Former Ranker's Newbie Life-Chapter 35

As soon as the Mythril Steel Golem’s body was fully formed, it went berserk like a raging beast. True to its nature as a walking storm of metal, it was surrounded by a whirling vortex of razor-sharp steel as it lunged at the nearest human.

A deafening crash followed as Theresa’s hammer smashed into the golem’s fist. Her warrior skill, Taunting Strike, yanked its aggro to the max in an instant. Of course, there was a catch. The moment she landed the hit, the swirling Iron Sandstorm surrounding the golem shredded into her like a fucking blender.

“Urgh!”

Sang-Soo wasn’t doing any better. If anything, he was getting his ass kicked even harder. Sure, Theresa had dumped most of her stats into strength, but at the end of the day, a warrior was still built tougher than a swordsman like Sang-Soo.

“Shit! This asshole is literally the worst matchup for me!”

“You two! Can you not fuck around right now?” Soso shouted. “Your HP is dropping faster than my will to live!”

The one who had it the hardest was her. Just standing anywhere near the golem was draining their HP like a goddamn bottomless pit, so it was no surprise the party’s healer was barely hanging on.

Do-Jin wasn’t exactly relaxed, either. While the melee fighters were dealing with the Iron Sandstorm, the golem had something just as nasty for ranged fighters. It launched another attack, Iron Surge, straight at him.

No wonder every ranged DPS who plays this fight screams bloody murder.

A massive tidal wave of iron dust came roaring toward him, swallowing up his vision from both sides as it homed in like a guided missile. This always targeted the farthest player from the boss and hounded them like a rabid dog. Normally, a rogue or some other slippery bastard would kite it around the outskirts, keeping it away from the rest of the party. At the moment, they didn’t have anyone like that.

“Motherfucker,” Do-Jin spat out a curse and hurled himself forward.

He kicked off the ground, pinpointing the tiny gaps in the chaos where the waves momentarily canceled each other out.

Screeeeech!

The razor-sharp tide of steel grazed past him, making a sound so awful it sent shivers down his spine. It was like nails on a chalkboard amplified through a megaphone.

“One hit from that, and I’m getting minced like ground beef.” He muttered a dry joke to keep his nerves from snapping, then bolted the second a path opened up.

Screeeeech!

Once again, the waves shifted, closing in on him. Do-Jin’s mind went into overdrive, tracking every trajectory. Invisible lines formed in his head as he calculated the next safe zone.

It’s too fucking far.

His battle-hardened instincts told him where he needed to be. At the same time, they also told him that he wasn’t going to fucking make it. In a situation like this, stopping to think “What should I do now?” was a one-way ticket to getting fucking obliterated.

The only way to survive was to move right away.

If it was back then, there was no way in hell I could’ve pulled this off, but...

Do-Jin forced his mana to bend to his will, weaving a spell to carve out a path to survival. His hand shot out toward the nearest Iron Surge barreling straight for him.

[Rock Shield]

One of the defensive spells he’d picked up while learning curses—one that had haunted him in his past life because he could never use it—finally came through. With a sickening grind, the ground surged upward, forming a shield right in front of him.

The Iron Surge slammed into the Rock Shield, breaking apart like a wave crashing against a seawall. For a split second, it looked like it might hold. But no chance in hell. A Tier 3 defense spell against a boss mechanic was like trying to stop a truck with a cardboard box. The stone shield shattered into dust almost instantly.

However, it didn’t matter. Do-Jin hadn’t been trying to stop the wave, only mess up its rhythm for a moment. By influencing the timing at which the waves overlapped, he’d forced them to desync, creating a narrow safe zone.

“Shit... That was way too fucking close.”

The whole battlefield reeked of iron, probably because the air was literally filled with metal dust. Even though the Iron Surge had missed him by a hair, he could still feel it slicing through the space where he’d just been.

That eerie chill running down his spine, the sharp edge of death brushing past, was exhilarating. Sure, hunting monsters, getting stronger, and making bank was all well and good. But this? This was the real high.

That kind of pure adrenaline rush that slammed into him like a truck, flooding his brain with dopamine until it lit up like a Christmas tree, was what he lived for. This was why he kept playing. This was why he kept pushing.

Do-Jin’s legs moved again. He wasn’t fast compared to actual speed-based classes, but his absurd stamina and high HP, completely busted for a mage, meant he wasn’t even short of breath when he reached his target.

Without missing a beat, he slapped his hand onto a glowing red gemstone.

[You have unleashed Condensed Fire Mana.]

[Your party has been granted Flame’s Protection.]

[The surrounding area is rapidly heating up.]

The fire-infused mana exploded out of the gem, sending a visible shockwave rippling through the battlefield. The change was immediate as the golem’s body, the metal waves, and every single iron particle in the air began turning red-hot. Unlike Do-Jin’s party, safe under Flame’s Protection, the golem was getting cooked alive.

“Wait, what the fuck?!”

Do-Jin’s party members freaked out at the sudden shift. They were already barely surviving this fight, and now the boss was literally on fire.

“Hold up, something’s weird! The boss is slowing down, and... Holy shit! Our HP isn’t dropping anymore!”

The panic didn’t last long. Soso snapped at Theresa and Sang-Soo, cutting through their confusion with sharp, level-headed words. Sure enough, just like she said, the rampaging golem suddenly jerked as if in pain, its movements slowing.

“I-it’s melting!” Theresa’s voice rang out.

The massive iron giant was indeed melting, or more accurately, its body which was once a chaotic mass of compressed steel was now caught in a cycle of melting, hardening, and fusing together. When the transformation was over, the thing that had once looked like a swirling black mist of metal had become a solid, glowing red chunk of steel.

Do-Jin, watching from a distance, glanced at his teammates as they dove back into battle and thought, We need to push this phase fast.

Fortunately, the boss wasn’t using Iron Sandstorm anymore, which meant the melee fighters weren’t getting shredded just for existing. On the other hand, its attack power had skyrocketed.

As Theresa braced herself with the hammer in a defensive stance, she got sent flying and tumbled across the ground. A proper tank could’ve handled that hit way better, but no matter how much of a warrior she was, she was still a DPS-focused build which had its limits.

Now is not the time to be worrying about them, Do-Jin thought as he snapped back to what was right in front of him.

The battlefield had changed. The waves were gone, only to be replaced with Molten Steel Spirits that spawned from the intense fire mana. These additional monsters, commonly referred to as “adds” for short, spawned in by the dozens.

“I knew this boss had a ton of adds, but this is some next-level bullshit.”

A quick glance told him there were at least fifty. This wasn’t a phase meant to be cleared. Rather, it was meant to overwhelm the players.

“Fine, then... I just need to carve a path through.”

[Frozen Arrow]

Unfortunately, Do-Jin didn’t have a good water-based AoE spell in his arsenal. He went with the next best thing, which was spamming Frozen Arrow like his life depended on it.

The molten spirits shrieked and their bodies burned hot as they charged. The moment they made contact with his ice magic, however, they instantly froze up and dropped to the ground like dead weight. They weren’t dead, but they were weak to opposing elements, and just a single hit was enough to stun them for a few seconds.

That was all Do-Jin needed. He shot forward, slipping through the temporary gap he’d created. One wrong step, one moment of hesitation, and the adds would swarm him from every direction. Without missing a beat, he sprinted forward, dodging and weaving, taking down smaller threats while dancing between the rest. Every single move was precise, controlled, and flawless.

At the end of this sequence, his hand landed on a glowing blue gemstone.

“Game over, motherfuckers.”

[You have unleashed Condensed Frozen Mana.]

[Your party has been granted Frost’s Protection.]

[The surrounding area is rapidly cooling.]

A blast of Frozen Mana flooded the battlefield, the complete opposite of the fire that had come before. At the exact moment the Molten Steel Spirits lunged for Do-Jin, hot on his heels and ready to rip him apart, they froze solid midair and crashed to the ground.

Dozens of heavy, solidified steel bodies crashed into the ground simultaneously, shaking the battlefield with their impact. Do-Jin stepped forward, walking through the scattered remains of the once-fiery creatures, their bodies now hardened into cold, black husks. He was here to finish the job. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“Theresa!”

A voice pierced through the chaos, a sound he hadn’t registered while he was focused on the fight. It wasn’t just a call. It was a gut-wrenching, panic-stricken shriek, the kind that made one's blood run cold coming from Soso.

Theresa was pinned under the golem’s massive fist, her leg crushed beneath its weight. Soso tried to charge forward, but Sang-Soo grabbed her before she could throw herself into the line of fire.

Lashing out like a wild animal, Theresa clawed and struck him with everything she had. “Run, Kim Soso! If you go down, we’re all fucked... Gwak Sang-Soo, get her out of here!”

Even with terror gripping her throat, even when she was the one staring death in the face, Theresa still shouted for her friends to run. Although death wasn’t real in this virtual world, fear sure as hell was. She sucked in a sharp breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and braced herself for the inevitable.

Just then, a massive stone barrier materialized in the air and dropped between Theresa and the golem’s incoming fist. Do-Jin’s Rock Shield had intercepted the attack. The impact was deafening, and the shield shattered instantly, reduced to rubble under the sheer force of the blow. Nevertheless, it had done its job of keeping Theresa alive.

A sharp gasp rang out, and all eyes immediately turned to him. But Do-Jin didn’t answer with words. He answered with golden mana, flickering and surging around him like a living flame. His gaze locked onto the enemy.

Creeeaaak.

The golem’s once-blazing red-hot body was cooling at an alarming rate. The overheated steel, now forced into rapid cooling, began to split apart. Fire and ice collided in perfect opposition, ripping the boss’s defenses to shreds. This was the opening they needed.

[Earth Spear]

A massive stone spear erupted from the ground and shot through the golem’s abdomen. The boss that was still hell-bent on attacking Theresa suddenly froze in place, locked in a state of complete stagger.

Do-Jin didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. Spell after spell, attack after attack, he didn’t stop until the dungeon’s master let out one final, shuddering tremor and fell completely silent.

[The boss of Closed Iron Mine, Condensed Mana Iron Golem, has been defeated!]