This time, Steven wasn't going to let this thing escape so easily.
Once could be considered an accident, but twice? Trying to pull the same trick again? That was outright disrespectful to him! Did it not know that the same move would never work on him twice?
Glancing at the still-struggling, disintegrating mass of flesh, Steven narrowed his eyes and quickly noticed a black, ink-like liquid quietly slipping away from the flesh mountain.
And right above it was the separate health bar that had detached from the boss's main HP bar.
A smirk appeared on Steven's lips. He decided to deal with the thing in front of him first before worrying about the rest.
No longer holding back, Steven first laid down a ten-meter-wide platform of End Stone beneath his feet. Then, he rummaged through his inventory and pulled out a tiny, toy-like vehicle.
However, the moment he tossed it onto the ground, the miniature car instantly expanded into a strange-looking truck. Instead of a cargo container, the back of the truck was stacked with what looked like an array of tubes.
After getting into the vehicle and making some adjustments, the tubes on the truck slowly lifted, locking onto the massive, struggling flesh mountain.
"Good thing I added the Modern Warfare Mod. If it's modern warfare, how can I not use a rocket truck?"
Raising an eyebrow, Steven pressed the red launch button on the control panel.
In the next instant, an even more terrifying explosion erupted. One after another, nearly half-human-sized rockets shot out from the tubes at the back of the truck, streaking through the air like meteors before slamming into the monster. This time, the creature didn't even have the chance to let out a final scream before being completely obliterated in the explosions.
The health bar above it instantly emptied. Steven hadn't even fired a second volley before realizing there was no need.
The black mist spreading across the ground gradually dissipated. As the smoke from the explosion cleared, what was once a massive flesh mountain had now been reduced to a smoldering pile of meat sludge.
Steven didn't spare it another glance. He swiftly used a conversion table to store away all his weapons and equipment before switching to his pickaxe and digging straight down.
He could come back later to clean up the remains. The real prize was the Collapsal's true form.
Looking at the red dot on his minimap that represented his target struggling to escape underground, Steven couldn't help but feel a mischievous urge rise within him.
Running this slow and still daring to burrow underground in front of him? Did it not know that digging was a fundamental skill for Minecrafter?
Without hesitation, Steven gave chase. He even deliberately took a detour to get ahead of the fleeing entity, hollowing out an underground chamber in its escape path and patiently waiting for its arrival.
Sure enough, the Collapsal, now reduced to a black, slime-like form, broke through the wall and fell straight into the underground chamber Steven had prepared.
The sudden openness of the space seemed to startle it, and the sudden burst of light made the blob of black slime shrink in on itself. But when it followed the light and saw the boy standing there like a devil, all it felt was despair.
From beginning to end, it had no idea when it had provoked such a harbinger of doom. Being hunted by those masked Ursus officials was bad enough, but now this? This was even worse.
It only wanted to hunt. What was wrong with that?
But when it tried to break through the ground and burrow deeper to escape Steven, it realized something terrifying—the floor of this underground chamber was made of some strange, pitch-black material. Harder than steel, it was completely impervious to its attempts to dig through, no matter how sharp it tried to make itself.
"Sorry, buddy. Obsidian flooring. Your digging level is still a bit too low."
Steven casually sealed off the only entrance with another block of obsidian, then turned to face the blob of black slime, which had a label above it reading [Stray Collapsal], and flashed an extremely friendly smile.
This little guy was quite the escape artist. If he wasn't confident in his obsidian walls, catching it in an underground setting might've been a real pain.
But the game of cat and mouse was over. Now, Steven was only interested in seeing what kind of loot it would drop.
The black slime, realizing it had no way to escape the prison Steven had created, curled up into itself. Just as Steven thought it was going to do something desperate, its tightly compressed form suddenly expanded.
The black slime surged, warping into chaotic, writhing tendrils. At its center, a grotesque core formed—an amalgamation of countless staring eyes.
The thing now resembled a monstrous jellyfish made entirely of eyes and tentacles. No wonder Talulah had described its key trait as "a thousand legs, a thousand eyes."
Just looking at it was enough to drain one's sanity.
Yet, despite the horror of its transformation, Steven remained unfazed. He casually stood in place, even pulling out an apple and taking a bite, watching as if it were a mere performance.
Only when the creature lashed out at him with its tendrils did he finally finish his apple, wipe his mouth, and dodge its sudden attack.
"You're done transforming? Alright, now it's my turn."
Dropping his relaxed posture, Steven rolled his neck and clenched his fists.
This Collapsal clearly had no intention of communicating—it had only been using lethal moves against him. That meant he had no reason to waste words either. Sending it straight to hell was the best respect he could offer.
In a blink, Steven vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, he was already behind the monster.
With a single hand, he grabbed its slimy, writhing body, ignoring the countless tendrils thrashing against him and the black substance creeping along his arm.
Raising his right fist, he drove it straight into the mass of eyes at its core.
The impact was so forceful that the obsidian floor beneath them caved in slightly. The creature's struggling tendrils snapped taut—then abruptly went limp.
Its core, once a mass of glaring eyeballs, had been reduced to nothing but a puddle of foul-smelling sludge.
But Steven had no intention of letting it go. Without a change in expression, he raised his fist once more and slammed it down again.
As long as the health bar above its head hadn't been emptied, Steven saw no reason to stop.
A real fight should be fought to the death—leaving an enemy with low health? What, had people never been killed by a last-second counterattack before?
Only after Steven had pounded the ground into a massive crater did the Collapsal finally stop struggling. The health bar above its head was now perfectly drained to zero.
The monstrous form that had once stood as tall as two men was now gone—completely vanished, as if even its remains had evaporated. All that was left on the ground was a single pitch-black crystal.
Only then did Steven finally shake off the blood still clinging to his arm and stand up from the pit.
Originally, he had planned to deal with the thing using firearms, but in the heat of the moment, he had chosen to fight with his fists instead. He could only sigh at the fact that, deep down, he was still a warrior at heart—never able to let go of his love for close combat.
Letting out a small sigh of regret, Steven rubbed his hands together, then reached out for the dark crystal as if he were about to claim a grand prize.
This thing was the true essence of the boss. No way it was going to drop something useless, right?
Pinching the crystal, which was wrapped in eerie black mist, Steven held it up in front of him, allowing its attributes to be displayed.
[Stray Collapsal Core]: Accessory. Equipping this will result in Collapsal pollution. Grants abilities: [Domain] and [Spread Fear].
This was the first time Steven had ever seen an equippable item drop in this world.
He had some understanding of the Domain ability—it was likely the same black pollution zone that the Collapsal had previously spread. As for Spread Fear, he wasn't exactly sure how it worked. Maybe the Collapsal had already used it on him, and he just hadn't noticed?
But the fact that this equipment came with a built-in negative status effect was something new to him.
Collapsal pollution… does that mean I'd turn into one of those freaks covered in eyes?
Steven held the crystal up to his eye. As a strange light flickered across its surface, he suddenly got the feeling that he wasn't holding a crystal at all—but rather, an eyeball.
Hmph, a giant eyeball? Yeah, this thing's officially classified as useless garbage.
Its effects were probably strong, and its abilities looked decent, but they were completely impractical for Steven.
What was he supposed to do with Domain? Corrupt his own farmland for fun? Or use Spread Fear to go around scaring children?
Both skills were utterly pointless for him. And to top it off, it came with a debuff that just screamed trouble.
Shaking his head helplessly, Steven finally stuffed the crystal into his inventory. Useless or not, it was still an item drop, right? Worst case, he could try trading it with Talulah or Kal'tsit for something actually useful. At least he hadn't come away empty-handed.
After retrieving all the obsidian he had laid underground, Steven climbed back to the surface.
Leisurely, he began making his way back toward the village.
There was still a giant meat mound corpse waiting to be looted. Surely, there had to be something worthwhile left in there.
<+>
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