The Boss of the 'City Ruins'

Stark, unbothered, kept advancing through the fog, he had already done this once before for the mini-boss, so the atmosphere and cries of souls that begged him to turn back didn't bother him anymore.

Lana on the other hand had never experienced such a thing, and so she couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable, if not scared.

Reaching her arm forward in the hopes of finally leaving the fog, she was able to grab something: Stark's shirt.

"…?" the boy stopped and looked behind him to see a Lana with a weird expression, paranoia stretched across her face as her pupils darted in all directions, "Can you please let me go? Why did you even follow me?"

Hearing his voice, Lana felt more appeased, but of course she didn't show it and instead let go of his shirt, "Don't get ahead of yourself, I just don't want you to steal all the rewards!"

'Tsundere ass attitude,' Stark rolled his eyes before continuing to walk through the fog, Lana following closely as she didn't want to be alone.

And after a few seconds… they reached the boss area.

[You have entered the BOSS area, there is no going back from here]

***

As they emerged from the thick, swirling fog and their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they were finally able to take in the sight of the boss area.

Surrounding them was a massive circle of abandoned buildings, eerie and desolate with no visible exit or means of escape. And at the center of it all, rising above the ruins, stood a grand mansion with shadowy windows and an imposing aura.

Behind them was obviously the silver wall of fog, but once you traversed it, there is no way to go back.

[One of the fifteen members of the 'Godless Demons' group is present here, kill it]

[Participants: Stark Heartsouls, Lana Moonless]

"Where's your weapon," Lana grabbed her bow and magic arrows, ready to fight.

"I don't have one," Stark replied while smiling.

"WHAT? B-BUT?"

"Don't worry about me and focus on yourself, I won't protect you after all," he replied and began walking toward the mansion.

"…" She knew he was right as she honestly had no reason to worry about him, but of course, there was also the fact they were BOTH participants in this, so she wanted him to at least be useful.

Lana followed closely behind Stark as they approached the grand mansion in the center of the boss area.

But as they reached the halfway point…

~SLAM~

With a loud creak, the massive doors of the mansion swung open, revealing a menacing figure that stood behind them.

The boss stepped out, its powerful presence emanating an overwhelming aura of authority and malice.

[Malakar, City Mayor (BOSS)]

This text appeared in front of both the classifiers when he appeared, and so the two of them took a few seconds to observe him.

Malakar, the City Mayor, stood tall and imposing in front of them. His elaborate smoking gleamed ominously in the dim light, adding to his intimidating appearance.

His eyes burned with a malevolent glow and his wicked grin sent shivers down their spines. He wore pure white gloves on both hands and shiny black shoes, giving off an air of wealth and power.

To further add to his sinister image, Malakar's face was half-hidden by a 'Black Sun' mask while a strange melon hat adorned his head.

Without a word, he raised a hand and summoned dark energy that crackled around his fingers menacingly.

Lana began to aim her bow at the mayor, and seeing that Stark was doing nothing actively scared her more than the boss itself.

On the other hand, Stark took a few seconds to use [Perception] and check the boss.

[Name: Malakar, City Mayor (BOSS)]

[Level: 15]

[HP: 45000]

[Strength: 471]

[Stamina: 289]

[Speed: 154]

[Defense: 829]

[Skills: Dark Pulse, The Cane, Abysall Shield, Godless Demon, The Mayor's Control, Hat Trick…]

The Mayor was slowly walking toward them, his stats were pretty good, although more on the defensive side than in the rest, and its speed was extremely low.

Stark smirked at the boss's stats, analyzing them carefully in his mind. His demeanor was calm and collected, a stark (get it?) contrast to Lana's nerves that seemed to be getting the best of her.

Without a word, he suddenly sprinted towards Malakar.

"Dark Pulse!" Malakar crouched, both his hands touching the ground, and veins of darkness immediately began spreading toward Stark and Lana.

When he was close enough to one of the veins, it would come out of the ground to try and pierce him, but of course, Stark had 'Focus' and was able to narrowly dodge them by rolling to the side each time.

'What the fuck is he doing, why is he rolling like this?' Lana pondered, and shot one of her arrows toward the Mayor.

"-628!" it hit him in the chest, but he was so focused on Stark that he wasn't bothered by such an attack.

Lana was shocked that Stark was going to engage with the boss head-on, something most people would consider suicide, strategy was key in the rifts, yet here he was doing random shit.

After 'Dark Pulse' ended, Malakar rose up to his full height (which was approximately four meters) and unleashed another attack.

"The Cane!" he bellowed, as a shadowy cane materialized in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the cane elongated and lashed out towards Stark like a viper.

Stark reacted quickly, drawing upon his agility and reflexes. He dodged the sweeping strike by a hair's breadth, but then…

The cane turned around, controlled by the Mayor and able to defy the laws of physics.

Not expecting that, Stark only had a few microseconds to adjust, and so the best course of action was to put lots of aura around the area where it was aimed.

"-721!" he was hit, and although he protected himself, he still received a lot of damage, making him stumble to the ground.

[HP: 479/1200 (+100 from 'Soulbearer's Embrace')]

He immediately got up though, and with unwavering determination continued running toward the Mayor.

Lana shot another arrow at the boss, this time infusing it with the 'Dragon Breath' skill.

"-1219!" she was able to deal very good damage to the boss, enough this time to actually make him acknowledge her presence, but too focused on Stark to attack her.

"He is actually distracting him very well," Lana gently smiled, she was surprised that Stark was able to dodge all these attacks all the while closing the distance between him and the boss, that didn't explain how he would deal damage though since he had no weapon.

And so just like this, the fight against the boss of this rift began.