Chapter 8: Boss Fight

"You ready?"

"...My mind is ready, but my body isn't happy with this," Yoo Jin pursed his lips as he felt his body tremble a bit at the situation that they were going to face.

It was an instinctive reaction. A C-ranked boss.

If people heard that they were trying to take it on with just two people, especially when those two didn't have a specific Hunter rank, they would be marked as batshit crazy.

They had opened the huge door to find nothing awaiting them inside. However, the murky air that blew towards their way certainly deterred them a bit.

"Well, we can't afford to go back now, can we?" Aria was determined to get to level up.

Picking up a wolf corpse, she threw it inside the room and waited for a reaction.

Sure enough, the sounds of heavy chain being dragged across the floor could be heard the next second.

Klink!

The sound stopped after walking a certain distance.

"Who dares to.. disrupt my slumber!!!!!!!!" An angry toned voice came from a hidden presence.

Aria was not given enough time to react before thunderous sounds sourcing from the boss' steps were made.

Thump! Thump!

With each step, they were able to see the monster's figure clearer.

A gigantic ogre wielding a barbed mace that was stained with dried blood and tied to a thick steel chain.

He slowly turned his head towards Aria and grinned devilishly.

"Humanoid food, long time no see," The words he uttered were strangely understood by Aria.

This was something she couldn't comprehend.

As a Summoner, she could understand her summons' words, but she still wouldn't know the actual language.

This boss, not only was she not contracted with him, it was also the Ogre language that was known to be gibberish and untranslatable.

A System notification popped up.

[Dungeon Clear: Red Ogre

You have entered the Dungeon Boss, Red Ogre's lair. It has noticed your presence. Defeat it to survive and return to the real world.

Clear Conditions: Slay the Dungeon Boss, <Red Ogre>.(0/1)]

The pathway behind them were sealed and about to collapse down. They had to enter the boss room to save their lives.

Woosh!

The Ogre made a large swing towards the two. Nimbly dodging the strike, Aria and Yoo Jin braced themselves for a counterattack.

[Red Ogre | Lv. 31

HP: 12000/12000

Rage Bar: 15/100]

Aria recognized the Rage Bar and what it entailed. Although they couldn't see it as a bar in her times, they knew of a characteristic few monsters had, and they called it 'Rampage Mode'.

"Watch out for the Rage Bar. Ogres have a special mode that activates upon reaching max rage. They will receive a boost in their stats," Aria warned Yoo Jin before sprinting across the room and utilizing her full agility.

"Yessir!" Yoo Jin also started moving. After clearing so many sub levels together, he had already begun to trust the strange Aria.

Aria licked her lips in hesitance.

The ogre was bigger than her by a lot. He was at least 20 times her size.

Swing!

Another swing was directed at Aria. Although it missed, the attack hit the walls and created a massive crevice.

"Wow," Aria huffed her breath.

'I can't take a hit from that thing.'

"The type that uses brute force. Just like its underlings," The stench that attacked their nostrils did not hinder their speed as the both of them charged at the humongous monster.

'Red Ogre.. My skill is tingling, but its not to the point of impossibility.' After checking her condition, she brandished her sword and stabbed it into the ogre's stomach, using it as a propeller for her to successfully reach the top of his head.

'Dianthe.' Aria called. 'Let me borrow your element.'

Complying without any rebuttal, Dianthe channeled the water element through Aria's body, making her obtain the power of water.

"[Water Blade]!!"

One was not enough, she kept driving more blades into its vulnerable parts, for example: the eyes.

"[Water Blade]. [Water Blade]. [Water Blade]. [Water Blade]!" Casting continuously, her mana was burnt down by a good amount.

As a result, however, Aria was able to see the ogre's health bar go down by thousands of points.

[The Red Ogre is experiencing heavy bleeding. It will continuously lose health.]

[The Red Ogre lost its vision. Its senses and agility will decrease.]

The health bar was now in the 7000s, 5000 points less than its original HP.

The ogre seemed to have noticed the change in his condition as he wailed an angry roar.

GROARRR!!!

The rage bar rose up exponentially, reaching the maximum number in less than a minute.

"Kid, retreat!" Aria shouted.

Having been warned, Yoo Jin was quick on the uptake as he got down from his attacking spot and backed away.

The ogre rose up from his fall and made hasty, uncoordinated steps towards Aria. His goal was to land one blow. One fatal blow.

He knew that the girl in front of him would not be a match to him in terms of raw strength.

"Foolish... FOOLISH!!" He made a short dash. Although it was only a few steps, the ogre was able to travel to Aria's position.

He did not care about his weapon anymore. In the first place, the size was too large, even for an ogre. Swinging it around caused a delay and didn't showcase his maximum potential.

Using his bare hands, he smashed his hand through the wall and scattered wild debris everywhere.

Aria was eventually hit by a stray boulder and was knocked to the ground due to the velocity amassed from the power it exerted.

"Guh!" Aria groaned. The stone had struck her on her thighs, nailing the sharp edge into the flesh. The [Tempered Body] skill was not able to block the entire blast.

Knowing that she would be in danger if she hesitated to move, she struggled to get up and run from the ogre's attack range.

"Dianthe! Heal me!" Leaving the regenerative department to the spirit, she manipulated the water streams to wash her away from the incoming strike.

The ogre was not playing around, it rampaged with the intention of pulverizing Aria.

Although the act of flooding herself away the same way she did with the monsters she fought discomforted her, it had to be done.

She removed the lodged stone and immediately felt Dianthe's power restore the wound with her best ability.

It wasn't much, but it soothed the wound.

She was able to move again, but she was reminded of the 7000 points she had to drain.

It had unexpectedly entered rampage mode with only the depletion of 5000 points. The rest of the fight, they would have to face the strengthened ogre.

Aria chuckled. If so, she'd charge even more, her skill would protect her even more.

"Yoo Jin! My sword is stuck in his abdominal area! I'll distract his attacks, I want you to waste your full force on drilling that shitty blade real deep!" Aria instructed. She was confident that she could outdo the ogre in agility. As long as she avoided every single thing that could put her in a critical state, her skill would take care of the rest.

"Got it!" The two had gotten better at coordinating their movements. Yoo Jin, who had retreated picked his pace back up and charged towards the large entity, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Like the System said, the ogre's senses and agility were dulled down. He wasn't aware of Yoo Jin's presence. His focus was targeted towards Aria.

'Dianthe, throw some more water blades at that guy's face while I dodge.' Due to her experience in battle, she was able to stay composed even after she was injured. The injury couldn't be compensated fully.

Knowing that the Spirit would definitely know what she meant, Aria made several maneuvers to arrive at the ogre's arms.

When the ogre swung his arms to shake Aria off, Dianthe did as instructed and launched several water blades at his face, concentrated around his eyes.

[The Red Ogre is experiencing severe bleeding. It will continuously lose health.]

The amount of health was decreasing at a visible rate. From 7000, it had gone down to the lower 4000s.

The ogre's movements grew more and more aggressive as it struck everywhere, leaving Yoo Jin the leisure of creeping up to the ogre's abdomen and landing a heavy blow to the sword's handle.

The ogre's blood spluttered everywhere. The blow cost him more than a thousand points.

It cried tears of blood as it cracked the floor and lifted the created boulder with bare hands.

It was driven by desperation, he knew that Aria's agility was higher than him.

He wasn't willing to die a meaningless death. He wanted to take down at least one victim.

His target changed to Yoo Jin.

Sensing what the ogre's intentions were, Aria dashed to Yoo Jin's side and clicked her tongue.

There wasn't enough time to dodge due to the boulder's astronomical size.

Parry it? Impossible.

The Ogre's raw strength was not something she could handle.

Aria looked at the child behind her with regret as she threw him as far as she could, escaping the boulder's range.

She didn't care about her life, but Yoo Jin was still young.

'My mana is depleted when I need it the most.' Aria could only curse her bad luck.

She would not make it in time if she wanted to summon Dianthe and borrow mana from her.

'Am I going to die here?'

The world seemed to slow down as she watched the boulder hurling at her rise in speed, eliminating her chances of escaping even more.

'At least I'd have saved one more life.'

She already gave up on persisting.

Waiting out the next few seconds before her doom, she closed her eyes.

Tranquility.

Peace.

Silence.

Seconds passed.

'...?' Aria, who had been awaiting the hit, slowly opened her eyes.

To her shock, she found the red ogre's movements frozen in the air.

Not only the ogre, but also Yoo Jin.

The entire world stopped.

'What in the entire..?' Aria frowned.

She was also unable to move.

She could only use her eyes to try and decipher the situation.

'Stopping time is impossible. Not even I can do it!' Aria was indignant over the events.

Before long, a notification came from the System.

[Conditions have been met.]

[Skill obtained: [Armor Break].]