Chapter 61 - The Last Gatekeeper, Betty (1)

"Hyun, do you remember this place? We've cleared this one together before."

"Really? From what I remember, I was alone."

"Hng...? Alone?"

Ain stared at Hyun.

Hyun ignored her stare and tried to remember.

Oops, now that he thought about it, he had indeed come to that place with Ain.

"No... We did come here together. That's right. Even back then, we were together."

But there were some differences with that time.

He could immediately find a difference.

From what he remembered, in Asra, a mid-range boss was blocking the door... But right then, there didn't seem to be one.

"Doesn't it seem like the map has changed a little bit?"

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing."

Hyun nodded at Ain's question.

From what he remembered, in Asra, the dungeon's name was different.

He didn't remember the name, but he was sure that if it were something like Seed of Evil, he would've remembered it.

'Why did it change?'

Asrian had slight differences from the previous game.

The first one was the appearance of an unknown NPC called Louise.

The existence of a symmetrical world…

Even the name of the dungeon had changed…

He had a strange feeling as if he was missing something.

He felt that if he thought about it a little bit more, he would be able to connect all the parts.

Hyun was thinking about all the different pieces of evidence separated like a puzzle.

"So this is the last one."

Practice's mumble brought Hyun back to reality.

He looked up at the Door of the Deceased and mumbled.

"At first glance, this seems like a place where a boss would be."

"It does."

Just like Practice said, there was only one enemy left before they cleared the quest.

It was the opponent that was behind the door.

They wouldn't be able to beat the last part of the quest by using tricks, so it was the place where the party would fight the final battle.

Before the battle began, Hyun started to explain.

"The last opponent is a named called 'Betty.' It's a humanoid bat monster that uses Magic. In Asra, we used to call her bat girl."

"Betty...?"

Jini, who was listening to Hyun's words spoke.

The moment she heard the name Betty, her face became darker.

After seeing that, Practice asked her a question.

"Is there something you know about her?"

"I've previously heard information about the named Betty."

Stardust had a database of many monsters.

It was made with the help of the coach that had experience in Asra Online they had just incorporated.

Betty was a name she'd found out by going through the information.

"It's a named boss that's level 235. You need at least 10 users that have completed the second job ascension to try to beat it."

"A level 235 boss? Really?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

Jini showed the rest of the information about Betty that was in Stardust's database through one of the functions of the capsule.

"Oh, my god…"

Practice's mouth dropped open.

"What, why is everyone suddenly so scared?"

At Hyun's question, Practice carefully asked him.

"Hyun, can we really beat it...?"

"Of course, the giant bird we meet in the Ice Thorn Dungeon was a level 400 named boss."

"But we didn't fight it."

"Hmm... That's true, but it's okay. If it's our party, I think we're going to be able to beat it."

Jini became more relaxed after listening to Hyun's affirmation.

She started to accept Hyun's words as the truth at some point.

His judgment was probably more precise than hers!

Following her common sense would probably make things harder, so she decided not to think about it too much.

If you look closely, Ain didn't doubt Hyun's words.

Although she spoke roughly from time to time, you could feel that she trusted Hyun.

Before they entered, Hyun explained to them the strategy to beat Betty.

The theory behind the strategy was perfect.

The problem was that it was perfect only in theory.

Neither professional gamers nor average users thought about every single possible variable like Hyun.

Humans often made mistakes, which was why the prepared strategies failed most of the time.

'Does he always prepare so much?'

When Hyun's explanation was over, Practice and Jini were lost for words.

The reason why he prepared the strategies with so much detail was that he was sure there wouldn't be any mistakes?

'This is a strategy that, if you didn’t have skills and self-confidence in yourself, you wouldn't be able to come up with.'

'An average user would probably be committing suicide if they tried to copy it…!'

Guooo-.

The Door of the Deceased opened, and the room's interior was revealed.

The entire floor was covered with lava.

And in the middle of it, there was a giant island.

"Everyone, watch out for your feet."

Hyun warned the rest.

The only way to get to the island was by crossing a narrow bridge.

If they missed a step, they'd fall into the lava.

Jini, who had low Agility, was having a hard time moving.

[Because of the heat, your HP goes down by 50 points every 10 seconds!]

From a certain point, the party started to receive messages.

Hyun, who was the only one who belonged to the Abyss, had 10% of resistance to fire, so the message he saw was a little bit different.

[Because of the heat, your HP goes down by 45 points every 10 seconds!]

Even if they remained still, their HP would go down.

If the pain sensor was adjusted to real-life levels, there would be so much heat surrounding the place that humans wouldn't be able to resist it.

To keep their HP up, Jini had to use recovery skills frequently.

'Too hot. We're surrounded by a sea of fire.'

Practice moaned because of the heat that the lava transmitted.

Hyun and Ain couldn't feel cold thanks to the 'Heavenly Being' title, but they weren't immune to heat.

Boom-!

The moment the party crossed the bridge, the doors closed.

Then a wave of lava swallowed the bridge they'd just used.

"Don't panic."

Even if Hyun hadn't said it, they would’ve been calm.

Hyun had already told them that the moment the battle began that there would be no way to exit.

The island that would soon become a battlefield was the size of a football field.

Wham-.

As a lava waterfall began to flow from all sides, the party moved to a safe place.

"Watch out!"

As Jini shouted, magma began coming out from the mouth of a strange-looking statue.

Tsss-~

As Practice subconsciously moved his body, he could hear the sound of rock melting.

"This is really a hell of fire."

The place seemed like it would be interesting to see if it weren't for the fire surrounding it.

Thanks to Roman-style architecture, the island looked like an abandoned underground city.

The party went up the stairs.

From the terrace of the building, they could see the entire island.

Hundreds of lava waterfalls covered the entire city.

That was the most fantastic scenery Hyun had seen since he began playing Asrian.

"Amazing..."

Ain was mesmerized by the hundreds of lava waterfalls.

The lava kept raising, and it began to swallow the city's buildings one by one.

Then a tsunami of lava struck everything and left it all in ruins.

"It's coming."

And once it finally stopped…

Boom-!

Something dropped from the sky as if it were a meteorite.

The silhouette of the demon slowly extended its wings and raised its body.

Jini mumbled while biting her lips.

"Betty..."

The 'Evil's Seed' Dungeon's final boss.

The guardian of the area, Betty, had appeared.

Betty had the appearance of a woman and black wings. It looked like a bat.

As Betty extended its wings, the energy of the Abyss began spreading through the entire place.

"Kiik... Servants... Of Heaven..."

[You've encountered a massive Abyss's presence!]

[You offer very little resistance!]

[All your stats have been decreased by 20%!]

The message Hyun and Ain received was a little bit different.

[A Heavenly Being isn't easily intimidated by the energy of the Abyss!]

[All your stats have been decreased by 5%!]

'There's nothing we can do about the difference in specs.'

The deeper they went, the harder the dungeon became.

Because Betty was the dungeon's final boss, it had overwhelming specs.

'It doesn't matter.'

He wasn't expecting to be able to overcome Betty's Abyss energy perfectly.

The strategy he was thinking of wasn't about beating it with specs but was a way to overcome the gap.

"Jini, start!"

"I know!"

Before Hyun spoke, Jini was in front of the party.

"To think that a day would come when I, a Priest, would be in the front!"

While shaking her legs, Jini didn't back off. She was doing her best to face the Abyss's energy emitted by Betty.

Why was Betty in the front?

It would be normal to ask that question, but Jini was just moving as Hyun had ordered her.

"Jini, you must always be in front of Betty."

Just before entering the room, Jini thought she had misheard Hyun's words.

To think that he'd ask her, a Priest who needed to be protected by the rest of the party, to be in the front!

But after listening to Hyun's explanation, she understood why.

“Betty's scariest skill is 'Rear Leap.' It instantly teleports to the back of the party and smashes the target with the tail. We won't be able to dodge or block it with our current level.”

"Then, there's no way to counter it. Right...?" Practice had murmured in worry.

"The target of the Rear Leap is always fixed: it's the one that's furthedy away from it. Basically, the one that's at the back of the party!"

At the back of the party, there usually was either a Priest or a Magician.

That's why there was a huge chance that Jini would become the first target of the boss.

"Understood? You must always be in the front."

Paf-!

The moment Betty disappeared, Jini shrugged her shoulders.

If it weren't for Hyun's warning, she would've moved to the back of the party or used a defensive skill on herself.

Using a survival skill while in danger was a habit that most Priest's had in common.

'It's going to be okay.'

But right then, she had placed all her trust in Hyun.

She didn't try to avoid it.

If she suddenly became the target, she would end up dying. There was nothing to do.

But if Hyun's guess were correct, Betty would appear at the party's rear!

Boom!

Betty's tail smashed down half of the building's terrace where the party was.

Concentric circles spread through the sea of lava.

The power of a level 235 named boss was truly awe-inspiring.

They would've probably all died if it weren't for the previous preparations.

'Good, everyone's safe.'

Hyun was at the party's rear.

The moment Betty disappeared, he used «Assimilation», so Betty ended up hitting the air.

'Now!'

At that moment, Betty had finished casting.

It was her skill, «Bind», which made two targets stick together.

The rope made of light that she shot without considering her own safety successfully landed on Betty.

Betty, who was about to take flight, was trapped by Jini's rope.

"I've stuck it to the floor!"

Jini shouted joyfully.

Binding an opponent that moved at an incredible speed required a high level of control.

It was something that you could only do if you knew where the opponent would appear.

While Betty was stuck, Practice's sword hit its neck.

[«Mind Beat» has successfully critical hit!]

[The opponent has fainted for a bit!]

At that moment…!

Ain used her flames to hit Betty.

A pair of flames hit the giant bat's body.

Kaaaa-!

As Betty moved in pain, the rope that was binding her broke.

That was enough for the moment.

Before it could take flight, Ain had landed more than 10 successful attacks on its body.

Betty, who was near the ceiling, looked at the party.

Suddenly, Hyun shouted.

"Jini, don't be in the rear!"

Jini, who was taken aback, rapidly moved to the front.

Shortly after that, Betty disappeared.

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