LV4. Corrupt Shaman of the Rock Tribe.
Boss: “Rock Troll Shaman Gallo”
— “Hello, viewers. This is caster Baek Seong-jae.”
— “And I’m commentator Choi Moon-seong.”
— “Thanks to your enthusiastic support, we at MBS Broadcasting are bringing you an emergency live broadcast of the Guild War League 4, Round 38 Boss Raid.”
— “This must be the first time in history. To broadcast a Division 4 match live—ah, I’m trembling. We might witness a new legend in the league today.”
— “Whether it will be remembered as a legend or the start of one, we’ll see. The Mir raid team is entering the boss room now!”
________________________________________
Rock, rock, rock… In a battlefield covered on all sides with rock, Lee Hye-jeong nimbly leapt upward. At that moment, a rocky fist slammed down on the spot she had just been in.
It was a Stone Golem, 20 meters tall—about the size of a small building.
Along with the “Imp Archer Forward Base,” the gate “Corrupt Shaman of the Rock Tribe” was known as one of League 4’s “Triangle of Death” spots, all because of that golem. It was a rideable golem created by the old and sick “Rock Troll Shaman Gallo” to protect himself.
And Lee Hye-jeong’s role was to lure it around and harass it endlessly.
KWAANG—!
•
•
— “A powerful punch flies toward Lee Hye-jeong as she’s luring the golem! The ground explodes!!”
— “You have to watch out for the last fragments too. Don’t forget, each of those pieces is imbued with shamanic power, Hunter Lee Hye-jeong!!”
•
•
A golem piloted by a high-level rock shaman doesn’t just end its attack with the strike itself.
Clenching its fist, slamming it down, and breaking—this whole sequence was the process of shamanic refinement, and the result manifested as those fragments.
The shards scattered into the air suddenly curved in direction, aiming precisely at Lee Hye-jeong, and shot forward like bullets.
If she got caught in that rain of fragments, she’d be shredded to pieces.
‘Stay calm.’
If she just recklessly jumped aside, she’d be riddled with holes. Lee Hye-jeong calmly organized her thoughts, then moved.
First, a sidestep.
She shifted her foot direction and leapt sideways, the key being not to lose her running momentum.
Next, explode upward with the lower body.
As if diving, she stretched her arms forward and propelled herself ahead.
Finally, a roll to break the fall and resume running.
Sliding gracefully without even a speck of dust, she rolled once and smoothly stood up into a sprint again.
A lightning-fast Z-shaped maneuver in a fraction of a second.
She made it look easy, but being able to change direction laterally without slowing down—while accelerating with magic—was proof of her talent.
•
•
— “Hunter Lee Hye-jeong breaks the pattern again with an evasive maneuver!”
— “That’s a perfect 100 out of 100. Her form lately has been incredible.”
— “Hunter Lee Hye-jeong, who’s been MVP for Rounds 35, 36, and 37 in a row. With 11 MVPs, she’s tied with Park Jeong-seok from the same guild. As we speak, the ground is shaking!”
•
•
The earth trembles. It shudders like an earthquake.
Strictly speaking, it’s not the earth but the rock, but in this field, where all you see is rock, rock is the ground, the floor.
The reason this suddenly matters is because the boss Gallo inside the golem is a rock shaman, and shamanic spells are heavily influenced by the surrounding environment—especially if the shaman specializes in a single element.
The spell completed, and the countless rocks around transformed into bizarre shapes targeting Lee Hye-jeong.
They sprouted spikes like a hedgehog, raised walls to trap her, even combined to form rocky hands to grab her.
Rocks closed in from all sides.
Yet her expression stayed calm—because she had something to rely on.
Before her fluttered the wind hawk, the wind spirit of Mountain King Kim Jong-pil. When the Mountain King guided her path, what was there to fear?
— “Go straight ahead like this, good, keep going… Once you pass the front ridge, rocks will irregularly block your way like a maze, so follow my guidance… Not far to the point now. Hang in there a bit longer. And…”
Following the guide’s call, Lee Hye-jeong ran and ran again.
By now, the boss would start learning.
The golem’s vaunted strength didn’t work. Its identity-defining shamanic arts didn’t work. The human before him was faster, more agile, and craftier than he’d thought.
Catching her with ordinary attacks was impossible.
A fatal blow was needed.
The most lethal attack he had.
A blue light flickered in the golem’s eyes.
Even before the signs fully appeared, a shout rang through Lee Hye-jeong’s in-ear.
— “It's a Shard Tsunami, Hye-jeong!”
“Yes!!”
Unlike magic, which mixes metaphor and symbolism, shamanic arts are quite direct and intuitive.
The pattern “Shard Tsunami” was exactly what its name implied—a tsunami of shards.
The moment the golem’s clenched fists struck the ground, dust exploded and stone fragments shot up.
The dust and fragments opened a massive maw toward the ground like a wave.
A shadow loomed over Lee Hye-jeong’s head.
She needed to get far away—but it was too late. This was a pattern you couldn’t realistically dodge by sight.
It was a hair’s-breadth situation but Lee Hye-jeong was smiling.
Finally… finally…!!
Finally!! The time had come to use that.
The technique she’d been forced to repeat until tears came, drilled into her over and over by Lee Shin these past weeks!
Crack. Lee Hye-jeong pulled something from her pocket, pried the lid off with her teeth, and dumped it straight into her mouth—it was a Choi Family Apothecary poison.
________________________________________
Lee Hye-jeong (F. 22 years old) (151▲/183)
Traits (6/9)
“Delicate Hands,” “Throwing Mastery,” “Agile Movements,” “Big Sister,” “Poison Mist,” (New!!) “Poison Step” (New!!)
Poison Mist
: Exhales poison accumulated in the body in the form of mist.
Poison Step
: When within the range of poison you’ve used, movement speed greatly increases.
•
•
Just before the tsunami of shards swallowed Lee Hye-jeong—
PAANG!!
Green gas exploded.
Accelerating through the thickly swirling gas, Lee Hye-jeong left a tail of green mist as she breezed past the range of the Shard Tsunami.
If you don’t know the Lee Shin combo, memorize it—
It was the collaboration of “Poison Mist” and “Poison Step.”
It was supposed to be the boss’s ultimate pattern to close the gap, yet instead, the distance grew helplessly wider. Lee Hye-jeong had just nullified one of the boss’s strongest cards.
Having decorated the finale so brilliantly, she finally stepped onto the promised ground—not rock, but sand.
Collapsing forward, she felt not the cold of stone but the warmth of soft sand envelop her.
“I did it…”
Lee Hye-jeong smiled with her face buried in the sand.
•
•
— “She’s finally arrived!! Lee Hye-jeong has succeeded in luring the boss into the sand field in 27 minutes and 58 seconds!!”
— “Hah, whew~ That means she’s been dribbling the boss alone for almost 28 minutes. It’s a bit early to say, but with that unbelievable final performance, unless something unexpected happens, the MVP of Round 38 will be her.”
— “They’ve arrived at the sand field—Golem’s Achilles’ heel—that will neutralize its powerful rock magic. What will the battle be like now?!”
•
•
Finally realizing something was wrong, the golem, stomping excitedly to crush the fallen Lee Hye-jeong, noticed its foot stuck in the sand.
The land of sand.
Something was off. He tried to back away, but—it was already too late.
Tanks, who had been hiding, had already formed a wall of shields to block the golem’s front, and mages soon surrounded it.
Meanwhile, Park Jeong-seok hoisted the collapsed Lee Hye-jeong onto his back.
Normally, she’d never let her rival Park Jeong-seok carry her, but this time she had no choice. She was completely exhausted, with no strength left.
“Saw, huh, this lady’s, perfor…….”
“If you have the energy to talk, just rest.”
“I’m the MVP. Hehehe.”
“…Ha.”
What a reckless person.
Normally, the role of luring the boss is done by teams of three taking turns.
But Lee Hye-jeong, with her eyes set on the MVP, stubbornly insisted she could do it alone, and ended up dribbling like a lunatic all by herself.
Wouldn’t Park Jeong-seok find that foolish?
Frankly, if doing that would actually earn him the league’s overall MVP, Park Jeong-seok would have done something reckless like that too, but the round MVP and the league MVP are evaluated very differently.
If the round MVP is awarded to the one who performed the most during that specific round, then the league MVP is given to the player who has shown the most “ideal” play throughout the entire season.
In other words, Lee Hye-jeong’s current actions are more than enough to earn her the round MVP, but they are completely detached from the “ideal” play required for the league MVP.
“Lee Hye-jeong.”
“…Huh?”
“Watch closely. This is what ‘team play’ is.”
You take the round MVP, the league MVP is mine.
Raising his shield, Park Jeong-seok joined the formation.
Soon after came Kim Jong-pil’s instructions.
— “Tanks, apply pressure around the perimeter. Melee DPS, follow my lead and support the tanks to lock the boss’s movements. Ranged DPS, keep your shots landing well and protect the supports.”
And then—
— “Park Jeong-seok. You take main handling.”
“Yes!”
At Kim Jong-pil’s words, Park Jeong-seok rejoiced inwardly.
A boss without rock magic is like a bun without filling.
The stage for him to shine was set.
“Argh!!”
Taunting, Park Jeong-seok charged head-on at the golem.
Around him, the raid party’s attacks shifted with fluid, dance-like unpredictability.
•••
— “In terms of pure skill improvement, Hunter Park Jeong-seok is no slouch anywhere now. Compared to his footwork, his line control, positioning, and overall tanking stats were lacking before, but now they’re not just decent—they’re excellent.”
— “Tied with Hunter Lee Hye-jeong at 11 MVPs, he’s now recognized as one of League 4’s representative tanks.”
•••
Forget the old Park Jeong-seok—mindless charging, hopeless positioning, and overly aggressive temperament as a tank.
Mindless charging is now backed by skill, his once-excessive temperament has been honed into sharpness. His hopeless positioning? Still the same, but now compensated for by a change in thinking.
If you can’t position well—
‘Force the opponent to position themselves instead through initiating.’
From an evasive tank to an anti-tank and finally, to a damage-dealing tank, a bruiser.
This is the future that Lee Shin envisioned for Park Jeong-seok.
So, deflecting the golem’s attack along the slope of his shield to create an opening, he threw away the shield and leapt into the golem’s embrace—and kicked with all his strength.
※ Park Jeong-seok (Male, 23) (160▲/181)
• Traits (4/9)
「Body Utilization」, 「Brawl Specialist」, 「Desire for Recognition」, 「Shattering Kick」(New!!)
「Shattering Kick」
: Kicks have a certain probability of gaining the ‘Destruction’ property. (Damage proportional to max HP)
Kwaaaang—!
A sound like a bomb exploding rang in the ears, and when the dust cleared, over half of one of the golem’s legs was destroyed.
With one leg compromised, the golem’s massive weight threw off its balance, and its movements grew noticeably slower over time.
Just before the tide of battle completely turned—
The sense of crisis forced the boss, Gallo, into his final pattern, and the golem entered its last phase.
Frenzy pattern.
•••
— “Ahhhh! It’s the frenzy pattern!”
— “When a golem enters frenzy, its speed and attack power increase greatly. But in exchange, its defense is halved and its HP also decreases.”
— “There are two options—either dodge until it collapses from exhaustion, or land the finishing blow. I think they’ll go for the latter.”
•••
They never planned to wait it out from the start.
Frenzy or not, it was now a head-on fight.
Brilliantly colored magic filled the air, rocks floated and clashed, each trying to erase the other.
“Still want to rest more?”
“Knowing your twisted heart? Are you crazy?”
With the fallen Lee Hye-jeong rejoining, the raid party became complete. They drew their weapons, and the golem charged at the humans with everything it had, burning its life force.
Blood splattered, chunks of stone flew, weapons shattered, shards exploded. When the spear of stone came down, magic arrows shattered it; when a wall of fire blocked the way, the stone cracked it open…
No fancy tricks needed.
Magic and sorcery.
Human and golem.
Strength against strength.
They burned everything they had in a fierce exchange of blows.
And then—
Kuwaaaak—!
At last, the golem, its durability spent, collapsed into pieces.
As the fallen golem’s head opened—
— “Gallo reveals himself!!”
Boss: “Rock Troll Shaman Gallo” appears.
“I’m hungry. Let’s finish this fast and go eat.”
At the command of the Mountain King, who had descended to the ground at some point, the raid party charged all at once.
________________________________________
— “It’s down! Park Jeong-seok’s kick shattered Gallo’s waist—mission complete! Mir Guild clears the ‘Corrupted Shaman of the Rock Tribe’ gate!!”
— “52 hours 42 minutes 08 seconds! Another record! Once again, the stars of this round are Mir!!”
— “1st in overall ranking, 1st in points, 38th round MVP secured. Once again, they carve the two letters ‘Mir’ into the records of every gate they pass through!”
— “I was wrong. Totally wrong. This isn’t the end of a legend. The legend of Mir is still in progress! It’s still going!!”
— “Members have changed. The leader has changed. There have been many twists and turns inside and outside the guild. But. In. The. End. They have proven themselves. With this, Mir Guild secures promotion to ‘League 3’, standing proud in 1st place!!”
※ 38th Round
<Mir>
• Gate: Corrupted Shaman of the Rock Tribe
• Total Clear Time: 52:42:08 (New Record)
• Boss: Rock Troll Shaman Gallo
• Boss Clear Time: 1:29:49 (New Record)
•••
• League 4 Ranking: 1st
• League Overall MVP: Park Jeong-seok (Score: 9.5)
