World Boss VS World Boss (1)
On that day, as the death knell echoed through the deepest level of the underground bunker in Pyongyang, the curtain fell on North Korea's dictatorship that had endured for eighty years. Chinese President Wang Chunfeng curved his lips into a smile.
"Perfect timing."
Two world bosses had appeared in Korea, and now the North Korean regime was crumbling. There was no reason to delay. Astría Online dominated global player numbers like no other game. And among nations, China boasted the most players by far. It was time to mobilize the ten million players he'd prepositioned near the North Korean border—from F-rank scrubs shy of level 1,000 to S-rank elites pushing past 6,000.
He contacted command and issued immediate orders. All for the liberation of North Korea's suffering people. And for the dream of one united China.
"Hah... hah...!"
Lee Cheol-ho, a 34-year-old ordinary civilian, ran for his life down the road, pouring every ounce of strength into his legs.
Wheeeeeen!
Sirens screamed like they were ripping through eardrums. Glass shattered wildly amid the tremors. Monsters roared and howled. The survivor outpost had plunged into total panic.
"This way! Over here!"
Players waved frantically everywhere, guiding people to shelters. Even their faces were etched with urgency and fear. In the distance, an overwhelming roar boomed.
-Weaklings! Become the mountain of flesh for this body!
"Eek!"
The massive shockwave from that voice rattled the high-rises. World boss Ketehon, was it? Fuck if I know! If we stay here, we're all dead!
His breath burned up to his jawline. His legs ached like they might snap. A mother clutched her crying child as she ran. Young men gritted their teeth and sprinted. A son pushed his grandmother's wheelchair. People supported the wounded. The four-lane road was a sea of desperate footsteps.
Then, in that instant—
BOOM!
"No, don't go that way!"
"Gaaahhh!"
Chaos erupted behind them on the road, thick dust billowing up. Metal clashed violently, magic exploded, and players screamed in desperation. A 20-meter monstrosity radiating murderous intent smashed through the tankers' defensive line and advanced.
"H-hic!"
Lee Cheol-ho paled and stumbled back.
A world boss!
Ketehon's blue pupils blazed at the survivors.
-Kuhahaha! So many rats hiding!
Terror seized Lee Cheol-ho; he just bolted blindly, legs moving on instinct. He knew there was no shaking that behemoth.
The upheaval came then.
KABOOM!
Something plummeted from the sky without slowing, slamming into the road ahead and blocking their path. Lee Cheol-ho's hairs stood on end. From the front came a storm of aura far more overwhelming than Ketehon's—intensely so.
Kuoooo!
What the hell is that?!
The air turned blood-red, swirling in a vortex. A crimson aura surged skyward with world-piercing force. The people ahead recoiled in horror, revealing the figure clearly: a girl striding forward majestically, gripping a sword forged of blood in one hand.
"Sertina!"
Terrorized citizens staggered back in disarray. On one side, Ketehon approached, pulverizing everything. On the other, the infamous strongest world boss, Sertina, advanced.
Fuck, where do I go?!
A true dilemma, trapped front and back. Then, one of the young men ahead shouted.
"Screw it, whatever!"
He squeezed his eyes shut and bolted straight toward Sertina. He'd judged her side safer than Ketehon's. The watching crowd stirred.
"Come to think of it, they say Sertina doesn't harm the innocent."
"Maybe Sertina's side is better."
Lee Cheol-ho steeled himself inwardly. The citizens all shifted. Not toward the deep-sea beast sealed in chains, Ketehon—but toward the strongest, most vicious world boss in history, Sertina. That one youth's ripple had swelled into an unstoppable wave.
The citizens ran past me, fleeing. They'd made their choice. To trust me over Ketehon.
Watching them, it hit me anew: their wariness toward me isn't what it used to be.
I tightened my grip on the sword hilt. Blood Eater's blade ignited explosively in response to my emotions.
Yeah. Since you trust me... I'll gladly live up to it.
I stared straight into Ketehon's eyes. Sensing the ominous aura pouring from me, it didn't charge immediately. Instead, it tested me with a massive roar.
-Who are you! Move, or I'll tear you apart alive!
"Can't do that."
I shot back coldly.
-You dare challenge the ruler of the abyss!
"Yeah? Then why crawl up from the ocean floor? Stay buried forever."
Blue fissures veined its black bulk, glowing brighter. I spotted intense mana gathering at its maw.
-Don't get cocky!
Grrrrumble!
Its gaping jaws unleashed a blue energy sphere that could incinerate anything. I heightened my senses, scanning around. Citizens who hadn't evacuated yet. If I dodged, they'd all get swept up.
I reversed my grip on the hilt and swung fiercely, cleaving the sphere in two.
Thud!
The halves veered off, slamming into buildings. Explosions poured concrete debris like waterfalls from the walls.
Ketehon's pupils narrowed vertically.
-You're no ordinary fool.
Its wariness and killing intent thickened. I felt the people's presences receding via ground tremors and air vibrations.
Good. That distance should keep them safe.
I locked eyes with Ketehon again, surveying the devastation it'd wrought. Clothes and shattered glass littered the shopping street. Buildings slumped, exposing twisted rebar skeletons. Waves of merfolk flooded the ground.
"This your handiwork?"
I nodded toward it. Satisfied with the carnage, it bellowed a laugh.
-Indeed. I'll churn this pathetic surface and build my new kingdom!
"Right."
I rolled my shoulders, loosening up. No idea what its lore was—none of my business.
I resolved: You're getting beat today.
I infused mana and stomped the ground hard.
Boom!
A massive crater formed where I'd stood, and I rocketed forward like a meteor streaking through the night sky. I savaged its bloated, punchable frame with wild slashes of Blood Eater.
Shwick shwick shwick!
The blood blade traced eerie arcs. World boss, huh? Tough one. Should be fun to break.
-Grk! Insolent brat!
Ketehon roared skyward, unleashing a spherical ultradense mana wave. Nearby buildings crumbled instantly. I pulled back slightly—
Pop!
—then charged again, a hundred crimson blades sprouting from my back.
-Wh-what is this...!
Ketehon recoiled in shock. My lightning speed was invisible. Each strike rocked its massive body, HP chunking away. The power from my small frame was unbelievable.
-Don't get smug!
Five bluish orbs materialized above its head, each car-sized and blazing like suns.
"Oh?"
I memorized the spell's formation: shape, output, trajectory, intensity. Calculated, then moved.
Kaboom!
High-power energy beams rained like a storm. I calmly traced the precomputed paths, dodging each one.
Boom boom boom!
Blue smoke engulfed the ground in seconds. I wall-jumped to a rooftop. Then—
Smoke parted as hundreds of teeth lunged.
-Kuhaha, got you!
Its massive maw chomped the rooftop I'd just vacated, crumpling the building like an empty box underfoot.
Crunch!
Debris exploded into dust clouds. I reached skyward.
"You're focusing too much on me, don't you think?"
In battle, you can't fixate solely on the enemy before you. Monitor the field constantly.
"Apocalypse Meteor, power-modified, fifty of 'em."
The sky quaked, scorching heat plummeting. Its failure to read the battlefield. Ultrahigh flames overturned the area, vaporizing everything in range.
Not just once. Fifty times. Meteoric barrages blurred the line between earth and sky.
Somehow surviving, Ketehon thrashed.
-Grk, die!
"No chance."
Clang!
I parried its savage claws with Blood Eater. Its arm muscles ballooned. But it couldn't beat me with any one thing.
-How dare you!
The blood blade severed its wrist.
-A worm like you!
The blood-forged sword pierced one eye.
-Against this body!
A chunk of its bulk burst under my fist.
Thud.
It finally dropped to one knee. I unleashed merciless fury.
Boom boom boom!
-Graaah!
A hundred blood spears impaled its body. Concrete dust shrouded us like smoke.
Its remaining blue eye blazed in final defiance.
-I'll end you!
It gathered its last strength and lunged. Its 20-meter bulk eclipsed the sun, casting shadow.
"Useless."
I gripped the hilt reverse. Blood Eater erupted, radiating destructive force.
"You and I."
Upswing stance.
"From the start."
Space warped.
"Are on different levels."
Ziiing!
White noise rattled ears. The overwhelming strike devoured sound itself, slamming into Ketehon. Followed by unimaginable thunder.
A long sword scar etched across Busan's blue sky.