Black Online-Chapter 169: Arrival of the King - Part 2

"We’re off!"

Joanne said.

She then left with Ira to scout the path ahead, and the rest of the party stayed behind at the double doors.

"..."

Fang Raon took off his glove and exposed it to the cold air.

It was cold, but not unbearable.

’It’s warmer than outside. We should be fine temperature-wise unless the temperature suddenly drops.’

He thought.

Then, he opened his chat window and looked at the party chat.

If Joanne and Ira encountered any trouble, they would send a message to the party chat, and they would head over immediately.

"Ngh!"

Machary ripped the beef jerky with his teeth and then choked on a particularly tough piece.

Everyone else was also just keeping themselves warm, and they stayed quiet as they didn’t want to expose their presence.

Tap~ Tap, tap~ tap, tap~

In that moment.

Joanne and Ira came running back.

They were away for about ten minutes—a normal amount—as they weren’t going to scout the entire tower for danger.

Only the nearby area first, and the path to the boss room.

"There is something strange going on."

Joanne said.

"What is it?"

Fang Raon asked with a frown.

"There are no monsters. The bosses this high in the tower should have minions and such, but we found nothing."

Ira said.

"We, however, found dry blood. I checked the blood, and without a doubt it is the monster blood."

Joanne said.

With Rangers’ special ability, they have an innate ability for tracking and anything hunting related. It was easy for them to tell the difference between player and monster blood.

"They were killed recently?"

Machary asked.

"The monsters usually respawn after a while, and from what we know, nobody has been here for a couple of weeks.

"These monsters must’ve been killed very recently. It wasn’t done by players, from what we know."

Joanne said.

"A trap by the monsters?"

Rae guessed.

"These monsters aren’t intelligent enough to do a trap this complex. Maybe if we were above the 40th floor, but we’re nowhere close to that yet."

Machary said.

"I don’t like this."

Fang Raon said.

It was already a more difficult raid than others, as they didn’t know what to expect, but now they had to deal with this added challenge.

"Shall we call it quits? The tower resets in a couple of weeks, and we might get a normal tower instead of whatever this is."

Ocon suggested.

’Run away before we even do anything? How can I show my face to the others after giving up so easily?

’It would be a wise move to leave right away and ignore my own pride, but I would hate myself if I did that.’

Fang Raon thought angrily.

’I don’t pity him at all. What an impossible decision. I guess I was lucky in the end that I lost the team leader position.’

Machary thought with a sigh.

Everyone waited for him to make a decision.

’Shall I make it a vote? If this goes sideways, at least I can say that it was a mutual decision, but...

’That is so cowardly! I am the team leader! The decision is mine and mine all alone. I shouldn’t be afraid of consequences!’

Fang Raon gritted his teeth, and then he turned to others, and with a firm voice, he said.

"We will proceed as planned. We’ll start heading over to the boss room. Joanne and Ira will still act as scouts. They’ll walk 2 minutes ahead of us and report back any obstacles or enemies they encounter along the way."

Fang Raon.

Everyone took a cold breath and nodded, and they then prepared themselves by taking out their weapons and double-checking their gear.

With that, Joanne and Ira left first. A moment later, everyone else followed in their footsteps.

When they walked down the icy hallways, they also came across the dried blood and strange scratch markings on the floors and walls.

It was obvious that there had been some kind of struggle among the monsters.

"Have they said anything yet?"

Sam asked.

With a quick glance, Fang Raon checked the chat window, and it was still empty with no word from the scouts.

"Nothing."

He said.

Thus, they kept walking down the same path, and after five minutes or so, they saw Joanne and Ira once again.

They had arrived by the tall double doors and had been awaiting them.

"The boss room... We really encountered zero monsters!"

Luke cried out.

"Any idea what this is all about?"

Fang Raon asked Machary.

"I am sorry, but I am as clueless as you are. I don’t think that all those monsters would just vanish into thin air."

Machary shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you all ready?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Yes, team leader."

They all said with serious expressions on their faces, and none of them were in a joking mood—it was time for a battle.

With that, Fang Raon pushed open the double doors, and they all ran inside with weapons in hand.

However.

They came to an instant stop.

THUMP~

The double doors shut, and the timer started—it would reopen in an hour—which was almost an eternity inside the boss room.

CRUNCH~ CRUNCH~

At that moment, they saw a white-furred creature standing atop corpse mountains, munching on the corpses of the monsters.

"...I guess we now know where the monsters are."

Machary said with a wry smile.

"Ugh..."

Rae shuddered at the sight and felt lightheaded—the crunching sound, the smell, and the sight of it were just too much for her.

"Is that the boss? A boss that eats other monsters..."

Ira whispered.

With a quick sniff at the air, the creature turned its icy blue eyes towards the players and let out a deafening roar.

[Frostmaw Beast]

[HP: 100%]

It was huge. With white fur, crystal tusks, and glowing icy blue eyes. It looked like it had ice in its veins, and its breath froze the air around it.

"It is a beast creature, which means Tank’s aggro will work very well on it. Ocon, focus on garnering its aggro, away from the Helpers, if possible.

"Luke, I want you to use only your fire magic. It works well against ice creatures such as this one.

"Ira and Joanne get on the high ground. Nico, why don’t you create a platform for them to stand on using the Earth Wall skill?

"Niall, I want you to stay here to protect Rae and Sam. Meanwhile, I will attack with Machary from the front."

Fang Raon said.

"Okay, team leader!"

They all shouted.

With his grimoire, Nico lifted Joanne and Ira using the Earth Wall skill—he stacked Earth Walls atop each other, raising them high above.

They had perfect vintage at the white-furred monster.

"FIRE!"

Fang Raon shouted.

Joanne and Ira released arrows—they curved in the air, looking like an arch, and they stabbed into the beast’s hide.

"ROAR!"

Frostmaw Beast roared angrily and started thrashing around in pain—the corpses of the monsters crushed under its massive paws.

Meanwhile, Ocon ran away from the rest of the party, and then he started banging his fist against the shield.

"Tank’s Taunt!"

With an angry gaze, Frostmaw Beast turned at him, and for some reason, it started to look very pissed.

Almost like it saw something it didn’t like.

It suddenly jumped off the corpse mountain and started running straight towards the taunting Tank.

’If it attacks me like this, I’ll be crushed!’

Ocon thought with a frightened look.

It was like a van-sized beast was charging straight at him, and it was also running as fast as a slow minivan.

He would get run over!

"Driving Sword!"

Machary drove his sword straight into the side of the Frostmaw Beast, and it got lodged into the beast’s side, causing it to skid to a halt.

"ROAR!"

It started thrashing and swung the massive paw at Machary, but with barely any room to spare, he dodged out of the way just in time.

’My head almost got blown off!’

Machary thought, with cold sweat running down his back.

"Hard Slash!"

Fang Raon hacked his sword at Frostmaw Beast’s back, but it only left a shallow cut, as its back happened to be heavily armored.

’I didn’t notice this armored part because of the heavy fur!’

He thought with an ugly expression.

Frostmaw Beast suddenly swiped its claws at him, and Fang Raon dodge-rolled out of the way but still felt a strange sensation on his side.

’I got hit?’

He looked down at his side.

There was a deep gash in his skin, blood trickling down his side. It was like he got slashed by a sword.

’I couldn’t dodge completely!’

He thought with an ugly expression.

"LUKE!"

He screamed.

With the order given, Luke flipped through the pages of his grimoire and found the spell that he was looking for.

"Flamethrower!"

The grimoire breathed out fire—as if it was the maw of a dragon—and the fire engulfed the white-furred monster creature.

"ROAR!"

The heavy fur was very flammable, and Frostmaw Beast started to run around in a panic, trying to put out the flames.

"Nico, cover him with a bubble!"

Fang Raon ordered.

Sweat running down his forehead, Nico cast a spell and engulfed the creature in a thin-looking bubble.

Because of the monster’s size, the bubble also had to be enormous, and it was draining his mana quickly.

"Haaaaah!"

Nico controlled the bubble and made it float towards the ceiling—Frostmaw Beast still inside—and it was also unable to put out the flames because of it.

"Joanne and Ira!"

Fang Raon shouted.

The two Rangers pulled their bows taut, aimed at the bubble, and rained arrows straight at it. The arrows went through the bubble and pierced the creature.

"ROAR!"