“Hakon, whose altar is this place exactly?”
The day I faced the nameless stone tablet, I asked Hakon.
Just whose tablet was this, that unlike the others, nothing was recorded on it.
Even now, a week later, I remember the answer he gave back then.
“I do not know either.”
“What? How does that make sense?”
“The people of Rundel… No, even the chief wouldn’t know. They only say it has existed since ancient times.”
However.
Hakon closed his eyes and pressed his hands together in reverence.
His face was always insolent and annoying, but in that moment alone, it was filled with respect for someone.
“I do not know whose tablet it is, but when standing before this altar, something hot wells up from deep within my chest.”
Back then, I could not understand such a Hakon, but the moment the statue’s name appeared, I realized who the owner of the tablet was.
Great Warrior Ragna.
He was the true owner of the clothes I was wearing.
***
The last remaining statue, Great Warrior Ragna.
Though there was only one, the people did not let their guard down.
Unlike the other statues, from which some degree of information could be inferred, no matter how thoroughly they searched Rundel, they could not find any information on Ragna.
The only thing they knew was that he wielded a spear.
Furthermore.
‘Its level went up by one.’
The boss’s level wasn’t greatly important in itself, but the pressure that the level itself exerted could not be easily ignored.
So that they could react at any moment, the people did not take their eyes off the statue.
At that moment, the statue lowered its stance and aimed its spear at the players.
‘Isn’t that Hakon’s stance?’
How could the statue’s stance be identical to Hakon’s?
There was no time to entertain such doubts.
-Swish!
“Huh?”
The statue vanished from people’s sight in an instant, and—
“Ab—above!”
It was already stabbing its spear down vertically from above the players’ heads.
—Kuaaaack!
The ground burst apart, and people’s screams echoed.
Even though they had been thoroughly prepared, not a single person reacted to the boss’s movement.
In the meantime, the statue pulled its spear far back behind its waist.
The spear took on a red hue.
Basic Spear Skill, Form 2.
One-Strike Swing, Swing.
The statue’s spear drew a red crescent, and above it, people’s blood fountained.
In the blink of an eye, the formation fell into utter pandemonium.
People fleeing, people sent flying by the shock, and even those who no longer moved.
At the horrific sight, Emily gritted her teeth and shouted.
“All units, evasive maneuvers! Shields, impede its movements as much as possible!”
She gave the order, but she had no confidence they could block it.
They were merely rushing in to buy even a little time.
As expected, the tankers who clashed with the spear were mostly deflected away without being able to endure.
The same was true for Emily.
No matter how many times she raised her shield, her body was already in tatters.
Even so, she tried to block the boss like a zombie to buy even a little time.
“It’s—it’s too fast!”
“At this rate, it’s too hard to land a hit.”
Due to the boss’s speed, arrows and magic missed the statue without landing effective blows.
“Kuk! Its range is too wide?”
“It’s hard to approach.”
Because of the spear’s long reach, the melee dealers could not approach recklessly.
The damage accumulated gradually.
The players who had been rushing at the boss were now reduced to less than half before they knew it.
Ian panted as she looked around.
‘At this rate, we’ll lose.’
The signs of defeat were strong.
Even if she used Haste again, she had no confidence she could keep up with the statue’s movements.
‘Isn’t there some way?’
But all that existed were the remains of already destroyed statues.
Nothing that could serve as a mechanism to stop its movements was visible.
Then, the boss’s spear thrust toward Ian.
She barely diverted it with the flat of her blade and dove inside the boss’s guard.
She swung her sword.
Hard rock blocked the blade.
Taking advantage of that opening, the statue’s spear surged toward Ian.
As she rolled across the ground to dodge, a barrage of follow-up attacks poured down on her.
‘It’s like fighting a giant Hakon.’
Perhaps because they were the same kind of Great Warrior, their attacks were remarkably similar.
This was also why she could just barely dodge.
Having watched his spear continuously from the side, Ian could predict its trajectory.
But her exhausted body was as heavy as if weights were attached,
and the long reach and destructive power accumulated damage around her.
Nevertheless, Ian and the other players fought desperately against the statue.
Now, only about ten remained standing on the altar.
The statue had also taken considerable damage, yet its movements did not change in the slightest.
‘If only it would stop for just a moment. Just a little.’
A single time was enough.
If they could hold it down for even one second, they could defeat it.
Then, Emily approached Ian’s side.
“I’ll block it. Miss Ian, please focus only on attacking.”
“But in your current state, alone…”
“No. This is the right call.”
Emily’s condition could not be called fine by any measure.
Her shield was on the verge of breaking, her arm was twisted grotesquely, and her entire body was stained with blood.
Whether it was a game or not, why implement injuries this realistically was not very important in the current situation.
What mattered was that if time continued to flow like this, she would die.
They had to defeat the boss and obtain the level-up reward before it was too late to save Emily.
And the same was true for the other players.
Emily, who understood that fact better than anyone, must have been the one to suggest she would block.
Realizing this, Ian gritted her teeth.
“Understood. I’ll try to buy a little time.”
Ian handed over all the HP potions she had left to Emily.
Since she was in a relatively better state, she could endure one or two attacks from the statue.
They needed to buy time for the final opportunity right now.
Ian stepped in front of the statue charging at the players.
“Sorry, but I’m your opponent.”
A half-hearted resolve could not block the spear.
She swung her skill at the spear.
“Slash!”
The spear’s trajectory twisted.
The boss’s gaze turned to Ian, who had knocked the spear aside.
[How dare a mere insect.]
The boss was about to strike down indifferently when its gaze lingered on Ian for a moment.
[Wait, that outfit…]
Though its form had changed, it was the outfit of the one who had sealed the master of this land long ago.
The boss, having confirmed Ian’s face once more, burst into laughter.
[Oho. To think the savior of this era would turn out to be a frail woman.]
In order to repay the nightmare of that time once and for all,
the tip of the boss’s spear turned toward Ian.
[Very well. I shall personally tear you limb from limb.]
The spear blade surged toward Ian.
-Bang!
‘It got faster?’
She had dodged, but the boss’s spear was sharper than when she had faced it before.
But.
‘The moment it focuses on me is the chance.’
For the first time, Ian felt grateful for the embarrassing outfit she was wearing.
Without this outfit, it would not have been easy to draw the boss’s attention.
Ian jumped into the air to evade the spear.
“Sword Rush!”
And to avoid the follow-up attack, she cast a skill to forcibly twist her direction.
Her muscles screamed.
She clenched her teeth and endured, charging toward the cracked leg of the statue.
-Screech!
‘As expected, the damage is insufficient.’
But there was no suitable method in the current situation.
She could only drag out time until the others were ready.
She knocked away the persistently chasing spear with her sword.
She dodged what she could not knock aside, and swung her sword when an opportunity came to deal even a little damage.
Every moment felt like performing acrobatics on a tightrope.
Once again, Ian’s vision blazed hot.
“Slash!”
Ian deflected the spear hacking down at her.
But she could not continue this risky acrobatics forever.
The boss, having anticipated this moment, changed direction and struck her torso with the long spear shaft.
“Kuk!”
As if she had become a baseball, her body flew all the way to the altar wall.
From the impact to her stomach and back, blood surged up and flowed from Ian’s mouth.
[Finally caught you, you damnable gnat.]
To finish off the defenseless Ian, the statue raised its spear.
The posture of the charge skill, Drive.
A bloody light foretelling doom swirled around the boss’s spear.
At that moment, Emily’s figure blocked Ian’s path.
“Shield Charge!”
Having recovered her HP, she charged toward the boss.
[Not a chance!]
Spear and shield collided.
As expected, Emily was pushed back.
Her arm twisted once again from the ferocious charge.
“Hwaaaaah!”
Even so, Emily refused to let go of her shield, exerting herself to the last.
-Crunch!
Finally, the shield broke completely.
The boss’s spear pierced through her body.
“Kuhuk!”
It was a fatal wound.
A state where dying immediately would not have been strange.
But Emily smiled.
And shouted.
“Now!”
The final time-buying with her life.
Simultaneously, the players who had been waiting for the opportunity—
even those who had been in a combat-incapacitated state—
poured their final attacks onto the statue.
[You think such petty tricks will work!]
The enraged boss tried to pull its spear from Emily’s torso.
But Emily’s efforts to hug the spear with her last strength granted the players one second.
Just one second.
But that one second was enough time to change many things.
The arrows and magic that had been missing hit the boss.
The melee dealers’ skills, even simple throws, pounded the solid rock.
-CRASH!
[N-no!]
The statue that had seemed impossible to defeat broke apart.
Its cracked leg, its arm, became debris and fell to the ground.
But.
[Indeed, I cannot forgive you lot!]
The arm holding the still-unbroken spear.
The boss who roared pulled the spear soaked in Emily’s blood far back over its shoulder.
The boss, the master of Baltor, realized.
The collapsing statue, the power sealed within the stone tablet—this was the limit.
Then he would take everyone here with him as companions to the afterlife.
The moment bloody light swirled on his spear.
Wind rushed before the boss’s eyes.
“We won.”
[Wh-what?!]
Ian.
She swung her final blow at the stone tablet embedded in its chest.
“Slash!”
A blue trajectory split the stone tablet.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the boss!]
May 26, 2038.
It was the moment two weeks of raiding ended in success.