[No Title Provided]
The undead horde's ultimate army clashed head-on with the player alliance across the Asian front. Flames and ice storms rained down on each other, while roars and battle cries filled the battlefield.
"Die, you corpse bastards!"
"Hell Burst!"
"Now! Tanks, charge!"
"Waaaaah!"
Soldiers clad head to toe in armor surged forward, massive shields leading the way. Clang!Boom! Shields and swords collided in a tense struggle of strength. The ground trembled, and smoke blotted out the sky.
The player commander bellowed into the megaphone. "Archer first wave! Fire and fall back!"
Mana-engineered amplifiers broadcast the order across the entire field. Taut bowstrings snapped, sending thousands of enchanted arrows slicing through the sky in trails of light.
From the high-rises, gunners' rifles cracked without fail. Bang! Rat-tat-tat! A few undead crumpled under the bullets, but others filled the gaps in less than a second, surging like a black tide. The corpses, ignorant of death's terror, marched relentlessly onward.
"Someone help over here! They're overwhelming our firepower!"
"Swordmages, third platoon! Any spare hands, reinforce this sector!"
"No way! There are too many enemies!"
"Th-they're breaking through! Aaaagh!"
"Fall back! Just fall back!"
Undead piled onto the tanks, layer upon layer, intensifying the pressure. Cracks spiderwebbed through the tank line like a crumbling wall, and gaps appeared. The undead poured through, collapsing the formation in an instant.
At that moment, a pitch-black aura spread out like a shockwave. Whoosh—Shhh—
The dark energy seeped into the corpses as if it had a will of its own.
"Grk?"
"Groooar."
The bodies of fallen players rose as undead.
"Damn it! They're rising again!"
"Shit, all we can do is hold out."
Nevaros's necromancy, commanding hundreds of millions of minions, was overwhelmingly powerful. The players could only bow their heads in helplessness.
"Don't lose hope! Sertina's still out there!"
"Yeah, let's just hold until she crushes Nevaros!"
Those cries banished the despair from the players' faces. Sertina was the driving force leading them now.
"Fight to the end!"
"Uwaaaah!"
"Let's see who wins, you fucking bastards!"
Players died and rose as undead. Yet they refused to yield. Even in the face of absolute despair, they poured every ounce of their strength into the brutal fight, blood spraying everywhere. Entrusting all their hope to Sertina.
Without her, they might have despaired and embraced death long ago.
In contrast, Korea's situation was different.
"Run! Don't stop for anything!"
"This way, right?"
Thousands of Korean players raced southward across the fields north of the DMZ. An undead horde outnumbering Korea's population threefold pursued them with eerie footsteps.
They yielded the worthless northern lands to buy time—a strategy to delay combat and minimize casualties. Choi Ah-rin's plan.
"Hey, Jin-myeong. Knees holding up? At forty, they start creaking, huh?"
"Haha, I'm still in my prime! Player stats make stamina insane!"
No fighting. They tossed smoke and flash grenades, stalling for time. Rumble-rumble-rumble—
Fighter jet engines roared overhead. Cluster bombs poured down like rain on the undead masses without cease. Republic of Korea Air Force support. Choi Ah-rin's order: empty the arsenal to halt the advance.
"This has gotta end before they cross the 38th parallel."
"Let's trust Sertina for once."
Half the distance to the 38th remained. That was their deadline.
In Nevaros's world, a primordial lifeform said to have lived hundreds of millions of years ago existed. Titaronz, a colossal giant the size of a mountain. No one had ever seen it move, but evidence confirmed it once lived and acted eons ago.
But one day, they witnessed it. Titaronz alive and stirring.
The lord of the death nation, gifted with otherworldly necromantic prowess, had succeeded in reviving that primordial being after ages of effort.
·····And that day marked the planet's end.
I stared up at the wall that had appeared out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was just a tangle of withered branches, vines, and dirt. But what loomed before me was a colossus stacked like five skyscrapers end to end. The "wall" I'd first seen was merely one of its toes.
"Titaronz, your command. Show that arrogant girl the gulf in our power!"
Quake-quake-quake—
The giant lifted its foot like an alien spaceship, a waterfall of shattered bedrock cascading down. Boom!
"······!"
Suddenly, a massive fist filled my vision. Speed utterly defying its absurd bulk.
Kaboooom!
A circular shockwave erupted from the fist pulverizing the ground, vaporizing dozens of buildings. Glass shattered in structures kilometers away. Parts of Beijing dissolved into a cacophony of car alarms.
What the hell is this monster? Way stronger than Ketehon.
I realized it in one blow. Titaronz's raw strength defied imagination.
"What, that worm has a summon like this?"
According to firepower fetishist's post, Nevaros wasn't even top-tier among world bosses. A few ranks below Ketehon. Proving it, he'd taken a one-sided beating from me without landing a counter. His undead minions were equally pathetic.
I'm the type to one-shot most raid bosses. No way his lesser summons compete.
Kaboooom!
Titaronz's heavy punch tore through the air. The wind alone unleashed a shockwave, shredding everything in a straight line like a storm.
"But this thing's freakishly tough."
I furrowed my brow. Its sheer size meant massive attack area plus speed—dodging was no joke.
How does a low-tier like Nevaros control something that could turn Ketehon to chum?
No summon this caliber from a thousand minions. A necromancer with hundreds of millions? Terrifying beyond expectation.
"This is bad. Gotta end it quick······."
I bit my lip in frustration. Titaronz's HP matched its mountain-like bulk—untouchable.
No choice. Ignore Titaronz, go straight for Nevaros!
Even at the cost of some damage, it was the play. Kill the boss, summons vanish.
I planted one foot on a building wall, kicked off with full power. Boom! Concrete rippled and collapsed.
Titaronz's fist swung mid-leap, but I dodged razor-thin and charged.
Squeeeal!
—Output amplified, power surging.
Blood Eater's blade exploded upward. A monstrous edge, layered with every enhancement spell, warped space itself.
"Eat this!"
Blood-red eyes blazed. As I swung down at Nevaros—
Thud!
"······?!"
A translucent green barrier blocked the strike. What?
Something detached from the barrier, flowing toward Titaronz.
"Damn it, a blessing power······!"
Blessing. A sacrificial ability burning life force. Damage to Nevaros redirected to Titaronz until its HP hit zero. No breaking this with Spell Break.
Time's critical······.
Nevaros, perched on Titaronz's shoulder, declared with glowing blue eyes.
"Time to end this."
Titaronz bent its knees and leaped. Kaboooom!
Insane leg strength launching its bulk. The ground split, triggering an earthquake.
In midair, Titaronz raised both fists high.
"Crush them all!"
Nevaros's solemn voice melted into the void.
·····Titaronz plummeted, slamming both fists down.
Screeeee—
White noise devoured my eardrums. The earth flipped, thousands of buildings scattering like toys.
"This······!"
The massive impact flung my body airborne, control lost. The world felt weightless.
Toward me, Titaronz's fist plunged.
Kaboooom!
It didn't stop at one. It hammered me into the ground relentlessly. Brutally. Like drilling to the mantle.
Each punch compressed air into splitting plasma bursts.
"Titaronz, finish it."
The primordial giant raised both fists for the coup de grâce. Already towering, they now pierced the heavens.
"Farewell, Sertina. I am the true end of life from now on!"
With Nevaros's words—
A nuclear blast slammed the earth.
*
"It's over."
Nevaros peered into the fathomless crater wrought by Titaronz's might.
"Well done, Titaronz. She was a formidable foe."
He patted its shoulder. No one, not even Sertina, could survive that. Confident, Nevaros turned to leave the ruins of Beijing.
Then, a deep mana pulse echoed from the pit. Thump!
Heartbeat-like, it rippled across Beijing, shaking everything low.
"What?!"
Sensing doom, Nevaros whirled back. The air shifted.
Shwoooosh!
"Urk, what is this?!"
Mana swirled in the atmosphere. An unprecedented force dominated all creation.
"Impossible, this can't······!"
Nature and artifice bent to one will.
A horrific screech tore eardrums. -Kiiiiieeeek!
The sky's scream. Lightning flashed; the world bled red. Lakes stilled bloodily, rivers ran crimson, ruins and cars dripped gore—even the heavens.
Vast cloud masses writhed like serpents devouring each other.
A chilling voice echoed.
"Hey, you. Don't get the wrong idea?"
"······!"
Sertina rose slowly from the pit, cloaked in blood aura, defying gravity. Her presence was utterly transformed.
"No way a phase three has just one skill."
Nevaros's eyes widened—or so it felt, despite only glowing slits.
"You never should have touched me."
Clouds vortexed across vast expanses. A skill too overpowered for casual use.
Sertina raised her hand to the sky and declared.
"Burn it into your eyes."
The vortex parted in a circle. Through the clouds gleamed an overwhelming silhouette.
Nevaros despaired, knees buckling.
"······This is my ultimate."
The world's absolute sovereign quietly pronounced the end.