Even while both raid teams were battered to the edge of collapse, Do-Jin’s and Shilla’s forces threw everything they had into the push. They gathered every last fragment of strength that remained and poured it into one final assault, just enough to open a narrow crack in the wall of monsters.

“Push through!” The lead tank charged into the breach, forcing his way forward with sword and shield to keep the opening from sealing shut.

The monsters immediately turned their focus on him. Their combined barrage was brutal, far beyond what he or the healers could sustain. He screamed as his body broke under the impact, his health bar plunging to zero in an instant. But his sacrifice was not wasted. By drawing the monsters’ attention, he managed to buy a few precious seconds, enough for the raid teams to widen that tiny gap into a real breach.

“Go! Get through before it closes!” Do-Jin commanded, seizing the moment he had been waiting for.

Lotus and nineteen others answered his call. They broke formation and sprinted toward him. At the same time, Shilla’s squad moved in perfect sync.

“With me!” Barie yelled.

She and her five guildmates charged forward, closing in on the same opening. A total of twenty-four players made the run for it. Both raids covered them desperately, launching every attack they could to keep the passage open. Even so, not everyone survived the push.

One healer who lagged behind was caught by a stray attack and fell instantly. The tank who turned back to help her was swallowed up moments later. Losing two more members, on top of Lotus, who had already fallen, was a devastating blow, especially since every single one of them had been handpicked for this final push.

However, there was no time to mourn or even think. Beyond the wall of monsters, past the living barrier formed by the bodies of creatures so enormous that human eyes could barely comprehend them, something vast and overwhelming was waiting for them.

At the center of it all, around the Fragment of the Star of Ruin, a mass of dark-red, slime-like substance was taking shape. It pulsed and twisted, slowly forming something that resembled a body. It looked grotesquely organic, like a fetus torn from its mother’s womb and exposed to the open air.

Do-Jin stared, speechless. What the hell... is that?

It looked nothing like the World Boss he remembered. The one from before, the very first World Boss that had ever appeared, long before he even started playing, had been called “The Primal Beast.”

As the name implied, it had taken the form of a creature, a monstrous fusion of countless extinct beasts that once roamed the ancient world. This thing, however, was unmistakably human, a massive, human-shaped fetus.

I knew there’d be some divergence from the past, but... damn. Do-Jin forced the thought aside, because now was not the time for reflection. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. We made it here before the World Boss fully formed.

He immediately began the assault. They had fought their way through hell for this single moment, this one short window where they could strike before the creature reached completion. Not even a single second could be wasted.

“Flame Shell!”

The opening strike was a fully charged spell, boosted by the Destruction Rune. Against enormous enemies, wide-area explosion spells dealt exponentially higher damage.

Without pause, Do-Jin cast a relentless barrage of Tier 3 spells. The long cast times were a price he gladly paid for overwhelming, sustained power. His assault snapped the others out of their stupor. Those frozen by the grotesque creature now moved, spurred on by the sheer force of Do-Jin’s resolve.

“Attack!” Barie raised her bow and fired.

Meanwhile, Tanto darted forward with blinding speed, his movements cutting through the haze of mana and smoke.

Suddenly, the air began to tremble. Mana rippled through the battlefield like the surface of disturbed water. Do-Jin felt it before anyone else, or rather, he saw through the eyes of Silent Night.

The mana twisted and spiraled into one place at the center. The Fragment of the Star of Ruin began to beat, heavy and alive. The unfinished fetus threw its head back and screamed.

[The Fragment of Ruin hastens its mimicry.]

[The awakening of the World Boss Primal Humanity has been accelerated.]

At that scream, the nearby “nutrients” stirred. Beast-shaped slimes of dark red began to melt, liquefying where they stood and streaming toward the fetus. It was feeding on its own kind to complete itself.

“Don’t just stand there! Keep up the damage! Tanks, form the front line! Healers, load your recovery spells! There’s no cover here, so stay behind the tanks and use them as shields!” Do-Jin barked the orders as he continued to cast, his hands never slowing.

While he poured every ounce of his focus into maintaining pressure, the fetus absorbed the melted remains of countless monsters. Its body swelled larger and larger until it began to rise to its feet.

SCREEEEEEECH!

The creature was pure grotesquery. Crimson skin, slick and stretched over limbs too long for its body. Sixteen eyes rolled wetly across its head, six in the front, six in the back, and two on each temple. Its jaw opened like a whale’s maw, wide enough to swallow a ship.

[World Boss Primal Humanity has been resurrected.]

[The giant who once lived in the Mythical Era has opened its eyes.]

Do-Jin ignored the system messages and kept his focus on the creature. The moment a boss recognized its first enemies was always the most dangerous.

The monster’s erratic eyes locked onto the nearest cluster of players. Then, with an almost innocent motion, it raised one massive hand. If not for the context, the gesture would have looked like a baby throwing a tantrum. But the problem was the amount of mana gathering in that hand.

Do-Jin stopped casting immediately. He darted behind the front line and shouted. “Hide behind the tanks! Now!”

The creature slammed its palm into the ground. A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, spreading across the battlefield in all directions. The ground split, the air howled, and the raid was swallowed by a wall of raw force.

So that’s an upgraded version of the Primal Beast’s shockwave pattern, Do-Jin noted.

Area shock attacks like that were standard for giant bosses, but the Primal Beast’s had never reached this scale. This one stretched for miles. The damage dropped with distance, yet the wave itself looked like it could hit the horizon.

But at least we can survive it by staying behind the tanks.

More importantly, the Fragment of Ruin had not been given enough time to complete its work. The boss had awakened prematurely. Even though it had absorbed nearby slimes to fill out its form, there was no way it was fully developed.

“Tanks, stick close! The big pattern’s done. It’s our turn now!”

This was their chance to strike. Because the Primal Humanity had devoured so many of the slime monsters, several players who had been trapped behind the monster wall had managed to survive. Now they rushed forward to join the assault.

From a distance, the sight of human players charging the resurrected giant from the Mythical Era looked almost laughable, like ants crawling over a beast. Several tanks jabbed at its hands and arms to draw aggro, while melee fighters hacked at its legs and spine from behind.

No matter how deep their blades sank, though, the wounds closed almost instantly. Its regeneration was exactly like the Primal Beast’s, insane, relentless, and seemingly infinite.

If that’s how it’s going to be, then we change tactics.

Do-Jin adjusted his aim. Instead of targeting the head, he unleashed a volley of wide-area explosion spells across its body. Flames and detonations erupted across the giant’s crimson skin, each one leaving behind the mark of Executor of Ruin. The curse inflicted continuous damage while cutting all forms of regeneration and healing in half.

The developers had not been exaggerating when they said the “special privilege for the World Boss Raid” would come in handy. Against a regeneration-based boss, nothing was more valuable than a curse that crippled its healing.

“Use anything that blocks healing! When the damage we deal outpaces its regeneration, we can finish it off!”

Everyone here was high-level, veterans who had seen their share of nightmare raids. The moment they recognized the boss’s regenerative ability, they all reached the same conclusion.

Tanto was already darting between its legs, his relic hand axe gleaming as he slashed with relentless precision. Each strike was coated in a regeneration-weakening poison, stacking layer after layer of corrosion onto the monster’s body.

“Focus fire where my arrows land!” Barie shouted.

Her bowstring thrummed again and again, each shot laced with a powerful hex. Every time her arrow struck, a chilling scream echoed through the air. Her curse suppressed the boss’s regeneration even more effectively than Executor of Ruin.

The two raids kept hammering away, spellfire and steel moving in perfect rhythm. When the infant giant raised both its hands again, everyone who had survived the first shockwave instantly recognized the pattern. Tanks gathered together to form a living wall while every damage dealer and healer sprinted for cover behind them.

BOOM!

The giant’s palms slammed down. Twin shockwaves burst outward in overlapping rings, tearing across the battlefield. Those unlucky enough not to reach the tanks in time were launched into the air as if hit by a freight train. They crashed to the ground with broken bodies and empty health bars.

“Keep an eye on the tanks while you deal damage! If you zone out and miss the next pattern, you’re fucking dead!” Do-Jin yelled.

Every death made the fight harder. Their damage output was dropping fast, and the healers were struggling to keep up. This was the kind of battle where every player mattered.

Still, the signs were clear it was working. The monster’s wounds were closing more slowly now, and its movements had become erratic and wild. Anyone who had raided before knew bosses always went berserk when their health reached the danger zone.

[World Boss Primal Humanity has entered a state of rage.]

Right on cue, a system message flashed across their screens, marking the start of a phase transition. All sixteen of the monster’s eyes rolled in different directions, then stopped. Each one locked onto a specific player.

Do-Jin and the sharper players realized what was about to happen.

“Move! Now!” they shouted in unison.

Do-Jin was one of the targets. He canceled his spell and quickly activated Psychokinetic Reinforcement to its maximum output, leaping backward with everything he had.

A blazing beam of mana ripped through the air, scorching the spot where he had been standing. The laser carved a perfect horizontal line across the battlefield, far too fast to dodge unless one was already out of its path.

“Aaaagh!”

One of Shilla’s guild members, caught too close to the boss, failed to escape in time. The giant’s massive hand swept down and grabbed him. It shoved the screaming player into its gaping maw and bit down, crunching through armor and bone like brittle glass. Then it raised its other hand again, gathering a fresh surge of mana. It was preparing to release another shockwave.

Do-Jin sprinted toward the nearest tank, cursing under his breath. For fuck’s sake, can’t you do just one thing at a time?!