Chapter 66

[Lavre Lake Underwater Cave: Boss Room]

The Spirit Dragon’s remains were enormous. If this had been back when it was still alive and whole, just getting close to it would have been flat-out impossible. It had clearly been a powerful creature when it was alive, but a long time had passed since its death. Even the corpse, which had somehow held together over the centuries, had finally begun to break down.

Despite that, its sheer size was overwhelming, and the pressure rolling off it was intense. Just looking at it made it feel like no matter what one did, there was no way a player at the current level could bring that thing down.

“That’s the boss...? How the hell are we supposed to kill

that

?” Theresa was completely pale.

Do-Jin, on the other hand, stayed calm as he answered, “We’ll kill it somehow. I know it looks unstoppable right now, but it’s still just a dungeon boss in the end. If this dungeon is available at our level, then it’s designed to be beatable. That’s how the system works.”

He was steady and composed, trying to settle her nerves.

That reaction is completely normal, especially when you’re seeing this thing for the first time. This boss wasn’t made to be brute-forced with raw stats. That’s what makes it scary.

The Spirit Dragon’s Remains, often referred to simply as “The Remains,” was not a boss that could be defeated with power alone. It had to be taken down using dungeon-specific skills and mechanics.

“In the beginning, we’ll play it safe and focus on figuring out its attack patterns. Just stay sharp, listen to my orders, and don’t let yourself panic. As long as we keep our cool and respond the right way, we can bring it down. Focus on my calls,” Do-Jin reminded them before giving the signal to proceed into the boss room.

A low hum filled the air. The Remains opened its eyes and let out a deep, mana-fueled roar. The fight had begun.

***

The Remains couldn’t move anything except its neck. It was what players would term as a stationary boss monster, but that didn’t mean it was easy to stay safe.

Theresa didn’t even have the breath to scream out loud anymore. She was running for her life.

Holy shit...!

Deadly ice spikes pierced the ground one after another behind her as she ran. They were spirit spells fired from the eye of The Remains, now glowing a cold blue. Then the color in its eyes shifted from deep blue to bright red.

“Get down!” Do-Jin shouted the moment he noticed the change.

Theresa ducked forward on instinct. Since she had been running at full speed, ducking like that threw her off balance and she went tumbling across the ground, face-first into the dirt. A wave of fire seared past just above her head.

“Get up!” Do-Jin yelled at her.

Theresa froze from the sudden heat, but the urgency in his voice shocked her back into motion. She scrambled to her feet and took off again. While she ran, Do-Jin launched a counterattack at the boss. Instantly, The Remains started to turn its gaze toward him.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“Provoke!” he requested.

“Don’t have it! It’s on cooldown!” Theresa shouted back as she ran.

She hadn’t been built as a pure tank, so her taunt ability was weaker and slower than that of a true tanking warrior. Because of that, they were left wide open for a few seconds.

I’ll have to use mine here.

The moment Do-Jin saw The Remains’ eyes turn green, he activated his personal dungeon skill, Water Shield. A dome of water about three meters wide formed instantly, surrounding him in a barrier. Dozens of Wind Blades flew toward him, but the shield absorbed every single one without letting any through.

“I’ll pull aggro back!” Theresa said as she charged toward the boss directly, swinging her hammer to draw its attention.

As The Remains turned its head and locked onto her again, she took off running once more.

Goddamn it! If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve just built for tanking!

While internally sobbing with regret, Theresa continued to tank a few more of the boss patterns.

She hadn’t taken a single direct hit, but her body already felt shredded just from dodging. Then, without warning, the light vanished from the boss’s eyes.

“I-is this our chance?” Theresa raised her hammer.

Some instinct as a damage dealer must have kicked in, but once again, Do-Jin stopped her.

“Wait. Something’s off. The boss is pulling in mana.”

As he said that, Do-Jin thought to himself,

Acting like I don’t know this already is getting kind of exhausting...

He was sick of pretending to react in real time to a pattern he already knew. But not wanting to take any risks, Do-Jin still wore a slightly tense expression. He kept his eyes on the boss and counted silently in his head.

One... two... three. Right about now.

A swirl of multicolored mana began to gather around The Remains. The cast time was slow and deliberate, as if to announce,

Let this finish, and your whole party’s done.

However, Do-Jin didn’t waste a second. He used his party leader privilege to activate the dungeon-exclusive skill.

[Sealing Stalactites]

A massive stalactite-shaped mass of mana formed near the boss’s body and slammed into it. There was a deep boom, strong enough to shake the ground. The effect was exactly what they needed.

The Remains let out a piercing scream, not through air but raw mana. It was proof the strike had landed hard, hard enough to cancel whatever massive attack the boss had been charging.

Seeing that, Do-Jin raised his voice and said, “Warrior, keep drawing aggro and only dodge basic patterns. I’ll be focusing on offense to charge up our party skill. Healer, support us and chip in with some attacks. If aggro shifts to me or the healer, the warrior uses Provoke. If Provoke’s on cooldown, get in close and draw attention with direct attacks. We need to stack as much damage as possible to recharge our dungeon skill fast.”

The orders came out fast and clear, one after the next without pause. Even while he was giving instructions, The Remains was already recovering and lifting its head again.

“If you get hit no matter what, the healer and I will use our personal defense skills. If Water Shield is on cooldown, call it out immediately. Warrior, you’re going to have to take the hit. Even if you’re not a full tank, you can probably survive one or two strikes. If both the healer and I have our shields on cooldown, we’ll need yours, so don’t use it without permission.”

As he finished explaining, the boss was getting back up and ready to attack. Theresa and Soso, who had already grown used to party hunting with Do-Jin, immediately sprang into action.

Even though her body reacted on autopilot, Theresa was quietly weeping inside as she ran again.

Goddamn it... I really should’ve stuck with tanking.

She wasn’t a tank, yet she had just been told to take boss hits head-on. And no matter how used to combat she was, these attacks were brutal. Letting herself get hit without any defense wasn’t just reckless. It was terrifying.

***

The strategy for clearing this dungeon was simple in theory: dodge or block the boss’s attacks while maintaining the offense.

The first major hurdle was knowing which attacks to evade and which survival skills to use, like Water Shield. Then, it was about managing those cooldowns with perfect precision, all the while steadily damaging the boss.

If damage output slipped, the Sealing Stalactites wouldn’t charge in time during The Remains’ special phases. And if survival became the sole focus and DPS fell behind, the outcome was inevitable. The skill wouldn’t be ready, and the entire party would be wiped out, ending the run.

Even a single misstep in this process would result in the whole thing falling apart.

In that kind of battlefield, Do-Jin handled calculations and decisions as if he were three people, and his orders left no room for confusion. He monitored the boss’s aggro shifts, identified incoming attacks using the information provided by his Magic Eye, and issued the correct instructions without delay. He even timed Water Shield rotations between party members to make sure no one died during survival skill gaps.

“A big attack’s coming. Everyone use your shields!”

[Flash Lance]

During every opening, Do-Jin never missed the opportunity to pile on more damage. Thanks to that, The Remains had already tried to unleash its wipe mechanic four times and had failed every single time.

If my memory serves me right, with a standard five-man group, hitting it with Sealing Stalactites six times would end the fight. Since this is a hidden dungeon version with increased difficulty and HP scaling... probably three more uses should be enough.

Just as that thought crossed his mind as he prepared to launch another stalactite, the unexpected happened. They still had a bit more to go, but The Remains’ body began to emit a bright light, which scattered briefly before converging toward a single point.

What the hell?

The confusion lasted only a heartbeat. Do-Jin quickly realized what was happening. This was the hidden phase of the dungeon, visible only to the very first party to clear it. Now that he recalled, in his past life, no one had ever figured out what exactly had taken place during the first clear of this dungeon.

I shouldn’t have treated this like a regular dungeon just because I was familiar with the layout. Regular dungeons and hidden dungeons are two very different things...

“Caref—” Do-Jin tried to warn the other two. But before he could finish, a shockwave exploded from the ball of light. “

Guh

!”

A powerful impact slammed into the entire party. All three were hurled through the air and smashed into the walls. Even with Do-Jin’s sturdy build and high HP pool, half his health vanished in an instant. The pressure did not stop there. It continued to crush down on him, steadily draining the remainder of his health.

Goddamn it... do they actually expect people to beat this?

To Do-Jin, who could see mana more clearly than anyone else, the glowing mass was not just condensed energy. He could tell something was forming inside it. It looked like an egg about to hatch, with a vague silhouette shifting within the core. The once-radiant light began to darken, and Do-Jin could tell that mana corruption had already started.

Whatever that is, once it finishes forming, there will be no way to handle it. It’s completely out of scale for this level.

Do-Jin considered using Sealing Stalactites to stop it. After all, the best way to deal with an overpowered protagonist who transforms or fuses mid-fight was to hit them right in the middle of the transformation.

“I really didn’t want to ruin the magic for the children, but—”

It was nonsense, of course. Do-Jin knew that. He was only joking because, deep down, he had been hesitating. Something about it felt wrong, and even if he used the skill now, he had a gut feeling it wouldn’t work.

There’s always time to use it. I should be careful—

Before he could finish that thought, a second shockwave tore through him. Already pinned by pressure, the new impact drove the breath out of him.

As he tasted blood in his mouth, Do-Jin resolved himself.

Forget it. I need to fire now or I’ll be the one dying first...

Just as his head snapped back from the blow, something caught his eye. There was something on the ceiling. It was something that hadn’t been there in his past life.

Did the boss room ceiling always look like that?

What Do-Jin remembered was a typical underwater cave ceiling, which was uneventful and smooth. But what he saw now was completely different. There were dozens of sharp, massive stalactites hung above, glowing faintly from mana saturation. They had clearly been absorbing mana for some time, growing more dangerous by the second. The only possible mana source in the area that could power them like that was the glowing mass of light still hovering in front of him.

That’s it!

With his health hanging by a thread, there was no time left to think. Do-Jin moved without hesitation.

[Sealing Stalactites]

Do-Jin fired the final shot, not at the boss, but toward the ceiling. At this point, it was all or nothing. Whatever that thing was, once it finished transforming, the whole party would be completely wrecked. If there was ever a moment to throw down the trump card, it was now.

Maybe those things on the ceiling are nothing... But based on my experience, whenever something turns out different from what I remember, that’s usually where the answer is.

With a loud, echoing crack, the stalactite he fired slammed into a cluster of naturally-forming stalactites on the ceiling. The sound that followed was like an engine kicking into gear. Those massive things, already swollen with mana and stretched to their limits, had become unstable. Under the weight of their own mass, they began to fall, gravity finishing what Do-Jin started.