Translator: HunterW

Editor: RED

“Haein and General Han, I leave the front lines to you,” Song Myungsoo ordered.

“Got it!”

“Understood.”

“As you all know, we’ve entered the sixteen-man dungeon over thirty times now, so we should all know what to expect. I’ll take command when things change, but I leave the rest to your judgment.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Our goal is to reach the boss room faster than before! That’s all we need to do. Let’s go!” At Song Myungsoo’s orders, Haein and Han Kyungchul spearheaded the party at a fast pace.

I studied the sixteen-man dungeon beforehand.

-In the end, it’s not much different from the one-man dungeon.-

The dungeon was just at a bigger scale; the monsters and traps were all the same. All we needed to do was charge forward.

“I’ll block the attack!”

“Bellowing Fire Pillar!”

“Razor Wind!”

“Kwek!”

The party fought like a well-oiled machine. It had been a while, but I did fight in parties in the past, as well. I’d had no choice, as a Fire Mage, and I could tell that they were all very experienced veterans.

-As expected of the Sunbin Guild.-

They were fighting so well that I didn’t feel the need to step in yet.

“We put more mages in this party than fighters since you’re here, Jiwon. We are benefiting from the increased burst damage from magic attacks.”

“Yes, I agree.”

We were making quick work of the monsters at first, but it wasn’t long until we started to slow down. There were plenty of stronger monsters here to balance with the sixteen-man party. That was my cue.

While my main role was to deal with the boss, I also didn’t want to stand off to the side while everyone else was giving their all. I was itching to have a go, as well.

“Mana Conversion – Fire.”

==Mana Conversion – Fire Level 2 has been activated.==

I decided to save Warrior’s Brave Spirit for the Myth Guild as its cooldown was too long. The Sunbin Guild wouldn’t need the extra boost.

I pulled out my spear and sprinted past Haein and Han Kyungchul, who were busy holding off an Enchanted Stone Golem. Once I was behind the Golem, I flipped around and stabbed it in the abdomen.

My spear didn’t pierce through its rocky armor, but it did manage to crack it in places. The force of the blow caused the Golem to stumble backwards where it crashed into the other Golems.

“Focus support on Jiwon.”

“Yes, sir! Fatal Blows!”

“Earth Armor, Brilliant Blessing, Roar of Rage.”

I ignored the messages telling me that buffs had been placed and shifted my attention to the other monsters. At that moment, Haein and General Han came up next to me.

“I’ll block all of their attacks. Attack them and herd them into a corner.”

“We leave it to you, Jiwon.”

“Got it.”

I was much stronger than either of them, but I didn’t turn down their help. I could also tell what Haein was planning.

I left one side of the horde to Haein and General Han, and started attacking from the other. Soon, we managed to gather them all together as we pushed them back.

“Exploding Flame Shot!”

“Chain Lightning!”

“Multi Stone Shot!”

Once they were all gathered, the mages fired off AoE spells. The splash damage from the spells and my constant pummeling of attacks soon felled all of the golems.

“Wow! To think Enchanted Stone Golems could be herded and destroyed like that…”

“How high is his STR?”

“His ATT speed is crazy fast, too. Did you see how all of the Golems were cracked from the force of his blows?”

In less than eight minutes, we had cleared the entire area of Golems.

“Damn…that was record speed. It always took us more than fifteen minutes to clear this area and the R&R team was sure that it was impossible to do it even faster…”

“To think it only took a single addition to the party…”

I could hear the Sunbin Guild members talk to each other in amazement, but it was getting a little too burdensome.

“Ahem! Vice-master Song, we’re done here so… should we get going?” I asked Song Myungsoo who was also standing there in bewilderment.

“Ah! Uh… move out!” He quickly snapped to and gave the order.

We continued to forge ahead. The other monsters didn’t have high DEF like the Golems, but we fought them using the same positions and methods. I attacked from the front while Haein and General Han guarded from the sides.

Each time the high-leveled monsters fell after a few of my attacks, I noticed the others grow ever more confident and at ease. The monsters that had given them so much trouble the past couple of weeks were being easily toppled now.

We continued to charge forward, quickly destroying the traps that got in our way.

==Boss Room==

“It took us 2 hours and 11 minutes!”

“The fastest we ever got here still took us three hours…”

“It’s because we got rid of the monsters faster than before.”

“Lee Jiwon saved us a lot of time by destroying that boulder quickly, as well.”

“We’re not done yet! Stay focused until the end!”

“Yes sir!” The gossiping party members quickly snapped to attention at Song Myungsoo’s order.

“We leave it to you.”

“Yes sir.” I put my Harrier into my inventory and pulled out the enchanted spear. The real show was starting now.

From what I learned, when the boss’s HP falls to 10%, it starts using its red and blue shields, switching them to block whatever type of attack was strongest. That was why the Sunbin Guild had so much trouble with it. They had to make sure the party was well-balanced with mages and fighters.

However, I was planning to defeat it before it could start using its shields.

-They also said that it has high MATT and accuracy, right? I should use that then.-

Haein and General Han had offered to tank the damage for me, but I had declined. I couldn’t be bothered to deal with it and they would only end up getting in my way.

I confidently took the lead and entered the boss room. I could see the Lich suspended in midair, shrouded by a dark haze.

==The Dark Lich’s Cursed Aura seeps all around the room.==

==Cursed Aura prevented by status immunity effect.==

“Altered Equality,” I uttered quietly and a red smoke oozed from my body and headed straight for the Lich. The red smoke covered the Lich in an instant.

==You have activated Altered Equality – Altered Equal Stats on your opponent.

Your opponent’s base Stat points, Stat points increased by skills and items and Stat points granted by specials will all be redistributed.

Calculating all Stat points…==

==Your opponents Stats have been redistributed.

The effects of Altered Equality will last for the next 24 hours and you must wait that time before using Altered Equality on someone else.

Stat points received for Kiran will be set to 0 as payment for using Altered Equality.==

With this, the Lich’s HP should have increased sharply, but that didn’t matter to me. If everything went as planned, HP wouldn’t mean much at all. It was better to lower its ATT speed and MATT.

As soon as I confirmed that Altered Equality worked, I charged in, while the people behind me started talking again.

—

“Why does it seem like the Cursed Aura’s effectiveness dropped?”

“I know, right? Its range has been lowered, too.”

“Huh? It used to lower DEF and MDEF by 15% but now it’s only at 9%!”

“You’re right!”

“It must be because of that.”

“Yes sir. It seems the rumors we heard while in India were right. He stole his enemy’s skill.”

“Was it called Equality?”

“Yes, sir. His opponent was a deity, and it was a deity-exclusive skill. It combines a target’s Stat points together and distributes them equally. I heard that it was most effective against magic-oriented boss monsters. It makes raids much safer for parties.”

“Ha… geez.” Song Myungsoo could only watch Lee Jiwon in amazement. That man was special, that much he had to acknowledge. For that reason, Song Myungsoo tried his best to not undervalue Lee Jiwon but now, he couldn’t help himself.

It wasn’t because of Song Myungsoo himself, but because Lee Jiwon was just getting stronger too quickly. If he was ten steps ahead for one second, the next second, he would be fifteen steps ahead. It was almost as if the universe wanted Lee Jiwon to get stronger faster, and was pouring all of its luck into him…

——

The damage I was dealing now was nothing compared to what I could do with my Harrier, but I could tell that the Lich’s HP was going down.

HP Drain!

“Yeah, yeah. Take as much as you want.” No matter how much HP it drained from me, it wasn’t enough to hurt me significantly.

Shadow Touch.

The Lich counterattacked with spells as much as it could, but it was all in vain. Altered Equality lowered its MATT so much that I didn’t even need to block or dodge its attacks. Furthermore, the healers and supporters topped me off every time my HP dropped to a certain point.

I had attacked it more than forty times already, but Absolute Destruction hadn’t activated yet. If I took the weapon enchant into account, I should have attacked it at least a hundred and sixty times now….

-Go off, already.-

I was fully aware that it was completely random and I had no control over it whatsoever, but I really wanted it to activate already, as there were fifteen other people watching from behind.

Thankfully, it did right when I was about to cry out in frustration. The bolt of black lightning struck the Lich’s head.

==Absolute Destruction has been activated.

Your opponent dies regardless of how much HP it has.==

Gahh!

And just like that, the Lich screamed out in pain with its tongue out like a frog before bursting into a cloud of black smoke.

==You have defeated the Dark Lich, the Boss of the sixteen-man dungeon.

Time taken: 02:15:57

You can choose to register your record or save it.

Register: Register your record which will be shown on the display boards if it is one of top 50 fastest records. Any time a faster record is registered, your record will be lowered each time.

Save: Save up to 5 records. Saved records can be held for up to 15 days and will be deleted after 15 days.==

I confirmed the message that appeared and turned to Song Myungsoo.

“Sa…save.”

=Sixteen-man dungeon: 02:15:57 – this record has been saved under 1. Not registering this record in 15 days will delete this record.==

“Holy **… I can’t believe it.”

“Did… did I miss something? The Lich was still fighting… where did it go?”

“We couldn’t reach the three-hour mark, no matter what we did.”

“The Lich didn’t even use its shields. It died before it lost 90% of its HP…”

“I know we heard that this might happen…but this is just…”

I could hear the other members sputter in shock behind the dumbstruck Song Myungsoo, but I just replied by standing even straighter. I also knew how overpowered it was.

It would go off eventually, as long as I attacked enough times. I actually drew reference from Wakaba, the original owner of Azazel’s Boots.

==You will be forcibly removed from this sixteen-man dungeon in one minute:

60, 59, 58…==