Crow revealed shocking truths about the nature of the world.
It’s too much to simply dismiss as lies.
The world I saved...
The world that is now just a game.
"Heh."
He seemed to be waiting for a reaction from me, smiling silently, not even preparing for battle.
"...So."
"Hmm?"
"Is your only goal to destroy this world?"
My speech grew short.
Because I was irritated.
I suddenly wanted to ask questions I had never posed to demons in the past. As a timid hero, how much conversation could I have had with demons anyway? We mostly just fought with our weapons drawn.
Crow spread his arms and laughed.
"Haha! Humans are born, they eat food, they breathe to live. It’s the same for us. We color all worlds with our presence. Would you ask a living being why they breathe?"
"You seem to know a lot. Do you even realize this world is just a game now? Are you real? Or are there other versions of you fighting players right now?"
"Multiple versions of me? That would be interesting! From a higher dimension, perhaps we all look like pieces on a chessboard."
"Then die like a chess piece."
He chuckled.
"We steal the power of the World Tree and make it our own. We fill this world with dark energy. If I am merely a piece on a board, then..."
*Swish.*
He straightened his posture, his body beginning to float backward, moving toward the center of the abyss, toward the violet orb of energy.
"I’ll fulfill my role!"
*Rumble.*
The center of the Abyss Tree shook.
"Fine, Hero! If you intend to protect this game once again, I will block your path from the other side!"
Crow disappeared into the violet orb, which began to grow larger.
*Rumble. Rumble.*
*Cawww!*
Crow absorbed the violet orb and transformed into a massive raven-like chimera.
So he really is a raven.
His screeching makes that obvious.
Totally ruins the moment.
Sharp claws, a raven’s head, raven’s wings—a two-legged raven chimera? Some might think it looks cool, but personally, it’s not my style. However, the immense power emanating from him was undeniable.
It reminded me of old cartoons, where bosses would transform multiple times during a fight, powering up with each form. Why didn’t they just use their full power from the start? It always baffled me.
But Crow wasn’t like those cartoon villains. He faced me in his true form from the beginning.
*Sching.*
I drew *Astaroth*.
*Slash.*
I swung it horizontally, leaving a silver trail in the air.
"I understand your motives now."
He’s not just another NPC, so don’t go breaking the fourth wall whenever you feel like it.
If we’re pieces on a chessboard, then Legion Commander Crow would be like a knight, right?
And I’m a pawn.
A weakened pawn for now, but not to be underestimated.
Chess strategies are built around pawns. And when a pawn reaches the end of the board, it becomes a queen.
*Promotion*, *queening*.
It becomes a powerful piece that can change the game.
"I love this world."
The beautiful continent of Astria.
The world I defended with my comrades.
Lower dimension? Higher dimension?
I don’t care about that.
I’m the hero of this world.
And if there are beings trying to destroy it...
As a hero, I will stop them.
*Thunk.*
Lowering my stance, I focused.
*Flash!*
In an instant, I charged at him.
---
**[Third Named Boss]**
[Level 53]
[Legion Commander Crow]
[HP 300,000,000 / 300,000,000 (100%)]
---
*Cawww!*
What a racket. Is that really the same dignified Legion Commander Crow?
After transforming, he seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
*Clang! Clang!*
His sharp claws relentlessly clashed with my sword. Crow’s attacks were fast and precise. He swung his massive talons, trying to rip me apart.
*Slash!*
I swung my sword in an arc, deflecting his claw and lowering my stance, slipping past him. *Ssslice!* The raven feathers covering his body scattered, sliced off. His feathers had the durability of dragon scales.
*Whoosh!*
Without even looking back, Crow swung his claws at me again. Sweat trickled down my neck as I ducked. The powerful whoosh of his attack barely missed my head.
Even his basic attack patterns had wide coverage. If I didn’t manage to get directly behind him, I wouldn’t be able to escape his range.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
Crow swiftly turned and slashed upwards with his claws, attacking me in a four-hit combo. Despite being a raven, he used his claws as weapons, and combined with his massive body, the force behind each blow made my sword tremble.
*Flap.*
"Hah!?"
Crow’s enormous wings flapped once. He lifted himself lightly and dove straight down at me.
*Boom!*
*Tap.*
Using *backstep*, I lightly evaded his landing zone and aimed my sword at his back.
He twisted his neck 180 degrees to glare at me.
*Shiver.*
Sensing danger, I wasted no time countering.
*Ssss*. The beak of the raven’s head opened wide.
Light flickered inside.
*Flash!*
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
A violet beam of light shot out of his mouth, sweeping over the spot where I had been standing moments before.
So, he can use a breath attack too.
With wings, no less—he’s even more troublesome now.
*Woom!*
But the breath attack wasn’t the end of his landing pattern.
Crow raised his hand.
Dark energy crackled in his palm.
In that split second, my mind raced.
My invincibility cooldowns were all used up. His patterns were coming faster than expected. His attacks weren’t as quick as *Zakham’s*, but most of his patterns required invincibility moves.
Should I use cooldown reset? No, I can’t waste that on regular patterns.
If worst comes to worst, I’ll let him take a limb.
As I braced myself for the impending impact—
*Boom!*
A massive explosion of dark energy erupted around me and Crow.
I broke out in a cold sweat as I saw the violet energy surging up from the ground.
A strange explosion.
I wasn’t hit.
The eye of the storm.
It was shaped like a donut.
The center was empty.
In that case...
*Dash!*
I slashed at Crow’s stationary body, trying to carve through his raven feathers and expose his flesh.
But just as Crow raised his hand—
*Thunk.*
He lowered it.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
*Tap!*
Barely managing to *backstep* out of harm’s way, I watched from a safe distance as the explosion raged on.
I was prepared.
With a donut-shaped explosion, the typical pattern is for the outer area to explode first, followed by the inner area. It reminded me of *Zarkan*, the third boss of the Outpost.
Explosions targeting ranged DPS followed by ones targeting melee DPS. If I had been raiding with a group of ranged attackers, we all would have died during the first donut explosion.
But.
"Urgh!?"
A strange discomfort suddenly enveloped my body, making me frown.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
There was no time to ponder. Crow’s claws came flying at me. I calmly blocked the attacks, looking for an opening to strike him while trying to figure out the source of the discomfort.
What’s going on?
I knew this feeling.
It was pain.
It felt like all the blood was draining from my body. My limbs were losing strength, and even swinging my sword felt like a monumental effort.
This was the penalty of synchronization. As much as I benefited from high synchronization rates, I also suffered from penalties like sluggishness when wounded. It was similar to how a human body instinctively tightens up when hurt.
But I rarely fight while taking continuous damage. I’d rather die cleanly when it’s time to die. Besides, with *Yggdrasil’s Belt* keeping my HP at 1%, I don’t have to fight in a dying state. One hit and I’d be dead anyway.
Either way, I almost never fight while sustaining constant damage.
So why?
I hadn’t allowed any of Crow’s attacks to hit me.
That’s when I noticed a transparent icon in my field of view.
It was the buff and debuff panel.
I normally ignore it because it breaks immersion, but I leave it on when analyzing early game mechanics.
The icon I saw read:
---
**[Severe Punishment (24 seconds)]**
[1,000 damage per second.]
---
Continuous damage. A debuff.
Why?
Some buffs can bypass invincibility. These give advantages, but if overloaded, they turn into debuffs. Usually, they can be cleared with the right mechanics.
But this was a clear debuff.
A type of bleed damage.
My HP was steadily decreasing.
When did I get this debuff?
There was only one possible moment.
During the close-range explosion, when I used invincibility to dodge the violet flames.
But didn’t my backstep evade it?
The conclusion is clear.
My invincibility, which had protected me from every attack pattern so far, didn’t work this time.
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
Gritting my teeth, I glared at Crow.
"You..."
I could swear that damn raven head smirked at me.
Legion Commander Crow.
He can bypass the system’s protection and inflict real damage.