So, after so many chapters of failure, do we finally have victory? I promised a few chapters ago that we will, but who's to say that I do not go back on my word? Get ready for a battle, guys, because this is the longest fight chapter I've ever written.

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An epic orchestra echoed throughout the room as the raid team fought the boss. The thunderous drums and latin chorus provided fitting background music for the battle.

Crocea Mors was experiencing a nightmare the likes of which should never have to be experienced while awake.

The boss hit harder, moved faster, and was overall more powerful than they anticipated. Their numbers seemed to be enough to get it down to its second health bar but progress was slow. And that wasn't even the worst of it.

He had a lot of things to keep track of: the health of the boss; the average health of each team; the positions of the teams in relation to the boss; The sword techs the boss used; The cool downs of the players; and a whole lot more. His mind was working on overdrive just to keep up with it all - and even then, it was barely enough.

Crocea noted the boss' shield glowing cyan. [Ilfang] was going to use a sword tech.

"Tank A, intercept that [Battering Ram]! Tank B, Strength Team, do a combination attack and stun it!"

The boss' charge attack was met with a thunderous ~gong~ as three players simultaneously unleashed their sword techs. Both Tank team A and the boss recoiled upon impact. Quickly, Tank team B and Strength team activated their own sword techs and unleashed and even more powerful combination attack to further stun the boss.

"Five seconds!" Crocea yelled.

Within that time frame, all players in range began attacking the boss in a wild frenzy, backing away right as it regained its wits and roared in anger.

[Ilfang] crouched down and and got ready for a back-hand swing with its ax. Recognizing the telegraphed attack, Crocea called for another intercept by Tank team A.

Then he remembered something. His eyes widened. No. Too soon. Their [Shield Bash] techniques are still on cool down.

Tank team A managed to block the swing but were knocked back a fair distance. The boss did not recoil from the block and it continued to pursue Tank team A. Tank team B quickly attempted to catch its attention with a barrage of sword techs. The boss quickly turned to face team B.

Good call on their part. That could have been bad, Croea thought. But my timing's off now. Gotta start counting again. He grit his teeth and called another order. "Tank A and Strength team, regroup! Don't attack until all your techs are off cool down!"

He then surveyed the rest of the battle field.

The boss's second health bar was at 50%. At nearly 2 hours in, it was good progress compared to the previous nights. The other mobs around the room were also nowhere near the boss. A few of them were flailing around without legs. Crowd Control was doing their job. Tank teams A and B were all at 30-50%. Strength team was at 50-80%. DPS teams A and B were nearly untouched.

He scowled. If the tanks die, the DPS teams are helpless. They need to heal but the amount of time to pull out a potion will take too long. He bit his lip. Survival over efficiency, he concluded.

"DPS A, fall back and take out your potions! You're gonna give those to Tank A. When I give the signal, Tank A will jump out and use DPS A's potions! On three!" As the damage per second team began scrolling their menus, Crocea counted. At the designated number, he gave the signal. Twelve seconds later, all of Tank A was fully healed. "Okay, both Tank A and DPS A, get back in there. Tank B, jump out and heal!"

The players cycled and eventually they were all healed.

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While Crocea gave commands, Rose continued following orders.

She had been transferred to DPS team B. She was actually their leader. Said team was comprised mostly of spear and pole-arm users.

Their main strength was their range. They didn't have to get up close to the boss to do damage and could normally do so by merely thrusting their weapon forward. Unfortunately they would still be in range of the boss' attacks but they could more easily jump back and dodge the hit. They didn't need to rely on the Tank teams as heavily as Strength and DPS A.

That said, every member of DPS B had at least one close-shave when it came to dodging the boss. Rose herself had sixteen such incidents within the first thirty minutes.

"Whoa!" Rose yelped as she dodged a back handed swing by the boss as it spun a full 360 degrees. She had only been grazed but nearly a quarter of her health bar had been removed. "Okay, that thing really hits hard," She said, smiling wryly. She was certain that a direct hit would kill her in one shot.

She circled [Ilfang], skirting the edges of the boss' attack range. Her team was doing similarly, moving in and striking whenever they saw an opening.

"[Shield Bash], five seconds," one of her teammates yelled.

Another job of DPS B was to count the cool down times of the boss's sword techs. Since they were the same as the players', all they needed to do was ask the shield, ax, and curved-sword users what the times are for their techniques. So far, the most dangerous techs the boss had were [Battering Ram] and [Vertical]. The first one because the boss could damage a good amount of players if they didn't get out of the way. The second one because a direct hit with its ax would kill even the tanks with one hit if they don't block.

[Ilfang] activated its [Shield Bash] tech and was quickly met with the very same attack by Tank team B. Both recoiled upon the attacks' impacted. They had half a second to move.

"Hit and run!" Rose cried, hitting the boss with a single [Linear] before jumping back. The others did similarly.

The boss regained control and activated a [Horizontal] tech to sweep at the players in front of it. The Strength team was just about to do their job and stun the boss but their attacks wouldn't be able to connect in time.

They're gonna get hit! Rose thought in alarm. Then she saw Crocea run past her with his shield raised. He must have come to the same conclusion as Rose did.

"Tank A, block it!" Crocea ordered, activating his [Shield Bash] technique. Half of the Strength team were hit before the tanks managed to block the ax. The other half continued and attacked in a frenzy. Crocea saw the boss stagger. "It's stunned! 3 Seconds!"

Rose took that opportunity to drag one of the fallen Strength team players out of range. It was someone she recognized. "C'mon, Wilt! Get up!"

"Thank you," Wilting Blush said, rising to his knees. He had less than a quarter of his health bar left. He flicked down his menu and grimaced. "I'm out of potions."

Rose smiled and opened her own inventory. Two red bottles materialized in front of her, one larger than the other. "Here," she said, handing the bigger bottle to Wilt.

Wilt looked at the bottle before popping it open and drinking it. As his health slowly regenerated, he looked curiously at the potion bottle. "This is a [Hi-Potion]," he said, turning to Rose. "How'd you get this? Shops don't sell these."

Rose grinned. "Not yet. They do in later areas but they're expensive. I got a few of them as drops from the Grimm in the last two nights. They heal 50% health over ten seconds instead of 10%. They don't stack like regular potions, though."

After a pause, Wilt nodded. "Thank you," he said again before returning to his team.

Rose watched the man reenter the battle, popping open her own potion. "Ten seconds," she said to herself as she drank it. And then she waited.

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Gambol sprinted towards one of the [Kobold Sentinels] and slid under it's horizontal scimitar swing. She then quickly slashed behind its thighs, taking away its ability to walk. The Kobold screamed in agony. Around her, the other mobs were limping and one even had it's legs cut off. They too were crying out in pain. Gambol looked with a weird mix of disgust and fascination.

Dismemberment? Disembowelment? This game has a surprising amount of cruelty potential. According to the manual, in order to cut off a body part, the blade has to cut completely though and remove an amount of health equal to the percentage of body that will be cut off. Anything less will only temporarily disable someone's use of said body part. Adding in the fact that this game simulates pain, it makes getting hit that much more terrible.

She frowned as her previous target was getting up. She quickly slashed at its ankles, cutting off its feet. The mob screamed once more.

What doesn't make sense to me is the enemies. Why do they scream? I get why a player would scream. It hurts and losing a body part doesn't seem like it would be enjoyable to anyone. But why do these mindless AI monsters scream? I get that they're programmed to do that but it almost seems like the developers don't want me to attack them.

Unless they just assumed everyone who plays this game is some sort of sadist, in which case, they made a disgustingly good design decision. The video game cruelty potential in this game makes me so uncomfortable.

She shook her head and sighed. She had no need to continue thinking of that. She was in the middle of a raid. She needed to focus.

She turned to look at the boss. Its second health bar bar was close to being completely depleted. It was only a matter of time before the boss would enter its final phase.

They'll take at least ten seconds, Gambol thought. She watched grimly as they whittled away at it. I have a bad feeling about this...

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The music had increased in tempo and the chanting became frantic. It fit the chaos of the battle as the raid team scattered.

They had gotten the boss down to its last health bar and it threw down its Ax and buckler as expected. What was not expected, however, was a sword technique not part of a curved sword's move set. [Ilfang] had crouched down and put its hand on the handle of its sheathed sword. With one fluid motion, it slashed, unsheathing the sword. The raid team immediately sustained severe damage and several casualties. Half of the DPS teams and one from Strength team died in that one attack. The ones that survived the hit were closed to death.

Myrtenaster's stomach lurched as she was sent flying and a sharp pain on her hip erupted when she landed. She winced as she tried to get up. She had less then 2% of her health left. Of course, she was lucky to have even that much.

"Myrt!" Myrtenaster turned around to find Rose skidding to a stop and kneeling beside her. The brunette then gave her a [Healing Crystal I]. With a flash, Myrtenaster instantly regained 100 Health points. She now sat with over 50% of her health.

"Myrtenaster, we have a big problem," Rose said urgently.

Myrtenaster stood up and looked at the carnage around them. "Yes, I can see that we have a problem," she growled. "But explain anyway. What do we have?"

Rose pointed at the boss. "Okay, look at its sword." Its sword had a long blade with a slight curve that tapered to a single point. It had a single edge on the outer curve. It was in the middle of an onslaught of attacks on the Tanks. The tanks couldn't find an opening to counter, only block.

"Remember before when I said that the boss would use a Talwar? A Talwar is a type of Indian curved sword," Rose explained. "The sword it's using right now isn't a Talwar. It's a Nodachi - a Japanese long sword."

Myrtenaster impatiently tightened her grip on her rapier. "Your point?"

"My point," Rose said, "is that it's using a sword that has more reach, higher damage, and a different move set. We have no idea what its techs and cool-downs are. If we continue this, we're practically fighting it blind."

Myrtenaster looked at Rose coldly. "Then what do you suggest we do? I have no plans on retreating. Not tonight."

"We'll need Gambol to use [Detection] on it. She maxed it out, right? She can get info on its available sword techs. As for the rest of its attacks, it telegraphs them well enough. We'll just have to read them and hope we don't mess up."

Myrtenaster nodded. "Good. Get on that. You find Crocea and tell him the plan. I'll find Gambol."

"Will do." Rose gave a brief salute before activating [Nimble Feet] and dashing away.

"Now," Myrtenaster breathed, looking around. "Where are you, Blake..."

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Crocea and the rest of the surviving tanks desperately tried to block the incoming sword tech. An orange trail of light abruptly came to a stop the boss' sword hit four shields. Tank team B was the only team that managed to stay in formation after [Ilfang's] opening attack with that new sword. As Crocea noticed, its sword was a type of katana - a different sword from the beta and a type of sword they haven't encountered yet. Thus, they were hesitant to counter attack.

When the sword glows orange, it jumps forward and goes for a heavy downward slash. Crocea noted. When it glows teal, it's a 3-hit combo. He frowned. But we don't know the cool downs yet. We can't afford to go on the offensive. Not until we figure out its patterns. Another slash was blocked. Crocea winced. I don't know how long we can hold this thing off, though.

"Crocea!"

He heard Rose's voice in the distance. He quickly jumped out of range of the boss. "Rose, what is it?"

Crocea sidestepped Rose as she skidded to a stop. She then began a rapid-fire explanation of what they were going to do next. "We'll need you to take charge."

"So keep doing what I'm doing. Understood."

A cry came from one of the other tanks. "Duck and cover!" [Ilfang] had sheathed its sword and crouched down. Crocea quickly pulled Rose in close and raised his shield. It drew its blade and slashed, knocking both of them several paces back. It did a fair bit of damage but they were otherwise fine.

Crocea lowered his shield and let go of Rose. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Rose smiled awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. I'm okay," she said shakily.

"Go," Crocea said. "Before it attacks again."

"You don't need to tell me twice." Rose broke into a jog. "I'm gonna try and get the others back into order!" With that, she ran off.

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Gambol and the others from Crowd-Control could no longer deal with the mobs they were dealing with a few minutes earlier. The [Kobold Sentinels] had regained all their health and had their stats boosted to a ridiculous level. They were practically bosses in and of themselves. They'd be practically impossible to hold off if they didn't telegraph their attacks and go by a pattern.

She ducked under a scimitar swing and slashed behind one of the creatures' heels. It fell to its knees, letting Gambol use her [Back Stab] tech on it. It was a critical hit and left the enemy with only 30% of its health. She then kicked it away from the boss.

"On your six!"

Gambol dive rolled forward and turned around. Another [Kobold Sentinel] wielding an ax was frozen mid-swing, the tip of a rapier sticking out of its chest. Myrtenaster was standing behind it, a scowl of tranquil rage adorning her face. She pulled out her sword and the mob's explosive death animation played.

"That thing's gonna come back stronger, remember?"

"We have other problems." Myrtenaster then explained the situation to Gambol.

Gambol nodded. "Okay, that makes sense," she said. Then she gestured to the others from Crowd-Control barely managing the other mobs. "But then what are we going to do about these things?"

"Guys!" They suddenly heard. They both turned to see Rose running towards them. She slowed to a jog and then to a walk and finally stopped in front of them. "Guys, we're ready. The teams put themselves back together as best they can but we can't risk sending them out without knowing its attacks. If we're still doing this, we need you."

Myrtenaster pushed the Gambol towards Rose. "Gambol, go. I'll take over for you."

Gambol scowled. She doubted Myrtenaster would do well with her new job. She never knew when to hold back, which meant she'd be killing mobs left and right. Still, it was necessary.

"Okay, let's go," Gambol said, following Rose as they ran back to the battle on the other side of the room. "What do we already know about the boss?"

"We've seen three unique sword techs: There's the quick-draw attack, a gap-closer move that ends in a downward slash, and a 2-slash combo that finishes with a stab. We don't know the cool downs and if there are more unique techs. The rest are basic techs like [Horizontal] and [Slant]."

They soon got into range. "Alright, time to get to work." She turned to Rose. "Go back to Crowd-Control and help. They'll need your help."

"Got it," Rose said before sprinting away.

Gambol then made her way towards Crocea who was circling the boss, shouting orders. "Crocea, I'm here!"

"You know what to do?"

"Yeah."

"Then do it!"

Gambol activated [Detection] and suddenly became flooded with sensory information. There was a lot of stuff happening all at once. She had to really focus on the boss so as to not be overwhelmed. "Okay, done," Gambol said, feeling a little bit shaky. "Now we wait for it to attack..."

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Just like Gambol said, Crowd-Control needed Rose's help. They were slowly being backed into a corner by the six [Kobold Sentinels]. The team's average health was under 50%. A brief scan with [Detection] told Rose that the mobs have all been killed at least twice. She winced at the thought of them getting so many stat boosts that they overpowered the players.

This is bad, she thought. I can hit all of them with a [Sweeper] but that wouldn't mean they'd all turn their attention to me. And even if they did, I wouldn't be able to survive - not with the equipment I currently have. Then her eyes widened upon realizing, I recently leveled up. I can equip that scythe now... Just don't know how to use it. She frowned. I'll have to risk it.

She began scrolling her menu, frantically assigning her stat points and changing her gear. I hope this works, the thought as she tapped yes on the equip prompt.

Her spear dissolved into light as it returned to her inventory and the [Ancient Harvester] materialized in her hands to replace it. Heavy, Rose thought as she readied herself, crouching down. Alright, show time. She activated [Nimble Feet] and exploded towards the mobs.

A [Sweeper] tore through the [Kobold Sentinels], immediately changing their targets from the Crowd-Control team to Rose.

Alright, next. Rose grit her teeth as moved the scythe again, triggering [System Assist]. She spun in place, swinging her scythe in a circle. The [Hurricane] tech staggered the mobs somewhat.

Now for the hard part. With an extreme amount of effort, Rose twirled her scythe around her in an attempt to activate the [Windmill] sword technique. The weapon glowed violet and Rose's body began moving on its own. She spun the scythe vertically, like a buzz saw, and walked towards her target. The mob directly in front of her flashed into nothingness as she tore through its health until it reached zero.

Rose was also surprised to see that all the other mobs died as well. Crowd-Control had taken advantage of her distraction and [Back Stabbed] the remaining mobs.

Rose knelt down, feeling strangely drained.

Myrtenaster walked up to Rose held out her hand. "Get up," she said. "They're coming back in 5 seconds."

Rose looked up and smiled wryly. "Yeah. I know." She took the hand and stood, following the rest of the team to the nearest spawn point. The [Kobold Sentinels] began respawning.

"You did well, Rose," Myrtenaster said, breaking into a run. "And you'll keep doing well or else you die. Here they come!"

Rose laughed. "Thanks for the pep talk!" She then picked a target and sprinted towards it.

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For the past thirty minutes, Gambol was very busy counting. She was in charge of calling the katana-specific sword techniques and her concentration was being taxed to the limit.

"[Tsujikaze], cool down in fifteen seconds," she said.

"All of you, use your strongest sword tech and attack at the same time!" Crocea ordered. "On my mark!"

Gambol grit her teeth in anticipation. The quick-draw attack is called [Tsujikaze], she thought. It does 300% of a weapon's damage, has 0.22 second stun, 120 knock-back, and a cool down of three minutes. It is, without a doubt, its strongest attack. However... She eyed Crocea. The boss' pattern makes it so that it doesn't use it the moment it becomes available. The cycle is too complicated for me to figure out while I'm keeping track of what skills are available. Somehow Crocea's figured out its pattern already.

Within fifteen seconds, boss sheathed its sword and Crocea gave the signal. [Ilfang's] attack was canceled when ten sword techniques stuck it simultaneously, stunning it.

"Five seconds! Attack!"

There was a frenzy of slashes and stabs, quickly whittling away at the boss' health. Within five seconds, the boss went from having a sixth of its health to only an eighth. It wouldn't be long until they killed it.

"Gambol, what attack is that," Crocea said, sounding quite worried.

[Ilfang's] weapon was glowing an ominous red as it crouched down. Gambol tried to activated her [Detection] skill but it was still on cool down. "I don't know," she said anxiously. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," Crocea said in grave agreement. "Everyone back away from it! Hurry!"

The boss suddenly leaped into the air and landed right in front of Crocea and Gambol. "Shoot!" Crocea raised his shield while Gambol quickly rolled away. The boss spun in a full circle and swung, knocking away Crocea and several other players behind it. Crocea and some tanks survived with less than a quarter of their health while the rest of those hit were killed instantly.

If any good came of that sudden attack, it was the grace period in which the boss was locked in its post-attack animation for two entire seconds. Those who weren't hit managed to get off one sword tech before they retreated and the injured were pulled away. Unfortunately, Crocea wasn't one of them.

Gambol could only watch as Crocea slowly got up and looked up at the boss. And he just stood there, not even moving, as a [Horizonal] tore through him like he was nothing.

And then the boss turned to her.

Gambol scowled and back-stepped, barely dodging [Ilfang's] swing. I am not doing this, she thought harshly. She sprinted towards the boss and slid under its legs, quickly activating [Stealth] the moment she was behind it. With that, she was no longer being targeted. She slowly walked away, keeping her guard up in case a stray attack came her way.

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For the second time that fight, the raid team had scattered. Unlike the first time, though, they seemed much more capable of defending themselves. They too could read the telegraphed attacks. The only problem was that there was little to no coordination. It was every team for themselves. And some players didn't even have that. A few were separated from their teams.

That said, the separated players ran towards the nearest team the could find for safety. It just so happened that Milou Akuou ran into Stormflower and Magnhild.

"It's chaos, once again. Everyone is attempting to attack but no one seems to be doing it as effectively as before," Stormflower noted. "And we just reached a critical point in time. It's 11:30. If we don't get our act together, we're screwed."

"Looks like we might need to kill it ourselves," Milous said. "It has just over 10% of its health left. We can win this."

Maggy grinned. "Let's do it!"

With that voice of agreement, they all sprinted towards the boss. It was focusing on the remains of the DPS team. Maggy bounded ahead and attacked with a [Heavy Slam], a charging hammer swing. The boss turned and raised it's sword for an overhead slash. "Milou, switch," Maggy cried.

The attack was quickly intercepted by a [Shield Bash] by Milou, causing both her and boss to recoil. "Stormflower!"

Stormflower jumped in and attacked, chaining [Linear] and [Rapid Strike] sword techs with regular thrusts in a graceful twelve hit combo. "Maggy!"

Just as [Ilfang] recovered from being blocked, Maggy jumped off of Milou's shield and brought her hammer down on its head. The [Megaton Smash] stunned it for another two seconds.

Seeing the amount of progress Milou and the others were doing, the rest of the raid team came running in and attacked in full force. They surrounded the boss and slashed and stabbed, all in a frenzied attempt to finally take it down. But then the boss' sword glowed red again.

Milou screamed. "Everyone scatter!"

Panic spread as everyone tried to get as far away from the boss as possible. [Ilfang] jumped and landed just behind Milou's group. Milou quickly ran towards it with her shield raised in an attempt to lessen the damage to her friends. She braced for impact.

But it never came.

Instead, standing behind the boss, was Gambol, knife fully embedded into its back. It curtly shattered into a thousand colorful polygons, followed by a brief congratulatory notification.

CONGRATULATIONS
THE SIGNAL GATE DUNGEON HAS BEEN CLEARED

Milou sighed in relief. They did it. The first [Gate Boss] was defeated. She collapsed onto the ground.

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After the battle, everyone decided to stay in the boss room for a bit an rest. Many people were crying, mourning the deaths of their friends. Rose, herself, felt like she was going to cry as well. She looked around but, for whatever reason, could not find who she was looking for. She ran up to the closest person she recognized, Gambol.

Gambol was sitting a few paces away from the group, examining the katana that the boss dropped when she killed it. She looked up when Rose approached but quickly averted her eyes.

"Gambol, is Crocea dead?" Rose asked. No response. "How did he die?" Still no response. Rose swallowed. "Answer me, Gambol. What happened?"

Gambol stood and turned towards the door leading to the next area - the [Warp Gate]. "I'm sorry," she said. Then she walked away, leaving the region in the blink of an eye.

Rose looked down and smiled wryly. "You said death in the game means death in real life," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "You better be wrong or so help me..."

She began laughing bitterly. But slowly, those laughs became harsher and harsher, until it was clear she was crying. Rose's sobs joined many others while the rest stood and solemn silence. No tears fell. The game wasn't programmed to do that. But if it was, an ocean would have been created that night.

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So, how was that? Took me the a month but I finally updated this story with the longest chapter to date, not to mention the most difficult to write.

There were several ways I could have gone for Crocea but ending him here seemed the most appropriate. He is the first major character death in this story, guys. May we have many more!

I won't make this end note any longer. I'm really tired. Until next chapter, guys.