Chapter 86: Hopeless Late Night

Greenland entered a frantic state of rapid breathing, while Blaze controlled his pace, wandering unhurriedly. The Bat Giant, however, remained leisurely. Its attacks seemed less aimed at eliminating Blaze and Greenland, and more about showing off its hideous, twisted body to them.

"Look! This beautiful body of mine is the true form of the Silver King!

"No longer tortured by the pathetic bestiality in the blood, I am a perfect existence!"

"I only see a Monster!"

Blaze slashed open the Bat Giant’s throat with his Twisted Greatsword. Blood spurted out once again, but this time, a Transformation occurred.

From the blood pooling on the ground, two hideous and terrifying humanoid creatures crawled out.

[Filthy Offspring Level 50]

"Summoning Followers!?" Blaze was startled. This Summoning Ability was similar to Romeo’s, except the Black Shadow Werewolves Romeo summoned were almost as strong as himself.

"This is exactly the Desecrated Body, the Vampire’s privilege—the Blood River! I summon my food from the blood to serve as puppets under my command!" The Bat Giant laughed triumphantly, but upon seeing the appearance of the Filthy Offspring, a look of disgust crossed its face. "What an ugly appearance."

The Bat Giant clenched its two massive claws, and the Filthy Offspring exploded into a puddle of foul-smelling black blood.

"Not only did you eat your own children, but you also continue to torture them after they die?"

The arm Blaze used to grip the Twisted Greatsword trembled. In contrast to Blaze’s Anger, Greenland cast all her emotions aside, keeping her eyes fixed on the Bat Giant’s Life Value.

When the Bat Giant killed its two Filthy Offspring, its terrifying Life Value dropped.

It wasn’t a loss of health from taking damage; instead, its maximum Life Value had decreased.

"Blaze, this is bad," Greenland said, the corners of her mouth twitching upward uncontrollably—her reflex when facing extremely dangerous situations. "This guy is a large-scale raid boss, completely the opposite type of Romeo!"

"What do you mean?"

"Romeo relies on Consume MP to summon followers with the exact same strength as himself. The more enemies there are, the more followers he summons, so it’s best to fight him one-on-one.

"But this guy summons based on the number of enemies, consuming its maximum HP. The more people challenging it, the easier it is to defeat. But there are only two of us!"

"Then we’ll just have to bite the bullet and fight! There’s no way other Foreigners will cross an entire territory and rush to Lai Kaion City to help us!" Blaze roared, swinging his Twisted Greatsword to engage in a dogfight with the Bat Giant once more.

He could handle the Bat Giant’s attacks. Rather, it was quite easy for him. The Bat Giant seemed to have only completed its body today, possessing neither the ferocity of a Werewolf nor the eeriness of a Vampire.

Strike with the sword to cause bleeding, force the enemy to summon its Filthy Offspring, and then kill the Filthy Offspring to permanently reduce the Bat Giant’s maximum Life Value.

Blaze repeated these steps mechanically.

It was a long, drawn-out battle, and the hardest part was having to look directly into those hollow, lifeless eyes when killing the Filthy Offspring.

In contrast to Blaze, Greenland became increasingly skilled and excited, killing the Filthy Offspring even faster than he did.

The maximum Life Value decreased very slowly, but it did decrease. The Bat Giant was getting anxious.

Yes, it was getting anxious, but apparently for a different reason.

Blaze sensed something was off, but was immediately infuriated by the Bat Giant’s next move.

The Bat Giant actually grabbed its own Filthy Offspring, bit off its head, and ate it with a loud CRUNCH CRUNCH.

Its Life Value recovered slightly.

"Look, great Foreigners! As long as these ugly existences are around, my Life is infinite!"

The Bat Giant swung the half-eaten corpse in its hand arrogantly.

"Great Foreigners, I used you to slaughter the people of Arcadia, eating them to strengthen my own body!

"They are but a flock of bait. I will become the only Arcadian, just like the Silver King Lycan of the past, single-handedly breeding the entire Arcadian race!

"The ugly ones shall be eaten, serving as the bait to prolong my Life!"

Greenland’s response was to pop the cap off a potion bottle, chug an entire bottle of Recovery Item to restore her health, and then violently kill the Filthy Offspring that hadn’t been treated as food.

"We can win. If it’s me and Blaze, we can do this—a hundred-player raid, just the two of us."

Highly focused, Greenland suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

In this highly unrestricted game, defeating a boss heavily relied on understanding the storyline. Sometimes, this was more important than reflex speed and tactics.

She had reaped the benefits of this before, successfully completing Romeo’s hidden boss Transformation and securing the full financial support of Herbie Hermes.

But she had also suffered losses in this regard. During the battle where she obtained the Forgotten Eden Fruit Branch, immense pressure had pushed her into the hyper-focused state of a Professional Player challenging their limits, causing her to overlook the world-building and plot considerations.

Seeing the Bat Giant suddenly accelerate, charging at her with unprecedented speed far exceeding Romeo’s, a thought flashed through Greenland’s mind: "Ah, I messed up."

Then, to make up for her mistake, she began to think of a way to overcome it.

In this open world, there was never just one path to the end. If Belcimann was truly an enemy that required a large number of players to raid together, there had to be a reason for such a setup.

This reason had to include a condition that allowed players to conquer it, a condition she supposedly met. But what exactly was it!

"Not you!!!"

Shedding tears of blood, the Bat Giant opened its gaping maw and viciously bit down at Greenland.

"I told you, don’t tell me I’m missing a crucial plot piece halfway through the fight!" Greenland’s expression turned fierce, and she reached out to pluck the withered apple from her Branch Magic Staff.

"Look over here!"

Blaze descended from the sky, his Twisted Greatsword Piercing through the Bat Giant Beast’s neck. Blood erupted once again, forming two Werewolf soldiers in the air that swung their weapons and Chopped at Blaze.

"Damn it!"

Greenland stopped agonizing over her mistake and tried hard to adjust her rhythm.

But the Bat Giant Beast entered an unimaginably furious Frenzy. Throwing Blaze off, it attacked madly with complete disregard for its own Life.

Relying on its Undying Body, it actively threw itself against Blaze’s Twisted Greatsword, tearing its own flesh time and time again to reduce its maximum Life Value, constantly unleashing its Filthy Offspring.

The Bat Giant’s desperate, ruinous Wild Beast-like posture gradually overpowered Blaze and Greenland. Blaze could stand in the moonlight and constantly be Recovering Health, but Greenland’s Life Value was entering the danger zone.

With more and more Filthy Offspring filling the arena, attempting to use a Recovery Item would plunge her into an even more dangerous situation.

Finally, after enduring a prolonged tug-of-war with Romeo, saying the wrong thing that triggered Belcimann’s Frenzied Transformation, struggling to figure out the correct strategy, and being online for over twelve hours straight, Greenland suffered a moment of absentmindedness.

Like a shark smelling blood, the Bat Giant Beast lunged straight at Greenland.

"Die, evil Foreigner!"

"Don’t even think about it!"

Blaze plunged fiercely into the Shadow World, arriving in front of Greenland in an instant. Swapping his Twisted Greatsword for his Dual Silver Daggers, he stabbed the blades into the Bat Giant’s eyes the moment it pounced.

The piercing pain striking deep into its brain caused the Bat Giant to let out a miserable shriek. Abandoning its attack on Greenland, it slammed into the stained glass window of the King’s Chamber depicting the moon, pushing Blaze along with it.

The sacred moon shattered with a resounding crash, turning into raindrops that sprinkled into the lightless, dark night.

...

At almost the exact same time, outside the Sacrificial Stone Forest, Romeo was caught in a dead end.

More and more Foreigners were appearing.

The initial group, realizing twenty people weren’t enough, called for more companions. The number was now approaching a hundred.

Even so, he was not at a disadvantage.

However, the Foreigners realized that he was trying to guard the entrance to the Sacrificial Stone Forest.

Therefore, he could only block the entrance, while the Foreigners figured out the detection range of his Summoning Followers. Standing just outside that range, they shouted "Cheese!" and relentlessly bombarded him with ranged attacks.

Half of the Foreigners’ faces were hidden in the firelight, leaving only their wide, grinning mouths visible.

The moon gradually receded, and with it went its protection. The wounds on his body could no longer heal in time.

But he would not give up, nor would he fall, because...

"Giving up means going against destiny, right, Mr. Knight?"

He firmly believed that destiny had arranged a beautiful and Light-filled future for the Arcadians, and he had to hold on until that moment arrived.

...

In the forest far from the Sacrificial Stone Forest, a group of Witches wearing black robes, looking like incarnations of evil, were running like zombies.

Their skin was unhealthily pale, and their eyes, traced with dark Eye Line, looked dejected yet eerie.

With extremely low Physical Value, they could run no further. Their legs were as Heavy as lead, yet they did not stop. Like worshippers offering themselves as sacrifices while still fiercely devoted to Demons, they chanted the slogans and Faith that kept them going.

"Shota husband!!!"

"Romeo!!!"

"Huge-X little boy!!!"

Those terrifying, hysterical screams echoed through the forest.

One of the strongest guilds, the Black Witch Order, was about to arrive.