Saving the Rune – 7

“…I expected it, but seeing it in person, it’s even more incredible.”

Rije muttered as she looked at the Rock Centipede. Erica and Iris, standing beside her, reacted similarly. It was understandable, as its height when stretched out straight was taller than most castles.

What’s more, this was its size with part of its rear body cut off; originally, it should have been another two or three stories taller. In terms of sheer size alone, it was easily comparable to, if not greater than, a Final Boss.

The Rock Centipede was coiled up like a snake, lying still as if dead. Right next to it, a Rune Stele of seemingly insignificant size was visible.

Even that stele was almost the size of a player, so it was by no means small, but next to the Rock Centipede, it looked relatively shabby.

A faint green light emanated from the stele.

“Are there any special notes other than what you told us, Rookie?”

“No, there aren’t. Everything I said is all there is.”

After finishing my excuses, I explained all of the Rock Centipede’s patterns to the three of them. All three seemed to have gotten used to it by now, as no one asked how I knew such things.

In truth, there weren’t many patterns, so as long as we entered Phase 4, the strategy itself was relatively easy.

This was completely different from Phases 1 through 3, where physical attacks, magical attacks, or even divine attacks had no effect whatsoever, forcing players to use gimmicks.

There wasn’t even a noticeable change in Dark Mode.

The reason was unknown. It might have been the last shred of conscience from the guy who created Dark Mode, a way of saying, “Don’t die after performing gimmicks for over an hour, only to perish in Phase 4.”

‘If he had that much conscience, he should have reduced the number of gimmick repetitions.’

Anyway, considering the atrocities committed in Phases 1 through 3, it had long been determined that he had no conscience at all.

“Aim for the head as much as possible, right? You said it would be easier to defeat that way.”

“That’s right. It probably won’t be able to collect itself after just a few hits from you all.”

Phase 4 of the Rock Centipede was a boss that could be overwhelmed with sheer damage, as they say.

Just a few strong attacks to its head would stagger it, and if you continued to beat it while it was staggered, it would stagger again, and again, repeating infinitely until it was defeated.

Only the process of getting it to stagger for the first time was difficult.

Since its body was so large, weapons couldn’t reach its head, so you had to bait specific patterns. Also, if the interval between attacks was too long, the stagger value would reset, so you had to pay attention to timing.

Of course, that wasn’t even a real danger. The only thing to watch out for was getting hit and dying because you focused too much on hitting the head and forgot a pattern, but I had no such worries.

‘With their skill, they wouldn’t get hit even if they wanted to.’

This creature’s full-speed charge was significantly slower than a player character’s running speed.

No matter what attack it used, it was virtually impossible for the Knight Commander-nims, who had heard my explanations and mastered its patterns, to be hit by the Rock Centipede’s attacks.

“Understood. Rije, Erica. Prepare yourselves. Though it’s an easy foe, don’t let your guard down. Complacency is forbidden.”

The three knights in silver armor strode forward. I sat down on a rock behind them. There was one thing I needed to confirm while the Knight Commander-nims fought.

Elements flared around each of their weapons. Wind surged from the longsword, ice from the twin daggers, and flames overflowed from the katana.

The Rock Centipede, which had been coiled up and still as if dead, sensed something unusual and slowly stirred its body. Stone fragments clattered down from its split head.

The spot where I sat was, in game terms, outside the boss room, so I focused on its movements with peace of mind. The strategy moving forward would depend on what actions this creature displayed now.

Rije and Erica split off to either side of Iris. Rije went left, Erica went right.

The first to move was Rije. She made a wide half-circle to the left and quickly approached the creature’s tail end. The Rock Centipede turned its head to match her movement.

It took a stance as if to use its slam attack, but then suddenly snapped its head back when flames struck it directly. It was Erica. Flames blazed from Erica’s blade.

The Rock Centipede stopped its attempt to slam its body down, raised its head high, and plucked a stalactite from the ceiling.

‘As expected, the aggro shifted.’

Upon confirming that, I resolved that I absolutely had to defeat bosses alone.

This was because the pattern it was about to use had changed. The Rock Centipede wasn’t a boss with off-beat or fake motions. If Rije had been alone, it would have undoubtedly continued with the slam attack.

But after being hit by flames, its aggro shifted to Erica, and it canceled the slam, instead plucking a stalactite from the ceiling.

Because the Rock Centipede was so slow and massive, the change in pattern was easily noticeable. However, if the boss were only slightly larger than a human, it would be much harder to detect.

What if I was trying to observe and react to a boss pattern, but the aggro shifted elsewhere, resulting in a completely different action? If the new pattern was an area-of-effect attack, my death would be guaranteed.

‘I can’t take that kind of risk.’

While I was thinking this, the Knight Commander-nims continued their battle.

Erica effortlessly cut in half the rock the Rock Centipede threw. The cut and melted rock rolled weakly across the floor. Heat haze shimmered from her blade, distorting the surrounding background.

Immediately, Rije charged. Her twin daggers swept past the Rock Centipede’s left side, instantly severing more than ten of its legs. The severed legs briefly froze before shattering into many pieces.

And as soon as the creature turned its head, flames struck it directly from the opposite side. Perhaps it was because they were Knight Commander-nims who had worked together for a long time, but their coordination was perfect.

With Rije continuously emitting ice and severing legs from its left side, and Erica unleashing flame-infused slashes from its right, the Rock Centipede thrashed helplessly, unable to regain its composure.

In the midst of it all, Iris, who had remained quietly in place, raised her longsword still in its scabbard.

She stepped forward with her left foot, shifting her weight onto it, and brought the scabbard in her left hand to her right side. She twisted her right arm so her wrist faced outwards, gripping the sword’s hilt.

Whoosh, the wind began to swirl nearby. A clearly visible pressure was sucked into Iris’s scabbard. A vortex wrapped around the scabbard, drawing in the surrounding air.

As the distortion of the wind grew stronger, and the vortex began to twist beyond swirling, Iris drew her sword.

She lifted her right foot, spun her body half a turn clockwise, then stomped her right foot forward past her left, taking a step. Simultaneously, the longsword was drawn from its scabbard.

The blade descended vertically.

At that moment, the vortex that had been wrapped around the sword shot forward like an arrow.

The wind, shot forward in a perfect straight line as if creating a thin wall of air, instantly enveloped the Rock Centipede. A heavy CRUNCH! echoed.

The Rock Centipede’s body, struck by the wind, was instantly cut in half. The severed surface was as clean as if it had been sanded down.

The vortex followed the path of the wind. It sucked in nearby stones as if inhaling them, then burst right next to the Rock Centipede, scattering fragments everywhere.

‘Wow, I’m actually seeing that in person.’

The technique Iris just used was one of the patterns from Iris’s boss fight. If you were hit by it, death was almost certain even in the vanilla version, let alone in Dark Mode.

The Rock Centipede, its body reduced to about 1/3 of its original size, staggered greatly. At that, Erica, who had been keeping her distance and only launching flame slashes from afar, rapidly closed the gap.

Although its size had drastically shrunk, the remaining portion was still considerable. It seemed Erica was targeting precisely that remaining part.

The katana in her hand was so engulfed in flames that its blade itself seemed to have turned into fire. Flames erupted from where her feet landed.

Erica had already approached right next to the Rock Centipede. She gripped the hilt with both hands, the tip of the blade pointing left. She then leaped up and twisted her body.

Her entire body rotated clockwise, and flames formed a vortex around her.

The fiery blade, swirling in a circle, instantly melted the lowest part of the Rock Centipede’s exoskeleton. From its body, now only 1/3 remaining, another large section of segments was cut off.

The rotation didn’t stop there. Her body soared higher, completing another clockwise turn. Again, the Rock Centipede’s body melted away.

Suddenly, flames erupted from Erica’s feet. In that state, Erica soared once more in mid-air, then rotated her body for a final time, unleashing her ultimate slash.

The blade horizontally grazed the Rock Centipede’s head. The area it touched almost evaporated. A deep gash was left on the creature’s face.

‘That was hard to block too.’

That was also one of the patterns from Erica’s boss fight. The fire damage was so strong that it couldn’t be properly parried with a weapon; if you wanted to block it without rolling, you absolutely needed a shield with high fire resistance.

Just before the completely shrunken Rock Centipede collapsed to the ground, blue ice surged towards the ceiling. It was Rije.

As she brought her two daggers together in the center, a longsword made of ice and frost formed in her hands. The surrounding air crackled, emitting a chilling cold.

Her weapon accurately aimed at the Rock Centipede’s head. Rije’s weapon had grown to a length matching her own height.

-CRUNCH!

The silver armor, covered in ice, pierced straight through the Rock Centipede’s head and landed on the ground. The headless body weakly toppled sideways.

The Rock Centipede boss fight was over.