TGMND 96

3 PM. The entrance to the event portal was crowded with people. Impatient players who couldn’t stand waiting wasted time spamming skills and running around the map. Meanwhile, others, like Moon Fairy or healers, wandered around randomly buffing people.

“…No one’s here?”

No matter how hard he looked, Yeo-woon couldn’t spot any Poseidon guild members on the waiting map. Worried that they might have forgotten about the event, Yeo-woon asked about it in the guild chat.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Guys, aren’t you doing Snowball raid?

[Guild] neutaaaa: It’s starting soon, have you all done it already? T_T

[Guild] ParkRoach: lol already did both runs early this morning, but I can join if you’re bored?”

[Guild] neutaaaa: Nah, it’s fine

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I’m helping newbies with dungeons lol

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I still have one run left, but I’m planning to do it after dinner

The ‘Snowball Raid’ opens every two hours, and players can participate twice a day. Once you’ve claimed the rewards for two raids, any further participation that day won’t grant any additional rewards.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: I’ll aim for the next time slot because of my potato PC

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: There are the most people now, so the lag is bad

[Guild] al0ha: I’m on my way now

[Guild] al0ha: Form the party

[Guild] neutaaaa: OK OK

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: I’ll grab my buffs and come right away

Yeo-woon invited the two to the party. Although there wasn’t a separate party effect, it was much less boring to be together than to grind alone for an hour.

Like the others, Yeo-woon had brought plenty of resurrection marks. These items allowed characters to revive on the spot if they died with all their HP depleted. If a player had to revive at the tower and run back to the event map during the raid, it would mean losing damage output and receiving fewer rewards.

The boss monster Snowball, which appears on the event map at the designated time, was an object-type monster that summoned small snow fairy mobs and fired ice beams in all directions. This season’s raid event rewarded players after defeating Snowball 100 times. As the raid progressed, the monster’s health and defense would increase, and each round generally took about 40 minutes to an hour.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: By the way, the bug where you randomly get stunned even without being hit by skills after a certain number of Snowball kills

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Has that not been fixed yet?

[Guild] ParkRoach: Nope

[Guild] ParkRoach: I also submitted an inquiry during today’s raid time

[Guild] ParkRoach: Doesn’t look like they’ll fix it right away… T_T

[Guild] al0ha: They’ll probably give a crappy response, yep

And they were right. Reporting minor bugs usually resulted in a vague response like, “We’ll forward it to the relevant team,” and most of the time, the issue wouldn’t be fixed even after a month. This was the case with most games, so it was better not to expect too much to avoid disappointment.

[Guild] neutaaaa: They’ll probably put it off, saying it’s not a serious bug

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Neuta knows Illusion too well lolololol

[Guild] al0ha: Dead game good job

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Dead game good job

[Guild] ParkRoach: Dead game good job

The players felt that this event had been hastily thrown together to meet a deadline. It made sense, considering the number of bugs that had popped up since the event map opened.

For example, there was a bug where mobs summoned by the boss would remain alive for a while even after their HP hit zero before disappearing. Certain classes wouldn’t freeze even when hit by Snowball’s skills.

Additionally, sometimes the supply boxes that occasionally dropped from the sky, which were supposed to contain healing potions or buff items, would land completely empty. And if healers cast a healing buff before the box touched the ground, players would get fully healed when opening the supply box.

[Global] TaejongTaeseBeyonce: Stop spamming

[Global] KindAndSweet: Guys, when does the event map open?

[Global] Sage: Can’t you read numbers? It says 40 seconds left

[Global] KindAndSweet: It’s not showing for me;;

[Global] Churiring: Typo

[Global] Sage: What do you mean it’s not showing lol

[Global] Sage: There’s a huge countdown below the skill window lol

[Global] Sage: Can’t you see this? Are you blind?

[Global] KindAndSweet: lolololololol Sage, you b/a/s/t/a/r/d, so rude

[Global] KindAndSweet: Did you teach yourself manners?

[Global] CatJelly: Both of you shut up

[Global] KindAndSweet: Sage, don’t live like that, you s.o.b. Just kindly explain instead of being so nitpicky

[Global] Sage: Well lol I told you there were 40 seconds left lol Now it’s 20 seconds

[Global] KindAndSweet: I’m telling you that number isn’t showing for me;;

[Global] Churiring: Typo

Just before the map opened, the screen was filled with dazzling skill effects, making it hard to focus. Players who had never met before were arguing over trivial matters in the global chat, while Yeo-woon subtly followed the buff characters around, receiving all the buffs they distributed. His skill window was already filled with over ten different buffs, from increased attack power to damage reduction and luck effects. Just looking at it made him feel satisfied.

[Server] Ji9star has obtained ‘Fluffy Snow Fox Ear Hat’!

He then noticed a familiar nickname mixed in among the chat messages. It seemed Earth Star was skipping this raid and trying their luck with draws instead.

[Server] Ji9star has obtained ‘Fluffy Snow Fox Ear Hat’!

“This guy’s really lucky…”

Yeo-woon muttered to himself, shaking his head slightly. To top it off, Earth had gotten the item twice in a row. What was the drop rate for that hat again?

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Earth Star, how many hats is that now? lololololol

[Guild] Ji9star: Ah;;

[Guild] Ji9star: Everything drops except the adoption rights

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Why do you even need adoption rights?

[Guild] Ji9star: lol

Earth Star just laughed it off. The chat was moving too fast due to spammers in the global chat, and with only five seconds left on the countdown, Yeo-woon stopped paying attention to the chat and focused on getting ready to enter the event map.

When the time came, the portal opened. Yeo-woon quickly jumped into the portal and pressed the forward key. Just before the screen switched to the loading illustration, he caught a glimpse of a character with pure white angel wings and fluffy hair at the edge of his screen.

***

In the middle of a snowstorm on a snowy field, a small snowball was thrown. The snowball spun in place, growing larger until the screen flashed red, and the word “WARNING!” appeared in the center.

<From today, all four seasons are winter winter winter winter. I have decided so. Therefore…anyone who gets in my way will be frozen solid!> The Snowball character uttered a short line and then began spewing cold air and summoning mobs in all directions. Since this event was open to players of all levels, no special control was needed. Everyone just needed to work together to whittle down the monster’s HP.

<Freeze solid!>

At this moment, timing a double jump was the key. All that was needed was to avoid the Ice Beam that Snowball occasionally fired. If hit by the Ice Beam, you’d be frozen for a full five seconds, unable to use any skills.

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Ah, so close

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Thought I dodged that~

[Party] al0ha: Dodge? lol

[Party] al0ha: I saw you standing still the whole time ^^

[Party] neutaaaa: lololololololol I saw too

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Ah~ shoot~

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Thought neither of you saw that

Wandu Wandya, who had turned into an ice block after getting hit by the Ice Beam, thawed out after five seconds. During the time he was frozen, Snowball had already died again. The boss monster’s HP gauge appeared as a long bar at the top of the screen.

‘Snowball x90’

The number next to Snowball indicated how many more lives the monster had left. With 90 more lives to go, once they were all depleted, the event raid for that round would be over. It felt like the rounds were going faster than in the morning, likely because there were more people. Yeo-woon stuck close to Snowball, using any skill that came off cooldown as soon as possible. With so many skill effects overlapping, he couldn’t even tell which skills he was using anymore.

[Server] Ji9star has obtained ‘Fluffy Winter Jacket’!

Occasionally, messages about Earth Star obtaining items from draws would appear. There wasn’t time to congratulate each one, so he just had to see and move on quickly.

<Freeze solid!>

Snowball spun around, launching Ice Beams in all directions. Before Snowball started spinning, you could see a gauge filling up inside a transparent glass orb, signaling the need to stop basic attacks and prepare to dodge. Yeo-woon timed his double jump perfectly by pressing the spacebar.

As Snowball fired the Ice Beams, most players jumped upward to avoid the beams.

[Party] neutaaaa: ??

However, as soon as they landed, all the players found themselves frozen in place. With everyone simultaneously stunned for five seconds, the field, which had been filled with a barrage of skills, suddenly fell silent. The only movement came from Moon Fairy floating above the battlefield, casting buffs from outside the skill’s range.

Finding the sight of everyone frozen like statues amusing, Yeo-woon took a screenshot.

[Party] neutaaaa: Is this a bug?

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Yep, a bug in a dead game lolololol

[Party] al0ha: Why haven’t they fixed this yet?

[Party] al0ha: If they’re not going to work, why are they getting paid?

Yeo-woon restored the health he lost from the Ice Beam using health potions and recovery effects from gacha items.

‘Obtained Smelly Breath of Frozen Human ×10’

‘Obtained Smelly Breath of Frozen Human ×10’

‘Obtained Smelly Breath of Frozen Human ×10’

‘Obtained Smelly Breath of Frozen Human ×10’

‘Obtained Smelly Breath of Frozen Human ×10’

Yeo-woon let out a deep sigh. Yeo-woon let out a deep sigh. The gacha still only gave him trash items. Snow Rabbit, I miss you so much… He hadn’t expected much, but getting nothing but junk items felt like crossing a line. He was really annoyed.

That’s when it happened.

<This can’t be… Winter will return!>

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from somewhere, and Snowball uttered its death line in the middle of the quiet event map.

[Global] TaejongTaeseBeyonce: What’s this?

[Global] KindAndSweet: ??

[Global] ThereHair: ?

[Global] DecisionTV: Gasp

Just before the 5-second stun on users was about to wear off, a series of loud noises rang out, and the remaining 30% of Snowball’s HP gauge suddenly dropped to 0%, ending the round.

Except for the Moon Fairy floating in the air, everyone was frozen in ice, so the only attacks that landed on Snowball came from the Moon Fairy’ skills. Moon Fairy were a mage class, but since the ones focused on buff trees lacked health and defense, they avoided getting close to Snowball and only cast buffs occasionally.

[Global] Sunset: ㅇㅅㅇv

A Moon Fairy with white hair and an angelic halo was spinning around the revived Snowball. From the looks of it, that Sunset character had single-handedly reduced the boss monster’s HP by more than 30%. Yeo-woon squinted and let out a hollow laugh. It made sense now—this was the same person he had encountered during the semifinals of the Isis Siege.

That’s the weird guy who was chatting with emotes alongside Earth Star after getting chat-banned!