Saving Rune – 4

-CRASH!

The Rock Centipede, which had rammed its own head into the wall, began to thrash wildly once more. It flailed its hundreds of legs, twisting its segments this way and that, expressing its pain with its entire body.

‘Finally.’

I praised my own patience for having gone through this utterly disgusting and petty gimmick a whopping 20 times. That was exactly the 20th time, so now, just 40 more times and it would be Phase 4.

The surrounding terrain had long since been devastated. Because that bastard kept ramming itself into the wall and thrashing around, the entire floor had been torn up, and cracks ran through various parts of the wall, with some sections completely collapsed.

The creature struggled for a long time, then dragged its large body, forcibly tearing open and breaking through a rock crevice, and lumbered away. It was such a massive creature that it took a long time just for it to disappear.

The rumbling vibration gradually faded into the distance. With this, Phase 1 could be considered cleared.

I dusted myself off, stood up, and moved towards the path revealed between the collapsed walls. Since one phase was over, it was now time to hack away at the trash mobs and proceed to the Phase 2 gimmick.

The gimmicks for the upcoming Phase 2 and Phase 3 weren’t significantly different either. It was about luring the Rock Centipede, which charged so slowly it would make you yawn, to ram its own head into something.

The only difference was that “something” would switch from a wall to a pillar, and then from a pillar back to a wall, once each. It was boring, time-consuming, and had an annoyingly high risk of dying from stray fragments.

So, how could anyone possibly like this?

‘In the game, there were no mid-saves, so if you died, you had to start over from the very beginning, no exceptions.’

What was even more horrifying was the fact that the entire duration from Phase 1 to Phase 4, which felt like an eternity, was treated as a single boss battle, meaning there were no mid-saves whatsoever.

This meant that if you performed the gimmick 59 times and then died due to a control error on the 60th, you had to go back to Phase 1. I’d seen quite a few guys rage quit after that happened to them.

It happened to me once, and I just couldn’t help but quit the game.

‘Ah, it looks like they’re about to charge soon.’

I hadn’t even gone far when centipedes, similar in size to me, began to crawl out from between the rock crevices. They were the same ones that had been collectively flattened by rocks when I descended underground.

They were just trash mobs that weren’t even worth rolling to dodge attacks, so I simply parried their first strike and immediately took off their heads. The centipedes were cut into chunks wherever my blood-stained sword dug in.

Even though the centipede’s attack, which involved trying to bite with its lower jaw, seemed impossible to parry, strangely, if I just swung my weapon, it would hit and be repelled, then get staggered.

After I had cut down about ten centipedes, a rumbling sound of the ground vibrating could be heard from a distance. It meant that the start of Phase 2 was approaching. I quickened my pace.

As I exited the narrow alley, a cavern similar in size to the one I had just been in appeared. The difference was that a massive pillar, tall enough to reach the ceiling, stood in its center.

That pillar was the core element for performing the Phase 2 gimmick. Everything else was the same, but instead of the wall, the Rock Centipede had to ram into that pillar 20 times.

‘This or that, it’s all equally boring.’

If only the number of times was around five, I would have been somewhat more understanding.

BOOM! With an explosive sound, the Rock Centipede burst out, smashing through the rock on the opposite side. I deftly dodged the flying rock fragments. Compared to Phase 1, the creature was quite a mess.

The carapace on its head, which had been rammed into the wall 20 times, had fine cracks, and it seemed much angrier than before, nervously clacking its lower jaw as soon as it saw me.

Its upper body immediately slammed down. It seemed intent on crushing me flat. As I rolled sideways to dodge it, a shockwave erupted behind me. Fragments flew everywhere.

‘Parrying is sealed off this time too.’

It was similar to a certain pattern of the Headless Armored Cavalry.

If you parry the pattern where it charges at full speed, jumps, and slams its spear down, a grab attack comes in while your body is pushed back. Because of that, you’re guaranteed to take a follow-up hit, and the Rock Centipede was the same.

Every attack had an enormous parry recovery frame, making it impossible to dodge the next attack. Thanks to this, I had to rely solely on rolling, which had the counterproductive effect of making an already boring boss battle even more tedious.

The Rock Centipede snatched a nearby rock with its lower jaw and then lifted its head as high as it could. No, it wasn’t just lifting its head; it practically bent its entire upper body backward.

‘That wind-up is disgustingly long.’

The rock flew only after almost 5 more seconds had passed, even after I had hidden behind the wall. A sound of something shattering was heard from the opposite side, and rock fragments scattered everywhere.

The Rock Centipede, confirming that the human who had toyed with it was still alive and not dead, twisted its body and threw a tantrum. Its body once again settled onto the ground. It was a sign that it was preparing its charge pattern.

The Rock Centipede slowly began to move its body. I watched it calmly, then adjusted my steps little by little to match its speed. There was almost no need to run.

This time, it was even more annoying than Phase 1. I had to maintain a certain distance from that bastard and lure it towards the pillar. If the distance became too great, it would cancel its charge pattern.

Then, naturally, I would have to start the charge inducement all over again.

‘This is truly insane.’

If it had charged faster than the player character’s running speed, it might have been cursed for being difficult, but it wouldn’t have been at the level where all sorts of profanity were hurled at it from everyone, like now.

I circled the cavern, luring the creature, and stood in front of the pillar. The Rock Centipede was charging with all its might, or so it thought. Even so, it was a speed slow enough to make one yawn.

I watched it calmly, and when the distance had closed, I rolled sideways and got out of the way. Right beside me, a CRASH! sound echoed.

-CRASH!

“Again?”

As an unknown sound echoed and the entire cave vibrated, Rije frowned deeply.

It was already impossible to count how many times this had happened. They had thought it was over after a period of quiet, but it had started again.

“Surely this place isn’t about to collapse entirely, is it?”

“I’m not sure either. It’s too intermittent to be a sign of ground collapse, and the scale of the vibration is absurdly large to be anything else. Both possibilities are ambiguous.”

“Is there no possibility of it being a monster?”

“A monster… you say?”

At Iris’s question, Erica was momentarily speechless. If it was a monster large enough to shake the entire ground, that would be a problem in itself.

“I’d rather it be a monster. At least then we could attempt to kill it, couldn’t we? If it’s a monster capable of causing vibrations of this scale, it must be absurdly huge, but fighting such a creature is far more worth attempting than being buried alive in a collapsing cave.”

“That’s certainly true. It’s much better to die fighting a monster than to die buried alive here.”

“Hey, why is death the premise? Are you going to keep saying ominous things?”

Rije, who was walking ahead, sharply turned her head and grumbled. There was a slight edge to her words. She had been like this ever since the rookie unexpectedly started acting on their own.

“I’m talking about a hypothetical situation, unnie. And, we don’t think we’re going to die here at all. You heard what rookie-ssi said, didn’t you, unnie?”

As she said, none of the three present showed any signs of anxiety. Even though there was a possibility they could get trapped in the collapsed cave and starve or die of dehydration.

“I know. He said he’d be waiting below.”

It was because of the words that rookie knight, who must be far below now, had uttered as he fell. A shout that he would be waiting below, since they just needed to keep coming down.

Within those words was the certainty that nothing the Knight Commanders worried about would happen.

“Yes. As long as rookie-ssi said that, all we have to do is hurry down here. We can’t leave him waiting alone below. And we still have something to say to rookie-ssi.”

“Right. This time, we definitely need to have a word with him.”

Rije, Erica, and Iris all felt the same. This time, they planned to give him a good scolding, telling him to speak up beforehand if he knew anything.

No one thought the rookie had died. He always seemed to know something, and every time, he had surprised them.

This time, it would surely be the same.

-CRASH!

“Ugh, seriously! What the hell is that from earlier?”

“……Hurry up a little more. We need to rendezvous as quickly as possible.”

“That’s right. Whatever it is, there’s nothing good to be gained by dawdling here.”

The three ran downwards without even guarding their surroundings. It was because they had been told that there was nothing here, so they could just go.

It was true to his word. The three encountered nothing. They didn’t even meet ordinary monsters, let alone the source that had been shaking the ground since earlier.

The path continued smoothly downwards, and the three went deeper into the underground.

“What, in the world…?”

And deep underground, they discovered a part of a gigantic centipede-shaped rock.

It was crushed thoroughly, pinned under a thick pillar.