There were no words that could describe the feeling Rafael experienced as he stared at the notifications.
Moreover, when he finally looked up ahead, he saw it. A big-ass throne made out of the bones of different races.
And the fact that torches were lighting everything up just told him even more that they were all fucked.
Or at least... that was what Rafael thought.
"Oh... a throne room."
"Torin, stop!" Rafael shouted as Torin’s little ass was already walking straight toward the throne. "If you go forward, we are all going to die—"
[Your Party has successfully challenged the Seventh Lord.]
"My fucking God..." Rafael whispered before turning toward the bunny girl. "Hey, wake up!"
He slapped her, shook her, did everything, but she was still the fuck out.
"Wake up! Wake u—"
"Uh... who is that...?" Torin’s voice came as he pointed at the throne, and as Rafael looked, he saw it too.
There was someone, or more so something, sitting on the throne.
A shadowy figure.
No face, no clothes, armor, or even a weapon. It was just a black mass sitting there.
[The Seventh Lord has awakened.]
[Level: 700]
There was nothing flashy, nothing like how Rafael had imagined it at all.
When it was a game, boss fights were... flashy. Introductions, the history of the boss, a line or two from the boss itself, just all the clichés.
But now there was nothing.
He couldn’t even feel anything from it. No pressure, no killing intent.
It was just sitting there.
Though a second later, confetti suddenly appeared around Rafael with a loud pop.
[Congratulations! You have earned a Rare Achievement!]
[Achievement: What Could Go Wrong?]
[Challenge a Boss at least 500 Levels above your own.]
More colorful confetti came with another notification.
[Reward Acquired: "Natural Selection" Title.]
Well, Rafael had no words as those fucking notifications disappeared from in front of his eyes, though suddenly Torin’s voice came.
"Caelith, use your magic now!"
"Don’t!" Rafael shouted as he turned toward them. "If it’s not attacking, don’t attack it!"
"This time I agree with you, human," Caelith’s voice came. "I feel nothing coming from that thing."
Caelith was right and was saying the same thing that Rafael thought about.
They triggered the boss, but it was just sitting there and nothing more, which meant it was waiting for something.
"Oh fuck." Torin’s voice came. Then he slowly reached down toward the ground and picked something up. "This is an elf skull... your race has been here, Caelith—"
As Torin looked back at Caelith, he... his head was missing... it wasn’t there.
Just his body standing still, his head missing and blood spraying out like an impossible amount.
Then Torin felt his hand become heavier, and as he looked back at the skull... it was no longer a skull.
It was Caelith’s head in his palm.
"What..." Rafael’s voice came as his eyes were literally on Caelith the whole time.
His head just disappeared like it was nothing. He didn’t even see any movement, and the shadow still sat on the throne.
But it was enough for him to turn toward the bunny girl and slap her again.
"Get the fuck up, bitch! Get u—"
He suddenly felt a touch on his shoulder.
"Torin, we need to—"
It was indeed Torin... Torin’s skeleton.
There was nothing more. No flesh, no organs inside, nothing, only his bones standing there, touching his shoulder, and moments later collapsing to the side.
In that moment, there was nothing he could think about, nothing he could even comprehend about what the fuck had happened.
And as he slowly turned his head, that shadowy figure was still on the throne, just sitting there and looking forward.
But the thing was... Rafael wasn’t scared at all.
"Inventory."
The Executioner’s sword appeared in his hand as he stepped in front of the bunny girl lying on the ground.
"You... you’re conscious, aren’t you?"
He asked, but nothing came back.
"You understand me... so let’s have a talk. Just me and you, Seventh Lord, let’s—"
"He already killed you."
A sudden voice came from the left, and as Rafael looked over, there was a man standing there... or at least something that looked like a man.
He had massive wings on his back and a golden leaf headpiece around his head... but there was something that caught Rafael’s attention even more.
The man’s face was completely blurred... like a smudge.
"Look at your body."
Rafael immediately looked down and... his whole left side was gone... or the flesh, at least.
He could see the bones of his arm, his hip, and his rib cage, while the right side of his body remained completely intact.
"Oh..."
"Heart of the Forsaken?" The man laughed at Rafael’s reaction. "That’s actually great, but it comes with a lot of downsides."
"You are—"
"You are funny," the man interrupted him. "Glitching through the map just to get stabbed by elves you wanted to have sexual intercourse with... now that’s commitment."
It was surreal, somehow more surreal than this whole boss fight and the fact that Rafael would’ve already been fucking dead.
But Rafael caught it.
The interruption. The way the man had cut him off the exact moment he was about to say it.
So instead of saying it outright, Rafael decided to ask a question that could lead to a lot more answers and information.
"You’re... you’re going to fuck with me, aren’t you?"
"What?" the man asked immediately.
"Like I’m... the special one," he said. "The main character who keeps glitching the game, so now you’re going to fuck with me. Like Kirito getting fucked with in that anime."
For the first time, the man said nothing.
He simply stared at Rafael for a few seconds before slowly raising one hand.
"The Event."
He snapped his fingers.
Both Rafael and the woman disappeared from the throne room as if they had never been there in the first place.
"The main character, Kirito... this guy... I like him," the man said as he slowly looked toward the Seventh Lord sitting on the throne. "But I saved him after all."
He raised his hand again.
"One hundred."
[Event Announcement!]