We Hunt Monsters 14, page 42
“See anything yet?” Keith asked, his eyes easily piercing through the darkness and pounding rain, his armor keeping him perfectly dry.
“Nothing yet, bro, but let’s start moving and looking. It’s bound to be around here somewhere.”
In all his time in Raiah, Keith had come across fewer World Bosses out in the wild than any other type of monster. Sure, he’d fought the World Monsters, who technically counted, but their locations were normally fixed, and their identities were known. Actual World Bosses, on the other hand, were much harder to pin down.
He’d fought all kinds of creatures, from plain monsters to Assault Bosses to Legendary Monsters and Progenitors. World Bosses were always the toughest challenge anyone could face, but they were also nearly impossible to find, and he would know. His guild had been actively hunting for any signs of one ever since its creation.
By now, they had well over ten thousand active members through all their branches on the various continents. Not all of them were hunters, but many of them were, and if none of them had seen so much as a sign of a World Boss, he had to wonder how much luck he would have. To top it all off, he needed to find one that would have a specific item for him when it died, and the chances of that were very low, according to Bob. More likely than not, he’d just get another World Item. Not that that was something to complain about, it just wasn’t what he was looking for right now.
“Hmm, I think I might be picking up on something in that direction,” Tac said, highlighting an area in the distance.
Keith narrowed his eyes, his vision tunneling as he zoomed in on the spot in question. He was still getting used to the way his eyes functioned, and it was a bit disconcerting for his viewpoint to suddenly change so drastically to the point where he couldn’t see his own surroundings – a downside of picking out details miles away.
“Looks like a footprint of some kind, but it’s half washed away and filled with water,” Keith said, mentally opening a gate to the location and stepping through.
“Man, that Gate ability is so freaking useful! No Stamina cost, no looking for items to chuck so you can swap with them. You know, this is just like the time Papa removed my training wheels and shoved my bike out into traffic. Really taught me how to be a man, you know. Of course, I did break both my legs, and it turned out Papa was just using me as a distraction to hit an armored truck carrying a load of cash, but still…good times.”
Keith failed to see how that was, in any way, even remotely similar to him being able to travel through space more efficiently. He crouched in the mud, water pounding down all around him as he examined the print. It was fresh, no older than half an hour, given the downpour, and sizable to boot.
The ground here was extremely soft, so he could see how others might have filled in faster, but this specific spot was a bit firmer, preventing loose muck from covering it.
“It certainly looks large enough,” Bob said, holding the edge of the cloak up to keep the water from hitting him.
“Any ideas what it might be?” Keith asked, examining the strange print.
It was large, longer and wider than he was tall, though it wasn’t nearly as deep as its weight might indicate, given the size. There were also no claw marks that he could see, even when crouching next to the print.
“I have a few,” Bob said with a frown. “If it’s out in rain like this, it must not mind water. Also, if you look at how the trees are spaced, it clearly has no trouble squeezing through, which means that at the very least, it’s extremely flexible. Though, the more likely answer is that it’s amorphous.”
“Interesting,” Keith said, his eyes picking up the trail of the monster now that he’d found the print. “I’m guessing blunt attacks wouldn’t translate well against something like that.”
“I’d leave your hammers in your inventory for this one,” Bob said as Keith leaped back into the air, flying faster now that he had the trail.
In the far distance, he could see the looming wall, the titanic structures that separated the different territories on the continent. The only thing he’d seen break them was Fendor Eerie’s hammer, the very one he’d gotten from Tenor, the Spirit of War, to swap for his own weapon, which had been lost at the bottom of a dungeon and guarded by the Dreadnaught, Galaxia.
The monster wouldn’t be able to cross that wall unless it could fly.
Keith stopped as he came to the sudden realization that it was possible. Just because he’d never come across a World Boss that could, didn’t mean he wouldn’t. The trail continued on the ground, moving in a weaving pattern between the trees and making straight for the looming wall.
“This thing must really have been moving for us not to even be able to see it,” Tac said as they approached the wall.
It was one of the few things his eyes couldn’t drill through, not that he was surprised. This wall was magical in nature and functioned in the same way as a World Item itself. In fact, the World Item he’d received from defeating the World Monster of Beastland was the ability to construct walls just like these, one of which was currently in the Sunlit Isles and had helped in the repelling of The Terror’s forces.
“Guess we’re going up and over,” Bob said, squinting up into the rain.
Once, this would have been an impossible feat. The walls were supposed to be an obstacle after all, one not easily crossed. Keith shot upward, his armor propelling him to greater heights as he skimmed along the dark surface, his eyes trying to pick out the top of the wall through the pelting rain.
His flight wasn’t as fast as it should have been, but given the armor’s Quality, that wasn’t surprising. While he wasn’t affected by traveling to other continents, his items were a different story. He suspected that the only reason it still functioned was thanks to the Gravity Defying Ancient effect. His armor wasn’t improving as he rose through the air – he could tell that much just by looking, and he doubted the anchoring would function very well. He might still be faster than any opponent in the air and was sure he was going to get to test that soon enough.
“Top of the wall, dead ahead,” Tac said.
A moment later, he was soaring out in open space, the landscape stretching out in all directions. He spotted the World Boss almost immediately as he flew over the top of the massive wall. It wasn’t very far, perhaps a mile off and flying – just as he’d suspected – staying roughly three hundred feet off the ground.
“What in the world is that?” Keith asked as he examined the monster in detail.
It wasn’t difficult, even over this distance with the rain pelting down around him, something which he very much appreciated. Normally, he had to get pretty close to monsters like this before he could get any of their information. Being able to do it from a safe distance would make information gathering far safer.
“Well, judging by the look of it, it’s some form of slime,” Bob answered.
“Slime?” Keith asked. “As in a blob-like creature that can absorb things and mimic their properties?”
“I don’t remember us bumping into any,” Bob said, sounding surprised. “Did you have slimes in your old world?”
“In a sense,” Keith said. “Why haven’t I seen any here yet? Aren’t they typically weak?”
“Maybe the slimes on your world are, but here you won’t find one weaker than a Section Boss,” Bob replied with a snort. “I mean, do you see that thing?”
Keith did indeed see the thing – a massive, gelatinous mass of trailing purple-black ooze that flew through the air on wings that looked more liquid than solid. Small beads of purple floated around it as it flew its way further across the continent. Its body mass was constantly shifting, odd faces of monsters appearing in its hide before melting back into its body. Legs grew and retracted, looking like clawed appendages, thick, trunk-like limbs, fins and flippers, and all manner of other things.
The creature itself had to be nearly a hundred feet long, though its height fluctuated between fifteen and twenty-five feet as its body morphed and changed. One might have thought it would have a serpentine flight pattern given its length, but that was one of the more disturbing aspects of the creature as it moved more like a worm than a snake, its center coiling up into an arch before pushing forward, all while its strange wings beat at the air. He pulled up its status, remaining where he was as the monster moved farther away.
Morphus the Shimmering Plague
World Boss
Level: 75
HP: 640,000/640,000
MP: 360,100/360,000
STA: 650,000/650,000
Str - 40,499
Agi - 175,800
Lck - 700
Traits: Magic-Proof, Blunt-Proof, Cold-Proof, Slime Body
Skills: (P) Slime Formation, Amorphous Body, Health Regeneration (A) Transformation (AOE) Plague Blast, Slimy Time, Purple Paint, Squirm
“That’s interesting,” Keith said, his lips pulling down into a frown.
“I’ll say,” Bob replied. “It looks like we’ve finally run into a Boss that has lower health, mana, and stamina in exchange for higher physical stats. I wouldn’t have expected a monster that huge to have so much Agility. Then again, with a Trait like Slime Body, it does make sense.”
“I was talking about the single active skill,” Keith said, his frown deepening as he read through the descriptions.
The first three Traits were self-explanatory. They allowed for complete immunity from magic, blunt, and cold-based attacks. The final one, Slime Body, helped mitigate any incoming damage by quickly restructuring its outer hide to best counter whatever was hitting it. In short, it was taking the place of any defensive skills.
As far as passives went, Slime Formation and Amorphous Body worked together, the former allowing it to pull itself back together if any part of its body were hacked off, and the latter assuring that it could never be trapped by any physical means, as its body wasn’t solid. The final was most troubling, as this monster would regenerate HP as it fought like Keith would. The worst part was that the lower its health was, the quicker it would regenerate.
“That active skill’s going to be trouble,” Tac said as Keith reached it. “We won’t know what’s about to hit us until right before it changes.”
“Can’t you make predictions on this?”
“I can try,” Tac replied. “But just look at that thing. It’s a walking mass of chaos. It’s a complete mess. Hard to predict anything when looking at it.”
The skill did exactly what it said, allowing Morphus to take the shape of anything it had killed and eaten. It would then gain access to a slew of new skills depending on the form. Additionally, its size would change along with said form.
The AOEs were more disturbing than that. Plague Blast was a massive explosion of plague gas. It didn’t have poisonous or venomous qualities – it was a literal plague, so it would make him violently ill and slowly sap at his health. This wasn’t something Keith was immune to, so he’d need to be wary of it.
Slimy Time allowed it to assume the shapes of multiple monsters all at once, with access to their skills. Purple Paint was where the monster’s entire body became the weapon itself, firing pieces of itself all over the battlefield and melting anything it touched to slag with its acidic body. The final one, Squirm, was the one Keith wanted to avoid most of all.
It was a skill that would allow the monster to go inside him through any open orifice. That included his mouth, nose, eyes, ears, or any cuts along his body. Keith was going to have to be very careful of that one, as he had no way of expunging the monster if it came to that.
“Are you feeling ready to take this thing down?” Bob asked.
“Not even close,” Keith said, letting out a slow breath. “But if we want to keep Humania from being overrun, we don’t have much choice. Luckily for us, we have access to a whole slew of skills we didn’t have last time, and I plan on using them all.”
63
Keith opened a gate and stepped through, reemerging much closer to the monster. He then used Age of Mythos and called on Galaxia, the massive Section Boss tearing herself out of wherever she went when she wasn’t there and slamming bodily into the trailing blob that was Morphus in midair.
The slime let out a scream that tore at his eardrums, and Keith winced as the two of them fell from the air in a tangle of limbs, Galaxia slashing and biting with glowing claws and teeth, while Morphus squirmed and writhed, its body wrapping around the Section Boss, obviously trying to devour it.
“Uh…you don’t think that Morphus will be able to eat her and then use her abilities, do you?” Keith asked, the idea not having crossed his mind as a possibility.
“Well, so long as Galaxia disappears before it manages it, I don’t see how that’ll be a problem,” Tac said, though he sounded a bit nervous, which didn’t help Keith feel better about it.
He decided against summoning another monster as had been his original plan and instead dove after the falling monsters, reappearing on the ground as he Lightswapped and pulled out the Orc Emperor’s cannon. The weapon grew to its massive proportions as Keith aimed it at the falling monsters. It would hit Galaxia, but at this point, that didn’t really matter. He couldn’t risk allowing the other monster to eat his Section Boss.
Galaxia had been hard enough to deal with the first time around. He didn’t relish the notion of having to fight her again, only this time with World-level stats and damage output. Keith took careful aim, knowing he’d probably only get a single shot. The cannon was a Mythical item, and while he could have risked more than one in the Fourliance and onward, he wouldn’t do something so reckless now.
Keith waited until the perfect moment, when both bosses were some fifty feet from the ground, then fired the cannon. There was a massive kick and explosion of black smoke, quickly washed away by the falling rain. The cannonball that flew from the weapon was far less impressive than it should have been, given the supposed damage output, but Tac had already warned that it would be diminished by the continent’s limitations. Still, the cannonball made contact and Morphus exploded, its entire body rupturing into thousands of small purple specks and freeing Galaxia, who’d taken a hard hit to her side.
Keith stashed the smoking cannon, watching the slime’s HP drop by almost half. It was a good hit, but unfortunately, he could already see it regenerating as the monster’s body dragged itself back together. It was strange to watch, but Keith wasn’t idle, pulling his hand cannon from his inventory and firing.
The weapon did far less damage than it should have – once again – blasting into the center of the mass and knocking off maybe 10,000 points of health. Still, it was better than nothing. Keith kept firing, grateful this wasn’t considered a magical blast, or it would have done nothing at all. Galaxia continued to attack as well, even as the monster finished pulling itself together.
The Section Boss roared, flashing up into the air as her body began to glow, clearly getting ready to unleash a massive attack as her timer ran down to 20 seconds. Keith stashed the hand cannon, having given up on using any of his usual weapons and instead drawing his new one, the scythe that had belonged to Neander.
He wasn’t really the type to fight with a weapon like this, but a scythe was basically a combination of a staff and a sword. He’d fought using a naginata in his old world, but the blade was straight instead of mounted flat, so he’d have to adapt the way he fought with it. Still, despite his relative unfamiliarity, his Sage of War assured that he had perfect mastery of the weapon, even if he himself didn’t.
Morphus’ body shrank suddenly, going from massive proportions to almost normal size and taking the form of a purple gazelle-like creature with massive curving horns and sharp hooves. It bounded out of the way, leaping with insane speed as Galaxia dropped from the sky like a meteor, slamming into the swampy ground with a hissing explosion. The ground cratered upon impact, with water, muck, and trees blasting away in a wave and leaving an open ring in the middle of the swamp.
Keith was glad they weren’t anywhere near civilization, or this battle would have been far messier.
He focused on the monster, trying to use Ice Cage in the hopes that it might work, the scythe glowing an icy blue as the tendrils of cold snaked around slim legs, trying to pin the creature down. It didn’t work, and the ice simply slid off its body, not able to find purchase.
“You do know what coldproof means, right?” Tac asked as Keith gave up on the attack and instead used Speed Demon, blasting forward and shooting across the battlefield after the World Boss.
Galaxia roared, forging massive lances and blasting them through the swamp, ripping up the landscape but finding herself unable to so much as land an attack. It was an impressive feat considering how widespread the attack was. Her timer was just about up too, and Keith breathed a silent sigh of relief as the monster disappeared into motes of shining light. That had been an unbelievably bad idea, one he would not be repeating anytime soon.
He flashed after the monster, trying to catch it in his Chronosphere to at least try slowing it down, but it was too quick, darting and leaping between trees in the strange gazelle form for him to pin down.
He began cleaving through trees with his scythe as he followed, knocking them down to give the monster less cover. As it turned out, this wasn’t a great idea.
“Shield! Shield!” Tac yelled as Morphus rebounded off a tree, its body transforming midair into a massive bear-like creature whose mouth opened an instant before it hit the ground.
A light beam blasted from its open jaws, ripping across the space between them. Having no time to think, Keith used one of his new prosthetic eyes’ effects. Black Hole activated right in front of his face. The monster’s attack was sucked upward and vanished into the small bead of pure black before it vanished, leaving him completely unharmed.
The slime, however, had already changed forms again, this time into a thirty-foot land dragon whose body seemed to be made of water. The slime retained its purple coloration in each transformation, making it as unnatural as it was terrifying.
