Chapter 60
The subjugation of the Drake was successful.
Helena’s perfect parry, empowered by the power of the dragon, was a success as well.
As a result, the massive explosion obliterated half of the Drake’s head, erasing it completely.
Afterward, we got a massive scolding from Instructor Kang Jae-seok, but thanks to Instructor Mabel’s defense, we barely managed to escape without receiving disciplinary action.
I supported Helena together with Park Siwoo.
Helena couldn’t keep her balance properly, probably because she had overexerted herself earlier.
“I’ve never seen Instructor Kang Jae-seok that angry before.”
“Right? My ears are still ringing—am I bleeding?”
“Haha, don’t be ridiculous.”
At my lame joke, Park Siwoo gave a faint smile.
For a guy, he looked a bit too dejected just because an instructor chewed him out.
The road to the shelter was quiet.
Because of the rampaging beasts, everyone had already evacuated to the shelters.
“At least it’s a relief we can’t sense anyone nearby. Looks like everyone got away safely.”
“Still, we shouldn’t let our guard down. Let’s look around a bit more.”
I used the excuse of searching for anyone left behind to scout around the Beast Ranch.
After all, this event wasn’t completely over yet.
It was about time for that thing to appear.
All the plans had failed one after another—there was no way the mastermind behind this would stay idle.
He’d definitely be glaring in rage, ready to cause more trouble.
That was why I deliberately didn’t head straight to the shelter and lingered nearby instead—
—to lure that Hidden Boss out.
At that moment, a faint voice reached my ears from somewhere.
“Hel……p……me!……Some……one……is……here……!”
Good. Caught it.
Park Siwoo must have heard it too, as he looked around in confusion.
“Sungwoo, did you hear that?”
“I did.”
I turned toward where the voice came from—
a public restroom whose entrance looked like it had collapsed.
That was where the voice was coming from.
“I’ll support Helena, so go check it out.”
“Got it.”
Park Siwoo approached the collapsed restroom and shouted loudly,
“Excuse me! Is someone there? If you can hear me, please respond!”
“Here……! Here……! Someone’s here!”
A voice filled with hope answered from within the ruins.
A voice that sounded almost too bright to be real.
That didn’t make any sense from the start.
Instructor Mabel had sent a telepathic warning directly into everyone’s minds at the ranch, telling them to evacuate because it was dangerous.
And yet, someone was still here?
There were only two types of people who would remain behind in that case—
someone truly brainless,
or someone who had no reason to run in the first place.
But it didn’t seem like Park Siwoo thought that far ahead. His face brightened as he moved toward the ruins.
He started clearing away the debris piece by piece.
Watching him, I let out a dry chuckle.
Looks like the bastard’s getting desperate.
I drew the Guardian’s Sword from my belt.
“So, you’ve noticed too.”
Dan Chun-woo glanced at me.
He had been looking at Park Siwoo with a hint of disdain from the start, so he must have realized it was a trap as well.
“The pattern of destruction on that collapsed structure is different from the surrounding ruins.”
“Exactly.”
When a building collapses due to external force, the direction of that force determines the way it falls.
But that restroom—it looked as if an explosion had gone off inside it.
And just a hundred meters away, the other buildings were perfectly intact. Only this area had been destroyed. Suspicious, to say the least.
“It could be the source of the beast rampage.”
As Dan Chun-woo said that, his hand went to his sword.
A man seeking to restore his family’s honor—of course he’d want to slay the Demon.
“Don’t let your guard down. For something that caused an incident of this scale, it’s probably at least a high-ranked Demon.”
“Even better. Besides, I’d like to test this overflowing power.”
The buff magic Mabel had cast at maximum strength was still in effect.
Dan Chun-woo approached Park Siwoo.
The two exchanged brief hand signals.
Park Siwoo’s gaze turned toward me.
He might be foolish, but he wasn’t dull—he must have sensed something strange from our behavior.
Pretending to be tired, Park Siwoo slowed his pace, taking a short break from clearing the rubble.
At that moment, I gave the signal and drove the Guardian’s Sword into the ground.
A bright white light burst forth, spreading outward.
The space turned pure white as a powerful subspace field formed.
Boom!
The collapsed restroom suddenly exploded.
The blast sent Park Siwoo and Dan Chun-woo flying backward—they had tried to attack at the same moment I signaled.
“You brats have good instincts.”
A figure emerged through the thick cloud of dust.
He was the cause of the rampage—the Hidden Boss, the Demon of Madness, Boris.
“Your deaths today are because of your instructor, Mabel Elva. Curse her as you die.”
A sinister red glow flared from his eyes.
Immediately, a ringing filled my ears, and a wave of unpleasant nausea hit me.
So this was his special ability—the one that drove beasts mad.
In the game, that very ability had made this fight a nightmare.
But this time, I didn’t have to worry.
We had Instructor Mabel’s buff magic.
Her buffs included a mental protection enchantment—Mind Protector.
I hadn’t asked her for buffs just for fun.
Park Siwoo and Dan Chun-woo also seemed to feel discomfort, but not enough to succumb to his frenzy.
Boris hesitated, his voice filled with confusion.
“Wait… why isn’t my ability working on you?”
The red glow in his eyes intensified.
But even as the light flared, we didn’t fall into madness, and his eyebrows twitched violently.
“What’s wrong? Things not going according to plan?”
“Killing you doesn’t require my ability.”
The audacity—he’d already used his power twice and still had the nerve to talk big.
Then, suddenly, Dan Chun-woo appeared behind Boris and struck with a surprise attack.
Boris sneered, his head twisting unnaturally.
“That won’t work, boy.”
He raised his arm, grabbing Dan Chun-woo’s sword mid-swing.
Once again, his eyes blazed crimson.
Dan Chun-woo’s face twisted as he met that gaze head-on.
“So, you even have buff magic protecting you. But it’ll only buy you time. You’ll die soon enough.”
“No, the one who’s dying is you.”
Puuk!
With a wet, slicing sound, a holy light pierced through Boris’s chest.
It was Park Siwoo’s attack—he had concealed his presence and struck almost simultaneously with Dan Chun-woo.
Dan Chun-woo had faked an attack, intentionally releasing his aura to draw attention—while the real strike came from behind.
Simple, but solid teamwork.
To think they’d already coordinate this well—just as expected of playable characters.
Gulp.
Boris’s mouth, twisted 180 degrees, spewed black blood.
“Graaaghhh!”
A scream of agony tore from his throat.
He must have felt as if his insides were melting.
I knew that pain well—after all, I’d been on the receiving end of the Guardian’s power before.
Park Siwoo twisted his spear, trying to wrench it free from Boris’s chest where he had impaled him.
“Grrrgh! You damned brat! I’ll tear you apart!”
Boris threw Dan Chun-woo back, then clutched the spear to prevent Siwoo from pulling it out, howling like a beast.
Then Boris’s arm turned pitch-black, slithering up the shaft like a snake until his hand clamped around Park Siwoo’s throat.
He lifted Siwoo off the ground, tightening his grip.
Siwoo choked and thrashed helplessly.
Sslice.
With a clean cutting sound, Boris’s arm was severed.
It was Dan Chun-woo.
“Looks like you forgot about me.”
“Damn you all!”
As expected, the two of them—buffed by Instructor Mabel—were more than enough.
Even among early bosses, Boris had been notorious for being difficult, but without his special ability, Berserk, he was actually weaker than most.
He still had a few troublesome patterns left, but at this rate, the two could finish him off.
Then, the whites of his eyes turned black, and a sinister energy burst forth.
There it was—his troublesome skill.
In the next instant, a crimson wave of energy erupted from Boris’s body.
The energy spread outward, filling the entire area.
At the same time, a splitting headache hit me again.
Park Siwoo and Dan Chun-woo fell to their knees from the shock.
Wide-area Berserk.
Normally, Berserk was activated through direct line of sight, but this was an enhanced version—fueled directly by magic to cover a vast area.
But Instructor Mabel’s mental barrier wouldn’t break from a mere high-ranked Demon’s skill.
Then, beside me, Helena’s body suddenly trembled.
At that moment, Boris’s twisted mouth spread into a hideous grin.
“Found her.”
“No way—Helena?”
“Kuhaha! You let your guard down! Looks like that woman didn’t grant her the same mental barrier as you!”
The crimson energy that had filled the space began to be sucked toward Helena.
Dan Chun-woo hurried to stop it, but the red mist-like aura ignored his magical strikes.
Soon, a strange, guttural noise escaped Helena’s mouth as I supported her.
“Ghhhhh….”
Then her eyes snapped open—the pupils split vertically, and scales began to grow around them.
Her gaze was unfocused—she still hadn’t regained consciousness after opening her Dragon Power.
She couldn’t control the dragon’s strength even when she was in her right mind.
In her current state, it was impossible.
The dragon’s power within her began to rage out of control.
“Rooaaaarrrr!”
With a massive roar, everyone except Boris froze in place.
Manifestation of Dragon Fear.
Boris burst into manic laughter.
“Khahaha! I’ll let you die at the hands of your precious comrade!”
“D-Damn it!”
Under the effect of Dragon Fear, Park Siwoo’s body stiffened as he glared at Boris.
Ignoring him, Boris, brimming with arrogance, issued a command toward Helena.
“Now, annihilate the enemies before your eyes!”
“Graaaah!”
Helena roared and lunged at Park Siwoo.
No—she tried to.
But there was no way I’d stand by and watch.
I had anticipated even this level of rampage.
I grabbed her arm, yanked her toward me, and slammed her head into the ground with my other hand.
Boom!
With a harsh crashing sound, Helena’s body slammed into the earth.
Three pairs of eyes—Dan Chun-woo’s, Park Siwoo’s, and Boris’s—shifted from me to Helena.
“Keep going.”
Helena, whose dragon power had gone berserk, was no longer anywhere near the level of an ordinary Academy student.
There was no way such an attack would kill or even seriously harm her.
Sure enough, though her face was buried in the ground in a rather pitiful state, she thrashed violently in resistance.
I lifted her head again and drove it down into the ground once more.
Kwaaaang!
Only after a louder crash than before did Helena finally go limp, seemingly unconscious.
“Now then, got anything else to show me?”
“T-To subdue your comrade so ruthlessly! Do you have no blood, no tears? How can a heartless bastard like you be a hero candidate instead of a villain!”
Hey, Park Siwoo—why are you nodding along with the villain?
“Desperate, huh? Talking nonsense already. Let’s wrap this up.”
“Grrr… you damned brats!”
With a final roar, Boris charged at me.
But by now, the momentum had already shifted.
After all, I had deliberately lured him into focusing his remaining power on controlling Helena.
Before I knew it, Dan Chun-woo, having recovered some stamina, stepped in front of Boris.
Blue sword energy and black demonic aura clashed violently in midair, the sound of their collision echoing sharply as their battle raged on.
And then—
From the night I trained with the Guardian until now—
all the pain, all the effort, all the preparation began to bear fruit.
For a moment, I was entranced by its beauty, like witnessing the first snowfall.
The starlight flickering in the air began to gather in one place.
The starlight orbiting through the air now revolved around a spear.
Its slow rotation grew faster and faster until Park Siwoo’s spear was bathed in brilliant starlight, expanding in size.
The spearhead grew abnormally large—like a fusion of a spear and a greatsword.
Gripping it like a sword, Park Siwoo infused it with mana, creating a massive blade of radiant starlight several meters long.
And from it emanated a divine presence.
Park Siwoo’s signature skill, and the most powerful technique available in the early game—
Star Sword Summon (星劍召喚)
To think I’d get to see it with my own eyes.
A shiver ran through me as I watched the sight unfold before me.
The Demon of Madness, Boris, stared at the massive, gleaming blade.
Despair filled his eyes.
Then Park Siwoo shouted toward Dan Chun-woo.
“Get away from him!”
The gigantic blade, radiating blinding light, swung toward the demon.
Boris’s tough, iron-like flesh split apart like tofu.
From his torn wound, a holy light erupted, filling the entire space.