Chapter 16: [16] : The World Boss Announcement, Sanctum Core

Declan, Sloane, and Kendra were standing near the crater ridge overlooking the Sunken Armory.

Declan was still looking at his Origin Point balance. He was completely satisfied with the five thousand points Sloane had just farmed for him from the Black Vanguard dropped gear.

He was just about to tell them to start walking when the sky above them suddenly changed.

The bruised purple clouds ripped open. A glaring blood-red light spilled across the Ashlands.

BONG!

A massive bell chimed.

It was so loud the ground vibrated under their boots. It didn’t sound like it came from the sky. It sounded like it rang directly inside their skulls.

Kendra covered her ears and dropped to her knees. "What is that?! My head hurts!"

Sloane stumbled backward and grabbed onto a dead tree to keep her balance. "Is it an earthquake? Or did you break the game again?"

"I didn’t do anything," Declan said.

He was perfectly fine. He just looked up at the red sky with a flat expression.

A massive holographic text box appeared in the sky. It was visible to every single player in the sector. It wasn’t the usual blue system text. It was burning gold.

[Server Event]

↳ The First World Boss has spawned.

[Boss Information]

↳ Name: Gargantua, the Rot-Walker

↳ Level: 15

↳ Location: The Ashen Bog, Sector 4

[Notice]

↳ The Purge Wave will initiate in exactly 12 hours. Seek shelter.

The red light slowly faded back to the normal sickly purple. The golden text dissolved into sparks.

"Level 15?" Sloane gasped. Her eyes were wide with panic. "The highest level thing we fought was that stupid rock golem, and that was Level 8! A Level 15 World Boss? That thing will sneeze and wipe out half the server!"

Kendra slowly stood up. Her hands were still shaking.

"Declan, we are Level 6 and 7. We can’t go near the Ashen Bog. We just need to find a safe zone and hide."

Declan completely ignored her panic. He was focused on the last line of the system prompt.

"The Purge Wave," he muttered. "The tutorial voice mentioned that when we first dropped into the alley. Survive the Purge. But it didn’t say what the Purge actually was."

"It sounds like a server wipe," Sloane said nervously. "Like an event where they just spawn a million monsters to kill anyone who isn’t hiding."

"Hiding where exactly?" Declan asked as he looked at her. "We haven’t seen a single permanent safe zone. The campfire was temporary. The Vanguard barricade was player-made. If a wave of monsters comes, standing behind a rock isn’t going to save you."

"Then what do we do?" Kendra asked.

"We need information," Declan said. He turned around and looked back the way they came. "We know exactly one local resident."

Ten minutes later, the trio stood back inside the Sunken Armory.

Declan didn’t bother walking the whole way. He just used Void Blink a few times to cross the gaps and the leech-filled water, leaving Sloane and Kendra to carefully pick their way across the safe path he had cleared earlier.

Thatcher, the blind NPC diver, was still sitting on the floor of the empty vault. He looked up when he heard Declan’s heavy boots hit the stone floor.

"You came back," Thatcher rasped. "I thought you would be halfway to Sector 5 by now, Grid-walker."

"Change of plans," Declan said.

He walked right up to the blind man and crossed his arms.

"The system just announced a World Boss. Gargantua, the Rot-Walker. It also gave us a twelve-hour timer for something called a Purge Wave. Tell me what that means."

Thatcher flinched.

His pale and dirty face went completely white. He pulled his knees up to his chest and suddenly looked very small inside his heavy diving suit.

"The Purge," Thatcher whispered.

His voice was shaking with genuine terror.

"It is the Grid’s extermination protocol. When the timer hits zero, the sky will turn black. The system will spawn the Flesh-Stalkers. Millions of them. They do not stop. They do not tire. They sweep across the entire sector and eat everything that breathes."

Sloane swallowed hard. "So we just stay in a safe zone, right? Like a city?"

Thatcher let out a dry and humorless laugh.

"There are no cities left in Sector 4. The Grid destroyed them all centuries ago. The campfires and small barriers will fail. The Flesh-Stalkers will tear right through them. If you are outside during the Purge, you die. Your avatar is deleted. Your real body burns."

"There has to be a way to survive," Declan said flatly. "The system always provides a mechanic. It’s a game rule."

"There is only one way," Thatcher said.

He pointed a trembling finger toward the ceiling.

"A Sanctum. A permanent absolute safe zone. The barriers of a Sanctum are tied directly to the core code of the Grid. Monsters cannot enter it. They cannot even perceive it."

"Okay," Declan nodded. "Where is the nearest Sanctum?"

"There isn’t one," Thatcher replied. "Not anymore. But a Sanctum can be built."

Declan narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"The core," Thatcher breathed. "A Sanctum Core. It is an item of immense power. It holds the administrative rights to a piece of the Grid’s territory. If you plant a Sanctum Core in the ground, it generates a one-kilometer energy dome. An Iron Bastion."

Thatcher paused. His blind eyes stared at Declan’s boots.

"The first World Boss of a sector always drops a Sanctum Core. That is the rule. Gargantua holds the only key to surviving the Purge."

Declan pulled up his system interface. He looked at his Origin Points. He had 4,850 points.

He looked at his +20 Carnage Cleaver and his +10 Warden’s Halberd. He had the gear. He had the currency. Now he had the objective.

"A base building mechanic," Declan said. A slow predatory grin spread across his face.

In the real world, the megacorps owned his life, his debt, and his cell. If he built a Sanctum here, he would be the one making the rules. He would be the landlord. "I like the sound of that. I get a core, I get a fortress."

"Are you insane?" Sloane yelled.

She grabbed Declan’s arm and pulled him around to face her.

"Did you not hear the prompt? The boss is Level 15! We are half that level. You can’t just walk up to a World Boss and hit it with your heavy stick. It will crush you!"

"Sloane is right," Kendra agreed. She looked absolutely terrified.

"We just saw an entire guild get wiped out. If this boss drops the only safe zone item, every single major guild in the sector is going to be there. We will be fighting the boss and hundreds of other players at the same time."

Declan casually brushed Sloane’s hand off his arm.

"You two are thinking like normal players. Normal players worry about level gaps. Normal players worry about numbers."

He tapped the side of his head.

"I don’t care if there are five hundred guys standing in front of that boss. I’m going to walk in there, take the core, and leave. You want to survive the Purge? You follow me. You want to die in the mud? You stay here."

Sloane stared at him.

She looked at his pitch-black trench coat, the spiky boots, and the utterly calm look in his dark eyes. She remembered how he turned three massive warriors into red mist with a snap of his fingers.

She let out a long and frustrated groan. "Fine. But I’m not fighting a Level 15 boss. I am staying way in the back. I will literally hide in a bush."

"Good," Declan said. "Quartermaster, open the Global Auction House. Do a search for the Ashen Bog. Find out what the environmental hazards are."

Sloane blinked in confusion but she opened her glowing yellow interface. She swiped through the menus rapidly.

"Okay. Ashen Bog. It’s a Level 10 to 15 zone. The description says it is entirely covered in deep mud and toxic miasma. The mud reduces movement speed by eighty percent. The miasma inflicts constant poison damage over time and drains stamina."

"Perfect," Declan said. "Buy a basic Purification Talisman. The cheapest one you can find."

"A basic talisman won’t do anything against a Level 15 hazard," Sloane argued. "It only blocks Level 1 toxins for like ten minutes."

"Just buy it," Declan ordered.

Sloane grumbled but tapped her screen. "Done. It cost fifty Origin Points. I am transferring it to your inventory now."

Declan felt a small weight appear in his digital storage. "Alright. Let’s go hunting."

He didn’t wait for them to complain again. He turned and walked out of the Sunken Armory.

He had less than three days to secure a fortress and he wasn’t going to let a giant rotting zombie or a bunch of desperate players stand in his way.

The Grid wanted to play rough. Declan was perfectly fine with that. He was going to break all their rules.