Chương 73: (B2 Chapter 24)

A frightening sight unfolded in front of us. In the place of its vanished helmet, a large circular mouth lined with small, sharp teeth appeared. Everything apart from the white teeth was black; a snake-like long, black tongue moved about slowly in an 'S' shape, and I could see the open mouth leading to an abyss of pure darkness. The sight was horrifying, but what came next raised the stakes of this battle tenfold. A small blue crystal appeared inside the mouth and then it started inhaling everything.

A loud sucking noise started coming from the mouth, and immediately a feeling of loss hit me, and by the very brief but very painful sounds around me, everyone else as well. It felt like the knight was taking everything from within me, and it wasn't even something that I was imagining, as I could see small particles of something rising from within me and the others and slowly drifting towards the open mouth.

I opened my status, and saw all my resources had dropped by four, and the worst part was that a brightly glowing red minus one was hovering beside every single one of my stats. I closed the status and immediately warned the others.

"This thing is draining everything from us! Mana, health, stamina, and even all stats are being taken away!" I shouted… or at least I tried to. No sooner had I formed the words that they were ripped away from me and drifted away towards the knight. No one else had reacted to my shout, meaning they hadn't heard a thing I had said. Probably why I barely heard the pained sounds from the others earlier… this thing had ripped away the sound as well after that…

I turned to look at Lucas, and he also seemed to be shouting something with the way his neck was strained and his mouth was moving; however, I couldn't hear a thing. I looked back at the knight, who was still merrily taking everything from us. Think, Alex! Think! I tried using critical sense in desperation, hoping that it would be able to provide me with some answers. Surprisingly, this time it worked. The small blue crystal inside its mouth was glowing, and without thinking about it I activated quick step.

I rushed towards the towering knight, its figure looming high above me, absolutely still, as if my coming near warranted no reaction from it. As soon as quick step ended, I used another one to launch myself towards its high mouth, and as my jump reached its precipice and I slowed down, I took careful aim and launched a piercing strike right at the crystal. The dagger struck the crystal, which was shockingly fragile as the whole thing shattered immediately.

I pulled my dagger back as a loud groan sounded out from the knight and it took a step back. At the same time, a shockwave of perhaps what all had been on the way towards its mouth spread all around, pushing me back and almost making me crash back on top of Lucas. Luckily, we were able to avoid each other and my new superhuman body was able to land on both feet easily.

"… could be an option to try…?" I heard Marcus's voice from behind me as sound returned to the cavern. I hadn't realized it earlier with everything going on, but I could actually hear myself breathe again. Before the sounds disappeared again, I took the opportunity to repeat what I had tried to say earlier.

"It drains everything from us, including mana, stamina, health, and all our stats! But I think the crystal inside its mouth is the only real vulnerability it has, and we need to destroy it as soon as it shows up again!" I didn't look back to see if my words had been heard by the others or not, as all my attention was still focused on the knight. The knight's horrendous mouth had vanished as soon as it had arrived, and now the helmet was back on again.

Throughout the time the mouth had been inhaling everything, the knight had stayed absolutely still, not even reacting when I got close to it. Now though, it lifted its sword and resumed attacking Lucas and Sam like it had been earlier, with one key difference.

"It's faster and stronger now!" Lucas echoed what I had just observed.

"It must get stronger from consuming our stats!" I shouted, all the while my mind was racing. The knight had seemed like a straightforward enemy at first; heavily armoured and hits hard, but slow. Then we found out that we couldn't harm it no matter what we did, and a bit later we discovered that each time someone had a physical interaction with the knight in any way, we lost all three resources.

Next, the knight's face transformed into what could only be described as a gaping hole for a mouth and started devouring everything from us, and now we just came to know that it was devouring to make itself stronger. I couldn't help but think what would be next…? Stolen novel; please report. If there even is another aspect to the boss, as this is a difficult fight as it is.

"I have an idea!" shouted Hannah right from the back of the pack.

"Shoot," I heard Marcus say. As the boss was busy dealing with Sam and Lucas who had it handled for the moment, I backed away and turned to listen to what Hannah had to say.

"I can make it focus on me if everyone else backs away. It is still slow right now, and I can run around the cavern while it follows me and all of you figure out what to do. I can't do much else here, so at least this way I'll be able to contribute a little. Also, even if I run out of stamina it's no big deal, but Lucas and Sam clashing constantly with the boss could be devastating when they run out of their resources," she said in a hurry, her eyes locked onto mine the whole time. That's actually a great idea!

If she can buy us some time to figure things out, which I believe she could as she was quite fast, we could make a plan. Right now, all we're doing is running out of everything and sooner or later either Lucas or Sam would be down, and things would then take a turn for the worst. Besides, the boss's speed was still slow right now and it was manageable for Hannah, but if the boss kept getting stronger and faster, soon no one would be able to keep up. I nodded, but I had a couple suggestions, "Great idea!

Let's do it, but only after both Lucas and Sam have used their abilities. We should improve your chances of surviving in case you get hit," I said, turning to look at Marcus, who also nodded in agreement. Plan made, I quickly relayed it to Lucas and Sam. Lucas used his ability to boost everyone's defense, while Sam used his 'Burden' ability on Hannah, which we believed would allow him to take on some portion of the damage that Hannah would be hit by, if she gets hit that is, improving her survivability.

Soon, it was time for the plan to start.

Hannah's POV I had been feeling utterly useless since I had joined this group. I wanted to contribute, to help, but instead the whole time I had been coddled like a toddler who needed constant attention to make sure they don't get hurt. And it was frustrating, even though I knew it was the right thing to do. That day back in the tutorial when our buffalo observation mission had been derailed by someone's misguided enthusiasm to hunt one of the massive monsters, I had been shaken to my core.

I was level two back then, or was it perhaps level three? I don't remember, but what I do remember was what had happened after. I was sitting in a daze and not really present in the moment, which I later found out was due to me being in shock, when I was approached by Alex. He had offered me water and spoke to me softly and kindly, which I appreciated. However, what I had been instantly mesmerized by was the shocking immediate change that came over him when he thought he had spotted something in the trees.

One second, he was just calmly standing, and the next he was completely ready. Dagger in hand and crouched down, he was immediately in fight mode. And his eyes! I remember they had shifted from being dull and calm to being sharp, focused, and dangerous in a split-second. That was how I wanted to be – always prepared for the worst and with the ability to back myself confidently. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I was always lagging behind.

Since coming to the dungeon, I found out it wasn't just Alex who was brilliant. Lucas shined with his dependability, Omar with his immense firepower, Marcus with his incredible healing that was unmatched by any other healer, and Madelline was the only real hexer in the whole camp who had progressed so far. Even Sam, who wasn't part of this group but in fact was also like me when those buffaloes had attacked, had found his stride and jelled into being a dependable 'off-tank' as Alex referred to his role.

On the other hand, I was just being looked after and helped to level up, so I could eventually become somewhat useful. All the others in the group were kind and I was sure no one else thought of me this way, but I had caught so many instances of half-sentences or hidden mentions to how they wished Sara were here to help deal damage. I couldn't become the next Sara, like Sam was becoming the next Ben, and I didn't want to.

I would never become a front-line damage dealer, not only because of my class, but also because I just didn't want to. The group was also lacking in a ranged damage dealer, which was another role I couldn't fulfill. What I could do, though, was become an actual rogue. I had heard Alex, Lucas, and Marcus discussing the game-like roles in this new system, and I had also spoken to others during the tutorial and even after it. Alex was not a classic rogue; he was an assassin.

An assassin who used magic as well, in fact. But there was room for a rogue here in this group, an idea that had solidified in my mind, especially since we had dealt with all the traps earlier in the dungeon. I was going to become the 'thief' role of this group, so they would have someone to detect and disarm traps, and who could even set up traps in advance for enemies.

I could also follow Alex and learn some magic that I could use to disorient enemies, perhaps even the illusion magic type that I had heard others speak of. It felt like this role could be something I would excel at. I was suddenly torn away from my thoughts as Alex told me they were ready. I shook my head to clear it and stepped towards the large, intimidating knight.

Lucas and Sam used their abilities, and then at Lucas's signal, I ran towards the boss and scored a light hit with my dagger, not stopping my stride and instead continuing onwards. A few steps later I took a glance behind me to see the towering giant of a knight slowly turning towards me as Lucas and Sam had immediately backed away as soon as I had hit the boss. The knight took a slow, telegraphed step forward, and I turned around and continued to run away.

Behind me, I started hearing the thundering footsteps of the knight chasing me, and I turned sharply to the left, circling around the cavern while the knight behind me turned slowly. The chase continued on for a couple minutes before I stopped hearing its thunderous movements. I turned around to see that it had stopped, and its helmet had disappeared, revealing that dreadful mouth beneath. I turned back towards the group and saw Alex approaching the boss with a confident glint in his eye.