Chapter 32

[Struck the enemy with holy attribute. Elemental damage is applied.]

[Critical hit! The target is stunned for 4 seconds.]

Perhaps due to Maïnades panicking more than expected, an unexpected critical hit occurred.

'Great!'

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

'I can't miss this! There won't be another chance!'

It was unthinkable that such a monster would fall just because of a successful ambush.

I have to deal as much damage as possible in these 4 seconds!

Crack!

"Ka... Kaah!"

Karpé's hands and feet began to move like lightning.

-This is something I can never get used to, no matter how many times I see it. How can he move like this?

Karpé is an ordinary college student on leave.

He has never professionally trained in martial arts, nor is he particularly knowledgeable about human anatomy. He has never studied these fields.

However, the experience he gained from climbing to second place in the arena has turned him into a combat machine, not an ordinary college student.

-You little brat. Admit it now. You're either a special forces veteran or you were kidnapped as a child and had your body modified.

'I am an ordinary college student.'

-You're really pulling my leg. If this is ordinary, then Lotte Mart is just a neighborhood convenience store. Ordinary? Ordinary, you say? Get out of here if you don't want to die.

'I need to focus, so don't talk to me!'

-Oh, you even have the nerve to respond in this situation?

No matter what the Cheonma said from the side, Karpé silently moved his hands and feet.

Crack!

"Aaah!"

During the attack, he attempted to drop the scythe twice, but unfortunately, he couldn't get it out of his hands.

Instead, he relentlessly targeted vital points.

The philtrum, chin, sternum, and so on.

Like a machine, he struck the same spots again and again without a single error.

[Struck the enemy with holy attribute. Elemental damage is applied.]

[Successfully attacked the same vital point repeatedly in a short time. Additional damage is dealt.]

[Repeatedly struck the right ankle area. The target's movement speed is reduced by 20% for a certain period.]

"How dare you!"

Unfortunately, the one-sided attack time did not last any longer.

The 4 seconds were over, and Maïnades, who had regained her senses, swung her scythe fiercely.

However, Karpé, who had been accurately checking the stun time, was already far out of the scythe's range.

"Y-You! I'll kill you. I'll tear you to pieces!"

The pure white hat symbolizing a priest had disappeared somewhere.

Her beautiful, flowing hair was now a mess, and her face was twisted like a demon.

"I swear to the gods, I won't let you die easily!"

She shouted, glaring at Karpé as if she wanted to tear him apart.

The innocent priest who had smiled gently at the beginning was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing this, Karpé smirked and said,

"Respectful character trait. When angry, switches to informal speech."

-...You really know how to draw aggro.

"Die!"

Maïnades shouted and charged at him. She rushed at Karpé with a menacing aura, but...

"Phew."

Karpé easily escaped from her range again.

'As expected, she's not that fast.'

-...Huh.

It was partly due to the movement speed debuff, but even without it, Maïnades was not that fast.

-If she were fast, it wouldn't work.

Maïnades is an invincible boss.

Players have to avoid such a Maïnades as much as possible and plant the emblem in the home. The dungeon is designed to be cleared this way.

But what if the invincible boss is also fast in movement?

'Then no one could defeat her. Even if she's nearly invincible in combat, her movement speed must be slow.'

Once you understand this, the rest becomes surprisingly manageable.

There are established methods for dealing with a slow, brute-force opponent.

"Fire Arrow!"

Kiting.

Like maintaining a constant distance from a kite while flying it, this method involves maintaining a constant distance from the enemy while dealing ranged attacks!

"Even if a melee damage dealer grows strong, without a charge skill, they're just prey for a ranged attacker."

-You coward. Bringing a support character to the top lane.

"Leisure player trait. Top lane Teemo main."

-What a trash...

"Anyway, if I keep whittling her down, she'll eventually fall... huh?"

However, Karpé had overlooked one thing.

This Ruana's pit dungeon was only accessible to the descendants of the Mage King, who are of the 'mage' class.

And, of course, the invincible boss of this dungeon had a countermeasure against magic.

"Hmph! This is nothing!"

Just before Karpé's magic arrow hit Maïnades, a translucent barrier formed in front of her.

Clang!

The magic arrow and the translucent barrier vanished simultaneously upon impact.

Startled, Karpé quickly put some distance between them.

"What, what is this?"

-Hmm. It's an Auto Magic Shield. A 5-star skill that only priests can learn. The effect is as you just saw.

"Are you kidding me? An automatic magic defense? How can a 5-star skill be so overpowered?!"

-It's not as overpowered as it seems.

It can't block physical skills, and it can't block all magic.

It can only completely block 3-star or lower magic skills, and it can only block half the damage of 5-star or lower magic. It can't block 6-star or higher skills at all.

Even so, it's a decent skill, but the Auto Magic Shield has a critical flaw.

-It has a 5-minute cooldown for regeneration.

In reality, it's a skill that automatically blocks low-level magic once every 5 minutes.

Moreover, it's a priest-only skill, so the demand isn't that high. Priests don't tank, after all.

"Is that so? Then, Fire Arrow again!"

Clang!

"It's useless! The cooldown is 5 minutes!"

-That's the general explanation of the Auto Magic Shield. Did you really think an invincible boss would use a normal skill?

"No, but this is a bit too much..."

Karpé continued to maintain his distance while firing magic arrows. Through several repetitions, he figured out the mana shield's recharge time.

5 seconds.

Not 5 minutes, but 5 seconds.

The problem was that the Elemental Arrow's cooldown was also 5 seconds!

The two skills would cancel each other out indefinitely.

"5 seconds? Are you kidding me?"

-Oh, this dungeon is well-designed. Yeah, a boss has to be this tough to be called invincible against a mage.

"What a crazy game."

What should he do?

The only ranged magic skill he currently knows is the 3-star Elemental Arrow. But this alone couldn't break through the shield.

On the other hand, going for close combat against that brute of a monster...

A glance.

The timer in the corner of his vision was still running. He couldn't keep running and wasting time.

'I do have a plan... but...'

The problem was the timing. Even a slight mistake would mean instant death.

The quest would fail, and his growth as a Mage Overlord would be halted.

...Should he just put the emblem in the home and avoid unnecessary risks?

-1 minute before the birth of the Cheonma avatar.

"Damn it, if I die, I die. I can't stand seeing this!"

Karpé's resolve was solidified by the Cheonma's words.

He charged at Maïnades with all his might.

When he got close enough, he fired another Fire Arrow at her face.

Clang!

The Fire Arrow was blocked by the shield, emitting black smoke.

5 seconds until the shield regenerates.

"Hmph!"

The black smoke obscured Maïnades' vision. She sneered at this obvious trick.

"Do you think I'd fall for such a smokescreen?"

Reluctantly, the heretic in front of her was not ordinary.

His combat sense was unlike that of any mage.

'This guy is more dangerous in close combat.'

Therefore, she focused all her attention when he started to approach, contrary to his usual tactics.

Whoosh!

As a result, she easily dodged his punch as it cut through the smoke.

As his punch cut through the air, a weakness naturally appeared in Karpé.

This was the end.

Maïnades tensed all her muscles to swing her scythe with full force.

4 seconds until the shield regenerates.

However, Karpé wasn't just relying on the smokescreen.

He spread his fist wide.

Ding.

[The additional option of the magic weapon Enigma has been activated.]

[It is possible to activate the skill stored in Enigma as 'Phantom Blade'.]

A hidden move.

The moment the second option of Enigma was activated.

Swoosh!

A single 'Ice Arrow' shot rapidly towards Maïnades' forehead.

It was an ambush that she couldn't avoid if she didn't know about Enigma.

"Aah!"

3 seconds until the shield regenerates.

However, surprisingly, she dodged the 'Ice Arrow' by tilting her head back as if she had been waiting for it!

Karpé and even the Cheonma were genuinely shocked by this unexpected turn of events.

"How?!"

"Good move, but against the wrong opponent?"

A blue gemstone necklace around her neck was emitting a faint light