"The boss on this floor—the Crystalian—is extremely good at running away, and the arena is huge. Under normal circumstances, it's very hard to catch up to it."
"Even if you finally manage to catch it, before you can land more than a couple of hits, it'll run off again. You have to repeat that chase over and over."
"Once you deal a certain amount of damage, the boss will manipulate the monsters on the ceiling to bombard the ground with magic. So far, no one has survived that."
Luluwo shook her head. "Even I can't endure it—let alone anyone else."
That was quite a confident statement. Tursey acknowledged Luluwo's skill in dungeon strategy, but…
"Then what was that about the left side being much easier?" Her face darkened. "The combat intensity here is way too high!"
Being chased by hordes of monsters, sneaking past enemies, getting trapped by the Mist Noble… every time she was in danger, she thought of Luluwo.
She really wanted to beat up whoever gave her that misleading information.
"But you can use magic, right? Just use invisibility or something—that's enough to get through," Luluwo said lazily, stretching. "Overall, for you guys, this side is definitely easier. I always tailor my intel based on the situation."
Tursey opened her mouth, but couldn't refute it.
Invisibility here was practically a wheelchair-level advantage—just with an extremely high usage threshold.
She could already imagine how profitable it would be to sell invisibility scrolls once Lake Liurnia became more popular.
"Oh right—you said Stella and the others came in too, and they took the right path?" Luluwo suddenly asked.
"Yeah." Tursey looked at her. "Why?"
"Then let's rest here for a bit and wait for them."
Luluwo gestured for everyone to take a break before continuing:
"Both the left and right routes eventually connect to the boss arena. Normally, no matter which path you take, you'll end up there—but today I found a shortcut. It not only leads directly to the boss gate, but also connects both sides."
"What's the difference?" Set asked. "So we can explore the other paths in reverse?"
"No—it's about positioning." Luluwo smiled mysteriously. "When the boss fight starts, positioning is extremely important."
"If we enter through the main gate, we can seize the initiative."
While waiting, everyone chatted casually, exchanging information.
The result was obvious—everything Tursey's group knew, Luluwo already knew, and in greater detail.
"Consider this a bonus for loyal customers," she said, sipping hot water. "The left and right sides are similar in layout. The difference lies in the monsters and traps. You've seen the portrait of the Lunar Princess, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"On the right side, at the corresponding location, there's a portrait of Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Preliminary guess—she's the Lunar Princess's mother. So, pretty interesting, right?"
"…"
Everyone fell silent.
Mainly because they had no idea how important these figures actually were, so it didn't feel particularly exciting.
Luluwo clicked her tongue, a little disappointed.
After waiting a long time with no sign of the elves, she finally stood up.
"Let's go, let's go. If we don't start now, we'll miss dinner."
She used a strangely shaped key to open the heavy stone door. After passing through a long, narrow tunnel, the view suddenly opened up.
Opposite them was an identical tunnel connected to the right-side branch. Beside it stood a massive door engraved with incomprehensible symbols.
Beyond it lay the Crystalian's boss arena.
Only then did Luluwo begin explaining:
"Entering from here puts us behind the boss. If you're fast, you can land a few hits immediately. If you enter from the left or right paths, the boss gets the first move—and the distance is huge."
So that was what she meant by seizing the initiative.
With Tursey's group included, there were now 25 adventurers—and none of them were weak. And yet even this force couldn't defeat the Crystalian?
The door slowly opened. The moment there was enough space for one person to pass through, Luluwo dashed in like a blur.
Everyone followed closely behind, clearly familiar with the process. Some even looked numb from repetition.
"Huh?"
Tursey hurried in as well—but the moment she stepped inside, she heard Luluwo cry out in surprise.
What happened?
When she saw the scene inside, she immediately understood.
Normally, entering would reveal the Crystalian within twenty meters, facing away from the adventurers—perfect for a sneak attack.
But now—
The boss floated high in the air, forming a crystalline magic sphere in its hands. Above, the ceiling was packed with laser-emitting creatures charging up.
At any moment, they would begin bombarding the ground.
Second phase right at the start???
Tursey looked toward Luluwo, who pointed to the other side of the vast arena.
There, a group of elves stood out clearly—it was Stella and her team.
Those guys had already engaged the boss!
"Find spots not covered by shadows and stand there!" Luluwo shouted.
Not covered by shadows?
Both sides quickly looked around. The entire arena was covered by shadows cast by the ceiling laser creatures—but between them were small gaps of light, just enough to fit one or two people.
"There! You can avoid the first wave there!"
Everyone rushed to find a spot—but they were too slow.
The lasers rained down like a storm.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Only then did Tursey understand—the gaps existed because the creatures on the ceiling were packed too tightly. Their overlapping positions created blind spots where lasers couldn't reach.
The explosions were small, so staying in those gaps was safe.
Those who failed to find cover were instantly sent back to the entrance—to join Roger.
"Prepare shields!" Luluwo shouted.
Soon, a layer of elastic, bubble-like shields formed around each adventurer.
Tursey suddenly remembered—this was a rare merfolk spell: Bubble Shield.
Its defense wasn't strong—but it had a unique trait: auto-repair.
As long as it wasn't completely broken, it could automatically repair small amounts of damage at least twice—and even slightly deflect ranged attacks.
Normally impractical—but perfect here.
Luluwo had discovered that most lasers targeted the head. Combined with movement and the shield's slight deflection, it significantly improved survival chances.
The Crystalian dropped to the ground, and the adventurers charged forward.
But before they could reach it, the boss vanished—instantly reappearing at the far edge of the arena.
They had to chase it again.
Ranged attacks were intercepted by lasers, and slowing spells had no effect.
This was the real challenge.
At first, Tursey thought it was manageable—until the bubble shields began breaking rapidly.
The laser frequency was simply too high.
Mages had to constantly reapply shields while moving, draining both stamina and mana.
Soon, Tursey understood what Luluwo meant by needing more people.
They needed enough players to maintain a continuous cycle of shields.
That was the key to victory.
As long as the shield application kept up with the break rate, defeating the boss would only be a matter of time.
At that moment, Luluwo appeared beside her and said:
"Now you get it, right? We can't win this time."
"Let's head out and recruit more people together!"