Chapter 420 - 420: The Gimmick

Every time Alexander got hit by the boss, more than half of his health would disappear. It was a good thing that Naerith's blessing healed the wounds, but it was a gradual heal, so Lucen could not afford to be hit again.

That was easier said than done. The creature disappeared from the screen. Lucen immediately made Alexander roll to the side. A mass of black and violet limbs struck the ground where he had been standing.

The ground in that area disappeared. That was pretty much an instant death skill.

[Damn]

[That's making the battlefield smaller]

[What is with that attack? If you don't react immediately after he disappears, you'll get hit]

Lucen did not have the time to respond to the chat. The creature disappeared again, forcing Alexander to keep moving. It was an easy enough mechanic to understand; the moment it disappeared, it would reappear where Alexander had been standing.

Lucen was only evading now without attacking as he was trying to figure out what the gimmick of this boss battle was supposed to be. He started looking around the battlefield.

Aside from the spreading holes, the only things covering the battlefield were the violet cracks.

"Hm, maybe those cracks are the key to winning this battle."

[That sounds about right]

[Does anyone else hear those whispering?]

[Yeah, it's kinda creepy]

[Is this the BGM for the battle?]

Lucen could hear the whispers as well. They were too faint to understand, but they did not sound like a single voice. It was as though dozens of people were speaking from the other side of a wall.

"The developers really went all out with this secret route."

[That doesn't sound like music]

[It sounds like someone is talking behind me]

[I took off my headset, and I can still hear it]

[Stop lying]

[Sh*t, this is starting to get really creepy]

Lucen ignored the chat and continued studying the cracks. They all seemed to be connected to the creature. It was like they were feeding the creature something.

"Let me try something."

Lucen's focus sharpened as he dodged every attack coming his way, while guiding Alexander toward a cluster.

The creature disappeared again just as Alexander reached the cluster. Lucen did not roll immediately.

He waited until the black and violet mass began appearing beneath Alexander, then moved at the last possible moment.

The creature struck the ground. The entire cluster disappeared along with it. Then the creature's body flickered.

Several of its limbs broke apart, transforming into distorted fragments before returning to their original shape. Lucen decided to destroy the other clusters, then attack.

The cracks surrounding the missing section started moving. They stretched around the hole, attempting to create a new path toward the creature. Lucen immediately guided Alexander toward the next cluster.

The creature appeared in front of him and spread its limbs across the path. Violet light gathered around their ends before several beams tore through the air.

Alexander twisted between them. One beam passed close enough to distort the edge of the screen, while another struck the ground and left behind a trail of black flames.

The avatar had changed its attack pattern. "Well, that's interesting."

[The boss is protecting the cracks.]

[This AI is insane.]

Lucen changed strategies a little; instead of fully focusing on destroying the violet clusters, he also started attacking the creature, and to everyone's surprise, including his own, the damage this time was not minuscule.

"So you really need to destroy those things."

Black and violet fragments spilled from the creature's body and scattered across the ground. The remaining cracks brightened, but it took several seconds before the fragments began returning.

The destroyed cluster had weakened more than its defense. It had also slowed down its regeneration.

[Come on!]

[So it's that kind of gimmick]

"The road to victory is there. Time to f*ck this guy up."

The creature swept several limbs toward Alexander. Lucen moved between them and struck one with Varkun's Greatsword. The blade severed it, but Lucen did not remain long enough to continue attacking.

He guided Alexander toward the next cluster, but the creature did not pursue him. Instead, it rose into the air.

Its distorted body stretched upward as the black sky twisted around it. The clouds began circling the creature, forming an enormous vortex above the battlefield.

Violet lights appeared inside it. At first, Lucen mistook them for stars. Then one of them grew larger.

"Well, that's nice to look at."

A burning mass tore through the clouds.

The meteor struck the battlefield with enough force to shake the entire screen. Black earth erupted into the air, while a circular wave of violet fire raced across the ground.

Lucen made Alexander jump over it. Before he could recover, another light descended from the vortex, and then another.

[Meteor attack!]

[Meteor Shower]

[This really is a final boss!]

[Look at the shadows!]

Meteors began falling from the vortex. Some were small, while others covered nearly all the remaining ground.

There were no markers telling him where they would land. Lucen had to judge their paths from their falling angles and the shadows racing across the ground.

Lucen forced Alexander into the narrow spaces between them. The first meteor landed behind him, and the second crashed ahead.

The impacts came one after another, shaking the screen so violently that Lucen could barely see Alexander. Black stone and violet fire filled the air.

Each collision sent another shock wave racing across the battlefield, forcing him to dodge the falling meteors while jumping over the waves they created.

[This is amazing!]

[How can an old game be like this]

One of the smaller meteors struck a cluster of violet cracks. The moment it landed, the cracks disappeared beneath the explosion. The creature's body flickered violently.

Its left side collapsed into a cloud of black fragments, and its health bar dropped even though Alexander had not attacked it.

"Almost all the clusters are gone. Just a bit more."

The remaining clusters were gathered close together near the far side of the battlefield.

Lucen guided Alexander toward them while meteors continued falling from the vortex. The creature descended and blocked his path, sending violet beams across the shattered ground.

Alexander slipped between them. A meteor passed overhead, its heat washing across his armor.

Lucen guided Alexander directly toward the largest cluster.The creature disappeared. He waited until the air around Alexander began to distort before rolling away.

The creature crashed into the ground. The cluster vanished. Its body collapsed again, but one thin network of violet cracks remained.

The final cluster was situated between two holes, leaving barely enough space for Alexander to stand.

[One more!]

[Finish it!]

The creature rose into the sky. The vortex contracted above it, gathering every remaining meteor into one burning mass. Violet light swallowed the battlefield.

Lucen positioned Alexander directly over the final cluster. Lucen licked his lips as he stopped glancing at the chat, waiting for the incoming attack.

The meteor grew until it covered nearly the entire sky. There was no direction Alexander could run. The remaining battlefield was too small, and the incoming mass was too large to avoid with an ordinary roll.

[THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DODGE!]

Lucen had already opened the equipment menu.

Alexander had not used magic during the battle. Lucen sacrificed nearly all his magical power, along with part of his remaining vitality, and transferred everything into agility.

The numbers changed. Alexander's body began radiating silver light. The meteor was almost upon him. Lucen closed the menu.

"Let's see how fast you can go."

The burning mass descended. Lucen gripped his controller tighter as he made Alexander move.

The ground shattered beneath his first step. He crossed the narrow strip of land so quickly that his body left several silver afterimages behind him.

The creature appeared in his path. Its remaining limbs spread outward, forming a wall between Alexander and safety.

Lucen did not slow down. Alexander ran along one of the limbs, crossed the creature's distorted body, and jumped from its highest point.

The meteor struck the final cluster. Violet light swallowed the battlefield. The impact erased the remaining cracks and shattered the ground.

The shock wave caught Alexander in the air and hurled him through a storm of black stone and violet fire.

His health dropped to almost nothing. Naerith's Blessing activated. Golden light covered Alexander as he crashed onto the only surviving piece of ground.

Behind him, the creature emerged from the explosion.

Behind him, the creature emerged from the explosion and thrust several limbs toward Alexander.

Alexander blurred to the side. The attacks passed through the silver afterimages he left behind, striking empty ground one after another.

[Attack!]

[Tatakae!]

[f*ck sh*t up!]

Once Alexander's health had recovered, Lucen activated Thalara's Judgment again. He transferred the agility he no longer needed into strength and dexterity.

Lucen started attacking the creature. Varkun's Greatsword tore through its body with every strike. This time, its health dropped significantly, and the wounds left behind did not disappear.

The impossible boss had finally become a normal boss.

The creature attacked desperately, firing violet beams across the remaining ground. Alexander passed between them with ease. His agility had decreased, but Lucen had already memorized the timing.

Varkun's Greatsword severed one arm, then another. The avatar tried to disappear, but its damaged body flickered and returned to the same place.

It no longer had enough power to escape. Alexander stepped inside its reach and drove the greatsword through the darkness at the center of its body.

Golden light erupted from the blade. The creature's health bar emptied. Its corrupted name shattered, and the black and violet body collapsed into countless fragments.

[YOU WON!]

[LET'S GO!]

[FLAWLESS VICTORY!]

[He got hit several times.]

Lucen leaned back in his chair and released the breath he had been holding. "That was a good fight."

Before the victory message could appear, Alexander stopped responding to Lucen's controls. The edges of the screen darkened as the camera slowly pulled away from him. The camera slowly pulled away from him.

The chat continued celebrating, but the fragments of the creature had not disappeared.

They remained suspended above the ruined battlefield, and then they began moving.

Every black fragment gathered around the broken core of the avatar. The many limbs folded into one another, compressing into a smaller shape as violet light burned between the pieces.

The enormous rift behind it started closing. Before it disappeared completely, something moved on the other side.

A single colossal eye opened within the darkness. It stared at the remains of the avatar.

The eye narrowed. A final stream of violet light passed through the collapsing rift and entered the broken core. The rift closed, and then the fragments crashed together.

A humanoid figure slowly rose from the center of the destruction. It was smaller than the creature Alexander had fought before, but the distortion around it had become far denser. Two long arms hung beside its body, each ending in claws that dragged across the ground.

Its body was deep black. Faces pressed against its surface from within, some human and others belonging to animals or creatures Lucen did not recognize. They slid slowly across its body, their mouths stretched open in silent screams.

There were no longer countless unstable limbs. All that power had been compressed into one form.

A second health bar appeared. It was twice as large as the first. [TRUE AVATAR OF %^*@$#]

Lucen stared at the screen, and then he slowly leaned forward again. A grin appeared on his face.

"Of course, there's a second phase."