Chapter 135: Hopelessness

[Hidden boss encounter]

[Night Shade King]

"Damn, where are these bosses coming from?"

This game was something else. You could be strolling through a peaceful village, and out of nowhere, a boss monster would appear.

But Kaisen wasn't deterred.

At level 120, he was confident no boss could take him down. Plus, he had all those lust points he gained from the guardians and Theodora if he needed a power boost.

"Well, let's see what you can do, shall we?"

Just as he thought that, the massive black titan's hand shot forward, moving at the speed of a broken branch falling in slow motion.

Kaisen frowned at the absurdly slow speed.

"This thing is so slow. Why the heck is it even called a boss?"

Crash~

Kaisen casually jumped back as the titan's hand crashed to the ground.

Despite its slow speed, the behemoth's sheer size and power meant the impact would be devastating.

He landed gracefully a few feet away from the hand, ready for whatever came next.

"My turn."

He summoned his Loathsome Claws and dashed forward, eager to slice through the titan's hand and cripple the beast.

Just as he was about to make contact, something shot out from the fist at a ridiculous speed—something black, something that looked like the regular hands of a Night Shade.

"Shit!"

For a split second, he was caught off guard, thinking the boss was sluggish and easy prey. That moment of complacency nearly cost him.

Kaisen barely had time to react, but he swiped his claws with lightning speed, severing the hand just as it touched him.

"You gotta be shitting me!"

[Level 1]

It happened again. Although the hand didn't injure him, it grazed him, dropping his level all the way to 1.

A moment's lapse in focus cost him precious minutes of his life.

Now, he had to wait two minutes to fully restore his level. But, hey, at least the boss was slow, right?

He just needed to watch out for those damn small hands.

Kaisen had to swallow his words when he saw the boss retracting its hand at an alarming speed. It was... fast, incredibly fast.

"Ah, you really gotta be shitting me!"

It wasn't that the boss was slow; it was that he was so ridiculously high level that it felt slow. Now that he was back to level 4, he could see the boss's true speed.

"I just need to distance myself for the next two minutes, that's all."

The best course of action was to—

Crash~

Before he could even finish his thought, another hand shot forward at an incredible speed.

Fortunately, Kaisen had dived to the left just in time, narrowly avoiding the blow.

The groan quickly escalated into a high-pitched scream.

The small hole the boss was prying at tore wider and wider, creating a jagged opening.

The Night Shade King loosened its grip, looked up towards the moon, and unleashed a blood-curdling scream that made Kaisen cover his ears.

The sound was so piercing that his hands couldn't block it out.

The scream vibrated through his whole body, making his teeth chatter and his bones feel like they were shaking.

'Oh, fuck this!'

Not only that, his HP was dropping rapidly, like he was being drained of life.

"What the fuck!"

He sprinted away, relief washing over him that he had moved further back when the boss started its strange behavior.

If he hadn't, he was sure he would have died. Even at a considerable distance, the scream had hit him hard; he couldn't imagine the impact at close range.

The scream died down, and the boss stood up again. But something was off.

It didn't move from its spot; it just locked its crimson eyes on him. A bad feeling churned in his gut.

Crack~ Tear~

He heard the sound echoing all around him and finally understood what was happening. The crosses, covered in black wax, began to vibrate wildly.

Kaisen looked at the nearest cross. A hand suddenly tore through the black wax, black as night itself.

Then a leg emerged, and the creature inside the cross fell forward onto the sand.

The scene was eerie and chilling.

The night sky was dominated by a blood-red moon.

The desert, with its glowing white sands, was filled with crosses, each one trembling with a sinister energy.

In the center of it all was a small red sphere.

The giant colossus, black as a black hole, stared straight at him with its crimson eyes, radiating a malevolent presence.

The air was thick with tension, and the only sound was the rustling of the black wax as more creatures began to free themselves.

It felt like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for something terrible to happen.

The scene looked like it was straight out of a comic book or some grim dark fantasy film.

The fallen body convulsed and trembled uncontrollably on the ground before slowly rising.

It took a moment, but its head tilted towards Kaisen and locked eyes with him, empty and soulless.

'Just want to go home, dammit.'

It wasn't just one. All around him, these creatures stood up, their movements jerky and unnatural, like puppets on strings.

The colossal monster at the helm loomed over them, its crimson eyes glowing with a malevolent intensity.

Kaisen breathed heavily and gulped, looking at the thousands of mindless creatures staring at him.

He glanced back at his friends, and immediately felt a wave of hopelessness.

"No, no, no, no..."

In the distance, Maximus, Lloyd, Sable, and Elfie were locking eyes with someone, and they looked terrified.

Standing straight in front of them was Alice, her body rapidly being consumed by the black substance.

Her eyes, once full of life, now mirrored the same eerie glow of the Night Shades.