"GRUUUAAAAAHHHHH!!"
The BOSS, its eyes glowing gold, leapt from the throne. Its enormous body twisted nimbly in midair before crashing down with a thunderous impact. It glared at the intruders with ferocity, its wolf-like jaws opening and closing, as if barely restraining the urge to tear them all to pieces.
The BOSS of the first floor of the labyrinth—Illfang the Kobold Lord, King of the Beasts.
This was Lillian's first time seeing it in person. Compared to the anime, it was far more terrifying. Its nearly three-meter-tall body was wrapped in bluish-gray fur. In its left claw, it held a small leather round shield; in its right, a hand axe fashioned from bone. A long curved sword about a meter and a half in length was sheathed behind its waist. Its golden eyes glared viciously at the players.
"Charge!"
As the main tank of Party One, Terusuke rushed forward immediately with his shield raised. He was clad head to toe in metal armor, wielding a large shield as well. Just obtaining that set of equipment must have taken an enormous amount of effort—and the high defense and toughness it provided were exactly what was needed right now.
Clang—!
The Beast King's axe came crashing down onto Terusuke's shield. The overwhelming force made it hard for him to endure, yet he didn't retreat even a single step. The brilliant flash and thunderous impact from the collision of axe and shield acted like a signal—several fully armed kobold mobs crawled out from small openings high up on the surrounding walls.
The moment they leapt down, the squads assigned to deal with them rushed in, blocking and killing them on the spot so they couldn't interfere with the BOSS fight.
At the same time, Lillian finally made his move—no, he had already moved the instant Terusuke blocked the blow. In moments like this, he held nothing back. He didn't want anyone to die.
In just a few blinks, Lillian had already circled behind the Beast King. Light burst forth from his greatsword as the sword skill Deadly Strike activated. He leapt up from behind and brought the blade down in a devastating blow!
Rip—!
The Beast King's HP dropped by roughly one-eighth. Even with Lillian's attack power, that was all he could manage in a single strike—more than enough to show just how terrifying its defense and health pool were.
"Switch!"
As the Beast King raised its axe again, Terusuke shouted immediately. Another tank ran over without hesitation, raising his shield to block, while Terusuke stepped back to recover.
Against ordinary monsters this wouldn't be necessary, but with the Beast King's raw strength, a tank who took even one direct hit had to be rotated out—otherwise, the stiffness from the impact wouldn't wear off in time.
"Aaah!"
The rest of the party seized the opening and attacked the BOSS with their various weapons. Their speed couldn't match Lillian's, so they used short-charge dash-type sword skills, retreating immediately after a single strike. Before the battle began, both Terusuke and Lillian had repeatedly warned everyone not to get greedy—greed meant death. No one dared to ignore that.
Except for one person.
That person was Lillian.
After his first strike, he never backed away. He stayed glued to the Beast King, continuously outputting damage. With their raid severely lacking in numbers, his overwhelming personal DPS was what compensated for that gap.
In a short span of time, he alone had shaved off nearly three-quarters of the Beast King's HP. As a result, the BOSS's aggro inevitably shifted to him. The axe that had been aimed at the shield-bearing tank abruptly changed direction and swung toward Lillian at its side!
"Watch out!"
Everyone was startled. Lillian was extremely close to the Beast King—there was no way he could dodge in time. Yet in the very next moment, he vanished.
No—he hadn't vanished. He was simply moving so fast that all they could see was a fleeting afterimage.
The greatsword's edge came down from the opposite side, striking the Beast King and completely emptying its first HP bar. The other players were utterly stunned, all wondering whether he had learned some ultra-high-speed dash sword skill. Only Terusuke saw clearly—there had been no glow on Lillian's blade at all.
That speed had come purely from his own body.
So strong…
Terusuke marveled inwardly, but there was no time to dwell on it. The soreness in his arms had faded for the moment. He immediately ran toward the Beast King and shouted, "Lillian! Bring it this way!"
The squads rotated offense and defense smoothly, maintaining an extremely stable formation. Lillian was very satisfied. At this pace, no one would be in danger during the Beast King's first three HP bars. As for the final bar—he only needed to find a way to suppress it himself.
Three minutes later, when one player shaved off the Beast King's third HP bar with the sword skill Diagonal Slash, everyone immediately retreated.
They had already discussed tactics beforehand. During its final HP bar, the Beast King wouldn't switch to the long curved sword used in beta testing. Instead, it would draw a much shorter special weapon—Nodachi. With it, the BOSS could unleash rapid blink-like combo sword skills. If mishandled, players could be instantly killed.
The agreed-upon strategy was simple: once the Beast King entered its last HP bar, everyone would retreat to the edge near the main doors and cluster together. Six tanks would form the outermost ring, shields raised.
That way, the Beast King could only attack from the front or sides—it would be impossible for it to get behind them. The doors were directly at their backs, and by design, the BOSS couldn't leave its chamber.
As long as they blocked its sword skills and whittled it down bit by bit, this would be the safest and most reliable method.
"Uuugh—GROOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!"
Standing at the center of the room, the Beast King let out a furious roar. At the same time, the final three kobold mobs leapt down from openings in the walls to assist it. The Beast King had drawn its weapon—just as expected, the slender curved blade with a small arc.
"It's coming! All tanks, shields up!"
"Got it!"
All six tanks raised their shields high. Lillian stood at the rear, ready to act at any moment.
After roaring, the Beast King finally launched its attack. No longer swinging wildly like before, it held the blade horizontally as light erupted from it. It leapt high into the air, activating a sword skill mid-jump.
Humm—!
In an instant, six crimson slashes burst forth from the blade. This was the blade-exclusive sword skill Whirlwind. The red arcs came from all directions, smashing into the clustered formation. A series of dull thuds echoed as every strike hit raised shields—no one was injured.
"Counterattack!"
The wide-area sword skill left the tanks briefly stiffened. The other players immediately followed up, charging in with dash-type sword skills to deal damage before retreating again.
The fastest among them was, of course, Lillian. His running speed exceeded even the activation speed of most sword skills. In the span of a single breath, he had already landed two strikes on the Beast King.
But in its final HP bar, the Beast King wasn't just using a different weapon—its reactions and speed had also increased dramatically. With a swift upward swing of its curved blade, a crescent-shaped arc of light flew straight at Lillian!
Sword skill: Floating Boat.
Anyone who had played DNF knew that attacks like uppercuts or launchers were never the end—they were the beginning of a combo. Likewise, if that arc hit Lillian, his body would be forcibly launched into the air. What followed after was obvious.
At the critical moment, Lillian went all out. Gathering all his strength, he leapt high into the air, narrowly avoiding the arc and escaping the range of the half-moon-shaped attack.
"Nice dodge!"
At that moment, a tank rushed forward, intending to take over the defense. But as Lillian descended through the air and saw this, his expression changed drastically.
"Fall back!" he shouted.
"Grrrr—!"
The Beast King had clearly noticed the tank as well. It abruptly abandoned Lillian, swung its blade, and accelerated sharply, unleashing another blade-type sword skill—Crimson Fan. In an extremely short time, it delivered three consecutive thrusting attacks!
The tank clearly hadn't expected this. Shocked, he still reacted quickly enough to raise his shield.
Thud! Thud!
After the first two thrusts, a deafening crack rang out—the shield in his hands shattered completely!
He fell backward onto the ground, staring in horror as the third thrust came slashing straight toward him!
Clang!
At the critical moment, Terusuke rushed in from behind and blocked the strike with his metal shield. However, he had sprinted over in a hurry and hadn't properly braced himself. After blocking the blow, his shield was knocked aside, and his body fell into a brief state of stiffness.
And in that split second of rigidity, the Beast King's curved blade was already swinging down toward his head!
"Guild leader!!"
Whoosh—!
The blade stopped abruptly, less than a centimeter from the top of Terusuke's head.
Drenched in cold sweat, Terusuke froze in shock. Everyone else froze as well. For a brief moment, no one understood what had happened. When they looked again, they saw that behind the Beast King, Lillian had somehow already planted his sword into the ground and was gripping the Beast King's massive leg with both arms, dragging it backward with all his strength.
"W–What… what is he doing?! Lillian!"
"AAAAAHHHH!"
Gritting his teeth, Lillian twisted his body and unleashed an explosive burst of force. The sheer power was so overwhelming that even the Beast King—over two meters tall with a tremendously muscular body—was completely helpless. It was lifted clean off the ground and slammed down with a thunderous crash!
"That was… a shoulder throw?!"
Annie, I haven't forgotten the moves you taught me.
As Lillian thought this, he glanced at the Beast King's HP bar. It still had one-fifth remaining. Even after being slammed so brutally, not a single drop of HP was lost. As expected, his raw physical strength wasn't counted in the game's damage calculations.
But this was enough.
He leapt back, yanked his greatsword free from the ground, and slashed several times at the Beast King before it could stand up, driving its HP down into the red. Then he turned his head toward Terusuke.
"Come on! Take the LA!"