you like to enter the raid?]

[Accept/Decline]

When I pressed the accept button, I was teleported somewhere.

There were raid members around me, and in front was a large and massive golden gate.

Creak.

As I slowly approached the gate, it opened automatically, and the scene before it was spectacular.

“Wow….”

An exclamation of admiration burst out.

The ground was covered entirely in gold, and the gold had become liquid, forming a river.

Golden bars were piled high along the path.

-Wow, that’s f*cking amazing LOL

-Kuzu did a good job with just one map LOL

-What good is a well-made map if the operation is a mess 

-Let’s just operate it well…

“Did everyone not forget?

You mustn’t be swept away by the water.”

All the raid members, including me, nodded their heads.

[How dare you enter my land! Only gold can step on my land!]

The boss’s voice was heard.

To approach that guy, we had to avoid various obstacles.

The river flowing like waves was one of them.

‘Don’t be nervous…!’

If even a drop of that golden river water touches your body, your character turns into gold and is swept away by the river to die.

In other words, it means if you don’t touch it, that’s enough.

[I will make you regret stepping on my land.]

Soon after, the river rushed from behind, and we ran towards the gate.

Everyone except me used a movement skill.

Originally, you couldn’t survive in this area without using a movement skill.

And the mage had only one movement skill.

Trick.

This skill, which swapped the position of the opponent and the character, was a skill that couldn’t be called a movement skill.

‘Do I have to use a workaround?’

“Rogue-nim, I’m sorry.”

[Yes?]

Before I could use a movement skill, I quickly grabbed the rogue, pointed my staff downwards, and activated the skill.

Skill: Gust Wind

Since the knockback effect isn’t applied to me, there had to be someone next to me.

[Ughhh! I have acrophobia!]

When I jumped high into the sky due to the knockback effect, the rogue screamed.

‘Right, everyone except me was using VR equipment.’

I overlooked that with VR equipment, senses are connected, making the game feel more realistic.

‘I’m curious about what kind of sensation it is.’

Seeing the screaming rogue made me curious.

I should buy VR equipment sometime later.

We successfully landed on the gate.

Of course, thanks to being squishy, both of us lost health from fall damage, but that could be healed.

Seeing us land safely, the raid leader exclaimed in admiration.

“Oh, to think there was such a method! You’re amazing.”

“…Haha, thank you for the compliment. You learn all sorts of things when you live as a mage.”

I didn’t want to know such methods either.

“Can you perhaps teach me how to play a mage?”

“Are you serious? You’ll regret it.”

I hope she doesn’t make an irreversible choice due to a momentary decision.

If only I could go back in time, I would beat the past me who chose mage until I died.

We entered the golden castle, and as we stepped inside, the first boss greeted us.

[You can never approach that person!]

A giant golden statue knight moved, holding a greatsword.

The raid consisted of a total of 3 gates, and the golden statue knight was the first gate.

In the beginning, we dodged the minor patterns, received attack buffs, and dealt damage.

[Alright, everyone, the first pattern will appear, so please dodge.]

The golden knight’s first pattern appeared when its HP reached 156 bars: golden spikes erupting from the ground.

The golden spikes erupting from the ground are a pattern that targets only the marked user.

[Target designated as ‘Gochu Wang Lee Haim’.]

A target mark appeared above my character.

I was momentarily stunned, but I quickly regained my composure and slapped my cheeks.

Slap!

‘This is a pattern I’ve seen in my dreams several times!

I can do it!’

In this pattern, the target had to stand behind the boss, and the other raid members had to stand in front of the boss in a line.

‘Here it comes!’

As I stood in a line with the raid members, the golden spikes rapidly approached me.

Skill: Lightning Bolt

Before the spikes reached me, quickly deal damage to the boss.

The spikes subsided.

In this pattern, the character who was targeted had to hit the boss with a skill.

Otherwise, the other party members would definitely take damage twice the original damage.

“Success!”

[Well done, everyone! Attack again!]

All the raid members attacked the boss.

However, unfortunately, the Paladin got caught in a remaining pattern.

[Noah has died outside the boundary.]

The boss grabbed the Paladin and threw him far away into the golden river.

I was worried about a lack of damage, but fortunately, we made it to the second pattern.

[I was worried about a lack of damage, but thanks to Mage-nim, we survived.]

“…Thank you.”

For me, a mage, to receive a compliment, I wanted to shed tears of joy, but since I was in a raid, I focused on the patterns.

The second pattern, the sunlight descending from the sky.

If you are hit by this pattern, your character turns into gold, and the AI makes your character attack other allies.

In the first place, my control was good, so I wasn’t hit, and neither were the other raid members…

[Ah, I got hit.]

“…….”

The moment I thought that, the Brawler in Party 1 got caught.

[I’ll take care of the Brawler-nim.]

The rogue stepped up and dealt with the Brawler who had become an enemy.

The fortunate thing about this pattern was that if a certain amount of damage was dealt, they would return to normal.

When the Brawler’s health was slightly reduced, their control returned to normal, and they joined in attacking the boss again.

After that, we dodged the minor patterns and attacks and eventually reached the final pattern.

“Everyone, hang in there! It’s the last combo!”

The last pattern was the boss’s final struggle, almost a self-destructing pattern.

[You can never approach that person!]

Cracks appeared near the statue’s heart and it shattered instantly.

A massive golden heart appeared inside the boss’s body and began to grow.

“Alright, everyone, to your designated positions!”

When the raid members went to the edges and formed a heptagonal shape, spears were summoned according to the number of surviving members.

[1]

[2]

[3!]

[Fire!]

When the raid leader said ‘3’ in the chat, everyone simultaneously threw their golden spears at the heart.

If even one person missed the timing, a wipe skill would activate, killing everyone in the raid.

[Aaaah! Lord of Gold!]

If the spears were thrown in rhythm, this voice would be heard, and if they were not hit, no voice would be heard.

[Please forgive me….]

Finally, the boss was defeated, and when the first gate was cleared, the MVP window popped up along with a message that the achievement was completed.

Everyone is hoping for their character’s face to appear at the top of the MVP window.

1st Gochu Wang Lee Haim

2nd Cat’s Food

3rd One-shot Wonder

4th Thousand Year Sweetness

It was composed of 3 dealers and 1 supporter, totaling 4 people, and my nickname was written at the very top.

In other words, it also meant that the amount of damage I dealt was the highest among the raid members.

‘Can I be this happy….’

To even get MVP on my first raid, I feel like tears are going to come out.

-Oh not bad.

-You prepared well LOL

-You didn’t actually memorize all the patterns and join, did you?

“Ahem, of course. This much is basic!”

Originally, the mage’s damage was the highest among all classes, and since I dealt damage without missing even a short moment, it was a natural result.

We took a short break, but it quickly passed.

Because the second gate was waiting for us.