by D Wolfin
“Be careful,” I cautiously warn them, “This swordsman, Ladon, is incredibly powerful. He fights with wind, and his sword is capable of piercing space and attacking distant targets. He can also instantaneously move 10 feet in any direction when attacked!”
The three new arrivals nod and quickly join me as my health finishes refilling and I prepare to re-enter the battle.
“Sir Laurence, we will be relying on your defense.” I place my trust in the idiot who only thinks of girls and hope I won’t regret it.
Ladon is currently besieged on two sides. His windstorm defense protects him from small to moderate attacks, so everyone is forced to use their strongest techniques to be able to hit him. As a result, the two parties’ combined efforts have managed to take him down to seventy percent health.
Sir Laurence, Gladox, Verde, and I go help reinforce Fen, who is in a bad position and already down to fifty percent health. I pass her a few potions, ignoring her scrunched up nose, and tell her to quickly drink them. Unfortunately, she only drinks one before throwing the rest away.
“No. I hate them,” Fen says in disgust.
Sir Laurence tries to hand her some normal high quality health potions, but she refuses to accept them. I frown and am about to tell her to just take them, but Ladon’s next attack arrives.
Sir Laurence steps forward and raises his shield, a bright ethereal force emerging from the edges to cover just enough space to protect the whole party. It successfully blocks many of the swordlight blades, but Ladon’s sword soon pierces space and stabs into the physical shield, resulting in the ethereal force falling to pieces.
Thankfully, Fen steps in at this moment and raises an ice wall larger than before to keep us protected. We hold off our assault until Chronix’s party’s attacks cause Ladon to turn in rage and attack them back.
‘How strange, I wonder why my auto aggravation doesn’t seem to be effective on this AI. Grael said he felt like attacking me, but he was able to ignore it. Could it be the same with all the other AIs?’ I wonder to myself as Fen banishes the ice wall.
I throw five of my throwing knives at Ladon just in case, but as expected the windstorm surrounding him blows them away before they can reach him. Fen attacks with a torrent of ice spears while Gladox charges forward with his huge two-handed sword poised to attack.
Ladon instinctively glances behind and frowns at the attacks. Rather than trying to defend against them, he uses his instantaneous movement to dodge 10 feet to the side. The windstorm that was surrounding him slowly disperses, and another quickly forms around the location he transitioned to.
Gladox reacts with inhuman speed, changing direction the moment Ladon vanished. He manages to slip through the windstorm before it comes to full effect and swings his sword down in a deadly chop. Ladon counters with his sword in a full arc to deflect the attack, but Gladox cunningly shifts his weight and changes the trajectory of his swing, avoiding Ladon’s sword and cutting through the AI mercilessly.
“Hmm, you have some skill,” Ladon says begrudgingly to Gladox as his sword speeds up, tearing through the air and slashing Gladox before he can react.
Such a heavy swing, yet Gladox’s health bar only showed a reduction of barely five percent. I’m green with envy over the enormous amount of health points the top level player in the game has. The same attack would have taken nearly half of my health if it landed like that.
Chronix’s party renews their attack now that they aren’t forced to defend themselves. We have taken Ladon’s health down to 55 percent and have an incredible advantage at this point. Despite that, the swordsman hasn’t shown any indication of fleeing, as if he is still apparently confident in his victory.
I use a considerable portion of my stamina to use ‘Multi Mirage’, turning into over a dozen flying copies of myself. Each and every mirage, including my true self, charges at Ladon with a speed incomparable to anyone else.
Ladon’s windstorm still hasn’t come to full effect, so the mirages manage to pass through without being dispersed. My sudden burst of speed greatly surprises Ladon, who glances around him warily before randomly swinging his sword, dispersing one of the mirages.
I can only move this fast when I carefully plan the trajectory and distance to move, else it is impossible to control. I can always use ‘Perceptual Sight’ to greatly enhance my reactions and appear to slow down time around me, but it always brings a splitting pain in my head that I don’t want to suffer. I still occasionally have residual headaches from the last time I used it.
With the ability to change which mirage is my real body, I change my location to the nearest mirage and use ‘CrossX’ to slash across Ladon.
“Found you,” Ladon says as if it is inconsequential, turning around and thrusting his sword into my ‘real body’.
Unfortunately for the AI, I have already changed to a different mirage. Just as the mirage Ladon stabbed disperses, I attack again with another, this time using ‘Triple Thrust’. Gladox coordinates with me perfectly, attacking from the other direction and trapping Ladon between the two.
Gladox uses a special, unique, wind-based Sacred Art that makes his sword glow green for a moment. At first I thought using the wind element against the AI would be pointless as it is his element, but Gladox only used it to bounce his sword off the swirling air around us to do instantaneous shifts in momentum, bringing his incredibly heavy sword back to perform quick, unpredictable attacks.
This process repeats itself several times, trapping Ladon between us while leaving enough room for the rest of our party, and even Chronix’s party, to attack. Ladon falls to forty percent total health under the barrage before hissing in frustration and using instantaneous movement to escape.
The swordsman AI appears dishevelled, panting and glaring at us with anger. Being ganged up on by eleven people would definitely be frustrating. I have been in similar situations so I can empathize. Unfortunately, for Fen’s survival, I must be cold hearted.
“Each of you are weak, so you rely on numbers,” Ladon growls in anger. “Allow me to show you what true power is!”
Wind coalesces around Ladon at a speed incomparable to earlier, but instead of forming a defensive storm around him, it shifts into a strange, green cocoon. It bursts soon after, and a giant serpent emerges from within.
No, the serpent is Ladon, the same as Fen was originally a white winter wolf. This serpent, however, is much larger than Fen’s original form. Ladon is 20 meters long and two meters thick. His greenish-black scales are sharp enough that they seem to cut the light around them into pieces, creating a kaleidoscopic visage.
On the serpent’s back are two dark green wings that form from the remains of the condensed wind cocoon, granting him the ability of flight and extremely quick movements.
Unsure of his changes, I quickly use ‘Creature Analysis’ to examine the transformed Ladon. It didn’t work on the AIs when they are in human form, but fortunately it does when they are in their original appearance. My skill reveals the stats of the transformed Ladon:
Name: Ladon (King Class)
Level: 325
Health: 147,500
Magic: 120,405
Stamina: 87,400
A being that was once a small serpent, but managed to climb the heights of strength and reach divinity. This serpent god is known for biding its time in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to strike with vicious ferocity. Ladon moves through the sky with the speed of a tempestuous gale, attacking with strength that even other gods fear.
I stare in disbelief at the figures in front of me. This isn’t just fighting a difficult boss, this is fighting an impossible boss. Even though he only has forty percent health remaining, that is still around sixty thousand health points.
A sense of despair wells up inside of me, as our defeat and Fen’s death is the only possible result to this scenario my mind can come up with. I want to run and bring Fen somewhere safe, but I know that is not possible anymore. We have already forced Ladon
into a position where he had to transform; there is no way we can escape.
I recall the time where I saw Grael’s stats, and now feel like something is off. Ladon’s health, magic, and stamina are all higher than Grael’s. Does that mean he is stronger? That can’t be possible, Grael is an Emperor Class AI while Ladon is only King Class. There should be a colossal difference between them in Grael’s favor.
‘Is it possible that the stats I saw for Grael are false? I can’t believe that. We already have such a small chance of getting the first tablet back off him, but that would make it even more ridiculously impossible. Or could it be something else that I am missing?’
While completely lost in my own thoughts and emotions, a wall of ice a full meter thick suddenly materializes in front of me. The change brings me back to reality but before I can move, Ladon’s serpent tail flickers through the air and collides with the ice wall, shattering and sending shards of ice in all directions.
Our entire party is sent flying back from the collision, but fortunately the ice wall did protect us from nearly all the damage. My ‘Partial Draconic Transformation’ also hits its time limit and disperses, causing me to fall to the ground and splash water everywhere.
“Lost!” Fen call out in a panic and rushes beside me.
“I’m fine. But he’s so strong, his health has become enormous after transforming. ‘Creature Analysis’ showed that even with forty percent health left, he still has sixty thousand health. Fen... I know I keep telling you to stay safe and am always trying to protect you, but this time, whether we win or lose, it will depend on you.”
“I’ll be fine. Let me protect you this time.”
Fen gives me a smile that despite her ice cold countenance, causes me to feel incomparable warmth in my chest. I know this feeling well, it is the feeling of love, the kind for which one would do anything for the other.
“Please, just one thing... Don’t die.”
Fen turns around to face Ladon but refuses to respond. I can tell she plans on sacrificing herself for some selfish reason rather than let me die, even though I will respawn if I do.
Chronix’s party attacks Ladon from behind with a torrent of heavy attacks, sparing no quarter. The serpent’s health only drops by a sliver, barely a single percent, but at least it’s progress. I pay attention to the fact that despite his health explosively increasing, his defense seems to have dropped to a bare minimum.
Ladon reacts violently, twisting through the air to avoid any more attacks and opening his enormous serpent mouth to shoot dozens of wind arrows at Chronix’s party. The players try to defend against the attack, but their defenses instantly crumble and force them to drop to the ground in order to avoid as many arrows as possible. Even with all their efforts, every one of them lost nearly half of their health from a single attack.
Beside me Fen keels over, her form growing quickly as she transforms into a giant wolf. She becomes three meters tall and seven long, much bigger than I remember. Not only that, but she has a crown of ice and several sections of her body are covered in an armor of razor sharp ice thorns. The change is enormous, catching everyone, including myself, by surprise. Of course, the most surprised are Gladox and Chronix’s party, who have never seen her in wolf form before.
“Lost, she seems different,” Sir Laurence splashes through the water as he approaches.
“Mmm, I know.”
“Care to explain?”
“Not really, I’m not too sure myself.”
I do have some speculations, mainly that Fen is constantly growing and getting stronger, but it is still only a hypothesis.
Wolf-form Fen raises her head high and bellows a high pitched howl that causes my ears to ring. The temperature in the area drops significantly as if in response to her call, and even the moon in the sky takes on a dim blue glow.
Fen starts walking towards Ladon, the shallow water freezing beneath her paws with just a touch. From the frozen water around her ice grows as if it was alive, turning into nine transparent sculptures that perfectly resemble herself down to the last detail. Those sculptures then come to life, moving in unison with her.
Ladon stares intently at her, the wind around him coalescing into a thousand small wind serpents. The two sides stare at each other, completely ignoring everyone else in the area. They both have around forty percent health left, but Fen only has a little more than thirty thousand health, which is significantly less than Ladon’s nearly sixty thousand.
“You are fooolsss to attack. I am near transssendenccce, about to reach the levelsss of emperor! You ssshould kneel in my presssenccce!,” Ladon’s voice slithers from his mouth with a series of hisses, warning Fen of their difference.
Fen ignores him and is the first to attack, howling savagely and causing ice spears, no, ice stalactites the size of tree trunks, to form in every direction around Ladon like a cage. The icy stalactites in the air plunge towards their target, creating a whistling sound in the frigid air as they pierce at Ladon from every conceivable angle, not giving him a single chance to evade.
It appears that Ladon no longer has his instantaneous movement now that he is in his massive serpent form, else he would have used it to escape. Instead, he flicks his tail through the air like the grim reaper’s scythe, shattering any of the ice stalactites it passes. He manages to take out a third of the attacks, but the rest still land on his body.
The exploding ice blends together, creating a coffin of crystal that looks like it would last for eternity. It doesn’t even look like ice any more.
Unfortunately, faint cracking sounds can be heard as the crystal coffin shows stress fractures quickly crawling across its surface.. Ladon then breaks free, shattering the coffin into hundreds of glistening crystal shards as he charges up into the air and hisses loudly.
“Eternal iccce! How!?”
I notice that Ladon’s health has dropped by ten percent, which elates me, but Fen is panting and seems out of breath as if the last attack put a great strain on her. Just the one strong attack has evened the playing field, but I don’t know if she will be able to do it again.
Ladon twists in the air, coiling around himself while ascending. He floats up until he’s brushing the leafy canopy above before swinging his tail again, unleashing a torrent of wind blades similar to his swordlight blades but massively greater in size and power.
I nod to Sir Laurence and Gladox, and we charge forward together to try and defend against the attack. I am pushed back by strong gales of wind. Gladox is also blown backwards, but Sir Laurence manages to stand firm with the support of his heavy armor.
Sir Laurence defiantly pushes against the wind and thrusts his shield forward as it flashes brightly. The holy light from the shield coalesces into a translucent shield array in front of Fen to ward off the incoming attacks.
The defense is one of the strongest I have seen him use, but at the same time, I notice his mana completely depleting in the party screen.
‘I see, a shield that has strength dependent on the amount of mana sacrificed.’
It is a last ditch effort on Sir Laurence’s part, but it does help. It manages to block half of the incoming attacks before finally breaking apart. To be able to defend against such a powerful onslaught, I can’t even begin to imagine the strength it had.
Fen tiredly evades to the side moments later, dodging half of the remaining wind blades, but still being hit by the rest. Her remaining health drops by 35 percent from the attack, but she appears to have summoned back her strength after her previous attack. It is only regrettable that her mana is still low and hasn’t recovered.
Ladon isn’t exhausted at all after his attack, even though it was equal in power to Fen’s. He continues attacking with windstorms, eventually summoning a tornado that cuts apart the surroundings mercilessly. Ladon’s attack is about to reach me as well, but a tombstone like block of ice suddenly erupts from the frozen ground and protects me.
“Fen, just focus on Ladon!” I shout at Fen over the so
und of the tempest, worried that she will be hurt for trying to protect me.
No ice emerged around Sir Laurence, Gladox, or Verde, and they are quickly blown away. Sir Laurence is the closest and is nearly killed by a single attack, while Gladox’s health is high enough that he isn’t gravely harmed. Verde is the most unfortunate. With already low health and armor defense as low as mine, she is instantly killed, turning into motes of light and leaving her gold behind.
I stare wide eyed and slack jawed at the pile of gold Verde had. I want to recover it, but the tornado sweeps it up like so much rubbish and scatters the coins to the sky where they rain down across the entire forest.
Fen counters Ladon’s tornado with an equally powerful ice storm, but it isn’t as concentrated as the tornado. The tornado dominates the ice storm, and I fear the worst, but as I watch, I notice the ice shards and wind infiltrating the tornado, turning it icy blue and slowing down the momentum.
Not long after, the tornado completely stops, revealing Ladon inside covered in sharp ice shards.
Ladon emits a shrill hiss from the sky before darting down at Fen like a bolt of lightning. Fen bares her fangs and lets out a resounding howl, filling the night with the sounds of her call. She meets Ladon’s tail thrust with her claws, forcefully pulling the serpent out of the air and onto the frozen swamp.
Ladon flails about in her claws, trying to free himself while at the same time trying to bite down on her body with his enormous fangs that would probably impale her. It is then that I realize that both of them are out of mana, forcing them to fight tooth and claw.
Fen and Ladon entwine together as each tries to take the advantageous position. Both of their health points are dropping at a steady pace, but at this rate, it will be Fen who falls first.
‘Hmm, where’s Chronix and his party?’ I ask myself as I notice the lack of Chronix’s party’s presence. ‘It doesn’t matter, if he’s gone, that will be less trouble later. Perhaps he died in the earlier attack.’