Its body emitted a black smoke, its eyes glinted red full of rage and anger... The enemy was the [Kobold King : Notled Egour]

We were petrified by it's gaze, no one moved as our gazes were instilled in one direction. Its armor thrown and weapon sunk deep underground. It's claws began to grow bigger and it's body smaller and more mascular...

"This..."

Everyoine was on guard... But what we saw was... nothing but blood...

"Ahh!!"

The great sword fell with a loud "clang", there we saw Ford's arm was cut off... Only the split second our gazes were instilled in the cries of our comrade... Ford's status in the party was [Open Wound]

"Ford!"

"Graaah!"

It was a horrifying sight! Blood spurted from the missing arm. It's supposed to be a game, why isn't it shards of data being ripped... I knew this earlier but seeing it now makes it more realistic... How the players are hurt due to an attack... It would cause trauma to people who had low tolerance to violence and gore. A body then flew towards our direction... Its hair shined gold and its body fell with a thud... Her frail and slender body lay lifeless on the cold hard ground...

"L, Leona!"

Shiva raised her voice and ran towards the lifeless Leona... Her HP had turned 0. What happened? I didn't know... It all happened in the blink of an eye... Ford's HP was decreasing as every second pass.

"Shiva! Dock!"

The figure of Shiva who ran with all her might to Leona's position had an ominous looking shadow on her back... It was the Kobold King with its claws held up high and saliva falling from its mouth. Its eyes deranged from anger as its claws moved to slice its target...

[Lion's Heel]

One fierce move collided with the Kobold King's claws causing the Kobold King's body to move backwards... its HP seemed to be at 17% but we didn't attack it... Its status was [Black Haze] and [Berserk]. Then Aira followed up with [Swallowtail] leaving the Kobold King defenseless to others.

Tara activated [Hunt] and aimed at her target and released [Mana Shot : Flat] as the arrow hits the Kobold King lost it's balance and Aira, Grazel, Tara and I swoop in for an all out attack.

I activated [Shell Breaker] and [Double Slash] together, if Aira could simultaneously use two different skills to create a new one the I can too right? With the Kobold King still on the ground I mowed him down further and with Grazel's overwhelming strength he followed up! Tara shot 4 piercing arrows from afar that seemed to crucify and stop the kobold king from getting up.

Lastly, Tara with all her might usedthe last of her MP and used [Feral Dance] taking the last of the boss' HP together with her MP. Its body along with the black haze was eaten by the looming ground little by little...

"Ha... Ha... Ha..."

"W, we did it..."

"L, Leona, I'm sorry..."

The direction of our gazes moved towards Leona's cold body... It's like reality the body didn't vanish... It only grew cold as the warmth from it's body was removed, on the other side I saw Ford lying unconscious with Grazel ripping some cloth... Did he have nursing skills? But it's good that he knows...

We failed to save Leona from the Kobold King's attacks... She won't be able to play this game for much longer...

"Shiva, see if Leona's okay... Do you know her IRL?"

"Yeah... I, I'll try... I'm logging out for a moment..."

"Yeah..."

Then after that her body lie unconscious is this how I looked when I logged out? Tara moves Shiva's body close to her.

Then the ground of the room revealed the same magical seals that appeared after we defeated the monster house... The pillars moved back down to the ground as if they weren't there in the first place... Ford's arm healed and returned, Leona's body got its colors back... D, did she come back to life?

Then after a moment Shiva comes back and relogged in.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"S, she didn't answer her phone!"

"What? I'm alive again! Hell yeah!"

"""Eh?"""

Everyone including myself except for Ford who was still unconscious looked at her with a blank expression...

"H, hey? Something wrong?"

"You died!"

"Yeah! I know!"

"Then, How?"

"I dunno, magic I guess..."

So everything can be solved with magic, huh?

"Everything went black and I saw this Death Timer... It only has 360 seconds in it when everything turned greyish to white... By the time it went white I could open my eyes again and move my body too... The whole Death Timer was well, about 1080 seconds... I dunno..."

"So there's a timer before death and you were in luck because you were revived by the magic circle..."

"Ah! Ford's conscious!"

"Damn! That really hurt, I thought I was gonna die..."

"Well, you almost died..."

His stats are back to normal and his HP is increasing at a fast pace. Visible cuts and bruises from earlier were no longer there...

"You know when my arm as cut off it felt real... It really hurt bro! I mean I cut myself once a small cut, I cried like a baby of how deep it was and it hurt for about a week."

"That's what you get I guess..."

"I didn't feel anything though everything just went blank after something hit me from behind..."

"Kobold King's really tough, huh?"

"Sure is..."

With Ford and Grazel's remark everyone in the party lay down exhausted...

"Now we find [Aurum]"

"Yeah..."

"Another wild goose chase... Why didn't the barkeep tell us that there was a crazy monster hiding in the basement..."

"Meh... I dunno..."

"Is that really the artifact that the Kobold King was defending?"

"Maybe it's a catalyst item to summon the real Kobold King... and if you didn't have it the first time you get here you'll be able to talk to a normal [Delton Rouge]"

"Ahahahaha!"

I feel tired... But we only have one more day to finish the advancement quest. I wonder how many have already passed...

"Are we the first ones to come here though?"

"I don't know... Hahahahaha..."

"Hey, what's this..."

Ruby-like gem about the size of an Egg was found by Tara who looked for items from the boss... She only managed to find this... I wonder what this is...

"Who has identification or appraisal skill?"

"I do..."

Shiva moves forward and I hand it over to her...

"It says... [Garnet of Castalia]"

"This other thing..."

"Oh right we didn't appraise it earlier... The crown... It's called [Crown of Kings] and it's missing a piece in the middle..."

"So it's a pair item..."

"Maybe... Put it together..."

They handed it over to me and moved as far away as possible... Seriously, I'm going to take the hit if something comes out?

I input the Garnet in the Crown but nothing happened... Then...

Tap... Tap... Tap...

Sounds of steps could be heard in the location in the darker part of the room where the magic circle didn't manage to enter...

"You... Is that!"

Ah! Is it him... I opened my map and saw his name... [Aurum]