The Eldertusk Mammoth finally died, leaving behind a lot of loot. Kai and the archer were at a distance, while the nearest were the three close-range fighters. Mimi, among them, smiling, walked ahead, going straight for the loot when Kai noticed it and shouted,
"No! Mimi, don't!"
The poor girl felt quite a shock hearing Kai shouting at her.
Kai explained, "It will trigger the final boss.."
Realization dawned on their faces. Barely surviving the wild attacks of the Mammoth, Mimi quickly stepped away from the shiny pile of loot as if it were haunted. They gathered together, sitting down to recover their stamina.
Eating some medicine-mixed bread, Jor said, "I think picking up that red-highlighted tusk is what triggers the boss. The Hollow King comes through by breaking that wall."
"Oh! You guys have fought the thing before?" Kai asked.
He had seen their fighting skills throughout the dungeon. They were good—but not good enough to make it this far with an average player team. They reminded Kai of a few of those first-gen players who later became an important part of the guild, often guiding new players and teaching them how to handle things with style.
"Yes, Sherry has.. I was dead in a few seconds," Jor said, getting embarrassed.
Kai just smiled at the guy and looked at the girl. Noticing his gaze, she said, "I was far from it with my bow and a group around. They did most of the damage. I just barely survived."
"What is it like?" This time, his mother asked instead of Kai. It surprised him since both Mimi and his mother had exchanged as few words as possible with the couple throughout the dungeon.
Kai understood better than anyone, though—he was famous for soloing dungeons in his last timeline, after all. Even though it took him ages to do so. It takes time to separate the game world and the real one, especially with everything looking exact one to one replica of the reality itself.
Sherry replied, "It transforms into the Razorwing Roc at a distance, so ranged attacks barely hit it. Then it crashes into players, transforming into the Stonehide Boar. When little damage really lands on it, the Mammoth and Chimera transformations come out—but they only last a minute. All that is manageable, though—the worst thing is the boss itself. When it has its twin swords in hand and burns with blue cold energy, its speed and skills are unmatched. The group I was with used ranged attacks, running around. When this real Hollow King form appeared, we dealt the most damage while the beast transformations were up. It has 2000 health, but each beast transformation killed barely damages the main body.. The damage range on this thing is weird.."
"The Hollow King form has the weakest defense, and damage on it is the only way to kill the guy if one doesn't want the fight to last for hours," Kai finished.
"You know about it?" Mimi asked, surprised.
"I have researched the dungeon," Kai answered simply. Mimi and his mother looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.
Then, finally healed perfectly, he got up, the others slowly following behind him. He shot over 20 arrows all across the room, and then Kai walked near the pile of loot, stopping just centimeters from it.
"Just do your best. Do not panic. When I tell you to attack, do what you can. Otherwise, keep yourselves alive."
With that, Kai picked up all the loot.
[Loot Available:
Thick Mammoth Hide (Uncommon)
Mammoth Ivory Tusks (Rare) x 2
Hardened Bone Fragments (Common) x 7
Frozen Mammoth Meat (Uncommon)
Bloodied Mammoth Fur (Uncommon)
Glacier-Touched Fang (Rare)
Cursed Tusk Fragment
Gold x 35
Silver x 67]
The second Kai picked it all up, with a loud bang, the side wall was broken, and out came a skeletal man with dark blue fire burning in its eyes and coating the two swords in its hands. The red and gold cape on its back looked majestic.
While the others admired its design, Kai shot three arrows, one after another, all following the same arched path just a little behind each other.
The first arrow, The Hollow King swatted away with one sword. Before the second one could reach him, the boss transformed into the Razorwing Roc and flew out of the trajectory. The third arrow was perfectly aimed at its head, but the Roc went perfectly vertical, its wings straight up and down, dodging the shot.
Sherry's one arrow also finally arrived—missing by a few inches. However, before the bird creature could fully turn back, another arrow came out of nowhere and buried itself directly in the middle of its turned soft belly, piercing its heart.
Kai gave it no rest and nocked another arrow, but the falling bird suddenly transformed mid-air, and an ugly three-headed creature charged straight at Kai.
"Attack!" Kai shouted, and one after another, all the powerful skills of the four players landed on the massive creature, all the while Kai continued burying arrow after arrow into its body.
The second it was about to crash into him, Kai used Godstep, appearing at an angle most uncomfortable for the beast as he continued his rain of arrows.
Bright purple, golden, and fiery red arcs landed one after another on its body as the Chimera turned and chased behind Kai. The aggro was set, with him dealing the most damage with his never-ending arrows.
Before the minute of transformation was over, Kai had halved the Chimera's health from 4000 to 2000.
The second it transformed back to Hollow King, however, the 2000 health bar barely dropped to 1917. Everyone sucked in their breaths.
This time, forgetting about Kai, the Hollow King immediately rushed at the nearest person—his mother—its twin swords cutting through the air with dark blue flames.
His mother knew she couldn't run, and she didn't try either.
Her purple hand was already a sharp sword covered in purple energy, her steel sword in the other hand. She screamed and tried her best to parry the super-fast sword attacks, but she lacked both speed and power. Still, she threw back every third attack, though her health dropped below 40 in seconds.
Then, in the next second, Jor reached her, taking on half of the frenzied twin sword's attacks, giving her slight relief. Both still received continuous damage, but they did not back down, screaming and attacking with full focus.
Mimi tried to run towards them to save them, but she was too far. Either one—or both—would die before she made it.
She didn't have to, though.
In the next second, an arrow shot straight up the cavern wall, arched down, and aimed directly at the Hollow King's head.
Meters before landing, however, the arrow disappeared—and Kai appeared.
His kick connected with the skull head, sending the final boss, The Hollow King, flying and crashing into the ground behind itself. Kai landed between his mother, Jor, and the fallen Hollow King.
"Go heal," Kai said calmly.
"Kai—" His mother tried to say something.
"You will die! We three can—" Jor tried to argue.
"Just go." He cut both of them off, storing his bow in his inventory. Seconds later, a simple steel sword materialized in his hand.
The Hollow King howled a bloodcurdling, enraged scream as it got up and charged toward the three with renewed anger.
Its twin swords cut through the air at blinding speed—but this time, they didn't reach any flesh.
'Tang!' 'Tang!' 'Tang!'
The sound of steel clashing against steel reverberated throughout the quiet cavern as every attack of the Level 25 boss was parried and pushed back by a Level 21 player without a single miss.
All four remaining players stared with wide eyes as Kai and the Hollow King locked in a fierce battle—moved little by little, continuously attacking, parrying, and pushing each other back at blinding speed.