*Thump, thump!*
Certain doom approaches us. The ‘Boss’ starts organizing the remaining players to deal with the golem, possibly the final boss, but I’m too concerned about something else to pay proper attention to any of that.
“Ugh, the power. I can feel it, corroding me from the inside!” I grab my right arm, which is slowly turning black. It moves uncontrollably, twisting around, clenching and opening the fingers as if possessed. “B-Balmy, please, do something! Cure me! You’re our healer, right? You’re the only one I can rely upon!”
I do my best to prevent it, but my arm forces me towards her. She observes the encroaching arm with fear and quickly flies away.
“Kyaaaah! Don’t get close to me! I don’t want to turn into a monster too!”
Hahaha! It’s nice when the other person plays exactly the way you want for your roleplay. Though I’m not sure if she’s doing it on purpose or if she’s taking this seriously… I don’t mind either, but I’d prefer the former.
“No, don’t run away! You’re my only hope! You’re the only one who can help me!”
“Kyaaaah!”
My corrupted hand tries to grab her but fails to do so. She dodges with surprising dexterity – dexterity she hasn’t displayed since I met her, by the way – and hides behind Thunder Thighs. She’s too scared to stay close to me, but as soon as she feels safe, she peeks from behind her savior, the same as a squirrel.
“I-I can’t control it. Thunder Thighs, it seems you’re its new target!” My hand and arm continue wriggling in an extremely perturbing way as they push me forward in her direction. “Agh, I’m sorry! It’s consuming me. Balmy didn’t help me, so it’s too late now… Dodge!”
My hand forces me to lunge at her. I end up hugging her as my hand reaches behind her back, searching for Balmy.
“Kyaaaah!”
Balmy screams yet another time and flies as far as she can from me. Or as far as she dares go. She’s scared of the whole situation and not only me, so she stays within two meters of our group.
However, unlike Balmy, who reacted splendidly, Thunder Thighs just raises one eyebrow and stares at me as if looking at a buffoon. Face-to-face with her, I can feel her eyes boring into me.
Don’t look at me like that, I was just playing around, okay? Balmy’s reactions are way too funny and exaggerated, I couldn’t the perfect occasion to make her scream pass by. You understand, right?
“Uh… Khm! What do you think? Is it dangerous?” I ask her to break the uncomfortable situation as I take a step back, showing her my arm. “Those of us who got hit, are we going to turn into monsters?”
Thunder Thighs shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. It does look similar to when a corpse turns into one of those black humanoids, though.”
“Shit…”
I then check the status screen and realize that something is indeed going on. “Undispellable curse that reduces HP. My maximum HP is falling… at a rate of two per second. So I am indeed going to die…”
There were a few more players who got hit by the light, and we all got cursed. I can see them slowly turning black like me. But having your maximum HP reduced is the least disruptive that can happen during combat, so at least there’s that.
“...I have some time left. Let’s make the best use of it,” I say, crossing my arms and standing still.
“Aren’t we going to help?” Thunder Thighs points at the group of players engaging the colossal golem. “We should all do our part.”
Eeeh!? Are you kidding!? You want us to jump into a fight with the final boss without knowing anything about it!?
Leave the boss to the pros, I think, shaking my head. The ‘Boss’ and his guildmates account for almost half of the surviving players, and they’re specialists at dealing with things like this. You just need to see how they coordinate to know I’m right. We should leave them the chance to shine, Thunder Thighs. Who do you think we are to take this chance away from them, huh?
We have next to no experience dealing with such monsters, and even less experience when it comes to coordinating with a large number of players. If we were to join, we’d be more of a nuisance than actual help.
Tsk, tsk, tsk! You must know your strengths and weaknesses, Thunder Thighs.
Okay, I’ll admit it… I might be too scared to join. But this doesn’t mean my excuses make any less sense! Understood!?
“Of course we are, but not yet.” I make sure to sound as calm and intelligent as I can, to make up for my previous blunder. “We would just disturb them in the initial phase. We’ll wait here and make sure nothing unexpected happens while they’re busy. We’ll wait until they give us orders.”
“I think so too,” agrees Calaban. “There’s little we can do there.”
By the way, in the background of our conversation and the absolutely necessary scare to Balmy, Calaban and Navigator have been watching how the ‘Boss’ and the other players started the fight against the actual Boss and the corrupted dwarfs.
As for Moo and Muribelle…
Moo was hit in the chest by one of the purple beams like me. It’s not that he couldn’t evade, or that he was surprised by the sudden attack like me, but that he didn’t even try to get out of its path. He just let the beam hit him. I’m sure he wanted to test what would happen.
And since then, Muribelle has been burning him with her hand as they both giggle like fools. They’re a pair made in heaven. Or in hell, depending on your viewpoint.
“Does the curse’s effect get reduced if I burn the affected area?”
“I’m not sure, let’s try again.” Sizzling sounds ensue. “Moohaha, it tickles!”
Sigh! Why are they so adamant on hurting each other? At this rate, Moo is going to die… You know what? I’m going to pretend I didn’t notice and focus on the ongoing battle. Blissful ignorance.
What a crazy bunch of players I got paired with. Thank god we met Calaban and his party, as they’re normal. Me? What are you talking about? I was just playing with the child so the rest of the team could enjoy the Mystery Event. I’m by far the most normal player in this double team.
The fight grows in intensity as the players grow more accustomed to the golem’s moves. In between swears and grumblings, the dwarf player leads his guild members, as well as a few of the other players who decide to join the fight, with expertise and precision.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t any casualties. With a kick, the golem sends an unlucky player flying out of the dome and right into the dark fog. I don’t imagine him coming back from this. To put you into perspective, the tip of the golem’s foot is so big that the experience must be similar to being run over by a truck.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Ouch, that must have hurt…” I comment.
“You’re right.” Calaban agrees.
In the middle of the chaos, we hear the dwarf’s voice. “I told you to dodge to the right! Why did he stand still? Stupid bastard. Don’t come back, we don’t need useless players like you! You lot, learn from his stupidity and follow my orders! Or else…” He raises his cannon-like weapon.
I must say that the main reason why the players dare to face such a big monster comes from the fact that they can’t stay back. If they do, the dwarf will shoot them with his cannon-like weapon.
He has my respect. He knows how to deal with other players.
The golem stomps on the ground and sends the nearby players back. Then one of its arms opens up and a burst of fire, reminiscent of a dragon’s breath, spews forth. The players scramble to get out of the flame’s path while screaming. At the end of the combo, the golem smacks the ground with a punch, using the fire as a smokescreen, and turning his target into player paste.
I’m not kidding, that player experienced the fastest and most gruesome death I’ve seen in this game. From full to zero HP in an instant. Now, only the player’s corpse remains as a testament to his existence.
But the players aren’t taking this without retaliating. A team of three, led by the dwarf, is keeping the golem busy while the other players act like furious locusts, chasing after it and continuously attacking with everything they have. Spells and arrows are flying everywhere, and the golem’s huge size makes it perfect for a multitude of players to attack it simultaneously in melee range.
Is it effective? Maybe…? I’m not so sure. There’s barely a dent on the golem’s HP bar. But it does look awesome from this distance.
“What are you all waiting for? Attack! If you’re too scared to get close, use ranged attacks! Stop wasting time! Just don’t act like fools and don’t get the aggro, or I’ll kick your butts before that robot can!”
The dwarf, the leader of this raid party, turns to us, the players who aren’t participating, and orders us to join the combat. We look at each other, shrug our shoulders, and start casting spells and using our ranged attacks.
Not me, though. I’m specialized in area of effect attacks. Wasting my MP here would be meaningless. I observe everything with the intent to not miss a single detail.
Um… where did I leave my popcorn again?
A new barrage of spells falls upon the giant golem, and his HP bar finally seems to start going down. Sure, it’s slow, but the change is now visible.
The golem doesn’t take it too kindly, though. Without making any noise other than its thunderous steps and clinking of metal parts and gears, the golem starts trashing around with all its might. From its right foot, fire bursts out, propelling it forward. In a circular motion, the golem sends the locusts (players) flying, although not as far as that first unlucky player. The fire then creates a protective film around it, stopping most of the projectiles.
“Fuck! Reorganize! Don’t let that piece of garbage wander around freely!”
The players quickly reorganize themselves, a testament to their experience. They rush at the golem from all sides and the golem counteracts with another barrage of purple beams, infecting more players with that nasty curse. Then, it points the other hand, the one that doesn’t have the flamethrower at a group of players standing far from it and shoots a wide white beam at them. One of them takes it head-on to protect the rest, and his HP bar falls to a quarter of its initial value.
“I wonder which ones are more dangerous,” I think, “the beams that slowly but certainly kill you, or the ones that can kill you immediately…”
I check my arm. The black area has already reached the shoulder. I try moving it around and can do so properly, but there’s a protrusion growing out of my forearm. Something is growing there, and I’m not sure I want to know what it is.
“I’m actually turning into a monster…” I never thought I’d say this. After all, my original Champion is already a monster, don’t you agree?
My thoughts get interrupted by the sudden shouts of players coming from behind. Something I didn’t expect, as we’re the ones closer to the dark fog.
Calaban and Navigator, who have few ranged skills turn around with me, but the members of the other parties and those engaged with the golem don’t notice the ruckus, as the noise of their battle is too loud.
Soon, another group of forty to fifty players emerges from the fog, led by a handsome but snob elf player. Everything from his posture to his gaze shows that he believes himself to be superior to all the surrounding players, even his teammates.
The new group sees the situation we’re in, and after a short talk, they walk towards the main raid team.
“Scram!” Says the dwarf, upon seeing the elf’s face. “We don’t need the help of pointy ears like you! Your mere presence is disgusting! Go back to your flowery bed, lie down, and drink that disgusting, alcohol-free drink you like so much. Leave this to the real men. All elves could go die in the sewers for all I care.” He makes the gesture of spitting on the ground, but no spit comes out of his mouth.
The elf looks down on him, both literally and figuratively, and says with a haughty tone. “Is that so…? I thought we could help you deal with an opponent that’s clearly above your rank, but if you insist… Don’t worry. We’ll make sure to take over when you inevitably fail.”
Is this the famous rivalry between dwarves and elves? Aah, I was looking forward to this, I can die happy now.
As the dwarf and the elf engage in a verbal battle, the members of the two guilds ignore them and join forces to fight against the golem. From their natural way of going about it, this must be a usual occurrence.
“Oho? So we’re not the first ones?”
From the other side of the dome, a third group of players pops up, this time led by a female human clad in armor from head to toe. How do I know it’s a female and not a male? Well, from the voice and, well, the chest area.
“Ah, don’t tell me the crude dwarf and the snooty elf are at it again…” She shakes her head. “I’ll take charge as usual, then. You lot focus on assisting for now.”
The newcomer decides to take charge of the situation on her own. Meanwhile, the dwarf and elf continue arguing. From how heated their ‘discussion’ has become, I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned to violence anytime now.
The fight continues with renewed vigor with the influx of more players, and the fight starts turning in favor of the players. The golem has trouble dealing with over a hundred players at the same time and starts to struggle to keep up.
But right then, something changes. The light coming from the crystals creating the dome fades off, and they stop absorbing the black particles. Although the majority of the particles are still getting absorbed into the central crystal, the fog starts inching closer, reducing the area we can see.
It’s then that we see the armored dwarves and the fallen king fiddling with something around it. Everyone ignored them because the golem took all our attention.
Whatever they did, I’m sure it’ll be pretty bad.
Now free, the black particles flow unnaturally and concentrate on the same places, creating large clumps that solidify into monsters.
Have you ever seen someone disintegrating in a film? You know, like turning to dust and vanishing into the air. This is the same… but in reverse. And it’s pretty disgusting, I must add.
The players panic. Everyone starts attacking the nearby monsters and the once controlled situation spirals into chaos. The girl leading the raid can’t keep up with the changes.
Then, as if this wasn’t enough, the ground not far from where we’re standing splits up and a platform rises, like an elevator. On top, there’s a bunch of blackened dwarfs with specialized equipment that are working on something huge. Something that looks identical to the golem we’re currently facing. Unlike the golem we’re fighting, this one’s crystals aren’t emitting any light, but this doesn’t seem to be any problem, as from the central crystal, black particles leave it in mass, flow into the inert golem, and they start emitting light.
“Nooo! Stop them! I’m the only one allowed to do these kinds of things! It’s unfair!”
My sudden shout attracts the attention of every player, the arguing dwarf and elf included, and I feel all their eyes on me. It’s somewhat intimidating… At first, they send me a look as if to ask ‘Is he crazy?’ but when they see what I’m pointing at, their expressions turn to either anxiety or despair.
But before anyone can react, the ground splits up two more times, and two platforms like the first start to rise. We’re facing three additional golems, the same size as the final boss, which are about to be activated.
“What the hell’s going on here!?”
A fourth raid party appears just in time to see everyone’s reactions. Nobody pays them any attention, though.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
“Mass-produced final bosses!? Who the hell thought that would be a good idea? Bring them to me! Only I am allowed to do such a thing!”