“Listen up, everyone…we defenders will switch aggro wherever our health falls low…healers focus healing on the defender with the lowest health…damage dealers buff up, keep your elixirs ready in case of any emergency… You all have fought valiantly throughout the dungeon. Now it's time to burn the final boss down.”

  “Aye…leader…” everyone shouted in unison.

  One of the healers, Alicia, with a staff glowing faintly with restorative energy, stepped forward. “Remember, we don’t have any intel on this boss. The scouts cannot enter the st boss’s chamber. We are going in blind. So, stay sharp, and try not to die.” Everyone nodded in unison; nobody wanted to lose their life due to stupidity or overconfidence.

  Before them stood a colossal door made of unknown material. Its smooth surface was engraved with ancient runes that glimmered in an eerie, ominous glow. Alicia pressed her hand against the door, her breath visible in the cold air. “I’ve never seen runic symbols like these. I wonder what they signify?”

  “Who cares! Let's open it.” One of the warriors spoke hoarsely as he pushed the door, trying to open it. Others also lend him a hand.

  With a groaning noise of ancient hinges, the massive door swung open. Torches fred to life inside the chamber. Their yellow fmes cast flickering shadows across the room. At its center stood an imposing, demonic figure wreathed in shadowy miasma, the dungeon’s final boss. The demon was humanoid in shape. It wore bckened robes shimmering with arcane sigils that pulsed with an eerie, shifting light. On top of the robe, it wore short, sharp shoulder guards carved from bckened gold. Its jagged obsidian horns curved backward like a crown.

  “Wow… that’s a final boss, alright,” one of the damage dealers whispered in awe.

  “Look at those glowing runes. It seems like a magic caster,” another murmured, tightening his sword grip. “Looks… majestic.”

  “Erik,” the leader called. “Use your [Inspect] skill. Let’s see what we’re dealing with here.”

  Erik was a rogue with a knack for reconnaissance. He stepped forward cautiously, stopping just outside the boss’s range. He cast the [inspect] spell on the boss.

  “Boss, you were correct. This is a magic caster. Its name is Arion, the Deceiver. It says Arion is a master of dark arts and deception magic.” Adam replied.

  “Heh… good for us. Magic casters can't fight in close range. Look, it's not even holding magic stuff. It will try to keep its distance from us and cast long-range spells. It might also summon minions or golems to fight for him.” The leader spoke.

  “Usually, in higher level dungeons, this type of monster is a problem as they have a lot of health. But this is a bronze-rank dungeon, and we have silver-rank damage dealers. We will munch through its low defense.”, he continued. “Get ready, folks. We are killing this monstrosity today.”

  “Let’s do this!”. With a deafening battle cry, the leader charged forward, leading the front and initiating the fight.

  The monster let out a roar as the leader struck him with his one-handed sword. It retaliated with a swift attack using its sharp cws. However, one of the defenders stood firm and raised his shield to absorb the blow. In response, the monster stretched its hands out to both sides, and a summoning circle appeared on the ground before it. The circle glowed in purple, opening a dimensional portal to the pitch-bck abyss.

  “He is summoning a minion! Spread out!” the leader shouted, warning the defenders and melee fighters who were too close to the boss. They stepped back and prepared to face the summons. Meanwhile, the ranged damage dealers cast long-range attack spells, like [Fireball] and [Arcane Bolt], which struck directly at the boss’s torso. However, the monster seemed unaffected and maintained its posture so that the summon could continue.

  Two grotesque creatures emerged from the abyss portal created by the boss. One was a skeletal figure cd in an iron helm and carrying a rusty shield, while the other was a dark shadow wielding two daggers. As the summoning finished, the boss monster broke its stance, and the dimensional portal vanished.

  “Damage dealers, concentrate on the skeleton! It serves as his defensive minion, and we can't allow him to protect himself!" the leader yelled while charging at the shadow. “I’ll prevent the wrath from attacking our backline.”

  But it wasn’t that easy. The melee attackers quickly ganged up on the skeleton, following their leader’s instructions. At first, the skeleton warrior simply blocked all their attacks. Suddenly, it smmed its rusty shield onto the ground, creating a shockwave that severely injured and knocked back the melee attackers. It let out a roar to assert its dominance, but the roar was abruptly interrupted as multiple crimson fireballs struck it in rapid succession, causing its bones to catch fire.

  “[Healing Circle]" Alicia cast her healing spell to help the wounded. A glowing light surrounded their bodies and began to mend their injuries. In just a few moments, they were ready to fight again. However, it was unnecessary since the skeleton warrior’s bones slowly disintegrated to ash. Its shield could not protect it against the [Burn] effect left by the [Fireball] spell that had struck it earlier.

  On the other hand, the party leader single-handedly halted the assault of the wrath by deflecting its repeated blows with his shield and standing his ground. Now that the skeleton warrior was gone, other attackers also pounced on the wrath and quickly sliced him down.

  Witnessing his minions fall swiftly only intensified the boss’s fury. It raised its hand to the ceiling, channeling dark energy into a growing bck sphere. The orb expanded as the creature infused it with additional power, holding its focus despite the relentless assaults from the adventurers. When the incantation concluded, it cast the bck sphere towards the group.

  One of the defenders yelled, “Get behind me," raising his shield as he shouted, "[Barrier]." His shield radiated a yellow light, forming a rger magical replica of itself. The dark sphere collided with the barrier, resulting in a bst that nullified both as wind and dust swirled around them.

  The back-and-forth continued as the boss’s health gradually declined. Eventually, a barrage of arcane bolts struck Arion, causing the creature to emit an otherworldly wail before bursting into crystal-like fragments. The party members received a notification in their status window stating that they had successfully defeated the boss monster, Arion.

  “Hell yeah!” one of the mages cheered, lowering his staff. “Take that, you overgrown spell-caster!”

  The leader grinned while wiping sweat from his brow. “Heh…master of dark arts, my ass…” he spoke in a confident voice. “Alright, everyone, grab the mana crystals. We need to move before the dungeon seals itself.”

  The mana crystals were piled in one corner of the room. A few eager members rushed toward them and began mining. Everyone else took a moment to catch their breath. Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to tremble violently. An ominous energy spread throughout the room. Even the warriors least attuned to mana sensed the shift in the atmosphere. A suffocating pressure weighed down on them, making it hard to breathe.

  “What the hell…what is this?” a mage shouted, clutching his chest.

  “It's the boss monster. It's not dead. Look!! " One of the healers pointed towards the middle of the room, where the boss had materialized out of thin air.

  “No way… we killed it!” Erik stammered. His voice was trembling. “I got the notification. It was dead!”

  “Something’s wrong,” the leader muttered, his confidence wavering. “It’s not just alive—it’s stronger.”

  The party leader looked at the monster in disbelief. Its purple eyes gleamed brightly, letting out a deafening battle cry. Gazing at those eyes, the leader immediately felt an urge to run. But his legs did not move, and a chilling sensation ran through his spine.

  “It's… It’s using some skill. I am not able to move.” One of the healers cried out.

  “How…how can that be? Judging by the distance, we should be out of its range. I was closer to it when I used [Inspect]. It didn’t attack me then.” Erik shouted. “Does it mean…the boss intentionally did not attack me that time??”

  “That's impossible. Monsters do not work like that. Whenever you move inside the attack range of any monster, it is bound to attack,” a mage protested.

  “No. Something is off about this boss… Everyone get out… now!!!” The leader shouted.

  But as he turned to find the massive door, his blood ran cold. It was gone. The chamber had morphed into an endless, shadowy void. They all stood in an open space for as far as they could see. They could run, but there was nowhere to hide.

  “Oh my god. What the hell is happening?” A healer has also noticed the same thing while searching for the exit door.

  “Damn it…” the leader took out a small crystal from his pocket and shouted. “Use your dungeon teleportation crystals. We need to get out of here.”

  The dungeon teleportation crystal is a get-out-of-the-jail-free card that lets users teleport away from within the dungeon. However, it is very costly equipment, and not everyone can afford it. It's also for one-time use. The crystal breaks after a single teleport and cannot be used again. As a result, not many adventurers use tools like this. Even in the current party, very few had the teleportation crystal.

  The leader had one with him, and he was the first one to activate it without caring for the other members. But as soon as he did that, the crystal blew up in his hand. He cried out in pain as crystal sharpnels pierced his palm. “What the fuck…is he blocking teleportation???”

  “I have heard bosses in high ptinum or Valerium level dungeons have such abilities. But this is only a bronze-level dungeon. The final boss at this level should not be this powerful,” a warrior shouted in panic.

  “Watch out, it's preparing to attack!!!” one of the party members shouted in panic. In front of his eyes, Arion raised its hand towards the sky, and a massive orb of dark energy materialized above its palm. The party watched in horror as the orb grew to an enormous size. It threw that ball of dark energy toward the party in a fraction of a second.

  Before the party leader could say anything, one of his fellow defenders tried to block the bck orb with his shield. The dark energy struck with a deafening crack, shattering his shield like gss and sending him flying. His body nded far back, still as a rock. Even without checking his vitals, they knew he was dead.

  “Run…” the leader shouted at his party members. But he knew in his heart that it was futile. For some god-forsaken reason, they were in an open area with nowhere to hide. Those massive dark orbs blew away the person with the highest magic defense like a rag doll. Others didn't stand a chance; they wouldn't survive the onsught.

  But they didn’t even get a chance to flee. Arion, the boss, raised his hand again, and a pitch-bck pulse radiated from his body. The pulse spread outward in all directions. Everyone at the party was caught in it. The pulse caused massive damage and was powerful enough to knock them to the ground. Yet the monster did not stop there. It continued to unleash dark energy pulses until everyone on the adventurer team stopped moving altogether. The dungeon's final boss eradicated the adventurer team.

  *************************************************************************************************

  Alicia opened her eyes. At first, her vision was blurry, and she felt a sharp pain in her head. She found herself lying on the cold, damp ground, which sent a shiver down her spine. Alicia groaned as she sat up, clutching her temples. The world around her slowly came into focus. Taking a deep breath, Alicia noticed the air was thick with the coppery stench of blood. “What… what happened?” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Where am I?”

  Her heart started racing as her memories flooded back—her party, the dungeon, and finally, the monster that had massacred them. Alicia was able to recall all of them. The dying screams of her party members still lingered in her ears. The dark pulses emitted from the boss tore through her companions like they were made of paper. She remembered the darkness closing in on her eyes as her own life was about to be snuffed out by that overwhelming pressure. Alicia lost consciousness. But she is awake now, still breathing. She has survived the boss’s onsught.

  Alicia staggered to her feet and frantically tried to scan her surroundings, searching for any sign of survivors. She looked around, but as her gaze nded on the far side of the room, her eyes widened in shock. A mound of corpses was haphazardly stacked up in one side of the room. Alicia recognized them, her party members. Their faces were frozen in expressions of unimaginable horror. Their eyes were bulging out from their eye sockets. Hands, legs, and other body parts were scattered around in pieces. The grotesque sight was too much for her. Alicia fell to her knees, violently retching onto the blood-stained floor.

  “Are…you…awake?” A cold shiver ran through Alicia’s spine as she heard a deep, bone-chilling voice from the darkness behind her.

  “Who…who are you?” she asked, facing the darkness, her voice shaking with pure panic.

  From the shadows, two glowing purple eyes emerged. The dungeon boss's tall, wide silhouette stood before her in the darkness. Its form radiated an oppressive, otherworldly presence. Alicia’s legs gave way, and she colpsed to the ground, her body trembling uncontrolbly. The air around her grew heavier, pressing down on her chest until it was hard to breathe. She began gasping for air. As a healer, she knew this was the pressure of mana. The boss’s mana reserve was so immense that it created enormous pressure on its surroundings.

  But it wasn’t just the mana that paralyzed her with fear. Instead, it was the mere fact that the monster spoke. Dungeon monsters, including the bosses, are mindless monstrosities that guard their chambers and attack anyone who enters their vicinity, known as the attack range. It’s common knowledge. They can roar and let out battle cries but cannot speak; they ck a nguage. Yet it spoke to her in her own tongue.

  “Weak,” the creature rasped, its voice like grinding stones. “You… healer… strong. Need knowledge.”

  Alicia’s mind raced as she tried to make sense of the disjointed words. “What do you mean? I don’t understand!” she cried, her voice breaking. Tears streamed down her face as she stared up at the monstrous figure, hoping for mercy.

  “Weak.” The monster pointed its index finger at the heap of dead bodies of her party members. “Broken.” Then it pointed at Alicia. “You… strong… alive.”

  The realization hit Alicia like a hammer. Her party members had been its pythings. Their bodies and minds were broken until they were nothing more than lifeless husks. And now… she was next. It's going to torture her until she loses her sanity or dies, just like them.

  “No, please!” she begged with desperation. “Please, let me go!” Her body betrayed her, warmth spreading down her legs as she lost control over her bdder. Her terror was too overwhelming.

  The boss stepped closer, its massive form towering over her. It reached out with its pitch bck cwed hand, engulfing her temple and covering her eyes. Alicia opened her mouth to scream, but no sound emerged. A strange pressure filled her skull, and her mind was flooded with images—her childhood, her first day as a healer, the faces of her fallen comrades. Allicia’s memories pyed in her head like a movie in reverse order. Before she lost consciousness, the st thing she saw in her memories was the long-forgotten smiling face of her mother.