The Cerberus showed no sign of stopping. I took it upon myself to

  stop running and turning to face it head-on. Then, I jumped. With my

  increased DEX, the motion felt unnaturally clean, my body light as I

  vaulted over its three snapping heads, their maws missing me by inches.

  cleared the beast entirely and landed on its back in a low crouch, boots

  skidding slightly against its hide before I stabilized myself. Up

  close, I could see that unlike the rest of its battle-hardened body, its

  back was unnaturally clean and scarless.

  I looked at the boss monster’s three functionally different heads.

  From what I knew, the Cerberus’ left head was capable of emitting a

  sustained sonic wave that would stun us for as long as it remained

  active, and its right head could unleash a blazing inferno that would

  turn this entire street into ashes. They both provided the perfect

  defense mechanism, but it was clear that they weren’t for hunting.

  The middle head, however, was the core of the creature, and the true

  key to ending this fight. I pulled up its info panel again, ignoring the

  familiar parts and focusing on the latter half that I had built this

  entire plan around.

  [Shadowflesh Cerberus]

  [LVL. 20]

  […The Cerberus, having three

  heads, functions more like a master-and-two-slaves entity rather than a

  three-masters entity. The two slave heads in the left and right protects

  the middle head, while the middle head uses its shadowy powers to hunt

  with its head appearing below its prey. It does not run to hunt, making

  it slow and predictable in movement. A strong long-ranged attack to the

  nape of its middle head renders a successful hunt. You get that note,

  boss hunters? I’m such a helpful System, please praise me!]

  [NOTE: During the Wave Tutorial

  EVENT, additional information regarding boss monsters can be found upon

  viewing their basic info panels.]

  My [Goblin Mania] had already ended by then. I reactivated it without

  hesitation, bracing myself for the familiar, invasive surge of pain.

  [The combined cost of a Forced B-Tier Skill Cast is 10 seconds of Agony.]

  My sword glowed faintly red, the aura flickering like an unstable

  flame crawling along its edge. I clenched my jaw as the Agony began

  seeping into my entire body. Ignoring the pain, I raised the blade and

  aimed directly for the nape of the middle head, preparing to drive it in

  with my entire strength.

  A small quake shook the ground, or maybe it was the Cerberus all

  along? Because I suddenly stumbled out of balance on my already uneven

  footing, falling on my rear against the hide of the monster. It began

  thrashing around, rearing on its hind legs and twisting its torso in an

  attempt to dislodge me from its back. My sword nearly slipped off my

  grasp, and I barely managed to catch it mid-air had I not noticed it in

  time.

  When it stopped moving, I could see it crane its left head upward to

  the sky. It gaped its jaw open and prepared to unleash another deafening

  sonic scream. And for a fraction of a second, only for a transparent

  sphere to materialize enveloping its left head, trapping and muting the

  sound within the sphere. The monster didn’t seem to notice what had just

  happened.

  Across the street, I could see a small figure standing on the edge of the public library’s rooftop.

  Orion. He fearlessly stood at the edge of the building, his arms

  raised slightly, and his concentration locked on the sound-muting

  barrier he had cast.

  I took the opportunity he gave me and scrambled back to the back of

  the monster’s middle head. Before I could drive the blade down, a

  different set of jaws lunged from my blind side—the left. Its teeth

  clamped down around my torso and arm, and for a split second I felt the

  crushing pressure in my left shoulder, with just a single teeth cleaning

  puncturing through.

  It was only by luck or by stat advantage that managed to react fast

  enough to dive deeper into its mouth, avoiding its jaws from fully

  mangling me.

  “Urghhh!” I choked out, my voice strangled as I found myself inside

  its maw. The stench of rot and iron filled my lungs. My impaled arm was

  the only thing preventing me from sliding down its tongue entirely, as

  my other hand still gripped the sword. “Fuck… you…!” I forced out

  through clenched teeth.

  Just before my empowered sword lost its buff, I gathered what

  strength I had left and plunged the entire length of my sword straight

  down through its tongue.

  The Cerberus’ three heads suddenly roared and cried in collective

  pain. The jaws snapped open reflexively as it howled, and I tore myself

  free, pulling my punctured arm off its fang in the process. I pulled my

  half-broken multi-shifting blade off its tongue, then I jumped out of

  its mouth. I was about to land on the ground when suddenly, as the

  monster was thrashing around from the sword, one of its heads whipped my

  way with such force and struck me with the side of its skull.

  The impact felt like being hit by a literal car.

  I was launched clean off its body and sent flying into the wall of a

  nearby building. My back collided with enough force to crack the wall,

  and I dropped to the ground in a cloud of dust and shattered brick.

  For a few seconds, I couldn’t move. I had endured Agony for only 40

  seconds since fighting the boss, and coupled with what felt like broken

  ribs and punctured arm, the short moment I’ve experienced since fighting

  the boss felt like hours of compressed suffering.

  I noticed a panel light up signaling that my [Magical Shifting Armor]

  was now recharging. If not for that armor cushioning the impact even by

  just a little bit, I probably would’ve died.

  My body hurts. Everything hurts. I wanted to close my eyes. Just long enough for the pain to dull.

  But through my blurred vision, I saw Yuna and Luah struggling against

  a small cluster of fleshwolves that had taken advantage of the chaos.

  There weren’t many anymore as the direwolf carcasses lay on the road

  with exploded heads and slashed bodies, but exhaustion had set into

  their movements. Yuna was struggling to control what remained of her

  puppets. Luah’s skills must’ve depleted, as she was now relying on

  Orion’s defensive skills from the building.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  If I passed out now, they wouldn’t have a chance.

  If I passed out now, everyone who put their trust on me will die.

  And so, in a desperate action to stay awake, I cast [Overpower.]

  [The combined cost of a Forced B-Tier Skill Cast is 20 seconds of Agony.]

  The pain kept me awake. It surged throughout my body. Every time I

  moved, it felt like my elbows and knees were going to pop out my body at

  any time. With my sword in hand, I tried to stand up—

  And I immediately coughed blood. It spilled from my mouth,

  splattering onto the pavement beneath me. My vision doubled, then

  blurred at the edges as the debuff timer ticked down in front of my

  eyes. I hadn’t been long since I activated my skill.

  What…? It’s only been three seconds…?

  Another cough wracked my body, and more blood followed. The pain only

  intensified, cresting higher with each passing moment. Part of me

  realized dimly that I should have stayed unconscious. At least then I

  wouldn’t have to feel this intense bout of pain that felt like it was

  never going to end.

  When the debuff timer finally ended, the blood rising in my throat

  subsided, though the pain lingered stubbornly in my limbs. Fueled by

  adrenaline and a stubborn refusal to concede, I staggered forward in

  time to intercept a fleshwolf that was about to lunge behind Luah.

  I grabbed it mid-leap and wrestled it to the ground. Even with my

  stat boosts active, I felt frighteningly frail, as if my body were

  hollowed out and ready to collapse at any second. The wolf snarled and

  snapped at my face, trying to attack me instead. I drove my fist into

  its hind leg with a crack to stop it from escaping just in case.

  It winced in pain. I punched it again, and again, relentlessly, until

  it wasn’t moving anymore. My kill count ticked to 78. In the same way,

  I eliminated what remained of the fleshwolves with Orion and the two

  girls’ and help, killing two in the process and turning my kill count to

  80.

  “Are you guys good?!” I shouted to get the attention of both Yuna and Luah.

  “You looked more fucked up than we are, Devon,” Luah said. “Thanks for having my back.”

  Yuna stumbled closer, breathing hard. “I’m at my limit. I don’t think I can summon any more puppets…”

  I turned around. The Cerberus stopped thrashing around, realizing

  that it couldn’t pry off the sword no matter it did. I hoped that it

  would render its sonic-screaming skill out of the fight, but we still

  aren’t out of the danger. We took that as our cue to start running to

  library, which was only couple blocks away.

  “Come on!“ I shouted. “Luah, get inside the library and go with

  Orion! Protect Arthur if something goes wrong! Yuna, stay with me for

  now!”

  “Wh—I’m out of commission! I can’t summon any more puppets! Shouldn’t I go with that girl?!”

  “No. Just stay!”

  The Cerberus also started to sprint, lunging toward us. Between our

  current pace and the Cerebrus’ it would catch up to us in no time, but

  the public library was fortunately near us. We eventually reached the

  building. Luah headed inside the building following my instructions.

  Yuna and I stayed near the entrance of the building.

  The Cerberus slid off the asphalt as it turned to the open space of the building.

  Now, it was approaching the fountain.

  The fountain was a key part to my plan, and it’s part of the reason why I wanted Orion and Arthur to go back to the building.

  When we deliberated about our skills, I discovered that Orion’s stats

  and skillset composed of skills that can casted on an ally. Support

  skills—ones that can act as defensive shields, and ones that can buff

  any stat of an ally.

  On the other hand, Arthur had the highest base STR out of all of us. I

  only had 13 without stat buffs, but Arthur had 15. With his axe that

  further empowered his strength, some consumable potions he had that

  increases stats, and Orion’s buffs… I calculated beforehand that he’d

  have an effective STR stat of 47 afterwards.

  And he would pair that with a damaging skill that scales with his speed.

  Now, Arthur was standing on the edge of the rooftop in front of the

  building with his double-headed axe on hand. My [Beast Attractor] was

  keeping its attention to me. Even though I couldn’t see Arthur from this

  position as the building archway was on the way, I would assume that he

  had just jumped as the Cerberus had now passed by the fountain.

  On the top of his lungs, he cast his skill with an enduring shout, “[GRAVITY SMASH]!”

  But a new panel suddenly appeared.

  [The boss monster (Shadowflesh Cerberus) has received a new effect.]

  [Physical Nullification - The next physical attack this monster receives will be nullified.]

  [The boss monster cannot receive any new effects within the next ten minutes.]

  The moment that panel appeared, Arthur’s attack met the Cerberus’

  middle head directly, yet a golden runic shield appeared on top of his

  axe, sending him away into the top of the archway. He must’ve crashed

  through the wall and into the third floor of the building.

  “ARTHUR!” I shouted.

  Yuna stared at the panel. “They can just do that? They can give it effects like that?”

  “They saw through my plan,” I said under my breath. “It’s not going to work anymore.”

  “HUH?!” She panicked, expression shifting from confusion to fury. “You mean to say that we did all that for NOTHING?”

  Without saying anything, I grabbed Yuna’s wrist, leading her to the revolving glass door inside the library.

  As we stood at the center of the empty library, Yuna forcefully

  whipped my grasp away. She looked at me with angry yet hopeful eyes.

  Hope that seemed like it was about to be extinguished. “I trusted you

  because you saved me before. If your plan didn’t work, did you know that

  it was only YOU who was going to survive!?”

  The building shook as the Cerberus slammed against the entrance. The

  marbled pillars were the only thing that kept it from forcing itself to

  this building.

  “There are ten minutes left in the Elimination Stage,” she continued,

  voice shaking. “If we survive, I won’t have time to farm enough kills

  for the next test. If I’m by myself, I can probably survive if I get

  lucky. But what about Luah and the others?”

  The building shook again. The walls holding the entrance were now

  beginning to break. One more push, and the Cerberus would break through.

  She was on the verge of tears. “I can’t believe I trusted you… This is all your fault, Devon.”

  “Yuna,” I said, meeting her teary eyes, “Summon every puppet your energy can muster. Right now.”

  She blinked. “I thought you just said—”

  We were cut off when the Cerberus finally breached onto the building.

  The giant Roman-esque marble pillars that kept the boss monster from

  fitting through had already collapsed outside, yet the building was

  still standing. Its six red eyes locked onto me.

  “Yuna! Now!”

  The silver hair managed to conjure three more puppets. She slowed

  down by the fourth, and on the fifth… Her feet went limp and she

  collapsed into the ground. “Don’t pass out! I need you stay awake!”

  I squatted down to check her condition. She must’ve only collapsed

  due to exhaustion. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her half-closed eyes

  was just begging for her to rest.

  She gave a weak, bitter laugh. “Why do you have to try, anyway? It’s over. I trusted you and look where that got me.”

  “It’s not over,” I said firmly. “When I give the signal, detonate all the puppets.”

  With Yuna’s’ five puppets, I had them grab onto the blade of the sword.

  Without waiting for her reply, I set her down near the wall with her

  back upright. With my multi-shifting sword in hand, I cast [Goblin

  Mania] once again as I tried to endure the pain. I muted the debuff

  panel; I knew its effects all too well at this point. Even for just ten

  seconds of Agony, blood still rushed up my esophagus, seeping through my

  teeth.

  I could see the Cerberus prime its right head. It was now starting to

  use its flaming inferno skill again. It would burn everything in this

  library.

  With blurry eyes, I tried to aim my throw to the top of the ceiling

  holding the chandelier, and I threw it with one hand. And when it

  reached the vicinity of the chain holding it…

  “NOW!”

  The explosion shoo the entire building. The chandelier and chunks of

  stone came crashing down onto the Cerberus. I shielded Yuna from the

  falling debris as dust and stone filled the air.

  The Cerberus' roar was overshadowed by the crashing stone from the ceiling. For a brief moment, all I could hear was the

  thunder of collapsing marble and shattering glass echoing through the

  library.