Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented-Chapter 205

“Phew... I really thought I was going to die this time.”

Still clinging to my arm as we escaped, Chris heaved a sigh of relief, running her fingers through her hair as she mumbled.

“If this keeps happening, maybe it’s just better to die and respawn.”

“Weren’t you the one telling me not to die?”

“Oh. Right, right, of course! Haha.”

Catching my disgruntled expression, Chris gulped audibly and let out a sheepish laugh.

To be fair, that’s how most players would think.

“But seriously, what was that?”

“What else? A special phase.”

“So, we barely manage to stop the barrier with precise timing, and now it forces us to rack up hits?”

Chris shook her head in disbelief. I agreed entirely.

It was brutal. Only a few seconds passed between the orbs’ creation and their rampage.

“We’ll have to deal with those orbs somehow. Where were they positioned?”

“Hmm, if the entrance staircase is at 12 o’clock, mine was at 5 or 4 o’clock, maybe?”

“The one behind me was around 9 o’clock. They weren’t directly opposite each other.”

“No fixed positions? Random spawn?”

“Once the special phase begins, we’ll have to identify them as quickly as possible. If they have durability, they might be destroyable.”

More attempts would be necessary.

We had no choice but to experiment against those orbs.

BOOM!

Letting a deadly blade slash aimed at my waist flow past me, I quickly checked the Azure Death King’s HP.

95%.

It was time for the special phase.

Chris had adapted somewhat. She dodged a sweeping blade with ease and called out to me confidently.

“This time, for sure!”

“Let’s do it.”

We had gone through countless attempts just to figure out the nature of those orbs. Even shaving off 5% of the Death King’s HP to trigger the phase had been a monumental task. But through those long trials, Chris and I had grown familiar with its attacks.

Rumble!

As the dark-blue aura around the black armor began to swirl, the Azure Death King initiated its sword dance. Simultaneously, a radiant blue light enveloped both Chris and me.

Fwoosh!

[Divine Descent]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes]

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[Drastically increases all party members’ stats, attack power, critical rate, and critical damage for 30 seconds.]

It was the Onmyoji class’s signature party-wide buff skill.

We had used it once at the start of the fight and saved it ever since—for this very moment.

As the Death King began swinging its massive blade, I scanned the battlefield, searching for the orbs.

The spawn locations were random.

Where would they appear this time?

Vroooom!

My eyes quickly caught sight of a glowing dark-blue orb materializing at the 11 o’clock position on the battlefield’s edge.

Vroooom!

The second orb appeared at 10 o’clock.

It was close to me but far from Chris. It would have been better if it had spawned farther from me instead.

“Damn it.”

Chris clicked her tongue and buffed her movement speed.

We had no choice but to act.

I had to trust Chris.

Tap, tap, tap!

I shifted my sword to my waist, lowered my stance, and charged toward the orbs.

This was why we had saved Divine Descent for now.

Shing!

I activated Quick Slash. My body, now a blur of light, cut cleanly through both orbs.

Fwoosh!

Spinning on my heel, I unleashed a flurry of starlight-infused slashes. Crash! Crash! Crash! The dark-blue energy surrounding the orbs flickered, as though on the verge of dissipating.

Thud.

Chris arrived moments later.

“Sorry, I’m late!”

“Perfect timing. With both orbs so close together, now’s our chance.”

Using skills with wide-area effects, we began to break the orbs’ shields.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

Chris’s Awakened Sealing Talismans struck the orbs relentlessly.

Five seconds passed.

Orbs would rampage approximately eight seconds after spawning. Under normal circumstances, every ranged dealer in a raid would have to focus on this mechanic. But with just the two of us, we had to rely on Divine Descent to pull it off.

Six seconds.

Seven seconds.

Flash!

As we barely dealt enough damage, the orbs shone brightly.

And then—

Thud, thud, thud.

The once-dark orbs began to glow a vivid blue, pulsating with life.

This was Melissa’s light.

It was as if she herself had prepared this energy, determined to shed the armor that bound her.

The newly radiant blue orbs now followed the player who delivered the final blow to their shields. If one got too close, it would explode.

But—

Crackle.

While they existed, a thin blue thread connected the two orbs.

This was the key.

“Unni, head downward.”

“Got it!”

Tap, tap!

Chris led her chasing orb down toward the lower part of the battlefield.

I did the same, guiding my orb to the opposite side.

Crackle!

A glowing blue thread flickered between the orbs as they trailed us.

And that thread—

Zap!

Made contact with the Death King’s black armor, unleashing a torrent of sparks.

94%, 93%, 92%.

The HP we had painstakingly whittled down was now plummeting at an astonishing speed.

“This is it.”

So this was the solution.

For the first time, we had stripped the orbs’ shields and used their connecting thread against the Death King.

The strategy was clear now:

First, reduce the Death King’s HP to 95%. This triggers the special phase. Two orbs spawn at random locations. Break their shields to stop their rampage. The players who deliver the final blows to the orbs become their targets.

The key is to guide the thread between the orbs directly into the Death King.

Zap!

Like this.

“We’re shredding the Death King...!”

From the opposite side of the battlefield, Chris shouted in excitement.

“Woohoo! Special phase cleared, and bonus damage too!”

“Unni! Focus and keep your orb in check!”

“Ah, got it! Sorry!”

Chris nearly let her orb get too close and scrambled to maintain her distance.

I sighed in relief, watching her regain her composure.

The execution was much harder than it looked.

The thread required precise positioning. Both players needed to maintain proper distances from their respective orbs and coordinate perfectly to align the thread with the Death King. Any mistake—like letting an orb explode—would sever the thread. Without it, we’d have no choice but to brute-force through the Death King’s 2 billion HP.

If that happened, it would undoubtedly trigger /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ its enrage mode.

This thread was our lifeline.

Fwoosh!

Even as I avoided the Death King’s relentless attacks, the orbs’ pursuit continued. The glowing blue line linking them never wavered.

And yet—

BOOM!

I froze as an overwhelming storm of sword energy erupted from the Death King.

This wasn’t the typical area-wide attack that had filled the battlefield earlier.

Whoosh!

The dark-blue blades carved bizarre, twisting paths, each one clearly aimed at me.

This was the punishment for allowing too much distance between a stationary boss and its tank—a mechanic irrelevant in a standard 12-person raid, but unavoidable in our duo run.

“I expected this.”

BOOM!

Sweat dripped down my face as I dodged the chaotic storm of sword energy.

The blades didn’t vanish; they swirled around me, relentlessly closing in.

And the Death King—still stationary—continued to unleash them, as if determined to see me overwhelmed.

Through the chaos, I recalled a similar sensation from long ago.

The Northern Legion Commander, Crow, had used a punishment pattern called “Judgment,” which ignored invincibility and inflicted a brutal bleed debuff.

If the Death King’s attack worked the same way, ignoring the system’s protection, it would end me in an instant.

I could only hope for the best.

BOOM!

The storm closed in, swallowing me whole.