Chapter 242: The Darkness Ghost BOSS
"…" Stark kept staring at the ground below him with his eyes closed, not leaving the weird black aura out of his field of vision for even a second, 'Calm down…'
That thing's aura was actively terrifying, and he felt like if he let any kind of emotions visible, then it would detect it and come out to surprise him.
Of course, this would mean the beginning of the fight, but Stark didn't want that: HE wanted to ambush it!
He took a step forward, his eyes still closed, and the dark aura followed him.
"Hm…" it seemed to have been following him all this time, making sure to stay under his feet to not get detected.
Too bad for it that it fell against the worst opponent possible at this time.
And so…
"Wielding Cross," he whispered, summoning the crimson/golden cross above his head as he stared at the aura below.
The crimson/golden cross hovered above Stark, radiating with a fierce light, and he could feel the energy crackling in the air.
It was strange that it didn't notice the change in the atmosphere since, y'know, this cross was literally the ultimate weakness of undead monsters, which he assumed that thing was, or maybe it just thought that he was going to use it on the wall?
Who knows!
"Time to end this," he muttered, focusing on the dark aura that slithered beneath him.
And with a swift motion, he took a step back, then smashed the ground where the aura was as it needed to move, not able to predict Stark's movements if he was this fast.
~BOOOOOOM~
This time, the ground actually crumbled as the cross passed right through it, hitting whatever was below as Stark could feel the impact of the hit.
"-243717!" and the damage was beyond anything he had ever done before.
"FGRAGHHHH~" a terrifying scream came from the ground he had hit.
And after a few seconds of suspense…
~FWISH~
The creature emerged from the ground.
It was a mass of shadow and decay, towering above Stark by a long shot, reaching the very high 10 meters tall ceiling easily.
Its form twisted and contorted, shifting like smoke in the wind, and blackened bones could be seen coming out from each of its side.
Its eyes, if they could be called that, glowed a sickly green, piercing through the dim light of the cabin.
As for its figure… well… it wasn't humanoid, instead it just looked like it was wearing its "aura" as some sort of sheet to hide its true form, only allowing Stark to see its eyes and giant mouth, and it literally didn't have a face, it was just darkness.
"Gaahhrrhh~" as it opened its mouth, a low, guttural growl escaped it, reverberating in the hallways of the cabin.
It stretched its arms wide, revealing bony fingers curling into claws, each extremely sharp and sturdy, although it didn't have a weapon, its hands were surrounded by that same aura that covered its body and soul.
The creature swayed, and its body literally moving like a flame on the edges.
And after its introduction… it just stared at Stark, not doing anything else.
"Holy shit…" Stark backed away, that thing was horrifying, and he didn't even know why he felt like that, after all it didn't have a proper face or figure…
"You…" and it could actually speak, even though it could only say a few words, "Die…" it pointed its arm at Stark, "Death aura."
~FWISH, VIOUM~
Stark's heart raced as the creature's bony fingers extended. The air thickened, a chilling weight pressing down on him.
"Die…" it growled again, its voice so rusty it was actually horrible to listen to.
With a flick of its wrist, shadows spiraled from its hand, coiling through the air toward Stark.
But…
"INVINCIBLE DODGE," Stark just rolled out of the attack's way, "Good try!"
"…" the green eyes were still hollow though, showing no malice or any sort of resentment whatsoever, the monster was just… staring, no emotions in its eyes.
"WIELDING CROSS!" yet again, Stark positioned his hands as if he was holding a baseball bat, then swung with full force to his left.
~SLAM, BOOOM~
The monster was yet again hit.
"-231985!"
"…" and yet, it wasn't dead.
"Huh?" this wasn't normal.
Stark had assumed that this monster should be an elite, yet their HPs shouldn't be that high at this current level… right?
"PERCEPTION!" he shouted as he decided to check out the opponent before it could attack again.
And what he saw… was shocking.
…
[Name: Darkness Ghost (BOSS)]
[Level: 130]
[HP: 114298/590000]
[Strength: 9999]
[Stamina: 15000]
[Speed: 3492]
[Defense: 4371]
[Skills: Shadow Grasp, Aura Drain, Bone Shard Barrage, Raging Loop, Shroud of Darkness, Soul Blind, Necrotic Touch, Void Pulse…]
…
Stark's eyes widened.
No, it wasn't because of the stats, which were kind of weird, or because of the skills.
But because… based on the "ranking" next to its name, that thing was a boss.
"A boss… in the middle of the rift?" Stark was confused, this has never happened before, after all!
As to possibly comprehend what was happening, he reminded himself of all possible rankings monsters could have: Fodder, Weak, Normal, Strong, Elite, Boss, Calamity, Immortal, Universal, Divine.
But usually, in video games and in this world, then it was always the final boss of the rift that should be at the [Boss] category… right?
But what if he was wrong? There were four other difficulties after [Boss] after all.
What if… he had been wrong, what if final bosses can actually be way WAY stronger than anything he ever imagined.
What if… the apostle this time is from the [Calamity] difficulty? What if from now on, every rift would have progressively more difficult enemies and apostles?
Just this thought sent a shiver down Stark's spine, as it meant that the next monsters could easily take down the warden…
"Doesn't matter," in the end he just decided to beat it and see for himself, he had said he would go alone after all, and he would never regret that decision.
Plus, even if that thing was a boss, he still had the complete advantage no matter what as he had already damaged it for over 450000 health points in two attacks.
"Focus… Stark Heartsouls… you got this…" but the fact that he knew that this thing was a boss even though he was only in the second zone was still omnipresent.
"…" and the monster literally wasn't attacking, even though its strength stat proved that no matter what it did, it would surely one shot the human.
"Oh well, if you want to sit still, then I'll allow it!!"
"…" the green eyes filled with aura were unmoving, and even after the second attack had crashed, the monster only budged slightly, not even caring about the damage it received.
"GOOD… BYE!" Stark swung for the third and final time toward the [Darkness Ghost], expecting it to take the hit again and die, but…
"Aura Drain…" it whispered in a very calm voice as it positioned its giant skeletal hand in the spot where the cross was hitting.
And then…
"GOT YOU-" Stark wanted to shout this, but before he could even finish, his jaw dropped.
~FWISH~
The [Darkness Ghost] actually stopped the cross with the palm of its hand as if it was the easiest thing in the world, then grabbed it from the tip and began to suck out the holy aura, making the cross essentially disappear in less than ten seconds.
"+100000" and in addition to that, it healed itself.
And then… as if it didn't care about anything, it went back to stare at Stark with its hollow eyes, one that were piercing his soul.
"…" Stark knew that this definitely was a boss now.