Chapter 167: One Percent From Hell (2)

"I’ll deal with him."

"So just watch until his second phase begins."

Using Wise Raven Insight on her, I discovered that Luna had already restored her mana completely.

She could fight at full strength without any issue whatsoever.

Her Blessing was practically a glitch.

"You’ll deal with him?"

"What, are you trying to steal the boss soul from me?"

I laughed lightly as I joked, but Luna’s frown immediately erased the smile from my face and forced me back into seriousness.

Clearing my throat, I gestured toward the Knight Commander with both hands as though presenting him to her.

"Please, be my guest, my lady."

Luna stared at me silently for a moment before sighing and turning toward our enemy.

"You said his weakness was ice, right?"

I nodded.

"Then defeating him should be easier."

"All I need to do is bury him under every ice spell I know."

She violently raised her staff into the air.

Mana erupted from her body like a raging wave, and her incantation began.

Fast.

Far too fast.

It sounded almost unnatural, like a rapper trying to outrun the beat itself.

And in less than five seconds...

A mid-level spell was already complete.

"Unlike Absolute Zero, spells like this don’t take much out of me!"

Ten enormous spears of ice formed in the air around Luna.

Each one stretched over three meters long, floating perfectly still with their sharpened tips aimed directly at Aldebaran.

"Frost Spears!"

Luna shouted.

The spears shot forward at tremendous speed, striking Aldebaran with terrifying precision across several points of his body while he remained occupied with the other Hunters.

"And that was only the beginning."

By the time the spears struck him, Luna had already finished preparing her next spell.

"Ice Fangs."

With a flick of her staff, jagged fangs of frost formed and erupted from beneath the Knight Commander’s feet, locking him in place.

Luna had taken advantage of the battlefield she had frozen earlier and shaped the ice directly beneath the boss.

That was clever.

"Not bad."

I had to admit it.

She was talented despite the Old Ashvarn raid being her very first hunt as an actual Hunter.

Some people were simply born with an instinct for these things.

Luna continued bombarding the Knight Commander with ice spells afterward, while the others used her relentless attacks to increase the pressure.

The boss’s health bar fell at a terrifying pace.

Especially with Alicia’s bleeding effect adding even more damage.

Twenty-five percent.

Then twenty.

Ten.

Five.

I watched carefully through Wise Raven Insight.

Yet instead of relaxing, I found myself frowning more deeply with every passing second.

"The second phase should’ve started a long time ago..."

"What the hell is going on?"

Something was wrong.

There was no way a boss like Aldebaran didn’t possess a second phase.

Even the weak Ember Hunter had one.

My experience as a player who had completed Ordeal and spent thousands of hours inside the game screamed that something else was coming.

But the reality before me kept contradicting that instinct.

Four percent.

Three.

Two...

"He’s really going to die?"

A monster at the peak of the Saint Rank...

And this was all he could do?

Maybe his ability to transfer damage into his knights and that flaming sword truly were his only major abilities.

"Yes..."

"That has to be it."

I finally allowed myself to breathe out in relief.

The battle was already over.

At least...

That was what part of me wanted to believe.

Another part was screaming the opposite.

Then the end finally came.

The boss’s health dropped to only one percent.

And that was the exact moment my optimism shattered.

The exact moment I knew for certain—

It wasn’t over.

Wise Raven Insight showed me everything.

Which was why I was the only person who saw the dark flames beginning to crawl not only across the Knight Commander’s sword...

But beneath his skin as well.

I had seen something like this before against other bosses in Ordeal.

And I immediately understood what was about to happen.

"EVERYONE, RUN! NOW!!!"

I screamed in panic while transmitting the warning through telepathy at the same time.

"What are you talking about?! We’re about to kill him!"

"Exactly! This is our victory!"

The two Hunters from the other squads argued back, refusing to believe me when they could clearly see Aldebaran was moments away from dying.

Unlike them...

Raiden and Alicia retreated instantly.

They took every word I said seriously.

’He’s going to explode, damn it! He wants to drag us into hell with him!!’

I sent the warning through our minds while running desperately toward Luna.

I grabbed her before she could react and pulled her against me, placing my back toward Aldebaran to shield her with my own body.

At the same time, I signaled Raiden and Alicia to push their Aura Armor to the absolute limit.

Chai as well.

"What are you doing?!"

Luna shouted in panic after I suddenly pulled her into an embrace.

"No time to explain!"

"Create barriers! Anything that can protect us! Hurry!"

I activated my Aura Armor at maximum output at the same time.

There was no longer enough time to escape.

Luna immediately did as I said.

Several layers of earthen barriers rose around us, sealing us beneath thick walls of stone.

Everyone else disappeared from sight.

For a moment...

Luna and I were alone beneath those layers of earth.

And yet—

We still heard it clearly.

The sound of the enormous explosion.

The Knight Commander’s final attack.

Black flames devoured his body.

His body itself had been nothing more than a seal containing them.

A seal that had kept those flames under control until now, allowing us to see them only through his sword.

But as death approached, Aldebaran finally released them completely.

If he was going to die...

Then he had decided to take us with him.

The black flames spread like a plague.

They swallowed the entire battlefield, melting Luna’s ice within moments before consuming everything else in their path.

The Knight Commander died.

But not before turning the entire battlefield...

Into a blackened hell.