Chapter 41: Albion Conquest (2)

[Lené]

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– Left alone again, huh.

That kind of chat passed by for a moment, but I didn’t have the leisure to respond.

As he said, I was the only one left on the field.

And Albion’s remaining health was about 90%.

…There’s no chance of winning.

No matter how desperately I try, it won’t make any difference.

But I don’t give up.

I’ll endure just a bit longer, to see as many of the patterns as I can.

To help the next attempt, even if just a little.

But despite my resolve.

[Be pierced!]

That damned pattern came again.

A translucent circle appeared beneath me.

If I stay here, spears of ice will shoot up from below, impaling me.

But even if I try to find a safe spot to escape from the circle—

“…Tch.”

The ground was already completely covered with those translucent circles.

There wasn’t a single gap to be seen.

It was an utterly unreasonable pattern.

Even so, I threw myself forward with all my strength, but of course, I didn’t reach the clean ground far away.

In the end, a nasty cracking sound echoed inside my body.

The ice spear pierced through my body, ignoring even my full armor.

Yet, I still had HP left. That means I can still fight.

…If only I could move.

Getting impaled by the ice spear causes a freezing status, making it impossible to move.

It lasts for 15 seconds.

That seems like a short time, but in a raid, it’s more than enough to die five times over.

The monster’s massive right hand came crashing toward me.

It wasn’t part of a pattern, not even a special move—just a regular attack, and my body was crushed.

(Death)

“…So, how many patterns have we seen so far?”

“I think it’s around six.”

“They were just normal attack patterns, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“The only special pattern would be the ice spear one when someone’s left alone.”

After the 15th attempt at the Albion raid.

The party members were discussing Albion’s patterns, but the atmosphere was no longer as lively as it had been at the start.

They were visibly deflated, so much that anyone could notice.

It was only natural.

Fifteen attempts over 2 hours and 30 minutes.

And not once did Albion’s HP drop below 90%.

The patterns weren’t particularly difficult.

If anything, they were easier than those in the Tagrion raid.

They were simple, and not even particularly fast.

But Albion was just too tough.

Even when everyone poured out as much damage as possible during the “deal time,” Albion’s HP bar barely decreased by 1% before it was over.

No matter that it was the weekend; the clock had already pointed to morning, and that fact alone brought a first wave of helplessness.

The realization that the raid boss’s special patterns hadn’t even started yet triggered a second wave of despair.

Naturally, focus started to wane, and people began getting hit by simple, straightforward attacks.

“Don’t you think so…?”

There was no verbal response, but everyone had already come to the same conclusion.

“This is an un-clearable raid.”

After all, this raid had started without even filling half of the party capacity of 35 people.

With a lack of numbers, it was difficult to hold the front line, and the shortage of damage dealers and support was inevitable. That’s what everyone there was thinking.

Except for one person.

“Uh, Lady Lene?”

The berserker, who was responsible for the frontline of the raid, spoke to her. But there was no reply from her. Lene merely kept her gaze lowered in silence.

“Is she exhausted?” He wondered but called her again nonetheless.

“Uh, Lady Lene. Maybe we should just give up here—”

“Wait. I’m thinking about something….”

This method won’t work to clear the Albion raid. That was the conclusion I had reached after much thought.

No, technically, it could be cleared.

If we had started under ideal conditions, with the full roster and everyone in top condition, it would definitely be possible to clear this raid.

So, does that mean we can never clear the raid in our current situation?

“That can’t be right….”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, it’s nothing….”

My guess is that the conditions for triggering the Albion raid involve forming a party with a certain number of people and reaching the summit of Rivagar.

It’s not that no one has ever reached the summit before, but never have so many people formed a party and ascended at once like this.

And since the raid started immediately after we reached the summit with this party, it means that the developers must believe it’s possible to clear this Albion raid with the minimum required number of people.

Of course, our party has some composition issues, but would slightly adjusting the lineup really make a significant difference?

I don’t think so. It might make things a bit easier, but the overall flow wouldn’t change much.

One of the biggest problems with our party right now is the lack of damage. And unless we increase the number of people, that problem won’t change, no matter how we reconfigure the party.

So eventually, once our focus slips, we’ll get hit by the boss’s patterns and die.

Unless we can maintain perfect concentration throughout the raid, which seems unlikely.

The loss of focus is inevitable. It’s just human nature. Anyone would feel it’s unfair to see an HP bar that doesn’t seem to budge, and it’s only natural to get worn out over time.

In other words, we can’t keep going with a straightforward approach.

We need to find another way.

“…Everyone. Did anything strange happen during the raid?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so.”

“If I had to nitpick, it’s that the damage isn’t going through enough… but that’s probably because we don’t have enough party members.”

I agree with that statement.

The lack of damage is entirely our fault for not having enough people.

“Hmm…”

There didn’t seem to be anything particularly strange about the patterns either.

There is the new status effect of freezing, but that can just be seen as one of the raid boss’s unique skills…

Wait a minute.

“Tanks.”

“Yes?”

“We haven’t tried using *Tears of Skadi* while in the frozen state, have we…?”

“That’s right? Consumables weren’t usable while frozen anyway.”

“Besides, *Tears of Skadi* only cures frostbite, so we assumed it wouldn’t help in this case at first….”

That’s true.

*Tears of Skadi* is a potion that only cures and grants immunity to frostbite, with no other effects.

Which means it obviously wouldn’t help with this new freezing status effect.

That was the conclusion we all came to right after our second attempt.

But what if that’s not the case?

“Then, has anyone ever gotten frostbite during the raid, even once?”

No one responded affirmatively to my question.

Is it really possible to avoid getting frostbite for over two hours in Rivagar?

No way.

Unless the system is somehow forcing it.

The more I thought about it, the more confident I became.

To solidify that certainty, I pulled out the *Tears of Skadi* and read the description.

“**Tears of Skadi**

A potion made from the tears of Skadi, a goddess forgotten from the memories of people.”

“When used: Cures the status effect – frostbite, and grants frostbite immunity for 30 minutes.”

…As I thought.

The keywords “forgotten from memory” and “Skadi.”

The answer was much closer than we had thought.

“[Insignificant creatures, how dare you awaken me from my slumber!]”

〔The ruler of Niflheim, the ancient and fierce white dragon Albion, has awakened!〕

“Everyone, drink it now…!”

Skadi.

In Norse mythology, she’s the goddess of the hunt.

[…This energy!]

She’s also the goddess of winter.

And Niflheim’s other name is the land of eternal winter.

“[The blessing of Skadi, the goddess of Niflheim, has enveloped your body.]”

“[Immune to freezing status | Increased damage dealt to Albion]”

〔Albion senses the presence of its nemesis, Skadi, and becomes enraged!〕

-This is the real deal, lol.

Just as I suspected.

It’s probably something like Skadi, the goddess of Niflheim, being defeated by Albion.

But that doesn’t matter right now.

I’m not completely uninterested, but what matters now is clearing the raid.

“It says he’s become enraged, is that going to be okay?!”

“…Well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

[That Goddess Dares!]

“Ugh?!”

Albion’s first attack pattern is to dive into the ground, create a shockwave, and then swing its tail. And this time was no different.

[Disgusting!]

But its speed had increased significantly.

“She’s really angry…”

“Of course, she is! They said you’re her nemesis, didn’t they?!”

Still, the experience I gained from 15 attempts wasn’t in vain.

Even though I was momentarily flustered and unable to give any orders, the raid members moved just as they had in previous runs, without any need for direction.

The sky lit up with vibrant colors, and the blood-red barrier regained its original form. Soon, the tanks, who had been pushed back, stopped Albion’s attack, and it was just before the damage phase began.

“Three seconds!”

I shouted with all my might.

Boom!

A deafening roar shook the ground violently. Magic rained from the sky, and swords and spears ravaged Albion’s tail. And Albion’s HP bar visibly shrank.

In this pattern, we had never reduced Albion’s HP by even 1%, but with this single attack, Albion’s HP dropped by nearly 5%.

[Graaaaaaaa!!!]

As expected, the faster the pattern, the shorter the damage phase. Albion spread its wings wide with a roar. And once again, a translucent circle appeared beneath our feet.

This ice spear attack not only inflicts the freeze status effect but, thanks to Skadi’s Tears, the freeze effect is nullified. However, the spears are powerful enough to kill the DPS in one hit if they land, so the only option here is for the DPS to dodge carefully.

[The Goddess Skadi of Niflheim blesses us once more!]

At that moment, the circle beneath us disappeared along with a system message.

[How dare you!!!]

Albion’s HP had dropped to 80%.

[Fine, then. I’ll tear apart every one of the pitiful creatures you care about!!!]

Then, a sudden blizzard began to swirl around us, signaling the start of a special raid boss pattern—one that everyone could recognize instantly.

This was the true start of the raid.

Man, this really brings back memories…