Chapter 87- Lykean, The Child Of The Azure Flame
*Swish*
The object was considerably big, appearing almost like a blazing blue comet in the air. The fire reached a certain altitude and then started descending and its direction was very clear.
Nobody understood what was happening for the first few seconds. But, when they realized what was about to happen, they snapped out of it.
“It’s coming our way,” Arthur muttered. “It’s coming our way! Move!!”
Instantly, they all scattered away as fast as they could. A few seconds later, the blazing ball smashed into the deck and the fire exploded everywhere. The sheer shockwave sent everyone flying as they lost balance.
They smashed into the ground, rolling several meters away. Arthur barely stopped himself as he dug his nails into the ground. Looking up in shock, he noticed Danny still rolling down toward the edge of the ship.
‘Shit!’ Without thinking twice, he stood up and rushed toward him. At the very last moment, when Danny was about to fall, Arthur grabbed his arm.
“Hnng! I got you!” He said with a difficult expression. “Grab… The other hand… Quick!”
Danny looked up in shock. He didn’t expect Arthur to be the one to save him from falling. He was stunned for a moment.
“Hurry!”
The second yell snapped him out of it as he quickly grabbed Arthur’s hand then he pulled him up slowly.
“Hah… Hah…” Arthur heaved up and down and looked around him quickly. Luckily, none of the others ended up falling from the edge. Then, his eyes went to the blazing blue fire not that far away from them. It was so dense that he couldn’t see clearly what was within the fire.
However, his senses were going off, alerting him to a very dangerous presence. A presence so strong that it sent chills down his spine. So far, Arthur only felt such a sensation from creatures that are leagues above him in strength.
“What the hell?!” Without thinking twice, Arthur scrambled to his inventory and chugged down several potions quickly to regain his stamina, mana, and health bars back to the maximum.
He knew that he was going to need that very soon after that. Whatever descended upon them wasn’t there for peaceful reasons.
Slowly, standing up, Arthur looked closer at the blazing fire. That was when he saw a glimpse of a very tall silhouette. Its body was charcoal black like the other Burning Cadavers. However, the difference was that this creature didn’t seem like it was burning.
Instead, Arthur could only describe it as being wrapped in those flames as if they were cradling it. Its skulls had shining eyes that pried through the flame and peered at Arthur, sending terror through his very soul.
[Boss enemy has been detected!]
[Lykean, The Child Of The Azure Flame.]
“… The Azure Flame… So that’s its name.” Arthur muttered in a daze. He already figured that this was a boss enemy from the moment he saw it land there. But, the name was still very interesting. Not only because it was considerably longer than any other boss enemy he came across, but also because it revealed some information about what he was fighting.
The two stared at each other silently as if they were trying to determine what the other could do. That lasted precisely five seconds before a move was made.
*Swish*
“… Huh?” Arthur’s breath halted as his vision was suddenly assaulted by the bright flame. The next split second, he realized that the monster had appeared in front of him at enormous speed.
‘Shit!!’
Arthur ducked down at the last possible moment, dodging the flying hand that was about to blast him. The cold fire still burnt his back. Still, Arthur rolled away as he unsheathed his sword again.
At the same time, he summoned several arrows and launched them toward Lykean. However, the moment they got close to the fire, the blood arrows froze and fell to the ground.
“What?!” Arthur’s eyes widened.
At the same time, Lykean lifted his hand in the air and aimed it at Arthur. Instantly, balls of fire flew out like bullets, aimed toward him.
Arthur quickly dashed to the side, leaving behind several trails of explosions. Each explosion was big enough to deal devastating damage to Arthur.
But, what the boy didn’t realize was that even when he dodged them, the after-effect of it was still there. His body felt the biting coldness of the fire. At the same time, the monster rushed toward him.
‘Why is it this goddamn fast?!’ Putting his sword forward, Arthur deflected the hand that was about to hit him. However, the moment the sanguine blade made contact with the fire, it froze.
Arthur quickly tried to retreat and create distance. But, the monster latched into his sword, knowing very well that he could not simply get rid of his weapon.
His blade slowly continued freezing as Arthur struggled to get it out.
“You, bastard! Let go!!!”
Activating ‘Bloody Claw’, Arthur slashed the monster’s arm brutally. The attack left a bloody mark on the arm and made the monster retract it, giving Arthur the ability to get his sword back.
“That hurts!!” The boy groaned as he looked at his hand. His claw was now frozen and rigid. The pain was naturally intense even with the 90% pain reduction that the game provides.
But, Arthur couldn’t even have a moment to think as the monster attacked him again with more aggression. Its speed far exceeded that of Arthur so he found himself instantly in the defence, trying to dodge and deflect the attacks. However, every few seconds, he would get hit, feeling the Azure Flames eating his skin.
*BANG*
“Agh!!”
The boy flew back several meters, bouncing on the ground and landing on his stomach. The monster quickly chased after him to finish him off.
‘Oh no!’ Arthur felt the imminent danger and tried to stand up, but he was too late to dodge. ‘I’m gonna get hit!’
However, at that moment, right before impact, a silhouette appeared out of nowhere.
*BANG*
With a swift kick, Isla threw the monster to the side with ease. The monster’s body looked like a weightless flying away before it quickly landed on the ground.
“Are you ok, Arthur?” She rushed toward her companion and gave him a helping hand.
“I’m ok… Hah… That fucker got me good.” Arthur grumbled as he looked at his melting hands. The ice was weirdly hard to break even though it looked like a thin sheet.
“This boss isn’t going to be easy. That kick… barely did any damage to its health.” Isla frowned as she looked at the monster’s health bar. Even after getting hit twice, there was barely any change in it.
“… I am pretty sure this is our ticket out of the memory gate. If we want to conquer it, we need to kill this bastard.” Arthur replied as he punched his sword’s blade, making the ice burst into small shards.
“Easier said than done.” She replied.
“Hahaha, who said it’s going to be easy? Our friend here looks like he’s eager to fight and we’re going to give him exactly what he wants.” Arthur grinned wildly as he took a fighting stance.
Isla exhaled a small breath as she unsheathed her sword. “You’re odd.” She muttered as a small smile appeared on her face.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
