Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented-Chapter 119

*Tap, tap, tap!*

The *Hongbaek* raid team, led by Chris and consisting of twelve brave warriors, sprinted quickly through the depths of the *Tree of the Abyss*.

They were about halfway to the dungeon's core.

It didn’t take long for the *Hongbaek* team to clear the second area. The mobs here were numerous and had high HP, but there were no mid-bosses to deal with.

As they made their way through, Chris muttered to herself:

“We need to cover as much ground as possible.”

Images of Rain flashed through her mind.

Rain had pushed herself too hard the previous day and was likely still sleeping soundly.

Chris knew what her role was now.

Her job was to clear the path for Rain.

Even if the *Hongbaek* raid team couldn’t finish the dungeon, Chris would provide Rain with as much information as possible.

While she couldn’t offer direct help, she could at least lighten Rain’s load.

Chris felt as if she and Rain were clearing the dungeon together.

This wasn’t just the *Hongbaek* raid team.

It was a mission involving everyone in the *Hongbaek* Guild, including Rain.

A team of thirteen.

---

“This looks like...”

“The second boss room.”

“Hmm, it does feel similar to the first boss area.”

At the far end of the second area of the *Tree of the Abyss*, the *Hongbaek* raid team encountered a massive hollow space.

Seobseobi, one of the team's rangers, lightly tapped his shoulder as he grumbled to his friend, Go Seung-woo.

“Man, how long is today's trial run supposed to last?”

“Until 2 AM, so about three hours left.”

“Ha~ Thank goodness tomorrow is the weekend. I can’t imagine doing this for almost a month.”

“Haha, a month? Come on, we’re making great progress. We cleared the first boss on the second day, so by that logic, we should finish this within a week.”

“That’d be nice, but...”

Seobseobi trailed off as he scanned the hollow chamber.

Unlike the first area, where the *Black Dragon* had been sitting in plain sight, there was nothing in the center of this second area.

“Feels eerie.”

“Where’s the boss?”

The other raid members murmured as they followed into the chamber.

Then.

*Rustle.*

The first breeze.

It came from above.

Chris looked up.

Wind? Inside this giant tree?

“Get back!” Chris extended her right arm, pulling her team members behind her.

*Woooong!*

A dark, sinister energy began to concentrate in the air.

*Kugugugu!*

The collected energy quickly took on the form of a giant humanoid figure.

The first part to emerge from the swirling mass was a sword. No, calling it just a sword would be an understatement. It was enormous—clearly a blade, but more like a gigantic metal slab. Getting hit by that wouldn’t just cut someone; it would tear them apart.

*Goooo!*

Next came the hand gripping the sword and the massive suit of armor.

A full plate armor, shining a dark, ominous hue.

From the helmet, a pair of large horns protruded.

And within the visor, a purplish glow flickered.

As the figure fully manifested, it resembled...

“Armor! Giant armor!”

“That thing’s big enough to fit three or four people inside.”

“Is the armor moving on its own? Or is something inside it?”

Amidst the awe and confusion of the raid members, Chris calmly analyzed the figure.

“This is the second boss... wait, what?”

Chris was also surprised.

The towering warrior Hopkins and Gandar exchanged puzzled glances.

“Woah! It’s even bigger than us. But, hold on... did I see that right? Does it have 500 million HP?”

“No, you saw it right. It’s definitely 500 million.”

The first boss had 200 million HP.

The second boss had 500 million.

It had more than doubled.

For a boss in the same dungeon, that was an unusually large jump in health.

“This boss must have some kind of mechanic to reduce its HP.”

Chris nodded at Death’sDeath’s assessment.

*Clang.*

The giant armor raised its enormous sword with one hand and pointed it forward.

From within the helmet, a strange voice echoed.

“Uninvited guests... have the elves made their move?”

“It’s speaking!”

“A boss with dialogue. Let’s hear what it has to say.”

“The commander of the northern legion’s plan is nearing its final stage. I won’t let you interfere.”

*Whooosh!*

The giant sword swung once, cutting through the air with a chilling sound.

[Second Boss]

[Level 53]

[Death Knight Zakham]

[HP: 500,000,000 / 500,000,000 (100%)]

---

*Bang, bang, bang!*

The enormous sword relentlessly pounded against the team’s tank, Death’sDeath.

Despite its massive size, the sword moved with the lightness of paper.

But the force behind each swing was anything but light.

*Bang! Bang!*

Two, three, four strikes. The speed of this boss far surpassed anything they’d faced before.

Death’sDeath gritted his teeth as the damage broke through even his defenses, barely hanging on by using all of his invincibility skills.

The attacks came too fast. There was no time to maintain any consistent attack cycle.

All Death’sDeath could do was fit in a counterpunch here and there, exploiting the brief invulnerability after a counter.

“There’s no opening to attack! Is it even possible to tank this boss?”

*Woooong.*

*Boom, boom, boom!*

Chris’s talismans struck Zakham’s armor as she cautiously tested her damage output. At the same time, she warned the party.

“This boss is hard to tank! Watch your threat levels! Adjust your damage!”

*Shhk.*

Zakham, who had been relentlessly attacking Death’sDeath, suddenly vanished into dark energy and reappeared behind them.

It was a move reminiscent of a player’s evasive dodge.

At the tip of Zakham’s sword, an ominous energy began to gather.

*Whooosh—BOOM!*

The massive sword slashed, releasing a crescent-shaped wave of dark energy.

“Guh!”

“Ahhh!”

Two melee DPS were caught in the wave and blown away like fallen leaves.

[Raid Member ‘Go Seung-woo’ has died.]

[Raid Member ‘Gandar’ has died.]

“This is insane...!”

Chris was horrified.

The crescent slash was impossibly fast, sweeping across half the battlefield in the blink of an eye.

“Did the aggro switch?”

“No, this is a regular pattern!”

In *Astria Online*, some bosses had regular patterns that could seem random, but even those followed a basic structure. The rule had never been broken before.

But with Zakham, all rules seemed meaningless.

There was no repeat in his patterns. He would relentlessly attack the tank, then suddenly fire a sword wave at the DPS.

Dodging back didn’t always precede the forward crescent slash.

Sometimes, he’d turn and fire it at the rear DPS as well.

*Shhk.*

“Beimeirung, great job!”

Chris breathed a sigh of relief as she narrowly dodged the slash, giving a thumbs up to Beimeirung, who had prepared an ice prison spell in advance.

But it didn’t end there.

The relentless speed and wide-reaching sword attacks continued to wipe out the team members one by one, until the entire raid team was wiped out.

The subsequent attempts played out similarly.

Zakham’s patterns were fast and overwhelming.

Even the experienced tank, Death’sDeath, couldn’t withstand a direct hit from the giant sword, and the follow-up attacks would cut him down in no time.

Zakham’s ranged patterns were especially brutal. His crescent slashes, along with vertical and explosive sword waves, devastated the team.

The tank’s role was reduced to nothing more than absorbing the downward slashes, and the ranged DPS had to be on constant high alert.

Even the seasoned *Hongbaek* team struggled against the sheer speed of Zakham’s attacks.

The second boss, *Death Knight Zakham*, with its overwhelming regular patterns, was unlike anything they had faced before.

Despite their continuous attempts, the *Hongbaek* team couldn’t even get past Zakham’s regular patterns, let alone see the special phase.

---

*Rustle.*

My eyes slowly opened.

I was in my room, on my bed.

It was dark outside.

I checked the time on my smartphone.

3 AM.

I’d been asleep for 18 hours, having passed out after breakfast.

*Whirr.*

Dragging my tired body, I wheeled myself toward the kitchen.

I could have summoned the housekeeping robot, but it made more noise than the wheelchair. I didn’t want to wake Chris, who was likely sleeping deeply.

Maybe there’d be something simple in the fridge.

I had to continue with today’s raid trials.

*Click.*

As I opened my door, I looked to the side.

“Mmm...”

A woman with red hair was sitting next to my door, dozing off.

“Chris, sis...”

I could feel her care and concern for me.

It warmed my heart.

But at the same time, I was worried.

Was she planning to sit outside my room every night during the raid trials?

“What should I do...”

I reached out and touched her gently, realizing I had no way to carry her back to her room in my current state.

I felt bad about waking her. She was in such a deep sleep.

She must have stayed up most of the night again.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

I went back into my

room and grabbed a light blanket.

“At least...”

I draped the blanket over Chris and carefully laid her down on the floor.

Even as I moved her, she didn’t wake.

“...”

I stared at her sleeping face for a moment before turning to look at my door.

[Do not enter. -Rain-]

I’d put that sign up when the raid trials started.

Should I take it down?

“...What?”

I noticed something had been written on the sign. Tiny, neat handwriting I hadn’t written.

[Second Boss: Death Knight Zakham]

[HP: 500 million]

[Regular Patterns]

[Giant sword slashes. Up to four consecutive hits.]

[Left-right sweeps.]

[Crescent slash, front-back or vertical.]

[Key: No clear pattern.]

[It might follow a pattern after further analysis.]

[Personal reaction speed is critical.]

[Status effects only apply during the upward slash pattern.]

[Very short time frame. Need 4 of the same skill to counter.]

[Pattern is hard, but repeatable.]

[Detecting the start of each move is essential.]

[When does the special phase trigger?]

And at the end:

[Sorry I couldn’t gather more pattern info.]

“Sis...”

My eyes started to tear up a little.

I crouched down and gently hugged Chris.

“Heh.”

Even in her exhaustion, a happy smile appeared on her sleeping face.

---

I returned to my room and lay down in the capsule.

Chris’s precious information had saved me a lot of time.

I couldn’t waste it.

“Death Knight Zakham...”

I would defeat him today.