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As soon as those words left his mouth, everyone’s expressions shifted slightly.

‘Bold kid, and you actually said it out loud!’

“…”, Thankfully, Duskwraith was someone who had weathered storms before. “Alright then, Emberveil, just make sure that defense debuff of yours stays active.”

To be honest, the 5-point defense reduction from the Venomfang Sword had long since fallen behind the game’s scaling needs. Whether it would even apply during the fight was another question entirely.

Still, Starry’s presence gave them a considerable boost in confidence. She had consistently held the number one spot on Wynwater City’s level ranking, and both her stats and skills in the PvP video had been solid, her involvement significantly increased their chances of success.

In theory, they could’ve called on other top players too, but they simply didn’t have time to wait. Most players were asleep at this hour, and dragging this on for several more hours just wasn’t sustainable. Duskwraith could maybe power through, but the two girls clearly couldn’t.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that nearly all of the guild’s elite members had already died once in this hidden zone, he might have given up on the boss entirely. But now, there was no turning back.

***

The five of them slowly closed in on the boss.

“Lulu, don’t enter the boss’ aggro range just yet. He’s way higher level than you, your stealth won’t work!”
“Got it, got it—geez, you’re so naggy,” Lulu huffed impatiently.

Duskwraith didn’t take it to heart; he seemed used to this and carried on, “Emberveil, what’s your HP and defense stat?”
“2290 HP, 58 physical defense, and magic defense is basically nonexistent.”

“2300 HP?” He was a bit surprised. That much without even changing class? He had to be fully geared in Rare equipment at least. “That should be enough. When the time comes, I’ll need you to soak up some damage from the boss.”

“Understood.”
“What about Stardust’s HP and defense?”
“HP is 2830,” Starry replied flatly.

That was an impressive number for a swordsman. Duskwraith gave a nod of approval.

“Physical defense 289, magic defense 2.”

‘Twenty-eight point nine…? That seemed a bit low… wait, no decimal?’

“Two hundred and eighty-nine?” Duskwraith thought he’d misheard and repeated the number.
“Yes, two-eight-nine. Is there a problem?” Starry asked, puzzled.

‘It’s a huge problem! The highest defense I had seen so far was just over 100, and that had been on a Dexterity-focused Assassin decked out in defensive gear. And you are sitting close to 300!? Are all the people at the top of the leaderboard actual monsters?! Sigh, whatever.’

“Nope, no problem. Let’s begin.”

***

Lulu entered stealth mode. Even though the boss and teammates could still see her, staying in stealth helped her stay focused and better prepared.

Duskwraith advanced cautiously with his brown shield raised, while the others followed close behind. Suddenly, the boss rose from its seat, eyes flaring wide.

“It’s triggered! Don’t attack yet! I’ll go poke it a bit. Wait for the laser to go off before engaging!”
“Got it!”

Without hesitation, Duskwraith charged forward, shield and greatsword in hand.

The stone statue said nothing. It simply lifted an arm and pointed toward the ceiling. A beam of violet light burst from its fingertip and pierced through the roof above.¹　

‘So *you’re* the one who made all those holes!’

There was barely any time to react. A purple laser plummeted from above and struck Duskwraith dead-on.

His HP bar was instantly reduced to a quarter. Staying calm, he quickly downed a Bloodflow Tonic and a high-grade HP potion.

On top of that, Rainbow swung her staff and sent a green light flying toward her guildmate.

That was a massive instant heal, nearly as good as a high-grade potion. She followed up with a Refresh spell, and Duskwraith’s HP gradually recovered to about half.

‘Now!’ Duskwraith took a few steps forward and finally saw the boss’ attributes.

Its stats were even stronger than the Death Knight’s. With a massive 50,000 HP and more than 200 in both physical and magic attack, Duskwraith was clearly in for a brutal fight, especially with level suppression factoring in.

With both defenses sitting at a staggering 100, likely a result of its stone-carved body, and two skills still unknown, this boss left no room for carelessness.

“Holy crap!” Duskwraith couldn’t help blurting out.
“Boss, language,” Lulu reminded him dryly.

But he clearly hadn’t heard her. ‘Seriously, is this thing even meant to be beatable?’

Funnily, Zane had the exact same reaction when he saw the Death Knight’s attribute panel.

‘It’s time!’ Zane and Starry split left and right, charging in.

The Demon King Statue raised its massive arm and swung down on Duskwraith with crushing force.

Its giant fist passed through the phantom shield and slammed into the real one behind it.

‘That was just a mother f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g basic attack??’ A two-part hybrid hit of physical and magic damage brought his HP right back down to a quarter! One more like that and he was toast.

“There’s no way we can beat this thing! One normal hit took almost 900 HP off me! Everyone fall back, I’ll take the loss!” Years of boss raiding told him that brute-forcing this fight would just lead to a total wipeout.

With more people, it might’ve been possible to out-heal the damage, but with only five of them? No chance. If they retreated now, they could at least save the others’ levels, and give their two guest players something to show for their time.

Rainbow and Lulu hesitated. ‘Are we really going to throw in the towel after coming this far?’

Zane, on the other hand, ignored him entirely. ‘How could you know it’s unbeatable without even trying?’

Starry, the faster of the two, reached the boss first. Her Autumn Moon Sword landed at a sharp angle, slashing clean across the stone giant’s abdomen.

A massive blow! She’d taken out 1/25th of the boss’ health in a single hit. She followed up instantly with Icy Moon Slash!

Starry sheathed the Autumn Moon Sword, then drew and slashed in one fluid motion. A pale blue crescent arced through the air and slammed into the statue’s gut. However, the frost effect didn’t trigger, it seemed the boss was immune to status conditions.

The back-to-back powerful strikes even chipped off a few shards of stone. But she didn’t stop there, Starry carried on with another normal attack!

Just in the opening exchange, nearly 8,000 HP had been shaved off the boss! The result was immediate, Starry’s threat level shot through the roof. The Demon King Statue abandoned its current target without hesitation and turned to strike at her instead.

Though made of stone, its movements were anything but slow.

‘No time to take chances!’

Her movement speed spiked, and before the boss’ blow could land, she had already darted behind it. Just as Starry was about to launch her next strike, a beam of light shot from the statue’s palm. It curved mid-air, then slammed squarely into her back!

‘A homing attack!?’

Even Duskwraith looked stunned. Clearly, this was his first time seeing such an unavoidable skill.

At that moment, Zane also arrived. He drove Venomfang Sword into the boss’ unguarded back.

“…” The hit didn’t even scratch the surface. Neither the poison nor the defense-reduction effects triggered. Clearly, they were ineffective here.

“Damn it, I’m going all in!” Duskwraith roared, activating Taunt.

Everyone else had joined the fight, they couldn’t just stand there watching. But the Demon King Statue wasn’t having it. It completely ignored the taunt and once again swung toward Starry!

“Sis!” Duskwraith panicked. Starry’s overwhelming damage output was their best hope, she couldn’t be crushed like this!

“I’m on it!”

A beam of Healing Light shimmered above Starry’s head.

However, Starry had no intention of becoming a sitting duck. Her aura surged with intensity as she activated Triple Frenzy Slash! A wild, chaotic combo followed. Despite its lack of form, the sheer power behind her strikes staggered the statue and halted its next basic attack.

And thanks to Battlelust’s lifesteal effect, her health returned to full!