Other than Chamberlain Pierre, none of the other named monsters had any particularly special patterns. We cleared the dungeon smoothly and finally reached the boss room.
As soon as we entered the boss room, a trailer cutscene started to play.
Princess Cecil Riphart was walking side by side with the player heading inside.
The princess lifted high [Lloyd’s Dagger], which we had run around in circles to retrieve, and the smoke rising from the dagger showed the scene of Lloyd’s death. The one who killed Lloyd was the Royal Knight Commander of Riphart, the same guy we’d once received a quest from.
The Knight Commander shouted that it was all a misunderstanding, but the princess presented tokens bearing Ast’s seal and other pieces of evidence. And lastly, she pointed at Ast and denounced him.
Driven into a corner, Chancellor Ast did what villains always do: he bowed his head and let out a low, creepy chuckle, then threw his head back and burst out in a loud “hahaha.” Right after that, Ast’s body was wrapped in black smoke…
Chancellor Ast transformed into a monster.
The cutscene ended with the NPCs screaming and running away.
The story was cliché as hell, but I hadn’t skipped it because of 『rainfall』.
When the video ended, a vast map appeared, and in the center, Ast—now the boss monster—stood there, growling like a beast.
And a little distance away from him, Princess Cecil was still there, not running away.
[Party]Kim Mooni: What’s with her
[Cecil Riphart] Everyone, please be careful!
[Cecil Riphart] Ast is using dark magic once used by an evil ancient sorcerer!
After shouting that, the princess brought her hands together and began to pray. Almost at the exact same timing, Ast also used a skill.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] If I’d had just a little more time, this kingdom would have been mine…!
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] You damned interlopers, die!
Thud—
With a heavy sound, a huge pillar slammed down from above our heads. If you didn’t dodge by watching the shadow, it was a brutal attack that would come crashing down right on top of you.
The pillar’s role didn’t end there. A circular magic circle formed around the pillar, and any party member inside was inflicted with Silence along with a movement-slowing debuff.
It was also impossible to escape outside the magic circle. Judging from how fast the pillars came down, the magic circle itself was not something you could dodge as an attack…
[Cecil Riphart] I will cleanse you!
That was where our NPC, Cecil, shined.
With Cecil’s prayer, the Silence on me and shine.. was lifted. At the same time, our movement restriction was released.
shine.. healed the party members who had stupidly got hit by the pillar, and I avoided the magic circle and closed in on Ast.
kk1234 [Barrier of Sanctity]
I tried using a knockback skill, but of course, since it was a boss monster, it didn’t work.
kk1234 [Chains of Judgment]
My holding skill was also useless. Ast, who had just taken hits from me, raised his hand high.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] You little brat!
When Ast thrust his hand forward, several black, tornado-like effects spread out from around him in all directions. It obviously looked like something you shouldn’t touch, so I dodged it, but…
[Party]Kim Mooni: hurts like fuck ㅠ
Idiot Mooni took the hit and got slapped with a Bleed debuff, his HP draining away fast. The footing was cramped since we were stuck in the magic circle, but still, getting smacked by something everyone else was dodging…
[Party]Rete: lmao lolololololol
[Party]ScamMage: the shame of the guild..
The Bleed debuff didn’t go away even with status-clear skills, so shine.. kept casting heal after heal on Mooni.
And then—
[Cecil Riphart] I will cleanse you!
Cecil activated her skill again. This time, Rete and Latte were released from the magic circle.
Rete [Slash]
Rete immediately used a skill and attacked Ast. Ast responded by firing off another round of tornadoes.
[Party]Kim Mooni: daamn
This time nobody got hit; everyone dodged.
[Party]『rainfall』: Guess we’re not supposed to attack
[Party]Rete: Can’t just stand here and do nothing tho lol
[Cecil Riphart] I will cleanse you!
When Cecil’s cleanse came around again, the guild master and 『rainfall』 were freed.
[Party]kk1234: autos go?
Almost as I said it, Rete was already hitting Ast. Apparently he’d had the same thought, because it was auto-attacks, not skills.
Ast swung his arm hard and smacked Rete. It was a normal pattern this time, not the tornadoes.
[Party]Rete: lol
Party members immediately started rushing in. While we steadily shaved off his HP with auto-attacks, Cecil cleansed all the party members’ status ailments…
The battered Ast suddenly spread his arms wide and entered the next phase.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] May the blessing of the demon god descend...
At the same time, the pillar stuck in the floor started to hum and emit light. Light linked pillar to pillar, and then that light drew a huge magic circle above our heads.
Soon after, lightning struck.
[Party]Rete: lmaoooooooooooooooo
The entire party was lying on the ground. The attempt had failed.
[Party]ScamMage: guess we were supposed to hit the pillars...
[Party]Rete: hit it at the start and nothing happened so I thought it was unbreakable lol
There was nothing we could do now that we were dead, so we immediately left the dungeon. By now, the dungeon entrance was already packed with people. We went right back inside.
[Party]CaptainDaehan: gogogo
Since we’d already cleared up to the boss room once, we sweated and pushed hard until we got back there. This time, instead of hitting Ast during the previous pattern, we used our auto-attacks on the pillars.
[Party]Kim Mooni: Can we even break these in time?
[Party]『rainfall』: Let’s try just hitting one
I had no idea if 『rainfall』’s read was right, but we had no other method. Everyone who had revived rushed over to the pillar and started whacking away with auto-attacks, while the guild master loitered in front of the boss, pulling aggro.
After focusing on hitting it for quite a while, we barely managed to break one pillar.
Once that one broke, the rest of the pillars all collapsed as well. And then—
Shshshsh—…
[Party]BoomerLatte: wtf
Black, bug-like things poured out of the broken pillars. They were weak monsters that died in one hit, but the sheer number was the problem.
『rainfall』 [Blizzard]
However, in front of an Archmage with wide-area attacks, they didn’t stand a chance.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] How dare you… how dare you!
Ast shouted a generic line and flew into a rage. His body seemed to be swallowed by darkness, then vanished.
And after teleporting, he popped up right behind 『rainfall』.
kk1234 [Holy Spear]
Before Ast could hit 『rainfall』, I quickly used a skill. While Ast flinched for a moment, 『rainfall』 reacted as well and cast a skill.
『rainfall』 [Sunburst]
CaptainDaehan [Provoke]
The nearby guild master immediately used Provoke to draw Ast’s aggro. While Ast charged at the guild master, we all poured damage into him at once.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] You insect-like wretches!
Ast desperately spammed teleports, but we weren’t dumb enough to get hit by a pattern we’d already figured out.
Thanks to everyone having dumped their lives into this game, our party’s damage output was pretty high. With that burst DPS, the boss’s HP bar melted away in an instant.
[Cursed Chancellor Ast] You… you goddamn brats…!
Ast’s HP hit 0, but he kept standing ramrod straight.
[Cecil Riphart] Demon, may you sleep in the darkness.
Just then, Cecil—who had been forgotten for a while—stepped forward and began to pray, and Ast’s body crumbled into black dust and scattered away.
[Party]Rete: she stole last hit
[Party]kk1234: lmaoooooooooo
[System] The first clear of [Kingdom of Riphart in Darkness] has been achieved.
[System] You have obtained the title [First Conqueror of the Kingdom of Riphart in Darkness].
Anyway, we got the first clear!
[Party]CaptainDaehan: He dropped gear
[Party]Kim Mooni: Ohhh
I moved my cursor over the gear. The item’s options popped up.
[Ring of Pallus]
The options were pretty damn good. The level requirement was low, but for an item like this, the drop rate would definitely be low and the market price really high…
[Party]Kim Mooni: holy shit
[Party]ScamMage: I want it..
[Party]Rete: roll
When the guild master picked up the gear, a system window popped up asking if we wanted to roll for it. If you rolled here, the item would go to a random person.
Of course, I chose to roll. Once everyone had selected, dice rolled above our heads.
And—
[Party]kk1234: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The item dropped straight into my inventory.
[Party]Rete: you lucky fuck
[Party]BoomerLatte: Why has the god,,,bestowed such fortune,,,on a moral failure,,,
They could say whatever they wanted; the ring was mine.
The options were useless for me, so I was going to sell it off, but still…
[Party]Rete: give me a cut
[Party]kk1234: ? lol
[Party]BoomerLatte: Tsk,,,they say the rich,,,are always worse off,,,
[Party]BoomerLatte: Give it,,,to a humble commoner,,,like me,,!
[Party]Kim Mooni: lololololololol
[Party]shine..: Office workers should go sleep now
[Party]BoomerLatte: Keep up the toil,,,
[Party]kk1234: lol night
[Party]CaptainDaehan: Good work, everyone
[Party]ScamMage: gg...
[Party]Rete: gggg
[Party]『rainfall』: Thank you for the run
Guild members left the party one by one, until only me and 『rainfall』 were left again.
I was about to go talk to Cecil, when 『rainfall』 called out to me.
[Party]『rainfall』: kk1234
[Party]kk1234: What;
[Party]『rainfall』: Sell me that thing just now
[Party]kk1234: How much?
[Party]『rainfall』: Ten million
That was some insane lowballing. Ten million wouldn’t even cover the reinforcement stones to upgrade this thing.
Just then, 『rainfall』 corrected himself.
[Party]『rainfall』: No, ten million won in cash
And I was left completely dumbfounded.