Guardian of the Plains of Plague

"This is so boring!" Yielya complained.

They have been walking for two hours and haven't spotted much besides the occasional wandering monster.

"I do believe it was you who wanted to do this." Akiol commented.

"I imagined a far more adventurous time." She confessed.

Wrock stopped, "What if we are going about this wrong?"

The rest looked at him expectantly.

"There should be other players searching right? Maybe even some guilds? So why are we searching the area were they are not?"

Jarvis frowned, "Because they haven't found it?"

Wrock lifted a finger, "Not yet. So I say we go mingle with the players, and wait for a sign that it was found."

"That's not as fun as fighting it ourselves." Yielya commented.

"Would you like to keep walking?"

That was all that needed to be said, the party cross referenced a few forum posts and found a location of other players. Of course everyone had the same goal, find the boss.

The party chatted with a few, from the information gathered there had only been one additional sighting. However by the time the players had reached the location the area was wiped out, the boss nowhere to be seen.

There was also a few guilds there. They were trying to defeat the boss to obtain loot, anything to get ahead the competition. Ever since the addition of real life money exchanging businesses had a growing interest in the game.

The guilds were all trying to make themselves as pretty as possible, for hope an investor would choose them.

The party sat down, recovering a bit of their fatigue bar. Akiol thought for a moment before excusing himself, "I am going to go spy on the conversations of the guilds."

With that he activated [Dimension Dive]. As he entered the other dimension he walked to the chattering guild members. As he was in another dimension no one could see or hear him.

Akiol couldn't hear them either, but he could read their lips. He wasn't the best, but it was enough.

Within eight minutes of info gathering between various guilds he was about to leave empty handed. That was until he noticed a flash of light and someone frantically moving their lips.

This was what he needed, the guild player was telling his fellow guild mates about his encounter. He had seen a group of players fighting the boss, but they were wiped out extremely quick.

After reporting his own squad ran to intercept the boss. But it was far too strong, it destroyed anything near instantly.

After that Akiol left, he had only thirty seconds left before his skill ended. Suddenly appearing in the middle of a guild wasn't his opinion of a good idea.

He reached the party, "Good news everyone, it has been found and only one guild knows."

Everyone quickly got up. Yielya in particular was stoked, "Well where is it?"

"Follow me."

After leaving inconspicuously Akiol soon reached the coordinates given by the guild player. There was nothing in sight. Yielya was about to make a remark when a scream was heard.

It didn't sound to far, the party reached the location quickly. There it was, dashing at incredible speeds. Any player it touched died shortly.

Akiol watched carefully, the speed was something he could keep up with, maybe. What was important was that the boss seemed much weaker in the original posts description.

The boss killed more and more players. It was then it hit him, "We have to move now."

Everyone was startled.

"Why?" Jarvis asked, confused at the sudden urgency.

"It's getting stronger with each kill."

Everyone moved, they had faced something similar in the past world. Originally it seemed like a weak foe, and was ignored. Until it got strong enough to demolish villages. Soon enough it became a catastrophe to the world. It was definitely one of the harder monsters the party fought. Had it gone on further its strength could have surpassed the Demon Lord.

There players were thinning out, it seemed like no matter the amount of players that were sent the same thing occurs. Soon enough there only remained the party.

Wrock whistled, "The appraisal skill doesn't work on this thing. All I get are question marks."

Akiol frowned, his [Power Sense] gave a large sense of impending death. Similar to when he faced the cloaked player. Akiol hadn't sensed this particular feeling since then.

"It's a monster in strength that's for sure. Last time I got this kind of reaction was when I took five hundred damage from blocking." Akiol informed the party.

Tilia was shocked, "Five hundred from blocking?"

"Might be stronger still."

The dark mutated creature stood still, vibrating. It hadn't attempted to strike at the party yet.

Akiol walked closer steadily, ready to react the moment it moved.

Yet it still didn't move, instead it vibrated even more. Akiol frowned, he wasn't sure what was going on.

Crack-!

Like an eggshell the mutated creature split. Inside was an even more monstrous creature. It began to grow rapidly, Akiol feared what might happen and attempt to dash forward. Yet his feet wouldn't move.

The creature grew into five meter tall, four meter wide monster of various parts. It's entire body looked like it was made from limbs of humans. It was shaped like a wide, long armed human. Except it's head looked like a wild dogs.

It's body dripped with a dark colored liquid. Then, it let out a bone-chilling shriek.

The party was bombarded with notifications.

<You have encountered: Existence of Disease.>

<Existence of Disease had been fully awakened!>

<You have encountered: Guardian of Plains of Plague!>

<Warning! It is recommended to flee.>

The monster's name bar changed, and the party suddenly gained access to its info.

<<Existence of Disease (Level: ???)>>

Description: The accumulation of many years of deadly diseases. By using the corpses of the dead its disease killed it took form. Now fully awakened it will guard its home until the end.

The description was only lore, but the level would be enough to strike fear through many players. If it came up as unknown, it usually meant the creature was significantly stronger than you.

And significantly stronger it was, as soon as the transformation was complete Akiol was able to regain his movement. Just a second after the beast dashed forward, its speed unnatural for its size.

Akiol only had half a second to react, just as he was about to get hit he vanished. He had used [Dimension Skip] just in time.

The beast slid to a stop, its head snapping towards Akiol. As if it's head was on a wheel it kept its eyes on Akiol, regardless of the body's position.

Akiol cringed, "What's with this thing? It's gonna give me nightmares!"

The beast threw a fist towards Akiol, only to miss because he vanished again! This time it was [Dimension Dive] within his few seconds of time he used [Leap] to get above. Activating [Aura Boost] to enhance his strength, finally he thrust down with [Dimension Pierce].

<-1105HP (Existence of Disease)>

The damage may seem like a lot, but the health bar of the boss barely moved. What was more disheartening was the fact that the blow wasn't critical.

Akiol quickly got off the beast, he didn't wish to see what it would do. He swapped out his strength enhancement for agility.

The party joined in the battle, Kan'na released an electric cage around the creature. Sadly this held it for less than a second, for it smashed through the cage with ease.

Wrock was glowing blue and sent a thundering shockwave towards the beast. It smacked into its back, sending flesh flying.

This was one of Wrock's new skills, [Thundering Impact]. A result of something he didn't intend to create, but was too good to pass up. Similar to [Mastered Basic Punch] it sent a shockwave, yet it carried a lightning attribute to it.

The beast took near no damage again, it seemed only to infuriate it. It roared a sickening sound and charged towards Wrock.

Now that Akiol had a breather he quickly brainstormed a plan. The thing either had too much health or was immune to damage. With their current stats it wouldn't be enough.

It then struck him, "Yielya! That thing is a manifestation of disease! Just cure it or something!"

Yielya mumbled, "Just cure it or something, I am sure the doctors would be pleased to hear that one." Yet she still used a simple cure spell on the beast.

It's health dropped a good amount, far more than Akiol's and Wrock's damage combined.

The beast screeched and bolted towards Yielya. Tilia stood in front, activating all her defensive skills. Several magic barriers appeared, but was as good as paper to the beast. It smashed through all of them and smacked Tilia somewhere.

Wrock's figure left and afterimage, appearing in front of Yielya he used [Mastered Basic Punch] to stun the beast.

The beast recoiled a slight bit making Wrock follow up, "[The Beast's Roar!]"

The monster stumbled back further. Kan'na followed with a strong wind blast.

Jarvis shouted, "Sorry for the wait!"

A large tree-like creature stomped over, crashing into the beast. This was a tree golem, unlike most golems this one favored wood over stone. In exchange for toughness the golem could regenerate much faster over time.

This creature was perfect to hold off the beast. While it struggled in a contest of strength, it's sole job was to stall.

Akiol wasn't about to be left aside. He attacked the beast from behind, slowing it with Everbright Snow and effecting it with status debuffs with his [Dimensional Ticks].

Even with all this the beast was still beating the tree golem. Yielya was constantly using cure spells on it, making it angrier and angrier.

Akiol grinned, he would get to test a skill he hadn't yet. Activating [Dimension Change] the artifact moved in front of him. The six-pointed stars spun very quickly before halting. Perfectly aligned they began to glow, from the orb a circle expanded rapidly. Soon the whole area was changed into somewhere entirely new.

The dimension was dark red, with an occasional thunder strike.

With the debuff to the beast and the buff to the tree golem the strength contest was no longer one-sided.

Steadily its health dropped, all the way to 10% of the original amount.

The beast screeched, its body turning red. An extra pair of arms sprouting from its back. It began smashing the tree golem, wooden chips began flying.

The beast had entered berserk mode.