Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented-Chapter 212

Chris’s vacation came to an end.

“Mm.”

I rubbed my sleepy ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) eyes as I accompanied her to the front door.

“Make sure you eat properly even when I’m not here. Take your meds on time. You know where the snacks are in the pantry, right? How are your legs feeling compared to a few days ago?”

“...I’m not a child, you know. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve had to leave me to go to work.”

“Sniff, but after spending so much time together, even being apart for a little while feels unbearable...”

“You’ll be late. Just go already.”

I gave Chris a firm push on her back as she hesitated to leave. Her teary-eyed face disappeared beyond the front door.

I lingered near the door for a while after she left.

I didn’t want Chris to leave either. If I asked her to stay, she’d undoubtedly ditch work and spend the whole day fussing over me. But I couldn’t hold her back—it would mean stalling progress in the field of virtual reality science.

Chris’s vacation ending also signaled the end of mine.

It was time for me to get back to work as well.

Daily quests, elite dungeon runs, mana crystal farming—all the means of earning foreign currency had been on hold due to the raid and the vacation.

This recent trip...

The feel of seawater against my skin.

The beautiful scenery of the western coastline.

The resort meals and the cozy suite room.

I covered my face with my hands, feeling a flush of warmth.

“It was so much fun.”

Enjoying the breathtaking views of Astria was one thing, but taking occasional trips on Earth with Chris was something else entirely.

Still, I couldn’t rely on her help forever. I was an adult. I wanted to save up my own money and take her on a trip myself.

And I needed to make enough to afford a good home. Living in a penthouse like this, especially one next to Chris’s, wasn’t something achievable with just pocket change.

“Ugh...”

Could I really save that much? Even with no expenses for food or housing and earning steadily from Astria Online, buying an apartment like this seemed like a pipe dream.

Sure, launching raids and elite dungeon buses during the early days had brought in huge earnings. But outside those peak periods, I was just another hunter scraping by. The real big earners were the craftsmen making items or the merchants trading goods.

Come to think of it, didn’t Go Seung-woo, the ranger from the Hongbaek Guild, say he dabbled in trading? Maybe I should ask him for tips on running a business.

“Maybe I should try crafting or trading myself.”

Muttering quietly, I made my way to the capsule.

Time to get back to work. Time to return to my main occupation.

*

At the edge of the cliff near the Azure Death King’s Sanctuary, the atmosphere was heavy.

After the first clear achieved by me and Chris’s raid party, Noname Attack Team, the number of monsters emerging from this abyss drastically decreased. Most of the Alfarion Empire’s knights had withdrawn as well. This location now served as a leveling spot for users grinding mobs and a staging area for raid preparations.

The Azure Death King had fallen.

The threat to the continent was gone.

What remained in this abyss were only the echoes of the Azure Death King, left to foster the growth of later adventurers. The dungeon had become a farming zone. Of course, the echo’s difficulty remained the same, which was why no secondary clears had been achieved yet.

Having returned from my vacation, I was greeted by familiar faces.

They looked utterly dejected.

“Uggghhh...”

“Arrrghhhh...”

I tilted my head in confusion, nibbling on my finger as I glanced between the two men slumped on the ground, groaning in despair.

These two were the tanks for the top two raid teams currently attempting to clear the Azure Death King’s Sanctuary.

Why were they, of all people, collapsed here, sighing so miserably?

I poked at them lightly.

“Hey, uncles?”

“Ah, Rain?”

“C-Cough. It’s Rain. Looks like you enjoyed your vacation.”

“Chris already left for work, but you’re not going, Mr. Death?”

“It’s my day off.”

The first tank was Death of Deaths, a martial artist from the Hongbaek Attack Team. The other was Park Jeong-gwon, a swordsman from the Skada Attack Team. Both blinked in slight surprise at seeing me, then returned to their sighs.

“Uggghhh...”

“Arrrghhhh...”

Why were these usually confident individuals in such a state?

“Hey! Snap out of it!”

I grabbed them both by the shoulders and shook them in frustration.

“What happened? Why are you like this?”

What could have transpired while I was away on vacation?

While Death of Deaths flopped around limply as I shook him, Park Jeong-gwon steadied himself, shook his head, and looked at me seriously.

“Rain, how did you handle the Duelist Phase?”

“The Duelist Phase?”

“We can’t get past it. It’s impossible.”

“...You’re both sulking here because of that?”

“It’s not a trivial problem. It’s crushing my confidence.”

Death of Deaths finally spoke.

“The entire raid team works together to execute every mechanic perfectly, leading to the berserk phase. But whether the raid succeeds or fails ultimately rests on the tank.”

“Ah.”

I began to understand their plight.

Every dungeon hinges on the tank’s performance, but this particular raid, especially the third boss—the Azure Death King—relies entirely on the tank.

The third boss fight is brutal.

Surviving even the basic and special patterns is challenging. A missed just guard or counter can lead to knockbacks, making the fight even harder. And then there’s the Punishment debuff that comes with long-range attacks and sword slashes if distance is created. This debuff increases damage taken and reduces healing received.

While damage dealers could make small mistakes and survive, the tank had zero margin for error.

During the Duelist Phase, all damage dealers are incapacitated, just as Chris had been during our clear.

Only the tank remains.

If the tank fails to overcome the Duelist Phase, it’s a guaranteed wipe. All the effort the team put into reaching that point would be wasted.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the immense pressure on Death of Deaths and Park Jeong-gwon. How many attempts would it take to even reach the final phase? And how many times would they need to face the Duelist Phase before mastering it?

I nodded sympathetically.

“This raid really is a tank’s graveyard.”

“Once you deplete his HP, the real fight begins when his spirit emerges from the armor. There’s no set attack pattern. It’s reminiscent of fighting Master Eleonora, but worse.”

“If the tank dies during the phase, it’s devastating. It’s happened so many times already. Everyone else works so hard to chip away at his HP, only for the tank to fail at the end and force us to start over.”

“Hmm...”

This raid dungeon was practically designed to be uncleared within a month by average players.

The spirit that emerges during the berserk phase doesn’t use Death Knight swordsmanship. It uses the techniques of Master Melissa.

How many attempts would an average player need to adapt to the combat style of the strongest swordswoman in history?

Even after numerous clears, tanks capable of facing the Azure Death King’s Spirit head-on would remain rare.

Even for top-tier tanks like Death of Deaths and Park Jeong-gwon, matching blades with Melissa’s swordsmanship was a daunting task.

Still, there was a way.

I nodded resolutely.

“Looks like I’ll have to help you this time.”

Guiding them wasn’t just altruism—it was an investment.

The sooner they cleared, the sooner I could resume my farming.

While Chris and I could clear the dungeon as a duo, it was exhausting and inefficient. Chris had already planned to wait until the Hongbaek and Skada teams completed their clears.

Her plan was to assemble a farming raid centered around me, with her alt characters and other support members. They just needed to handle minor mechanics; Chris and I could handle the damage.

I sat the two tanks down and began my lecture.

“The key is simple: you only need to land one hit.”

“We know. During the berserk phase, the boss’s HP is just 1.”

“But we can’t even land that one hit!”

The two tanks slumped again, drawing the attention of nearby players. Their size contrasted with my small frame, making the scene even more unusual.

“Don’t try to learn his swordsmanship. Watching my footage won’t help either. The attack patterns are effectively random. Your priority should be avoiding the Punishment debuff and focusing entirely on aggression during the Duelist Phase.”

The attack patterns were ever-changing.

“Don’t hesitate to use invincibility skills. Attack relentlessly while those skills are active. If your cooldowns run out, go all-in with a mutual destruction mindset. Take hits, but avoid fatal strikes. Keep pressing until you land a single blow.”

“Easier said than done...”

Park Jeong-gwon looked at me hesitantly. I stood up with a stern expression, only to pause as I noticed the growing crowd around us.

“Huh.”

A large number of players had gathered, surrounding us.

Most of them were likely stuck at the first or second boss, but they’d eventually reach the third. Listening in now wouldn’t hurt.

Smiling at the future challengers, I drew my sword.

“You mentioned it’s like fighting Eleonora? That’s correct. Treat this as a duel against an overwhelmingly strong player, not a PVE encounter. You need to endure the strikes and adapt through practice.”

Ding!

[Drizzle Rain has challenged Death of Deaths to a PVP duel.]

[Drizzle Rain has challenged Park Jeong-gwon to a PVP duel.]

“Now it’s time for practical training.”

I grinned at the two bewildered tanks, my sword gleaming in the dim light.