Outrage of the Ancients (LitRPG Apocalypse)

Merlin

Man plans, God laughs.

That quote seemed to have defined the last World Boss battle.

And while he sincerely hoped it would not do the same to this one, he knew better than to voice that thought out loud.

Jinxes were something many modern humans still knew to fear, even if they attributed the effect more to a god of chaos by the name of Murphy, rather than the natural logic of the world.

But they had made plans. Perhaps too many, considering the confusion that might cause in the moment, but they had been made nevertheless.

Looking around, he could see several people showing nervousness, demonstrating a clear line between those who had the experience to hide their nerves and those who didn't.

Though when one was as old as Merlin himself, there was a third distinction to be made.

Between those who did not appear nervous due to being able to hide it, and those who did not appear nervous because they weren't.

Merlin counted himself amongst the latter, staring out across the ocean, waiting, running through the plans one final time.

If it was a serpent, same plan as always.

If it was a fish, get it out of the water, hack at the gills.

If it was a whale, trap it and shove explosives down the blowhole.

And if it was a kraken … immediate retreat and curse your luck.

But it should be serpent. It would …

Merlin could sense the instant something changed, but it was not the World Boss's appearance that triggered it.

Or at least that was not the way it appeared.

Nothing seemed to have changed, save, perhaps, that a certain patch of ocean was a little darker, but it was a barely perceptible difference.

The first air bubble reached the surface and burst, spraying water across the nearby area, barely impactful yet significant because it was the only thing that had changed.

A second breached the ocean's waters a moment later, followed by a third and fourth that came almost as one …

Something was down there, but it was too deep to reveal itself.

Mentally, Merlin reached out towards one of the grand spells set up on the atolls, the one closest to the beast's probable location, but before he could unleash it, the final World Boss showed itself, blasting through the surface like an avalanche, water fountaining hundreds of meters into the air yet only briefly hiding the creature within, vast, barnacle-encrusted, yet black skin that seemed to suck in the light and eyes that were somehow even darker, black holes capable of devouring all that was good in the world.

And it was a whale …

***

Ogier

The Leviathan was almost the strangest beast he had ever seen. Cipactli had been the absolute worst, but this whale-thing was an abomination in its own right, a massive maw that ran from the very tip to its nose to about a third the length of its body, lined with razor-sharp fangs that began to move the deeper into its gullet they were, beginning to spin and twirl and turn into a lethal blender that would reduce anything that fell within to soup.

A pair of massive pectoral fins sat just short of the maw's end, nearly doubling its width, but there were four more pairs further down its body, each smaller than the last and trailing tentacles, some covered in suction cups the way an octopus' might be, others instead bearing lethally sharp hooks, cruely curved to tear flesh of any victim that found itself entangled in them.

Yet even though the Leviathan turning out to be some kind of kraken was the absolute worst-case scenario, those tentacles weren't quite long enough to cause the issues that would have made that particular version such a problem.

A lance of energy burst from the lagoon behind him, rapidly coalescing into a solid object, a harpoon of black metal, its tip razor sharp and lined with barbs that would pop out the moment the projectile was attempted to be pulled back, firmly anchoring it within the beast's flesh.

And that was exactly what happened, the projectile hitting home with a wet squelch, tearing through the skin and getting stuck somewhere in the blubber beneath … only to get yanked back the instant it was deep enough, a second spell anchored to a second atoll activated yanked on it, enough force to tear a mountain in half tugging on the harpoon and, by extention, the World Boss that had just been harpooned.

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The Leviathan, the ancient beast that was said to have fought God himself, a creature whose name had defined size since time immemorial … it had been speared like a fish, and yanked out of the air in an instant.

Right down on Ogier's head.

He grinned as he thrust the spear up to meet the descending beast, the same fusion of Ascalon and Gae Bolg that had been meant to hold Apophis, striking true, tearing through the bottom of the World Boss' jaw and lancing countless barbs of bone through the surrounding flesh in an instant.

If the beast wanted to get free, it would be leaving behind half its head …

Flames exploded into the sea behind Ogier as the Leviathan unleashed its fiery breath, a power that it had apparently possessed despite its unexpected form, steam hot enough to boil even him, washing over the pair of them.

But there was a reason why Gae Bolg had been combined with Ascalon, both now and during the previous battle.

Immunity to elemental attacks was an absolute defense.

So when the storm that had begun building overhead the very instant the World Boss had appeared finally began to unleash lightning, arcs of energy tearing through the Leviathan's body and into the sea … all save the ones that continued onto Ogier. Those simply flowed across the outside of his armor and scorched the stone he was standing on.

The energy around him built upon itself, growing stronger and stronger, the ground underfoot beginning to glow cherry red and growing soft, his boots already having sunk a couple of centimeters into it …

And amidst a both metaphorical and literal firestorm, Ogier Danske found himself feeling a bit bored. Because even during a cataclysmic battle at the tail end of a global cataclysm, all he had to do was fulfill three very simple tasks: stay standing, hold this stick, and don't get distracted so his Skills kept working.

***

Dietrich

The monster was trapped, properly trapped, and with a little luck, they would be able to slaughter the beast as it transitioned between phases, before it hit them with the full power of whatever hellworld it would create after getting hurt.

After all, unlike these "video games" he'd heard so much about, the System did not shield its beasts during "phase transitions."

Towards that end, two major steps were being taken.

Firstly, the current attacks were limited to short-cooldown attacks only, such as Sword Arts and spells.

And secondly, setting up as many powerful attacks as possible for the phase transition.

The mountain Miller could shatter and drive into the monster's body as a titanic wave of shattered stone came to mind.

So did the powerful spells anchored to the land itself, two of which had already been used to trap the beast the first time. Tristan was taking care of that part.

The biblical Leviathan, a monster that embodied all that was terrifying about the sea, was getting annihilated. It was more akin to a royal hunt, where the hounds harried the prey, driving it into the arms of the "hunters," already exhausted … he'd never liked those sorts of hunts.

Too easy, too unsporting, and yet, probably slightly more sane than his own solo hunting trips into the woods, considering how those had tended to end.

When it happened to this beast, however, he found he didn't mind so much.

Mimung carved an endless series of cuts into the Leviathan's hide, shredded flesh building up beneath him as a hill, while the surrounding ocean had become more blood than water a fair while ago.

It was an odd feeling to be holding back as much as he was, keeping a lid on his strongest abilities that he may otherwise have used simply because there was otherwise no guarantee he'd live to reach the point he was saving the Skills for … but the plan seemed to be working thus far.

Blood sprayed and torn flesh flew for an hour, then two, and Dietrich was slowly starting to feel irritated at the fact that he was limiting himself, as most of the Skills he'd have used if he'd had the option would have regenerated by now, yet if he used them now, they definitely wouldn't be ready when the damn monster transitioned …

A shudder ran through the beast, accompanied by yet another pained roar, not one of the countless screams of impotent rage that they had grown numb to by now, but a howl of pure fury that hit Dietrich like a physical blow, sending him staggering backwards, ears ringing.

But even as the Leviathan began to warp the world around it, towering pillars of water rising into the sky and twisting upon each other in some way that would likely make sense only after it was completely done, the beast was being torn apart.

The sound of the mountain that had been built upon the beast's back shattering was almost lost amidst the crackling of energy, the roar of thunder, and the tearing sound of a huge chunk of flesh being ripped from the beast.

On one side, you had a dozen ancients working hand in hand, and a plan that had been months in the works coming together ... trying to stand up to them was a dumb beast that only had brute force and the ability to breathe fire.

[Dimensional Divide] sheathed Mimung in energy as he thrust the blade even deeper into the World Boss' flesh, then twisted it, expanding the thin slit the weapon had left into a gaping chasm that he immediately stepped into.

And from there, he went through the usual series of steps.

[Sword Art: Giantsplitter], [Titan Strike], [Grand Slash], and [Eviscerate] cast as a single attack, [Double Tap] to tear a second massive gash into the Leviathan's innards, [Second Wind] to regain the Skills he had just used, rip into it once more, and then, when the final strike landed, sunlight began to stream down into the massive, hollowed-out cavern that had once been the beast's torso.

"Hey!" Miller called out from above, waving, and Dietrich waved back for a brief second before putting both hands back on Mimung's hilt and readying himself to keep slashing.

How was that beast still alive? They had literally just carved a tunnel through its che- …

[King of Combat, Champion of Monster Hunting Lv. 94 -> King of Combat, Champion of Monster Hunting Lv. 95]

[Skill gained: Dimensional Step]

And there it was. Definitive proof of their victory.

***

Tristan

… I've never been so upset at being right about something in my entire life, and most definitely wouldn't at any point going forward either.

But things had worked out for the best in the end.

And I'd even gotten a Level out of the deal, even though I'd barely contributed anything to the fight.

[Sage of All, Archmage of History Lv. 87 -> Sage of All, Archmage of History Lv. 88]

[Skill Boost obtained]

And what was I to do with that but boost my new favorite Skill, enchanting, just in case I got …

… Well, in case I got that.

I'd gotten more than a few upgrades that had differed from what I'd expected, and it wasn't like they'd ever been bad, per se, but there was a certain satisfaction to predicting the System so thoroughly.

And with that, the final World Boss had been beaten.

Next (to) stop … imminent Armageddon.