Raid bosses come in various categories, from massive skyscraper-sized behemoths to human-sized brawlers with God-like power. In some events, raid bosses can migrate to lower stages. For that reason, most don’t linger in a stage long after they meet their goal.

…

Ding!

Raid Boss discovered

Name: Vessel of Samuel

Class: Death Knight of One

Perks: Pale Rider, Peerless Rider, Soul Collector, Horseman of Armageddon, The Final Horseman, Shard of Chaos, Father of Silence, Arch Angel of Death

Droppable Skills

Feast At Harvest’s End lvl100

Type: QI +2500

Rank: S

Black Parade lvl100

Type: QI +2500

Rank: A

Father of Crows lvl100

Type: QI +2500

Rank: B

This creature was stronger than me, and it continued to gather power from the undead it slew. Deathly energy flowed into the raid boss at a near-constant stream. Samuel rode through the undead on his pale white and silver bike, taking heads with his scythe while crows black as night erupted from the corpses and flew through the other undead. I could sense the crows for what they were, spirits of undeath just as Star was a spirit of fire. Only Samuel didn’t need time to digest and convert the undeath QI; it flowed into him naturally.

I couldn’t allow this creature to get any stronger if I wanted to win. Already its power dwarfed my own I could feel an overwhelming difference in our QI. But did that mean I couldn’t alter the situation?

There were powers at my disposal different than this creature. I flew down and erupted in Flame Aura. A swirling mass of heat surrounded my body, scorching the ground and reducing undead to ash all around me. Fireballs blasted from my fingertips, exploding through the horde of undead.

I drew nameless just as I sensed the scythe draw forth. Sparks erupted from the meeting of our blades before our auras clashed.

For a brief instant, I saw the creature and its terrible purpose. It was a shard of a benevolent creature twisted by its duty until it eventually gained its own desire. This creature absorbed undeath QI to increase its power for a purpose I couldn’t see. In the darkness, there was light, and that light cast a long shadow. Creatures existed in this omniverse far more terrible than a mere shard of the angel of death.

I heard its voice as our auras clashed. “Oh, you sad, twisted mortal drawn away from the light. I have seen beyond the heat death of the universe to the darkness that lies beyond existence. I have stepped upon the bones of humans and gods alike and battled creatures so twisted that not even death would take them. Who are you to get in the way of my blessing?” Samuel said.

The cold of death pushed against my flames, threatening to take me into nothingness. I had underestimated the monster’s power. Still, I pushed and raged with all of my flames.

Every skill that I could activate erupted at once. Force and Mortal Telekinesis worked in tandem to push my blade just a little bit more. My aura expanded as a black mass of flames against the white and gold deathly energy of the Pale Rider. His motorcycle’s wheels continued to spin, and the engine cried with the death rattle of the endless dead. Even still, I knew that this creature was only a tiny shard of a greater being. Even with all his talk, he wasn’t the true Samuel. The Arch Angel of Death wouldn’t need to collect undeath QI.

Still Nameless wouldn’t last much longer. I could feel the blade weakening. My own QI wasn’t inexhaustible, especially against such a powerful opponent. On the bright side, the undead charged into my flame Aura and burned themselves against it.

I lost an inch of ground, and Samuel’s pale horse kicked into high gear; if I didn’t do something soon, he’d kill me for sure. My mind flew through possibilities at superhuman speeds.

The deathly energy from the undead began to suffocate my flames. My aura shrunk down closer to my body, and I could feel the whales of countless souls pushing against me. Crows erupted from all parts of the city, from building, manholes, and the undead filled to the brim with undeath QI. Once they joined with Samuel, shard or not, I wouldn’t be able to hold against him.

A crack ran through my sword, and I heard it scream.

I thought about Kale, Blue Berry and the girl scouts, and even King. My friend that I killed.

How did I beat King? The answer to that was simple I adapted to work against his strengths. I built my entire arsenal of skills for defeating King. Even my Death Ray worked the same it was built for fighting King’s archetype.

“In the end-fire burns the deadwood of the forest.” Instead of forcing the undeath energy out, I let it into my flames. There was already some fire QI from burning the undead that burned under my Flame Aura. “So long as there is fuel to burn, fire is eternal,” I said through my aura.

While cold to the living, when the undead aura entered me, it erupted like gasoline. My aura rose, and the undead around us began to burn. I felt in that moment that my understanding of the nature of QI had grown, and for a moment, I achieved enlightenment. I expanded my aura, melting the stone and expanding my aura as more undead burned. While my aura expanded, I could feel my strength multiply. Fire QI filled the air burning away the undeath QI for fuel.

Samuel turned his bike, and sparks continued to fly between our blades as he fled the blade lock. Nameless immediately sent me a feeling of thanks while it fed on my replenished QI to repair itself. In less time than it took to blink, the pale rider left my area of control. The fire QI that burned away at the undeath QI heavy crows continued to swell and flow into me. It found its home in Star and further increased my body refinement.

At an unquantifiable level, I knew I had grown stronger. Parameters were multipliers on what already existed. Star amplified my already powerful physical stats by perhaps 3 to 5 times.

Samuel rode his pale horse to the edge of my barrier and rode around it, acting as a firebreak, killing the undead and stopping my absorption of undeath QI.

In the brief moment of decline from the moment he stopped the undead from feeding my flames, I took back control of my aura. I could feel Star helping me gather back control over my fire QI. Once gathered, I could take it with me. Flight took me from through the undead horde, and I quickly set up shop full of them. With my power increased and Accelerate, Samuel was too slow to stop me.

My expanded flame Aura burned through the undead in moments allowing me to walk through the horde, gaining more strength. All the while, Star continued to gather my fire QI into herself.

Darkness gathered around the pale rider, and his bike vanished. He reappeared as a 12ft tall angel with pale white and gold wings. The crows that surrounded the battlefield dissolved, and their remaining undeath QI took on the white and gold of Samuel.

The angel lifted his hand, and the sun faded while black clouds formed. At a second glance, I saw them for what they were damned souls gathered above. The taint of their energy gathered up into an avalanche of foul ghosts. Black droplets of rain fell through my aura and refused to burn. Instead, the drops of black stood out, pulling in the fire QI.

“Don’t you know water controls fire? Did you really believe I didn’t know the weakness of undeath?” Samuel said.

I was forced to condense my aura to keep the flames from flickering out. All the while, the crows fed into Samuel’s power, strengthening him. I kicked up a patch of ash and felt something as the drops of black covered no longer absorbed fire QI.

“Didn’t you know fire strengthens earth and earth subdues water?” So Star said in my mind.

“No, I didn’t know that. Maybe I should study up on QI typing.” I mumbled aloud.

An earth skill might be able to counter the rain somehow, but I didn’t have one of those. So, it was time to change tactics. I pulled my aura in skintight at the end of the day that mass of damned souls was just another source of undeath QI.

I flew upward through the pouring rain even as Samuel gave chase. His power continued to climb linearly, but mine had just jumped up by 5 times. This time when our blades clashed, we were far more even. Even with his transformation, he wasn’t beyond me, and he had stored quite a bit of undeath QI in the clouds.

Lightning gathered at the angle’s fingertips white and gold before he stretched his hand out and fired. I reared back and threw a punch. The angel’s face remained confident until his lightning bent around my blow like it had struck a wall. I shot three fireballs into him an instant later.

We continued to clash as we gained air until I broke into the mass of souls. They immediately smashed against me, desperate to have flesh again. Up in the air, they were truly only a mass of undeath QI. My strength continued to climb as I converted them into fire QI.

It seems in stage 3, the stage twelve raid boss wasn’t that powerful. My physical refinement reached a new stage bringing my power to 10 times. Unfortunately, the fire QI would escape my body soon. Without the ritual to keep the flame inside my body, this boost wouldn’t last.

Once the undeath QI was fully converted, I threw myself at Samuel. He raised his scythe, but a blow from my fist knocked it up high. I punched the angel in the face throwing a tooth loose. His impossibly beautiful angelic face became bloody. Another punch from me smashed the angel down with telekinetic force behind it.

He managed to get ahold of himself and swung the scythe down on me. It cut through my armor and deep into my shoulder. My QI screamed as it didn’t just cut my body but into my cultivation. I punched him again and fired off numerous fireballs point-blank.

My fist impacted his head repeatedly as teeth went flying. Blood caked my fist as I hit him right and left repeatedly. Finally, I grabbed ahold of his scythe and pulled it free as his grip loosened and tossed it to the side.

“You can’t kill death.” The shard of death roared. “So long as death exists, I will be.” The shard cried as I plunged my thumbs into his eyes and twisted, breaking his neck.

I stood up from the corpse of the angel of death. Samuel continued to absorb undeath QI, and I knew his words were the truth. I placed nameless over the blade of death. I drove my blade down, and the soul reaver screeched as I struck true. Black Dragon’s Flames gathered along my sword’s tip, blasting the blade with the heat possibly similar to what forged it.

Death’s scythe shattered and nameless suddenly felt heavier. Something about shattering Samuel’s scythe gave my nameless blade more potency. Perhaps nameless absorbed some of the death scythes power.

I rebroke Samuel’s neck and tossed him in my inventory. An unkillable undeath battery sounded like the perfect thing to boost my physical cultivation.

With one raid boss gone, I raised my hand and unleashed fireball after fireball until the city itself caught fire. A bullwork of fire QI rose up from the city, burning at the undeath energy like a lit candle. “The world is a candle, and this city my wick.” So I said and felt something profound before losing it.

I shook my head. It was time to go back fuck my girlfriend, then come back for more fun. This fight had taught me so much.

Ding!

Shard Of Samuel Defeated

Drop Processing…

Rewarded

10,000,000G

Equipment Upgrade Drop: Samuel Set Crystals x13

Monster Skill Drop: Black Parade Type: QI Rank: A

Dice Drop: 10 AU Skill Dice, 1 PT Skill Dice

My time was up in this event, and soon I’d head home. It was going to be a long week, but at least my last fight was fun.

Ding!

Skill Level Up!

Fire Manipulation lvl45

Aura of Flames lvl40

Summon Fire Spirit lvl20

Close Combat lvl80

Spiritual Manipulation lvl40

Flow Of The Hawk lvl10

Swordsmanship lvl40

Enfeeble lvl50

Curse lvl15

Grudge lvl10

Sprint lvl70

Accelerate lvl25

Name: Red

Class: Cultivator lvl1/10

Realm: QI Condensation lvl4/9

+70QI

70% of QI added to all physical Parameters.

Years Of Cultivation to the next stage: 50 years

Perk Gained: Dragon Lord: x10 to Parameters

Perk Gained: Destroyer: +50% DMG to buildings

Perk Gained: Milestone: +50% movement speed.

Perk Gained: Tempered: x5 STR and CON

Perk Gained: Ultimate Dragon Power: x50+ Parameters when Terra Force activates.

Perk Gained: Living Fortress: x5DEF Unarmored

Perk Gained: Bullet Sponge: 50% resistance to bullets.

STR 1001 (15,015) 54,537

CON 79 (1,185) 40,707

DEX 311 (3,110) 42,632

AGL 325 (3250) 42,772

QI 5,646 (56,460)

PER 95 (950) 40,472

MAG 671 (6,710)