Ark was not having a good day at all. It had not been long since he had defeated the Corrupted Holy Knight of Arcadia and his wounds were only healed halfway. What was he supposed to do right now. The dimensional storage had vanished giving away to the original end point of the two trains. Instead of the massive purple door of the dimensional storage, the origin was just a tiny pinprick of yellow light which was slowly glowing brighter. The light was slowly growing too.

Ark backed away as far as could. If he had learnt anything from the horse of monsters, it was that there would be thousands of them coming in all at once. Ark could only use his monster hunter card if he was alive to do so. If he stayed that close to the origin, he would get crushed before he could even react. There was still time before the monsters came out though. Ark needed to think about what monster could come. Ark needed to think how to defeat them.

This was the most desperate situation Ark had faced in the entirety of the second scenario. Every monster so far had been beatable but the seventh horde of monster was going to be much stronger than all the rest combined. The grey exponentially after all. Ark could not but panic. Ark slowly took a deep breath, instilled the confidence he was missing. So what if the Monsters were strong, they were not unbeatable after all.

This was what Ark desperately wanted to believe, but the Tower always did not act according to his wishes. In some other time, perhaps the first law of the Tower would be valid but this time it was not. Ark wanted to believe that there was a particular rule which governed the workings of the Tower but that was just a dream his delirious mind had made up after he had lost people. He had came out of that particular encounter a broken man. He had survived and so he had believed the fact to be true.

If The Tower was so righteous, then why did it’s own rules not apply to the people inside it. Ark was much stronger than some of the people inside the Tower. What would happen then, if Ark went there to slaughter them all. His abilities would be restricted to a certain extent and yet he could still kill them all. Was the first rule of the Tower a complete scam then? And yet still Ark wanted to believe in that ridiculous dream. He wanted to believe that no matter what situation he was in, he could get out of it.

This was the worst possible situation for Ark. He was not prepared and it seemed the death of the scientist Jecko had sealed the deal. The seventh horde was going to attack Ark not in the night but in the morning itself. Ark had one choice though…he could run away. Ark mentally slapped himself as he thought of such treacherous thoughts and after that what was he going to do? He had worked so hard for the past couple of days…all for what…to admit defeat against a stronger enemy? No Ark was going to stay there and he was going to fight. Ark made up his mind.

Why would he run away when he had never done so? That made no sense at all. Ark decided to do something about his situation. Ark visualized the entirety of Jecko’s lab. There was going to be a clue about the monster there. It was certain. Ark just had to find that clue before the monsters arrived. After he had identified the monster, he could make up further plans on the go. Ark closed his eyes and opened up his senses to the maximum limit. His brain was working in overdrive now.

What had he seen inside. There were trophies of monster heads…would that give Ark any clue. Ark dismissed the notion. Ark continued to move around the virtual room his mind had made up? Was there something the scientist had said? Jecko had classified Ark as specimen 56. And then what had he said. Ark was not paying much attention to it but now he desperately needed the information. Ark racked his brains for anything and he finally remembered

The scientist had asked Ark whether he was there to kill him for the actions he had committed? What were the acts that the jackal had told Ark about…something to do with…something to do with specimens…specimens 23 to 52. Why was Ark specimen 56 then? What were the three specimens? Wasn’t the jackal working on something. The notion that Ark had dismissed earlier reared its head again. The trophies of the monsters were important indeed. They were numbered after all. Ark frantically ran around the room trying to find out the three specimens

Ark was certain the co-coordinator of the Second Scenario knew about his Monster Hunter card which meant that the hordes which would appear were not just thousand but millions. Ark would have no choice but to use his card and then what, they would fuse together to give rise to a new Boss monster. Wasn’t this the specific thing that mad scientist was talking about…Ark looked around to finally find out the three specimens.

They were a chicken, a snake and a magma spirit…Ark’s heart started to beat faster. There was only one thing his mind went to when he thought of a chicken, a snake and a magma spirit. An explosion occurred from Ground zero and thousands and thousands of mutated chicken and snakes came out of the portal. The Magma spirits soon followed. Ark reluctantly used his Combat card. Just as he did so, the memories of the old hunter crumbled to ash forever reminding Ark that the story was forgotten.

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Ark felt a ghostly pat on his back as the story of the old monster hunter returned to eternity. It was proof that the man approved of Ark’s work. Despite the tears rolling down his face, Ark smiled. The boss monster was marked and now Ark was supposed to give his best. Ironically the situation Ark used his card was the exact situation the old man had met his demise too. Some one must have orchestrated this whole scene waiting for things to unfold.

As the card was used, every single monster vanished as if waiting for their turn. The only thing that remained was an amalgamation of everything that was made by a chicken, snake and a magma spirit. Ark would now have to fight the toughest boss monster of the second scenario. Ark would have to fight the Magma Wyrm.

The Magma Wyrm resembled a winged salamander. It had two teeth protruding out of its mouth like a vampire and its entire body was covered with scales, its tail especially so. The Magma Wyrm resembled a typical fire Dragon with the only caveat being that it could not fly. Ark’s brain supplied more information regarding Magma Wyrms. Despite their weakness, the Magma Wyrm could no doubt spew Magma, which much like the Arcadia Knight’s stomp on the ground produced a tremor which was hard to avoid.

Ark still did not have any particular resistance to any element so he doubted he would be able to endure the magma spewed out of its mouth. Heat on the other hand, Ark could comfortably manage. Those who had been to the country of dwarves would know very well that their forges burned the hottest as well as the brightest. Despite all these, Ark was not sure he would be able to win. The only weak point of the Magma Wyrm was its mouth which Ark understandably couldn’t get close too.

Despite all the odds stacked against his favor Ark would have to try. He was a hero of Humanity after all. He had been sent in back in time in hopes of doing just that. And so began the fight. Ark couldn’t let the Wyvern have the first attack so he was the first to move with his sword slashing downward. It impacted the hard scales and had little to no effect. It was not like the plate armor of the Holy Knight that it could be slowly chipped away.

Ark sighed. He had no choice but to attack its head. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to deal any damage. Ark tried to lunge at the Wyvern again but despite its looks, and massive size, the wyvern moved surprisingly fast and Ark was sent flying back with a whip lash from its tail. Ark had expected this but he was starting to slow down. The fight with the Knight of Arcadia had been a long drawn out one, which had seeped most of Ark’s stamina.

Ark had thought that he would get some sleep at least before fighting the last boss. That was how I should have gone but now Ark was running on fumes. Despite that, Ark stood up. The impact had broken some of his bones. Even getting up seemed tougher. Ark endured though. He needed to fight. He needed to win. There was a simple rule when fighting a Magma Wyrm or any Wyvern for that matter.

Heads you win, Tails you lose. It was simple in theory but to execute it was another matter entirely. Ark had to continuously hit its head to kill the Wyrm but now that Ark had thought of his line of action, the Magma wyrm acted. The sac under its throat which contained the spirit of magma sparked up and Ark had to desperately dodge to not be a part of the charred sediments scattered across the ground. This seemed to be a fight, Ark couldn’t win at all.

Still, was Ark going to lie down? Not at all. It was not the first time odds were stacked against his favor but those times he had his allies with him. Now Ark was completely alone fighting a losing battle while running on dregs. Ark jumped up and began attacking the Wyvern again. It was not like any of his own weaknesses were going to bother the Magma Wyrm. It was going to kill Ark all the same so why should Ark care about his own weakness?

The Magma Wyrm generated a sword made out of its scale and deflected Ark’s every attack. It was for a reason that this was the boss monster of the seventh day. Not everyone could occupy the Top spot after all. But that did not deter Ark at all. He continued to move even after his body gave out. His sliced and slash and hurled his sword. He did everything in his power. And he hit the Wyrm in the head many times too. Ark did everything to no avail.

Ark did not give up though. To do that would be the worst possible thing Ark could do to himself. He would never betray his morals. He would not betray all the expectations everyone of those innocent people had placed on him. No he would not.. Even after the weakened Ark fell down, he got up. Even after there was no way of dodging an attack Ark dodged it.

He still had a trump card up his sleeve. He had been keeping it safe just to use it in situations such as these. Ark activated his legendary store card. The effect immediately took hold. He was not a lone man. He was a thousand men strong. His Arkana immediately sky rocket over 100 points. Ark activated his magic body strengthening and used the bursts of sword as his crutch to hit the Magma Wyrm repeatedly. And yet still, The Magma Wyrm…did not die.

Even a human body which was strained to the extreme had its limits. After a particularly vicious attack from the Wyvern, Ark fell down. He wanted to get up. His mind was screaming at him to get up. His mind was screaming desperately and yet Ark’s body would not listen. Ark had stopped hoping for a miracle a long time ago. Nobody was going to come after all. Ark was going to die. Ark’s body moved the tiniest bit. It was broken, bloodied and strained and yet Ark moved.

The Wyvern moved much faster than Ark and its head came crashing down towards Ark. This was going to be Ark’s last act of defiance

All Ark could do was smile.

“I managed to arrive in time after all!”