Chapter 17
The Tower's 50th Floor.
The Nebula raid team finished preparing for battle.
"Eat the combat rations first, then the bait. Save the rare bait for last, and time your meals accordingly."
Vice Guild Master Shin Eun-woo's voice came through the tactical headsets.
Outside the Tower, Guild Master Yoo Se-ah was in charge. But the moment they entered the Tower, Shin Eun-woo took command.
Maybe it was because the Nebula Guild's strategy was rather unusual.
An extreme setup: three tanks and twelve ranged damage dealers.
This formation was possible thanks to the three tanks, including Shin Eun-woo.
Tanks in the Tower didn't fight by taking hits like they did in games.
They had better defense than other hunters, but if they failed to block properly, they got hurt.
And there were no healers in the back to refill their health bars like in a game.
At best, they had potions.
It was a role that involved batting aside and deflecting, shield in hand, the attacks of monsters charging in to kill them.
Naturally, it was a high-risk role: if you failed, you were the first to die, and if too many monsters swarmed you, you were the one who decided to retreat.
That made it a role not just anyone could easily choose.
In any case, the Nebula Guild operated around these three tanks.
The tanks defended and used skills to draw aggro.
The mages, including Yoo Se-ah, and the archers in the back line unleashed devastating damage.
Of course, this was possible because the damage dealers were all top-tier, too.
Especially the archers.
Mages had higher attack power, but there were fewer of them.
The Nebula Guild had a lineup of renowned archers who boasted pinpoint accuracy even in the middle of a melee.
In other countries, being an archer wasn't anything special, but…
Maybe it was fair to say that Korea's top archers had some kind of national trait?
They were really good with bows.
They were good with bows even though they weren't exactly Olympic archers.
Those renowned bowmen had simply flocked to the Nebula Guild.
The reason they joined was simple.
Being an archer was easy.
The tanks carried all the burdens.
In short, the Nebula Guild ran on the tanks' talent.
"Squad One, keep watch. Squad Two, eat."
The 50th floor was a timed raid.
They had to eat while moving.
Even while they ate, a wyvern could suddenly come swooping down from the sky.
While one squad ate, the other kept watch.
To make that possible, every raid member wore a U.S. military-issue assault pack that was easy to access on the move.
Of course, Yoo Se-ah was carrying the spatial expansion bag.
They could wear larger packs, but they didn't because those would slow them down and make them wyvern targets.
Maybe it was because of the system, but the wyverns seemed to attack whoever was carrying more food.
In other words, they were being forced to choose.
That was why each person was carrying enough food for 43 meals, bait included.
They'd even removed the wrappers and packed in only the contents to barely fit the maximum amount.
Since their food was limited, they had to retreat if they couldn't find the boss room within 20 hours.
Even the American team had only barely cleared the floor after finding the boss room in 30 hours.
They'd burn through the rest of their food in the boss room.
"Move out!"
At Shin Eun-woo's signal, they began their full-scale advance.
A desolate wasteland dotted with patches of yellow grass.
Huge shadows circled in the barren sky overhead.
The 50th-floor monsters: wyverns.
It took too long to kill them all, so they quickly took down only the ones blocking their path and kept moving.
"Pull."
At Shin Eun-woo's single word, the designated shooter answered at once.
"Misdirection pull."
Commands and acknowledgments, crisp and concise.
Hunters mixed gaming terminology with military jargon.
It was more intuitive and efficient to communicate using terms everyone already knew than to make up new ones.
For reference, Misdirection was a skill that transferred aggro to another party member.
ㅡ Swoosh!
The arrow left the archer's hand and struck the wyvern squarely in the head.
"Kieeeek!"
The wyvern circling overhead let out an unpleasant screech and dove toward the ground.
Its target was Shin Eun-woo, standing firm at the front.
The wyvern came flying in like a missile.
Shin Eun-woo raised the shield.
Even as a massive creature the size of a truck bore down on the shield, Shin Eun-woo's gaze remained cool and steady.
Just as the wyvern closed to point-blank range and tried to snatch the shield with its sharp claws…
ㅡ Thooong!
Shin Eun-woo parried at just the right moment, batting its claws away.
The wyvern's center of gravity shifted, and it slammed straight into the ground.
ㅡ Pew! Pew! Pew!
ㅡ Boom! KABOOM!
A rain of arrows and magic poured down from the rear.
Overwhelming damage.
The wyvern died without even managing to scream.
But not one member of the raid team celebrated.
"Move."
They simply kept moving.
They didn't even loot corpses on the 50th floor.
As they went, the archers did pull from the wyvern corpses as many arrows as they'd shot.
You could still shoot a bow without arrows, but it was more efficient to have them.
And so they continued forward.
1.
Fifteen hours passed.
The raid was progressing smoothly.
If someone played the raid footage in real time later…
All ten viewers would probably yawn and fall asleep.
That's what a top-tier raid looked like.
Control and repetition.
Even when something unexpected happened, they didn't panic.
Even if aggro shifted and a monster charged at the damage dealers, nobody screamed or got anxious.
They simply dashed over to the nearest tank according to the established procedure.
Everything turned like clockwork.
After advancing steadily, they reached the entrance to the boss room.
"Check."
At Shin Eun-woo's command, they all swung their backpacks around in unison.
They immediately checked their remaining food and weapons.
Answers came from all around.
"All clear."
"All clear."
"All clear."
Once the checks were done, Shin Eun-woo looked at Yoo Se-ah.
"Looks like we're in good shape. Everyone's carrying fifteen combat rations, three pieces of bait, and three pieces of rare bait."
"Can we trust the bait's effects?"
"The effects are real. I tested them myself."
Yoo Se-ah stared at Shin Eun-woo for a long moment.
They were about to enter a boss room no one had cleared yet.
They lacked data, and the items they'd prepared were unconventional.
"You know we'll all die if we go in and fail, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm counting on you."
"Got it."
When they'd finished talking, Shin Eun-woo gave the signal.
"Everyone, move in!"
The fifteen raid members gathered on the enormous teleportation circle leading to the boss room.
ㅡ Wooooong!
The circle began to operate with a resonant hum, and a brilliant flash swallowed their vision.
Then, in an instant, the raid team's figures disappeared.
2.
By the time their eyes had adjusted to the flash from the teleportation circle…
A vast canyon, enclosed on all sides, came into view.
The very terrain they'd watched thousands of times.
A moment later, a gigantic wyvern appeared atop the sheer canyon walls.
Commonly known as Gale Lord.
It was the name given by the American raid team that had first cleared the 50th floor.
Spotting the intruders, Gale Lord beat its wings excitedly and let out a roar.
"Kieeeeeek!!!"
A roar loud enough to tear their eardrums.
At the same time, the atmosphere changed.
"Ugh!"
"Ghh…"
Groans came from all around.
The debuff had grown stronger.
The Curse of Starvation had expanded, and everyone clutched their hungry stomachs.
Their guts twisted as a ravenous hunger, like they'd been starving for days, surged through them.
It was hard to even keep their wits about them.
Without waiting for anyone to go first, they all shoved combat rations into their mouths.
Some choked while eating and coughed.
This was the biggest problem.
The boss fight itself didn't take very long.
Even so, they needed food because the debuff had grown stronger.
Everyone was shoving food into their mouths, which slowed their archery and spellcasting.
ㅡ Swoosh! Boom! Bang!
Even while eating, the raid members did their best to attack.
Enraged by the preemptive strike, Gale Lord descended to the ground.
Just then…
Yoo Se-ah, who had conserved her strength until now, stepped forward.
Yoo Se-ah's lips moved rapidly as she murmured words no one could understand.
ㅡ Crrrack!
The water vapor in the air seemed to condense, then massive pillars of ice surged up from every direction.
The pillars rose diagonally, trapping Gale Lord in an instant.
On top of that, Gale Lord's legs seemed frozen in place, unable to leave the ground.
Yoo Se-ah was the famous ice mage.
Her class specialized in forcing enemies to move and keeping them pinned in place.
At that moment, Shin Eun-woo's command rang out.
"Focus fire."
A frenzied barrage of firepower descended.
The tanks drew aggro from the other wyverns that flew in from time to time.
Then the storm of firepower shifted to the next target as if following a set order.
Perfect teamwork.
As Gale Lord took concentrated fire, it drew a deep breath, making a motion as if preparing a sonic attack.
Shin Eun-woo rushed forward in an instant.
"Kieeeekㅡ!"
Strangely, the sound wave seemed to bounce off the shield, and the back line took no damage.
Then the same emotionless command rang out again.
"Focus fire."
Everyone kept shoving combat rations into their mouths and unleashing a frenzied barrage of attacks.
The fierce assault continued for quite some time.
But then…
Gale Lord, covered in blood, beat its enormous wings.
ㅡ CRACK! Shatter!
The pillars of ice holding it in place broke into pieces.
Gale Lord kicked up a cloud of dust and took to the sky again.
At the same time, urgent voices rang out from all around.
"Out of combat rations!"
"Out of combat rations!"
"Out of combat rations!"
"Damn it!"
Shin Eun-woo gritted their teeth.
Shin Eun-woo had expected they probably wouldn't kill it in one cycle, but they'd gone through their food too quickly.
The problem was that the damned thing was circling overhead, trying to run down the clock.
It circled leisurely, as if it knew how to take advantage of the rules. Just watching it made Shin Eun-woo's blood boil.
Meanwhile, other wyverns were swooping in from all sides to ambush them.
It was the infamous time-wasting pattern.
Shin Eun-woo relayed the situation without delay.
"Bait."
People pulled out bait from all around.
Shin Eun-woo swallowed a piece of bait while blocking a wyvern's attack, too.
Just then…
"Hm?"
Something felt off.
The hunger wrenching at the stomach disappeared.
Energy began to surge through the body.
It felt as though a full day of fighting would be no problem.
But perhaps because the change was so dramatic, the raid team fell into disarray.
Maybe because they suddenly felt better, exclamations rang out from all around.
Even Yoo Se-ah seemed confused; if this continued, someone could make a mistake.
Shin Eun-woo shouted urgently.
"Report!"
There was no answer.
Something bad was going to happen at this rate.
Shin Eun-woo yelled angrily.
"Are you all going to get a grip or not?!"
Only then did voices come from all around.
"A-All clear. The hunger's completely gone…"
"All clear… I feel full of energy, too."
"I actually feel full…"
The tension that had been stretched taut relaxed in an instant.
Just enough…
Every second Gale Lord had circled leisurely overhead had felt like hell.
Now the mood was more like, Just wait until you come down.
A few people drew their bows and attacked Gale Lord as it circled overhead.
"Kieek!"
The other wyverns tried to swoop in for a surprise attack, but…
They were hit by the attacks before they could even approach and plummeted to the ground.
Now that the raid team had some breathing room, their damage per second (DPS) had increased, too.
After some time, Gale Lord finally descended to the ground again.
ㅡ Thud!!
Gale Lord landed, raising a cloud of dust.
The raid members gritted their teeth and prepared to attack.
As before, Yoo Se-ah cast her spell first.
The bait's effects must have kicked in properly, because gigantic pillars of ice rose up.
This time, they pinned Gale Lord right down against the ground.
ㅡ Crrrack-crack-crack!!!
With composure restored, Shin Eun-woo quietly gave the command again.
"Focus fire."