Chapter 804: December 15th: The Flame Demon Flares Its Wings
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The Dead Crater Lake of Rise and Fall. Or rather, the place that used to be the Dead Crater Lake of Rise and Fall.
With the awakening of the Raid Monster, every single drop of moisture in the crater lake had evaporated. The volcano, reactivated by a massive explosion of energy, was suppressed by that very same energy. Due to this seemingly contradictory phenomenon, the crater, while on the verge of overflowing, was ultimately filled with cooled and solidified magma, forming a foothold.
"Vorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyy..."
"There it is! It's the Great Crimson Wings!!"
"Is it flinching from that strike just now?"
"Isn't this our chance?"
"Don't be stupid! If it could be beaten by just that, it wouldn't call itself a Raid Monster!! Anyway, we surround it and strike! If there are tanks, get out in front!!"
"I'll take that chanceeeeeee!"
"Ah, idiot."
A large number of players rushed the area. With varying degrees of carelessness, they surrounded the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings—which, despite having emitted a light visible even from Thirdrema just moments ago, was incredibly silent, yet radiated a heat entirely unrelated to weakness—and readied their weapons.
Thirdrema had just suffered an invasion from the Wandering Great Azure Plague, and it was fresh in the memories of many players that even if it looked fragile at a glance, it possessed enough capability inside to massacre a massive number of players.
But as if to say they didn't care about any of that, there were always players who would charge in with their weapons raised high.
"Buuuuurrrnn.........!!"
"Hot."
The player who had raised his sword and charged at the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings—which was floating at just the right height for a human to strike with a sword—touched the fiery wings that the monster spread, whether to flicker or flick away the annoying player. In that instant, his HP was completely depleted, and he vanished... No, he burned away.
"Eh, no way, is that an instant-death move too?"
"No, that's not it; his equipment's durability is being shaved down to an absurd degree......... I don't really want to think about it, but he took combustion-type DoT damage at a speed that only looks like instant death..."
"Ah, man... no matter how you look at it, that didn't look like disposable war gear, it looked like serious gear........."
" 'Hero'-sama over there was way too heroic, challenging a Raid Monster in his serious gear while the current shitty respawn penalty is active..."
The players watched with pitying gazes as various pieces of equipment, which had clearly taken a lot of effort to obtain, were burned away by the "residual heat." They re-recognized that the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings, which merely appeared to be floating defenselessly, was indeed a Raid Monster concealing the power of mass slaughter. Though far from disciplined, they split into vanguard, mid-guard, and rear-guard, forming an encirclement formation.
"Buffers, boost the tanks with everything you've got for now!"
"I can't tell if the debuffs are going through or not!"
"It looks like they're being resisted, but something's weird..."
"This is bad! My poison potions evaporated mid-air!"
"I wonder if I'd get a sunburn if I got completely naked."
"Is it emitting UV rays? Wait, don't test it, don't test it."
The noisy, uncoordinated army transitioned—albeit roughly—into a somewhat unified state for the common goal of subjugating the Raid Monster. Several tanks received buffs for heat resistance and increased defense, naturally stepping up to the front lines to protect the DPS and rear-guard.
"The rear-guard will blast it with water-type magic first! If you don't want to get caught in the crossfire, don't push forward, tanks!"
"That's fine, but don't hit us in the back!!"
Even among total strangers, facing the same enemy on the same battlefield breeds a sense of camaraderie. Perhaps partly because the player who rushed ahead was turned to ash by the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings, the players who had misjudged the nature of this event and arrived in irreplaceable serious gear had already begun to sneakily retreat. Thus, only players who understood risk management and were clad in replaceable equipment remained here.
The magic classes began their chants, the tanks gripped their shields tightly to be ready to react just in case the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings launched a preemptive strike, and the DPS classes leaned forward, ready to unleash the maximum firepower they could output at a moment's notice should even a slight opening present itself.
"【Splash Force】!!"
"【Water Press】!!"
"Certain Kill! 【Tidal Triton Trident】!!"
"【Aquavit Burst】!"
"Eat this! 【Oceanus Grand Wave】!!"
"Here I go, 【Acheron Spiral】!!"
The mages gathered here—specifically those who had learned major water-related skills—unleashed their proudest, ultimate moves all at once. Not only that, but the earth rose, lightning bolts rained down, and blades of wind cleaved the void. As if declaring this the rear-guard's time to shine, countless spells surged toward the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings.
"Svooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrmmmm...!!"
The crimson demonic butterfly, struck directly by lightning, shredded by the wind, beaten down by the earth, and exposed to massive amounts of water......... unleashed its power precisely because it touched water.
"Wha... !?"
"Wind!?"
"No, this is......... a steam explosion!!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"
An immense amount of heat-laden steam expanded instantly, sweeping away the players. While there were a few tanks who accidentally activated bracing skills and managed to hold their ground, the vast majority of players were pushed out by the steam expanding with literally explosive force and were violently blown away. Furthermore, this steam was far too hot for human skin to endure, and a significant number of players had their very lives, flesh and all, shattered by the DoT damage.
It's true that the players gathered here were not amateurs. Some were level 99, and some even exceeded that, possessing triple-digit levels. But a Raid Monster is not a wall so easily surmounted by mere strength alone.
Because this is Shangri-La Frontier. The path to victory always lies beyond an understanding of the mechanics.
Author's Afterword
When the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings emerged to the surface from deep within the crater, the reactivated volcano was on the verge of erupting. However, because the thermal energy was siphoned off by none other than the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings itself, the crater was capped with cooled, solidified magma, creating a foothold.
The earth is fundamentally the corpse of a god; thus, it is inevitable that an entity born from the flesh of a god would draw power from the earth.........
Nira-Butterfly Strategy Advice!
If you splash water on it, it will counter with a massive knockback accompanied by DoT damage!
Dousing it in water isn't wrong, but dousing it in water is wrong.
Also, the method of applying debuffs is wrong too.
・Invasion of Fog
A counter move triggered when exposed to specific attacks, primarily water.
It converts the water used in the attack into steam and unleashes it as a wide-area shockwave. Naturally, this steam also carries a DoT damage hitbox from the heat, making it extremely dangerous to continuously take the hit.
After all, "heat" inherently conceals enough murderous intent to steam one's insides, regardless of how sturdy the armor worn on the outside is.
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