The Start of Round Two
The Star Dragon was a lesser dragon species that resembled a star, just as its name suggested.
Its body shone with brilliant light, twelve spherical stones orbiting around it.
The sight was beautiful.
But it was fatal.
Those twelve stones were, in themselves, a devastating offensive skill and a complete defensive system.
“You’d better be careful. Lasers pour out of those things.”
Twelve beams at once.
Destruction rays packing at least D-grade power. Enough to punch clean holes straight through most players on contact.
And because they were beams of light, their speed was absurd. Not quite the speed of light, but they easily shattered the sound barrier.
In short, the Star Dragon was stronger than any boss monster they had faced so far.
Seong Yujin took a single step back and left it to the 3 No and Kang Mu-hyun’s group.
If he fought in their place just because the enemy was strong, their levels might climb, but they would never truly grow. They had already grown sick of fighting weak multitudes. Now they needed the experience of taking down one genuinely powerful foe.
They had to, if they were going to tear that goddamn end of the world apart.
“…Is that really going to be okay?”
Someone asked.
He didn’t even know the name. One of the three who had luckily latched onto the fly and the junkie and ridden their coattails this far. Not worth remembering, and he had no desire to try.
So he didn’t answer.
He only thought to himself.
Who knows.
Honestly, he held no great expectations for Kang Mu-hyun’s party. They certainly possessed the talent to one day be called Chiyou, but at this point they couldn’t match the 3 No. A little help would be more than enough.
And the 3 No themselves?
It wouldn’t be easy. They might even lose. Jackie… no. The Star Dragon was genuinely that strong. Even Yujin had nearly gotten himself killed fighting the thing in the first timeline.
Still. They have to do it.
Yujin crossed his arms and activated Fighter’s Insight [C].
The 3 No and Kang Mu-hyun’s group were slowly closing the distance on the Star Dragon, tension coiling tighter with every step.
Park Ji-hoo took the lead.
Clad in the crimson Fighting Dragon Armor [C], he charged like a living siege engine. The ground erupted beneath his feet, exploding into a storm of shattered rock.
KA-BOOOOOOM—!
His target was the Star Dragon’s leg.
Bring it down in one shot.
The creature stood roughly seven meters tall—smaller than most bosses he had faced, yet still a giant. To deal real damage, the first priority was always to break its stance. Experience had taught him that much.
Ji-hoo’s eyes locked onto the blazing body, boring into it.
Then—
WOOOOOOM—!
The twelve stones orbiting the Star Dragon began to vibrate.
Alarm bells screamed inside Ji-hoo’s skull.
Lasers, he said.
Seong Yujin’s warning before the fight. Twelve beams at once. Ridiculous speed, even more ridiculous power.
Ji-hoo twisted on pure instinct.
KRAAAAAAAAAAAASH—!
Beams thicker than a grown man’s torso tore through the air.
Ghk—!
He dodged them all. Not a single ray grazed him.
But that didn’t mean he escaped unscathed.
This is too…
Powerful. Even without a direct hit, the shockwaves erupting from the beams’ passage rattled every bone in his body. Blood flooded his mouth with a coppery tang. The defensive power of the Fighting Dragon Armor [C] had been breached—internal injuries, just from the aftershock.
Ji-hoo forced the rising blood back down his throat and drove his foot forward.
The rear is fine.
Lee Sia was there. Nuna would never take damage from something like this. She was far stronger than him.
He worried a little about Kang Mu-hyun’s group, but this was no time to spare them attention.
THOOM—!
He stomped a crushing foot technique into the earth and drove his fist forward exactly as Yujin had taught him. Rotational force born in the sole of his foot climbed through knee and hip and waist until it finally detonated through his arm—amplifying, amplifying, amplifying into pure destructive force.
Thunder Fist [C]
Mana compressed to its absolute limit exploded from his knuckles.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—!
A colossal peal of thunder shook the world. It was the strongest fist technique Ji-hoo currently possessed. With Yujin’s teachings layered on top, its power was literally earth-shaking.
The thunder crushed one of the Star Dragon’s legs into pulp.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!
The beast, already winding up its next attack, howled in unexpected agony.
But that was all. To Ji-hoo’s bitter regret, the Star Dragon’s stance never broke.
Shit…
His face twisted. This wasn’t in the plan. He had been certain the leg would give, or at least force the creature lower. Instead the Star Dragon stood tall on one ruined leg, still glaring down at him with haughty disdain.
FWAAAAAAAAASH—!
Its already brilliant body flared even brighter, flames of pure light roaring higher.
Danger!
A fresh spike of dread lanced through his mind.
That’ll kill me if it lands!
Something every bit as lethal as the lasers was locking onto him. Trusting the armor alone felt suicidal—the mana saturating the air was far too violent.
“Sideways!”
Lee Sia’s shout cracked from behind him. Ji-hoo didn’t hesitate. He kicked off the ground and twisted hard.
WHOOSH—.
Wind sliced past. Sia, black sword in hand, became a streak of darkness and slammed into the Star Dragon—straight at the opposite front leg from the one Ji-hoo had ruined.
The beast’s movements turned frantic. Evasion was impossible. Sia’s Black Flash [D] was no slower than the lasers that had just scoured the battlefield.
PIT—!
A tiny sound. Then a scream of pure agony.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAK—!
The Star Dragon toppled. With both front legs crippled, standing upright was no longer an option. Its massive body began to crash toward the ground in slow, inevitable collapse.
“Nuna!”
Ji-hoo shouted. The creature’s eyes had locked onto Sia. All twelve stones spun into a frenzied blur. At the same time its light intensified until it rivaled the sun itself—a searing radiance no one could look at directly.
The earlier dread returned, stronger than ever. Ji-hoo abandoned thought and moved on pure instinct, driving his feet into the earth and firing a skill straight at the dragon’s head.
Chain Barrage [D]
A rain of fists poured down like a monsoon. Individually the blows weren’t devastating, but dozens—hundreds—of punches every second were more than enough to freeze the Star Dragon’s movements.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG—!
Mana poured from the Champion’s Gloves [C] and hammered the creature’s skull like a cluster munition.
Yet even so, the Star Dragon finished what it had started.
FLASH—!
Was this what a supernova looked like? Scale and true power might not even scratch the real thing, but here and now the explosion was absolute.
Light expanded outward, melting everything it touched. Air. Soil. Stone. Even mana itself. Everything dissolved without leaving a trace.
No!
There was no dodging. Ji-hoo spun desperately, but the light overtook him in an instant. Panic flooded his eyes—
Then Sia’s sharp cry cut through the roar.
Sanctuary Declaration [C]
A pure white light—utterly different in nature from the Star Dragon’s radiance—engulfed the area in a heartbeat. It wrapped around Ji-hoo as well: warm, almost sacred holy light. Against all expectation it completely blocked the Star Dragon’s supernova and shielded him.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSS—!
The collision of the two lights spat out heat so extreme that the air itself warped into visible heat haze far beyond anything they had seen at noon in Ezhara. Space was literally distorting.
“…Nuna?”
Ji-hoo, having barely escaped, called out to her.
“Cough—!”
She was in no condition to answer.
Park Ji-hoo, Vivian, Kang Mu-hyun, Kim Jihye, Lim Ayeong—Sia’s Sanctuary Declaration [C] had protected every single person near the Star Dragon. But it had not protected her.
“Nuna!”
Lee Sia’s body was melting. The Star Dragon’s light had reached her. If she had been even a little more selfish, she could have blocked it completely. Instead, just as she had on the seventh floor, she chose others over herself.
That was Lee Sia’s justice.
“Ah, fuck. That hurts like hell.”
She spat a mouthful of blood and swore. The injury was anything but light. Left alone, it looked severe enough to kill her soon. Even the white armor she almost never wore—the White Oath [C]—hadn’t been enough.
Yet Sia’s expression held no regret. Looking at Ji-hoo, she even seemed relieved.
“You okay? You’re not hurt, right?”
Who the hell was worrying about whom here?
Ji-hoo bit down hard on his lip. Seeing that face, Sia smiled through the blood coating hers.
“Wipe that look off. You think I’m gonna die or something?”
Even with nearly thirty percent of her body gone, she showed not a flicker of fear. The reason was simple.
Financial Healing [C]
FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH—!
Countless dollar bills fluttered through the air like burning talismans and ignited. Money converted into pure mana streaked straight toward Sia.
How much? Ten thousand dollars? A hundred thousand? A million? No one knew. What mattered was that it was more than enough to save her.
Time seemed to reverse. Sia’s melted flesh regenerated at blinding speed. Bone regrew, blood vessels branched outward, muscle and skin layered over them once more.
Ji-hoo’s eyes went wide. He had seen Vivian’s skill several times before, but never a recovery this overwhelming. Financial Healing [C] was not a skill anyone could dismiss as “just C-grade.”
Fully restored in an instant, Sia wiped the blood from her lips and her eyes flashed.
“What are you standing around for? If we don’t move again, that crazy bastard’s gonna yell at us.”
She grinned as if she hadn’t just been one breath from death, then charged—wearing the White Oath [C], gripping Black Wing [B], straight at the enemy.
Watching her almost sacredly beautiful back, Park Ji-hoo suddenly thought of a single phrase.
Sword Empress.
That was what Lee Sia looked like to him. A woman who had crushed countless men beneath her feet and climbed all the way to a king’s throne by the sword alone.
His heart pounded for no reason he could name as he sprinted after her.
Round two had begun.
Hoo…
That had been close.
Yujin casually wiped his palm against the hem of the Moonlit Black God Robe [C]. He hadn’t even realized he’d broken a sweat.
Thought she was dead for a second.
When Sia took the Star Dragon’s Supernova [B] head-on, he had almost failed to hold himself back from charging in. He had never expected her to eat a direct hit like that.
But he had held still.
Because Vivian was there. As long as Sia didn’t actually die, they could bring her back somehow. And he had been right.
Whew—.
He let out a quiet breath of relief inside his chest.
If that kid had died, the whole plan would’ve gone to shit.
Thank god she hadn’t.
A smile he himself didn’t even notice curved Seong Yujin’s lips as he watched the 3 No.