Helkep wondered if they would encounter the same situation as before or not, while going inside the Volcanic Land with Noil.
The moment they went inside, Noil said to Helkep to wait and went ahead.
Helkep this time had no plans to repeat the same mistake and be labelled as more suspicious in Noil's eyes.
So he summoned...his hiding monster. His shadow started moving and wiggling, and slowly a monster emerged from his shadow.
No doubt it was the same hidden boss.
Helkep motioned him to get away from him. It took some time untill the monster understood and went away.
It didn't even take a moment before he was out of Helkep's eyes. Helkep could only marvel at that speed. And wonder why the monster was slower than before.
Noil who was already quite far ahead, motioned for Helkep to come towards him, while wiping the blood of a monster from his dagger, who had tried to sneak up behind him.
Helkep wasn't as guard-less as last time, he knew a monster was going to attack him, so he had to be prepared to rush towards Noil when the time came.
This time their luck wasn't bad though it couldn't be called good either.
Noil was walking ahead, he was unhindered since the first failed attempt.
The monster they were searching for and was their assignment monster, had appeared.
Cold sweat poured from Helkep's forehead when he saw the level 15 monster staring at him.
It was behind of him, it was pure coincidence that Helkep had looked back and saw the monster following him from behind.
Wasting no time he started running, even if the monster wasn't rushing towards him, Helkep knew that the monster had smelled his momentary nervousness, so it would follow him and...kill him.
In the middle of the night, when you are inside the washroom doing your stuff an after finishing-up you go and open the door, you see someone standing in front of the door, while you had no idea that person was there. That was the kind of nervousness Helkep had felt, looking at the monster staring at him.
Helkep started running, the monster stood there for sometime as if it was contemplating whether to go or not. In the end, it's bestial instincts took over and the weakness it felt from Helkep became another source for its motivation. Wasting no further time, it started chasing Helkep.
Helkep glanced back and saw the monster also running towards him, he decided to call for Noil, not letting the monster have a go at him.
"NOIL!!" Helkep shouted with...a blank voice. It was really hard to imagine it, but his voice contained nothing at all, it was...just words. Nothing more.
Noil hearing the loud cry from behind him, he looked back only to see an expressionless Helkep running towards him, he wondered what Helkep was doing untill his eyes fell on what was behind Helkep.
It was a monster with four legs and no arms, it stood like a cow. It had a tail with four horns on its head. The monster had an ugly face, with a long neck. It also had seven eyes, three on each side and one in the centre. The monster only had one large ear on its bald head. With a big mouth which only had two large teeth.
This monster was called the Seven Eyed Deformed Veil, also their assignment monster.
Noil stared wide eyed as the monster came running behind of Helkep. Their distance was shortening with each passing second.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Helkep couldn't help but think of giving Noil a bad review.
Noil getting out of his daze started running towards Helkep.
The monster jumped towards Helkep, Helkep looked back only to see the monster above him.
He immediately took action and ducked down, though it was already too late and he knew it very well.
After ducking down and not feeling the impact he expected, he looked back at what he had expected to be his doom.
He saw a dagger embedded in the monster's mouth. Sealing it up, not letting it roar in its misery.
The dagger was thrown by Noil even before the monster jumped, he wanted the monster to stay away from Helkep. After all if something happened to Helkep, how would he complete his quest.
The monster was distracted and let Helkep gain distance from him.
When it finally decided to ignore the pain and chase after what it was chasing, it was too late. Noil had used his skill and his artifacts to make sure he arrived in time.
Without wasting time he had directly kicked the monster on its mouth., where the dagger was embedded.
"Grr" The monster let out a low growl in its pain.
Noil wasn't going to let the monster take its sweet time recovering and took out the dagger from its mouth, causing the monster to shout in agony.
Noil took the chance and used his skill and activated his artifacts.
«Ding! Skill 'Crimson Blade' has been activated, your next attack will have higher piercing power and damage.»
Noil went towards the monsters neck, which wasn't difficult as the monster was currently busy roaring with its head-up towards the sky, revealing its neck like giving away free candy.
Noil with his additional piercing power attacked the monster's neck.
Gugig! A strange voice was produced when the dagger dug inside the neck. The dagger was stuck half-way inside the monster's neck.
It didn't pass through the neck, it was still quite some distance before it would reach the throat.
'Hmm! Should I retrieve the dagger and go for bleeding the monster to its death or trying kicking it a few times to make it reach the throat? The latter is a bit risky, since the monster won't reveal its neck like this again.' Noil was caught in a dilemma. He had little time to consider since the monster was glaring at him with hateful eyes.
While he wondered what to do, a kick came from above the monster, kicking it right where the dagger had pierced through its mouth.
"GAHHH!!" The monster let out a loud roar again as it turned its neck back, looking at what struck it.
The kick was not strong, instead it was the pain from the already dealt wound that made the monster angry.
"That's revenge." A blank voice came from behind the monster. A voice which could only belong to Helkep.
Noil who was busy contemplating what to do, saw the monster's neck exposed once again, even before he could think, his body already charged towards the wide opening.
«Ding! Skill 'Lend a hand' has been activated, your speed and attack has been enhanced for 1 minute.»
Lend a hand was a special skill, which improved one, two or three attributes, randomly. This was a luck based skill, only rich and lucky ones could acquire it.
Noil without wasting time, kicked the monster on the wound which was bleeding, obviously where the dagger was embedded.
He kicked on the dagger's hilt, pushing it inside a little bit. Without caring what might happen, Noil went on a kicking spree, it got harder and harder to push the dagger inside.
"GAHH!!" The monster banged its head on Noil's gut. Causing him to retreat immediately.
"Ouch! That hurt...Sigh! Just one more kick. One solid, hard kick and it will fall." Noil didn't care much about the pain he felt, excitement was flashing in his eyes as he licked his lips and thought of a way to find another opening.
"On the count of three." A blank voice appeared from behind the monster.
The monster perked-up it's ears wearily. But it didn't turn its head, as the stronger foe was in front of it.
"3, 2 and 1."
Noil followed the counting inside his head and after a momentary but intentional delay, started charging as well.
Helkep kicked the monster, jumping above it, the sudden-light impact agitated the monster.
Yet it stopped itself to shout at the nuisance behind it.
Helkep had a rock with a pointy edge, in his hand. He had grabbed it from the ground. It was quite hot as well.
The monster shook its neck to throw away the bug that had climbed over it.
Helkep jumped, and turned himself ninety degree in the air.
While he was falling towards the monster's head, he tightly grabbed the rock in his hand.
The monster who was still not letting his sight leave from Noil, didn't see Helkep who was right above it and was aiming for its centre eye.
Guchih! Accompanied by the sound of its eye getting pierced, the monster let out a loud roar and glared hatefully at the bug falling on its other side.
Noil grinned and activated his artifacts once again, followed by his skill.
«Ding! Skill 'Brave Heart' has been activated, your next attack will deal extra damage. Your mana has ran out.»
Noil ignored the notification and focused on the opening he had been provided.
The monster started charging a fireball in its mouth. It's target, the fallen Helkep.
"AHHH!!" Letting out a loud shout, Noil fiercely attacked the dagger's hilt.
It...pierced through the monsters tough skin, into its throat.
The fireball it was charging was interrupted, the monster slowly started losing strength and rested its head on the ground.
"YES!" Noil let out a victory shout and closed his eyes to rest for awhile.
Breathing heavily, a satisfied feeling arouse inside of him.
"WATCH OUT!" Helkep loud yet blank voice made Noil open his eyes.
What he saw was the monster charging a fireball, while staring at him hatefully.
Noil did the one thing he shouldn't have, he got distracted...distracted by the hateful glare.
His mind went blank, he just stood their like a moron as the fireball got bigger and bigger.
The fireball grew to the size of a football and the monster discharged it. The monster's head fell on the ground, powerlessly.
The fireball shot out leaving a trail of lightly hot ground. It engulfed the place where Noil was standing before
disappearing in the air.
Noil...stared wide eyed at the place where he was a moment ago. The ground upper layer was melted.
The same would have been his state if Helkep hadn't pushed him away at the right time.
«Ding! You have killed the 'Seven Eyed Deformed Veil', as the monster was 1 level lower than you, you received 40 experience.»
Noil completely ignored the system's notification, his mind was occupied by the thoughts of what would have happened to him if Helkep hadn't pushed him away.
Noil than looked at the person who was some distance from him, he couldn't help but feel grateful.
Meanwhile, as Noil was starting to feel respect for Helkep.
Very far away from where, Noil and Helkep were, large numbers of monster corpses decorated the ground.
And the hidden boss, who Helkep had asked to go away for sometime, was standing in the centre of these corpses.
He was grinning evilly, as a monster was kneeling in front of him.
The kneeling monster was shedding tears and begging for its life.
"Gegegege!" The hidden boss laughed evilly and before the kneeling monster even realised what had happened, it's head was turned into mush below the hidden boss's feet.
"Muhahahaha!!!" His menacing laughter rang throughout the area.
And every monster which was unfortunate enough to hear it, shivered in fear.
Title: Hidden Boss
Name: None
Strength: 8000>8990
Constitution: 50
Agility: 8000>8990
"You, trash, unworthy." The hidden boss spoke with its voice filled with contempt.
(Note: The hidden boss isn't speaking in the human language, it's only for you.)
These monsters were unfortunate enough to not know his true strength and some of them dared to pick a fight with him.
The hidden boss got annoyed and decided to do something fun while he was begged to stay away for sometime.
So the unfortunate monsters became the best toys for the hidden boss.