NoveLight ™
In the ever-changing world of online communities, countless posts rise and fall like the tides.
Nothing lasts forever. The phrase *"flowers do not remain in bloom for ten days"* reflects that everything, no matter how glorious, must eventually wither.
As if to prove this, topics that once captured the attention of many within the community eventually faded away.
Useful posts remained to serve as guides for users, while fleeting entertainment posts became things people looked back on, saying, "Oh, remember that?"
This was the natural cycle in the ocean of online communities. However, there was one topic that remained hot for over a week, refusing to cool down.
It was all about the new boss—*The Gravekeeper*.
---
[Gravekeeper Pattern Analysis]
- Slash
- Strong Slash
- Super Strong Slash
- Thrust
- Strong Thrust
- Super Strong Thrust
- Sword Aura Attack
"Give me an upvote if this was helpful."
new) Added: Kick
[Comments]
- "'Skills'? That's for weaklings."
- "Patterns exist for those who can't survive without clinging to them."
- "You want someone like you to use skills? Impossible..."
- "This is a disaster, lol."
- "Also, add kicks to the list."
┗ "Update complete."
┗ *[thumbs-up emoji]*
---
A post analyzing the patterns of the Gravekeeper.
---
[Gravekeeper Raid Team Progress Report]
1st Place: *Hawaiian Pizza is the Best* - 54 seconds
2nd Place: *Atomic* - 49 seconds
3rd Place: *Never War Again* - 48 seconds
4th Place: *Dragon's Tail* - 47 seconds
4th Place: *Eclipse* - 47 seconds
"Listing only the top five teams. At first, *Dragon's Tail* was leading, but it seems they’re living up to their name by trailing behind now. There may be minor differences between them and *Eclipse*, but I rounded off the decimal points, so they’re both in 4th. Currently, *Hawaiian Pizza is the Best* is leading by a significant margin. It looks like they’ll get the first clear at this rate. But, with *Atomic* in second place, they can’t let their guard down."
[Comments]
- "Progress? Really?"
- "Lol, 'progress'..."
- "Is this some kind of pull-up contest?"
┗ "They sure have great stamina, huh?"
- "When everyone else has a 1-2 second difference, and one team has a 5-second lead, that’s pretty overwhelming."
- "Why is *Atomic* in English?"
┗ "It’s a foreign team."
┗ "Oh, got it."
- "What’s up with the first-place team’s name, lol."
┗ "Just try it! You’ll die, haha."
┗ "You must be part of the anti-Hawaiian faction."
- "How much health have they seen?"
┗ "100."
┗ "Huh?"
┗ "100%."
┗ "No significant damage yet."
---
A post sharing the progress of teams attempting to defeat the Gravekeeper.
---
[Is this even fair?]
"Gravekeeper ignores taunts, dodges CC, and targets healers first. Does this seem right? The attack damage is so high that even using party-wide survival skills, we still get one-shot. Using the party’s invulnerability only lets us live two seconds longer. What’s the point? The boss is just badly designed."
[Comments]
- "Just kill it before the healer dies, right? (totally clueless)"
┗ "You're dead to me…"
---
[Why the entry limit?]
(*Screenshot of a message: 'A party is already attempting this challenge.'*)
"The hunting grounds have different channels, but why can only one party enter at a time? Other raids allow multiple parties to enter simultaneously."
[Comments]
- "Yeah, I don't get it either."
---
Posts criticizing various problems with the Gravekeeper, with some players even writing complaints to the game company. But no responses came.
Tired of the silence, players started discussing among themselves, throwing out their thoughts.
---
"Maybe it's some kind of special NPC?"
"Huh? It's not a mob but an NPC?"
┗ "NPC means Non-Player Character, so technically, it includes mobs too."
┗ "Oh, I didn’t know that."
"I heard it might be a main story NPC."
"Maybe we just don’t know the gimmick yet."
"The developers are just bad. We should've known since people were hyping *Silia Online* as a masterpiece. Turns out it's all smoke and mirrors."
"Maybe they’re deliberately making it unbeatable."
┗ "Considering its attack power, that wouldn't be surprising."
"Is this even the kind of boss we’re supposed to beat right now? Maybe we just need to level up more."
┗ "It’s not about the level—it’s the boss itself that’s the problem."
┗ "Ignoring aggro, dodging non-target skills, prioritizing healers, entry restrictions—those are just a few issues."
┗ "It's overpowered, that's for sure."
"The concept is cool, but..."
┗ "I’m curious what it looks like."
┗ "I hope it's an old, dignified sword master type."
┗ "??"
---
Speculations abounded, but no one could provide a clear answer.
With so many unknowns—its name, level, appearance, even its voice—how could anyone definitively say?
The fire ignited by one player’s post still hadn’t died down, kept alive by the fuel of countless other posts.
But then, as if pouring gasoline on the fire, a new piece of news emerged—
---
[Real-Time Boss Update]
The news of the Gravekeeper’s outing.
---
“…The Gravekeeper has disappeared?”
- "Yeah."
- "Yes."
- "It ran away, lol."
"Ran away? What do you mean?"
- "It left its boss room, killed a few people, and then vanished."
- ???: "The best defense is a good offense."
"What the…?"
Even after her viewers explained, Journey couldn’t fully understand and decided to check the internet herself.
Finding the information wasn’t difficult.
Any community remotely connected to *Silia Online* was discussing the same thing.
Journey clicked on the post with the most upvotes.
It featured a familiar figure she’d seen before.
The Gravekeeper, cloaked in a worn-out hooded cape, was descending from a steep mountain.
Unaware of the approaching threat, a group of players ascended the mountain, chatting among themselves and failing to notice how close they were getting to the boss.
["Huh? Why did I enter combat?"]
By the time one player realized something was off and looked up to spot the Gravekeeper, it was already too late.
Splat!
The tank fell, his armor doing nothing to protect him.
The players dropped one after another, completely overwhelmed by the swift and merciless ambush.
The video ended as the sword pierced the chest of the last player recording the scene.
“Uh…”
Journey stared blankly at the screen, where the words "You Died" remained frozen.
“What is this?”
- "We don’t know either."
- "Everyone’s in an uproar over whether it’s fair for the boss to be hunting players."
- "Wasn't this supposed to be a raid?"
- "Lol, yeah."
- "Isn't this a first?"
"Technically, it’s not the first time."
While Journey wasn’t much of a raider, her long experience as a gamer meant she knew a thing or two.
“Some games have bosses that change over time or in response to specific events.”
Some games even staged events where bosses, along with their minions, would attack villages as part of a gradually unfolding apocalypse.
In certain cases, players had to fulfill specific triggers to reveal the boss’s true form and then defeat it.
“These events usually don’t last long though, since extended disruptions would probably annoy players.”
Just enough to give a sense of thrill and excitement.
“Still, it’s intriguing. It doesn’t seem like a bug, considering this is *Silia Online*. There must be some reason behind it.”
- "We trust you, Silman."
- "Silman."
- "Do you doubt Demonin? Do you doubt Demonin? Do you doubt Demonin?"
- "Such blasphemy!"
"Alright, no spamming."
Journey gifted the spamming viewers with a 5-minute chat ban, bringing some peace to the chat.
Satisfied, she stretched her arms with a smile.
“But it is strange. All the top players are failing to land a single hit, right? Not a single one?”
- "It’s not about the first kill. They’re aiming for the first hit, lol."
- "World First Hit, haha."
“Control must be insane. How good must they be with a sword?”
Like many other virtual reality games, *Silia Online* emphasized physical movement and skill.
Blocking, parrying, dodging, attacking, moving—every action felt as if you were really doing it.
While most things could be covered by gear and skills, top players in raids were usually highly skilled at controlling their bodies.
The fact that none of them had managed to land a single hit spoke volumes about the Gravekeeper’s swordsmanship.