This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

Right... That's concerning.

The fact that the debuff seemingly ended in us eating a one-shot raid-wide was going to be a problem and a half. Add to that the increase in walking speed that [EXPEDIENCE] was going to give her, then she might as well be a brick wall stopping us from moving forward.

"So, any plans on how to get through this?"

Guidance shrugged. "We do the same thing we've always done, I guess. [Bind] still works even if it isn't as effective as before, so you just keep shooting at her while I focus more on keeping us alive."

"Fair enough," I nod. "Shall we then?"

"Go ahead."

With Guidance's consent, I aimed my sights at the boss and opened fire. As usual, we danced through the first few minutes of the fight, pelleting the woman with shots and attacks as we slowly whittled down her health.

[ENEMY HP: 82%]

All the while, I kept an eye on the boss's health. If I remembered correctly, that [OBSERVED] status effect was going to come out at around under 80% of her health. By then, she would also then cast [EXPEDIENCE] and give her the walking speed of a running cheetah.

"I've had enough of this!"

[CHAIN STRATAGEM: 22%]

"Nobody can escape my purview!"

Using her previous lines as a trigger, Vesper gave us the [OBSERVED] status effect once more. It wasn't a debuff, at least, but it being a timer did little to assuage my nerves upon seeing it being applied.

"Move swiftly!"

[EXPEDIENCE: 22%]

[*FWOOSH!*]

And just like last time, the Head Intellect went ahead and buffed herself up again. The blue aura surrounding her swirled with the speed of a tempest, seemingly acting like a shield despite doing little to block my blood bullets.

"[Bind]!"

But of course, that didn't mean that we already knew what to do. "Alright, we're back where we last wiped."

"Just keep your eyes open for anything that might help," Guidance reminded me even as she kept on repeatedly casting [Bind] on the boss. "We'll have to learn on the fly. Without anything that can help us, our eyes and your HUD are the only sources of information we've got."

"Got it."

So I did just that. Keeping my uptime high, I kept a careful eye on the boss's [HP]. At the same time, I counted down the [OBSERVED] status effect to see if there was anything we could do to maybe try and stop it. With each passing second, the window of opportunity to act dwindled just as fast as the boss's health bar. And beyond chasing us around at an increased speed, nothing significantly new has even happened. Eventually...

[*CHIME*]

"I've got everything I need."

My ears perked up at whatever it was that Vesper said. It coincided right when the status effect faded. Not that we even did anything, but it probably meant that the raid-wide Guidance talked about was just about to go off.

"I see... So that's your weakness..." the boss audibly muttered to herself. "There will be no escaping now..."

"That's the raid-wide!" Guidance called out. "[Adloqium!] [Adloqium]!"

Feeling the barrier [Move] envelop my body, I waited for the inevitable cast that the Head Intellect was bound to do. I didn't let up with my attacks, of course, but I also prepared myself to cast [Shroud] in case Guidance's barrier immediately failed.

[ENEMY HP: 72%]

Looking at the boss's [HP], we still had a lot to go to clear this fight. Not sure if it would just be us running around again, but it was-

[DEPLOYMENT TACTICS: 23%]

Oh. So this is it, huh...

"Now fall!"

[*BBBRRRRRRLLBBBBBB!!!*]

Raising my arms up, the fact that we didn't immediately die was already far different from what Guidance just told me earlier. Also, what happened was clearly not a raid-wide. In fact, it didn't even damage us at all!

"W-Wait, this isn't what happened last time..." Guidance mumbled in confusion.

"No kidding," I scoffed. "You died to this earlier, right?"

"Yeah! It even played that sound from earlier!" she ranted. "It sounded like the world itself was being rewound or something."

[STATUS: DEPLOYED: 30 SECONDS]

Wait... What is this now?

"What is it, Moriya?"

I gave Guidance a passing glance. She probably noticed me spacing out for a bit. "We have a new status effect. [DEPLOYED] supposedly."

"Move swiftly!"

[EXPEDIENCE: 55%]

But before I could read whatever it was that the status did, the boss had cast her quick-moving buff again.

"She's casting [EXPEDIENCE] again," I called out.

"Guess I'll have to spam [Bind] again."

Hearing her sigh almost made me chuckle just as I began my salvo again. And just like that, we were back to where we started, running around looking like idiots while making sure that the boss wouldn't be able to hit us with that cane of hers. At the back of my mind, however, that [DEPLOYED] debuff kept on counting down without a care in the world. I didn't feel any different, but I was sure that something was going to happen by the time it reached zero.

Also, "Guidance, have you tried dispelling the debuffs yet?"

"I kind of have my hands full here," she scoffed. "Unless you want to try running in full sprint while I try and do it, then we'll just have to let it count down."

I frowned at the answer I got. Then again, it was understandable seeing just how quickly this boss kept on chasing after me. She was just too fast for us to even get some breathing room, and there was no way that we'd be able to stand still and take a hit.

[STATUS: DEPLOYED: 3 SECONDS]

"It's about to pop, Guidance," I winced as I stared at the debuff. "We have around two seconds until-"

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"So... We died again..."

"Don't rub it in, idiot..."

I chuckled at Guidance's expense as we found ourselves back to where we started. That was by far the most silent and boring death I've ever had in this world so far. It was clear that it was that [DEPLOYED] status effect's fault that we died, but without the dev even trying to dispel the damn thing, we wouldn't know if it would even work.

"You should've tried to dispel it," I pointed out. "I would've done exactly what you told me if you just gave me a warning for it."

"And how in the hell would I know that you would?" she fired back with a pout. "You didn't tell me anything except ask me if I did just that."

I let out a sigh as I found myself crossing my arms over my chest. Back to square one with yet another mechanic that needed solving. While that [OBSERVED] thing didn't do anything to us back on that last one, the fact that Guidance died was an anomaly that needed solving still. Perhaps it would give us clues as to how this [DEPLOYED] thing worked.

"Fine, it's my fault then," I waved her off. "Anyway, what happened back there? We didn't die like you did on your run."

"I know," she frowned. "That status effect clearly got solved, but how?"

I hummed in thought. "Maybe it's because we're both alive this time?" I suggested. "I was dead the first time, right?"

"Possibly, but I find it hard to believe that it'd be that simple though," she mumbled. "I don't think-"

"You do realize that the Engine has been proven to make sh1t up as it pleased, right?" I cut her off, having already guess what she was about to say. "You were going to say that you've never designed something like that in terms of mechanics, weren't you."

Guidance sighed. "Fine then... Maybe the Engine decided to create yet another mechanic boring enough to be solved that easily. Still, that doesn't mean we're already correct."

I couldn't help but agree. I could already tell that [DEPLOYED] was something directly related to the [OBSERVED] status. Not that I needed to voice it out loud anymore with how obvious it was.

"Dammit... If only we could see a replay of how we died," Guidance grumbled. "You didn't even get to read the description of the damn thing."

"Should we just pull and see what happens then?" I promptly suggested. "Sure, we might not clear this thing, but we'll get some information at least."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Not like we have a choice anymore."

I shrugged. Well, once more into the fray then...

Aiming my sights at the boss, I went ahead with my usual opener and took aggro. All the while, I mentally prepared myself for a very long session of experimentation and trials. We were going in blind, and this was already starting to shape up to be the most mechanic-filled boss we've ever fought so far. Without the convenience of guides or even replays, we were going to have to wing it till we made it.

In short, we had to be prepared to die for science. A lot.

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