Chapter 816 Cleared
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Although Sylvia was forced to stop attacking the Goblin King to avoid falling to his claws, she didn't move too far away, and used her [Conceal] skill again to strike once she got another opportunity.
Despite her skill being quite 'effective', it only made her very difficult to notice. But with Emilia's ability to keep the Goblin King's eyeballs firmly glued to herself, Sylvia knew that it wouldn't be difficult to once again vanish completely from her opponent's senses.
The Goblin King obviously wasn't very pleased by the fact that his attack failed, and growled impatiently, his moves getting even wilder.
Emilia remained focused on dodging his wildly swinging claws, but Danielle and the others couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right.
While it was impossible for him to get away from their princess with her 'taunt skill' active and attack them instead, after suffering under the Goblin King's 'Rain of Torment', Danielle and the others didn't dare to let down their guard.
"Strange… why isn't he using his magic anymore?" The drill-haired girl frowned.
They might not have realized it at first, but by now it was more than clear to everyone that the [Goblin King] was more of a magician than a warrior. For him to rely on just physical attacks alone was clearly abnormal.
Robin nodded. "Could it be… he's preparing a big move?"
Nico shuddered in fright as she listened to their thoughts, and anxiously braced herself to heal Emilia with her full strength as soon as things turned south.
Crystal, however, only frowned slightly and focused on firing her light arrows, rapidly draining the Goblin King's health pool.
Unlike most other monsters, they didn't have a convenient panel with the health information of the boss, but the depleting red bar that floated above his head made it obvious that he couldn't hold on for long.
She could tell that he was really desperate already, and knew he wouldn't last long. Her damage potential against an enemy weak so vulnerable to the light attribute was simply too great.
"Be careful, Emilia… he's trying to blow up!"
Her warning came just in time, and the crimson-haired elf quickly turned around to dash away from the Goblin King, though she was still caught up in the 'blast radius'.
With a resounding bang and a flash of light that shaved off more than half of her health even when she 'successfully' avoided it, a giant crater was formed with the panting Goblin King kneeling at its center.
The explosion of energy was supposed to completely 'cleanse' him of the previously applied dark attribute, and also 'purify' much of the poison causing his health to decline, but the results of his own 'spell' were completely contrary to his expectations.
Not only were none of the negative status effects removed, but he even lost a large chunk of his remaining health pool.
The Goblin King coughed out a mouthful of green blood, his expression extremely unwilling. 'It… failed… but how…?'
Despite being out of her 'taunt' range, the Goblin King's furious eyes locked onto Emilia once again. "Y-You… Do you know even know what you have done?!"
The crimson-haired elf just grinned cheekily in response. "What? Was I supposed to die so easily?"
The giant goblin growled as he smashed his fist to the ground and bared his teeth, uncaring of the dark-green blood now freely flowing from his nose and ears. "Fool! Do you think you could have survived if I really wanted to kill you?! I was trying to save you by taking you with me, out of this nightmare—!!!"
Crystal's arrow suddenly tore through his chest, dealing a critical strike far more effective than her previous attacks, and before the Goblin King could recover, the chilling voice of a girl he'd previously deemed completely insignificant rang in his ears.
"Ignite!!!"
It was Danielle's best fire-type skill. When used at a point-blank range with every point of mana that she had, its damage would already be devastating. But combined with Crystal's [Light] attack, it turned into a [Sacred Fire] that could sear [Dark] type monsters even from a distance.
His remaining HP was vaporized in an instant, and the [Goblin King] dissolved into particles of light, his eyes still wide in disbelief.
Emilia smiled in relief, while Danielle and the others couldn't help but cheer. "We won!"
"W-We did it?!"
"We did it!!!"
A resounding notification rang through everyone's ears, as if celebrating their success.
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While Emilia and her team indulged in celebrating their hard-won victory, the notifications of their success didn't bring nearly as much joy to everyone else.
—The [Crimson Witches] have successfully cleared the [Goblin's Den] by defeating the boss.
—Dungeon clearing rewards have been distributed to all participating players.
—Since none of the other teams participated in the final battle on the boss floor, their contribution and rewards have been greatly reduced!
The continuous notifications left nearly everyone inside the [Goblin's Den] stunned, but none more so than the hero himself.
He didn't even pay attention to the fact that his team was ranked 'second' in the contribution board of the dungeon's first clear, or that their 'rewards' were also quite decent.
To him, none of it mattered as much as the fact that he'd lost.
"They… already cleared it…?" He muttered in disbelief.
Although Darryl already knew it might happen after all the warning signs, it still felt a little unreal.
He 'acknowledged' some of Emilia's skill, but didn't believe she was 'that' good deep down. Otherwise, he would definitely have done everything he could to get her into his team earlier, regardless of the cost, and not taken such a 'laid back' approach.
Now, however, he couldn't help but sigh in regret. 'If only I knew earlier… unfortunately, it's too late... too late.'
Obviously, while the rest of his 'party' didn't know just how much it all mattered to him, they still knew he 'cared' about the game a lot, and were worried that the news would make their 'leader' sad.
"Darryl… are you okay…?"
His gaze turned dark for a moment, then, he turned around to face his team with a smile, as warm and confident as ever. "I'm perfectly fine, Risa. Perfectly… fine."
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Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om