The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 225: Relief Pitcher (4)

Seol Eun-Yeong's characteristic confident voice echoed through the conference room. "Begin."

In response, Dubo, who led the intelligence division of the Cheonhwa guild, slightly bowed his head and said, "Everyone here is busy, so let’s get straight to the point. As you all know, the reason we’re gathered here is because of Zatan, the raid target."

Zatan. Just like Aosa, it was a monster created by the Church of Muldine in the past. The strength of Zatan surpassed Aosa to an incomparable degree, leading it to be called the secret weapon.

"To briefly summarize its history, a guild collaboration of twelve mid-sized guilds was defeated by it. Moreover, four major guilds, which had been closely following The Nine Guilds after gaining significant advantages in territorial wars, were also thoroughly crushed. Recently, even Nihonichi, one of The Nine Guilds, failed in their raid attempt, which was the finishing touch and drew significant attention."

"Keep it short. Just explain the strategy," Seol Eun-Yeong requested.

After all, no one in the room was unfamiliar with Zatan.

"There are two key points to the Zatan raid. The first is dealing with the Phase 1 wide-area gravity field. We’ll need close-combat dealers or tanks capable of dodging its attacks while drawing its aggro."

"If you can’t handle that, you don’t deserve a spot in our guild," Boyd said, full of confidence.

Rightly so, as even Nihonichi’s close-combat dealers had managed that much.

"The second necessity is drillers. When Zatan’s health drops below 70%, it enters Phase 2 and summons two powerful minions. Each of these minions is a level 350 named monster. However, regardless of their levels, they are very troublesome to deal with.”

When Dubo finished speaking, everyone nodded simultaneously. Some even wore disgusted expressions.

"The first minion is called Radus, and the second is Duras. One is vulnerable only to physical attacks, while the other only to magical ones."

But if those were their only traits, they wouldn’t be such a challenge.

"The problem is that these two must be defeated at the same time."

Simultaneous defeat. Whether Radus or Duras, if one was killed but the other wasn’t within thirty seconds, the fallen one revived with 100% health.

Two drillers were needed to pierce through the minions, and their coordination had to be flawless to ensure victory. Even if they were the most skilled players, they would fail if their timing was off.

"No guild has managed to overcome the Phase 2 wall with the twin minions yet."

That was understandable, as once Zatan’s gravity field activated, external attacks became useless. Arrows, spells—it didn’t matter. As soon as they hit the outer wall of the gravity field, their trajectories were randomly altered. Ultimately, the minions could only be defeated within the gravity field itself.

"Hmph. Of course. There are only a handful of Wizards in this world with the physical capabilities to operate within the gravity field, don’t you agree?"

Boyd’s pride skyrocketed.

Everyone in the room offered awkward smiles, while Seol Eun-Yeong openly frowned. Yet no one disagreed with him. A Wizard like Boyd was necessary for tackling Zatan.

"Master, you’re truly blessed. Without me in our guild, you’d have to spend a fortune again hiring a Wizard mercenary."

"That would actually be preferable."

When Seol Eun-Yeong muttered coldly, Boyd chuckled and urged Dubo. "Oh, don’t be so embarrassed to admit it, Master. Anyway, please proceed, Dubo."

"Thank you. Based on the Nihonichi guild’s findings, Zatan’s phases are known up to Phase 2. Whether there are additional phases remains uncertain."

"How likely is Phase 2 to be the final one?"

"It’s possible. However, considering Zatan is a raid-level boss monster, our intelligence team suspects there’s at least one more hidden phase."

"Hmm. Honestly, Phase 2 alone is already annoying. The thought of another hidden phase is just... delightful."

"Of course, it might not exist."

"No, Pegasus is always twisted like that. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Zatan split into three."

As everyone actively exchanged their thoughts, Seol Eun-Yeong turned her head to the right and said, "The conquest team will handle Phase 1. As per the contract, you’ll step in for Phase 2."

The swordsman, who always wore a black helmet, nodded their small head. Strands of silver hair spilling from the helmet’s seams added to the warrior's mysterious aura.

"I’ll ensure you won’t regret allying with Cheonhwa, Yoo Ha-Rin."

The black warrior was Yoo Ha-Rin, a player who had never revealed her face to anyone other than Kai.

Seol Eun-Yeong seemed to appreciate Yoo Ha-Rin's compliance with her requests without any complaints, as she faintly smiled and turned her head.

"Dubo, then we have no further issues, correct?"

"Well, that is..."

Dubo scratched his head with a troubled expression in response to the queen's question.

That reaction irritated her.

"What’s with that reaction? If you have something to say, say it. Don’t leave people hanging."

"It’s about the Warriors. They’re not giving up."

"The Warriors?" Seol Eun-Yeong tilted her head. "Have you not released the article about Cheonhwa joining forces with Yoo Ha-Rin yet?"

"Of course we have. It was distributed this morning. Players are already buzzing, saying the Zatan raid could become the second Veghas raid. The combination of Cheonhwa and Yoo Ha-Rin makes failure almost unthinkable."

"And yet they’re still not backing down?"

"The Warriors have invested quite a bit in this attempt—potions, equipment, and so on. Maybe they’re reluctant to let all that go to waste?"

"No, that’s not it."

Seol Eun-Yeong closed her eyes tightly, falling deep into thought. Her long lashes rested against her cheeks, and everyone in the room kept silent, knowing not to disturb her in moments like this.

The Warriors’ master, Vulcan, is smart and capable.

If he were a player she could hire with money, she would have paid an astronomical sum to recruit him. For her, who was meticulous and cautious in all things, giving such a high evaluation meant Vulcan was truly exceptional.

Someone like him stubbornly persistent in a lost cause just because of some potion costs? That’s ridiculous.

After the giant fell, the guilds now known as The Nine Guilds emerged. Each of them had a sponsor backing them. Naturally, as long as The Nine guilds maintained their performance, their funding would never dry up.

Unless their guild is backed by their family’s corporation like me, the masters of The Nine Guilds ultimately have to prioritize results when making decisions.

Whether it was a gradual tarnishing of the guild’s image or the failure of a plan, these things accumulated over time, threatening the stability of The Nine Guilds' positions. This was currently happening to the Nihonichi guild and had previously occurred with the Titan guild and the Black Bee guild.

Moreover, with Nihonichi’s failure, if the Warriors—considered one of the top three among The Nine Guilds—also fail...

It would simply benefit their competitors. Someone as sharp as Vulcan would surely foresee such an outcome.

Which means the Warriors are aiming for one thing.

They were taking a gamble. In the end, raids weren’t about absolute performance but relative competition. It didn’t matter how overwhelming their power was; the raid would end in a zero-sum game if they conquered Zatan faster than their competitors.

If it’s a head-to-head confrontation, there’s no reason to avoid it.

However, the opponent knew her cards, while she didn’t know theirs.

"Increase the number of personnel monitoring the Warriors," Seol Eun-Yeong coldly ordered.

***

Since olden days, MMORPG games have had an unresolved dilemma. It was the inevitable conflicts over hunting grounds. In other words, the battle for territory.

Most games solved this issue by giving higher contribution rates to the player who initiated the attack on a monster. However, this method had a fatal flaw.

MID Online was a virtual reality game. Even if it was just a game, stealing monsters in the presence of other players often caused disputes. If ordinary monsters led to such conflicts, it would inevitably be worse with raid boss monsters.

-Wow, is this for real? I’ve never seen something like this, so I don’t even know what to say.

-Cheonhwa versus Warriors, Warriors versus Cheonhwa... This standoff is insane.

-But if it comes to a fight, wouldn’t Cheonhwa win? Their power is superior with Iron Blooded Queen Seol Eun-Yeong, Mischief Boyd, and now they’ve even hired Yoo Ha-Rin, who’s ranked second.

└ If you put it that way, the Warriors aren’t lacking either. Maybe not in magic, but their Knight-class rankers are much stronger.

└ But what’s the point? When Zatan summons his minions, magic damage will be essential. Do the Warriors even have a wizard at that level? I’m voting for Cheonhwa.

└ Same here, Cheonhwa gets my vote. No matter how you look at it, Vulcan seems to be going too far. He’s probably trying to reclaim some attention since the Warriors haven’t done anything noteworthy lately.

The players’ opinions were divided.

Of course, at the same time, neither Cheonhwa nor the Warriors cared about the chatter.

“It’s been a while, Seol Eun-Yeong.” @@novelbin@@

“Likewise.”

-Krroooaaarrr!

The two guild masters conversed with Zatan’s distant roar echoing in the background.

“How about letting the Warriors have this raid?” Vulcan suggested.

“Don’t be ridiculous. If anything, it looks like you’re the one that’s pushing it.”

“I’m pushing it?” Vulcan laughed in his low voice as if amused, and glanced back at Zatan. “Then we can go first, can’t we? If you’re right, it’ll be too much for our forces anyway. Don’t you agree?”

“You’re that confident, huh?”

“I’m always confident.”

At Vulcan’s bold statement, Seol Eun-Yeong quickly scanned him from head to toe.

What could he be relying on...?

Despite overworking the Cheonhwa guild’s intelligence team for days, they hadn’t found any information to explain Vulcan’s confidence.

“Master, as I’ve said before, there’s no way the Warriors can take down Zatan with their current strength. Let them go first, let them fail, and then we can safely tackle it after analyzing Zatan’s patterns.”

“I agree, Master. The only decent Wizard they have is Chloe, but she’s not strong enough to take down the minions on her own.”

“Hmm.”

Seol Eun-Yeong furrowed her brows at her subordinates’ reasoning. Logically, they were a hundred percent right.

Only two phases of Zatan had been revealed so far. Considering even Veghas had a third phase, Zatan would be as challenging, if not more.

Right, this is the right move, but...

A strange unease washed over her entire body.

“Of course, I’m not asking you to let us go first for nothing,” Vulcan said.

“What do you mean by that?”

Realizing that Seol Eun-Yeong was wavering, Vulcan pressed harder to seal the deal.