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nChapter 45: Stop Scorpion King (2)

nSwoosh! With that message, I felt my body moving to another place.

nAnd I soon met the other 29 users.

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n“Hello.”

n“Uh, I met you last time, right?”

n“Yeah. Luckily, I met you again.”

nA total of 30 people, including me.

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nJust like the regular quest, it was led by those who had several experiences of participating in the quest. A man with a huge shield, who looked sturdy at a glance, started speaking.

n“Hello. This is User No 1. I’m participating anonymously. Just call me number one.”

nHe was the only Level 400 player of this unit.

n“First, let’s quickly divide the members. Tanks please stand here, DPS on the right, healers and supports on the left, please.”

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n“Oh, let me stand here as I’m a damage dealer.”

n“I’m a healer, so let me stand over here.”

nThanks to the quick action of the pack leader called No 1. and some other experienced users, the members including me were quickly sorted out. I also moved to the right where the dealers gathered.

n“Hmm. 6 tanks and 21 damage dealers. 3 healers and supporters. Too many dealers, I think,” said the No 1. user.

nLike he said, there were too many DPS players. Simply too many.

n“In this case, the damage dealers have to attack as much as possible, but you have to survive on your own because three healers and supports have to focus on two tanks each.”

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n“Of course.”

n“Absolutely.”

nMost of them nodded at No 1. user’s comment. And their conversation didn’t end there.

nOne of the DPS on my side shouted, “What if there is a person who doesn’t attack because he wants to survive alone, or if he just runs away?”

nOf course, he didn’t single out any particular person, but I felt like I knew. Well, everybody including me knew because they turned their eyes at me all at once. I was such a nuisance in their eyes. But I didn’t refute or beg them to trust me, because I should not. So, I remained silent. Besides, no matter what I say in this situation, they would regard it as a mere excuse.

n“Okay, folks. Let’s have a good game. We’ll get at least 5 rounds, and if we advance to the 5th round, we’ll get the proper bonus when we get to the 6th round. It might be impossible for us to get the boss monster Scorpion King, the real bonus.”

n“Got it.”

n“Okay.”

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nSo, they decided on their roles like that. There were three parties with two tanks, one healer and support, and seven DPS. I was included in the third party without giving me any chance to meddle in. Anyway, about five minutes passed, and a message rang.

nRound 1 has started.

n-The wounded Scorpions will now appear.

n“Okay, do your best in your role! Even if the tanks block them, it is impossible to stop them all. So, DPS must deal with monsters quickly according to the chief dealer’s instructions.”

n“Sure!”

n“Okay!”

nIn the 3rd party where I belonged, the archer at Level 387, the highest, was the chief dealer. And we decided to quickly kill the monster he first targeted. But he excluded me because I was classified as a non-main member. In the meantime, bull-sized scorpions broke through the sand at the front and appeared, shaking their sharp claws and tails high in the air threateningly.

nThen they charged at us immediately.

n“Now, be ready, everybody! This is only the first round. They look formidable, but they have been wounded already, so they’re like wild apricots with good color.”

n“Got it!”

nHearing it, I also got prepared slowly. Did I want to humble their pride after ignoring me? Nope.

nI could understand them. If I were in their shoes, I would act like them if someone at Level 131 came into my group because I didn’t have any foresight. I did it purely for myself. Namely, I wanted to do more and contribute more, so I could get more EXP and bonuses than the others.

n“We’re going to kill the monster closest to us first! Target my shot! I’ll put a red dot on it!”

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n“Great! Summon the Wind Spirit! Wind Spirit!”

n“Soar, Pillar of the Earth!”

n“Ice Spear!”

nThey fired several skills simultaneously. Of course, among them was an ice-type wizard like me.

n“Multiple Ice Arrows.”

nI also warmed up by using light skills beside them because the real game hadn’t started yet.

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nPuk! Puk!

nBang! Bang!

nLike user No 1., implicitly recognized as the leader of the 79th Defense Unit, said, these scorpions were like wild apricots with good color. As the name wounded scorpion suggests, they were easily exposed to our attacks despite their hard-looking outer shells. Besides, there were not many of them now.

nOf course, it was only round 1 out of 6, so the first round was very easy.

n“As you know, each round lasts 10 minutes, with a total of 1 hour for the 6 rounds.

nWe can’t afford to take a break in the middle, so we don’t have time to refill mana. Please distribute your resources properly before attacking.”

n“Sure!”

nThe wounded scorpions fell even before coming near when attacked by 21 dealers including me. So, the atmosphere was good.

n“Ice Arrow. Ice Ball. Ice Bolt.”

nAnd I used all three skills endlessly. It was true that the cooldown time increased a bit when I upgraded not only Ice Arrow to Level 2, but also the other two skills at Level 1. But I didn’t have to worry about it because my Willpower, estimated at 2,500, covered all of it. I also didn’t have to worry about the consumption of mana from the beginning.

nHowever, it seemed to be trifling in other users’ eyes because of my fast attacks.

n“Oh, he is firing randomly like a very low-level wizard!”

n“It’s because they’re Level 1 magic, and one Level 2.”

n“User No. 30, if you fire your skills randomly and waste mana, are you going to sit idly in the 2nd and 3rd rounds? Save your skills. They can’t even come near us because of our attack.”

n“…”

nOf course, I didn’t want to deny that I was a low-level wizard. Nevertheless, it was clear that my attack speed was very fast. I knew that because I was the same ice-type wizard that used the same skills that I used now during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd closed betas. So, these users who mocked me now were one of the two groups, namely one that looked down on me or the other one that thought that I was inexperienced. Of course, it seemed that they were prejudiced against my low level.

nIn the meantime, there was one more thing I felt bad about. Namely, they used all the same skills at the same time. So, I could not figure out whose attack inflicted more damage on the scorpions. I just guessed. And in their estimates, the damage caused by my attacks was minimal. However, I continued to attack endlessly because they would judge my contribution by the final results. So, the first round passed by very easily without me running into the six tanks even once.

n“It looks like the DPS have better firepower than I think. Maybe we can get a higher score than I thought. Don’t be so excited yet. Just keep up the good work!”

n“Yeah!”

n“Okay.”

nAs none of them were attacked by the scorpions, their performance could be called “Perfect.” Naturally, their atmosphere could not be better. With such a good atmosphere, another message announcing the start of the second round rang.

nRound 2 has started.

n-Cursed Scorpions will now appear.

nNow, the modifier “wounded” was replaced with “cursed.” In other words, it meant that just like round 1, the emerging scorpions were like wild apricots with a good color, not normal scorpions. That’s exactly what I expected.

n“As you know, rounds 1 and 2 are a piece of cake. So, cheer up.”

n“Yeah!”

nAs soon as user No 1. said that, the scorpions appeared through the sand from the front.

nThey were not much different from the wounded ones in the first round, but they were exuding black haze all over their bodies. Round 2 didn’t seem that much different from Round 1.

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