I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 185

The clear sky turned overcast with dark clouds. The clouds completely obscured the warm sunlight, and the river water quickly overflowed, threatening to engulf the rainbow bridge, which had now turned black.

Seo Ji-Soo quickly moved to pull her sister into her arms and went back down the bridge. “Unnie! Snap out of it! What are you doing?”

“Rock... paper... scissors.” Seo Ji-Ah was half out of her senses.

Gollum felt an instinctive fear.

‘That ghost is undergoing demonization.’

He wanted to stop the process, but it was too late.

‘It’s at least a mid-tier Demon.’

It could even possess power comparable to that of a high-tier Demon. Gollum had already felt that something was hidden in this Dungeon.

‘But I had suspected there would be another Dungeon within the Dungeon...’

However, it was an Irregular boss monster instead.

‘What kind of crazy bastard put such a powerful boss monster here?’

Although such a monster spawning naturally wasn’t impossible, Gollum’s intuition told him otherwise. This Demon had forcibly been inserted in this Dungeon by the GMs of this area, along with all sorts of difficult conditions.

‘This is not something one or two GMs could do.’

It seemed all of the GMs from the city had worked on this.

‘That monster is at least Level 180, in the worst case, around 220.’

They had almost no way to confront it with their current strength. A direct fight would naturally lead to annihilation, but Gollum had confidence in his abilities.

‘Even though I came here as an alternative character... I can’t let my party members die like this.’

He had to show Kim Chul-Soo the power of a Great Navigator. A party led by a Great Navigator would survive even in the most dangerous places.

A Great Navigator was a Navigator who created miracles.

“Activate Agony for the Best Choice.”

[You have activated the Skill ?Agony for the Best Choice?.]

[The appearance of the boss monster is delayed for 7 minutes.]

The stream that had now become like a river due to the rapids became still. It was as if time in the Dungeon had frozen. The world was dyed in shades of ash, and only the Players retained their colors.

Gollum stood in front of Jin-Hyeok with a serious expression. “Listen, I have paused time with my Skill. Now, we have about six minutes and thirty seconds left.”

“...”

“We either fight or run. There is an exit over there, so running away is possible.”

“Did you use such a grand skill just to tell me something so obvious?”

“That monster is at minimum Level 180. It could even be a high-tier Demon over Level 200. There is no chance in a direct confrontation.”

“What about a method other than a direct confrontation?” Jin-Hyeok replied.

“Have you ever killed a Demon before?”

Jin-Hyeok nodded. Fortunately, he had encountered and killed a Demon in the Tutorial Field.

“Was it a Named Demon?”

“It sure was.” Jin-Hyeok opened his Achievement window to check.

[Exorcism]

[You have defeated the Demon Iblis Kecil.]

[Your resistance to Demonic power has increased by 55%.]

“You defeated a Named Demon?” Gollum asked.

“I was lucky back then.”

Jin-Hyeok had not expected the Tutorial Field to have a Named Demon either. At that time, he had not placed much importance on the Achievement he had gained from defeating the demon, Exorcism. The Achievement was not that important in itself; rather, it was significant as the start of the Hidden Job Great Hero.

“Then that’s good news. We might actually be able to defeat this Demon. The Exorcism Achievement has a Hidden Trait. It gives you much greater power when facing a Demon far superior to yourself. The System understates it as an increase in Demonic power resistance,” Gollum said.

“It does mention an increase in resistance to Demonic power...”

“If you’ve acquired the Achievement at your Level, that means...” Gollum had numerous data and experiences on the subject. “...around twenty percent?”

“It says fifty-five percent actually.”

“...What?” Gollum’s understanding of the subject was shattered. At that Level, and only having exorcized one Named Demon, no Player could acquire the Exorcism Achievement with fifty-five percent Demonic power resistance.

“Is that good?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Well, it’s quite decent.” Gollum barely hid his astonishment and continued, “The Achievement boosts your defensive stats. Since your command on your Broadcaster’s Barrier is quite good, you can focus entirely on defense.”

“There’s one thing you don’t know. I have the strongest defensive Mystery.” Even though he said that, Jin-Hyeok did not actually think it was the strongest. This was just one of the corny lines he had prepared for his later videos.

“Defensive Mystery?”

“Yeah, it’s called Phantom Swordswoman.”

Gollum tilted his head in confusion. He had experienced the Phantom Swordswoman Mystery a few times before, but the Mystery was closer to a physical manifestation of a phantom-class offensive Mystery rather than a defensive one.

Although Gollum did not understand that, with little time left, he continued, “Fortunately, Demons have clear weaknesses. They are strong, but if you exploit their weaknesses well, you can defeat them.”

“Are you talking about their horns?”

“Yes, the horns. With this demon having two of them, we can definitely defeat it,” Gollum replied.

Gollum performed numerous analyses as a Navigator. “Listen. First, the Demon is definitely a boss monster forced in by the GMs. Probably prepared since the Open Beta through numerous processes. In such cases, one of two things is true. Either something as precious as a Server-Grade Item is hidden here, or it is connected to a city-level Scenario. Anyway, that’s for later. The important thing is that the Demon is very troublesome. It must be hit with twenty-one critical hits to be killed.”

“...”

“But you need to keep the Demon’s aggro on you between the critical hits. The aggro won’t switch as long as you hit it with above two-thirds of the critical hit damage.” Gollum continued, observing the frozen Demon, “There is a snake symbol on its left chest, but I wouldn’t advise touching it. It’s like a Dragon’s sensitive point. Best to avoid that area.”

“...”

There were only two minutes left.

“The Demon is currently sitting in the center of the bridge. The rapids are flowing at two meters per second. The wind is a southeast breeze. The sun’s brightness is about 6000K, though it is obscured by the clouds now. The temperature is twenty-eight degrees Celsius. With this area, the simple Dungeon constant value is... So... If you calculate these conditions with the First Dungeon Equation...” Gollum kept talking.

Jin-Hyeok frowned.

‘Why is he doing such inefficient calculations?’ For Jin-Hyeok, things like Dungeon constants and Dungeon Equations were not at all important. What mattered was how to deal with the Demon.

“Don’t Navigators usually not do this?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“...”

“Usually, they just give me the conclusion.”

Gollum’s face reddened a bit, but he shamelessly continued, “We need to attack the Demon at least three times per second. Three times with bladed weapons, twice with blunt weapons, and again four times with bladed weapons. I’ll tell you the rest later.”

In the meantime, Ji-Ah had come to her senses. She and her sister intently listened to Gollum’s words.

“I’ll decide your positions. Remember, it’s a high-tier Demon. A single mistake can lead to the worst outcome.”

[The boss monster ?Dermiane Metodum? has spawned.]

“Muahahaha!”

Suddenly, a storm raged, and purple lightning struck from the sky. Gollum raised his right arm, a sign for Ji-Ah to attack.

‘Huh?’ Gollum was surprised.

Ji-Ah had not moved.

He raised his left arm, a sign for Ji-Soo to attack.

“What are you guys doing?”

Both Ji-Ah and Ji-Soo ignored Gollum, and Jin-Hyeok left the position Gollum had assigned him.

“You idiots! Did you even listen to anything I’ve told you?” the Navigator shouted.

***

The GMs of the Dutch Region, specifically Giethoorn, visited Seodaemun-gu in the Seoul Region in a hurry to find Kihael. Kihael was so thrilled to see them.

‘Serves you right, you bastards.’

Kihael hated all his colleagues. Starting with Serchan, his superior and a workaholic, he had come to dislike all his colleagues around him. For him, this was almost a natural progression.

“Why? You made a fuss about me not being able to manage the Server, and now you’ve come here?” Kihael said.

“I-I have never said that...”

“But if I search my name on the company bulletin board, it’s nothing but insults.”

The bulletin board was filled with comments saying that the birth of a monster like Chul-Soo was the fault of the Seodaemun-gu GMs, who had failed at balancing the Play. Someone had to take the blame, and it had long been the GMs of Seodaemun-gu.

“Why are you guys in a hurry? Are there some Server-Grade Items hidden there?”

“I cannot disclose that as it is confidential departmental information. Kihael, we must stop Chul-Soo. Wouldn’t the failure in balance adjustment be enough just for the Korean Region?”

‘Why the hell are they keep saying that we’ve failed at balancing the Play? It’s not my fault that Chul-Soo is a monster!’

Kihael almost shouted that, but he felt pleased.

‘Yeah, I’m just going to let them sweat it out.’

“Once Chul-Soo goes on a rampage, no one can stop him. You said there is a high-tier Demon there, right? Even Chul-Soo can’t beat a high-tier Demon. Why worry when he will just end up buried there?” Kihael said with a feigned look of regret.

The faces of the Giethoorn GMs brightened.

‘I see. So that’s what they wanted to hear.’

In other words, they needed Kihael’s confirmation on whether Chul-Soo had any more hidden cards up his sleeves.

“Even so, Chul-Soo always exceeds my expectations and imagination. As a GM, I think it is best to use the maximum authority to ensure the strongest Demon comes out. Every time I think it’s enough, Chul-Soo always overcomes it.”

Of course, this would require a significant budget, but that was not Kihael’s concern.

After parting with the Giethoorn GMs, Kihael immediately went to Wang Yu-Mi. “Can you send a secret message to Chul-Soo?”

“Of course, I can. He is not livestreaming right now, so there is a limit on how many words per message and how many times I can send it.”

“Send a message saying that the difficulty of the Dungeon has been raised to the highest.”

“They increased the difficulty? Why?”

“Since they increased the difficulty, they have to put something in return.” Kihael smiled. The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward. The more the GMs forcibly intervened, the greater the reward would be.

“Also, tell him there is a strange code on the exit Gate. It’s something that was not noticed before. I don’t know what the code is, but it will be helpful either way.

***

Jin-Hyeok checked Yu-Mi’s messages while talking with Gollum. Due to the character limit, the content was heavily simplified.

[1. Giethoorn GMs → Difficulty Adjustment → Big Rewards!?]

[2. Exit Gate Strange Code → Not Normal!]

Jin-Hyeok made up his mind. Gollum had been rambling on, but Jin-Hyeok had not really listened to him. Jin-Hyeok gestured to Ji-Ah and Ji-Soo to stay put.

‘How absorbed in his own talk can he be not to notice me signaling the Seo sisters?’

This was a disqualification for a Navigator. Jin-Hyeok could not understand why Gollum was so distracted, talking so pretentiously and for so long.

“What are you doing?”

Gollum was in a hurry. Against all odds, a high-tier Demon of over Level 200 had appeared. Moreover, Jin-Hyeok, who should have been focused on defending against the Demon, had left his position.

“You idiots! Did you even listen to anything I’ve told you?” Gollum shouted.

Everything seemed to be falling apart. There was no chance of winning now.

‘I can’t die here,’ Gollum thought.

He planned to escape alone. Even an outstanding Navigator could not save party members who would not listen.

Jin-Hyeok smiled. “What’s important about Dungeon constants and equations? Killing it is what matters.”

Meanwhile, the Demon Dermiane Metodum smirked as it walked over the water. “Welcome. You all look quite tasty. Allow me to offer a simple greeting.”

Flash!

A purple lightning bolt struck down from the sky. Jin-Hyeok used his Broadcaster’s Barrier to block the lightning. Thanks to his resistance to Demonic power, he managed to fend it off. Jin-Hyeok smirked too.

‘Twenty-one critical hits? That’s not important.’

“Why do you think twenty-one attacks are necessary? It’s because those are weak attacks,” he said.

“...What?”

“One strong attack can finish it.”

“What the hell are you talking about? How can that be true?” asked Gollum.

Jin-Hyeok took out an item from his inventory.

‘I’ve won again, Gollum!’