End Online: Volume 4 (4 page)

“So this is it!” I exclaim
in amazement.

“Two hours of walking.
This place is simply too large.” Verde lowers her head and sighs.

The room is easily twice
the size of any of the other hunting areas. A carpeted staircase spans a third
of the room, running in a straight line up to the second story. Large
quantities of empty bookshelves are lined against the left hand wall of the
room, while the right hand side of the room has rows of innumerable stained
glass windows.

A shiver runs down my
spine and I can almost feel the presence of a pair of malevolent eyes resting
on me. I stare up at a few of the stained glass windows, trying to see through
them and into the endless abyss behind them.

Unfortunately, with all
the light being brighter inside the room. The only thing I can see is the
reflection of the ceiling.

“Am I the only one that
feels like we are being watched?” I nervously ask out loud.

“I’m sure you are just
imagining it.” Verde gives a slight smile.

“This is a boss room after
all,” Mason says while nodding. “Perhaps you are getting weird vibes from
that?”

“No. It actually feels
like something is watching.”

“I have no idea then. I
don’t have any strange feelings of someone watching.”

With that our conversation
ends. We walk up the staircase and enter into the second floor shortly
afterwards. The second floor is the same as the first floor. The layout of
corridors and hunting room as well as how crowded it is almost makes me feel
like I am still on the first floor.

The only difference with
this floor is the monsters. This floor has red-winged gremlins and some form of
shadow demon that can hide itself in the shadows and render physical attacks
useless. It is a very difficult enemy for someone like myself who relies on
physical attacks.

Just like on the first
floor, we ignore the enemies and players around us and head to the next room.
We follow this process until we finally reach a staircase leading to a higher
floor.

Entering the third floor,
I notice an immediate change. The light level here is considerably lower than
that of the levels below. The decorative patterns along the ceiling and other
small things have changed slightly as well.

‘No point worrying
about it too much,’ 
I think to myself
while following Mason’s lead.

We leave the upper
staircase room and enter into some kind of cylindrical antichamber. The ceiling
is the standard ten meters tall, but it has lifelike carvings of people
crawling over each other and waging war with each other. The sight is
incredibly disturbing and it distracts me long enough to not notice the
approaching enemy which easily lands a sneak attack, removing nearly half my
health.

“W-what!” I cry out,
staggering back away from the creature. “Creature Analysis!”

I hurriedly retreat away
from the ‘Little Devil’. It is a small, one meter tall humanoid demon wielding
a pitchfork taller than itself. Its skin is pitch black, much like you imagine
a demon would look, with a few white tattoos on the side of it’s face.

A look of shock appears on
my face when the devil suddenly vanishes in a wisp of black smoke. Another
short burst of smoke and it reappears next to me, trident poised to thrust.

As the killer attack
pierces the air in front of me. I don’t have the time nor skill to silently
cast one of my skills before the attack hits me. All I can see is the cruel
look on the devil’s face and a flash of black.

A faint tremor passes through
the ground and into my body. Immediately before the attack hits, my body pulses
with a pale blue light, and a cobalt sigil shaped like a shield appears in
front of the attack. The weapon collides with the shield and sparks fly, but
the defense outweighs the offense. The devil’s weapon chips slightly from the
collision and the attack is completely nullified.

“Wow! That was
incredible!” Matrix exclaims towards Prince Charming.

‘He must have been
the one who cast that defense!’ 
I
immediately piece together what happened in my mind. 
‘It only lasted a
moment, but that was an absolute defense.’

“Hmph,” the prince snorts
while turning his head away, but not before sending me a challenging look of
pride, as if to say, “Just look, I have become even better than you!”

I open my inventory and
withdraw a few healing herbs while turning away and looking at all the other
players in the area. They are all currently busy fighting their own ‘Little
Devils.’ Each and every single party has at least two heavy tanks that will
fight with their shields up and cover at least two directions. While covering
as much area as possible, it makes it difficult for the enemy to suddenly
teleport into a blind spot.

A few players who finish
their battles send a glance or two toward us. Most of them simply go back to
their own business. But a few start to murmur.

“Hey, isn’t that…”

“…Yeah, I think it is.”

“Is the bounty still
active…?”

“It is! I just checked!”

“Be careful! He is
supposed to have some strange abilities!”

I may not have paid
attention to the first few players, but how can I possibly not notice when so
many players are whispering?

“Everyone. I know it
may be beyond us, but I want to go up to the fourth floor,” 
I say through the party chat.

The rest of the party also
notice the dangerous looks I am getting and immediately agree.

We hurriedly rush out of
the room and into a corridor. There are shining grey suits of armour lined up
along the corridor, but at least there isn’t a creepy carving on the ceiling in
this  room.

“I trust you know the way
to this portal?” I ask Mason, who is standing slightly in front of us

“I do.” He says with
conviction.

We pass through the
corridors slowly, more alert than on any of the other floors. There are notably
less players on the third floor, and as such, a lot more rampant monsters
waiting for prey, so we must be careful.

We encounter a few more
Little Devils along the way. We all team up to jointly kill the first two,
while Fen, Mason and I handle the second two. I fight a fifth devil all by myself,
redeeming my humiliation from the first ‘Little Devil’. It was a tough battle
thanks to the devil constantly teleporting into my blind spots and firing pitch
black flames at me.

“We are finally here,”
Mason says while looking at the door in front of us, puzzled.

I walk forward and attempt
to push on the door but Mason interrupts me. “Sorry, but I don’t think we can
go any further. The door is completely shut, meaning the third floor boss
inside must have revived.”

“We will go slay it then!”
Prince Charming draws his sword and walks over to join me.

Fen is already beside me,
so now the party is split in half.

“I want to join in as
well.” Verde chimes in with a stunning smile. She walks over to me and tips the
balance of the parties decision 4 against 2.

“Fine!” Mason cries out.
“But don’t complain to me when we all die!”

I lean my hand against the
door and gently push it open. With a crisp click, the door swings on it’s
hinges and the empty room suddenly sucks in all the air from outside, sweeping
us into the room in the process.

The room is pitch black at
first, but slowly a few, large, candlelight chandeliers light up and illuminate
the space.

At the far end of the
room, standing in front of the massive staircase is a suit of armour three
meters tall and wielding a blood red axe just as big.

“Creature Analyze!” I call
out.

“He appears to be a melee
fighter. Everyone, be careful of his sacred arts!” I call out to the party,
readying myself to attack at a moment’s notice.

The door behind me
silently swings shut, and upon closing, releases the sound of a lock falling
into place.

-Lost-

As soon as the draft of
wind entering from outside stops, I turn my head to see the entrance door is
closed. To my dismay, the door also lacks a handle. Fully realizing this is a
life or death battle, I dedicate every ounce of concentration I have to the
boss in front of me.

The boss, ‘Quicksilver
Warlord’, is patiently waiting. It has two hands gripped on the upper section
of the massive battle axe’s handle just below the axehead.

“Fen, Mason, you attack
from a distance. The rest of us will get up close and keep its attention.
Together!” I call out to the others, dashing forward at a speed nobody else can
keep up with.

The moment we spring into
action, the boss also reacts. It raises its enormous weapon and holds it
horizontally. Being the first person to enter its attack range naturally makes
me the first target. With the boss holding the weapon directly below the axe
head, its speed is considerably higher than it should be.

Unfortunately for the
boss, it is only attacking my afterimage which disperses into mist upon contact
with the blood red weapon.

“Lost! Look out!” Mason
shouts from a distance as he starts firing a volley of arrows at the boss.

Almost faster than the eye
can follow, I see a pitch black pole swinging toward me. I immediately
recognize what it is.

‘The axe! The boss
holds it so high up the handle that he can use the extra length of handle
itself as a weapon!’

With no time to dodge, I
instinctively raise my hands to protect myself. With my swords in hand, I
attempt to block the blow. Of course, how can I possibly block such a massive
attack from a boss when I can’t even block an attack from a skeleton?

In front of me, a twelve
inch thick wall of ice rises from the ground to block the attack. To my dismay,
the axe handle shatters the wall like glass without slowing down. As it collides
with my weapons, I get the feeling that I am an ant trying to push against a
mountain.

My defensive stance is
destroyed as my arms are blown out the side and the axe handle directly
collides with my chest. A few cracks echo from my chest as I am thrown across
the room and into one of the walls like a ragdoll. In the corner of my view, I
see a small yellow debuff icon with the image of a broken bones.

Thanks to the developer’s
legal requirements when creating the device, they can not simulate real pain in
the game. The entire blow from the axe handle and even the broken bones are
only felt as a stinging sensation.

‘Strange, I have
actually felt genuine pain from Fen before…’ 
I am curious as to how that works, considering the game has no
pain function.

However,  there is
nothing stopping the developers inserting other functions into the game to
affect the player. The attack took away eighty percent of my health instantly,
leaving me extremely dizzy; almost as if the entire room before me is spinning.

As soon as I regain my
senses, I stand back up and realize Fen is next to me. I try to move towards
her, but every time I make a movement my chest area is overcome by a tightness
that seems to prevent me from moving quickly.

“Tch,” I click my tongue
in dissatisfaction.

Everyone else is battling
the boss effectively. Matrix is looking a little worse for wear, but Verde is
launching quick, accurate strikes to the joints in the boss’s armour while
occasionally taking a few steps back to launch a couple of crossbow bolts from
a safe distance. Prince Charming powerfully thrusts his longsword at the boss
while protecting Verde from whatever attack may come. I feel incredibly sour
that I was knocked away as soon as I engaged the boss.

I withdraw a few of the
‘Yellow Medicinal Herbs’ from my inventory and immediately consume them. My
health slowly recovers and my vision becomes clearer every second.

“Lost, are you okay?”
Mason turns his head away from the battle to glance over at me.

“Yes, I am now. Sorry, I
was caught completely off guard.”

“This is a serious
boss battle. Don’t rush off ahead of the team, else this will happen,”
 the prince joins the conversation, speaking over the party
channel in a dissatisfied voice.

“Sorry, I got ahead
of myself.”

“How bad is your
condition? That looked incredibly painful.”

“I’ve already eaten
some of my higher quality herbs so my health is slowly recovering. But I have
three broken ribs that have slowed down all my movements and a few other
debuffs.”

“Tch, all because you
decided to rush out first!” 
Prince
Charming complains vehemently, but still raises a hand to extend an open palm towards
me.

A white light shines from
his hand and before I realize what is going on, my broken ribs are fully
healed.

‘To silently cast
such a spell, how has he improved so much in such a short time?!’ 
I am truly shocked at how much stronger he is compared to when I
previously fought next to him.

With my speed restored, I
dash back to confront the boss. By now, the other party members have taken off
twenty percent of its health. The suit of armour displays movement that
completely betrays its bulky appearance. From one attack to the next, its
movements are flawless.

Stepping forward, the boss
swings the axe down diagonally. Instantly reversing the direction of attack,
the sharp glint of the weapon grazes past as it continues the swinging motion
to use the axe handle as a follow up attack. The boss’s attacks aren’t limited
to the weapon either, bringing forward the rear foot to sweep at the nearest
player quite often.

Each attack joins
seamlessly onto the next, giving us little opportunities to attack. Once I rejoin
the battle and Fen goes back to launching her ice bolts at the boss, the tides
slowly start to turn more in our favor.

As soon as we get the boss
down to sixty percent health, he reveals one of his sacred arts. I use
‘Perceptual Sight’ as soon as the boss’s battle axe glows with a fiery red
light. Time around me seems to slow down while the boss takes a step back and
swings the weapon horizontally across all of us.

We all move backwards and
easily avoid the attack but I can’t help but feel restless; there should be
more than that to a boss’s sacred art.

The quicksilver warlord
continues the attack, turning around in a full circle to swing again. Already
expecting the attack to come, we all quickly move back once more. Thanks to
perceiving my surroundings at a higher level than everyone else, I notice a
decisive difference between the last swing of the axe and this one.

“Get back further!
Quickly!” 
I shout across party chat
in a panic.

As the boss tuned in a
circle to release the second attack, the grip in its battle axe had changed
from just below the axe head to the base of the handle. This increased the
range of the attack range by a full two meters.

All party members show
confused faces before following my actions and jumping back at high speed. Barely
a few breaths afterwards, the weapon passes through where we were only moments
ago. From the attack, a powerful wind shoots through us. I am buffeted by the
force and lose a minute amount of health, but everyone else who moved after I
had are still in the air and get blown back ten meters.

I don’t get the
opportunity to worry about everyone else as the boss’s attack still isn’t
finished. The quicksilver warlord alters the path of the swing, bringing the
axe over its head to come slamming down towards me.

“Backstab!” I shout,
instantly appearing behind the boss with my shortswords poised to attack. I
thrust the blades through a gap in between two pieces of armour as it smashes
its battle axe down on the false image of myself. The attack hits the ground, causing
cracks to form up to three meters away from the point of impact.

My heart quivers at seeing
the destructive power of that attack. Pulling out my blades with little
resistance, I move back in order to avoid it’s next attack.

Just as I predicted, the boss
spins around and swings the battle axe at me. Fortunately for me, the attack
only finds empty space as I have already moved back beyond the attack range.

“Is everyone
okay?” 
I ask through the party
chat.

Everyone confirms their
conditions as they join back into the battle.

The quicksilver warlord
reveals its second sacred art at forty percent health. With the weapon glowing
the same crimson light, a solid line of red is formed in the air from a single
horizontal slash. The line is currently lingering in the air at eye level

“Huh, what’s this?” I
ponder aloud, finding the attack curious.

The attack in and itself
appears deadly enough, but we were not within the attack range when it
activated. It only takes a moment for me to realize what is happening.

There is no time to warn
the others as I drop to the floor as fast as I can. The solid crimson line in
the air passes directly over my head and I get a proper glimpse at the attack.

Above my head, and arrow
shaped wave of energy tears through the air, creating turbulent winds and
pushing me into the ground as it passes by. The attack is paper thin so when
looking directly at it, it appears to be a single line in the air. This also
created the illusion that it is not moving.

After fighting for nearly
half an hour, we eventually kill the boss.

As I deal the final blow,
the giant suit of armour crumbles apart one piece at a time. In the span of
about ten seconds, a large collection of armour piles up in front of us.
Without wasting any time, we immediately snatch it up and sort it according to
how valuable each piece is.

Despite the large
collection, only the gauntlets and boots are of value. The rest of the items
are only of ‘common’ rarity. The greatest reward, however, is the large amount
of experience we all received. Killing a boss is different from standard
enemies; the experience is equally shared between everyone. We all gain two
levels from the battle, except for the prince who barely receives one due to
his higher level.

Browsing through the boss
loot, I first bring up the details of the two most important items.

Both items have a green
border around them, indicating they are of ‘epic’ rarity.

“These two items are
actually quite popular,” Mason chuckles lightly after seeing the item
information. “The only downside is that there are a few of them for sale so the
price is a little more competitive. You are quite lucky to have the boss drop
both of these items, usually not even one will appear.”

“So how do we decide who
gets what?”

“You’re the leader, it’s
your call.”

“Well, I dealt the
finishing blow to the boss so I will take one, and Matrix took the most damage
so he can have the other. Consider it a favor to me so I will give up the next
item drops to the rest of you.” I say modestly.

Truthfully, I really want
all the items for myself. The more items I got, the more money I could make.
But, we are working together as a party and I know I must be fair with item
distribution.