Surrounded by thatch huts and flat, dirt ground encircled by a dense network of trees, everyone’s eyes were directed at one being. The one that was the ruler of all Fiends and the master of the Chaotic Lands, the Overlord. The final boss of Chronicle Odyssey that Zayd had defeated in the game six years ago. It was an opponent designed for a raid with several parties of max level players to even have a chance of victory.
‘Why did something that late game show up here of all places?!’ Zayd uttered outloud.
Erasmus Delamere easily took note of the single normal human there and turned to face him.
“So, you are the Hero that is destined to defeat me? Well, I’m going to make sure that destiny never comes to pass. I’ll wipe you off the face of Isle before you can even get strong enough to think of challenging me.” Erasmus Delamere raised his hand, but stopped when he noticed all of the Orcs rallying to defend Zayd. He scowled in irritation.
“Are you really going to try get in my way to protect our worst enemy? You dare defy me!?”
Erasmus bellowed out a thundering roar that Zayd could feel to his bones. The strength sapped from his legs like the wind disappearing from a ship’s sail. It sent everyone except Zayd and Milonia to the ground. The young man looked over to see despite her being unstable on her feet and beads of sweat on her forehead, she still looked fiercely determined and he was still standing by her side as well.
‘That must be his AoE Stun Skill,
“Impressive, you two can still stand despite being so weak. I’ll show no mercy to the Hero, but female Orc, I’ll consider allowing you to join my main army if you stop your traitorous ways this instant. You show great promise for your kind.” The Overlord propositioned with faux affably.
Milonia was about to respond, but Zayd spoke up before her.
“She’s not going anywhere! The show can’t go on without her, because we’re going to defeat you and give this world a wake up call!”
“That’s right! I have no desire to serve a cruel Overlord who does nothing for my people. I’ve already chosen a cause to fight for and it has nothing to do with joining yours!” Milonia proclaimed resolutely as she pointed her sword to the Overlod. The giant wooden weapon was incredibly feeble compared to the foe in front of it.
Erasmus Delamore simply looked back at them with uninterested eyes filled with black schlera and crimsons irises then sighed.
“Fine, I dislike unnecessary fighting, so I’’ll end this with one blow. You Orcs should be strong enough to survive this. The pain will make you learn to never go against me again.”
The Overlord quieted and collected himself before outstretching his hands and holding his palms upward to the sky.
“O’ Spirit of Fire, heed my will and reason as your herald, pass down fiery judgment upon my foes, swift as a guillotine. 5th Tier Spell - Infernal Exec-”
Before he could finish chant, Zayd caught a flash like a star from one of the distant mountains. A beam of light shot directly at the Overlord. Instantly, an explosion followed that sent a wave of heat cascading outward along with a cloud of singed dust.
‘Was that attack from Cecilia? It looked like it came from her laser cannon that was amped up with magic as welll. It was a good shot, but…’
The dust settled to reveal the Overlord standing in the same position unscathed.
“Hmph, that almost was enough to get past my resilience but still ultimately futile Though, it did end up keeping me from finishing my spell.’
“You should take that as a sign to leave, because that was just a warning shot.” Zayd said in bluff.
“Really? I’m afraid I’ll have to find out personally if your mysterious ally intervenes any further. For now, I’ll just take care of things wihout spells.” He then snapped his fingers and a wide dome of shimmering and purple hexagons appeared around the three before fading away. Zayd recognized this as an Absolute Domain which was what Bosses in Chronicle Odyssey used to keep players from escaping. That fact was not at the center of his mind though.
‘Without spells? Oh, that’s right. Infernal Execution has a cooldown that keeps the user from casting any spells for 300 seconds after attempting to cast it, whether successful or not.”
“Hmm, how do you know so much about Fiendish spells?” Erasmus asked with great curiosity.
“How about I tell you if you promise to leave and never show up again?” Zayd responded wryly.
A vicous smirk appeared on the Overlord’s face. “Generous offer, but I’ll go with getting the answer out of your broken body instead.”
Erasmus then reached out his hands and giant fiery arms sprouted in the air around Zayd in an attempt to crush him, but he quickly evaded. This continued on several times as Zayd’s stamina quickly drained. One was about to smash him into the ground from above but Milonia deflected it with her giant sword by leaping in the air.
She landed next to Zayd who called out to her.
“Milonia, I think we’re going to need to party up if we’re gonna have any chance of surviving this fight. Follow my lead until the right moment.”
“Understood. Make sure you aren’t too reckless.”
“I’ll try.”
They both nodded and rushed forward in synchronicity.
Erasmus who observed their conversation could not help but find irritation in it.
“No matter how many ants pile on top of each other and act like mighty beasts they’re still ants!”
He conjured a large, crimson spear with an intricate spiral design and struck it into the ground. The earth erupted in paths of lava in their direction. Zayd and Milonia leaped to their sides to avoid the magma and kept moving forward. The Overlord called forth more of his Infernal Arms from several places and they moved out of the way each time.
“Ugh, how about this! You’ll have nowhere to run!”
The Lord of Fiends raised his Draconic Lance of Ferocity to the sky and a hail of fiery spears rained down and blotted out the sun.
Simultaneously, Zayd lunged toward the smoldering ditches filled with broken ground left by the lava with Milonia in tow.
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“Quick, grab the largest rock you can find and use it as a shield!” Zayd directed. The Knight nodded in understanding and stabbed an ashen boulder with her blade and held it over the both of them. The flaming lances bombarded the makeshift shield intensely but Milonia held fast.
It eventually fell apart but the onslaught was over by then and they were left unharmed except for some aching in the warrior woman’s arm. Zayd looked to their side to see that a fiery spear was embedded into the dirt next to him.
‘These were made by the Overlord himself using his
“How?!” Snapping Zayd out of his thoughts was a frustrated yell from the Overlord.
“How are you able to anticipate my every move? It’s as if Fates guiding your every action.”
“What can I say? I’ve always been a natural on-stage. If that worries you so much, you should go back to sit on your temporary throne and wait for when I’m ready to kick your ass.”
“Stage? Are you referring to the orchestration of the Fates? Hmph, you Heroes are so spoiled by their favors that I decided to forcibly claim some of that favor for my own to obtain a prophecy. It foretold that a Hero would emerge from the outskirts of the Southwestern seas on the eve of the Centennial Voyage.”
“Centennial Voyage…that’s how they avoided this event.” Zayd said mostly to himself. Erasmus brow furrowed at this.
“I see. It’s not that Fates are manipulating your movements, you’ve already received their guidance in a similar way that I obtained my prophecy. However, it seems like they showed you much more than what I gleaned.”
“You really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
‘At least, I don’t think he does. The Fates were mythical beings in the lore but just a notification menu gameplay-wise. But, if everything else is real, there’s no reason they aren’t as well.’
“It matters not. I’ll ring the answer out of you along with your blood. You may be able to predict my actions, but your energy won’t last forever.”
Erasmus proceeded to unleash all of his most deadly skills in quick succession, turning the battlefield into an infernal plane. Lava erupted from below, fiery spears rained down from above, and clawed hands reached out from every other direction. Zayd and Milonia could do nothing but press forward with their senses stretched to their very limit.
‘There's a mandatory cooldown before he can use each move again. We need to monopolize on that fleeting time when he can’t use any of his AoE skills.’
The Island Wandererer deflected the volley of firebolts as he charged forward with the Pathfinder who coordinated with him in tandem as if they had fought together for years.
‘Each and every single move from the Final Boss is definitely an instant kill. But that’s only if they hit! Seize the next few steps in front of you with every second, with the swing of your blade, seize the next few seconds of life!’
In the heat of the moment, Zayd could feel his blood surge through his viens and his heart pound against his chest. For the first time since coming to this world, he felt the sensation of going up against the unwinnable odds that had became normal for him due to the Null Catastrophe. It was almost comforting to him. As if he was finally again playing the role that he had been shaped into, a distorted smile appeared on his face.
“Don’t lose your head, Zayd!”
“Huh?!” A speeding firebolt two centimenters from blowing his head off was knocked out of the way by Milonia as they ran side by side.
“I know you’re used to dangerous sitations like this but that doesn’t make you invincible, my liege.We need you stay alive! I need you to stay alive!” She screamed over the roar of the destruction surrounding them while they continued to narrowly deflect and avoid every incoming danger that came their way.
“Sorry, I lost my cool there, but that won’t happen again! Not till we capture victory!’ Zayd picked up his pace and rushed ahead of Milonia, directly toward the Overlord. Milonia watched on as he did so with an incredible speed that surpassed hers. A speed that was too fast for his current level.
‘I’ve never seen him move that fast during our sparring sessions, Was he holding back? How is his AGI that high as a level 0?’ Milonia pondered while readying her weapon.
Erasmus noticed the apparent lone blitz from Zayd and decided to direct all of his powers at the Island Wanderer at once. He thrust his lance to his direction and every attack of his started to converge at Zayd’s location.
“I’m going to finish this now.”
“Heh, don’t you get tired of saying the same thing over and over?!” Zayd halted running and began moving erratically in disparate directions and angles in quick succession. Erasmus could not find a reason for the bizarre movements and wondered if the young warrior had cracked under the pressure.
The volley of flaming spears whooshed around Zayd, but they did not hit. Neither did the surges of magma nor the infernal arms. It was not like they were being dodged, that was not the case at all. They never got close to him.
‘Glad to see one of the bugs of Chronicle Odyssey carried over.’
A particular aspect of the game was that projectile attacks used a tracking algorithm that predicted the location an opponent would be on based on their movements. It was exceptionally good at doing this along as the movements were what it was used to. Inputting too many unusual movements would confuse the system and cause the projectile attacks to stray off in various directions. This was what Zayd was exploiting now, and it was likely something he could only do with his current ability because of the sheer number of attacks the Overlord launched at him.
‘Not too hard to overload the system when you’re doing half the work. It’s time for a counterattack.
Zayd started running at Erasmus again and reversed the grip on his dagger which signaled to Milonia that this was the right moment he had told her about. She wondered what exactly she was supposed to do to help and then looked at the flat side of her giant wooden sword.
Erasmus snarled in anger. “The only things I’m getting tired of is your ceaseless tricks.” He carved out a line in front of him in the dirt with his spear. “Pass this line if you dare, the moment you do, you will been run straight through by my Draconic Lance of Ferocity. Decide to fall back, the same will happen with but a throw.”
Zayd remained quiet as he continued forward. By Erasmus using all his Skills at once, each was on a cooldown. Zayd focused all his concentration on this single window of opportunity. A large object came hurling toward the dagger wielder from behind, Milonia’s sword. Without a word, he jumped onto it and used its momentum to launch himself into the air. He kept rising higher until his feet hit an invisible barrier that shimmered with purple hexagons, the border of the Absolute Domain.
“You might be too fast for me regularly, but the top of an Absolute Domain has a massive knockback!” Zayd called out from directly above the Overlord.
He activated
The Overlord could only react with a stunned expression as Zayd closed in as a blur of speed and slashed his torso.
A crack resounded the Adamantite Dagger broke instantly against the Erasmus armor-like skin.
Erasmus sneered and raised his lance to attack, but Zayd was not done just yet.
‘Beyond System Skill - Maneuver Overlap.’
One of the seven moves Zayd had developed that took advantage of gaps in the system to push Skills passed their intended capabilities. Right after the turqoise glow of
“That can’t be…”
In Zayd’s hand was a fiery dagger, modified from one of the Final Boss’s own flaming spears. Zayd stuck the Overlord’s torso again and drew blood this time. Erasmus thrust his lance in Zayd’s direction, but Zayd relentlessly charged forward while avoiding getting hit by a hair’s breadth. At this point, to all watching, it was like the young man could see the future of everything the Overlord would do.
This it it! I’ve memorized his patterns to the minute detail going over my final time in Chronicle Odyssey in my head over and over. Of course, I could anticipate his every action. He’s going to use his
The limb that wielded the fiery dagger was sent flying off before landing on the ground behind Zayd.
‘-lose my arm?’
In his shock, Zayd was knocked down to the ground by Erasmus’s weapon. The young man was left there groaning in agony and clutching the bloody stump where his missing limb had been.
“.Dammit, shit, fuck.” Zayd unleashed all the curses he knew as it felt like someone was jamming a blazing torch into his shoulder. His tongue and noise were overwhelmed with a putrid taste and the stench of iron as blood started to pool around him.
Meanwhile, the Overlord who had not moved at all from his spot looked on in ambivalence and curiosity. The battle had lasted no more than a minute and fifty seconds.
“Now, you have finally lost. Let’s make a pact, you tell me everything the Fates told you or else I’ll wipe out everyone on this island.”