Chapter 11

50th Floor Boss

June 1st, 2026

Stonefront Chasm, Floor 50

We stood before silently before the large stone doors that would lead us to the boss room. Every guilds best fighters were here, making our total well over a hundred players, but that was to be expected. This boss was one of the quarter bosses, and after last time, we needed all the help we could get.

No one spoke the entire day, too nervous or scared of the impending fight. It was very disconcerting to be in such a large group while there was barely any sound, but I barely noticed. I off in the corner of the room we were currently resting in, off in my own little world. I wondered if we really had a chance against this boss. After the disaster with the last quarter boss, I truly wasn't sure.

Looking over the assembled group I couldn't help but wonder how many of them would die today.

"Hey." I turned towards Raven, who had just approached me.

"Hey."

"So how've you been?" she asked in a slightly awkward voice.

"I've been good," I responded dryly. "You?"

"Fine." She sat down next to me and we fell into a slightly strained silence. "Do you think we'll survive?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Do you think we'll survive?" she repeated. "In your honest opinion, do you think that we can beat the floor boss?"

"Oh," I muttered in understanding. I looked down at the ground in thought. "I...I don't know."

"Oh." I immediately cursed myself when I heard the depressed tone in her voice.

"I-I mean, we've got a good chance!" I said quickly. "I mean we've got the strongest players of the game here! There's no way we can lose."

I inwardly winced at the cheesiness of my voice. Seriously, that was such a cliché that it belonged in an 80's movie!

"You don't have to lie, DJ." I jumped slightly at Raven's voice. Looking at her I saw that she was giving me a small smile. "I asked for you honest opinion, not some washed up optimistic reassurance."

My eyes widened in surprise before I smiled slightly. Raven always one that hated coddling, she always liked to here the blunt truth rather than a merciful lie.

I sighed in defeat. "I...I really don't know," I relented. "We've got a lot of good players, but I don't know what to expect. The quarter bosses aren't like other bosses. Their supposed to be more difficult to fight and I really don't know if we can beat it, even with all of us."

"Man, talk about blunt," Raven laughed.

"You wanted an honest answer!" I said defensively.

"Whoa, chill," Raven said, raising her hands in a placating manner. "I was just messing with you."

I huffed indigently before turning away, much to Raven's amusement. The awkwardness air that had initially surrounded us evaporated, allowing us to sit in comfortable silence. After about a couple minutes, she broke the silence.

"Thank you." I turned and gave her a curious look.

"For what?" She smiled shyly at me, something that stunned me at the time.

"For being truthful with me," she said. "You're not afraid to say that your unsure, something that most people wouldn't do. You don't go around making false promises that everything's going to be alright or spewing some other bullshit like that."

"Language," I chided without any real bite.

"Whatever," she said with an eye roll. "We're stuck in a death game. I think we have the right to curse."

"True," I agreed.

"Anyway, I just wanted to thank you," she said, blushing lightly.

"You don't need to thank me," I said, waving off her thanks.

"Yes I do," she insisted. "and not just for your honesty, but for everything that you've done for not just me, but everyone." She took a deep breath before continuing. "You took the fall for all the beta testers back on the first floor, you put up with the constant hatred, you've saved multiple players, and you got rid of that psychopath, Dagur! You did all of that without even asking for a thank you!"

My face grew warm as she recounted my achievements before mumbling, "I don't need any thanks."

"And that's what I'm talking about! You do all of this out of the goodness of your heart. I don't think anyone would go through all of that without asking for anything in return." She pinned me with a penetrating stare. "So why? Why would you be so selfless?"

I turned away from her and stared at the ground. "I've always been like that," I answered. "My dad...died when I was young, but I always remember what he told me. He wished for me to do what I could to help those who can't help themselves." I looked up at the sky in thought, remembering a time when my dad would sit me down and talk about his life and his passion.

"He was in the army when he was alive," I continued. "He told me that he joined because he wanted to make a difference. He wanted to help those who weren't strong enough to help themselves." I felt my eyes misted a little and I furiously rubbed my eyes. "His goal, his desire...he passed it on to me. When he died, I made a vow that I would honor his last wish, to help those who can't help themselves."

When I didn't hear Raven respond I took the chance and glanced at her. Her gaze was solely focused on me. Her eyes were slightly misty with unshed tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah...I'm fine." She wiped her eyes before returning her attention back to me. "That's...that's a sad story. I'm sorry for what you had to go through."

"Yeah, well...what you gonna' do?" I asked, sheepishly scratching the back of my head. "You can't change the past, so you don't have to apologize."

"I know, but..." she trailed off before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. I guess now I know why you do what you do."

"Yeah..."

That uncomfortable silence was back.

"DJ..." I looked at her.

"Hmm?"

"I..I just wanted to say I'm grateful." Her face was almost as red as a tomato and she couldn't meet my eyes.

"For what?" I questioned.

"For what your father." She raised her head, meeting my gaze. "For everything he taught you that made you who you are today."

"Raven..."

"DJ, I..."

I honestly didn't realize how close we were to each other. She began to lean forward and I unconsciously mimicked her movements. We were inches apart and closing. My heart was beating a mile a minute. We were centimeters away. Millimeters...

"Hey guys!" We jumped apart at the sudden voice, our faces bright red. We looked towards the offending voice and saw Uno smiling widely at us. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"NO!" both Raven and I shouted in unison.

"Oh, okay," he said uncertainly. "Anyway, we're getting ready to enter the boss room, so you guys might want to get ready." With that he walked off to inform more players.

Both of us sighed in relief when Uno left. We glanced at each other nervously before we got to our feet.

"Sooo..." I said awkwardly.

"Yeah," she said in an equally awkwardly. "I'll see you in the boss room?"

"Yeah, see you," I confirmed, a strained smile playing across my lips.

She gave me one last smile before walking off to find her guild. When she was out of sight, I sighed deeply, placing my back against the wall. What had just happened?

-Virtual-

Our raiding party entered the room cautiously, scoping the room for any danger. To our surprise, like the 25th floor, the room's layout wasn't like a normal boss room. Instead of the standard chamber-like room, this room reminded me of the Roman Colosseum. The stone bleachers were dilapidated, cracks and missing sections being prominent. There was an emperor's box at the top, but like the bleachers, it was decrepit and falling apart. Rusted cell doors that were ruffly twenty feet tall lined the entirety of the coliseum.

Another thing I noted was that it was completely empty. There were no spectators, no emperor, nothing. The only sound that could be heard was our muffled footsteps across the sandy floor. It was ominous to say the least.

Once we had reached the center of the room we grouped up, forming a tight circle as to not be caught off guard if the boss were to appear from any angle. We waited with bated breath for the boss to appear. All of a sudden a loud trumpet echoed through the colosseum.

We tensed at the sound, looking around frantically for the source of the sound. Before we could ascertain where the sound originated from, it stopped. Shortly afterwards, the rusted bars directly ahead of us shuttered before slowly raising.

We all faced the door, glaring in apprehension as the doors continued to rise. When the door finally reached its cap we waited in bated breath for the boss to enter the arena. For several seconds, nothing appeared. Many of us began to glance at one another with confused yet cautious expressions on our faces. Then, two glowing red eyes cut through the darkness, glaring at us with pure hatred.

A loud guttural roar cut through the silence followed by a thud and another and another. Before we knew it, we were staring down a fifteen foot humanoid wearing bronze centurion armor complete with a blood-red cape. A plumed helmet covered his face from view, leaving only his red eyes visible.

In his hands were a large shield and a twenty foot spear, the shaft coming up at ruffly fifteen feat tall. The spear head was a bright crimson with a gold finish and was about five feet on its own. His shield, mimicking his color scheme, was bronze with a red wolf head emblazoned on it.

I mentally cursed when I saw the boss's spear. Spears were primarily used to attack those from a distance while simultaneously keeping the enemy at bay. If we hoped to do any damage against this boss, we would have to avoid that spear.

The behemoth roared, as if challenging us to face it in battle. By its head four health bars appeared along with the name 'Mars'.

Mars, the roman god of war. How fitting.

"ATTACK!" someone shouted, eliciting shouts from everyone as they charged forward.

Like usual, spell casters stayed away from the boss's range of attacks while the rest of us surrounded the boss and attacked it from all sides. This tactic was used to divert a boss's attention and make confused and uncertain of whom to attack. That's how normal bosses react to this tactic. That's not how Mars reacted.

Mars gazed at us impassively, not that I could tell considering his eyes were literally just dots of light. As we started to attack, he raised his spear and with an almost lazily flick of his wrist, swept his spear across the field.

Thankfully, after fighting multiple bosses that have preformed similar techniques, we were able to either dodge or block that attack. Much to our surprise, instead of following up with another attack, Mars leapt backwards into the air, jumping over several players that had attempted to flank him.

He landed with an earth shattering boom, kicking up a plume of sand into the air. He raised his spear high into the air, the head gaining a golden glow, before thrusting it at us with blinding speed. Unlike his last attack, the players were caught off guard by this attack. Some, like myself, were able to dodge the blinding assault, but others received several gashes across their bodies.

Seeing their comrades in danger, the spell casters simultaneously launched a volley of different spells at Mars. Unperturbed by the wave of spells, Mars raised his shield, deflecting the majority of the attacks. The spells that managed to get through his guard did a considerable amount of damage, though not enough to be substantial.

Taking advantage of his current position, the front line fighters and I charged forward. Mars saw us advancing and lashed out at us with his spear. Some were hit, but the rest of us were able to dodge the attack and get in close enough to deal damage.

As soon as we got in range, we unloaded on the boss; attacking him with our strongest attacks. Gashes littered Mars' legs and lower torso, but he remained seemingly unconcerned. Not only that, but Mars seemed to be able to predict our moves. Yes he took damage, but a lot less than a normal boss would have when faced with so many attackers.

He maneuvered through our ranks all the while keeping us from getting behind him. He deflected hits with his giant shield and kept us back with his spear. He also was able to dodge the hail of arrows that was continuously fired at him by the few archers of the group.

Kane really went all out when designing this boss. Almost every monster in the game would scarcely dodge an attack; favoring attacking wildly. But Mars, he acted like an actual warrior. He dodged, blocked, and moved constantly. It was like he was thinking, anticipating our moves and tactics before coming up with counter attacks. Not only that, but he actively seek out the spell casters and any other players that tried to hide in the back. It was honestly like fighting a human.

We were forced to improvise as our initial tactic had failed. We attacked mercilessly, doing our best to damage the boss, but Mars was just as brutal. He hadn't killed anybody yet, but he got pretty damn close on several occasions when he decided to go after the spell casters. Eventually we were able to back him into a literal corner, limiting his movements. Every time he tried to jump over us the spell casters immediately shot him back down with their most powerful spells. He was stuck.

We continued to wail on the boss, making it nigh impossible for Mars to defend himself. We began to steadily bleed Mars' health away as we continued to attack. Soon he was down to just one health bar.

While other players were ecstatic over this, I was immediately put on guard. If our fight against the Wakua Beast had taught me anything was that the quarter bosses were not this easy to fight. Sure Mars was hard to hit with his human-like way of fighting, but that level of difficulty was more along the lines of a high level boss, not a quarter boss. From what I could gather -which admittedly wasn't very much as we had only fought one other quarter boss- a quarter boss had some special ability that made it leagues above other floor bosses. Mars had something up his sleeve, and I feared what it was.

Unfortunately, I had no time to contemplate on what this ability could be before the last of Mars' health was depleted.

A cheer began to erupt through the raid party at the supposed defeat of the boss. They were all ecstatic, thinking that they had defeated the boss without casualty. Some, like me, were skeptical over such an easy win and were watching the unmoving boss with trepidation.

After receiving the last hit, Mars froze. He stood like that, his body a rigid as a statue, for about a minute. By that point, the cheers had died out as everyone realized that the boss had not burst into pixels and were now watching the giant cautiously. Unsure of what was happening, we were caught off guard when Mars released an abrupt groan/roar of pain and anguish. His spear fell from his hand, shattering as soon as it touched the ground, as his body was engulfed in a light that was bright enough to force us to avert our gazes.

When the light finally faded, and we were able to return our gazes to the boss, we were taken aback by his new armor. Unlike his previous armor that exposed his biceps, thighs, and neck, his new armor covered everything. There was not a sliver of skin that was exposed under his bronze armor. It could also be noted that the armor seemed a lot bulkier, becoming more reminiscent of a knight's armor with the same roman style. I also noted that he no longer wore a cape.

To our horror, his health bars filled back up, leaving him with four brand new health bars. We had to beat him all over myself.

I really hate when I'm right.

Mars raised his hand to the sky and summoned a large red mace, roaring with renewed fury. Without missing a beat, Mars swung his mace at us, forcing all of us to back away swiftly. With no target, Mars' mace slammed into the ground, causing the entire arena to shake from the force.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I heard a player shout.

Keeping a snide comment from escaping my mouth, I charged forward, banking on Mars' new armor would keep him from reacting too fast, I attacked viciously. To my horror -though not my surprise- my attack did very little to Mars.

Gritting my teeth, I jumped back in order to avoid a mace swing from the boss. Sliding back, I watched as several other players ran past me and delivered their own attacks against the armored boss. Mars raised his shield against the attacks, blocking most of the attacks, but the few that go through did little damage.

The archers took this as a cue to fire arrow after arrow at the boss. However, the boss's armor negated a majority of the damage, much like it did against our weapons. Even with sword skills, we were barely making any headway.

Seeing their attacks were doing very little, the spell casters took it upon themselves to unleash their most powerful spells upon the boss. Fireballs rained, lightning streaked through the air, spiritual beasts roared and clawed. It was madness. All the while the close combat fighters attacked along with the archers, attempting to do as much damage as the possibly could.

Despite all of this, Mars stood strong. He deflected and blocked attack after attack, not even flinching when an attack made contact. He was relentless with his attacks, swiping at all that got within range of his weapon. Few were struck by his attack, but those who were were knocked back into the air. Despite the incredible knock back that the weapon appeared to have, the attacks didn't do as much damage as I thought it would.

We had been fighting for who knows how long and it was beginning to take its toll. Soon, spell casters were guzzling down potions to restore their magic and others were downing stat spells in order to do more damage.

At one point, I found myself fighting next to Reaper, defending against Mars' attack while doing damage when we could. Once when Mars had attempted to smash us into the dirt, we leapt over his arm, kicking off of the limb and slashing at his upper torso with extreme prejudice. Both of our attacks did a considerable amount of damage -in terms of the amount that we were doing to Mars in this form-, actually eliciting a cry of pain from the behemoth. When we touched down, Reaper shot me a smug grin before he was launched through the air when Mars swung around and hit him. I knew he was okay as Mars' attacks weren't doing that much damage, so I tried not to worry.

After many, many minutes, and basically every potion that we held, we managed to finish of the last of Mars' health. Like last time, Mars' body froze before he dropped both his mace and shield. A loud cracking noise drew our attention to the spiderweb cracks that were currently spreading across his armor. The cracks continued to spread until it shattered revealing another set of armor under it.

His helmet was still in place, completely unchanged, but the rest of his armor was different. Gone was the total body armor, in its place was a leather chest piece. Unlike that armor, the bronze sabatons were replaced by leather sandals. His arms, legs, and hands were completely uncovered, revealing bronzed and muscular body to the world. The armor also seemed to be a lot lighter than either of the two previous armors.

With a challenging roar, Mars summoned a red broad sword into his hands and swung it before we could react. Fortunately, or unfortunately, only three people were struck. Unfortunately because that one strike was able to deplete them completely of health.

We could only stare slack-jawed as three of our players were just taken out like they were nothing. We were broken from our stupor as Mars released an almost feral battle cry and charged us. We tried to shore up our lines, but were stopped when Mars smashed into us.

He hacked and slashed at us with a kind of bestial fury that he had not demonstrated. It was like he had been completely fallen into a rage induced state where all his cognitive thought was replaced by an animalistic desire to kill. He had become like all the other bosses, except with the strength of ten of them.

We defended the best we could, dodging and deflecting and occasionally jumping behind the guardians and their shields, but we were taking damage. The spell casters had tried to help with attacking, but they had used up almost all of their spells against Mars' previous forms. It was then that I realized what his previous form's true intention was.

It wasn't to just be an annoying fight, it was so that we'd exhaust our potions! It was all so that the spell casters would use all their magic restoring potions so they couldn't use any of their stronger spells against this form!

I couldn't afford to dwell on my sudden revelation, Mars was tearing through us, taking out player after player with each attack, and I needed to help.

I weaved through the panicking players and confronted Mars. Mars barely spared me a glance before slashing at me with his sword. I brought up my sword and grunted as I was forced back from the attack. Thankfully, I was able to stave off the damage from the hit. Recovering swiftly, I dove at the boss and slashed him across his thigh.

Ares bellowed in pain from my attack. My eyes widened when almost a quarter of Mars' health was depleted from my assault. That was the trade off for having such a high attack stat; he had low defense!"

"HIS DEFESE STAT IS LOW!" I roared at the others, cutting through their terrified shouts of the raid party.

Two things happened at my declaration. One: the rest of the raid party heard me and began to bolster their lines and two: Mars heard me. As if he understood what I was saying, Mars' attention became solely focused on me.

Me and my big mouth.

I was forced on the defense as Mars came at me like a whirlwind, slashing and stabbing with renewed ferocity. While I was fairly certain I could survive one hit, but several? I would have been just another burst of pixels. Honestly, if it wasn't for Silfarion and its speed boost, I would be dead. Everything around me blurred together as I weaved through Mars' attacks at speeds that would make a cheetah jealous. I attempted to counter with attacks of my own, but Mars was almost as fast as me. He dodged or parried all of my attacks, pressing me back with more attacks. I couldn't retreat either as he would follow me, not even breaking in his attacks. I didn't dare attempt to use a sword skill as I knew that, even if I hit, the second that the system took to deactivate, I would be toast.

Thankfully, I wasn't facing Mars alone for long -or at least I thought it wasn't long, I honestly couldn't tell. Mars, completely focused on me, was blindsided by several players attacking his unprotected back.

Mars shouted in pain before whirling around and glaring at the offending players. Taking the chance, I leapt into the air and activated Heaven's Descent. Leaving the signature three x's across Mars' back, the rest of his first health bar disappeared. My elation over the damage I had dealt was short lived as Mars spun around to face me once more. The enraged boss raised his sword high, the signature light of a sword skill engulfing his blade, and slashed at me.

I swear I could see my life flash before my eyes as the blade inched closer and closer. At the last second, Kent appeared before me, his shield raised. With a loud clang, Mars' sword met Kent's shield, sending him sliding into me and me to the ground, the spikes on Kent's armor digging into my body and dealing a small bit of damage. Wincing from the jarring hit, Kent swung his shield arm to the side, catching Mars' sword with one of its spikes, and pushed Mars' sword away. He then lunged forward and stabbed the boss in the gut.

With another shout of pain, Mars stepped back in order to put distance between him and Kent, but was assaulted by other players who had regained their courage and began assaulting the boss. Feeling control over my body, I leapt to me feet, muttered a quick "Thanks" to Kent, and leapt into the fray.

Emboldened by the decline in Mars' health, we all attacked at once. We managed to surround the weakening boss, throwing everything that we had in a desperate attempt to end the horror that was Mars. However, Mars was not just standing their idly. He attacked us furiously, rage filling him with an almost desperate attempt at survival. He killed player after player, tearing through our lines like they were nothing, but it was all for naught.

In Mars' final moments I caught Reaper preforming a skill that was reminiscent on Iaido, the art of swiftly unsheathing then resheathing one's blade. Just after this, Maximus weaved behind Mars and stabbed him several times in the ankle. Kent, not being one to be outdone, slashed and hacked with a primal ferocity. At the same time Raven used the same skill that Yatagarasu had used to drain our health.

Seeing an opportunity, I ran forward and unleashed my high speed sword skill. I slashed violently at Mars, shouting in rage, adrenaline pumping through my veins like blood. Mars managed to deflect some of my attacks, his speed being a close match to my own, but he was still helpless against the lightning quick slashes of my sword.

My attack finished and to my increasing horror, Mars still had a sliver of health left in his final bar. He turned almost painstakingly slow towards me, his glowing red eyes flashing with hatred. He swung his sword down at me in an attempt to finally end my existence. He almost succeeded too, if it weren't for a certain shop owner jumping to my rescue.

Taking a chance, Uno had run through the other archers and through the surrounding players and stood in front of me. Raising his crossbow, he fired one of his signature alchemic bolts, this one igniting in flames shortly after its release. The flaming bolt soared through the air, flying right past Mars' swinging sword, and shot right Mars in one of his glowing eyes.

Mars form froze, his sword stopping an inch from me and Uno. We all tensed, waiting to see if Mars had a third form up his sleeve. Thankfully, Mars gave a final groan in pain and defeat before bursting into pixels, the customary 'Congratulations' screen appearing before us. But none of us celebrated. There was nothing to celebrate.

Looking around I counted ruffly thirty players. Thirty out of over one hundred players were left. Over seventy percent of our party had been killed by this boss. Only one though was going through our collective minds.

Could we really get to the hundredth floor?