Chapter 20
The Illusion Magic Tower was noisy since morning.
It wasn’t us who were being noisy, but rather the people causing a commotion in front of the door.
“Ugh… Should I just reveal his identity?”
After the offline expedition meeting, JeBbit’s popularity skyrocketed.
Not only reporters, but even JeBbit’s passionate fans started coming to the Illusion Magic Tower.
Most of them were people who wanted to help JeBbit and were asking for his contact information or identity.
We had even posted a sign on the door saying that we didn’t know JeBbit’s true identity, but the more zealous ones still kept knocking on the door.
“It’s been noisy since morning.”
“Exactly. I don’t understand why everyone is getting so obsessed…”
Most of the expedition members had their identities disclosed.
The members were mostly nobles, with only one commoner among them.
However, JeBbit’s identity and family background were not revealed.
This was because I suggested it would be better for his safety, and Galliard agreed.
“By the way, where is the Tower Master?”
“She’s playing the game. She said she’s challenging Zatum this afternoon with 24 people.”
“They’re finally doing it.”
Hina was still deeply engrossed in the game.
According to what I heard from her, the opinions in the strategy meeting were divided.
One group insisted that they should challenge with full force now that JeBbit joined, while the other group suggested gathering the maximum of 30 members.
In the end, they decided to face it head-on, and the current 24 members were set to challenge Zatum today.
Come to think of it, in my past life, the first expedition that successfully conquered Zatum also had 24 members.
Curious about the progress, I went to find Hina’s room.
“Tower Master, you said you’re challenging it today, right?”
“Y-Yes…!”
Hina, who was doing some kind of exercise.
She was stretching her short arms and legs as if she was doing a warm-up.
“Do you think the raid will go well? Even though you have JeBbit, there’s only one Bishop.”
“Hmmm… We’ll have to see.”
One, two. One, two…
Hina continued her exercise, mumbling the count.
Usually, Hina would just be lazing around, but it seemed like she was quite tense for this situation.
I had some complaints about her being more serious about games than her work as the Tower Master, but…
“Here. Please activate this when you log in this time.”
“Huh?”
I handed over a pre-made artifact to Hina.
It was an artifact that could record the illusion as a video in connection with Maple Leaf Story.
It was to record the entire process of the expedition.
It was still an unfinished version, but Hina should be able to use it.
There were still some deficiencies, but Hina could complete the functionality herself using her magic.
When the next game is released, I plan to finish it so that everyone can record their own gameplay.
“If you use the illusion-sharing spell, the mana trace will be stored in it…”
“Yes. It’s still incomplete, but I think you can use it, Tower Master. Please use it to record the process of conquering Zatum.”
“…Okay!”
Hina’s mood brightened even more.
This way, I’ll be able to watch it later too.
After a while, Hina logged into Maple Leaf Story.
***
The deepest part of the abandoned mine. The gate leading to Zatum.
The expedition members were gathered there, preparing for the raid.
“…24 people. Is everyone logged in?”
The last to appear was the leader of the expedition, <Fallen Power Warrior>.
The members nodded solemnly.
“Everyone stocked up on potions? Did the archers and rogues bring enough arrows and throwing stars?”
The members checked their inventories.
The archers and star-throwing rogues had extra full inventories.
This was because they used arrows and throwing stars, which were consumables.
There were several archers in the party, such as Bow Masters and Marksmen.
However, there were only two rogue-type users.
Among them, there was only one Night Lord who specialized in throwing stars.
“Got plenty of throwing stars… and potions…”
That was none other than the Illusion Tower Master, Hina, known as <Room-Corner Tower Master>.
Rogues were harder to level compared to other classes, so there were still few players who reached the 4th job advancement.
Because of her exceptional talent in games, Hina was able to reach the current level of 140 at a rapid pace.
And the other rogue user.
Unlike Hina, he was a dagger-wielding rogue. A Shadower user known as <Phantom Thief Reset>.
He was the only commoner in the expedition team.
He quietly listened to the briefing in a corner of the map.
He was also an important part of the party’s strength, but because he was a commoner, he usually just followed the other members’ opinions.
Considering there was even an offline meeting, it was inevitable for him as a commoner.
“Then, let’s go!”
With JeBbit’s cheerful shout, the expedition team crossed through the portal.
Passing through the dazzling lights, they arrived at Zatum’s Altar.
In the hot, suffocating air of the place, the members swallowed their tension.
“Then, I’ll place the ‘Eye of Fire’ now.”
The members nodded solemnly.
<Fallen Power Warrior> placed the Eye of Fire on the altar and quickly distanced himself.
Kaang—
A clear sound echoed as the Eye of Fire landed on the altar.
With the ensuing burst of light, the ground began to tremble.
Without exception, all the members activated their buff skills at once.
In an instant, the party members’ stats soared.
This time, with the addition of the Bishop <Light of the Empire>’s buff, their stat increase was even greater.
“It’s here!”
And Zatum began to reveal itself.
The massive stone body and its eight arms, awakening from the cursed tree, started to attack.
“Everyone—”
Even before <Fallen Power Warrior> could shout, the members concentrated their firepower on the third right arm.
Zatum’s eight arms.
Each arm had a different form of attack.
The one they had to destroy first was the third arm on the right.
That arm would cast a buff on Zatum, greatly restoring its health.
If Zatum continued to heal itself, the strategy would make no progress, so it had to be destroyed first.
Most of the information about each arm had been gathered from previous challenges.
Following the order decided in the strategy meeting, the members began focusing their firepower on each arm.
Kugung—
The third right arm of Zatum was destroyed and fell off within thirty minutes.
Not long after, the fourth right arm, which had also been taking damage, was destroyed as well.
The speed was much faster than previous attempts, and hope started to spread across the faces of the members.
“Don’t stop, keep attacking!”
Galliard shouted while downing a potion in one gulp.
He said that, but he also felt that this attempt had a good chance.
Crack— Boom—
Lightning and ice pillars fell from all directions, while poison clouds and scorching flames pierced through their skin.
The status abnormality attacks blurred their vision, made them lose their sense of direction, and caused them to spam their skills randomly.
Although their speed was faster than before, Zatum was still not an easy opponent.
In an instant, the HP of the members dropped rapidly, and they desperately chugged potions, repeating the cycle of restoring and losing health again and again.
“Everyone, hang in there!”
At the point when four of Zatum’s arms were destroyed,
Normally, by now, some members would have reached 0 HP, causing gravestones to fall from the sky.
“Everyone, stay focused!”
“Arghhhhhhh—!”
Papat— Papat—
Countless arrows and shurikens flew toward Zatum’s arms.
They rained down like a storm, piercing into Zatum’s arms.
“Arghhhhh—”
< Backroom Tower Master> also frantically threw skills along with the archers.
Thanks to <Light of the Empire>’s healing, they were able to focus more on dealing damage.
Although her healing couldn’t cover everyone’s HP, she saved members who were on the brink of death, allowing the expedition team to remain intact until now.
“Huff… Huff…”
“When will it finally break!”
“This is too hard!”
Two hours had passed since the strategy began.
Now, only the two topmost arms of Zatum remained.
The prolonged battle was wearing the members down, just as they fought with potions and healing to recover HP.
The two uppermost arms tenaciously held out, absorbing the players’ HP and refusing to be destroyed.
Another thirty minutes passed.
Thud…
The first left arm fell off, and the members began to focus all their attacks on the last remaining arm.
“Uwoooooooo—!”
“Haaaa—!”
“It’s Genesis time!”
“Please…!”
The members poured their attacks with desperate hearts.
Soon after, the last arm fell off.
“Ha…!”
“We did it…!”
“Yes!”
“Is it… finally over?”
The members’ faces brightened with relief for a brief moment.
However,
“Did we really defeat it?”
“Wait! Don’t say that…!”
With the words of <God of Lightning vv>, Zatum’s main body began to awaken.
Zatum’s main body formed a gigantic magic circle, and the battle resumed.
“What, what’s happening?!”
The magic circle overlapped triangles and circles, and a faint eye could be seen in the middle.
Along with it, numerous small monsters called Bugiras were summoned in droves.
“It’s Genesis time!”
<Light of the Empire> quickly used Genesis to clear the summoned mobs.
“It’s not over yet! Everyone, attack!”
As she said, the strategy wasn’t over yet.
Rather, now that Zatum’s main body was revealed, the real challenge had only just begun.
Whooooom—
A gigantic triangular magic circle appeared, with complicated spells superimposed at each of its vertices.
As soon as Zatum drew the magic circle, unavoidable lightning fell across the entire map.
“What, what’s this?! My skills…!”
“Drink the General Elixir! Everyone!”
It was an attack that sealed their skills.
It was an unexpected attack pattern, since it was their first time reaching Zatum’s main body.
Still, it was fortunate that they had brought all kinds of potions with them.
Zatum continued its attacks, inflicting status abnormalities like physical attack nullification and magic attack nullification.
Now that the main body was revealed, the attack patterns became much more erratic and deadly, causing the strategy’s progress to slow down rapidly.
“Ah, this is so annoying—!”
The endlessly summoned mobs were also quite troublesome.
Although the mobs fell quickly to area-of-effect(AOE) attacks, their numbers were overwhelming.
The Mesos and items dropped by the defeated mobs covered the ground, but there was no time for anyone to pick them up.
Woooong—
“It’s a new type of magic circle! Everyone, be careful!”
<ElfWorld> shouted.
The magic circle, shaped like a vortex, began to ripple.
“Uh—”
Thud— Thud— Thud—
All players’ HP and Mana suddenly dropped to 1 in an instant.
And due to that attack, three players died, causing gravestones to fall from the sky.
It all happened in an instant.
“What the…!”
“Power Elixir! When that magic circle appears, everyone, be ready with your Power Elixirs!”
Fortunately, thanks to <ElfWorld>’s prior warning, most of the members managed to survive that absurd attack.
Although the attack pattern was ridiculous, they could withstand it as long as they quickly chugged their Power Elixirs.
“It’s coming again!”
“No—”
Thud—
However, losing three members was a severe blow to the expedition team.
Several crucial buffs were gone, significantly weakening the party’s power.
With the lack of damage, the speed of the strategy began to slow down.
Even the members who had been holding on well started to die one by one due to the attack that reduced their HP and Mana to 1.
“We should’ve brought more Power Elixirs and General Elixirs!”
The members who were running out of Power Elixirs and General Elixirs were finding the battle even harder.
Of course, at the start of the raid, they thought they had brought plenty.
But that was only when they were dealing with Zatum’s arms.
To survive Zatum’s main body’s absurd attack patterns, they should have brought twice the amount of Power Elixirs and General Elixirs.
“This isn’t working—!!”
<Light of the Empire> unleashed Genesis continuously.
The fact that she had time to deal damage was not a good sign.
It meant that the number of comrades she needed to heal had decreased that much.
There were just over ten members left.
Although they had dealt a significant amount of damage to Zatum’s main body, there was no way they could defeat it with these numbers.
“Why does it have so much HP…! No matter how much we chip away, it’s endless!”
“But look, we’re finally seeing the black bar appear… Even so, it’s still…”
The last phase of Zatum’s main body.
But that seemed to be their limit.
Both the surviving members and the ones watching from death sensed that this was the end.
‘…This is as far as we go. But since we’ve identified the main body’s patterns, we should be able to clear it next time. It’s unfortunate, but…’
<The Fallen Power Warrior>, the leader, was thinking the same thing.
He was still thrusting his spear diligently.
But unless there was a way to reduce that HP in an instant, there was no chance of winning.
They hadn’t anticipated the main body’s attack patterns, so they were running low on Power Elixirs and General Elixirs.
‘Next time, we’ll have to stock up on Power Elixirs and General Elixirs. If we do that, then surely…’
Some members were already planning for the next raid.
Since they had identified all the patterns, they believed they could clear it next time.
With most of the members having somewhat resigned themselves,
“…?”
Ring— Ring— Ring— Ring—
One user started acting in a manner that no one could understand.
-What are you doing, < Phantom Thief Reset >!
-Have they gone mad because Zatum is too strong…
aHe began dropping his mesos onto the ground.
The deceased users started making comments as they watched his actions.
Even though they were out of hope, dropping money instead of attacking Zatum was baffling.
It was not something anyone sane would do.
Really, it was not something a sane person would try.
“Hooo…”
After dropping money for a while, <Phantom Thief Reset> stopped at some point and wiped his sweat.
The mesos he had thrown, along with the mesos dropped by the mobs,
The massive pile of mesos completely covered the ground.
During this time, four more of his comrades died.
-Looks like he’s out of money now.
-No matter how hopeless the situation, this is too much.
They were right.
The reason <Phantom Thief Reset> stopped dropping mesos was because he had run out of mesos.
To be exact, he stopped at the moment he was left with exactly one coin.
And in his hand was a single remaining coin.
-Wait a minute. No way…!
By the time someone realized his intention, he had already flicked the coin.
Ting—
“Mesos Explosion—”
The single coin flew and landed on the pile of mesos,
And the mesos that covered the ground began to create an enormous explosion.
—
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