At Long Last!

Hidden boss.

If you talk about hidden bosses, they generally fall into two categories.

First, there are genuine Easter eggs. The boss appears at a level appropriate to the area.

If the boss in front of me is the first kind, I should be able to beat it even in my current state.

The second kind is endgame content.

In other words, it's a boss that players who've beaten the game and have nothing left to do run into while wandering around and doing pointless stuff.

And unfortunately, the boss in front of me was probably that kind of boss.

"Shit...!!"

A massive forepaw swung at me, and I barely dodged it.

With a loud crack, the trees shattered, and a thick cloud of dust rose from the ground.

"This is insane."

The massive forepaw was so powerful that a single hit would kill me instantly.

Let's think. I'm the only one streaming right now, but there must be countless people playing the game.

What were the odds that someone would leave the Meeting Plaza, pinpoint my location, switch their character to Ivan, and be on the Trail?

And then what were the odds that Ivan would be a high enough level to beat that boss?

Tiny. Not one in ten—not even one in a hundred, probably much less.

But if this wasn't limited to Ivan, and the condition was simply swinging a sword, someone could find and beat the boss much faster.

'My viewers will get stolen.'

I had to prevent that.

I needed to keep moving and take that thing down.

First, it had three major weak points.

Its mouth, eyes, and nose.

Those three spots weren't protected by the tough hide and fur covering the rest of its body. They couldn't be toughened up, either.

"Kahk—!"

Its enormous maw came down to swallow me.

"Ugh!"

I dodged forward and threw a sword at one of its eyes.

Just before it hit, the thing shut its eye.

'Fuck.'

The counter was simple: it just had to close its eye. That thing's eyelids, a type of skin tissue, were fucking tough.

Clang.

The sword fell weakly to the ground with a metallic clatter.

I drew another sword from my waist and took a stance.

I could retrieve that sword with Ivan's ability. But could that boss fully counter Ivan's ability?

The game's bosses had AI and could learn on their own within a certain range, gradually increasing the difficulty.

So it was fine whether it worked or not.

Why? If my sword was lying on the ground, that thing would keep an eye on it.

If I floated a sword in the air and charged at it, the fight would instantly turn into a two-on-one.

But then I wouldn't be able to stab its eyes.

I raised the camera higher so people could get a better view of my fight.

"All right, here I go."

#

A massive forepaw slammed into the ground.

With a thunderous boom, the earth split open.

'This is crazy.'

It was obviously a monster—just a monster's attack. Even if it hit me, I would only respawn.

But instinctive fear washed over me.

Death. I was feeling the fear of death in this game.

'This is a game. I won't die.'

I never expected a VR game to feel this realistic. What, did I think I'd actually die in the game like in Sword Art Online?

I slapped myself across the cheek.

I heard the smack and felt my hand touch my cheek.

"Ow..."

This sensation was real. The attack in front of me was fake.

"Here I go!"

I raised my sword and charged at it.

When its massive forepaw swept in from the side to knock me away, I rolled forward lightly and dodged it.

The drawback of an attack with long reach and claws only at the very tip was its limited range.

In other words, if I went deep inside like this...

"Kahk!"

"Fuck!"

I barely dodged the boss's bite.

No—judging by the wound on my face, it had only grazed me.

"What should I do?"

If I hung around at a reasonable distance, its forepaw came at my head; if I got any closer, its huge mouth came at me to swallow me.

"All right, guess I'll just give up."

The boss's HP was at 99%, and the tiny wound from the sword I'd thrown at its eye showed no sign of lowering it any further.

Shing.

I threw the sword in my other hand at its other eye, opposite the one I'd targeted before.

As expected, it closed its eye and ignored my attack, and both swords fell helplessly to the ground with a clatter.

"Heh."

I spread both arms and faced it.

It looked at me and tilted its head, but soon realized I'd surrendered. It smiled and snickered at me.

"Krah!"

Maybe it wanted to look cool as a hidden boss, because it let out a huge roar as if it considered me a worthy opponent.

It stomped like a bull, then opened its enormous mouth and charged at me.

"Secret technique!!!"

I brought my hands together in a hand sign like a ninja in an anime might use.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!!!!"

Swoosh—

With a whistle of wind, the two swords plunged into its eyes.

It let out an ear-splitting scream and thrashed about, and I used my ability to pull the swords out.

"All right! Hello, viewers! I'm going to explain this strategy! When I threw a sword at both of the monster's eyes earlier, I inflicted minor wounds."

I pulled out the swords, went behind its head, and stabbed them into its ears.

Its eardrums burst. Then I crawled back around to the front and scraped inside its nostrils.

It couldn't breathe through its nose, so it would have to use its mouth. With its eyes, ears, and nose all blocked, it wouldn't be able to sense me.

"The wounds lowered its HP a little, but no matter how much time passed, it didn't recover any health."

Then I took out the two swords.

"And using Ivan's ability, I can make the sword lying on the ground go bam! Just like that, you can beat it very easily."

I pulled the camera over to me and pointed it at the monster's face.

"Grr..."

"Um, poor thing."

I knocked it flat on its back and stabbed it right in the heart.

Blood gushed out like a fountain, splashing all over my face, and I rolled backward.

A few minutes later, another monster burst out from inside it with a wet, squelching sound.

Then a health bar appeared, only slightly filled.

"Ha, haha. So it really is a hidden boss."

So this was phase two.

I readied myself again and charged at it.

#

"Ghk!"

It was incredibly fast.

It was so small I could only call it a cub, and yet explosive speed poured from its body.

When its claws flew at me, I crossed my two swords to block them, but the impact made both hands holding them buzz.

"If I keep blocking, my hands are going to break."

If I created some distance, it closed in instantly, and a dozen exchanges passed in the blink of an eye.

I had to focus on the attacks right in front of me, and I couldn't hear the chat or donation alerts at all.

Sweat dripped down.

It felt like water was pouring from every part of my body, back and face alike.

I grabbed one of its arms and plunged my sword into it.

Stab, stab. Its HP dropped by half.

Wham—the thing kicked me in the stomach, and with a crack, I smashed through trees and went flying.

With a clatter, one of my swords fell weakly to the ground.

"Grrk!"

This was dangerous.

I swung my sword wildly at it.

It dodged the blades with almost perfect precision, keeping just barely out of reach, then punched me in the face.

My vision blurred a little. Another attack came flying at me.

One of the stats in this game.

Evasion rate and critical hit chance.

I wondered how evasion rate and critical hit chance would work in VR.

Was this like augmented reality? Was I Kirito? I could clearly see my character's muscles.

The muscles tightened with a creak.

Was it compression? The arm muscles that had slowly drawn back thrust forward, springing like a rubber band.

But unlike my fist, its attack came at me slowly, like a tortoise.

'So that's it.'

I dodged its fist with ease, like Neo in The Matrix dodging bullets.

Then my sword followed its trajectory and plunged straight into its neck.

Shunk.

As we exchanged blows, the sword that had fallen sprang up and pierced its jaw.

[Tear it apart!!]

Along with a donation alert, I gripped the swords embedded in its neck and jaw and dragged them straight down.

Its body trembled, then it spewed blood and collapsed forward.

[LV.10->L.18]

My level went up by eight in an instant.

Then its body gradually faded away, and a huge chest appeared.

[Sahyang:Did you just clear it? I'm outside, and there's some trumpet sound and a voice announcing that Jia was the first to clear the hidden boss...]

I hurriedly sent her a message.

[Can't you come in? I cleared it...]

[I'll raid your stream. Don't worry.]

I messaged her, then glanced at the chat and donations.

Silence descended.

"...Did the chat explode?"

The instant I looked at the viewer count, my eyes widened.

Eight thousand people were watching my stream.

Eid Chronicle players from all over the world had come to watch my stream, whether they were on the global, Korean, or Japanese server.

As soon as I spoke, people started typing in chat.

'So it hadn't exploded. It was silent.'

"Shh."

I quietly put my index finger to the camera and gestured for everyone to be quiet.

It was a moment of glory. I was the first to clear the hidden boss on the Trail, and I was going into the Hall of Fame.

[Hidden Boss Defeat Reward]

I quietly placed my hand on the chest.