CRAAASH!

The violent current struck Valderas and his Demonic Army. The Demonic Army, and even Valderas, couldn’t resist and were swept away by the current. There was nothing more to be said about the players. The frantically running users went flying in the torrent like leaves in a storm. Several perished after taking a hit from a rock or tree. However, despite taking the rapids head-on, Ark was perfectly fine. This was thanks to the Sharkman’s Shackles, which nulled environmental effects.

‘It’s just as I expected!’

Swept into the current, the Bastion of Flame protecting Valderas and the Demonic Army completely disappeared. What’s more, the monsters crashing into the water took enormous damage. However, those effects were only an extra. Ark’s true goal was the underwater penalty on the monsters. Ark had already experienced the terror of the water penalty. Nature’s environmental penalty, which made one unable to move properly, let alone attack or defend!

The environmental penalty applied to monsters as well. Moreover, since the monsters were wearing plate armor, the penalty would be many times worse. Indeed, even after the torrent subsided, the monsters couldn’t regain their balance and flailed around. In other words, like blind fishes!

“Just what did you…!”

Shambala shouted with an aghast voice as he gushed out air bubbles. Ark pulled out a Mermaid Scale, flicked it over to him, and grinned.

“You’ll get it once you see it from here on out, though only if you can follow me.”

Ark changed his shoes and armor into the Norad Boots, which raised movement speed and evasion rate, and the water penalty nulling Guardian Armor of the Merpeople. Then the weight pressing down his body completely disappeared. Though he was underwater, his movements were natural, as if he was running around on the plains.

“Alright, shall we begin? Eyes of the Cat!”

Having stretched his joints with cracking noises, Ark ran towards the floundering monsters.

“Just who the hell is this dude? And what’s with this scale?” With a dumb look, Shambala stared at Ark’s back as he ran like the wind.

Ark ran in the water.

Po-po-po-pow!

The Health of the monsters Ark grazed past plummeted in an instant.

He didn’t even see the monsters flailing around as enemies anymore. Underwater, level or numbers had no meaning. Though it hadn’t been easy to face even just five monsters only a short while ago, the situation was different now. Even if he was surrounded by twenty to thirty monsters, he was confident he could clear them away in a minute. Having previously received the Bastion of Flame, the monsters took a huge hit to their Health from being submerged. But more than that, what applied most right now was that this place was now underwater!

The water penalty was fatal to those who had never experienced it. When Ark had first gone underwater, he had nearly died several times from monsters 10 levels lower than him. But, he overcame all the difficulties and mastered underwater fighting.

Was that all? Right now, the Guardian Armor of the Merpeople was nullifying the underwater penalty altogether. To Ark, the likes of the floundering monsters were no different from newborn babes. Ark could only see the Shadows, Avengers, and even the Hiptons as experience and contribution. An absolute situation created by the combination of the environmental effect and items!

‘This is my world!’

Looking around, the surviving players were waging fierce battle with the monsters pressing in. Although it was a fight that would give one sweaty palms in its own way, it was an absolute comedy to Ark.

A Warrior lost his balance while swinging his sword, causing him to spin around and around, and a stupid Magician thoughtlessly used lighting magic and ended up damaging himself with the sparks. At least the situation for the Warriors was a little better. Thanks to their heavy plate armor, they sank to the bottom and were able to get their footing. But the Magicians and Archers floating in the water ended up taking concentrated attacks from the monsters pressing in from all directions.

Whenever he saw a player like that, Ark rushed in, killed the monsters, and then calmly disappeared. He wasn’t trying to save them, it was just because it would be a shame to waste the monster’s EXP.

‘This is really a cakewalk!’

Experience and contribution were floating about in the water. All Ark had to do was run around in the water and gobble them up. Where could one find something more exciting than this?

But it wasn’t all enjoyable. The countless japtem floating around with the corpses! Snake had disappeared and his bag was full; since he had to leave behind all those items, his tears hindered his vision. He didn’t even have bag room for the sword Andel had dropped so he was forced to go around carrying it.

Suddenly having to carry a sword in both hands, his movements weren’t as agile as before. His center of balance had changed subtly so the actions he had become used to all this time didn’t connect like he wanted. But it was one more precious item he had picked up. Even if he died he had absolutely no thought of dropping the weapon that fell into his hands. Also, this was underwater; his actions being slowed down was no threat against the monsters receiving the enormous penalty.

– You have dealt a critical hit.

Whenever Ark swung his sword, a critical hit burst out along with a shriek.

That was because the evasion rate of the monsters was at rock bottom due to being underwater. Kicks were also the same. Each time he kicked, a monster would lose its balance and go flying. Nevermind counter attacking, simply swimming back to Ark took a long time. Killing monsters like nothing.

Even without the Guardian Armor of the Merpeople, Ark was one who had dodged the countless tentacles of the Jellyfish, and had stabbed his sword into the pin-sized gap in a Crab’s joints. He could deal critical hits on the monsters going in slow motion with his eyes closed. Moreover, with monsters down to 30-40% Health, it wasn’t a battle but a slaughter.

Every monster that moved disappeared, as if melted away by Ark. Many monsters appeared even after that, but there were none that could keep up with Ark’s movements.

“Kekeke, that Human, how can he move this fast?”

“Ack! H-he’s strong!”

The monsters’ words were their last. It was literally a full-blown sweep!

‘I want to clear away all the monsters if I can, but…’ Ark sighed in regret.

The countless EXP and contribution lying around him! Ark could hog it all if he just put his mind to it. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough time for that.

Many monsters were already fleeing out of the water. Of course, the surviving players would take down those monsters on their own. But if Valderas left the water, there was no knowing how the situation would change. If Valderas got out of the water and regained his strength, the method to complete the quest would disappear. In other words, no matter how much contribution he accumulated, he wouldn’t be able to receive a reward.

‘I’ve got to win while he’s underwater!’

Ark ran in the murky water as he chased after Valderas’ trail.

‘There’s no time! Where is he? How far was he swept away?’

Ark dashed all the way downstream like that while annihilating the monsters pressing in.

Thump, thump, thump.

Just then, tremors suddenly arose underwater. He looked in their direction and glimpsed the sight of an enormous shadow moving heavily in the murky water. A demon with a dragon’s body and the upper torso of a Shadow!

‘Valderas!”

The final boss monster that dozens hadn’t been able to defeat even after bombarding him! But the situation was different now. Valderas only had 40% Health left. The 70% Health had been cut down by 30% after being swept by the torrent. It did seem that the stronger the flame power, more damage it took from water. In addition, unlike the monsters that had been granted the Bastion of Flame for a set period of time, Valderas’ attribute was originally fire. He was taking steady damage as the intense reaction of the flames and water erupted around his body.

‘Now’s the time. If I miss him here, there won’t be a second chance!’

“Valderas, I’m not going to lose you!”

Ark blocked Valderas’ way. Valderas spat out a savage cry as he swung his iron mace.

“FUCK OFF, HUMAN—!”

But the force of the mace was not the same as before. The attack was as slow as a fly coming down to rest, and there were no fearsome black flames. It wasn’t hard to evade. But Ark resolved himself to take the damage, parried, and counter attacked.

‘Riposte!’

– You have dealt a critical hit!

As the chain skill burst out, Valderas was knocked back. He had gone out of his way to use Riposte in order to push Valderas into a deeper place so he couldn’t escape.

Originally, Riposte could only knock back monsters up to the medium size; large monsters had weight to them so the knock back effect activation rate was very low. But this was underwater, so Valderas’ size or weight were of no concern when the monster couldn’t even gain its center of balance.

‘As expected! This guy is no different from a regular monster now!’

He was certain of it after one blow. The fire attributed Valderas was extremely weakened. Also, the flame skills that had made Valderas invincible were all sealed. Lastly, with the Bastion of Flame gone, the damage went through properly. He had so much Health that even a critical hit only shaved away only 0.1%, but it was huge progress compared to when there had been no effect at all.

‘I can win. I can fight him on my own.’

After having unsummoned Dedric, Ark resummoned him again.

Dedric, who had flown to the scorch cannon, appeared in front of his nose with a frightened expression.

“Master! Ack, this guy… isn’t he Valderas?”

“Dedric, don’t talk back and attract his attention!” Ark ordered as he handed over a Mermaid Scale.

“Uhuhuhu, you fat bastard! Playing around with something of your level is no problem if we’re underwater!”

It seemed Dedric also took the struggling Valderas lightly. Dedric immediately showed off the underwater skills he had learned in the sea as he started to harass Valderas.

“THE LIKES OF A HUMAN WOULD DARE TO STAND AGAINST ME, A DRACONIAN WARRIOR, ALONE?!”

“You haven’t grasped the situation yet? I’m the one who threw you underwater. Why do you think I did that?”

“WHAT?”

“You stupid lizard, it’s because you’re no match for me here.”

“Y-YOU DARE TO INSULT ME!”

Valderas shrieked in rage as he went crazy. But the more he did so, the further he fell into Ark’s pace. Even if he didn’t use Eyes of the Cat, he could see numerous weak points in a glance. Ark’s sword didn’t go off by even a hair’s breadth and accurately thrust into the weak points.

BOOOM!

Even against a boss monster, he dealt critical hits at a rate of 70%.

Ark, who didn’t receive underwater penalty, could also kick without any problems. When Valderas wavered even a little, he let loose a barrage of kicks. Beaten like crazy with his Health being shaved away, even Valderas seemed to start to feel a little fear. He used all his strength to try and get out of the water by swinging his iron mace. But the fight became even easier as Valderas panicked and swung the mace around. Ark rammed all the mace strikes with Riposte and Valderas was actually pushed into a deeper place.

“ARRGHH, TH-THIS BASTARD!”

Valderas’ Health began to hit the ground under the shallow attacks of the Critical Hits, Counter Attacks, and kicks.

However, it wasn’t as if Ark didn’t take any damage. Although he didn’t have to worry about the Bastion of Flame, the monsters in the area gathered to protect the boss. Though they were just weak monsters taking the underwater penalty, it was impossible to dodge all the attacks pouring in from dozens of monsters. Even worse, he had to keep using Riposte in order to keep Valderas from escaping, so he had to take some damage. Also, even if he successfully dodged, it didn’t completely nullify the damage. 90% of the damage was reduced with a perfect dodge, so if he dodged ten attacks, it was the same as getting hit once. The damage was even greater if he defended with Parry. When Ark blocked Valderas’ attack with a parry in order to use Riposte, he lost 200 Health in an instant.

‘However, I can control Parry. I can just use it appropriately while checking my Health. Also, the Shadows’ attacks won’t be a problem if I occasionally take care them as I drink recovery potions.’

He had diligently saved up the recovery potions he’d gotten at the start of the event quest and the potions he’d picked up while doing the quest. He had a whopping 7 Intermediate Recovery Potions which recovered 300 Health each! He could recover 2,100 Health at any time. The slowed monsters’ attacks wouldn’t be able to hinder him from drinking the potions.

‘I can win! I can beat him!’

Ark was confident of his victory.

Then, the fog that had filled the valley slowly disappeared. Only then were the people who had narrowly escaped from the water able to see Valderas. It was hard to see properly with the fire and water reaction constantly spewing steam around Valderas, but they could at least tell that he was fighting someone underwater— with unbelievable movements.

“It’s Valderas!”

“He’s fighting with someone!”

“Who is it? Is someone fighting Valderas alone?”

“Damn, just look at those movements! How is he moving like that underwater?”

“I was only barely able to get out of the water…”

“Is it Alan?”

“No, I saw Alan gasping while swimming in the opposite direction earlier.”

As they watched Ark, who was going head to head with Valderas, the players shouted.

“Lo-look at that! Valderas only has 20% Health left!”

“He could really win!”

“This is no time to be dallying around! Let’s attack too!”

The Magicians, Archers, and Clerics started shooting concentrated fire at Valderas.

“YOU FLIES!”

Valderas leapt up, extended his head, and shot a fireball. The Magicians hurriedly put up a shield, but the fireball erupted as it blew the shield to bits. Five to six players went forward needlessly, took massive damage, and were forcefully logged out.

Valderas was as scary as ever, but his opponent, Ark, was not outside of the water, but inside.

“Your opponent is me. Valderas!” Ark shouted as he struck Valderas’ leg.

“AUGH, YOU ANNOYING BASTARD!”

Valderas leapt up again and spewed a fireball down below. As the fireball shot into the water, a column of steam erupted up and draped the surroundings in dense fog again.

Ark quickly rotated his body as he dodged the attack. Even though it was a fireball of enormous force, he didn’t take any damage in the explosion underwater. In other words, he just had to avoid a direct hit! Having dodged the fireball, Ark unleashed a barrage of successive kicks!

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The surface of the water shook as roars erupted.

Then, when about 20 minutes had passed, Valderas, who had felt invincible, fell to below 10% Health and dropped into critical condition. On the other hand, Ark had 40% Health left and also had 4 Intermediate Recovery Potions remaining.

‘I’ve won!’

Ark made a triumphant expression.

Pushing him back into the water with the chain skill, Valderas’ Health fell to 5% under the focused assault. That instant, Valderas suddenly roared and violently smashed the ground with his iron mace. Ark, who had been raining attacks, flinched and took a step back. From his experience, most bosses had their own killer move. They would activate their killer move when their Health fell to a certain level. Indeed, the atmosphere was grave.

Valderas’ body suddenly turned black as the water around him began to boil.

“IMPUDENT HUMAN! FINE. I SHALL ACKNOWLEDGE YOU. YOU ARE STRONG. HOWEVER, EVEN YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE DOWN ME IN THE END. BY MY HONOR, I SWEAR BY THE NAME OF SLAUGHTER THAT I WILL DRAG YOU AND ALL THE HUMANS HERE DOWN TO HELL WITH ME. RAAAHH, POWER OF DESTRUCTION!”

At the same time, a red message popped up in front of Ark.

The Lord of Darkness Valderas has activated the skill ‘Curse of Black Flames!’

Curse of Flames: A curse skill that automatically activates as soon as Valderas’ Health goes below 5%. When ‘Curse of Black Flames’ is activated, Valderas will become unable to perform any actions. In exchange, his physical defense and magic resistance are both increased by 100%. When the curse is complete, Valderas will self destruct and all living beings within a 1 kilometer radius will receive 5,000 explosive damage regardless of defense or magic resistance.

Remaining time: 30 seconds

Ark’s face went pale.

29 seconds, 28 seconds …

Time passed even as he checked the message.

The message Ark had just checked was received by all the players in the blast radius. They had just been waiting for Valderas to fall as they stared at the surface of the water with bated breaths. And surprisingly enough, their wish was becoming reality. But what kind of absurd skill is this, all of a sudden?!

There was no one here who had more than 5,000 Health. Even the highest leveled Warrior didn’t even reach 3,000. It would be no use even if they gulped down recovery potions like crazy. Once the skill was complete, they would definitely die! Jackson Territory would become peaceful again as a result, but the annihilated players would see the quest failure message.

“We, we have to bring him down before that with concentrated fire!”

The players poured in attacks like crazy at the surface of the water, where steam was spewing out. But with his defense increased by 100% with the activation of the skill, there was no sign of Valderas’ Health falling. In addition, the surface was so clogged up with steam that they couldn’t even aim properly.

“NO WAY!”

“Damn it, let’s run away!”

Too late, the players turned and ran. But in the remaining time of 20 seconds; it was impossible even for Magicians, who could use speed spells, to run 1 kilometer in 20 seconds.

And like them, Ark couldn’t escape either.

‘Damn, have I really come so far only to die like this?’

How far could he get when he was right in front of Valderas’ nose?

Only way to live was to take down Valderas within the time limit, but he was already out of Mana. He couldn’t even use Dark Blade, which was the only move he had that could ignore defense.

10 seconds, 9 seconds…

Even while he was thinking, the timer went down in front of his eyes.

“Unsummon, unsummon me! I don’t need to die with you! I don’t wanna die anymoreeee!” Shouted the panicking Dedric as he held onto Ark.

‘That’s right!”

At that moment, a thought flashed into Ark’s head.

He thought of the scene when Dedric had last died. The battle with Adelaine in Gallic’s belly! Back then, Ark had taken down Adelaine and a Rare item fell into his hands.

“Adelaine’s Necklace!”