The power dwelling in the spear demanded me to let it out. The overflowing hungry mana whispered to me and offered plenty of violent solutions; just holding it inside was an impossible task. I had to channel it somehow or else it would explode and kill me instantly. While tightly gripping the handle, I used its power to propel myself into the air.
The moment I left the safety of Istvan’s shield a cold salty gust of wind reached me, and one tentacle intercepted my path; I panicked and made a turn in the air, and prepared to counter the smash with the tip spear at the last moment. When the attack reached the Ice bubble, it slowed, but it was still too fast for me to dodge completely.
When that stinky meat arm touched my precious spear, an enormous shriek filled the battleground, and the creature’s angry mana filled the air and an enormous pressure settled on me. That’s the Boss power for you!
The force behind the attack pushed me to the ice surface of the ocean, but the tentacle pressing on my spear gradually froze because of the cold mana coming from the spear.
[You lost 60 HP]
[Target lost 420 HP]
[You healed yourself for 82 HP]
I stopped for a moment, because I couldn't believe my eyes. My battle prowess could rival level forty Priest; was this the power of a Hero? My moment of hesitation cost me another slash of the tentacle; the spear craved for the blood and I gave in; the force inside spear surged me closer to the hideous enemy. I ran on the frozen water and changed more of the water into the ice with my every step.
The Boss tried to counter my charge with vicious and desperate slashes, but my agility was more than enough to dodge every attack. Sadly, monster’s teeth-like projections on the tentacles tore and destroyed the thick layers of ice, and salty water spouted out around my path. But the water froze immediately in the air and joined the snow created from the rain, turning it into a blizzard. Ice Dance was that powerful?! Sweet.
I had to jump to avoid the enormous chunk of Ice falling, but I misjudged the speed of tentacle, thus the sucker trapped me. Yuck! It sucked my body; the enemy made a victorious shriek and smashed with me like crazy. I crashed hard on the ice, and the power behind the blast submerged me into the water. It froze before I could escape, and the force of ice pressured on my sides like millions of small ice-cold needles.
[You lost 58 HP]
[You lost 10 HP]
[You lost 10 HP]
[You lost 10 HP]
[You lost 10 HP]
Help! My precious spear answered my call, and I allowed the mana in the spear to manifest, but I hadn’t expected it to enter my veins. I screamed as it burned me from the inside, and then it escaped from my body in a gigantic explosion. Quickly taking advantage of the ice madness all around me covering the path, I ran to the monster's body, dodging random desperate attacks of tentacles and huge chunks of ice falling from the sky.
Unexpected blow came from below and brought many of elite Floaters to the ice sheet. Sweet. A sinister smile revealed my inner feelings. They weren’t enemies at my level, not now. All what their fragile body needed to crumble was one slash. Only one slash of my mighty spear. The blue light materialized on their bodies and turned them all into horrible ice statues. Time wasn't on my side, that was why I rushed and even flew for a while, the violent mana in the spear pushing me and streaking the stupid enemy.
[Critical hit! Target lost 910 HP]
[You lost 47 HP]
System rewarded me with nice numbers as I scored a hit to the main body. When my strike connected, a strange substance gushed out and burned my exposed body. Stupid non-existent armor, thank you, dear developers. The ice-cold blood flowing in my veins prevented me from feeling most of the pain, but I still couldn’t hold the scream in.
“You! You ugly, dirty, stupid Boss!” I slashed again, and the substance covered my entire body. Terrific. The Boss was most dangerous from a distance, but his only defensive mechanism for close range was his stupid acid. Ice Dance slowed his movements and the battle-hungry spear absorbed his blood. As my last strike, I sliced through the gelatinous body and won the battle.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
[Ilaginous has been defeated. +900XP. XP to the next level: 1992/2450]
[You are the first to defeat World Boss! Due to the circumstances, a reward has been withheld]
Hey System, aren’t you stingy? World-Boss and only this? I guess the spear did most of the work, but still…
After the big guy was out of the commission, I ran back to the ship - there was an ongoing battle after all. I took advantage of the still function spear and wreaked havoc on the enemy; they fell like level one noobs. We defeated the final floater, and there was still time left. I was searching for any enemy with a hungry stare, Istvan’s fragile body entering my eyes, and the same sinister smile as before emerged.
“Easy now, Hero. The fight is over,” he said calmly and walked toward me. I pointed the tip of the spear at him and prepared to run the spear trough him.
“No, it’s not! En garde!” I pierced the space between us, but he somehow dodged my furious attack. With only a few movements of his staff, he finished strange spell, and my precious spear disappeared.
“Hero! Your reckless charge almost cost us the fight! You achieved the victory, but your soul was on the line. Never do that again. Never!” Istvan’s hard voice penetrated the sweet feeling of power. The ice shielding my pain subdued and I could only stare at him. How? How could I, an experienced warrior, get submerged in it?
“Let’s focus on what’s important, Istvan,” Duke said, his voice confidence and powerful as ever, so no one had the right to object. “Hero, kneel!” I blinked a few times at his strange request. Request to kneel now could mean only two things, and I focused on the getting executed part as I crashed on my knees.
The sun shone on a beautiful meadow full of dangerous wasp monsters. On one end of the meadow, specifically on the ridge, a crude stone wall was being built. Players ran around like crazy and worked without stopping, which made corners of Lucas’ mouth go up.
Ian, dressed in colorful blue assassin clothes, just came in and stared at the bustling fledging fortress in disbelief. He never imagined something like this would be possible without a guild.
“This is insane! Why are the players working like that? Are you some secret millionaire, Lucas?” Lucas eyed him slowly and hid his mouth in a scarf to appear more mysterious.
“Yes, I have so much money, I don’t know what to do with them. What’s a better way than to invest in this lovely fortress?” he said calmly, but the amused look in his eyes betrayed his emotions. What an amateur liar, Ian thought.
“Lucas! I am done with my quest! I can make more, please give me another!” Small eleven girl screamed in an excitement soon and fidgeted nervously.
“Of course I can do that, Lilith108.” As was Lucas talking, he was already playing with the system menu.
“It’s only Lilith for you, Lucas! You can drop the numbers!” she jumped around and adjusted some loose stones on the wall.
“For this to work, I need to be exact. We don’t want to give a quest to someone else, do we, Lilith?”
[You created Quest “Build the Wall” for the player Lilith108]
[Build the Wall]
Requirement: 10x [Manufactured Stone]
Reward: 200 builder-XP
* The keeper of East Fortification need help with construction of the essential defenses. He is offering an experience with work on this big project in exchange for ten [Manufactured Stone].
“No! Thanks! I will be right back!” she yelled and quickly ran like it was her life on the line.
“Lucas, are they working for free? What the hell?” Ian studied running Lilith with a glare and shook his head. The evil Lucas was exploiting the game for sure!
“Do you know how rare is to find a work for builders? I am the only one around giving them quests, and I always max out the reward. Yeah, it is costly in terms of fortress’s debt, but if the system allows it, why wouldn’t I do it?” Lucas’ smile only got bigger and punched Ian to his shoulder. “Forget about that, let’s get some fun. Have you seen the monsters around? An ideal farming spot! If you can hold wasps for a moment…”
“No way, have you seen them? Level ten with poison! Get a proper warrior and healer and then we could think about it.” Ian shook his head and pointed out the flaws in Lucas’ plan. For him it was unthinkable to defeat Wasp with something less than a full party of high leveled trusted allies.
“Don’t worry, if you smash their sting hard, it will fall off and they won’t attack. And…”
After more persuasion they proceeded to the meadow and Lucas pulled two Wasps with his trusty spark spell. Ian followed the enemy with a nervous stare, and the moment they neared, he jumped up and slashed at their stings. At least he tried. Wasps dodged his attack and poisoned him.
“Only a madman would try this, Lucas! Are you doing this because I ran without paying yesterday?”