Chương 18: Boss (1)

I suddenly knew why this was the largest cave on this planet. Words couldn't describe what Theo and I were seeing. The thing that stood in front of me cannot be considered human by any means. Nothing about it was synonymous with humans. Instead, the beast in front of us looked like several different breeds of mana beasts fused together into one giant abomination. It had a human head with greasy human hair, but its torso was anything but human. If anything, it looked more like a bear from the neck down.

It was standing on two legs like a human, but to consider that thing a human was an offense to humans. I hastily checked the mission log while trying not to think about the 'beast' in front of me. Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts Beasts to defeat: Iron-horned rhino (45/100) Black Spotted Jaguar (70/100)??? (?? /??) We were almost done, which was a good sign. That meant Maya, Ben, Cayman and Ellie were holding up well. I turned my attention back to the monster in front of me.

If something like that ever made its way to Planet Earth, we would be screwed. Totally screwed. Was it even a mana beast? Was it able to wield mana? I hoped not, since that thing looked like it belonged in the legendary level, and that was already a stretch for someone only on stage 3, a basic stage.

"Do we have to defeat that thing?" Theo asked me.

"Even with my strength, I do not want to go near that thing at all." I didn't want to say anything. The beast's footsteps were little earthquakes that shook the inside of the cave. The sound of the footsteps was enough to send a regular gym user running to their parents. It glared at me with blood-red eyes that said 'I want to kill you, and I want to kill you now.' And it was getting closer to me. Ever so slightly, the distance between me and that monster was shrinking.

I shuddered, holding on to my sword tightly like it was a cuddly teddy bear. My legs gave way and were trembling like crazy. I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to cry in front of Theo. If I decided to run, the beast would get the idea that I was weak and would probably tear me to shreds. I was trapped in a life-or-death situation and I didn't know what to do. What would Cayman do in this situation? I thought. Cayman was my idol after all.

He would probably square up to that thing and defeat it with one stroke of the sword. But Cayman was a high-level skill user, and levels was one thing I lacked so badly. I'm going to have to defeat that thing, I said to myself. Stay strong, Robert. It's just a mana beast. Defeat it like it's an iron-horned rhino or something. Or at least fight it while waiting for reinforcements to come. I wanted to get up. I really did.

But that thing in front of me was just too menacing and too threatening for me to actually get up and fight it. I was glued to the spot. It felt like there was invisible hot glue pinning me down to the uneven stone floor.

"Robert!" Theo called out.

"Move out of the way! That thing is getting closer, and it doesn't look weak! You might want to give it some room!" I couldn't move. I couldn't free myself from the hot glue pinning me down. Theo let out an extremely loud sigh that echoed throughout the cave.

"I'm taking matters into my own hands," he said.

"If you're not going to move, I'm going to have to strike." I looked back.

"Screw this!" Theo bellowed.

"I'm going to punch this thing and slice it into smithereens!" He pounced, charging towards the beast like a rocket. He flew past me with his fist ready to punch the beast. I waited for the sound of a painful punch to be heard. But it never came. Crack! Huh? Theo, who was in mid-air, had his superhuman punch blocked by the beast haphazardly. Even he couldn't believe his eyes; what level was that beast to block what appeared to be an advanced-level punch? I looked up.

And that was when I saw the name tag of the beast. [Boss (advanced/legendary)] Shit. What had Cayman got us into on our first mission? Did he know beforehand that we would be defeating a boss as powerful as that? Damn you, Cayman William Grace! That was why Theo's punch was blocked so easily and clumsily! That thing was such a mismatch of mana beast species that not even the system had a name for it. I wanted to spit out any curse word I had stored in my brain at that moment.

I wanted to take out all of my anger on Cayman, and I didn't give a shit about whether he was my idol or not. There was a spark in my brain that was going to make me insane and explode. At that moment, I was a ticking bomb counting down the minutes until I snapped. Theo, who had his punch blocked by the Boss, stared at the beast with wide open eyes. Crush! I heard the terrifying noise of bones being crushed before the Boss let go of Theo's fist, sending Theo flying to the floor. Theo was speechless.

He thought he was the strongest person on the planet, no, in the universe of skill users just minutes ago. He was having so much fun punching iron-horned rhinos like they were nothing, making them unable to fight back. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. And now, here he was, being humiliated by an abomination that couldn't be classified into a single animal species.

My first instinct wasn't even to help Theo back up to his feet; it was to check something on the mission log. Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts Beasts to defeat: Iron-horned rhino (55/100) Black Spotted Jaguar (80/100) Boss (0/1) Sure enough, the mystery beast was revealed, and my suspicions were right. We weren't defeating two hundred beasts, we were defeating two hundred and one. Once I confirmed that, I rushed over to Theo, who was lying on the ground no more than ten feet away from the Boss.

That thing was terrifying, but by looking down at the ground, I made sure the Boss didn't appear in my line of sight.

"Theo!" I said, panicking and out of breath.

"Are you alright?" Theo turned his head to look at me. He had sustained severe injuries from the fall and had blood flowing from his scalp. If I had left him in that cave for another ten minutes, he might not have been able to see the light of day anymore. He looked like he was out of mana.

"I'm fine," he wheezed.

"I have the healing and recovery skills as well, remember? I can heal myself no problem."

"How much mana do you have left?" Theo paused, then said, "Ten percent. But I'll be fine."

"You're not fine." [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] A bright light appeared from my hands as I used the healing skill. After a while, the blood from Theo's scalp stopped flowing. Theo sat up.

"I'm very grateful for your help," he whispered to me. I continued to heal Theo's wounds. At that point, I was extremely grateful to Cayman for giving us the healing skill, since I had no idea how much longer Theo would last without it. But at the same time, I wanted to punch him in the face a million times for making us fight a quasi-legendary beast. After a few more seconds, I passed some of the mana crystals I had earned to Theo.

"Eat those," I said in a stern voice.

"Replenish your mana. You're going to need it." With his shaking arms, Theo took the mana crystals from my hand and ingested them all in one go. He then stood up. I pointed to the edge of the cave.

"Sit over there," I said.

"Recover. Use the healing and recovery skills simultaneously. I'm going to fight against that thing for now." Theo nodded.

"Will you be fine?" he mumbled.

"Yes, I will," I replied, my brain exploding with confidence. I had never felt this confident in my life before. It might have come from the anger I had felt just moments earlier. My legs stopped trembling. My hands stopped shaking. I gripped onto my sword with strong palms, ready to swing it. I was ready to risk my life to fight a quasi-legendary beast at only the basic level. I took a deep breath, then charged towards the Boss. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Good, it didn't see my move.

I was right behind the monster, and I was ready to stab it in the back with all my might! But then. It turned around. Clang! My sword made contact with the monster's back like metal making contact with metal. What was the skill that it had just used? I couldn't think about it any further, however, because that was when I realised that I was not being supported by anything. I thought I was going to stay afloat if the sword had dug into the monster's flesh. But it hadn't.

That thing's back was literally a back of steel; no matter how hard I tried, the basic mana sword couldn't even make a dent on its flesh. I could feel myself falling and gaining velocity until I fell with a loud crash. Ouch. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] This was a quasi-legendary beast after all. It was going to have its own tricks up its sleeve. I let out a wry smile and looked at the mission log for what I thought would be the last time ever.

Mission 1/1: defeat the beasts Beasts to defeat: Iron-horned rhino (78/100) Black Spotted Jaguar (95/100) Boss (0/1) Progress with the other beasts was good. Maybe my friends could claim this planet and name it 'Planet Robert' in honour of my brave sacrifice. Just maybe. I had done well as a skill user. I played my part. And most importantly, I managed to meet my favourite novel protagonist ever in person. At least I had accomplished something before I died. No, stop thinking negatively. I can do this.

I was gripping a basic-level sword in my hand, but at least it was a weapon. It could do something to that monster, the Boss, even if it's just a little scratch. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] I got up and faced the monster. The Boss. I was going to hold it off until Theo recovers. Yes, I had a role to play. Before the Boss could make its way to me, I instinctively checked my mana consumption.

[Mana consumption] Available mana: 52% Time left until fully replenished: 5 hours, 7 minutes That was enough. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Clang! [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Clang! [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Clang! By repeating this process, the Boss was never going to touch me. Whenever it struck, I could just use my teleportation skill and move out of the way. Then I could strike it in an area not in the monster's field of vision.

I could do this. I had a clear game plan. With my enhanced stamina, it was doable. Clang! Even though it wasn't going to do much damage, Theo should be more than capable of at least knocking the beast out. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Clang! I could do this for hours.

"Theo!" I shouted.

"Once you're ready, you can come and deliver the finishing blow!" But that was when everything started to fall apart.

"Theo?" There was no one sitting in the area where I told Theo to sit.

"Theo?" I called out again.

"Where are you?" No response. My plan wasn't going to work without Theo.

"Shit," I cursed.

"I told him to sit down, relax and recover. Where has this guy gone?" Stab!

"Owwwww!" I cried out in pain. I had only taken my eyes off the Boss for one second, and I was stabbed in the back. So this is what being stabbed feels like, I thought as I tried to ease my mind from the pain. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] I fell to the floor clutching my back. But surely it was fine since I had the healing skill with me. I could just heal and be back in action. Right? Right? Wrong.

This was a legendary-level wound I was healing, and with my basic-level healing skill, it wasn't really going to do much. And it was going to have a toll on my mana consumption. A big toll. Sure enough, after only a few seconds, the inevitable message appeared in front of me. One which I was expecting. [You have run out of mana.] Yes, I was out of mana, like back at that training facility on Planet Earth. The basic-level healing skill wasn't supposed to heal legendary-level wounds.

I had stretched the skill to its limits, and I had to pay the price. I thought about Theo, who had suffered a blow to the head after being launched to the floor from the air. This was what he felt after the fall. Surely. And now he had just left me to die. What a way to end your life. Betrayed by your friends. I looked at the Boss, who saw that I was on the ground. It lifted its hand, ready to punch me. It had a large sword in its other hand. I was going to die.

I had no other words to describe the situation I was in. I wasn't strong enough to defeat a legendary beast. I was weak like I thought I was. I closed my eyes, ready to die, and that was when the Boss swung its sword. Slash!