Superior Grim, Deathscythe.

Towards the end of the forest was a giant cemetery. Each grave is marked by the weapons of the fallen. Axes, spears, swords, or whatever they had on them.

Where's the boss? There's only a deep, dark mist covering the cemetery. It's hard to see anything.

Maybe this isn't the boss room? Or, well, area. As we continue into the cemetery

Thump, thump, thump. Rustle.

Something's here. It sounds like hooves beating the dirt, a horse running across the field, or a cemetery in this case.

Neighhhh

What the hell is that? A horse? A man?

Whatever it is, it isn't alive.

Its dark rotted flesh and cracked bones in full view were pungent and disgusting. The dark purple eyes looked like they were gazing into the abyss.

There was half a skeleton part zombie man adjoined to the horse where the saddle should be. The man had no legs, just a head and torso. Its eyes were also that same purple. The eerie feeling this monster gave was off-putting. Is this the grim reaper?

The man wore a long black hood that hid what face he didn't have as he wielded a 4-meter-long scythe that looked small compared to his and the horse's body.

This… will be a tough battle. I looked to my side only to see Ailine's face becoming pale as she looked at the boss' status and muttered his name.

"S-Superior Grim, Deathscythe." Superior? Didn't she say rifts are either normal, greater, or superior? This is a mutated rift. It went from normal to greater, so why?

She looked at me and knew what I was thinking.

"The mutation is probably because this guy took over the rift to become a superior rift. Once some greater rifts gain strength people stop going to them. They get sealed off as dangerous, but somehow some of those sealed rifts invade lower-level rifts to catch budding adventurers off guard and break through the last barrier into becoming a superior rift. "

"Usually these rifts are taken care of by stronger adventurers or by a church or kingdom after being sealed, but some escape before that can happen."

Ah, so, basically, we've got to fight someone who's one step away from becoming a superior. But if he's not an actual Superior being then we have a chance.

"Then we have a chance, right? He's not broken through that last barrier to become a superior yet." She nodded, wearily. Technically I'm right, but it's still a stupidly strong boss.

"Hey, Airi."

"Yeah?"

"I found a horse, but how do I help the enemy and then save you on horseback, if the enemy and the horse are one and the same?"

Haha! What the fuck is she on about.

"Figure that out on your own. If you have time to joke around you have time to find a solution. Anyways, I don't think our friend here is willing to wait much longer."

Deathscythe was moving almost faster than I could see while swinging his large scythe at me, but suddenly the horse turned. The scythe moved along with him. Instead of just me, he was trying to slice both of us with a sweeping slice that was only made possible by his stupidly large scythe.

Protect! Duck!

Protect summoned a sturdy shield of light in front of Ailine which barely withstood the force of his swing while I simultaneously ducked under the scythe on my own.

Tch. This is bad to make a shield strong enough. I used half my mp. This is really bad so bad I don't have time to think how bad it is!

Deathscythe swung repeatedly, from every direction, I could only dodge duck and back off. He didn't let me. 3 steps backwards, I already had to dodge another unending barrage of attacks. I say dodge but each swing nearly grazed me and the force of the wind alone cut my body, neck, and cheeks up slightly.

I wasn't going to last long at this rate. I need--

Suddenly he stopped moving? Chance! Sliding under him, stabbing my sword through his underbelly and dragging it along with me as I slid, cutting his entire underside vertically. By the time I was on the other side, I already transformed into berserker mode and attempted to stab my hand through the man's torso. He dodged and created some distance to recuperate.

The transformation was faster from sacrificing my remaining mp. I don't need any mp in my berserker form so it's fine.

It seemed my wife also used a lot of mp to stop him in his tracks. She's looking pale. Tossing her a few of my experience crystals I hadn't used yet so she could level up and recover mp. It doesn't heal us at all but we can at least regain some mp out of it.

Fuck! Of course he wouldn't allow that. The moment they left my hand he was already past me and destroyed half of them. There were at least 8 so she has enough to level up 2 maybe 3 times.

To conserve her mp she would only slightly slow down the boss during critical moments while boosting my strength and Agility with her other skills. This closed the gap just enough when combined with my berserker form and Powerful Blood Enhancement.

Calm down man! Fuck let me breathe.

Every swing of his scythe nearly chopped me in half or caused me to lose an arm or leg, right after a swing Ailine would slow his movements so I could land a few blows across his torso or horse skull.

Tch, tough bastard. While my blows weren't the strongest, especially for him, they were fast and they were many. 3-4 blows hitting the horse on the head or strong kicks to its legs to daze it and slow it down.

Gah! That's unfair! He started one-handing the scythe now to catch me off guard and hit me with his fist. That first one sent me barreling through the air and nearly onto Ailine, luckily she moved out the way. Up, woah, back down. In an attempt to get back on my feet, he tried to slice my head off. He failed but managed to get a few hairs.

Come on! I have to stay unpredictable and can't slow down for even a moment. Dashing at speeds beyond my limits hitting the horse in the side of his head a few times before appearing on top of the horse and pulverizing the man's ribcage.

Good! If we can just keep this up...

Luckily slashing him earlier seems to have pissed him off. If he went for Ailine we would surely lose.

Dirt, rocks, graves, and the surrounding foliage were all being kicked up and flying in a sort of tornado of miscellaneous things. You could see the air itself being sliced as gusts of winds would chop up everything surrounding us.

Ailine had to dodge these gusts of winds while finding moments to eat exp crystals and cast blood control so I could counterattack.

Faster, faster, faster! I willed my body to move faster than it was meant to. I could feel my body breaking from my power and speed. It didn't matter.

He slashed I dodged and struck his head or body 2 to 3 times. Pieces of his rotted flesh and exposed bones broke off and joined the tornado. In a combination of scythe swings and punches from his free hand, I caught a couple to the stomach. I coughed up blood onto his eyes, he was unbothered.

Tch. Can't be blinded huh? Whatever, I'll just beat you to death then! My hands started to bleed and crack upon contact with his body and durable bones.

A few near misses from his scythe left large gashes across the ground, opening the earth itself. If I get hit even once I might die.

This isn't good. As we exchanged blows he started to hit me more and more.

He hit my shoulder square on after feinting a few slashes with his weapon. His fist instantly dislocated my shoulder, leaving me with only one hand. I need to finish this soon.

Only after using all her mp in her 2nd level up did I damage him enough to slow him down. Chance!

In need of stronger blows, I transformed back into a dragon paladin. Luckily he's slowed down from being worn out and my sword doesn't cost mp. And with the last crystal, Ailine leveled up one last time.

Parrying him, sliding down the shaft of the scythe in an attempt to stab his heart he didn't allow it and pulled the scythe in an attempt to cut both of us at the same time. Vaulted over him and sliced the man's back only to be caught with a sweeping hit, the back of his scythe hitting, no, destroying my ribs instantly as I was taught to remember how to fly. That is until I hit a tree and coughed an unhealthy amount of blood.

He slowly walked towards me, limping from our battle. With what I could only imagine was a smirk if I could see under his hood. He raised his scythe tiredly. This is it huh?

That's when a giant spear pierced through the back of his skull and came out of his mouth. What…?

Ailine had been gathering up all the blood from me and the boss into a final attack similar to what she did to that bear. But this time she took the time to mount the undead horse before stabbing the man. And threatening the same to the horse if the horse didn't bring her to me.

This girl… she actually

"Hah! Hahahahaha… okay you win. How did you actually come to my rescue while 'riding' a horse?"

Sure technically she only mounted the horse before stabbing the man. Then rode the horse to win our bet, but close enough.

"You owe me some sweet nectar as you call it. And we still have that date to go on. Wife." Her dumb flirting could only cause a smile to appear on my lips. Here I was, near death, and in complete pain, and she managed to make me smile. I guess I'll let her have what she wants. She deserves it.

"Okay, but first I need to heal and rest. And maybe a bath or something too."

"Come on! I don't mind if you stink."

"I do though, so if you want me and my body then help me already." She smiled and helped me up. Killed the horse and acquired some loot we'll look at later. First I need rest.