Black Online-Chapter 172: Arrival of the King - Part 5

"Stop him!"

Rangers fired their arrows at Beast King. The arrows bounced off his hard body.

"Ice Tundra!"

Luke’s grimoire opened with bright blue light emitting from the pages, and cold icy wind breezed past Beast King.

It was so cold inside the spell that frost started forming on Beast King’s facial hair.

However, Beast King just ignored the dropping temperatures and kept making his way towards the fortress.

"Great Soap Bubble!"

Nico enveloped Beast King in the soap bubble and tried to lift him up but failed to do so as if Beast King weighed too much.

"W-what the hell?"

Beast King walked through the soap bubble, and it popped like a balloon—harmless, and leaving no residue behind.

"Series of Slashes!"

In that moment.

Niall jumped over the Earth Walls and slashed repeatedly at Beast King with the sword, but it was no use.

Beast King grabbed his sword’s blade with a bare hand, and punched Niall in the face—he smashed Niall into the ground with incredible force.

Niall’s face bled heavily.

"..."

Beast King picked up Niall’s sword, and while everyone screamed for Niall to run away, he stood over Niall.

With the sword in hand, he raised it high above his head and looked at Niall with a cold look.

At that moment... he brought the sword down.

"Basic Parry!"

Fang Raon slammed his shield against the blade, deflecting the strike just in time, and the blade missed Niall’s head barely.

"Grr..."

Beast King growled.

Machary picked up Niall and tossed him over to the fortress—into the arms of Helpers—and they started healing him up.

"Sword Stab!"

Fang Raon pushed his sword over his shield and into the chest of the Beast King—the tip of the blade penetrated his chest.

It wasn’t much, but Beast King bled.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Fang Raon kept pushing the sword deeper into his body, but it felt like there was something inside his body that stopped the sword from going any further.

"Erase."

A ball of light appeared on Beast King’s hand, and he threw it at Fang Raon—who tilted his body out of the way.

The ball of light barely missed Fang Raon. It kept flying, and it went straight through the Earth Wall, leaving a gaping hole in the wall.

It went right past Sam’s head—almost killing him—and it continued flying until it even went through the boss chamber’s door!

Wherever the ball of light went, it just went straight through and left behind holes as if someone had drilled them!

"U-Unbelievable..."

Joanne looked through the hole at the double doors and saw the icy hallways that lay beyond—if only the hole were bigger.

They could’ve used the hole to finally escape.

"Hah!"

Machary swung the sword. It came for Beast King’s head. But he saw it coming and dodged just in time.

[Duelist Instinct Activated!]

Machary’s eyes shone, and he pressed forward, and let out a battle cry.

While still holding onto Niall’s sword, Beast King looked cold, and he moved the sword in front of him.

’I’ll kill him!’

Machary thought with gritted teeth.

In that moment.

He moved first, stepping in with a fast cut at Beast King’s shoulder. Beast King turned his wrist, and caught the blow.

The clash of steel sounded sharp and loud as it echoed throughout the boss chamber like a thunderclap.

Sparks jumped.

The force shuddered up Machary’s arm as Beast King’s physical prowess was something that he had never experienced before.

’I don’t care how strong he is!’

Machary screamed inwardly.

He pushed forward with "Driving Sword" skill, thrusting his blade forward. Beast King twisted aside, and swept low with the sword.

Machary jumped back—narrowly avoiding the sword—and when he landed back on the ground, his boots skidded on the slick stone.

They exchanged a gaze.

"Ahhh!"

Machary attacked furiously. He feinted high and struck low. Beast King blocked in time, their blades locking.

It looked like Beast King had enough.

He pressed forward with furious sword swings, driving Machary toward the Earth Wall. His sword flashed in quick cuts.

Machary had to keep retreating step by step. He parried some desperately, steel ringing again and again, arms shaking under the pressure.

At that moment.

His back touched the Earth Wall—there was nowhere else to go—Beast King raised the sword high.

The silver sheen of the sword glinted.

"Argh!"

In that moment, Fang Raon swung the shield across the Beast King’s face and snapped his head back.

"...?"

Beast King turned his head back—his nose was bleeding—he didn’t appreciate that at all, and it just made him angry.

"We need to fight together!"

Fang Raon screamed, and at that moment, his eyes also started shining.

[Duelist Instinct Activated!]

As if they were one mind, Machary and Fang Raon attacked Beast King, and their swords had turned into a blur of motion.

When Machary slashed high, Fang Raon went low. When one feinted, the other one didn’t. It was perfect synchronization.

"Ugh... Ugh... Ugh..."

Beast King couldn’t handle them both at once, and wounds began to cover his body.

In that moment, Fang Raon sliced off couple of Beast King’s fingers, and he lost the grip on Niall’s sword.

The sword clanged to the ground.

[HP: 50%]

’The second phase...’

Fang Raon had a serious expression on his face, and he honestly would’ve preferred to keep him in the first phase.

However.

They had no other choice as if they didn’t keep injuring Beast King, his aggro would go back to the Helpers.

They had to do the heavy lifting and sacrifice themselves for time!

"How much fucking longer until this goddamn door is open?!"

Luke screamed, and tried punching the door open, but it didn’t budge, and they were starting to feel desperate.

"...I think twenty more minutes."

Ira said with a very serious expression her face.

"Twenty minutes? They will be lucky to survive another five minutes. We need to find another way out, now!"

Luke screamed.

"There is no other way."

Joanne said with a serious expression.

She could only watch as Machary and Fang Raon fought alone against superior opponent—she felt helpless.

"What’s going to happen now, Raon..."

Machary whispered.

"I don’t know... Nothing good, I can bet you that."

Fang Raon said.

"ROAR!"

At that moment.

Beast King let out unholy roar, and at that moment, white fur started sprouting from under his skin, and he started to look more like a ferocious beast than a human.

The eyes turned a bright shade of yellow, and his teeth elongated into sharp fangs. The hair grew longer and white. Fingers extended into claws, and his body grew larger and more muscular.

[White Tiger King]

[HP: 100%]

"It’s back to full health, and it has transformed!"

Machary cried out.

"Haha... This is such a shitty joke... I don’t think there is anything else we can do than keep fighting, Machary."

Fang Raon laughed.

"Hahahaha... This game sure pisses me off sometimes... Let’s keep fighting then, fuck it, not like there is anything else to do."

Machary smiled.

They attacked the White Tiger King—clashing with the monstrous beast—and the swords made contact with the claws that were as sharp as the blade in their swords.

The steel sung. Sparks flew. The blood flew everywhere, both player and monster blood—it was hard to tell whose blood was whose.

"Come on, you can do it!"

Niall screamed.

"Kill that thing!"

Luke shouted.

’This is freaking insane...’

Nico thought.

Meanwhile, he looked over to the ceiling, and he was the only one that saw something there—nobody else did.

It was a floating camera.

However.

It was engulfed inside a soap bubble—a soap bubble that had become invisible—and thus it was also making the camera invisible.

It was one of Nico’s abilities—Invisible Soap Bubble—in which he could make anything inside the bubble completely invisible.

Even a player.

This time around, he did it with a camera because he was actually secretly streaming the whole raid.

Why?

It was Della’s orders.

There was a way to make a "Private Stream" and only make a few selected people see the stream—he made it so that only Rose Records members could see the stream.

And since Della wanted to see the raid, he had no choice but to comply and didn’t tell anyone about it.

Because she wanted to keep it secret!

If they knew what she was watching, they might act differently, and that’s not what she wanted!

...

"Ah..."

Della hugged her legs while watching the stream from her computer inside her very own bedroom.

She wanted to close her eyes and look away, but she couldn’t, as Machary and Fang Raon were risking their lives.

’This is horrible...’

She thought.

When she noticed that they came across a King-ranked boss, she immediately knew that everyone was going to die.

They weren’t simply ready to face a monster of that caliber.

However.

Machary and Fang Raon took all the burden on their back and were actually doing extremely well!

"Come on... Come on..."

Della prayed and hoped.

Whenever Fang Raon bled, her heart almost stopped, and whenever Machary stumbled, she felt a surge of panic.

"You can do it... Please..."