Past Ciola Tower lay a vast network of tunnels known as the Cerou Underground Labyrinth. It was one of three giant mazes in Eternity. Attributed to a sage with the unusual ability to magically create mazes, Cerou was riddled with traps and brimming with monsters so as to keep any intruders at bay. Magical energy was thick in the air in the entire area around the maze, feeding the monsters and poisoning the humans. The maze itself was said to devour the fallen, deriving nourishment from them to grow.
“I’m going to die of boredom.”
“What did you expect? We’ve got it all mapped out to the fourth sector.”
A group of a few dozen players was making its way through the tunnels. They had defeated the third area boss and were now going to the final one. The zone they were in was like a shrine without a ceiling. The walls were made of yellowish stone with intricate decorations, and on them were magical torches with bright but cold flames.
“Did you hear Crest has withdrawn?” said Shirokado, clearly pleased.
He was the guild master of Aegis, the biggest progression guild. When he heard about Crest and Twilight Adventurers forming an alliance, he’d been quick to take action, lest his guild be outpaced by his rivals with their clairvoyant. He’d also heard rumors about Crest possessing a member with Sense Life. The two unique skills put together would allow the Crest-Twilight alliance to chart new areas faster than anyone else and speed through the game, stealing prestige away from his guild. Shirokado wasn’t going to allow that.
“I like it here… My Dual Magic truly shines in dungeons like this.”
Shirokado stroked his staff.
Hiiiiive and his people were behind him, lacking in the enthusiasm department.
Why do I get this funny feeling…? Hiiiiive wondered.
It wasn’t Shirokado’s pompous attitude that bothered Hiiiiive—Yamata’s guild master could sense something odd in the air, something he couldn’t describe, and it was making him uneasy. A vague feeling like something was out of place wasn’t worth stopping for, though.
“And who do you get your dungeon information from? Don’t tell me you’ve found another clairvoyant,” said Shirokado.
“No, not a clairvoyant. Just someone who’s, uh, good at sniffing things out,” Hiiiiive replied reluctantly.
The group fought a few more battles as they made their way through the dungeon, and finally, they arrived at the last boss room.
“The hell…?”
Alan was taken aback. The room was a magnificent shrine, like something straight out of a legend of ancient gods. Everyone’s eyes were drawn to an object at the very center of the pristine shrine—a burning cage where a shining, goddess-like figure sat with her palms folded in front of her chest. That must have been the final boss of the dungeon.
“Take positions!”
At Shirokado’s command, his guild members arranged themselves in formation. Aegis followed a strict system in battle, with a very clear division of roles. First, they’d send in the tanks to learn the boss’s attack patterns. Next, casters and archers would take turns attacking to see what was the most effective. Only then would the support members fully buff everyone up, and the guild would attempt to defeat the boss.
Their collective defense was so strong, even Wataru would be no match for them. They didn’t call themselves Aegis—the ultimate shield—for nothing.
“Is it okay if I do it my way?”
“Sure. We do our own thing, as usual.”
“Better to follow your gut instinct than some stuffy strategy.”
The Yamata players leisurely prepared for the boss battle. There were only six of them, but they were the big guns from Yamata’s elite eight. Each of them was a superb fighter, but they weren’t team players. They all relied on their own judgment or sometimes a mere whim. The fact that they had gotten as far as the other top progression guild despite their lack of coherent tactics was proof of just how strong they were individually.
For this dungeon, though, Yamata teamed up with Aegis, the two guilds sharing the data they had on what to expect inside.
The Aegis tanks crept toward the burning cage. The boss wasn’t moving.
‘Strangers, I beg you—’
They all heard the voice in their heads. The tanks crouched down, covering their ears.
“Idiots! You’re opening yourselves to attack!” Shirokado yelled.
The tanks stood up at once, but the voice spoke again.
‘I beg you… Don’t—’
They were only two meters away from the boss now, but she still wasn’t moving. All this boss seemed to do was talk.
“Looks like a counter-type boss. We can position ourselves all around for a simultaneous attack from every direction,” said Shirokado.
Counter-type bosses started fighting only after the players attacked. Shirokado changed his guild’s tactic accordingly.
“Tanks, form a single line around the boss! Back row, begin attacking all at once in ten minutes!”
Time went by quickly. It was only fifty seconds until the planned start of the battle. Everyone was finishing their prep, buffs were flying around, and players were chugging or chewing consumable items that raised their stats.
“Going all out on this pitiful boss that’s just sitting there feels kinda bad,” complained Hiiiiive.
“If you can’t be bothered, don’t ask for rewards later,” his guildmate teased.
“Pfft.”
Hiiiiive begrudgingly called for his companion:
“Gem Dragon Kleinod!”
A large magic circle appeared behind Hiiiiive, and out of it crawled a beautiful dragon, gleaming like a purple gemstone. It was an extremely rare high-level summon, few of which had ever been seen in the game, even in the beta version.
The dragon served as Hiiiiive’s symbol of power, as the crown that made him the king of Yamata.
Aegis members gasped in awe when they saw the dragon.
“So I’m, like, on standby, yeah?”
“What? You’ve got long-range moves, too.”
“Doesn’t being in the back row mean we hold off until later?”
Alan and Hiiiiive were chatting at the rear, passing the time. There were ten more seconds to go.
“Hit it with everything you’ve got!”
At Shirokado’s signal, attacks of all sorts were unleashed on the burning cage. Their force was sufficient to bring down an ordinary boss of the same level as the players, but the last bosses of each area were always stronger.
When the dust settled after the first round of strikes, Shirokado doubted his eyes.
“What…?”
‘I beg you… Don’t—’
The boss’s LP was down, but she still wasn’t fighting back. She was sitting in her cage, in the same position as when they first saw her.
“What’s going on…?”
This was highly unusual. Hiiiiive froze, suddenly wary.
The boss room was silent for a long minute—unthinkable in midbattle.
“We’re lucky!” Shirokado’s lips stretched into a wide smile. “You get bosses like this in some games, don’t you?! They do nothing in their first phase, sometimes even in their second phase, and only start attacking once their LP has been sufficiently depleted. This is what we’re dealing with here!”
To most of the players there, it made sense. They resumed attacking and couldn’t hear the boss saying anything anymore. She was perfectly still.
“This is boring,” Alan complained as he put on his gauntlets.
Hiiiiive ordered his dragon to hold off with attacking. He was thinking about what the boss had been saying.
What was she asking us to not do?
He and his guild had, of course, taken on the main story quest for this area, but there was nothing in it about a goddess in a cage. If she was part of some other event, the few words she’d said were the only clues to it.
“Aya, note down the boss’s telepathic messages, okay?”
“Sure.”
The boss’s LP was steadily going down. Her LP bar was massive, as expected of the final dungeon boss, but she was just an immobile, defenseless target. It took a mere five minutes to get her LP down to 10 percent.
Does she have a second form? Hmm…
Hiiiiive didn’t buy Shirokado’s explanation. He stood back, observing the boss, trying to come up with his own solution for this mystery.
The boss’s LP dropped to 5 percent.
‘Strangers, please don’t—’
It was the same fragmented message as earlier, missing the vital part.
“Time for a finishing blow!” Shirokado announced.
He activated his unique skill, Dual Magic, summoning two giant magic circles. Bolts of lightning flew out of them and hit the burning cage with a thunderous blast!
‘Please don’t—’
That message, again.
‘Don’t destroy me.’
The cage shattered with the sound of breaking glass, and the goddess-like boss took on a human form. Her LP dropped to zero.
“Is this it?” someone asked.
Shortly after, the players saw two figures descend from above.
“A-angels…?”
The creatures did resemble angels. Their bodies were humanlike, but they were four meters tall, with three sets of wings growing out of their lower backs, and smooth, featureless faces. Giant golden rings spun slowly at their backs. In their hands were plain longswords.
The two angels descended in front of the players.
‘Children of promise, we offer you our thanks.’
The players heard the angels’ voices in their heads. They sounded strangely mechanical.
The angels flanked the boss, who had slumped onto the floor. Then they pierced her body with their swords. The boss shrieked, her cry of agony filling everyone with foreboding.
The fire spirit has been defeated.
You have gained six levels from the angels’ blessing.
Everyone was speechless. Gaining six levels for defeating an area boss was unprecedented.
‘You may use our facilities.’
‘Children of promise, we shall assist you henceforth.’
The angels disappeared. There was no ceiling above the shrine, so the players could see the night sky and its stars glimmering prettily.
“Oh yeeeeaaaah!”
Delayed excited reactions were heard all around. Leveling up was a grueling process in Eternity, with the one exception being the EXP awarded for clearing an area for the first time. And the reward they got for the Cerou Underground Labyrinth’s boss was more than anyone would have dreamed of.
“…You didn’t need us in the end,” muttered Hiiiiive.
Shirokado was engrossed in checking his stats after the level-ups, but he heard Hiiiiive.
“True,” Shirokado said, “but we’ll still give you the agreed reward.”
“You’d better,” Hiiiiive replied absentmindedly.
Shirokado frowned. “What’s wrong? Are you not happy with the insane level increase?”