Chapter 47: Second First Clear

Executioner Crow grew stronger every time he executed a player.

Right after dealing with me, he displayed even greater strength as he tore through the damage dealer line.

As the ranged damage dealers collapsed in an instant, the sub-tank hurriedly stepped in, but Crow, now immensely powerful, could no longer be stopped.

Thus, this attempt ended in failure.

Everyone must have thought, “This time, we’ll clear it.”

I thought the same.

“Hmm… Crow suddenly got stronger, didn’t he?”

“It seems like his stats increase every time the Execution pattern is triggered.”

“Then we must avoid dying. No, maybe it’s better to focus all our damage and take him down immediately.”

After a brief discussion with the raid members, we all nodded in agreement.

While Crow had demonstrated unexpected power, if the ranged dealers could focus fire and take him down quickly, it could be handled more easily.

However, this approach required an additional tank to hold Crow in place.

I pulled out a shield from my inventory.

It was truly fortunate that I had kept a level 45 unique shield in case of an emergency.

While tanking both the boss and dozens of paladins at the same time was impossible, I could handle Crow alone as long as his Execution stacks hadn’t accumulated.

“Let’s give it another try.”

Drawing a holy sword I hadn’t used in quite some time, I raised my voice.

During battle, equipment couldn’t be swapped, so I had to deal damage with the sword and shield equipped.

I also removed the Orc Ring from my finger, which maintained low health for the Berserker’s passive effects.

This was an unavoidable decision to avoid being executed.

The battle against the boss began, and time started to flow.

Aside from a few minor mistakes, everything was going smoothly.

After the second Black Sun pattern, the paladins appeared once more.

As expected, [Knight Captain Executioner Crow] also revealed himself.

As the sub-tank began kiting the paladins, I immediately charged at Crow.

Clang!

The moment I collided with him using a charge skill, he swung his sword.

I raised my shield and deflected the powerful strike at an angle.

As the holy sword, brimming with dark energy, extended outward, I retaliated by swinging my own holy sword.

Clang!

As a paladin himself, Crow also wielded a shield.

During the exchange of offense and defense, a bright white flash suddenly struck Crow’s head from afar.

Ping!

The bullet ricocheted off his helmet, causing his body to stagger.

I didn’t miss the opening.

My holy sword struck Crow repeatedly, hammering his body.

Though my attacks were weak since the Berserker’s unique passive wasn’t active, I succeeded in breaking his stance.

Glancing to the side, I noticed that the paladins the sub-tank had been kiting had just been swept away by the mage’s area-of-effect spell.

If we could finish Crow here and focus our damage on the boss, we could clear the raid.

That was the thought crossing my mind at that moment.

Suddenly, Crow, whose stance had been broken, began exuding dark energy and charged forward with incredible speed.

The speed surpassed even what I could achieve using a charge skill.

“W-What?!”

In a flash, he was in front of Harang.

“Could it be a pattern that reacts to ranged attacks?”

Upon reaching Harang, Crow swung his sword at incredible speed.

Harang tried to evade by rolling on the ground but quickly fell.

Crow executed Harang as the finishing blow.

Crow’s stats increased.

The dark energy flowing from his body grew even more intense.

“Everyone, stop attacking and back away!”

I urgently shouted while closing the distance to Crow as quickly as possible.

Using Charge and Leap Strike, I rapidly narrowed the gap.

Crow’s dark holy sword collided with my radiant sunlit holy sword, unleashing a brilliant burst of effects.

To bring him down, melee damage dealers needed to engage.

“Mages, focus on the boss! Rogues, get on Crow!”

The moment the order was given, the rogues utilized their agility to rush toward Crow.

The mages, too, followed my command and began ignoring Crow, focusing their damage on the boss instead.

Although I was deflecting every attack with my shield and sword, it was overwhelming.

I signaled to the sub-tank standing nearby with a glance.

It was a request to take over aggro.

As the sub-tank swiftly approached and pulled aggro, I sighed in relief.

Perhaps due to the stat boost from his executions, Crow wasn’t going down easily.

While continuous damage would eventually bring him down, Crow’s inherent paladin abilities, such as shields and healing, made it difficult to defeat him.

Observing this, I drove my holy sword into the ground.

I intended to enhance the damage-per-second (DPS) output of the dealers with an area-of-effect buff.

[Sanctuary of the Sun God declared.]

Whoosh!

A wide aura of sunlit energy began to rise toward the sky.

The buff zone that increased all stats and provided continuous health regeneration was created.

As Crow was swinging his sword at the sub-tank, he suddenly dropped to his knees.

The red nameplate above him turned green.

[Ugh… Ughh… This is…]

“What’s going on…?”

Crow’s attacks stopped.

Our attacks no longer affected him either.

For monsters and NPCs, a red nameplate indicated a hostile state toward players.

Conversely, a green nameplate indicated an allied state.

This meant that the kneeling Crow had now become an ally.

[So that’s how it is… All this time…]

Gripping his head and muttering something, Crow suddenly stood up.

The dark energy that had enveloped his body was gone.

Replacing the dark energy was a radiant aura of sunlight.

[Bearer of another holy sword, thank you for saving me. From now on, I will lend you my strength.]

Radiating a glorious sunlit aura, Crow charged toward the boss at incredible speed.

The devastating attacks that once targeted the players were now aimed at the boss.

However, perhaps because his attack power was nerfed after becoming an ally, the boss’s health didn’t drop as much as expected.

Instead, as befitting a high-ranking paladin class, Crow spread healing and shields across the battlefield, greatly enhancing the stability of the raid group.

[Argh! Crow! Why are you doing this?!]

[Corrupted Solar, the sun resides within my heart.]

Caught off guard by the unexpected situation, I joined the rogues in flanking Solar from behind and started dealing damage.

How much time had passed?

Solar’s health hit rock bottom, and the massive, dark energy-filled giant collapsed to the ground.

Thud!

[Th-this can’t be… This cannot happen… My… my power… the sun…]

As the dark energy began to slowly dissipate from Solar’s body, Crow’s form also started to fade away.

Since the raid boss had disappeared, Crow, who had been summoned by him, was also vanishing.

I raised the holy sword in my hand.

It seemed the developers had hidden an Easter egg within this world item.

“Wow… What just happened?”

“It looks like the raid leader’s holy sword purified the named NPC?”

“Is this some kind of Easter egg?”

[Server First Achievement Unlocked!]

The title [Bearer of the Restored Sun] has been sent to your mailbox.

The voices of the raid members scattered as a notification popped up in front of us, confirming the achievement.

Everyone must have been staring blankly at the message, mouths agape, as they checked their achievements.

Guild chat was ablaze, no doubt because a world-wide notification about the raid clear had just been broadcast.

“Well then, great work, everyone. We managed to clear it before 10 o’clock.”

I checked the time as I spoke, unable to suppress the smile on my face.

It was currently 9 o’clock, leaving a full hour before the shutdown curfew.

Unlike last time, there wouldn’t be the mishap of getting disconnected during the loot auction.

“Let’s check the loot and start the auction.”

I approached Solar’s corpse to inspect the loot.

[Ring of the Corrupted Sun]

Strength +150, Agility +150

Unique

Max HP -10%

Soulbound upon pickup

Level Requirement: 45

20% chance on attack to increase all stats by 15%.

One of the relics of the Sun God.

Corrupted by dark energy.

The evil energy is too powerful to be purified.

[Shield of the Radiant Sun]

Strength +70, HP +100

Unique

Max HP +15%

Soulbound upon pickup

Level Requirement: 45

Activates [Veil of the Sun], reducing all damage taken by 20%.

A prototype shield used by the Sun Knights.

Imbued with the blessing of the Sun God.

[Weapon Blessed by the Sun God – Staff]

Intelligence +120, Mana +70

Unique

Intelligence +15%

Magic Attack Power +980

Soulbound upon acquisition

All attribute damage +15%.

Level Requirement: 45.

A weapon blessed by the Sun God.

It contains powerful divine energy.

[Orb of Corruption]

An item bound to Yeon.

An orb exuding an ominous aura of corruption.

None of the dropped items stood out as having exceptional performance.

However, as raid gear, their stats far surpassed those of ordinary Level 45 unique items.

The Orb of Corruption seemed to be the starting item for a hidden quest.

Since it became soulbound to me the moment it dropped, it appeared to be invisible to other players.

This orb was clearly connected to the [Holy Sword of the Sun God Solar].

“The auction will now begin.”

The first item up for auction was the [Ring of the Corrupted Sun].

A ring usable by both warriors and rogues, it sold for quite a high price.

The winner of the ring was Iyeap, who bought it for 2,500 gold.

I had wanted to bid for the item as well, but I didn’t have enough gold on hand.

It seemed I would need to sell one of the orc rings gathering dust in my storage.

Next up for auction was the [Shield of the Radiant Sun].

Since I wasn’t planning to play as a tank this season, the two players who had taken on tanking roles in the raid competed for it.

In the end, the shield went to Dogrik for 1,500 gold.

Finally, it was time for the [Weapon Blessed by the Sun God – Staff].

“3,000 gold.”

Helena opened the bidding with a bold 3,000 gold, and no one else followed up.

There was no urgency to obtain weapons.

After all, they could be exchanged for raid tokens later.

The auction concluded, and the gold was distributed.

I stared at the [Orb of Corruption] that had entered my inventory, deep in thought.

It was now easy to admit that this world’s Deron was vastly different from the Deron I had known.

“Well done, everyone~ See you all next week.”

As the raid members dispersed, I slowly moved the holy sword in my hand.

It seemed I would need to thoroughly search every map related to the Sun God.