Chapter 103: Nightmare’s End

Every year, at the beginning of the semester, the students at Zach’s high school had the option to join a club as an extracurricular activity. Zach had always thought it seemed like a fun, interesting thing to do, but between studying for tests and his then-job delivering pizzas via bicycle, he never really had the spare time to participate. But one of his friends had. His name was Laran Olentar, and he’d joined the archery club. And he was good, too: so good, in fact, that he wound up being recruited by a scouter to play for the Whispery Woods in the professional marksmanship tournaments.

Some people, it seemed, just had a natural gift for it. And of these people, those who spent their time practicing and refining their abilities could go on to perform stunning feats. Zach distinctly remembered him and his dad sitting around the viewing screen and watching Laran hit targets the size of an orange with a rifle from almost 4,000 feet away. But as amazing as he was, Laran wasn’t even in the top 100 humanity-wide. There were better, even more talented people out there: people whose entire lives were dedicated to doing nothing other than getting good at just that one activity.

And why did this matter?

Because, fair or not, with 192 points into dexterity, Zach was probably thousands of times better than the best level-1 marksman in the entire world. Hell, even with 10 dex, he would still probably be able to outcompete the greatest sharpshooter who’d ever lived: someone who’d dedicated their entire life to it. No matter how much practice, it wasn’t actually possible for his high-school friend—or any level 1—to achieve the level of ability that was earned simply through increasing stats. And this was something that Zach needed to remind himself of as he watched Kalana bounce and flip around Ziragoth, the two of them scuffling in the sky.

I need to learn to stop thinking like a level 1, Zach told himself. Every time I get into a mess like this, there’s always so many things I don’t even consider doing because I’m still not used to the fact that they’re even possible.

Zach switched his grip on his sword so that he held it in just his left hand. Then he fully extended his arm in front of him so that it was perfectly level with his chest, the end of his blade pointing straight up. Now, he closed his left eye and focused on the back edge of the blade almost as though it were the sights of a gun. Slowly, he moved his arm up and down, adjusting its positioning while also keeping track of the dragon’s location in the sky. It was a fair bit of distance away, and its back was turned to him. Every other second, Zach rotated his body left or right, getting everything lined up exactly as needed.

Even though he’d never been trained or instructed on how to do what he was about to attempt, Zach’s body just “knew” what needed to be done. It was simply a feeling—a sense—that he had. And it was one that likely became stronger and more accurate with each point into dexterity. That, coupled with his natural gift for predicting movement, made him realize that he was perfectly suited for this kind of task—as long as he could get his concern for Kalana under control.

The fear that something terrible could happen to her at any given moment made it hard for him to remain patient and concentrate. But patience and concentration were exactly what he needed in order to make sure he didn’t mess this up. As unsettling as it was to watch her narrowly avoid the dragon’s snapping jaws time and time again, it would serve neither of them any good if it ended up affecting his judgement. After all, what he was about to attempt was something that no level 1 in existence could ever achieve through anything other than pure luck. This would be like trying to throw a rubber ball into a plastic cup from a mile away. Actually, no—that was a really bad example, because that wouldn’t be difficult for him at all. Not with 192 dex, anyway. This, on the other hand, would be way, way harder, because he’d be trying to hit a very fast target that was soaring through the skies with an attack that began slow and ended fast.

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ziragoth’s roars had been picking up in both volume and frequency. Whatever Kalana was doing, it was really upsetting the wyvern. Oddly enough, however, Zach almost thought he could detect a note of frustration in each of Ziragoth’s cries. At this point, Zach was either losing his mind, or he’d actually heard enough of them that he was beginning to discern emotion from the variations in pitch, duration, and volume. Either way, it was something for him to store in his mind for later, when the adventuring guilds would ask about it.

Assuming Zach lived to see tomorrow, he and everyone on this raid—including the political guild members—had all promised to cooperate with the adventuring guilds in creating a comprehensive document of all their findings and experiences to pass on to successive generations. It would be added together with the existing documentation and duplicated. One of the errors of the past that Mr. Oren and others were working to correct was the lack of information on boss spawns. For this reason, adventurers, especially those in Zephyr’s Explorers Brigade, were meticulous about taking note of everything they could for every boss they came across.

I’m just glad this thing probably won’t spawn again in my lifetime. Fucking Gods-cursed dragon!

Zach continued to study his target while he waited for the perfect moment to attack. Ziragoth was flying off to his left and flipping itself completely around midair, causing Kalana to pop up even higher. For a second, Zach felt a tremendous flood of fear burst in his chest as Ziragoth appeared to adjust its tactics, delivering a powerful flap of its wings and ascending at a much faster speed so that it actually flew up and above Kalana, who herself was still rising. Now, positioned above her, it snapped down at her—and missed.

Gods, that was close!

Kalana had yet again somehow outmaneuvered the dragon. A moment before she flew up—and into—Ziragoth’s waiting, opened mouth, her entire body transformed into a literal blaze of fire, something that Zach had actually seen her do for the first time yesterday. Thus, rather than find herself turned into a snack for the wyvern, she instead burned through it and reappeared as her usual self above, landing once more on its back. She also healed it for 9,211 damage but, all things considered, that really didn’t mean a thing. It was well worth it to avoid being eaten alive.

Now, continuing their back-and-forth, Ziragoth spun itself around midair, and it began to fly at an even faster speed in the opposite direction—to Zach’s right. Right away, Zach knew that this would be a really great opportunity: the fourth of such opportunities, as he’d been forced to pass up the other three due to Vim recovering.

“Vim!” he called out. “Are you ready yet? I’ve got another perfect shot coming up!”

When Vim didn’t reply, Zach glanced over his shoulder while doing his best to keep the rest of his body in the same position. Vim, along with Peter and Fylwen, were standing in a line together about twenty-five feet away in the direction of the wall. At the moment, Vim was holding something in his hand, which he waved in the air. It was a small electronic device—a Comm, it looked like—which he then flung at Zach. Zach caught it with his right hand then placed the device in his ear.

“Try not to break this one as well, Zach,” he said.

“Yeah, sorry, uhh…my last Comm fell out and I accidentally stepped on it. Anyway, are you ready yet?”

Vim released an exhausted sigh, but then surprised Zach with his reply. “Yes, I think I can handle another cast.”

“Finally!”

A rush of energy traveled down his back in the form of a nervous, excited shiver. This was it. This was the moment Zach had been waiting for. Within the next minute, he planned on finishing Ziragoth once and for all. The very thought of it filled him with equal parts hope and fear. But he was confident in his decision. Having survived combat with the dragon longer than anybody else, he was sure he understood the creature enough to know this would work.

And so, now that Vim was ready to go, he carefully pivoted on his heels, positioning his blade around 60 degrees clockwise to where Ziragoth’s current position was in the sky. He ignored the part of his brain telling him that what he was attempting to do was an impossible, laughable waste of time. After all, an unhelpful thought like that was exactly the kind of level-1 thinking he was trying to get rid of.

“Kal, are you ready?” he asked, fully aware of the slight tremble in his voice.

“Yup!”

Zach inhaled deeply, then held the breath as his nerves made him jittery. He fought not to let it get to his head. If they pulled this off, the nightmare would finally be over. He would never have to worry about this evil, piece-of-shit dragon ever again for the rest of his life. He could spend his whole summer with Kal. He could hang out with her in Angelica’s. He could do whatever he wanted! The dragon was the only thing standing in his way. With that thought in mind, he continued to hold the breath within him, and then, with an exhale, he shouted out, “Wave Slash!” and swung his sword downwards.

Following the motion of his blade, a green, patchy, cloud-like clump of energy formed in an S-shape in the air before him. But it did not hold this shape for long at all. No, at a speed even faster than Zach had calculated, it reformed itself into the shape of a disc before becoming solid, metallic, and double-bladed.

One thing Zach had learned from past experiences was that, the higher his strength, the faster it solidified and the faster it initially moved. Although all uses of Wave Slash—if given enough distance—would eventually reach the same absurdly fast speed, it would always initially begin painfully slow before accelerating to something faster than the eye could follow. With 209 points into strength, Zach had assumed this overall process would take place far faster than it usually did when calling upon this ability.

As it turned out, it was way faster than even his fairly high estimates.

Turning into the double-bladed, metallic disc significantly ahead of Zach’s projections, he swore loudly in vexation as he watched his projectile blast off into the sky and begin to pick up speed. Along with a whistling sound that gradually increased in volume, a trail of smoke—eventually flame—followed on its heels as the Wave Slash literally burned its way through the air.

Zach, filling with utter self-loathing, could not believe he had failed. Not only was he poised to miss the dragon’s weak spot, but his Wave Slash was likely to miss the dragon entirely. Even worse, it had cost him 1:10 of his remaining time on Unleashed Phase, and now he was down to just 7:22. Gods, he was royally pissed at himself right now. At a time like this, and on a day like today, this was the kind of mistake that he could not afford to make—and yet that was exactly what he had done. Or at least, that was how it seemed at first. But then Kalana ran along the dragon’s back, spat in its face, and then kicked off its head with such force that it sent her hurtling hundreds of feet ahead of it at an even faster rate than it was flying.

Ziragoth, having been provoked, roared and began to fly even faster as though intent on finally catching its Elvish tormenter and teaching her a lesson. Zach could see the grin on Kalana’s face even as it began to catch up. She’d actually done it. She’d baited the dragon right into position.

“That good, Zach?”

“I…I think so!”

He now had to speak a bit more loudly to be heard over the high-pitched whistling that was beginning to drown out all other sounds. It became so loud, and the flame trailing behind it became so profound, that even as Ziragoth flew forward at Kalana, its eyes turned in the direction of the projectile. And then it stopped short and released yet another, startled-sounding roar as though finally realizing what was coming its way. Extending its wings, it brought itself to a halt midair, causing a blast of air to rush forward and send Kalana even farther away.

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

In a way that actually appeared frantic, Ziragoth began wildly flapping its wings as though attempting to spin itself around and avoid the double-bladed disc, which was ripping through the air as it approached closer and closer. It almost succeeded, too: almost. But at a speed so fast that it was just about to the point of breaking apart, the double-bladed disc landed exactly where Zach had hoped, striking the wyvern in the area three-quarters of the way down its back. And with that came the cry of pain and surprise.

Take that, you bastard!

Although Zach would have liked to see his Wave Slash cleave the dragon cleanly into two separate pieces, he had absolutely no expectation of that taking place—and indeed, it didn’t. Regardless, he was more than satisfied by the nine or maybe even ten individual scales that were ripped off its body, as well as a thick volume of dark red blood that leaked out of the beast, which had just taken 611,251 damage. Yet as satisfying as it was to see Ziragoth experience more pain, it was not actually the purpose of Zach’s attack. No, the purpose was to create the opportunity he needed to unleash a full, devastating ten seconds of torment on the dragon: enough to kill the son of a bitch so that it never caused anyone to suffer ever again. From the looks of things, Zach was about to get exactly what he wanted.

He released a cheer as he saw that he’d succeeded in knocking the wyvern right out of the sky, and his cheer was soon echoed by almost every surviving raid member. Taken completely off balance by the impact with the disc, Ziragoth tried to compensate by flapping its wings even harder. But this only caused it to spin faster and faster as it plunged down for an incredibly ungraceful landing, suffering yet another 11,410 damage as a result of its hard, uncontrolled impact. The sound of its body hitting the ground was more of a thwap this time around than a boom.

HP

15,828,672/25,000,000

Name

(T10) Ziragoth the Awoken

Level

70

A moment after Ziragoth slammed into the dirt, gravity seemed to finally assert itself, and Kalana began to fall back down to the surface as well. Yet even as she picked up speed, she flipped her body right-side up, looking well positioned for a controlled, smooth landing. Despite knowing she would be absolutely fine, there was still a part of Zach that grew uncomfortable at the idea of his girlfriend falling out of the sky and plummeting hundreds of feet. But that, as always, was the product of level-1 thinking.

Kal could probably fall from orbit and be fine.

With the end at last in sight, Zach released a breath he was unaware he’d been holding, and then he drew another one immediately. “Now!” he cried over the Comm as the dragon began to pick itself up. This was it. This was the moment to end the horror. The dragon had been knocked out of the sky, and Zach was ready to finally slay it once and for all. Everything had worked out the way he’d planned. He needed to seize the opportunity. He was hungry for victory. He wanted this to finally be over!

All three buffs landed on him in the same instant, and like before, his body was now encased in a golden halo of brilliant light. And with that, he burst forward into a full-on sprint in the direction of the dragon. It was time to kill this awful creature. It was time to be free of this nightmare! The desperation to rid the world of the atrocious wyvern drove him forward, making him feel even more alive, awake, and alert.

“Phase Slash!” he cried out as he ran, slashing down against the air. “Phase Slash! Phase Slash! Phase Slash!”

As he struck four times on his way to the dragon, forming four distortions in the air, he was aware that he’d now brought himself down to just 2:31 remaining on Unleashed Phase. But at the same time, he didn’t care. This might be his only chance to kill Ziragoth. He doubted there would be another. He had to do as much as he possibly could during these ten seconds, during which he’d be powerful enough to actually put it down. He could spare nothing: not time, not effort. He was going to kill it. He was going to fucking kill it!

More than three-quarters of the way to Ziragoth, whose partially destroyed face came across as somewhat dazed as it picked itself up, he rejoiced as his first Phase Slash found its target. Like before, it exploded. And now, with the second one following right on the heels of the first, Zach watched gleefully as the wyvern was pushed back several feet and suffered a massive…

…

0…damage?

Panic, confusion, hatred, and desperation all melded together in Zach’s brain as his Phase Slash failed to deliver so much as a scratch to the vile dragon. Even worse, the second one met the same result—and so did the third and the fourth. Sure, each impact pushed it farther and farther back, causing it to leave behind dual streaks in the ground that ran several feet deep as it slid away on its feet, but that was about all it did. Now, Zach saw that its wings had once more become interlocked, serving as a sort of shield that not even his Phase Slash could break apart.

Horrified, baffled, and even a bit nauseous, Zach refused to believe what his eyes were seeing. Having spent a combined total of four minutes and forty seconds on just those few abilities alone, a sense of overwhelming doom and defeat began to creep up on him. Yet he held it at bay. He forced himself to tamp down on it. By the time he reached Ziragoth, he still had eight seconds left. Maybe if he pummeled it hard enough, he could still kill it. Right now, he couldn’t afford to think. He couldn’t afford to speculate. He could only afford to act.

And act, he did.

Zach threw all caution to the wind and unleashed everything he had into Ziragoth with reckless abandon. Having entered into a state of total panic and denial, he wielded his sword more like a hammer than a blade as he bludgeoned it over and over against Ziragoth’s wings, caring little for form or elegance. Striking so hard he grunted loudly each time, he pummeled it again and again and again, and for his efforts, he was rewarded with the sound of a louder and louder crack each time. Maybe if he hit it even harder it would break! And so that was exactly what he did.

With sweat now pouring down his forehead from both exertion and the rapidly rising summer temperature, Zach groaned and grunted as he hit the dragon one time after the next as the seconds counted down. Crack, crack, crack. Why wouldn’t it break? He hit it even harder. He was now crying out with the exertion of it all. He was losing his shit. Why wouldn’t this fucking thing die? Why wouldn’t it break. Argh! Argh! Argh! He hit it more and more, but it just wouldn’t give.

0

0

0

0

0

And then his time ran out, the golden light faded, and the dragon seemed to understand what this meant, because as soon as it was over, Ziragoth pulled its wings apart and glared at Zach through misery-filled eyes, even as blood continued to pour out of the missing chunk of its mouth and from portions of its stomach. Zach, having applied such relentless brute force, had exhausted himself, too. And now he was panting and in a weakened, vulnerable state.

“I guess…” Zach huffed. “I guess you’re going to attack Kalana again, right?”

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Yeah…I didn’t think so.”

Crestfallen, Zach wasn’t sure how he still had the willpower to back away and out of range of the dragon’s serrated wing, which came closer to splitting open his stomach than at any point since the raid had begun. Clearly sensing Zach’s weakness, it had once more chosen to make him its sole and only target, and given what had just happened, he couldn’t fault the wyvern’s decision. The level of hopelessness and fatigue he felt were such that if not for Kalana screaming at him to dodge, he might’ve wearily let the dragon smash him into the ground with its barbed tail. But this, too, he somehow avoided.

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It's hopeless. We can’t win. There’s nothing we can do!

Zach’s morale didn’t just plummet: it faded entirely. Even though there was still so much fire inside of him—a deep, motivating desire to kill this filthy, winged rat—there was nothing he could possibly do that would work anymore. The dragon had learned that all it had to do was block when Zach gave off the gold light. And even if Zach built up a few more minutes’ worth of Unleashed Phase with his stamina proc and tried again, it would only be a repeat of what just happened.

Sure, he could use Phase Blink to get behind Ziragoth and try getting at it that way, but the dragon was too fast, and even if he scored a lucky hit or two, it would still turn around quickly enough to block any follow-up strikes. And if he tried to combine Phase Blink with Phase Slash, he was going to need way more time to pull that off: and that would require a level of luck he didn’t think was with him today. Put simply, ten seconds just wasn’t a long enough duration to get the job done. For Zach to win using any combination involving Phase Blink, Vim would probably have to cast the fucking thing ten more times, and what was the chance of that happening? No, there was just nothing he could do. Nothing!

“Zach, you have brought so much honor to yourself,” Fylwen said over the Comm, her words coming across as odd and unexpected. “You fought bravely, young man, and I am proud of you. What is happening now is no fault of your own. Take my daughter and come with me back to my domain. You will be welcome in my kingdom in Archian Prime, and of course, I will heal you. But I believe it is time for us to leave.”

Her words shocked Zach. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. In particular, because she'd been so adamant about not fleeing just a few moments ago. For her to come out and say this must have meant she genuinely did not believe this fight was winnable.

“Y-you’re leaving us?” one of the adventurers cried.

“We can’t give up yet!” Mr. Oren snapped. “Your Majesty, please!”

Bickering and fighting immediately took over the Comm chatter the moment Fylwen had finished speaking, and Zach was too exhausted by this point to even bother interjecting. And, what was more, he couldn’t even deny that Fylwen was right. Maybe it really was time to grab Kalana and go. Of course, that would be easier said than done, since she clearly didn’t agree. Right away, Kalana began protesting and swearing that she wouldn’t abandon the raid.

“You and Zach can go, mom. But l have to stay.”

“Nonsense! You are coming with us. Even if we have to drag you!”

More and more voices got involved in the argument, and more and more of Ziragoth’s ruthless attacks were sent Zach’s way. Worst of all, even with the few weak, half-hearted counterstrikes Zach managed to retaliate with, his stamina buff was simply not proc’ing. It was as though his luck had run out in the literal sense. He was actually so exhausted now that he’d likely need to proc it multiple times just to refill his own stamina, let alone add time to his Unleashed Phase, which was now down to 2:15.

Gods, what was he supposed to do? If only there was a way. If only there was something he had in his bag of tricks that might still work. He had his ring, of course, but he doubted even that would break through the dragon’s impenetrable wing-shield. Truly, as long as the dragon was able to block, he would be unable to hurt it. And since stuns and whatever else wouldn’t work due to everyone’s stats being too low, there was no way that Zach could—

Wait a minute! Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!

Like a lightbulb going off in his head, an idea blasted into Zach with the force of a fireball from Ziragoth. Even as he was leaping into the air and twisting his body to narrowly avoid being caught by one of the serrated wings, he felt an immediate return of his willpower: of his hope.

“Everyone shut up!” he shouted into the Comm. “Please, listen to me. We can still win!” To his surprise, everyone did shut up and listen to him: all of them. Suddenly, there was quiet. “Vim. Are you there?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m right behind you where I was before. Do you have a plan?”

“Yeah, actually, I really do. But first I need you to tell me something: can you cast ZOE twice in a row?”

“No, not a chance,” he said.

“Why not?”

“Because I’ll die.”

Zach whipped his blade across Ziragoth’s face. He was so exhausted he only hit for 810, but as though the Gods had chosen to finally give him a gift, the dark green aura surrounded his body, and the subsequent rush of energy managed to chase away his gloom all on its own. In a mere instant, Zach went from feeling haggard and about to collapse to feeling as though he’d just woken up this morning from a deep, satisfying sleep. It also added about 4 seconds to his current duration of Unleashed Phase.

“I didn’t ask if you’d die,” Zach said, now speaking more confidently. “I asked if you could just, you know, do it.”

“Well, if put in those terms, I guess I could.”

Zach felt the rising hope within him explode and become ten times greater at Vim’s answer. “I need you to do that, then.”

Vim made a slight grunt. “Do you know what you’re doing? Are you sure about this?”

Zach nodded despite the fact that Vim likely couldn’t even see it. But it did somewhat confuse Ziragoth, which was evident from the way the dragon slightly pulled back as if wondering whether or not the gesture was a form of attack. “I know how to kill it now. I really do. It just came to me.”

Vim sighed. “Well, shit. I guess I’m going to die today after all. Just be sure you know what you’re doing. You’re asking us to put the fate of all our lives in this one decision. If you’re wrong, that’s the end of us.”

“It’s the end of us either way at this rate. But I’m telling you: I know how to kill it. I just need to—”

Zach’s words cut off as he dashed forward at full speed, threw himself onto his back, and then literally slid forward beneath the dragon, who had come so close just now to stomping him into the dirt that Zach had to wiggle his neck and rotate his shoulder muscles just to reassure himself he was actually unharmed. Upon shooting back up to his feet, he continued, “If you do this, I promise you we’ll win. Believe me: no one wants to make it through this as much as I do. But I need you guys to have my back on this.”

Peter’s voice was next to come through the Comm, and of all things, he preceded his words with a hearty chuckle. “Well said, Zach. You have my full support. I will aid you in any way that you require.”

“I trust you as well, young man,” Fylwen added. “Tell me: what are you planning? Do you want us to buff you twice in a row? Is that what you’re asking?”

“No, actually. I need you to buff me and someone else at the same time.”

“Someone else?” Vim asked. “Who?”

In truth, Zach realized that his idea could be carried out numerous ways by numerous different individuals. Right now, of those still alive on the raid, there were about three-hundred people he could ask for help, and any number of them might be able to do what he required. Yet with time no longer on his side, and with desperation weighing heavily on his mind, he decided to go with what he knew. And what he knew for sure was that there was one person here who could definitely help put an end to this once and for all. Not only had Zach personally witnessed him use the particular ability he required, but he was someone Zach was sure he could trust not to fail.

“Donovan,” he said over the Comm. “Please. I need your help.”

Donovan replied immediately. He did not ask questions. He did not make inquiries. Without even a tenth of a second of hesitation, he said, “You don’t even gotta ask.” And with that, Zach could see him breaking away from the add he was fighting so that he could hurry over in his direction. Even as he ran towards where Zach was busy squaring off against the dragon, he said, “Just tell me what you need.”

Out of everything that had transpired so far, explaining his plan to Donovan should have been the easy part. Yet as Zach began to speak, he realized that, while everything made clear sense in his head, actually trying to convey this information while a dragon was attempting to eviscerate you was actually really hard, and so he struggled a bit.

“I need…I need you to use that uhh…gahh, fuck! I don’t know how to explain it while I’m fighting this Gods-damned—”

“I can explain,” Mr. Oren quickly interjected. “I know exactly what Zach’s thinking. As soon as he mentioned casting the combination twice, it clicked in my head. It’s brilliant. Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this myself. Zach, I’m proud of you, my man.”

Zach came so close to having his head bit off that he could only pray that Mr. Oren really did understand his intentions, because right now, he was too preoccupied to reply. Thankfully, as Mr. Oren began to speak, Zach saw that he did indeed understand what he had been thinking—well, sort of. He took things a bit further and ended up making Zach seem smarter than he actually was.

“Donovan,” Mr. Oren began, “Zach wants Sir Brayspark, Sir Alazar, and Her Majesty to use the combination on you so that your stats will be sufficient enough to inflict status effects. In particular, I believe Zach wants you to use your ability ‘Falling Mountain’ on the dragon, stunning it for ten seconds and rendering it defenseless. He chose you—wisely—because you have the second-highest strength out of all of us, and you are likely the only person on the entire raid whose strength stat will be high enough following the combination to land your stun. You also open up the possibility of creating a chain.”

Wow, Zach thought, feeling somewhat embarrassed. I knew almost none of that. I only picked Donovan because I don’t know what anyone else here can do. I had no idea he was the only one who could actually succeed.

With a nervous, slight laugh that no one including Ziragoth could overhear, Zach decided he wasn’t going to mention any of that to them right now—or ever. In truth, he was just glad to have the big guy by his side. Despite having only met him recently, Zach could tell that Donovan was one of the most dependable people he was likely to ever encounter, and also one of the most selfless as well. That was why, as he drew nearer, Zach felt a nervous pinch of acid in his stomach. If the choice Zach made ended up getting Donovan killed, he would never forgive himself for having made it. But what else could he do? He was desperate, and there were no longer any other options.

I doubt he’d even blame me if I caused him to die. No, he definitely wouldn’t. That’s not the kind of person he is.

As Donovan at last reached Zach’s location then ran behind the dragon to get himself into position, he gave Zach a quick, confident nod of the head, and the certainty in his expression provided a great sense of reassurance. It was something Zach really needed right around now.

“Let’s do this, kiddo. You and me, buddy. I’ll stun that fucker like he’s never been stunned before.”

Zach smiled, feeling a rush of enthusiasm. “I really think we can do this.”

“You’re damn right we can. You ready?”

“I am.”

Donovan shifted his eyes to Kalana, who was also behind the dragon not far from him. “Kid, you attack as well the moment he’s immobilized, all right?”

“Mhm!”

“I’m gonna try a little something as well, and if it works, use your Weakening Embrace.”

“Um, that’s not gonna work.”

“It just might,” Donovan said with a grunt. “Your boyfriend’s a genius. He figured it out.”

Zach laughed awkwardly. He had no idea what any of that even meant. But he was now too complicit in the lie to back out. “It’s going to work, Kalana.”

She eyed him skeptically—and playfully—but said nothing else on the topic. And with that, Zach sucked another deep breath of air into his lungs. Gods, he had so many conflicting emotions running through him right now. He was so nervous, but also so energized. He was so afraid, but also so emboldened. This really was their last chance. With only enough time to use one final Phase Slash, he’d have to strike out with the same intensity as before, maybe even harder now, too. Hopefully, he and Kal could hit the thing hard enough together to kill it. This really was it: the last chance they would likely ever get. It was now or never, do or die.

“Okay,” Donovan said, speaking over the Comm. “BG7, count to three and hit me with the buffs. Timing is everything, got it?”

“Understood,” Vim replied.

“Consider it done,” said Peter.

Fylwen also chimed in to give an affirmative.

“Oh, and kiddo, use your sword slash thing targeting me, not the dragon. Also on three.”

“Wait, what?” Zach replied, confused.

“Just do it!”

“I’m not even sure I fully understand what you just asked me to—”

Now, Zach felt every muscle in his body stiffen as Donovan made his move. His heart was beating so fast that he could hear it in his ears. And yet it began to pound even harder in his chest as he watched Donovan bend his knees and then launch himself high up into the air—nearly a hundred feet. Then, as he started to fall back down, his entire body began to glow with a reddish aura while electric-like sparks began to jump off his plate armor. An instant later, Zach saw all three spell effects land almost simultaneously on the leader of the God-Slayers Guild. And now, he was shining with both a reddish and golden aura. Zach, too, began to glow with the golden aura, meaning that his ten final seconds had now begun.

Did I even understand him? Zach wondered. He said that so fast. Does he want me to literally hit him with Phase Slash? Gods-dammit! What a fucking thing to throw on me at the last second.

Zach was so clueless and lost. He suddenly felt anxious and uncertain. But this all came to an immediate end as, in the fleeting instant before Donovan began to fall, he met the man’s eyes, and just by that one shared gaze alone, he understood that Donovan was serious and he’d heard him correctly. Gods, this was insane.

“Phase Slash!” Zach cried out, targeting his own ally.

He swung his blade downwards diagonally, and along with a freakishly loud, high-pitched noise like that of a jacket zipper being opened, a visible, ripple-like disturbance was sent soaring up and across the air, crossing the distance between Zach and the leader of the GSG in about a quarter of a second. And now, Zach braced himself, praying to the Gods he was not about to pop Donovan like he’d done to those zombies on Archian Prime. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how he’d feel if the man exploded into a billion pieces while his sizzling, steaming insides rained down on Zach.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Extending his arms, he somehow caught the Phase Slash with his axe, and so now, in addition to being encompassed by a reddish, electrical aura, the entire bladed axe began to shake and ripple as though it were caught between worlds.

How the hell did he do that? What kind of ability is it?

If not for Zach being caught up in such a mess of nerves, hope, and excitement, he might have laughed at the stupid look on Ziragoth’s face as the Phase Slash completely missed him and instead went to Donovan. The dragon roared, and while Zach would never be able to truly know for sure, he kind of thought he detected a note of mockery in the sound of it. Not that it mattered, though. At this point, it wasn’t even physically possible for Zach to hate the dragon any more than he already did. He’d already maxed out the amount of hatred it was possible for a human to feel towards something.

Get him, Donovan!

Gaining speed as he plummeted down towards the dragon, Donovan lifted his double-bladed battleaxe high above his head as he fell faster and faster. At the same time, Ziragoth reacted—but not to him, but to Zach. The wyvern, clearly aware of the fact that Zach was now shining with the golden light, made as if to once more form his wings into the impenetrable shield. But this time around, it failed, either because it was not aware that Donovan was about to attack it from behind or because it simply did not care to pay the man any mind, perhaps viewing Donovan as nothing more than an insect beneath its notice: a nuisance, a pest, something to be dealt with later on. For this reason, the dragon completely failed to anticipate what came next—and to be fair, so too did Zach.

Now, to clear, Zach knew that Donovan was a strong adventurer. He knew that Donovan was not the leader of the God Slayers Guild for no reason. Clearly, he was someone very powerful to be in that role. That was why Zach trusted him: that was why Zach fully expected Donovan to succeed in landing his stun and bringing the dragon to an immediate halt.

But even taking into account that Donovan’s strength was now doubled, and even taking into account that Zach had enhanced his double-bladed battle axe with a Phase Slash, what Zach had not expected—and what he could not have foreseen—was that Donovan’s ability would crack Ziragoth over the head so unfathomably hard that it would cave in the entire back of the wyvern’s skull, cause brain matter to ooze out of the wyvern’s ears, and deliver a blow mightier than the smiting of a God for 5,115,321 damage while sending the beast crashing headfirst into the ground as tendrils of electricity snaked all the way through its body, the sign of a successful stun.

“It’s stunned for ten seconds!” Donovan roared over the Comm. Then, quickly, his axe turning blue, he slammed it down a second time on top of Ziragoth, causing a blueish-white down arrow with the word “RES” to appear above its head. Immediately, as though recognizing this as some kind of call to action, Kalana darted forward, both her daggers glowing red, and following a dual slashing attack, a down arrow with the word “DEF” joined “RES” above the dragon’s caved-in head. And with that, Donovan put out a call to arms that Zach would remember for the rest of his life.

“ALL BATTLEGROUPS!” he roared. “ATTACK THE DRAGON NOW! EVERYONE! ATTACK!”

Upon those words, a beatdown of historic proportions took place under the early-morning, summer sun, one that was formally kicked off with an explosive combination from Donovan. And it was in this moment, right here and now, that Zach truly realized how badly—and unintentionally—he’d underestimated the man.

When Zach had asked for his help, he had only done so because he needed Donovan to deliver the ten-second stun. But he had never bothered to factor in what else he could bring to the table, because Zach just plain didn’t know. But now it really made sense why Mr. Oren was so impressed with him. It was no wonder why he thought that Zach had been suddenly struck with some kind of stroke of genius.

Before his very eyes, Zach watched as Donovan showed a side of himself in battle that Zach had not before seen and could hardly believe. Given that Donovan was a man who wore incredibly heavy armor and tended to deliver slow, powerful blows with his battle-axe, he could never have imagined seeing this kind of ferocity that Donovan was putting on display. Right now, Zach was able to discover exactly what it looked like when Donovan did not hold anything back: when he did not bother to pace himself whatsoever, conserve his energy, or fight with any regard for what might come next.

With the same reckless abandon that Zach himself had just displayed, Donovan whirled his axe around and chopped apart the dragon with such lethal fury it was as awesome as it was frightening. The man’s lips were peeled back, his teeth bared, and with such a frenetic, out-of-place speed, he hacked and hacked and hacked away, ripping apart the dragon’s flesh so fast his axe appeared a blur, growling as he bashed its head in over and over, causing so much blood to splatter all over his armor he was practically painted red.

“All those people, you fuckin’ bastard,” he growled as he bashed the hissing, whining, immobilized dragon over the head. “All those children!”

Zach, too, joined him, screaming out his rage as he began ripping the dragon apart. And then came the arrows. And then came the magic. And with the dragon’s resistances and defenses now lowered, it opened up other mages to cast other debuffs, which Zach had never even thought could happen. One by one, more down arrows began to appear. And then Ziragoth’s mouth and nose—whatever little was left of it—turned purple as though poisoned. While this was happening, an army of melee DPS wielding every manner of weapon began occupying the space all around Zach, attacking it. Before Zach even fully realized what was happening, every last adventurer, political guild member, and Elf turned all their fire onto the dragon.

Even with a handful of adds still left alive, the tanks also joined in. In the span of mere moments, they went from a raid to an organized mob, conducting a ruthless, merciless beatdown on a never-before seen scale. Kalana, Mr. Oren, Alixa, even Fluffles, Chumpkenwiffles, Fylwen, Peter, and Grundor: everyone seemed to appear in a gigantic ring around Ziragoth, and everyone vented their disgust and outrage onto it. But also their fear and their desire to live to tomorrow. Thanks to the debuffs, everyone was now able to contribute. And though it was Donovan and Zach who did the majority of the damage, the combined force of all the others contributed massively to the effort.

As Zach ripped his sword across the dragon one time after the next, he eyed the dragon's HP in the corner of his vision, and he saw it begin to decrease fast: very, very fast. He was striking for over 300,000 damage a hit, and he was hitting multiple times in one second. The same was true of Donovan, who struck for over 200,000. Everyone else did between one and fifteen thousand depending on the attack. "We can actually kill it!" Zach screamed triumphantly. "We have the time! Don't stop until your arms fall off!"

"He's right!" Donovan yelled in agreement. "Attack it until you pass out. Just don't stop!"

After so many setbacks and so much suffering, it was almost too difficult to believe. Could this really be the chance to end the nightmare? He wondered if this was some kind of trap or illusion. He assumed it couldn't possibly end in these mad, wild ten seconds. But the more its HP decreased, the more he realized that this was really, truly happening. If they were able to keep up this level of damage, they would actually kill it. And everyone seemed to realize this. The sense of exhilaration and urgency could be felt in the air. Everyone understood: with the few seconds they still had left, they could save the world and everyone they loved. All they had to do was lash out with the ferocity of a murderer having a temper tantrum. They needed to keep going. They couldn't stop for even a millisecond.

With the fate of the world on their shoulders, and the lives of everyone and everything in the palms of their hands, they bashed and slashed and kicked and chopped and hacked and ripped and tore and spat and screamed—until finally, when the stun had worn off, they were left with something no longer even recognizable as a dragon lying unmoving by their feet. And yet, even still, they all continued to cut it into even more pieces, likely due just as much to fear as to anger. Zach was no mind reader, but he was fairly sure that no one wanted to take any chances with what was quite possibly the most terrifying thing many of them might ever encounter.

That was why, even after having already been reduced to mush, a series of lightning bolts, boulders, meteors, ice spears, and dozens of other weirdly shaped or weirdly colored things continued falling out of the sky, tearing the dragon into even more and more pieces. It was a frenzy. And it was beautiful. Never, had Zach felt so wonderful doing something so violent. Even Kalana was covered in the blood of the dragon, having every reason of her own to hate it.

One day, Zach would come to learn that there had been eight possible combinations that could have been used to defeat the dragon. And it had been him, of all people, who had discovered the second most powerful of the eight, even if by accident. But for now, Zach, having worn himself out, sheathed his blade and wept openly as he saw that they had finally succeeded. Actually, they’d succeeded some time ago, and like the others, he had continued to vent his anger and hatred long after the point of victory. But at last, he was well and truly spent.

HP

0/25,000,000

Name

(T10) Ziragoth the Awoken

Level

70

“We did it,” he said, grabbing Kalana and pulling her into a hug. “We actually did it.”

He sobbed. She sobbed. And then his tears dried immediately and his mood changed on a dime, as whatever remained of the dragon exploded with a loud squish, causing untold amounts of blood, guts, and gore to fire upwards into the air. Yet when it all rained back down just a few seconds later, it came back to them as something far, far different: and better.

Every head glanced upwards, countless mouths popped open widely in surprise, “oohs” and “aahs” and gasps could be heard aplenty, and Zach wondered if his eyes were glowing with greed as an absolute torrential downpour: a veritable mountain of shining, glimmering loot began to rain down on them like a storm of treasure. Several of the mages actually had to be shielded by tanks as some of it was quite large, sharp, or heavy. There were items, weapons, armor, hundreds of card-shaped pieces of metal, hundreds of roundish, egg-shaped pieces of plastic, and finally, they became bathed in what looked like tens of millions of gold. Yet no one spoke a word as it poured down on their blood-soaked bodies; it was as if they were all sharing a moment of pure, collective awe. Even after the last golden coin had fallen down, there was a period of silence. And then it was Alixa who broke it.

The woman snapped her fingers and said, “Fluffles, drop it! Bad!”

“No!” Fluffles said with angry meow. He was back to his normal size, and he had a pair of gloves in his mouth as though he were trying to steal it. What good what that even be to him?

“Drop it, Fluffles! That’s bad!”

“Not bad! Alixa mind own business. Zach say all the treasure belong to Fluffles. Right, Zach?”

Zach opened his mouth to reply, but he released only a cough and a choking gasp as it was in this moment that his Unleashed Phase came to an end. His knees gave, his chest began to ache, and he fell backwards, causing Fylwen to rush over and catch him just before he hit the ground. A moment later, he fainted in her arms, but not before weakly reaching out for a piece of loot and failing to grab it.

“Treasure,” he muttered as he lost consciousness. “I want…all of it.”

The nightmare was over.