Those who had departed from the advance base arrived at the southern center of Zone 3, Durigarda.
After confirming the boss's appearance there, Ian couldn't close her mouth.
"What is that thing so big?"
She had thought Solarbloom was enormous when she fought it before.
But the boss standing before her now loomed tall in its place like a mountain.
'Can we really break that?'
The bosses of Zone 1 and Zone 2 had been equally despair-inducing, but she hadn't felt that clearing them was impossible. This time, however, the very word "clear" didn't cross her mind.
It was as if standing before Mother Nature.
Before which, the existence called humanity inevitably became infinitely fragile.
"N-now, now. Focus!"
The one who snapped people out of such thoughts was the leader, Emily.
She struck the guild flag and urged the people on.
"How can you be scared already? Didn't we come here to clear today?"
As she said, even though the 40-man roster hadn't been filled, the reason they had come here was to defeat the boss and prove something.
That we could escape this place, that we had to give hope to those who had given up and despaired.
"If we keep our heads straight, we can win. We've proven it before. That we can do it."
At her words, the light of struggle once again settled in people's eyes.
Seeing that, Emily sent a faint smile and declared.
"Now, let's go everyone."
Zone 3 Boss Raid.
Begin.
***
[Lv 23. Contaminated World Tree : Malignora]
The Contaminated World Tree, Malignora.
A gray, burnt ancient tree made of charcoal, monopolizing the vast open space.
Emily raised the flag high and shouted.
"All charge!"
With a roar, players rushed toward Malignora.
Rainbow trajectories were created toward the boss.
At that moment, the ground writhed.
-Thwack!
Malignora's roots shot from the ground and crashed down on the players.
"Roots are coming from the ground! Everyone focus and don't get caught!"
Players leaped to avoid the shooting roots.
The mages in the rear created flames, while others swung their weapons to cut down the roots.
But once the ground was churned by roots, it transformed into damp swamp and swallowed people.
"Damn, my feet are sinking!"
"Grab my hand!"
"Be careful not to fall into the swamp!"
While players were scrambling, sap that had formed at the ends of Malignora's branches fell toward the people.
"Shields to the front! Hide inside!"
Players gathered inside the shields to avoid the swamp.
Sap drops ruthlessly battered the shields.
On top of that.
"W-wait! I'm getting debuffed?"
"Defense reduction? What kind of pattern is this?"
"It's even stacking. Hurry and remove it!"
With the stacking debuff, the tanks' HP was steadily decreasing.
The mages had to urgently cast cure magic on the tanks.
In the meantime, Ian and several other players successfully approached Malignora.
"Double Accel!"
"Twin Spear!"
"Double Assault!"
"Double Attack!"
Colorful trajectories struck the giant ancient tree.
-Kagagak!
At the powerful attack, Malignora created roots and swamp at the players' location.
But those who lightly evaded it continued to land skills.
Arrows and magic flew from behind and exploded.
-Pu-beo-bung!
The ancient tree's HP decreased by a large margin.
A characteristic of Malignora, the boss that didn't budge despite the great shock, was that unlike previous bosses, its health was visible.
Probably because there weren't many visible features, they had given it a separate health bar...
Though it was an absurdly large amount of HP, that instead gave people hope.
'At this rate, it's not impossible.'
The roots and swamp appearing from below.
The sap falling from above were quite annoying, but to the players gathered here, it wasn't an insurmountable adversity.
People watched the decreasing health bar and swung their weapons without hesitation.
It was at the moment they had whittled the ancient tree's HP down to 70%.
-Kiyaaaaaa!
A scream that rang in the players' ears.
They had been prepared in their hearts, but it was so dizzying that they couldn't endure it unless they covered their ears.
"Ugh... Is it entering Phase 2?"
"What is it? Some kind of hallucination?"
Or a special ability like Alraune?
While everyone was suffering from the unidentified scream, a new debuff appeared under the players' health bars.
"Contamination? What is this?"
It was a type of debuff they'd never seen before, but the players instinctively drank status recovery potions or used cure magic.
However.
"What, this won't go away?"
"Huh? HP consumption when using skills? W-what is this?"
The debuff Malignora had inflicted was a debuff that couldn't be removed.
A terrifying debuff that changed the cost of skills from mana to HP, coloring the players' eyes with confusion.
Fortunately, no additional patterns had been added, but they could no longer pour out skills freely.
The HP that decreased every time they used a skill was a burden in itself.
At the moment everyone was hesitating, Ian rushed at the ancient tree, relying solely on basic attacks.
Leaping with all her might over the shaking ground, shooting roots, and falling sap drops, she slashed with her sword.
-Kagak!
Her eyes twisted slightly.
Because the moment she struck the hard ancient tree without a skill, a dizzying shock was transmitted to her wrist.
Nevertheless, Ian kept attacking the ancient tree while dodging.
Other players also gritted their teeth again at that sight and approached the boss.
The mages replenished their HP and used magic carefully, and plain attacks without skills steadily whittled down Malignora's health.
Emily shouted to raise morale.
"50 percent HP! Only half left now!"
Of course, based on their experience so far, another pattern would appear to kill them.
But so far, no one had died.
No one had despaired like they had in Zone 2.
So they could do it. No, they had to do it.
She deflected sap drops lunging toward a mage in the back and glared at the boss.
It was at that moment.
-Kugugugu!
The ground shook as if there were an earthquake.
The land divided into four sections around Malignora, forcibly separating the people.
And a solid barrier formed around the boss.
Players' attacks were all blocked by the wall that wouldn't break no matter how much they struck it.
"What gimmick is it this time..."
As if something was about to appear.
The moment she was about to utter that question, monsters appeared from the center of the four divided lands.
"T-that's...!"
The players held their breath.
They were smaller than before, but the monsters that appeared there were the elite monsters that had blocked players in the west.
Ian immediately ran toward where Alraune was and shouted.
"Attack right now! Don't give it an opening!"
Alraune's special ability was domination through charm.
That ability was extremely annoying in the current situation.
Therefore, Ian cast a skill without even caring about her decreasing HP.
"Sword Rush!"
Where the blade pointed was Alraune's neck.
They had to kill it while it still hadn't claimed anyone as its own.
At that moment, Alraune opened its eyes.
And put on a sinister smile.
[We meet again.]
A voice resounding in her head.
Suppressing the throbbing headache, Ian slashed with her sword.
-Swack!
Ian's sword easily cut Alraune's neck.
The severed head fell to the ground, and Alraune had to face death once more.
However.
[My, being handled roughly is something I'd rather avoid.]
Alraune's voice still tormented Ian's head.
The fallen head turned to light.
The body of Alraune that should have died returned to normal.
Ian's two eyes were colored with shock.
"R-resurrection... you mean?"
A pattern that didn't exist when they fought before.
But Ian grabbed her spirit again and rushed at Alraune.
'I can't give it time to mesmerize people.'
If charmed, people became puppets.
So she had to keep pressing it so it couldn't pay attention to others.
[It hurts much more than when we first met.]
Ignoring the voice, Ian's blade once again split Alraune's neck.
But again, a flow of light appeared.
Alraune continued to stand before the players, repeatedly falling and rising.
Alraune's lips twisted.
[This is quite unpleasant.]
"That goes for me too!"
It was like cutting at an illusion.
Thankfully, since it didn't give people time to become dizzy, that was a relief, but Alraune that kept resurrecting gave no hint of a method to kill it.
Ian glanced at the other areas.
A blazing Juggernaut.
Petals of the Silent Orchid scattering as they cut through orchid and wind blades.
And people dodging Solarbloom's destruction rays while carving its body.
Everyone was fighting the elite monsters without difficulty thanks to having grown stronger than before, but no area could drive them to complete death.
Because everyone was struggling with the resurrection gimmick.
No matter how many times they were struck down, the monsters reappeared before they knew it and tormented the players.
'Is there no way?'
There was no gimmick visible nearby to break the resurrection.
Only Malignora stood firmly in its place, surrounded by a barrier.
At that moment, Ian observed a faint light flowing from Alraune seeping toward the fallen elite monsters.
It was the same for the other monsters.
Light circled between the monsters as if they were connected.
'Could it be?'
Ian, who had thought of one possibility, shouted while cutting at Alraune's neck.
"We need to take them down at the same time!"
"Right, it does seem that way?"
"We don't have any other choice right now. All-out attack on three!"
In the meantime, Alraune resurrected again.
The signal began simultaneously.
"One!"
She cut all the extending vines.
"Two!"
Suppressing the sound ringing in her head as much as possible, she raised her sword high.
"Three!"
With the signal for the all-out attack, Ian swung her sword.
"Slash!"
A skill meant to ensure a definitive finish once again severed Alraune's neck.
Other players also finished the monsters as promised.
And the light that emanated from them crashed into Malignora's barrier, and the wall protecting the boss disappeared.
30 percent of Malignora's HP remained from the phase clear.
And current deaths: 0.
Now, at the moment when little of the battle remained.
In the pre-storm tension.
The ancient tree shuddered.