Chapter 6
#6. Boss Fight
With a long creak, the heavy iron door opened, revealing the view inside the boss room.
At a glance, it didn’t seem much different from the labyrinth areas I’d passed through so far, but there was one key difference: it was wide.
I’d seen info posts on the open community, but I didn’t know it was this big. It seemed even larger than the parade ground of the unit I was discharged from.
-Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh.
As soon as I stepped inside, torches along the left and right walls of the boss room, which had been sunk in darkness, flared up, and a system message appeared.
[Even among goblins, who are lacking in everything but viciousness, a lord with the bearing of a ruler is bound to be born.]
The message soon vanished, and as the light grew brighter, it rose from the throne at the center of the now-brighter boss room.
“GRAAAAAAAH-!!”
Over two meters tall, with a bulky body packed with muscle and huge fangs jutting out.
Described like that, it sounds like an orc might have shown up, but that muscle-bound monster was, after all, a goblin.
[BOSS- Goblin Lord Graksar]
The console and nameplate that appeared above the boss monster’s head said the same.
But it was at least three times bigger than any goblin I’d taken down so far. Side by side, the difference would probably be on the level of a neighborhood grade-schooler and Choi Hong-man.
Aside from its size, it wore bone shoulder ornaments and a black cloak, and carried something like a bone greatsword shaped like a Chinese cleaver.
According to the strategy guide I skimmed before entering the boss room, it would start by fighting with that bone greatsword, then later switch to a bone axe.
It looked incredibly vicious, but with my high defense, I should probably be able to block it.
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Goblin Lord slammed the bone greatsword into the floor. Then goblins in armor sprang out from the small passages on both sides of the boss room.
The lord’s summoned elite monsters were the Goblin Royal Guard.
I’d heard their pattern was similar to the Goblin Centurion, but their base stats and equipment were superior. The number that appeared was always fixed at three.
I’d heard the weapons they brought out were completely random, but this time it was two spearmen and one crossbowman.
According to the guide, the standard play was to take down the troublesome guards first, then focus-fire the boss.
“Here I go!”
I shouted and charged at the crossbowman closest to me first.
Thanks to my Agility stat of 22, my running speed was fast enough to put Usain Bolt to shame.
The distance closed in an instant, and my sword swung faster than the crossbowman could fire his first bolt.
-Clang!
Damn, swinging straight at the armor made my hand tingle. I thought my attack power would be enough to smash through it, armor and all.
Even with high stats, trying to break armor with a slashing weapon was probably too much to ask.
I quickly swung my other hand hard and smashed the goblin’s head with the shield strapped to my arm, [World Rabbit Encyclopedia].
The goblin I hit in the head collapsed face-first onto the ground. I aimed for the gaps in its armor and thrust my sword in hard.
-Sshk!
The feel of the hit was different. Normally a red critical effect should have popped up, but it looked like the blade hadn’t gone all the way in.
Since it was an elite mob, its defense seemed to be pretty high. Guess it really did have better specs than a Goblin Centurion.
I raised my sword once more and brought it down on the same spot again.
-Sshk!
A huge red effect burst out; this time, the critical hit landed properly.
But at that moment, the goblin lying face-down grabbed my ankle tightly. It was still alive even after a critical hit.
I raised my sword again to finish it off properly, but with clattering footsteps, two other goblins charged in.
Since I’m always forced into solo play, I’m used to situations like this. I swung my sword at the goblin charging in front with a spear.
-Clang!
The gap in our Strength stats was overwhelming, so the goblin with the spear toppled sideways.
And then another goblin came rushing in with its spear thrust forward. This time, I casually put out my shield to block the attack.
But it felt a little different from when I usually blocked goblin attacks.
“Huh?”
It felt like I’d been hit by something about the size of a basketball, and my body was shoved backward.
I tried to correct my tilting posture, but my balance collapsed because of the other goblin still gripping my ankle tightly.
I fell flat onto the stone floor. It didn’t hurt because my defense was high, but I couldn’t stop a goblin from climbing on top of me in an instant.
-Thuk! Thuk!
The goblin that had mounted me gripped its spear near the base and tried to stab me in the face.
I could block it easily by lifting my shield, but the impact kept traveling up my arm. Now I knew why I’d been knocked back earlier.
This bastard was stronger than I’d expected. Still, it was just a goblin.
“Get lost!”
From my prone position, I swung the shield to shove off the goblin on top of me, then got up and kicked it away.
Come to think of it, I’d been surrounded by three goblins in no time. That crossbowman from earlier was still alive too, even while bleeding.
How much HP does that bastard have to still be alive?
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
Then I heard especially powerful, heavy footsteps coming toward me.
Beyond the three goblins, the massive Goblin Lord was charging toward me with its greatsword raised.
And then, just as I thought, why is it moving so fast—
-CRACK!
“Ugh.”
The huge greatsword slammed into my upper body.
**
My vision tilted up toward the ceiling. Both my feet were off the ground.
For a brief moment, I was flying. It wasn’t long before the hard ground welcomed me.
-Thud!
A high-pitched ringing sounded in my ears. What the hell happened? Did I get hit and sent flying?
So this is what a boss is like after all? Its strength was absurdly high. Felt like I’d been sent flying at least a few meters.
Right, because I didn’t have any party members, the boss aggro had stayed on me. Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Anyway, get up. If I don’t, I’ll be surrounded again.
“Ugh, huff……!”
Huh, what? I can’t breathe—what, why is this happening?
The ceiling was wavering like heat haze. My head was spinning. What the hell, seriously, what?
I had no idea what was happening. What snapped me out of it was a huge shadow that came into view.
With the sensation of sparks crackling in my head, I immediately realized what the shadow was.
It was the Goblin Lord, leaping high into the air with its greatsword in hand.
Wait, it jumped?
-CRUNCH!
“Guhk!”
The terrifying impact jolted me fully awake. With a crunching sound that followed, my chest tightened.
It was the sound of my armor’s breastplate caving in. It was from taking a direct hit from that huge bone greatsword twice.
And then there was the stabbing pain from inside my body. Did I break a rib or something? It hurt just to breathe in—fuck, it hurts, shit.
“Kraaaaaah!!”
My chest, my shoulders, all the way from my shoulders to my elbows—everything felt wrong. It tingled. And what’s this, blood?
When I turned my head, I saw blood, though I had no idea where it had started flowing from. It wasn’t the goblin’s. Which meant it was mine.
Without even knowing how I was moving, I half sat up. Only then could I finally see the situation clearly.
“Grrrgh!”
The Goblin Lord was grinning with its hideous fangs bared, with two goblins following behind it.
My [+5 Steel Plate Chestpiece], mangled horribly from being struck by the greatsword, had hot blood running out through the gaps.
“Ugh, uh, ugh……”
HP : 145/340
Through the pain stabbing my chest, I opened my status window and saw that more than half my HP was gone.
The Goblin Lord’s attack power was far higher than my defense. Once I’d realized that much, my mind started working astonishingly fast.
This won’t work. I’d underestimated the boss too much. I had to run.
“Kgh, huff.”
I clutched the shattered part of my breastplate and backed away. Then the grotesquely grinning Goblin Lord started running again.
Thud-thud-thud, the heavy footsteps brought back the horrific pain from a moment ago.
“Aaaagh!”
I screamed and started running back the other way. The boss room entrance—now my exit—fuck, why was it so far away?
I ran blindly, grumbling inwardly at the needlessly vast boss room. My Agility stat was high. So, I should be able to make it.
-Crash!
Fuck, my feet tangled. I fell. It didn’t hurt, but no, I’m dead. Fuck, fuck!
Following my survival instinct, I hurriedly got back up, and just as instinctively, I found myself looking behind me.
I could see the Goblin Lord pulling its greatsword back and taking a strange stance. I knew that stance.
I mean, I think I saw it in the open community strategy guide. What was it again? Ah, that.
Horizontal slash pattern.
-Whoosh!
The bone greatsword swung wide, and I hurriedly raised my shield and arm. It was the wrong call.
It was because I hadn’t immediately remembered that the Goblin Lord’s horizontal slash was a pattern you absolutely could not get hit by.
-Boom!
Back when was it again... around second year of middle school. Yeah, around second year of middle school. I got hit by a car on my way to a PC bang once.
It had been so long that I’d forgotten, but this was exactly that feeling. Like breaking, and shattering.
“Uh, gack, khk!”
Hit by the horizontal slash and sent flying over my shield, I bounced twice across the ground like a skipping stone. A few pieces of my armor broke off and fell away.
It hurts. It hurts like hell. I’d heard that when people are badly injured, adrenaline or whatever makes it hurt less, but this fucking hurts.
Where the hell did I hear that—Shorts? Fucking hell, those goddamn Shorts were all lies.
“Urk, huff… huff…”
I clutched my dizzy head and got back up again. Even after getting this badly hurt, my body was strangely still moving.
Ah, they said I wouldn’t suffer a fatal injury until my HP was completely depleted. Is that why I can still move?
No, then does that mean this isn’t a fatal injury? No way, this is ridiculously fatal. What bullshit.
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
As I moved toward the exit, I heard the footsteps again. Without thinking, I rolled across the ground.
“Shit! Fuck!”
The Goblin Lord’s greatsword smashed into the spot where I’d been a second ago.
My legs went weak. If I’d taken that head-on, then...
No, this isn’t the time. Run!
I sprinted toward the exit. I ran with every last ounce of strength I had. Before long, I was right in front of it.
-Thunk!
“Aagh!”
Something lodged itself in my ankle where the broken armor had exposed it. An arrow—an arrow.
Before I knew it, five Goblin Royal Guards were stationed far away. Five? Why five? And I definitely took out the crossbowman—no, it must have respawned.
In the meantime, the cooldown on the guard-summoning pattern had come back around. And one of them was a crossbowman.
“Aghhh… ugh!”
With the arrow still in me, I shoved with all my strength at the exit—the door to the boss room entrance I’d come through—and forced it open.
As I tumbled out of the boss room, the Goblin Lord and the Royal Guard that had been chasing me turned around and headed back.
HP : 22/340
My HP was down to the bare minimum.
I was on the brink of death.
“Ugh, urk, ugh……”
Transparent tears were streaming down my cheek as I lay sprawled on the ground like vermin.