Chapter 21: All Out Battle!
"United As One"
Zaphro's POV
We were caught completely off guard.
The entire cave rumbled, and before we could even react, an enormous presence burst forth from within the darkness—a massive entity, unlike anything we had encountered so far.
"An Epic Boss?!" I muttered, my eyes widening.
Luckily, we had just made it out of the cave when it happened. The ground trembled beneath our feet, and when we looked back, the entire cave began collapsing. Cracks split across the stone floor and walls, and from within the debris, something emerged—a massive, slithering beast with dozens of eyes and heads. It was still rising… and already, half of its titanic body had broken through the cavern's remains.
Its form was massive. No, massive was an understatement.
It was monstrous.
"Wh-Why is it that big?!" Jin stammered, his voice shrill with disbelief.
"Don't ask me, man!" I replied, trying not to show how rattled I was.
"We need to move. Now!" Verillion's voice cut through the chaos like a command from a seasoned general. "Back to the forest entrance—quickly!"
No one argued. We bolted.
As we ran through the dense trees, something strange became apparent—there were no mobs. The usual monsters that roamed this forest were nowhere to be found, as if they had all been wiped out or fled in fear. The forest was deathly quiet except for our hurried footsteps.
The moment we broke through the final line of trees, we were finally able to see the full scale of what was now behind us.
And all of us froze.
It was enormous.
The Epic Boss—Ferullian Hydra—now fully emerged, was towering over the shattered cave. Its enormous coiling body took up nearly the entire clearing, which was as wide as a football stadium. Its scales shimmered with elemental energy, and each of its heads hissed in a different pitch. Each one seemed to radiate a unique type of magic.
"Damn, dude! That thing's a freaking kaiju!" Slicer shouted.
"We're not beating that," Aryus muttered in disbelief. "Even with a full party, there's no way."
"Yeah, that's not something you just 'take down' casually," I agreed grimly.
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed near the entrance to the forest.
"You're right about that."
We turned toward the voice.
A figure stood calmly in front of the trees, arms crossed with a confident smirk. His GM tag floated over his head like a divine halo.
"GM Akil?!" Ayana asked.
I nodded. "Yep. That's him."
"You bet," GM Akil said with a chuckle. "You're looking at a super rare world boss. That thing takes multiple parties to defeat. It has insanely high defense, rapid HP regeneration, and a bunch of one-hit-kill abilities. If you try to solo it… well, you die. Instantly."
"H-How are we supposed to beat that then?!" Shion asked, clearly stressed. "I didn't even see that during beta testing!"
"You were a beta tester? That's awesome," GM Akil commented, but then grew serious. "Anyway, that's why we're here."
In an instant, several more GMs materialized one after another—GM Kaizen, GM Rowan, and GM Aero among them.
"Wait… why are all of you here?" I asked GM Kaizen, raising an eyebrow.
"This is an unscheduled system event, Zaphro," he explained. "A special world boss has appeared, and players across the server will be force-teleported here in five minutes. Everyone—regardless of level—will be part of the fight."
"And Player Killing is disabled," added GM Rowan. "Any violators will be force-logged out."
"So this is going to be a full-scale server event…" Erenir murmured, both impressed and nervous.
"All participants will receive rewards if the boss is defeated," GM Aero confirmed. "Even lower-level players."
"W-Wait! Rewards?!" Erik's eyes practically sparkled like treasure chests.
"Yes. Significant ones," GM Kaizen replied. "But before anything else—you guys just cleared the cave, right? You should hand over the item to the NPC for your own reward."
"Oh crap, we almost forgot!" I quickly turned to Ayana. "Hand over the scepter to Calix."
While the rest of the party relaxed and caught their breath, I, Verillion, and Shion moved to speak with the GMs. The others found large stones nearby and sat, still catching up from the adrenaline rush.
Suddenly, Ayana called out.
"Guys! Look at this!"
I rushed over. "What is it?"
"It's the item reward! It's… insane. It's already max-upgraded!"
She showed us the stats:
---
Arcana Scepter +10 (MAX)
Force Damage: 8,500–13,550
All Attack: +150%
Movement Speed: +30%
Lifesteal Effect: 45% of damage converted to HP
Cast Type: Nature Element
All Stats: +50
---
"That's OP as hell," Jin muttered in awe.
"Dude, I want one," Erik added.
"Can I keep it? Please? Pretty please?!" Ayana begged dramatically, clutching the scepter like it was her soulmate.
"Well, it'd be a waste to sell it," I said, shrugging. "Besides, only three of you even use staffs or scepters. What about you two—Erik? Verillion?"
Verillion nodded. "I'm fine with that."
"Yeah, it doesn't match my vibe," Erik replied with a laugh. "Looks way better on her anyway."
"YES! I love you guys!" Ayana beamed, literally bouncing with joy.
After the scepter was handed out and the event info settled, we checked our updated stats. With all the XP from the five Meta Cerberus bosses we'd defeated earlier, we'd shot up several levels:
---
Updated Levels:
Verillion: Lv. 104
Shion_rio: Lv. 99
Ayana: Lv. 98
Slicer_DM: Lv. 96
Jin: Lv. 94
Erenir: Lv. 93
Aryus: Lv. 92
Erik_Hertz: Lv. 92
Zaphro: Lv. 82
---
I couldn't help but sigh. Everyone had overtaken me in levels… but that's okay. My class was slower to level, but powerful when it counted.
---
Ultimate Classes Unlocked:
Verillion: Elementor
Zaphro: Demonic Angel
Slicer_DM: Holy Blader
Ayana: Celestial Mage
Erik_Hertz: Druidic Wizard
Aryus: God Slayer
Jin: Gladiator
Erenir: Occultist
Shion_rio: Armorer/Shifter
---
We were no longer just high-level players. We were elites—each of us holding a class unique and powerful in its own right.
But now… we would face something that went beyond stats, skills, or drops.
A full-blown war against a beast from myth.
And in five minutes…
It begins.
To be continued…