KYB Ch 6

Before Ye Woo-won could say anything, the entry confirmation system window popped up right in front of his eyes.

Caught off guard, Ye Woo-won clicked Accept, confusion flickering across his face as he stared at the screen.

‘Did these people even look at my gear or class?’

Normally, when you apply to a party, the leader takes a moment to check your equipment before approving, since enhancement levels and options are crucial for a raid.

On top of that, Ye Woo-won was a Dragon Knight, a class infamous for its poor reputation. If anything, they should’ve double-checked him carefully. But the party had already launched straight into the raid, leaving him bewildered.

‘Ah… they’re from the same guild.’

He quickly realized why. Everyone in the party, except him, had the [Gaesae] guild tag next to their nickname.

It seemed the five of them already knew each other, so they probably didn’t care who filled the last slot.

As the boss’s intro cutscene ended, Ye Woo-won’s character, Yewoo Beomjeol, stood before the grotesque seed-headed boss—Rotten Seed.

Rotten Seed was the first-round boss; clearing it would unlock the second and final boss, Wilt Rose.

‘They’re not even giving me time to check my gear, and they’ve already decided to start right away?’

This guild’s members were moving incredibly fast—too fast.

Did they have somewhere to be? The moment the raid began, they charged straight at Rotten Seed, leaving Ye Woo-won scrambling to follow and adjust his hotkeys.

‘They’re not even setting tactics^[1]?’

Usually, the party shares at least a simple strategy before starting, but here, no one said a word.

‘Well… might as well go with the flow.’

He finished setting his keys.

The moment he faced Rotten Seed, his body moved on reflex.

From the start, Rotten Seed stretched out small tendrils to bind the players’ feet and then used an AoE attack. If you didn’t dodge it in time, you could die instantly upon entry.

Most damage dealers would dodge to the safe zone outside the AoE’s radius but not Ye Woo-won.

Before Rotten Seed could begin its pattern, he pulled its aggro. Then, stepping boldly out of the safe zone, he deflected the AoE spell it was casting.

‘Again.’

Of course, one deflection wasn’t enough to cancel it. As Rotten Seed raised its tendrils again to strike him—

He quickly cast shields on his party members and sent them to Rotten Seed’s rear. Then he himself dashed into the safe zone.

‘I’m done.’

In fact, the back of Rotten Seed was safe from AoE damage. It was a little-known trick he had learned through countless trials. By doing this, when Rotten Seed cast its AoE toward Yewoo Beomjeol, the DPS players had a perfect 5-second window to attack freely from behind.

The timing was tricky, but for Ye Woo-won, who had done it many times, it was as easy as breathing.

‘Hm?’

Something felt off.

‘Why aren’t they attacking?’

The party members who had safely moved to Rotten Seed’s rear weren’t attacking like they were supposed to—they were just standing still.

Confused about it, he sighed softly.

‘…Ah. Right. Before, I always played with Kim Hee-yeon’s acquaintances.’

He had turned off his in-game mic and headset today. But when playing with familiar people, he used to explain all his moves over voice chat beforehand—so, no one was surprised by sudden shifts, and they could attack immediately.

‘I should’ve said something. I didn’t expect we’d start so fast.’

He hadn’t even thought to type in chat—his fingers had just moved out of sheer habit.

No matter how good a move or skill was, without communication, it just looked like trolling.

As expected, confused chat messages began to pour in.

He was typing an apology when—

Chat exploded.

‘Does that mean they are fine about it?’

There were no curses, so Ye Woo-won couldn’t quite tell whether the reaction was good or bad.

Not that he had time to ponder. It seemed the boss’s cooldowns had reset, and its aggro on him had dropped.

The moment the alert popped up, pitch-black leaves began flying toward the party members from both sides of Rotten Seed.

‘They’re organized.’

Without missing a beat, everyone started moving perfectly again, as if no one had ever stopped to chat.

Ye Woo-won supported them while scanning their movements.

‘Were they always doing raids this way?’

Watching Rotten Seed’s HP bar drop in an instant, Ye Woo-won couldn’t help but be impressed. When he’d done this raid with Kim Hee-yeon’s friends, they never even had time to deal this much damage because at least one or two people would always die right away.

Every time, the chat would blow up with messages like, “Unfair RNG^[2];”, “Tank, why aren’t you holding aggro properly?” “;; sorry ‘bout this,” and “We wiped because the aggro dropped—please focus, Tank.”

‘Not a single complaint this time.’

However, these players’ movements were clean and precise—every one of them looked highly skilled.

The one who stood out most was Kisekki. The Necromancer swung his long scythe and dashed to the boss’s head with a quick-movement skill. Then he raised the scythe high and slammed it down.

A crimson scar-like mark appeared across the boss’s abdomen.

Then Kisekki seamlessly followed up with Scream of Insolence and Execution of Insolence, slicing through the air. The boss’s HP bar visibly plummeted.

‘So that’s the mark everyone says is hard to use.’

The Necromancer skill [Mark of Insolence] granted party members a significant damage boost.

However, the risk was just as great. If the Necromancer were hit even once by the boss, the buff would instead strengthen the boss.

That’s why that skill and Rotten Seed were the worst possible combination.

Against a boss like Rotten Seed, with its constant barrage of small, rapid attacks, how could a Necromancer possibly avoid getting hit even once?

Most Necromancers avoided the skill entirely—or stayed far away, sacrificing DPS to preserve the buff’s safety. But not Kisekki.

‘He’s maintaining the buff without taking a single hit?’

Amazingly, he dodged every pattern flawlessly, keeping the buff active until it expired.

‘He’s… interesting.’

Ever since that fight with the Mystic, Ye Woo-won had felt it—Kisekki was a fascinating guy.

‘Alright. My turn to pull my weight.’

There was no time for idle thoughts if he wanted to end this quickly.

Ye Woo-won stomped the ground, pulling aggro again. As Rotten Seed’s grotesque eyes locked onto Yewoo Beomjeol, he activated his skill.

As the percentage rose, the Dragon Knight’s body floated higher and higher.

Then a massive dragon’s head descended from the heavens. When Yewoo Beomjeol avatar’s golden eyes blazed and he roared, the dragon mirrored him—its jaws wide open.

A dragon crest spread across the ground beneath the party’s feet. Soft healing light enveloped them as a faint green glow shimmered—signifying a damage reduction buff—while Rotten Seed’s HP plummeted dramatically.

The party hesitated, clearly unfamiliar with the skill.