The door was large enough to span a person’s entire field of vision. As it slowly inched open, the grim reverberations made the frontliners here take out their weapons. Their stares were fixed on the door.
Kirito took out Dark Repulser and he gripped it tightly. Souta, Klein, and Agil also took out their weapons. Meanwhile, Wu Yan calmly placed his hand on the grip of the Heaven Gazer behind him.
Heathcliff took out the sword sheathed within his shield and he raised it up high. The moment the door fully opened, he gave a rallying cry.
"Let the battle begin!"
"Ooohhh!!!"
The fighters roared loudly to psyche themselves up for the epic battle ahead. With Heathcliff at the helm of the formation, they marched steadily into the boss room!
They were all prepared to lay down their lives in this battle because there is no turning back now!
When the last of the clearers entered, the boss slowly revealed its gnarly countenance to the brave adventurers.
In this spacious room that looked larger than a Roman colosseum, the oval arena and the dark walls extended up into the ceiling. The whole boss room looked like the insides of an egg split in half.
Silence greeted the clearers. The darkness crept up on the frontliners here. Even the players with the best night vision can only see dozens of meters away. It looked like there was nothing here but rocks and walls. There are also boulders scattered around the place.
The players got into formation and the door behind them closed with a loud boom. It sounded like the gavel has fallen on their hearts. They couldn’t help but get anxious.
One of two things will have happened when that door opens again: Either the boss is dead, or the players are dead.
Their knuckles were cracking under the immense pressure they exerted on their weapons. The deathly silence here didn’t help to ease the anxiety gripping their hearts. They scanned the whole room with frantic glances to try and locate the boss.
However, no floor boss could be seen.
The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear, under this uncertain situation, the players started panicking. They are so tense and attuned to their environment that any minor movement will cause a huge uproar.
Except for one player, of course...
Fwish
Like an arrow, a player leaped into the sky with tremendous force. He reached the ceiling in no time at all as a thunderous boom scattered overhead.
Clang Bam
Skrrrs
"Up there!"
A player shrieked in horror. They looked at the ceiling and sure enough, almost all the clearers reacted with immense shock. Kirito & co’s eyes almost popped out with surprise.
"What the heck is that?!"
The hysterical player yelled again but nobody paid him any attention. They were too preoccupied with the creature hanging above them.
It was a creature dozens of meter long that lurked above them.
Like a skeletal centipede, it had a bunch of ribs that functioned like scythes. Like a centipede, those scythes looked gnarly, the creature had freaking scythes for arms and legs! The creature emitted boiling sounds like a train of death whenever it moved.
Its head resembled an elongated skull that looked like a combination of a Spider’s body and a human’s skull. It had glaring-red eyes and sharp teeth lining its enormous jaw. The pincers near the head were enourmous scythes that replaced its arms.
A monster, a true monster.
However, this creepy creature is screeching like crazy. It was flailing around like a giant insect that’s under attack. It had a good reason to freak out, a certain player with an oversized black sword is currently anchored to the creature by stabbing his sword into the monster’s head.
It was Wu Yan!
"Yan!"
Souta, Klein, and Agil were speechless.
"I can’t believe he just jumped straight up there to attack!"
A bead of sweat flowed down Kirito’s temple.
"That guy, just how reckless is he?..."
"That jump height..."
Heathcliff gnashed his teeth. He turned around and he issued an order with a frosty tone.
"Don’t stay together! Spread out!"
The skeleton centipede dropped down on the pale-faced players. It didn’t forget to spread its scythe legs as wide as possible.
"Quickly! Spread out!"
Heathcliff roared at them. Some quick-witted players got out of the way but there are still players who were petrified by fear. They stared at the falling death machine like fools.
Still anchored to the boss with his Heaven Gazer. Wu Yan silently cursed. Because of his current position, the boss would crush him flat as a pancake if he didn’t do something about the boss’ fall.
"Those dumbasses!"
Wu Yan raised his head and he quickly took out his sword to give the boss another heavy smash on its armored body. He used the ensuing force to push himself out of harm’s way.
Boom
Dust swept over everyone when the boss fell. The boss roared in anger as its jaw trembled as if to augment its roar.
Screechhhh
The players regained their senses. They looked in horror as the boss brandished its scythe-arms at the stunned players.
"Argh!"
The players were smacked away and their HP bars quickly depleted down from the green zone to the yellow zone, the red zone, and finally the players shattered into data crystals.
Shock, fear, and trepidation filled the soul of each fighter here!
"One hit..."
Heathcliff gasped as he watched the boss.
"Just one hit..."
"You’re kidding me..."
Kirito bit his lips so hard he almost started bleeding. Disbelief, no, the players didn’t want to believe the reality presented to them.
They were all elites among elites. They had high levels, good equipment, and they are all players who stood near the top of their trade.
Yet, the boss killed a bunch of players with one attack.
That’s scary! That’s just too terrifying!
"Ahaha..."
Wu Yan grinned but a bead of sweat flowed down the side of his head.
"It looks like I need to be careful as well..."