The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 18

Chapter 18.

“Kaiser’s Party is extremely famous. They’re called the strongest party that has conquered all the impregnable bosses and dungeons.”

This was what a journalist said during an interview before Demroc went into decline.

What was their secret, what kind of attempts did they usually make, what did they do in their daily lives.

From trivial updates to major questions, Dohyun had answered everything calmly.

“We just play normally. We chat around the campfire, and when we find a new dungeon, we try it out.”

“Secret? Just… everyone doing their role well?”

When the journalist responded that those roles were things ordinary people couldn’t do, Dohyun had to tilt his head in confusion, but perhaps due to Kaiser’s solid image, people seemed to accept it without much issue.

There were even fans who liked hearing about trivial updates, saying it made him seem more human.

As the interview was coming to an end.

“Ah, I can’t not ask this question.”

The journalist who made eye contact opened his mouth as if genuinely curious.

“Usually, the basic party composition consists of one tanker, two dealers, and one supporter like a healer.”

“Yes.”

Dohyun nodded in response.

It was the most basic and textbook composition.

Of course, it varied slightly depending on the party’s personality.

Removing the supporter and adding more dealers, composing only of melee or ranged dealers, or adding two supporters to strengthen the tanker…

There were all kinds of parties, but there was one unchanging, immutable law.

“But what’s really peculiar is that Kaiser’s Party has no tanker. I understand it’s composed entirely of dealers… can this even work for raids?”

That was the existence of a tanker.

While there might be tanker solo teams, parties without tankers didn’t exist.

No, they couldn’t exist.

“Not having duels and doing raids doesn’t make sense… some fans are even saying it’s a death spear meta. A meta of killing before dying.”

Because without duels, raids themselves couldn’t be established.

Aggro management, boss marking, pattern interruption.

The tanker played the most crucial role in raids.

No matter how well dealers dealt damage and dodged, without this, it was all for nothing.

This was a law and common sense that couldn’t be overcome no matter how skilled one was.

“So there are complaints everywhere that people imitating Kaiser’s Party are all trolling.”

As the journalist said with a low chuckle, Kaiser’s Party was both an object of admiration and the father of trolls.

A troll factory that manufactured countless trollers.

Yet they were also the strongest party that brilliantly defeated bosses.

How was this possible.

“Tankers… they’re important.”

“Yes.”

The reason was finally about to be revealed.

At this historic moment, even the veteran journalist nervously rubbed his hands.

What method could it be.

Since it was Kaiser who had created countless metas, had he created another groundbreaking something?

The journalist and countless gamers focused on the interview, waiting for Dohyun’s answer.

After what felt like an eternity of seconds, when Dohyun opened his mouth.

“So I do it.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Tanking.”

“…?”

The journalist was dumbfounded.

Kaiser was someone who had armed all his skill trees and items for dealing damage.

A dealer who had virtually no rivals in PvP and dealt damage most precisely in raids.

Why would someone called the pinnacle of dealers be talking about tanking.

But Dohyun wasn’t lying.

“If tanking means dueling with bosses… I’m doing it.”

If tanking meant interrupting patterns, grabbing aggro, and withstanding boss attacks, then it was Dohyun’s job to perform all of that.

Interrupting all patterns with concise attacks, naturally drawing aggro, and dodging or deflecting all boss attacks.

Therefore, Kaiser’s role was that of a tanker.

“…”

Faced with this absurd claim, the journalist couldn’t say a word, like he’d been struck dumb.

Countless rebuttals rose to his throat, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice them.

If performing all of that wasn’t tanking, then what would you call it.

He was just a tanker who dealt damage well.

…A little too well.

* * *

Kueoeo!

‘…Does this make sense?’

The bewilderment that journalist must have felt was now being experienced by Shield Master.

And in actual combat, no less.

Puk!

Keueo!

“Damn… he interrupted the pattern again.”

“Wow. How does he interrupt without bash?”

“Interrupting the mixer was legendary. I still get chills thinking about it.”

The principle of interrupting boss patterns was simple.

All bosses took specific motions before their patterns activated, and if you interrupted those motions, the patterns would be interrupted.

The motion was interrupted so it didn’t activate, but it was processed as if it had activated.

This was why tankers put at least two or three hard CC skills in their skill sets.

No position could fulfill that role as well as tankers, who stood at the front lines and were tougher than anyone.

That was common sense and basic knowledge.

‘…That’s supposed to be a dealer?’

But now that common sense was being shattered.

Exquisitely interrupting every pattern while one-sidedly beating down the boss, then when aggro seemed to shift, dodging around and dealing damage again.

Then when another pattern appeared, interrupting it again in repetition.

‘I never knew patterns could be interrupted like that…’

It was hard to believe even seeing it.

Why else would tankers specifically load up on hard CC skills.

To forcibly interrupt patterns, you had to make the boss unable to perform that pattern at the exact timing, which was impossible without using CC skills.

But interrupting patterns with such concise thrusts?

Since it was a greatsword pattern, preventing the use of the greatsword made sense in principle… but seeing it implemented in actual combat was nothing short of absurd.

‘…Is a tanker even necessary?’

Wasn’t the tanker traditionally the most important position in Godose.

With a dealer like that who could also tank and deal damage better than most dealers, what was the point of tankers?

For the first time, he felt doubt about the tanker position.

‘No. The tanker isn’t at fault.’

If anyone was at fault, it was Kaiser for pulling off such impossible feats.

How had he held back until now? After interrupting the mixer, he was dueling like a fish in water.

At first, he was dazed from seeing the mixer interruption, so Kaiser temporarily took over, but now somehow he had become the sub-tanker.

Should this be called a reversal of roles…

Kwadeuk- Puk!

“Amazing.”

“Wow… look at him targeting only vital spots. Should I give you the nickname Miganddeok, hyung? You’re completely piercing through foreheads.”

Watching him handle one-on-one combat better than himself felt quite strange.

-HP : [6,231 / 20,000]

Already 30% of its health had been whittled down.

After the role reversal, their clear speed had actually increased.

It was much more effective for him to act as a sub-tank rather than taking the main role, so calling it a role reversal seemed inappropriate.

‘The average clear time was 1 hour and 10 minutes, right?’

Had about 25 minutes passed now?

It seemed unbelievable that they were showing this kind of speed in less than 30 minutes.

It was amazing, but he needed to stop being impressed now.

‘Phase 2 is coming soon.’

The Mutant Goblin Warrior enters phase 2 when its health drops below 20%.

And phase 2 was where things got real.

Unlike now when it only used the Physical Enhancement trait, it would start using the remaining two traits.

Patterns so vicious they’d make the blender seem cute.

This was exactly why newbies trembled at the Mutant Goblin Warrior and why it earned the notorious title of newbie killer.

-HP : [4,103 / 20,000]

‘It’s almost time.’

Dohyun was well aware of this fact too.

He had looked up strategy guides before starting the game.

And the next moment.

[The Mutant Goblin Warrior’s health has dropped below 20%.]

[The Mutant Goblin Warrior manifests its traits.]

[Trait ‘Warrior’ manifests.]

[All of the Mutant Goblin Warrior’s stats increase and it enters ‘Berserk’ state.]

[Trait ‘Mutant’ manifests.]

[If physical damage is dealt four or more times consecutively, the entire party receives a debuff. If magical damage is dealt three or more times consecutively, all damage is reflected back.]

“Here it comes.”

“Phase 2 already… I don’t think it’s even been 25 minutes. This clear speed is insane.”

Groans erupted from various places as the message for phase 2 appeared.

The Mutant trait.

Unlike other consistent traits, this trait granted different abilities to each boss.

Among them, the trait given to the Mutant Goblin Warrior was a rule.

Commonly called “007 bread.”

An ability that forced players to mix different attack types every third hit.

While this sounded easy, it was actually quite difficult to keep track of during an actual boss fight.

Moreover, if two party members accidentally attacked simultaneously on the third hit, hell would break loose.

It was nearly impossible for newbies without job skills to clear a boss in ‘Berserk’ state while struggling with various debuffs.

‘And if you fire three consecutive magical attacks, it’s instant party wipe.’

To make things more confusing, magical attacks started counting from three hits.

Even well-coordinated parties would make mistakes at least once with this pattern, and if it was their first attempt, it was guaranteed death.

A vicious pattern that truly showed why this was a party dungeon.

“Now the real game begins.”

“Everyone, let’s take turns attacking as we discussed. It doesn’t matter if it takes longer, just stay as calm as possible.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“Let me repeat the order. Number 1 is me, number 2 is Kaiser, number 3 is Migan, and number 4 is Yubin.”

Everyone nodded at Shield Master’s words.

Dohyun did the same.

As he said, phase 2 wasn’t about speed.

Even if it took longer, he planned to take his time and carefully clear the boss.

Until a message appeared before Dohyun.

[Due to the ‘Berserk’ effect of the Warrior trait, the boss’s physical abilities increase and users’ attack and movement speed decrease by 4%.]

[Trait ‘Hero’ blocks mental corruption.]

[Ignores Berserk effect.]

[Immune to Mutant effects.]

“…Hm?”

Dohyun’s gaze naturally turned toward the Mutant Goblin Warrior.

‘Come to think of it, the Hero trait provided status ailment immunity, right?’

He had too many other traits, and since there hadn’t been situations where the Hero trait would activate, he had momentarily forgotten.

Even so, he never expected it would nullify the boss’s debuffs too.

‘This changes everything.’

Four consecutive attacks trigger party-wide debuff?

That ability no longer existed.

Well, more precisely, it only applied to Dohyun.

“It’s in Berserk state, so stay as calm as possible. Got it? Don’t panic and accidentally attack, just focus on dodging.”

“Of course.”

“Kaiser, you don’t have any objections either, right?”

It seemed they hadn’t received the same message as Dohyun.

That meant he was the only one who could remain unaffected.

Looking at his teammates whose attention naturally focused on him, Dohyun gave a brief answer.

“Please wait a moment.”

“…Excuse me?”

“This will be fastest.”

“What do you… huh?”

“Kaiser?!”

The party members, confused by his sudden words, shouted in panic.

Dohyun had suddenly charged straight at the boss.

Immunity to debuffs for him alone?

‘That’s more than enough.’

Berserk state or not, he had been capable of handling the boss solo from the beginning.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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