WHAT IN THE...!?

"Bu… buhi…?"

Realizing that it lost all of its comrades, the last Boarkin stopped his charge and grunted in shock, giving Melinda enough time to reach into her clothes and pull out the scroll holding a healing spell.

Normally, trying to use such a method to someone who wasn't injured in combat would simply fail ten out of ten times.

But the superstorm wasn't normal by any means.

Once believed to be a bug that slipped into the full game, the developers later confirmed that any and all damage that members of the player's party would suffer outside the combat during the event being possible to get healed within all random combat encounters, was actually a feature.

Well, it was more of an easter egg, as the developers claimed it had something to do with an idea from the game's early development that was forsaken. However, the whole team had some important memories of it and didn't want to remove every trace of.

It sparked quite a debate amongst the fans of the game, spawning countless theories of which none ended up officially confirmed.

...and a certain girl was going to test out whether that feature remained true even after the game became a reality for her!

"ACTIVATE!"

Melinda broke the wax seal and let the ribbon untie itself, opening the scroll only to tear it in half and unleashing a flash of green light.

"Buhi?!"

"...aaaahhhh… yeah… that's the feeling…"

With the accompaniment of the panicked grunts of the monster, Melinda's body became wrapped in a warm green light that sipped into her body through her skin, healing all the bruises and scars, maxing out any health points she had lost until that point.

"YES! IT WORKS! IT ACTUALLY WORKED~!"

Melinda cheered triumphantly, witnessing the health bars of her party members maxing out, too.

The gold-haired girl's chest was full of boundless gratitude to all the fans of the game who had made numerous videos about the bugs and lesser-known features, without which she wouldn't be able to help her friends.

"And you! Thank you for your help~!"

"Bu… hi…?"

Melinda nodded at the bewildered Boarkin Orc while stretching her refreshed body…

"Hoi~!"

"BHHH!"

…before flicking the remains of the scroll's wax seal, she was holding on to, right through the monster's chest...!

*SQUELCH*

....causing it to spit out blood before falling back into the mud...

There was no level-up sound this time, but the necklace got warm again.

"Yaay~ Getting more health points means increased vitality~ Raising a stat without leveling up is soooo goooood~! This necklace is the best~!"

The girl let out a cheer and trotted to the bodies.

"...ugh…"

She scored, seeing how human the Boarkin Orcs looked without their boar heads…

"...I hope their tusks aren't the most expensive parts…"

…or maybe she was just dissatisfied with the possible decrease in payout…

In the end, the gold-haired girl stacked the corpses, intending to drag them through the gate and enter the city the right way.

"...hmmm…"

She furrowed her brows in hesitation, weighing the the primitive hatchet in one hand against the crude mace in the other, wondeirng whether either had any actual worth and whether it made any sense to take them together with the monster corpses or would that be just a bother for the guild.

"KGRUIIIIIII-GHIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIII!"

"?!?!"

Suddenly, the defining rain and howling wind were pierced by a chirp-like roar that immediately sent chills down Melinda's spine.

"!!!"

She looked straight up, and her eyes widened at the horrifying sight....!

High up in the sky, slithering its way through the rainclouds as if they were a bog, a gigantic mountain-sized hawk-headed serpent was opening its beak and announcing its presence to the world.

With gray scales covering its body, it was letting out sparks of electricity. Its silhouette and detailed patterns on each scale were perfectly visible despite the weather conditions because of the sheer size of the horror.

Two sets of black feathery wings didn't flap even once, but somehow, the humongous creature could still keep itself afloat with just the slithery motions of its horribly long body

"THE ROYAL SEPRENT OF THE TEMPEST!? WHAT THE HELL IS A SUPER BOSS FROM DIOMONDIUM'S THOUSAND THUNDER MOUNTAIN RANGE DOING WITHIN THE EMERALDIOS EMPIRE!? IT'S NOT A ROAMING BOSS!"

"KGRUUIIIII-GIIII-HIIII-GHIIII!"

As if mocking Melinda's howl, the Royal Serpent of the Tempest let out another chirp-like roar and began its descent toward the Chainlink port city with no good intentions in mind.

The beast's presence didn't make any sense - not only in the game, but it never left its set location, and it wasn't even approaching from the right direction!

From Melinda's perspective, the flying boss was slithering down towards her - meaning that it didn't come from the direction of the Thousand Thunder Mountain Range but the Amber Sea.

"Shit…! The city…!"

Melinda bit her lips, staring at the glowing, monstrous snake-bird hybrid.

In the game, this particular super boss was the favorite enemy of the challenge-runners.

While most super bosses were meant as the endgame challenge, the Royal Serpent of the Tempesy at level 150 was accessible immediately upon its location - the Thousand Thunder Mountain Range - opening up without going through any post-game side quests. The Royal Serpent of the Tempest was the main attraction of dozens of streams where the players competed against each other at who could beat the party at the lowest level.

Melinda never streamed her attempts, but her personal record with a full party with everyone at level 90 would have placed her in the lower half of the ranking…

That damned thing was just such a damage-sponge!

"...ah…"

Melinda's eyes widened, and she gasped, looking down and catching a glimpse of her newly bought necklace.

"...is… is it connected? Did my buying and wearing this thing trigger a deleted event? Deleted item, deleted quest.. deleted... deleted… wait...!"

Melinda mumbled to herself until she suddenly stopped, her eyes widening in realization.

"Is this the reason why injuries from outside combat can be healed during the storm?! Because originally, the developers were intending for a fight with THAT THING and were trying to balance the ridiculousness of the difficulty!?"

Melinda spoke up in utter shock, staring up at a creature that had no right to be attempting to raze the defenseless port city.

"Zane! Adi...!"

The hooded stared between the descending monster and the city, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists on the Boarkin Orc's weapons...

Without a thought of escaping alone, Melinda reached back her arm, holding the crude mace.

"HEY! LOOK OVER HERE, UGLY! LET'S TAKE THIS SOMEWHERE WHERE I COULD USE MY FULL POWER, AND THEN WE'LL SEE HOW YOU'LL CHIRP!"

She shouted spitefully with a furious expression, aiming an opening throw to get the monster's attention solely on herself.