I was still frozen in place when I watched Renshu die, so I had time to think.

Evangeline was here. I wasn’t surprised, and in fact, I was almost relieved that her first move was strategically insignificant.

Not to diminish the importance of Renshu in this battle, but it would actually have been true for anyone except Dawnbreaker. Me, Absame, Liling, or Abelino could have died and as long as Dawnbreaker was alive with some support, we would still have a decent shot at taking out the World Boss.

We were still completely capable of killing the dragon. This was not a decapitating blow (except in the most literal sense); this was a nervous, probing attack.

An invisible teleport meant that they had a small group of people, probably not more than four.

If they had more people—especially more ranged fighters—they would have used that opportunity to kill more of us.

We had four options, at this point. We could abandon the mission. We could try to kill the dragon quickly. We could chase down Evangeline. Or, we could bait Evangeline into attacking again.

Finally, Liling’s domain reached me, and I could move. The Ice Dragon’s domain had been a wake-up call. It didn’t matter how skilled I was, how perfectly I planned everything. I was outclassed, and weak. It was only because the Ice Dragon didn’t view me as a threat that I was still alive. If the Ice Dragon had attacked me, I would have had to activate Death’s Defier, and then Evangeline might have killed me too.

I backed away from the Ice Dragon, and messaged the group. We had upgraded Communication Amulets—expensive ones that didn’t require a local Communication Tower to function.

“Abelino, ready the Zone Surveyor,” I said. “I’ll kill it quickly, so be ready for them to try to steal the loot. Liling, back off. Dawnbreaker, help buy us some time.”

As the undead wyvern tried to fly away, the Ice Dragon moved again.

Dawnbreaker sent a powerful golden blade at its torso that made it rear its head back in pain, and then I fired my mana cannon down its open throat.

This still wasn’t enough to seriously wound it, but it bought Liling some time to back away.

I followed Liling, and it felt like I was moving through molasses. Thanks to Liling’s efforts, the Ice Domain wasn’t enough to lock me in place, but it did slow me down considerably.

I poured more power into my mana cannon thrusters, propelling myself even faster until I landed awkwardly on the undead wyvern next to Liling and Absame. Liling looked paler than usual, and it wasn’t just due to the dozens of icicles piercing through her body. Through Mana Sensing, I could tell she was pushing her domain to its limit.

“We can’t let it recover,” I said. “We have to end this before it recoups the mana cost and the Ice Domain cooldown resets.”

I took a breath. Under no circumstances would this have ever been the ideal build, or the ideal finishing blow.

It was becoming something of a habit, and I wasn’t proud of that fact at all.

“I’ll go in for the kill. Abelino, run the Zone Surveyor right after I make my move. Dawnbreaker, make a final opening. Liling, hide me from view.”

I crouched behind a makeshift curtain of darkness atop the undead wyvern, and started switching out my gear.

“You sure about this?” Dawnbreaker asked, gently.

I shrugged. “Even if I die, at least I’ll go out with a bang.”

Nobody laughed, or even groaned.

“Get out of here before you blow all of us up,” Liling said, gruffly.

I had changed into protective, D-rank robes with a large backpack.

***

Let’s take a step back. Currently, I was the only C-rank rune master on the planet. I could make C-rank shields and a C-rank mana cannon. A C-rank mana cannon would normally be capable of completely utilizing the energy in a Mana Orb.

In my backpack, I carried a Compressed Mana Orb—very possibly one of the most expensive items on the planet.

The going rate for a Mana Crystal at the Merchant Faction store was 5 million coins. A Mana Orb contained the energy of a hundred Mana Crystals. Then, there was the added cost of compressing the energy in something that would naturally be the size of a boulder into something more useable.

We were talking at least 500 million coins.

Fortunately, I was able to make this myself at Nova City. So, the 500 million coins was more the opportunity cost, than the actual cost.

But this was a sure-fire way to kill the Ice Dragon.

And presumably, the one-hit-kill would take Evangeline by surprise.

The biggest danger was that I was the mana cannon in this situation. And I did not have C-rank durability, which meant firing a Mana Orb would be enough to kill me.

But I did have Death’s Defier. This would just be a question of timing.

***

I flew under an invisibility cloak towards the Ice Dragon. I didn’t expect the invisibility cloak to completely mask my presence. But it would help hide the fact that I was carrying a weapon that could take out the shields of any city in the world right now in a single hit.

If I were already C-rank, then I wouldn’t even need to approach the Ice Dragon. I could just hit it with my mana cannon from afar. But there were so many penalties to trying to fire a high energy weapon with a weak cannon. I couldn’t count on hitting my target. So I needed to go for a localized explosion.

As I approached, Dawnbreaker stabbed her blade deep into the Ice Dragon’s underbelly, just where its legs met its chest.

The dragon roared in pain, and I made my move.

I flew into the dragon’s open mouth, put all of my mana into Luck, and immediately fired the Compressed Mana Orb in my backpack.

Although, it was closer to an explosion than firing a weapon.

You have reached 0 HP.

Your skill “Death’s Defier” has taken effect. +1 HP

Congratulations! You have slain the World Lord. +100 free Stat Points.

You have completed the mission, Slay the World Lord.

Reward: 1 Schema Treasury Token (B-rank)

Level up! (to level 42)

Level up! (to level 43)

Level up! (to level 44)

I let myself smile as my body healed from the Level-ups. Now, for the clean-up.

As I fell to the ground, a veritable treasure-trove of items, spell books, and more fell with me.

I allocated most of my free stats as I searched for the World City Token. Luck, Physical Defense, Mana Regeneration, and Mana Pool.

I temporarily moved thirty mana into Perception, and thirty into Agility.

With a total of 50 perception, I gained 360 degree vision. Augmented by Mana Sensing, I immediately noticed the World City Token falling through the snowy air.

I sped that direction, but I sensed someone else appearing ahead of me.

The teleportation wasn’t subtle, but it was timed perfectly.

The man appeared midair below the World City Token, and he caught it easily in his left hand.

He wore a full suit of grey, metallic armor, and his right hand held a large sword.

I, on the other hand, had no weapons, or armor to speak of. My D-rank defensive robes were completely shredded.

I flew towards the man anyway.

He swung his sword at me, but he didn’t have nearly my maneuverability in the air—he was still falling, but I was flying.

I dodged his sword with ease, slipped into his guard and fired Cursed Lightning right at his chest.

He had no chance to dodge, as he was still falling, and the lightning killed him immediately.

I snatched the World City token out of his hand, and sensed a Void Lock coming my way.

I flung myself more than flew out of the way, and the follow-up Void Bolts flew past me harmlessly.

Then I let myself fall to the ground and focused on collecting the rest of the loot as Dawnbreaker, Absame, Liling, and Abelino chased Evangeline and her companion with a vengeance.

In a matter of seconds, they were outside of my range of Mana Sensing. Presumably, Evangeline and her companion were teleporting away, but Abelino’s Zone Surveyor and Aviaton should be able to catch them.

I was left alone with the treasures.

It left me wondering how many of these treasures I could secretly claim. Thanks to my increased Luck when I killed the dragon, this was an incredible haul.

There were three C-rank spells: Ice Domain, Ice Shield, Ice Blade. There was a C-rank Ice Attuned Mana Core.

It really made me jealous of water and ice-attuned mages. The ratio of water and ice attuned loot that I had found over the last two weeks was ridiculous—until you considered that 71% of the Earth was covered by water.

I would be tempted to try to sneak some of these away, but I didn’t even have my Interdimensional Pouch.

I was so lost in thought that I was caught by surprise when someone appeared right behind me. He wore thick, leathery robes. His bald head and high eyebrows were glistening with from the snow, and he held a dagger in one hand.

Evangeline’s teleporting friend. And no sign of the rest of my team.

I immediately tried to raise my Agility and Physical Defense with mana, but nothing happened.

The man opposite me smirked.

A silencing skill. It was basically the perfect counter to my build.

A Void Lock was coming, and I wouldn’t be fast enough to dodge it.

I ran some quick calculations in my head. A teleporter. A Silencer.

He held a blade in his hand, but there was no way he would have exceptional Agility.

I sighed, mentally. I hadn’t allocated all of my points, and it looks like they had a new destination. Fortunately, Silencing spells can’t stop you from allocating free points—it can only stop you from using skills and spells and items.

I placed the last of my points into Agility, stepped forward, and spun the man into the incoming Void Lock, twisting his arm behind his back.

The man teleported away just a few feet away—bringing me with him out of necessity—in order to avoid the Void Lock.

I twisted the man’s dagger, trying to bring it towards his own neck, but I had relatively low Strength. The man chanted something, and I felt time slow down around me.

A Void Lock spell flew at me again, and this time, I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge.

But I didn’t have to. Dawnbreaker flew towards us like a comet. She wouldn’t reach us in time, but she extended her Martial Energy out like a shield, shattering Evangeline’s spell as it approached me.

A split second later, she sent another lance of Martial Enerby through the bald man’s head.

I scanned the area with Mana Sensing, and saw the void mana from Evangeline’s body slowly become death-attuned mana.

“We did it,” I said, releasing a pent-up sigh.

Dawnbreaker nodded. “Let’s hope the loot distribution goes better than the battle.”