Overwhelming Firepower

The second the true avatar appeared, everyone watching felt a powerful headache.

It lasted only a moment. For most, the pain disappeared so quickly that it was as though it had never happened. Others were left with a chill running down their spines.

’It’s just a game.’ That was the first thought most of them had. The chat quickly began moving again.

[That design is horrifying.]

[Did anyone else get a headache?]

[It has faces all over its body.]

[Second Phase! Come on!]

The messages about the headache were soon buried beneath the excitement.

Lucen pressed his fingers against his temple. His pain had been more severe than what the others described. For a moment, he had seen something that had not appeared on the monitor.

There was an endless darkness. Countless pale lights stared through it, and then the image vanished. Lucen lowered his hand and looked at the screen again.

”Did you guys see that too?”

[Is that part of the cut scene?]

[That was intense]

[See what?]

[The lights in the darkness.]

[I only saw the eye.]

[There was an eye?]

[You guys are imagining things.]

The answers were inconsistent. Some viewers claimed they had seen the same endless darkness, while others had only seen the colossal eye beyond the rift. Most had seen nothing unusual at all.

Lucen was once again amazed by the fact that developers were able to do something like this in this old game.

”This game was already ahead of its time, but this is ridiculous.”

[It’s like what I’ve been saying, the developers were hiding alien technology.]

[How was this never discovered?]

[Maybe it only appears during a thunderstorm.]

[That would be an insane requirement.]

Lucen almost laughed reading what the chat was saying. The cutscene ended before he could respond.

The camera returned behind Alexander. Most of the battlefield had been destroyed during the first phase, leaving only several narrow pieces of black ground suspended above the endless darkness.

The true avatar stood on the largest remaining section. It truly was a grotesque sight to behold. The heads continued screaming as if begging for mercy as they tried to escape the black void of the true avatar’s body.

The true avatar pointed at Alexander, without even thinking about it, Lucen unconsciously pressed the dodge button, making Alexander do a sidestep.

In the next second, a burst of black light shot forward from the true avatar’s body, erasing everything in that area, making the battlefield smaller.

[The f*ck was that?!]

[A true light beam attack!]

Lucen did not have time to look at the chat as several holes appeared below him. Lucen made Alexander do a double jump to avoid the holes.

”I need to get close to him.”

The true avatar did not allow him to move forward so easily. It raised its hand again. Each of its five fingers pointed toward a different section of the battlefield.

Black light gathered at their tips. Lucen immediately opened the equipment menu and activated Thalara’s Judgment.

Alexander still had most of his attributes placed in strength and dexterity from the end of the first phase. He transferred part of his strength back into agility.

The five beams fired, and before they even did so, Alexander moved. Black light passed behind him as he crossed the narrow ground. One beam struck ahead, erasing the path and forcing Lucen to jump toward another section.

Alexander landed near its edge, dodging the beams. The avatar moved its fingers, like it was tapping on a keyboard, and the beams changed direction.

”Of course, they’re homing lasers.”

The beams curved through the air and followed Alexander across the shattered battlefield.

Lucen made him leap to another piece of ground. Two beams passed beneath him, while the others divided and approached from different directions.

Alexander used his second jump to change direction in midair. Four beams missed. The fifth scraped against Kalderos’s Masterpiece.

The armor survived, but more than half of Alexander’s health disappeared. Naerith’s Blessing immediately covered him in golden light.

[That was only a graze!]

[How are you supposed to reach it?]

[The beams are coming back!]

[Don’t the beams disappear?]

”If I guess right, they probably disappear after hitting something.”

Lucen drank an energy drink before controlling Alexander and started sprinting toward the true avatar, and the beams followed. Alexander jumped across another gap while black light converged behind him.

Lucen waited until the last possible moment before using his second jump to reverse direction.

The beams missed Alexander, and then they struck one another. The collision produced a sphere of darkness that swallowed part of the battlefield without making a sound. Even the violet flames nearby disappeared inside it.

If Alexander made a mistake in timing, he would have either gotten hit by the beams or fallen into the gaps of the battlefield and entered the void underneath.

Without missing a beat, the true avatar lifted its fingers and shot a few more of those black beams.

”F*ck this thing has no cool down!”

[He can spam that sh*t]

[Just keep on evading, an opening will eventually show up]

Lucen guided Alexander between the incoming beams, changing direction whenever they drew close. The black lights twisted around one another as they pursued him.

Alexander continued toward the true avatar. The creature stood motionless, as if it were waiting for him to arrive.

Lucen once again changed his stats and placed more on agility as he sprinted forward with the beams following behind him.

”Time to use a classic tactic.”

[Oh, you’re going to do that]

[Damn, will it work?]

Alexander continued running straight toward the true avatar.

The black beams followed closely behind him, their light erasing thin lines through the ground whenever they passed too close. Lucen waited until Alexander was only a few meters away.

The true avatar slashed at Alexander, who was about to get near him. Alexander jumped at the right time, barely evading the strike. He then used his double jump to get over the true avatar.

The beams following Alexander could not bend on time and smashed through the true avatar. The true avatar’s HP went down, but only a little bit.

[Its own attacks barely hurt it!]

[How much defense does this thing have?]

The true avatar slowly turned toward Alexander. The faces covering its body stopped trying to escape.

Their eyes opened at the same time, and their screams became one deafening voice. Lucen felt the sound inside his skull.

[MENTAL POLLUTION DETECTED]

[FEAR DETECTED]

[DESPAIR DETECTED]

[STATUS AILMENTS RESISTED]

Kalderos’s Masterpiece released a pale light, destroying the effects before they could take hold.

The true avatar reached into its chest. Its claw sank into the mass of screaming faces and pulled out a long black blade. Human hands covered its hilt, while mouths opened and closed along its edge.

”Sh*t, that’s disgusting.”

The creature swung its blade. Lucen parried the strike easily and countered. The HP dropped a little.

For the next several minutes, golden and black steel collided across the ruined battlefield. Lucen parried, evaded, and counterattacked whenever he found an opening, but every successful strike removed only a tiny portion of the avatar’s health.

”Damn, this might take a while.” Lucen took a quick sip of his energy drink as he continued his battle of parrying, evading, and attacking the true avatar.

The true avatar suddenly changed its rhythm. The black blade stopped halfway through its swing.

Lucen had already pressed the parry button. Alexander moved too early.

The creature reversed its grip and drove the hilt into Alexander’s face. Before he could recover, the avatar slashed across his chest.

Kalderos’s Masterpiece released a brilliant light. The armor prevented the blade from cutting through Alexander, but the force sent him flying across the battlefield. His health dropped to one point. Naerith’s Blessing immediately activated.

[That was the first time this thing used a feint]

[Is the AI learning?]

[Yeah, did you notice the rhythm keeps on changing]

The true avatar attacked again. Its rhythm changed with every exchange. Fast strikes became delayed swings.

Wide slashes stopped halfway and turned into thrusts. Whenever Lucen adjusted, the creature changed once more.

”This thing is harder to deal with than some of the newer games,” Lucen commented as he tried to guess the timing to parry.

The battle continued until Lucen could no longer tell how much time had passed.

Alexander was struck repeatedly. The durability of Kalderos’s Masterpiece was falling rapidly. Even divine armor could not withstand the true avatar forever.

Velmira’s Tear resisted two more instant-death attacks, and Naerith’s Blessing barely kept his health above zero.

Still, Lucen continued attacking. Varkun’s Greatsword slowly reduced the enormous health bar. Lucen had already drunk a few energy drinks, as he was holding back his need to pee.

The HP went down to thirty percent, and after a while, it finally got to twenty percent.

The moment the true avatar’s health reached twenty percent, it stopped moving. Alexander no longer responded to Lucen’s controls.

”A cutscene?”

The camera moved in front of Alexander. His divine armor was cracked, his body was covered in blood, and Varkun’s Greatsword trembled in his hands.

Still, he forced himself to stand. The true avatar raised its blade. Alexander looked at the screaming faces covering its body.

”You have caused enough pain and suffering.” Alexander tightened his grip on the greatsword as its golden light grew brighter.

”For those who fell, for the comrades I failed, and for the future you would destroy, I will bring you down here and now!”

The darkness behind the true avatar split open. Countless pale eyes appeared within it, attached to something so vast that the battlefield seemed like a grain of sand before its presence.

For one second, the being who sent the avatar looked upon Alexander. Everyone watching forgot how to breathe.

Despite not seeing it clearly, there was a deep sense of dread that encroached on everyone watching, but before it became worse, it disappeared.

The darkness closed, but a final pulse of black light entered the avatar. Its remaining health turned completely black as the screaming faces sank beneath its surface.

The true avatar’s back tore open. Hundreds of black tentacles burst from the wound, writhing over one another as screaming faces surfaced along their lengths.

The cutscene ended without warning. The true avatar vanished and swung its tentacles before Lucen could react.

Alexander’s health dropped to one, and for two seconds, Lucen could only stare at the screen.

”What the f*ck!”