2 The Best Heroes Have Perfect Timing
"Hell no! I'm not risking shit for you!"
A fist pounded into the table, making the man's intentions clear.
Four people were gathered on a grassy hill under a setting red sun. Each was fully geared up and ready to challenge any boss the game could provide. From a guardian in full plate to a rogue in a cloak to a mage in an ornate robe to a gauntlet-wearing brawler.
Beyond the hillside, only a couple hundred meters away, a perimeter was formed around an ancient, fiendish archway in the middle of the flowery meadow.
At the top of the arch, words were clawed into the indestructible stone.
[World Boss, Raykahl]
Beneath those words were holographic numbers suspended inside the archway. It was a countdown with barely twenty minutes left.
Still irate, the brawler lifted his hand from the table and pointed at the guardian. "Give me one good reason why I should share our secrets with you! Just so you can steal the world boss for yourselves?"
"I'm asking for the greater good," the guardian replied with a loud but solemn tone. "I think we can all agree that the Menace shouldn't be given an easy target. And the only way to guarantee his failure is by working together and sharing information."
"Yeah, and put your guilds before my own," the brawler retorted with a sneer.
A second of silence lingered there… with everyone thinking the same thing deep down…
"We do not know much," the sorceress spoke up. "We only have reported leaks regarding a fourth world in development."
The cloaked rogue instantly deduced, "Are you suggesting that this thing is how the devs plan to announce the next expansion? With a surprise, unannounced world boss?"
The sorceress shrugged. "That's the most reliable information I have. If you have anything to add, please do."
Sighing, the rogue scanned the faces of his fellow guild masters. "Well… we found leaks about an unnamed world boss. If this Raykahl happens to be the very same boss, there's a chance of a hidden health bar."
Everyone else was taken aback by that news.
That's when the guardian took his turn the share, "I don't have anything like that. But I have taken the initiative to monitor the Menace from afar. I've men posted all around Guild Shinee to keep watch for the past three hours. We're also monitoring their nearest outpost and all surrounding cities for fast travel.
"So far, there've been zero reports of suspicious activity and zero sightings."
Amongst a barrage of nods, the brawler quickly became the last to share his intel.
"... Well…" the brawler groaned and glanced at the passing timer in the archway. "... I've got nothing."
While the other three groaned, the brawler yelled with assertion, "But I won't let any other guild claim this kill! The Blitz Guild won't stand for it!"
"Good luck given your lack of information," the rogue scoffed, turning away from the table. "If there's nothing left to share, I must get going. I have a party to command."
The sorceress was the next to march off. "Same. I can't believe I wasted time and information with you idiots."
"Come back!" the guardian cried out. "What of the Menace? He's only got one left, and it's impossible for him to not show up this time!"
"Cries the man who's watching the Menace's every move," remarked the sorceress. "If you have no reports of his movement by now, then he's not showing up. He'll arrive too late to do anything, other than die against all of our forces."
The brawler sauntered down the hill. "Just face it. You're too worried about a little goblin to think about the world boss. Why don't you head back home and let Blitz Guild handle this?"
"Tower Guild won't stand down so easily!" the guardian yelled at the brawler's back. "And we won't let the Menace steal from us again. Unlike you fools, we will never forgive nor forget everything that man has taken from us! You're the idiots for not listening to reason!"
But the guardian was already left alone on the hill. All he could do was put the table back in his storage ring and walk back toward his bannermen.
Four separate groups made up the perimeter, each with a different flag held high; a crossing gauntlet and sword, a tower shield, a crystal ball with an ivy staff, and twin daggers pointed down, dripping blood.
But no eyes were on the flags. All eyes were locked onto the timer, even while receiving hushed orders from their guild masters.
… And time passed slowly. Gradually. Inside the realistic VRMMORPG, the day-night cycle felt too real as it made the last five minutes feel dragged out…
"... Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight!"
"Seven!"
When they reached the end of the countdown, all hundred people roared in unison alongside the timer.
"Six!"
"Five!"
But there were a couple of people who hesitated to count before double-checking their surroundings. Both the guardian and the brawler guild masters performed double and triple takes to make sure a certain goblin was nowhere in sight.
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
Dooooshhhhhh…
A gong-like sound echoed out of the world gate. When a cascade of energy draped down the archway, opening a rift, the shrill hiss of air flooded the flowery meadow.
Then, not even a second later, something stepped out of the world gate. Only… the being was far too small compared to the monstrously huge world gate.
It was a catkin, a humanoid with feline features dressed in dazzling silver and red armor. If they hadn't witnessed the catkin exit the world gate, no one would've guessed the man to be a world boss of any sort.
With a fiery red mane, the lion man licked his lips and looked all around him, getting a feel for the armed crowd surrounding him.
He didn't have any weapons at first. But a massive greatsword abruptly appeared out of thin air as the world gate behind the lion man faded out of existence.
"The hell…" grumbled the brawler guild master, stunned.
The rogue guild master squinted and readied his knives. "Was that a storage item?"
All of the players were wondering the same thing. And the lion man had no reactions, aside from a wicked, wide-spread smirk.
That's when a name and health bar appeared for all players to see.
[Raykahl, The ??? ???]
[HP: ????/????]
Some people were too caught up in the mystery to act. But the guild masters wouldn't let anything stop them from striking first.
"ATTACK!!"
Four leaders yelled in concert, rushing their twenty-five-man parties forward.
Fireballs burst! Lightning crackled! Tempests swirled! Ice cracked apart!
A torrent of high-level spells and skills was launched into the world boss from all sides, unleashing a lot of time-consuming abilities that were paired with the countdown for high efficiency.
Some players rushed to impede the rival guild masters. The rest maintained their formations, attacking the unusual world boss with as much frequency as possible.
And, to the shock and disappointment of players, the lion man tanked the attacks while losing almost half of his HP.
"No way!" the brawler cackled mid-charge. "Talk about easy peasy–"
Chtink! Crack! Thud, thud, thud.
Just when everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, one player was launched back into his comrades. His split shield flew away in halves. And before any fellow guild members could administer first aid, the player de-pixelated in their arms.
Two others had been knocked back as well, though they had only gotten caught in the attack thanks to the sword's incredible reach. They were lucky to receive heavy damage and half-destroyed shields in place of instant death.
CHTINK! Thud! Thud!
Another two were sent flying as the catkin guardian was wielding his enormous greatsword as if it were a paper fan, killing at least one player with each effortless swing.
"How off-balance can a build be?!" the guardian guild master bellowed in shock, storming to the front line to challenge the world boss. This time, none of the rival guilds dared to stop him. "Guardians, wall on me!"
"Don't stop firing!" shouted the leading sorceress. "Give him hell!"
The rogue guild master wasn't lagging either. "Archers! Now!"
"Let 'er rip, Blitz!" the brawler howled.
A rain of arrows and magic cascaded into the center of the meadow. In desperation, it was as if each guild master had taken command of each others' guilds in a swell of instantaneous desperation.
However the guardian guild master moved, that was how all tank-based classes acted in unison. All archers across all guilds followed the lead of the rogue guild master. Each mage present acted under the leading sorceress's command without a second thought. And every DPS class waited behind the front line for whenever the lead brawler would charge in next.
Yet… they just stood there and watched as the world boss's health dropped again. And again. And again. Without the world boss ever charging back at them.
In record time, the world boss hit red health. And he still stood there under the rain of magic and arrows.
"... What's going on!?" yelled the lead brawler. "This can't be for real, right?"
"I have no idea!" the guardian shouted, looking over his shoulder.
"Calm down, iron britches!" cackled the brawler. "That little gobby is way too late if this kitty cat is so easy to put down!"
Koosh! Koosh! Koosh!
While all eyes were on the world boss, smoke bombs exploded all around the tight, hundred-man perimeter.
"You were saying?!" the Guardian bellowed through the smoke.
"Ha, ha, ha!" A new, rambunctious voice snickered through the tension. "If you think this is easy, then just wait for round two!"
All players coughed while trying to cover their mouths. Four players, however, were acting on the hint given by the newest arrival. All the guild masters peered through the growing smoke clouds.
Just before the smoke could cover up the stationary catkin boss, they saw the HP bar drop to zero.
"Oh, ho, ho… Now we can fight!"
Chtink! Ch-chtink! Crack, Chtink!
Suddenly, an ominous, inhumanly deep voice reverberated through the smoke. And while no one could pinpoint who was speaking, almost everyone could spot a tank player sent flying in their vicinity.
"OUT OF THE SMOKE!!" the guardian guild master roared in alarm. All of his gamer senses were tingling in all of the wrong ways. "Hurry! Move–"
"Found you!"
Before the lead guardian could finish his command, that deep voice appeared in front of him. And out of the smoke came a lion man with a flaming mane and a greatsword doused in black-red fire.
The guardian prepared his strongest defense, activated his best deflecting and damage-reducing skills, and readied his most stable stance out of reflex. That instant was proof of his experience as the Tower Guild's founder and master.
Yet, despite all of that man's frontline experience, the guild master had never before felt his heartbeat spike so harshly.
Chtink! C-CRACK!
The top third of his tower shield was knocked away after being scraped off like icing from a cake. That flaming sword had no issues piercing the armor and shield whatsoever.
"Guild Master!"
The guildsmen were aghast as their leader was sent flying out of the smoke. But he wasn't the last man who got a free ride on catkin airlines.
Almost half a dozen tank players were knocked back when they tried to stand between the world boss and their fallen guild master.
There was one positive to the world boss's unruly charge, though. The catkin guardian boss had been lured out of the smoke clouds. Now, everyone could see that flaming mane and sword, along with embers leaking from the folds of the boss's full plate armor.
"Heroes!" the world boss roared to the heavens with his greatsword aloft. "I am Raykahl, the Solar Sentinel! Kill me if you're able! Death awaits all those incapable!"
There were still over eighty players left to fight, with the guardian guild master barely alive. Yet no one could raise their weapon in retaliation. Not in the face of Raykahl's fully replenished, unnumbered health bar.
"Who the hell are you!?" the brawler guild master howled in confusion and rage, although he didn't dare take a step closer.
"This is a world boss…?" Trembling, the sorceress clung to her staff for support.
Meanwhile, the rogue was too baffled to do or say anything. Everything he knew about world bosses and game logic had seemingly been thrown out the window by someone, some monster barely bigger than any regular player running a catkin guardian.
"If none dare to try…" Raykahl cackled with a thrumming purr. "Then I shall make this quick!"
K-rrrip! K-rrrip!
Just when the flaming lion man prepared to lunge into the nearest crowd of heroes, two slashes streaked across his back.
The boss calmed his mad gaze and straightened his stance. His tail slowly swayed while looking at his back. He watched a tidbit of blood trickle out of the two new slits in his armor. "Oh, ho, ho… We have a proper challenger."
Without another word, flames expanded from Raykahl's body too fast for anyone to avoid. But they stopped after going fifty meters in all directions. The black and red fire formed a perpetual barrier around the irregular world boss. It burned and drove back everyone nearby. All except for the challenger hidden in the smoke.
"You're some kind of player, ain't you?" a higher-pitched yet still masculine voice replied from the edge of the smoke, which was quickly dispersing thanks to the barrier.
Raykahl took his time turning around to face his new challenger. He swung his greatsword once, clearing all smoke nearby. And a predatory smirk sank into the catkin's face.
Across from the lion man stood a goblin only 1.6 meters tall. His green skin was exposed for everyone to see thanks to his lack of all things armor.
On his feet was a pair of crudely crafted flip-flops. Around his hip was a matching brown loincloth. He carried a long dagger in each hand with nothing covering his torso. Atop the goblin's head was a flower pot, with his long ears drooping backward and three holes poked in the pot's face. Two for his eyes and one for his long, protruding nose. Through the hole in the flower pot's base, a thick tuft of coarse red hair stuck out like feathers in a commander's helmet.
"Howdy do, Raykahl? It's an honor to loot you," the goblin declared through the flower pot.
"... Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho," Raykahl couldn't help but cackle. "Speak your name, challenger. You have earned my interest."
"Rizzio McKlank Von Thong! Menace of Trodar!" howled the cocky goblin. "But you can call me Rizz, Mr. Fake Boss. Cause the Rizz is undeniable! And I always get what I want!"
