Chapter 7. Snake of Midgard

"..."

"..."

Solem and I were already in the city, waiting for the layer boss to appear. We noticed people around us wearing stiff expressions and many looking very nervous. Even so I saw that they were already wearing the highest tier equipment of this layer, so they shouldn't have too much trouble with the boss layer. Well, that's just my thought.

"Everyone is serious about this huh..."

"It can't be helped; this is a once-a-year opportunity." said Solem who was casually licking the ice cream.

The layer boss will only appear once in one world if he is defeated. However, if he is not defeated then all players will have to wait until next year for the layer boss to reappear.

If the boss layer has not been defeated, then the player cannot go to the next layer. In other words, this battle will be a battle that determines whether the second layer will open this year or next year.

"Unlike them, you seem very relaxed huh" I said to Solem.

"Because I'm alone enough anyway~" Solem said casually.

Aah… if any players who spent their time and gold on character building heard his words just now, they would kill him.

"But this game uses a server system, right? Will the boss come to the entire server?"

"No. You see, the layer boss we are going to fight is bigger than this earth."

"Eh?"

"At most what will stop in this server only a part of its hand or foot."

"Really?"

"At least during the beta test. I managed to finish off one leg that time, but I'm sure I can finish off all of his HP now."

In other words, partial boss, huh. The boss's body part appears in one area and if it manages to finish off its HP, then the boss's HP will also decrease. If you manage to kill all parts of the boss's body, the boss will defeated.

"The first boss layer is Jǫrmungandr. A huge snake that circles the earth. When it appears, almost all places outside the city in Midgard will be covered by the snake. Dungeons will temporarily disappear until the boss is defeated or when the boss raid ends." Solem explained.

It was already fifty-nine minutes past eleven, one more minute until the raid boss came.

"Okay. Let's get ready." Solem said.

"Um."

I stood up and manipulated my window, confirming my skills.

Then I checked my equipment. Black Ritual Cloak, the effect increases my MP. Night witch hat, the effect also increases MP. Red gem wand, the effect also increases my MP. My total MP now is several times higher than my MP yesterday.

I looked at Solem. He wears the Holy Magic Robe, enhancing magic with holy elements. But that's all. The wand he carried was only oak staff which could be purchased at the weapon shop in town. Although, I'm sure he kept his weapons that he carried before.

"Okay, I'm ready with this."

"So am I."

Right after we felt ready with our skills and equipment, the boss alarm started sounding.

"Fly."

"Summon: Hawk!"

Solem activated magic to fly while I summoned a giant eagle to lift me up.

We flew to a height of several hundred meters from the ground. When I was at that point, I saw something covering almost the entire surface of the ground. It looked like a lump of scaly flesh and was golden in color.

"Arrived!" cried Solem.

Solem shot straight at one of the lumps of flesh. He stretched out his hand and chanted the skill.

"Quadruplet Magic: Magic Lance!!"

Four magic spears appeared around Solem and shot straight at the mound of flesh.

"Tch, not even scratched huh..." said Solem.

I focused my gaze again on the lump of flesh. As I did that, a kind of status window popped up from the lump of flesh.

———————————————————————

BOSS LAYERS

Snake of Midgard, Jǫrmungandr

HP : 99%

MP : 99%

———————————————————————

I can read the status. And of course, the status has dropped from the number that should be one hundred percent.

"I thought it had an impact! He took damage!" I exclaimed.

"You're wrong. It wasn't because of my magic lance! I believe the Queen of Knights used the Sword of Promised Victory to attack him and reduce his HP by one percent!"

Uh?

He thought it wasn't from his magic lance but from an EX-rank skill? I know about the Queen of Knight because she is famous for being able to complete the only quest that rewards Phantasm class weapons, but if it's true that the 1 percent damage is due to the EX-rank skill of Phantasm class weapons then isn't it impossible to drain the entire HP of this boss?

Now I understand why so many people are afraid of this boss. It wasn't because they were afraid of a death penalty, they were just confused because their attacks had no effect on this boss at all! This isn't a partial boss raid as I thought it would be, it's a boss raid with incredible difficulty!

"No more choice. We need to find the head!" cried Solem.

"Eh? Isn't the place where his head is at random?" I replied.

"No. No matter how the rest of the body spreads, the head will always remain."

"W-where is that?"

Solem then pointed upwards, at the moon to be exact.

"He hid his head in the moon."

"EEEEHHHHH!?!?!?!"

"During the beta test no one noticed. Most people were busy dealing damage to the rest of his body, but it wasn't enough to defeat him at all. The only way to defeat him was to cut his head off his body! But since no one noticed it, the second layer was the same never opened during beta test."

And I want to know how you know that!

"But how do we get there? Even if we know that, we can't go there, can we?"

"No. To go to the moon in this world there are only two problems: how to get there and how to breathe while there. I picked up the Fly skill just for that and I was lucky enough to get a skill that allowed me to live without needing to breathe!"

She got the Blessing of Siren Princess skill from the quest we got while conquering the dungeon. The skill made him not need oxygen when breathing, allowing him to be underwater like he was on land. If the skill does not require air, then the skill will also allow him to breathe in space.

"But..."

Before I could protest, the scales covering Jormungandr's body suddenly fell off and from the fallen scales new monsters were formed called...

"Nidhogg..." Solem said.

"Tch."

"Drag."

"What?!"

"Layer boss raids are different from regular boss raids."

"Yeah, because the amount of HP is insane right?"

"No."

"Eh? So, because of what?"

"Normally no monsters would enter the city due to the magic shields installed around the city, but that's different from layer bosses. Layer bosses can invade the city! Besides, they can also kill NPCs in the city!"

"Eh? You mean..."

"If we let the midboss... those nidhoggs, then those nidhoggs could just enter the city and kill NPCs. Dead NPCs can't be revived! Therefore, if NPCs from certain shops die..."

"Then we can lose resources to ... huh..."

"Yes. We will disband the party. You take on those Nidhoggs with the other players, when I will go to the moon to finish off Jormungandr!"

Solem manipulated his party window, and he left our party. He then looked at me to which I nodded in response. We immediately turned around and flied away in the opposite direction. I headed downwards while Solem headed upwards.

While descending down, I activated my strongest skill.

"Summon: Earth Dragon General!!!"

After reaching the maximum level, several skills and all equipment focused on MP, I was finally able to summon my strongest monster, the boss of the dungeon, Earth Dragon General!

"Looks like I won't have to wait long huh. It's only been a day and you've called me, what are you doing?!" cried the dragon.

I answered the dragon with a bold smile on my face.

We finally landed on the ground. There were hardly any players where I landed, but there were a few players within a kilometer of us.

"Lend me your strength, Earth Dragon General!"

"Leave it to me!"

"Dragon Breath to those monsters!!" my orders.

The dragon I summoned opened its mouth wide and from inside its mouth came a burst of fire which hit many nidhoggs around us. The attack was so powerful that it could defeat them in an instant.

"Amazing..." I spoke.

"My name is Earth Dragon General with reason." said the dragon proudly.

I drank MP potions to replenish my MP. I summoned the Earth Dragon General with all the MP I had and to maintain it I needed a lot of MP too. I need to recover MP through MP potions if I don't want the Earth Dragon General to disappear. Urgh, the name is too long for me to repeat.

"By the way your name is too long, can I call you Edji?"

"Hm. It's up to you. When deciding to enter into a contract with you I have already decided to follow your wishes, master."

"okaay..."

I don't know how many times I've said this but the NPCs in this game really don't feel like NPCs. They were all able to follow the player's talk and join in on the conversation like they were really alive. They are not like the NPCs in other games who can only follow a certain algorithm while having a conversation.

I took a deep breath. With the condition that I can do one-hit-kill like this I can maintain the line of defense even with only Edji alone. Besides that, there are other players around me, there's still hope for survival...

As I was thinking that, something suddenly appeared from behind me.

"A-"

I haven't even had a chance to speak or give orders to Edji to turn around and protect me. Edji was still focused on Nidhogg in front of him. Even if I give him orders now, he won't have time to turn around to protect me.

What appeared behind me was a monster shaped like a human shadow. I saw that the monster had scythes in both hands. I prepared to cast a defensive skill but when I looked at the status screen, I realized that I had run out of MP.

There's nothing I can do.

How this?

Realizing my helplessness in less than a second, I closed my eyes.

After that I waited one second, two seconds, three seconds, but the attack that was supposed to hit me didn't come. I opened my eyes and saw that instead of the monster I had previously seen, I saw a black cloak in its place.

"This is war. Don't distract yourself." said the figure with the skull face.

"Y-yes..." I said in my confusion.

"You were with the player who went to space, right? What did that player want to do?"

Is he another player?

"...That... S-Solem went to the Moon to cut off this boss's neck..."

"Going to the moon? Hmm... I see. Since its real body isn't on this earth, he can't be defeated but if we defeat its real body then this monster will die as well."

I accidentally told him about Solem.

This player in front of me… he gave me a strange impression. But how should I explain it, he doesn't give off a dangerous impression. He had something that made it easy for me to talk to him even in this position.

"Then, I'll go there too."

"Eh? But..."

"Sandalphon!" said the man in the black robe.

A pair of wings emerged from the man's back. He lowered his waist for a bit then jumped up loudly. His jump instantly allowed him to fly quickly into the sky.

I saw his figure from below. She looked like an angel from afar but remembering her undead appearance made her impression change. Rather than just an angel, he looks like an angel of death.

"Solem..." I mumbled a little.