Chapter 34 – The Bird That Sings of Destruction

R̈ẽàd́ ̀õñ ̈K̂​ät̃Ŕéá​d̃íǹg̈Ćâf̂​ẽ

“Ah, what do we do?!”

“Is it… is it the boss fight? Did we mess up?”

The party was in a state of panic. Rapid breathing, restless shifting gazes—the two girls couldn’t stay still for a moment.

Isoleen and Glady, who were frantically looking around, turned pale.

“First, stay calm…!”

I was also flustered, but if the entire party panicked, nothing would get resolved.

I grabbed Isoleen and Glady’s hands and shouted.

“B-but the boss…!”

“The boss hasn’t shown itself yet. We’re safe for now…”

Isoleen’s words were met with an uncertain response. At that moment.

[The Priest’s song begins.]
[In the silence of dawn, the great bird’s wings begin to beat.]

A system message appeared before my eyes. At the same time, a mournful singing voice echoed throughout the ruins.

I was wrong. Our party wasn’t safe.

The boss had spawned somewhere unseen and had already begun its predetermined pattern.

The moment I realized this, I shouted reflexively.

“Glady! Can you locate the boss?!”

“Ah, yes!”

My head flashed white. My breathing grew ragged, and my vision narrowed. This wasn’t good.

I needed to stay calm, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

This world was essentially based on an RPG game. Every monster had a pattern, and even the first dungeon we entered had strategies and shortcuts.

This dungeon would be no different.

I couldn’t forget that this world’s system was designed to be friendly to players.

The name of the boss monster that appeared.

The Singing Priest, Radanheim.

The system message had announced that the boss had begun its song.

Stopping the song was likely the first objective of the strategy.

I moved my narrowed gaze to scan the surroundings.

The boss had appeared after reading the stone slab.

The light that had illuminated the ruins before the boss appeared.

The light.

I followed the strange mix of white and blue light. The faint glow covered the entire ruins, but it was particularly bright in one direction.

“This way!”

The light led to the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed Isoleen and Glady, who were hesitating, and started running.

We ran through the uneven corridors of the ruins and down a long staircase. After descending the spiraling stairs, a massive chamber came into view.

A giant magic circle engraved on the floor. An altar stood at its center.

The boss was swaying and dancing in front of it, singing its song.

[Level 35]
[The Singing Priest, Radanheim]

Its body was engulfed in a gloomy flame. Only bones remained of its flesh, and its clothes were little more than rags after centuries of decay.

“Everyone, attack! Stop the song!”

We had to stop the song. My deduction about the strategy couldn’t be wrong.

As evidence, even though the Singing Priest Radanheim had noticed us, it didn’t attempt to attack.

For it, the ritual seemed to be the priority, as it continued to dance and sing.

“Isn’t this dangerous?”

“Wouldn’t it be safer to just sing along?

Its name is the Singing Priest, after all…”

Glady and Isoleen hesitated to attack.

They stood there, trembling with fear, only watching the boss’s movements.

[The first beat of its wings ignites a blaze.]
[An endless drought, a world engulfed in flames.]

Even as they hesitated, the song continued. I bit my lip and drew my mace.

“We have to stop the song!”

Frustrated by my party members’ indecision, I felt my temper rising.

Their hesitation brought back memories from reality.

-“Isn’t the raid leader being a bit too harsh?”
-“We’re not robots, mistakes happen…”

Grinding my teeth, I clenched my jaw.

If no one else was going to move, I had to. I immediately charged at the boss.

“Hyah!”

A short battle cry from the small girl, followed by a swing of the mace. It was a decent attack, but it didn’t affect the boss.

Thunk-!

As if there was an invisible barrier, the mace bounced off. Wide-eyed, I tried attacking again.

Thud-!

But the result was the same. Staring at the invisible barrier, I pondered.

Was my attack power too low?
Or did it have resistance to melee attacks?

Information was scarce, and time was even scarcer.

I hastily retreated and cast the priest’s only offensive skill.

[Holy Strike!]

A burst of light flew toward the boss after a short prayer. But the result was the same.

The light was blocked by the invisible wall.

At that moment, an arrow and a large fireball flew past me, aimed at the boss.

Bang-!
Crack-!

It seemed Isoleen and Glady had finally snapped out of it. However, their attacks also failed to break through the boss’s barrier.

“Our attacks aren’t working!”

“Is it invincible?!”

Listening to the panicked voices of my party members, I scanned the surroundings.

Stopping the song was likely the key to the strategy, but attacks couldn’t stop it.

There must be some special mechanic we needed to solve.

[The feast of death, a world filled with pain.]
[From high above, the crow’s eye watches everything.]

[The Singing Priest Radanheim has completed half of the song.]
[Scorching flames rise throughout the ruins.]

As another verse ended, a system message appeared. The moment I read it, flames erupted throughout the ruins.

Whoosh-!

“Eeek!”

“W-what do we do?!”

Stay calm and observe the surroundings. The answer is always within the dungeon.

Is there any object we can grab and use?

No.

Can we lure the boss to a specific location?

Impossible.

Think. Think faster. Right now, the boss’s song continued unabated.

What about using the stone slab again?

The stone slab had lost its glow after summoning the boss. It seemed to have no function after the summoning.

What about the giant magic circle on the floor of the boss room?

That seemed promising. I nodded and shouted.

“Everyone, move! Stand at each axis of the magic circle on the floor!”

It wasn’t a precise strategy, but it was worth a try.

Isoleen and Glady quickly moved to the positions I indicated.

“Is… is there any change?”

“The song hasn’t stopped!”

Standing on the magic circle didn’t work. Should we erase the magic circle then?

I struck the floor with my mace and shouted.

“Attack the floor! Destroy the magic circle!”

“Got it!”

“Alright!”

Isoleen, Glady, and I used everything we had to attack the magic circle. But nothing changed. The boss’s song continued unabated.

“Ah…! Stop! Stop it already!”

Frustration welled up inside me, and I let out a scream. What on earth did we need to do to stop the boss’s song in this crumbling, ancient ruin?

Crumbling.

Ancient.

Ruin.

Suddenly, I noticed warm sunlight streaming through the cracks in the ceiling. Realizing this, I shifted my gaze and slowly scanned the surroundings.

This ancient ruin, weathered by time, was far from intact. The entrance was almost completely collapsed, so why was this altar still in perfect condition?

The answer lay in the massive pillars scattered around. The towering, ancient pillars were cracked and split, just like the rest of the ruins.

They looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch.

Thud-!

My cluttered mind cleared in an instant.

Years of gaming experience told me that the method I just thought of was the correct strategy.

[The great bird sings of destruction.]
[A scream echoes from the sky, heralding the end.]

“Isoleen! The pillars! Destroy the pillars!”

Isoleen was the most powerful in the party. She alone could easily destroy one of the massive pillars.

Startled by my shout, Isoleen began casting her magic.

Of course, Glady and I had to move too. I ran forward and shouted at Glady.

“Glady! Move with me! To the pillar on the far right!”

After Glady joined me, we began attacking the pillar together.

My mace and Glady’s dagger struck the massive pillar, causing stone dust to rain down.

At that moment—

Crash-!

A deafening explosion shook the entire ruins. I didn’t need to look back to know. Isoleen had destroyed one of the pillars.

“I destroyed it! I’ll take out the next one!”

No new orders were needed. Quick-witted Isoleen already knew what to do.

Glady and I destroyed two pillars, and Isoleen took out the remaining two. At that moment.

[The shadow spreads its wings…]

The boss’s singing stopped.

Rumble-!

And the ruins began to collapse. The ceiling caved in, and the altar crumbled. The walls that had let in sunlight collapsed, burying the giant magic circle.

Only the three of us and the boss monster remained unharmed amidst the destruction.

“Is… is it over now?”

“No.”

Amidst the collapsing ruins, I answered Isoleen’s question. The boss fight wasn’t over yet.

All we had done was interrupt the boss’s first pattern.

Now, the real battle was about to begin.

The Singing Priest Radanheim. I swallowed dryly as I stared into its hollow eye sockets.

At that moment.

-Screech

A strange ringing sound filled the air.

The color drained from the world. It was as if watercolor paint was melting away.

But it wasn’t just the colors that changed. The sun in the sky disappeared, replaced by a massive eye.

The moment I noticed the giant eye, blood vessels began to spread across it.

Creak-

A chilling sound reached my ears. I turned to see the boss’s body, floating in the air, twisting and contorting in unnatural ways.

“Hey… the boss is acting weird… What did Supreme do?”

“It looks like it’s being held by something…?”

As Isoleen and Glady’s voices reached me, the colors quickly returned to the world.

The eye in the sky and the invisible force holding the boss disappeared.

Thud-

As the boss’s remains fell to the ground, I opened my mouth, only to be overcome by an unbearable nausea.

“Ugh… ugh…”

“Supreme is… morning sick?!”

Isoleen’s exaggerated reaction made me laugh despite myself.

I laughed while vomiting.