Chapter 48: The Orb of Corruption

After disbanding the raid, the first place I headed to was the Temple of the Sun God.

However, contrary to my expectations, I couldn’t find any clues. The NPCs merely repeated their predetermined dialogues.

It was while wandering aimlessly around the entire capital city.

The orb I was holding suddenly began to glow, emitting a faint black aura that flowed steadily in a specific direction.

It seemed the hidden quest had begun.

I followed the black aura, which appeared to guide me.

The place I arrived at, led by the aura, was where the higher-tier Dark Mage instructor NPC was seated.

Clad in a black robe and exuding an ominous energy, the NPC looked at me and removed the hood covering their face.

The pale, corpse-like skin and gleaming black eyes gave off an unsettling first impression.

“I sensed a familiar energy… and it turns out you possess something quite interesting.”

[Nerim]
Hell Witch Class Instructor

“Are you perhaps looking for a way to use that item?”

Nerim’s gaze was fixed precisely on the Corrupted Orb I held.

I nodded.

Nerim extended a hand and said, “Could I take a look at it, just for a moment?”

When I handed over the orb, Nerim lifted it delicately, treating it like a precious treasure. The orb, now resting on her palm, began to absorb the black energy emanating from her body.

“Oh, oh… as expected…”

Heh, heh, heh—

A low chuckle escaped her bluish lips, which resembled those of a corpse.

Once she had thoroughly examined the orb, she returned it to me.

“I have a proposal for you. It’s a deal where you won’t lose anything.”

“What are the terms of the deal?”

“I’ll tell you how to use the orb, but in return, you’ll give me the orb after you’ve used it.”

This was the start of the hidden quest. There was no way I could refuse.

I accepted Nerim’s offer.

As soon as I did, the quest notification window in the top-right corner of the screen updated with a new quest.

[Obtain the Hearts and Blood of the Demon Tribe.]

• Demon Hearts: 0/100
• Demon Blood: 0/100

“I need offerings to strengthen the power of corruption. You should have no trouble acquiring them. In the meantime, I’ll prepare the altar. Once you’ve gathered all the materials, come back to me.”

After leaving those words, Nerim disappeared into her workshop.

To complete Nerim’s quest, I used a warp portal and headed to the hunting ground.

The destination was the [Corrupted Forest], a level 42 hunting ground.

This was a map where demons from hell had established a base.

As the region closest to hell, the Corrupted Forest was entirely dark.

The sky was covered with dark red clouds, and the land was rotting.

The trees and plants that made up the forest had been corrupted by mana flowing from hell, transforming into grotesque forms.

The faint scent of sulfur mixed with the stench of blood lingered in the air.

The liquid that resembled blood soaked the ground, seeping into my footsteps as I moved.

The Corrupted Forest, with its ability to make players feel profoundly uncomfortable, was not a popular hunting ground.

I equipped the Dragon Claymore and Orc Warrior’s Ring that I had stored in my inventory.

A powerful surge of energy began coursing through my once-exhausted body, and a massive greatsword materialized in both hands.

As I ventured deeper into the forest from its outskirts, green arrows and dark red spells rained down from all directions. I immediately swung the greatsword, deflecting every attack, but the demons’ assault did not relent.

“Humaaaan!!!”

From the blackened grass emerged a small imp, slashing its claws at me.

The monsters inhabiting this area were ordinary mobs, not elites. Their attacks were insignificant enough to be ignored, but my body instinctively reacted.

I extended one leg forward and swung the sword horizontally in my hands.

Slash!

A streak of red blood stretched out as the imp’s upper and lower halves separated, falling to the ground.

Through the dismembered imp, I checked the dropped items, but neither the demon hearts nor the demon blood I needed were there.

It seemed the drop rate for quest items was rather low.

After a long session of hunting, I gathered as many quest items as I could until just before the shutdown system kicked in, but I couldn’t collect them all.

[Obtain the Hearts and Blood of the Demon Tribe.]

• Demon Hearts: 8/100
• Demon Blood: 12/100

Considering the time spent hunting, roughly 30 minutes, this was the best I could gather.

The drop rate was far lower than I had anticipated. It seemed I would have to spend all of tomorrow grinding in this forest.

At 9:00 PM, players logged into Deron Online saw a message notifying them that Yeojung’s raid party had achieved the First Clear achievement.

– The Middle School Girls’ Raid Party has achieved the First Clear achievement.

This was the First Clear of a raid that was rumored to have bugs. Although it had been proven that the Sunforce entry breath pattern wasn’t a bug, slower players still believed the raid was bugged.

[Deron Online Gallery]

• [It’s not a bug; it’s just restricted to prevent Blessings of the Sun.] [5]
• [Didn’t they say it couldn’t be cleared because of a bug????] [2]
• [ㅋㅋㅋㅋ First Clear achieved on Day 2ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ] [6]
• [Please restrain yourselves.] [1]
• [Middle School Girls’ First Clearㅋㅋ This season’s endingㅋㅋㅋ]
• [Gallery owner’s panty shot.jpg] [11]
• [Didn’t they clear it with a bug? Isn’t that why?] [6]
• [First Clear < meaninglessㅋㅋ Just for the achievement.] [7]
• [Where are the guys telling us to buy out Blessings of the Sun?] [11]

For casual players, the First Clear achievement was little more than a quirky title, but for raid parties aiming for it seriously, it had far greater significance.

But it had been taken from them—the first raid and now the second one.

Their motivation was bound to wane.

One by one, the top-tier raid party members began leaving, and soon enough, entire parties collapsed due to the loss of enthusiasm among raid leaders.

Players were curious. They wanted to know how the raid was cleared.

But there was no information. Yeojung’s raid party neither streamed nor shared any updates on external platforms. With no answers to the players’ questions, the gallery’s discussions slowly began to shift.

That night, Aegis, a player, once again started recruiting for a public raid.

This time, the raid party successfully defeated Sunforce, the fourth boss.

But the real issue came afterward.

To stabilize the damage output and firepower, they had recruited too many ranged DPS players.

Aegis’s public raid group, having overcome the wall of Sunforce, was halted by the final boss, Corrupted Solar.

But he did not give up.

The other players participating that night also refused to quit.

They kept pushing forward, slowly but steadily.

After relentless effort, they finally managed to reduce Solar’s health to 20%.

At that moment, during the second Black Sun pattern, a new named monster appeared among the summoned paladins.

[Executioner Crow, Commander of the Knights]

Aegis’s raid consisted of two Barbarians equipped with Orc Warrior Rings, three tanks, ten healers, and the rest filled entirely with mages and warlocks.

The raid members used their skills to deal with the summoned paladins as they had before.

However, Crow had a hidden pattern that triggered in response to ranged attacks.

The mage line, unaware of this mechanic, unleashed their skills on him—only for Crow to charge at them and wipe them out.

As Crow stacked Execution buffs, he grew stronger than the boss monster, Solar, and obliterated the entire raid.

But Aegis did not give up.

He encouraged the raid members and continued attempting to identify the cause of their failure.

As the raid time dragged on, the players’ focus began to waver, but Aegis kept pushing.

Although they repeatedly wiped without even reaching the Crow summoning phase, they eventually managed to analyze all of Crow’s patterns.

Melee DPS were needed.

Aegis realized he needed to adjust the raid composition.

He had to replace many ranged DPS with melee attackers.

There were plenty of rogues. More than enough, in fact.

Aegis swapped out the mages and Barbarians for ten rogues and filled the raid with them.

Thus, the raid resumed.

However, perhaps because of the changes in the lineup, the rogues kept dying as soon as the fight began.

In the end, Aegis’s public raid fell apart that day.

Before going to bed, Aegis posted on the gallery about the raid, hoping someone else would clear it.

[Beware of Crow summoned by Solar during this raid.] [26]

(Attached: An image of Crow’s appearance)

“This bastard ruined my public raid earlier.

To clear the raid, you’ll need a lot of melee DPS.

Crow has a pattern that reacts to ranged attacks. If he gets hit by a ranged attack, he immediately charges at the attacker and stabs them to death.

Each kill makes him stronger, and if you die to him, you can’t be resurrected.

This is important—priests, don’t waste time casting resurrections for 10 seconds.

Even if Crow is low on health, it’s the same story. All raid members must manage their HP because if anyone drops below 20%, he goes berserk and stabs them to death.

Also, Barbarians and Berserkers with Orc Warrior Rings will just die instantly when Crow appears, so take them off.”

[Comments]

• “Does this mean rogues can join raids now?”
• “Yes, rogues are the ones who need to deal with this guy.”
• “I’m a rogue, please let me join!”
• “Idiots. If you take rogues, they’ll just get Crow even stronger. Manage your HP properly.”
• “LOL, look at the rogues crawling out nowㅋㅋㅋ”
• “Call us Rogue Lords, thank you.”
• “There are tons of rogues out there, not just you.”
• “Do we even need to kill Crow? Can’t the tanks just kite him around?”
• “If you don’t kill this guy, he runs off to shield and heal the boss, lol.”
• [Crazy girlㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
• “How did the middle schooler clear this? She’s a Berserker.”
• “Probably did it without the ring.”
• “But without the ring, wouldn’t her damage be trash?”
• “I saw earlier that she was using a shield during the raid. She probably tanked Crow herself.”
• “Definitely feels like the raids are getting easier now that higher-tier classes are out. Getting to the boss on a public raid in the first week is impressive.”
• “Yeah, it’s definitely more convenient. The increased number of skills probably made a big difference.”
• “So Berserkers and Barbarians are nerfed?”
• “Not really. It’s just because of Crow.”
• “Honestly, just chip away at the boss’s HP and let someone die before Crow shows up. Should work.”
• “Ah, so that’s how it is, lol.”

“Hayeon!”

“Huh?!”

School had just ended.

I was about to rush home when a voice called out from behind me.

I turned my head.

There stood Sohee, smiling brightly.

“Do you have a moment today?”

“Nope!”

I didn’t have any free time to spare.

Even now, as we were talking, the time I could be playing the game was slipping away.

The Shutdown Law had robbed me of any leisure.

“Oh… you don’t?”

“Yup! See you later!”

I waved at Sohee and hurried out of the classroom.

I had to get home as soon as possible and clear the hidden quest.