Stark felt the weight of the impending battle settle on his shoulders as he faced off against the Outskirts Leader.
The leader's eyes bore into Stark, a silent challenge passing between them.
As the first tendrils of shadow magic began to curl towards him, Stark knew he had to act fast.
Looking at him from all nearby windows, and surrounding him completely were dozens upon dozens of gloomstalkers.
'How are the other people supposed to beat these things…?' he wondered, after all he was confident in his strength compared to all the other students, yet here he was struggling this much against an area boss…
"Shadow Magic!"
Arrows made out of darkness began forming around the second leader, and then hurtled toward Stark.
With a swift movement, he dodged the incoming tendrils of darkness and closed the distance between him and the Outskirts Second Leader in a flash.
With a powerful leap, Stark aimed a devastating punch directly at the leader's chest. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, causing even the gloomstalkers to stagger back in surprise.
"-3618!" the damage was incredible.
The leader staggered backward, its cloak billowing around it as it struggled to regain its balance.
"Summon!" it summoned more gloomstalkers from the ground in front of it to protect itself from Stark's attacks.
Seizing the opportunity, Stark followed up with a series of lightning-fast strikes, each blow landing with precision and force against the monsters, not even letting them get out of the ground.
"-3739! -2638! -2947!"
Forced to back away, Stark made sure that nothing was behind him.
[Area Boss HP: 3405/12000]
'One or two more hits…' Stark thought.
His confidence was its peak, and the leader looked extremely injured, struggling to even stay in place or summon more gloomstalkers.
"-3718!"
"-3918!"
"-4183!"
Each gloomstalker that tried to attack him was met by an instant punch that made it turn into dust: none of them were capable of touching Stark, even with their numbers.
Realizing that: most of the minions just stood there, not even moving anymore, knowing it was futile to even try, it seemed like they had a conscience of their own even while being controlled by the leader.
And that's when it happened: behind the smiley-face mask the second leader was wearing, Stark noticed dark and hostile pupils, glowing with a purplish aura.
"CURSED DOMAIN!"
A sudden surge of dark energy emanated from the leader, enveloping the entire area in a malevolent aura of darkness.
Stark felt a chill run down his spine as his movements slowed, the shadows seeming to constrict around him, sapping his strength with each passing second.
The gloomstalkers that remained standing seemed revitalized, their attacks gaining a dangerous edge under the influence of the Cursed Domain.
[You are in a cursed domain, defeat the enemy boss before it is too late (all enemies receive a stat boost inside the domain)]
Struggling against the oppressive magic, Stark gritted his teeth and focused on maintaining his resolve.
"Shadow Magic!"
The second leader didn't waste time and summoned three darkness arrows again, launching them at Stark.
His movements were reduced, and the arrows were faster than before, but 'Focus' still allowed him to see them coming.
He avoided one… he avoided two…
He couldn't avoid the third.
Sensing that, Stark decided to focus most of his aura around his chest, in the area where the arrow was aimed at, in the hopes of stopping it.
And…
"-82!" the damage he received was minimal as the arrow was stopped by the wall of aura before it could pierce him, meaning that this "aura barrier" truly worked.
[HP: 36/950 (CRITICAL CONDITION)]
'Fuck that shit!' Stark realizing that he was one hit away from dying focused all his aura into another 'Aura Smash'.
He kept avoiding darkness arrows all the while powering up his attack, and after a few seconds…
"GO TO HELL," he punched the air, sending the crimson fist toward the second leader, who was unable to avoid it.
"-2192!" its defense was higher because of the domain.
But…
[Enemy stunned]
Seizing the moment of weakness, Stark wasted no time. Channeling all his remaining strength and fury into a final, decisive strike, he launched himself at the stunned leader with a speed and power that seemed almost supernatural.
"I'm not stuck with you!" he jumped in the air, in front of the leader's eyes as it was unable to move any of its limbs or staff, "YOU ARE STUCK WITH ME!"
He punched it.
"-2719!"
[Area Boss HP: 0/12000]
The leader let out a final anguished cry as Stark's punch connected, shattering its remaining defenses and sending it crumbling to the ground.
A deafening silence fell over the battlefield as the cursed domain dissipated, leaving only the sound of the wind rustling through the trees.
All the gloomstalkers surroundings Stark immediately also began turning to dust as they were all only kept alive by the outskirts second leader's magic.
And just like that, Stark was able to defeat that shitty boss.
[You have slain "Outskirts Second Leader lv15 (ELITE)", gained 22000EXP!]
[You have slain twenty-two "Gloomstalkers lvl14", gained 24500 EXP]
[Experience: 59310/75000]
'Not even enough to level up…' he sighed but immediately began running nonetheless.
[Black Sun Curse: 95% (WARNING)]
…
[You have slain 'Shadow Demon lv14', gained 2300 EXP]
[You have slain 'Water Blob lv13', gained 2150 EXP]
[You have slain 'Crazy Archer lv14', gained 2200
…
[Black Sun Curse: 96% (WARNING)]
Sweat pouring out from his forehead, Stark continued running, his time was counted, and although he wondered just how was any of the other students supposed to survive this, he still had his own safety in mind first.
[Black Sun Curse: 97% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]
The warning blared in Stark's mind as he sprinted through the city outskirts, now ignoring the monsters that tried to stop him as he didn't want to waste time.
He could feel the Black Sun looking at him, awaiting for him to be consumed by its powers to transform him.
But… it would never have this pleasure.
Since when he turned around another corner, Stark spotted the flickering glow of a bonfire in the middle of a giant street.
And beyond it… a silver fog wall could be seen.
'BINGO!'
[Black Sun Curse: 98% (WARNING, GET TO A BONFIRE)]
Relief flooded through him as he pushed himself to run even faster
Warning panels surrounded his view as the number reached 99%, but thankfully enough… he was able to reach the bonfire, entering the 'safe space' right before the boss battle.