Liam was caught up in a dense crowd. There was no way to spot his friends. Incessant chatter rang in his ears.
Hundreds of players were gathered, and new ones continuously arrived. The streets of the city were overflowing.
Liam felt uncomfortable. He was never a fan of crowded places. He discussed with his party, agreeing to meet outside the city.
However, as more information became known about the boss, players understood that they first had to talk to the guards.
Thus, Liam was forced to cramp together with others in an area close to the gate. The crowd moved slowly, approaching a group of five soldiers at the front.
The captain constantly tried to calm down the players, but it was a fruitless endeavor.
As if all this wasn't enough a few people around Liam recognized him, unceasingly asking all kinds of questions from how to beat dungeons to what underwear he was wearing.
Liam thanked all the gods he could think of when he finally reached the front, grabbing a ring from a soldier and escaping through the gate.
Massaging his temples he followed the road for a short minute before taking a turn to the right.
He arrived at a large wooden building, with some tables outside and a spacious stable. It was a post station, and his party members were already waiting outside.
"Expert! There you are! Quick, we are late!"
"Greetings, my friend."
"Hi Mirage."
While the others still had the mind to greet Liam, Cyclone looked incredibly anxious.
"Don't worry. A world boss isn't so easily killed."
"But there are so many people here!"
"I wouldn't consider those many…"
Liam recalled battles against world bosses in his past life. Compared to hundreds of thousands of players braving fire and swords, the current scene was not worth mentioning.
However, he could see that Cyclone wasn't the only one with an urgent expression.
Silver Blade looked at everyone as she spoke up:
"This is the first world boss! It will certainly give an achievement. If we get it, I will pay everyone 50.000 credits."
Immediately a few pairs of eyes lit up.
"50.000? What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Bloody Edge appeared eager, but Silver Blade held him back:
"Wait! First, we need to know more about the boss."
Saying this, the female tank looked at Liam. Seeing all the expectant looks the veteran felt somewhat embarrassed. But he could only shrug his shoulders.
"Sorry guys, I don't know anything."
The others were taken aback, exchanging glances amongst themselves.
However, it was obvious that they found it hard to believe. Rather, they thought that this was the result of their discussion in the morning. Maybe this was Mirage's way of reminding them to keep a certain level of independence.
Liam noticed the skeptical looks but had nothing to say.
Suddenly a message reached Liam.
[Silver Blade: Mirage, I understand that you want to train us. But now is not the right time. This is a chance for us to get another achievement under our belt.]
Reading this, Bleary Mirage felt an odd stab in his heart.
[Bleary Mirage: Sorry, Silver. But I REALLY don't know anything about this world boss.]
Silver Blade let out a sigh. Glancing at Liam she knew he was speaking the truth. She felt somewhat guilty for doubting him.
"Sorry."
"Don't mention it."
Cyclone looked at the two with confusion:
"What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Wait, are you writing private messages? What's the… mhhm."
Seeing Cyclone's eyes getting brighter and brighter from strong curiosity, Balm reacted quickly, shutting her friend's mouth with her hand.
Silver Blade rolled her eyes, ignored Cyclone, and addressed the party:
"Since we don't have much information, we need to move carefully. Let's observe from a distance first."
"Well, it's not like we got no information at all. Have you all taken a look at the ring we got from the soldiers?"
With Quickstep's reminder everyone quickly scanned the ring. Most of them already did so earlier but were still confused by the item.
[Ring of Void Protection
Category: Magic
Effect: Protects against lingering void energy.
Duration: 3 hours
This inconspicuous item is the foundation allowing Crunaboul's inhabitants to fight back against the void.]
Liam had not time to check the ring so far. When he did so now, he involuntarily drew a sharp breath, attracting everyone's attention.
"Can you explain what this is about, Mirage?"
"Yes. You guys should know that the void is the greatest threat to Crunaboul as a whole. The void produces void energy, which is incredibly destructive.
Lingering void energy surrounds areas corrupted by the void. If a player enters without defensive measures, they will be continuously damaged."
The others nodded, fully understanding the importance of the ring.
"Our upcoming enemy will be a void-corrupted creature.", concluded Radiant Shield with a surprised face.
"Most likely."
"What does this mean for us?", asked Cyclone.
"We need to be careful of void damage. There are almost no items in the game with void defense. So, it is difficult to defend against."
"Oh."
When Cyclone heard this, she wasn't perturbed. As a mage she had no defense to speak of. Whether it was void damage, fire damage, or normal damage, she couldn't allow herself to get hit anyways.
Naturally Silver Blade and Radiant Shield had different feelings about it.
"Is there anything else we need to look out for?", questioned Quickstep.
"Keep in mind that void opponents always enter a berserk mode. Don't get caught off guard."
"Good. Is that it?"
"That's it."
"Well then, I'd say it's time to go."
The others nodded quickly upon hearing those words from Silver Blade. Everyone felt anxious and excited watching groups of players running on the road not far away.
They quickly followed Silver Blade's lead, traveling in the same direction.
Soon, a strange forest came into few. A violet fog hung in the air, giving one a stifling, twisted feeling of pure nothingness.
It corroded the surroundings, turning the soil pitch black. The trees were shriveled, twisting and turning, their bark taking on an eerie violet color.
The dense foliage close to the ground decomposed, turning into fertile ground for various violet flowers to grow, looking deceptively beautiful.
However, the terrifying atmosphere was broken by the many players creating a ruckus, converging towards a point deeper in the forest.
"Let's go."
Silver Blade didn't waste much time in studying the surroundings, following after the crowd.
Soon a large number of players could be seen, circling a certain spot while staring ahead.
Liam's party occupied an empty spot somewhere at the side, observing the situation.
The players were gathered around a small valley. A towering tree grew within it. Surprisingly it wasn't entirely corrupted by the lingering void energy yet, green and violet intermixing on its canopy.
But what captured the most attention was the huge bird sitting on top of the tree. It resembled an overgrown hawk, angry screeches coming out of its extremely sharp beak.
The bird opened its wings wide in an intimidating posture, showing the violet color slowly dyeing its feathers.
Even the characteristic white streak running along its back revealed a tinge of violet.
A quick check revealed the bird's identity.
[Void-corrupted White-Striped Violent Hawk
Rank: World Boss
Level: 15
HP: 60.000/60.000]
The players were clearly apprehensive to engage the hawk the size of a small house. Thus, they gathered above the valley, waiting for anyone to make the first step.
At the same time murmurs could be heard discussing the famous players present.
"Look, over there with the black hair, it's Star Gazer!"
"So handsome!"
"He brought so many people, probably more than a hundred. Where did they come from?"
"Isn't it normal? Those rich guys naturally hired followers."
"With so many people they are surely planning to found a guild."
"Yes, and Star Gazer isn't the only one. Look over there!"
"Damn what a giant! Even for an orc! Is this Earthquake?"
"Yeah. It's said he publicly challenged Cyclone, the number one on the ranking list, as soon as he reached level 10. But he got no answer."
"Wow, isn't it said that Earthquake is incredibly arrogant? Did someone really out-arrogant him?"
"He should be pretty angry. Especially since Phoenix Feather made fun of him."
"Right, now I remember. Phoenix Feather is a level manic, always at the top of all leaderboards. Earthquake constantly challenges her too."
"Yes. It's only natural that their guilds Nest of Flame and Force of Nature can't see eye-to-eye."
"Damn with so many famous guilds here I don't know if we can make any waves."
"And it's not getting better. Look over there! It's Silver Blade and them."
"Oh? Hotpot arrived?"
"What Hotpot?"
"You don't know? That's the nickname people gave to the top party right now."
"Wow, Silver Blade looks so heroic!"
"Fortune is my goddess!"
Liam's brow twitched listening to the crowd, but he quickly ignored them.
His eyes scanned the surroundings, noticing a few prominent figures. A good looking female human mage, Phoenix Feather. A giant male orc with muscles like tree trunks, Earthquake. And a familiar male elven mage…