"Let's start with a little probe. See how he reacts," Shana whispered.
"Right behind you," Shizuka replied.
With a shared nod, the two girls lunged forward, aiming for the lion's massive front paws. But the beast was faster. In a sudden surge of motion, it reared back on its haunches, standing tall as it let out a deafening roar, its shoulder-mounted guns spraying lead into the air at a steep incline.
"Whoa—he's tall!" Shana barked, skidding to a halt.
"We can't reach him like that," Shizuka added, narrowing her eyes against the muzzle flashes.
"Sinon! You okay?" Shana shouted over her shoulder. She had seen the arc of the bullets heading toward their sniper's position as she backstepped out of the beast's immediate reach.
"I'm fine!" Sinon's voice came back steady through the comms. "The rounds don't seem to have enough punch to penetrate the upper walls."
"Good to know. If they were that powerful, this fortress would have been rubble long before we arrived," Shana muttered, turning her focus back to the lion.
The moment her eyes locked onto the beast, it lowered its frame and leveled its barrels directly at her. It fired instantly. Shana dropped into a low crouch, the rounds whistling over her head as she tried to close the distance, but a massive paw slammed into the earth before her, a wall of fur and muscle blocking her path.
"Those shoulder guns are fixed-mount, so they're easy enough to read," Shana noted calmly.
"Yeah, but those front paws are a real pain," Shizuka grunted.
"The second we create distance, it falls back on the guns. We'll have to risk a close-quarters brawl."
"If we get stepped on by those things, it's game over."
Shana offered a grim smirk. "Then we just have to cut him while we dodge. No problem."
"Fair enough."
To an outside observer, their casual conversation would have seemed insane. For any ordinary player, a single misstep would mean being crushed into a red mist. Yet, the duo split, charging from the left and right in a coordinated pincer. They struck at the paws in a rhythmic alternating dance. When the lion swung its right, its left was exposed; when it shifted to the left, the right was open. Since it wasn't a biped, the mechanics of its balance were an unavoidable weakness.
Still, because they were prioritizing evasion, they couldn't land the deep, severing blows they needed. It was a frustrating stalemate—until the rest of the team arrived on the roof, fresh from restocking their ammo.
"Oh…"
"How are those two even doing that?"
"That's a far cry from standard military knife arts," one of the newcomers whispered, mesmerized.
"Well, they are the ultimate duo," another replied. "They've spent two years fighting shoulder-to-shoulder every single day."
"Shana! Shiz! We're starting the overhead cover fire!" a voice—their 'Teacher'—boomed from above.
"You got it, Teach!" Shana yelled back.
"Understood!" Shizuka added.
As a hail of bullets rained down from the ramparts, Shana and Shizuka fell back, finally catching a synchronized breath.
"I know I said the shoulder guns were easy to dodge," Shizuka panted, "but they're still a massive mental drain."
"I feel you. They don't generate Bullet Lines," Shana said, wiping sweat from her brow. "Without the prediction lines, you have to keep them in your sightline constantly just to track the muzzles."
"We could leave the shooting to the others, but then the boss will just focus its fire on the fortress. Look." Shizuka pointed as a fresh volley from the lion hammered into the stronghold's main gates.
"Yeah, that's not good. If those doors go, we're in trouble."
"We could try luring it inside, but since it's a boss, there's no telling what—" Shizuka cut herself off, pointing frantically. "Wait, look at that!"
The lion's mane had begun to glow with a brilliant, golden radiance. The moment the light peaked, the team's incoming fire simply bounced off, ricocheting harmlessly into the air.
"Oh, come on..."
"Invincibility frames? That's cheating," Shizuka groaned.
"It shouldn't be able to keep that up forever," Shana analyzed. "There has to be a—"
"Shana! The tail!" Nyangoro's voice shrieked from above.
They looked up. The lion's tail was held high like a lightning rod, glowing with an intense energy as if it were a conductor for the mane's barrier.
"So that's how it works," Shana said, her eyes sharpening.
"What's the play?"
"First, we take out those shoulder guns. Then the tail. After that, he's a sitting duck." Shana glanced up at the ramparts. "It's time for those two to shine."
Shana signaled Pitohui and Benkei. Without a moment's hesitation, the two began a daring rappel down the side of the fortress.
"Alright, we can't let the boss pin them down while they're on the ropes. We're going back in!" Shana shouted.
"Trusting them to do their job before we get turned into Swiss cheese? Classic," Shizuka said, a reckless grin spreading across her face.
"I was holding back to keep my mobility up, but I'm extending the blade," Shana said, her sword humming as the laser edge lengthened. "Let's end this!"
This time, they didn't retreat. They focused entirely on shredding the beast's legs. Using the fact that the friendly fire from above had ceased, they moved into the blind spots on the lion's flanks—areas they usually avoided to stay out of Sinon's line of fire. Bit by bit, they carved away at the beast's health.
Then, the signal came.
"Shana!"
"Big sis!"
At the sound of those voices, Shana and Shizuka leapt outward in a massive horizontal jump. In the same breath, Pitohui and Benkei—who had swung out from the wall using the tension of their ropes—propelled themselves off the fortress stones. They flew through the air like predatory birds, closing in on the lion's shoulders.
"Hyaaaaaah!"
"Go for it!"
With their blades extended to maximum length mid-flight, the two girls sheared through the shoulder-mounted guns in a single, clean pass. They hit the ground, retracted their blades, and went into a tactical roll to dissipate the impact.
Robbed of its primary weapons, the lion threw its head back in a harrowing roar of agony. Shana and Shizuka didn't give it a second to recover. They lunged in, their blades biting deep, completely severing the beast's front paws. With a choked scream, the lion's massive frame collapsed forward, head-first into the dirt.
"Sinon! Now!"
"I won't miss twice."
Sinon, who had been waiting for the perfect window, centered her crosshairs on the glowing tail. She exhaled, squeezing the trigger of her Hecate II. The heavy .50 caliber round tore through the air, shattering the tail instantly. The golden mane flickered and died.
"Target is vulnerable! Focus fire on the head!"
The team on the roof unleashed everything they had. They poured lead into the unmoving boss, a relentless storm of steel. The lion gave one final, pathetic kick of its hind legs, trying to crawl forward, but it was a futile gesture. Without the ability to dodge or defend, its HP bar hit zero. The beast shattered into a cloud of shimmering blue polygons.
"YEAAAH!"
"We did it!"
"Victory! We actually won!"
The cheers echoed across the battlefield as the team scrambled down from the fortress, faces alight with triumph. Shana and Shizuka walked over to where Pitohui and Benkei were still sprawled out on the ground, limbs splayed in exhaustion.
"Hey, Pito. You still alive?" Shana asked.
"Yeah..." Pitohui groaned, her voice shaky. "But the impact from that swing was way worse than I thought. My legs are like jelly."
"You okay, Kei?" Shizuka asked, kneeling by Benkei.
"Big sis... Kei did her best..."
"You were amazing," Shizuka said, patting her head. "Good girl."
The group gathered together as a holographic interface flickered to life in the center of the clearing.
『To all participants: Great work. I hereby declare the end of this event. This victory belongs to you.』
The voice of Floria, the system AI, sparked a second wave of cheering.
"Man, I can't believe a boss like that actually showed up," one player remarked.
"Floria," Shana called out, "was that boss really as rare as it looked?"
『Yes. There have been zero recorded encounters with this specific boss across all servers until now.』
"Talk about some crazy luck," Shana muttered. "Who pulled that trigger?"
"Eh? Is that really so weird?" Pitohui piped up, suddenly sitting up. "I'm used to it. I've even won the first prize in the lottery before."
The entire group froze, staring at Pitohui in stunned silence.
"Ever since I was a kid, I've always had a knack for hitting the low-probability stuff," Pitohui continued, a mischievous glint in her eye. "It's just my constitution, I guess. Oh? Shana? Why are you looking at me like that? Stop it... you're going to turn me on."
Shana immediately let go of Pitohui's arm, letting her thud back onto the ground.
"Oof! Ah, a sudden reward! Keep it coming!" Pitohui cackled.
"So this whole mess was your fault?!" Shana growled. She grabbed Pitohui by the temples and began grinding her knuckles into the woman's head.
"Ahhh! It's a shame I can't feel pain in here! It just feels like a very intense massage!"
"Good grief, you are hopeless..." Shana sighed, eventually hauling Pitohui to her feet. Pitohui just gave a cheeky grin, and soon the whole group was laughing. The defense mission was officially over.
『Master, the boss has dropped loot.』
"Oh? Is it anything good?" Shana asked.
『A Degtyaryov PTRD-1941. An anti-tank rifle.』
"Are you serious? Realize it. Let's see it."
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