Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

The hallway felt like it continued endlessly, where I kept on reapplying the buffs.

Tilting my head, I couldn’t see the flames anymore on my left & right. Instead, it felt like I was in an open chamber.

Fresh wind began to blow to my side and I thought of it as odd. Since this is a closed space after all...

But before I can explore further.

*FWOOOSHHH*

Several sconces are set ablaze making the temperature spiked as my skin tingles with comfortable warmth.

Due to the sconces, I can see what’s in this massive chamber.

...

...

...

This ‘room’ is a vast circular chamber way bigger than any other open space I have seen in other parts of the dungeon.

Rubbles were thrown to the side, blocking a path or in my gaming sense, these rubbles are large enough to be used for cover.

But! the one that caught my attention the most is right in the centre of it all.

There is an elaborately made magic circle where hieroglyphs and mysterious symbols drawn around it.

In the middle of that circle while squinting my eyes. I can see a gnarly-looking pole and...

Is that a body being tied to it!?? I stood aghast, as I began to analyse what I was seeing.

That body appeared to be one of the human race and already desiccated away. Its skin has gone wrinkly & turned brown.

It makes me think that it has been years since it was last found or it is treated by something to make it look that way.

Before I can approach it though...

The magic circle glowed in an eerie reddish hue and immediately behind me a wall of force had been deployed. Preventing me from returning as in the back of my head I know what this entails.

Then...

A voice, faint as it may be akin to whispering winds rattle in my ears. Somehow though, I know where it is coming from as I stare at the tied-up body.

“H....e...l...p... m...e...” -Sacrificed-

My eyes glance to the corner of my vision and I can see an HP pool being displayed. Quite a large one with an elaborate border signifying it is a boss-type monster similar to the goblin chieftain I fought.

Although...

(“Why does this one have a tiny sliver of green bar compared to the red bar.”)

As if it is telling, it has low health at the start already.

(“Why?”)

Maybe... maybe the mechanic to defeat this boss is to restore its HP. That is what my hunch is telling me at least.

“But how?”

I stare at the blazing sconces around the room including rubbles littered everywhere.

*KRSSS* *KKRS*

The tied-up body struggles to escape as it wiggles before opening its dried hands towards me.

“He...lp... me!” -Sacrificed-

More desperate than ever before but somehow I feel... something isn’t quite right.

Then...

Black smoke appeared near the body & began filling up the floor. Once it made contact with my leg.

“Huh?”

Creeping cold shoot from where it hits, right towards my back as I shivered. But also I noticed my HP began to be chipped away.

“This is dangerous.”

My eyes darted here and there until I saw the black smoke didn’t engulf areas where the lit sconces were.

Immediately I sprinted my way underneath the brightened area as my golem followed me.

On its legs, I can see rust & corrosion visual effects began to take over to counteract that I used [Mending] to fix my golem up.

“[Heal]”

My hands glowed in faint green light filling up my HP back to full & leaving me feeling energized.

“Maybe I can use my [Heal] spell on it. But... this is a boss monster I’m talking about! It would take too long... there must be a mechanic tied to it.”

“AH! It... hurts!...” -Sacrificed-

It groans with a raspy and pained voice as it struggles inside the black smoke covering the floors.

Hm...? The orange hue changed into a blue hue and I could see several sticks littered on the ground. They have a burnt end.

In moments of curiosity, I picked one up and set it on fire using the blue sconce nearby. It is set ablaze by the blue flame easily and it brightens the whole place.

I couldn’t help but notice once I set this torch on fire. The black smoke dissipated further, and I decided to move forward while holding that torch.

“Ah... so that’s how you traverse the black smoke terrain.”

The blue light radiating from the torch dissipates black smoke creating a circle of safety.

(“Can I take two?”)

Returning to the area, I grabbed another stick & set it on fire and immediately my other blue fire torch snuffed out.

“I see... I can only bring one at a time.”

Nodding to myself, I decided to move forward towards the dried-up body in the middle while navigating around the rubble.

--

Once I arrived at the place, I could see an unlit brazier in front of the body. Which wasn’t there in the first place when I encountered this boss.

Without further ado, I let the blue fire torch set the brazier ablaze with the blue glow.

Simultaneously, I can hear a sigh of relief from the body.

“haa.... thank... you...” -Sacrificed-

Another HP bar emerges at the corner of my eye, right below the low health bar of the boss.

This one is called ‘Flames of Purification’ and I can see its HP slowly and steadily falling down but instead the boss’ HP rises.

“Ah... so that’s how you heal the boss.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” -Spectre-

A distant pitched scream catches my attention as my whole body tenses up. The black smoke that was dispersed from the blue light began to coil and in it emerged several hooded figures floating in mid-air.

They erratically moved from one side to another and began to madly dash towards the blue flame.

Before I can cast a spell though, one already hit the brazier and I noticed how the flames flicker.

Including the ‘Flames of Purification’ HP dropped significantly.

“HOLY!”

It clicked in my mind as in a hurry, I raised my hands to cast the Spell.

“[FORCE]!!”

*BOOM*

A wave of strong kinetic energy expelled from it and knocked back several of those hooded figures but they were able to regain their composure easily as they continued madly dashing to the brazier.

“No, you don’t!”

“Mr. Golem! Use {Skill} <Golem’s Provoke>”

I declared it loud and clear as the golem stood beside me and began to bump its fists together.

Due to the metallic material of its body, it clangs. Making an incredibly loud noise.

Ghost creatures that are madly dashing to the brazier abruptly stop and change their direction towards the golem.

The ghosts just pass through the golem leaving behind rust & sheen of frost. While it is ignoring the attack preferring to keep activating its {Skill}

I can see on my party list, the golem’s HP dropped tremendously from those attacks.

“[Mending]!!”

My hands glow in white light, and some rust was shaken off. But once those mad ghosts made contact again, the rust came back easily.

“That’s not good...”

It doesn’t help at all, the incoming damage is too much compared to the healing received. I need to think of something else if not Mr. Golem will die!

Think! THINK!

A flash of ideas coursing through my mind. Based on what I know about my racial trait [Words of Power I] including my previous experience in experimenting with the {Trait}. I think this is a bit of a stretch but…

There are hidden meanings inside the sentences...

Like what happened prior! I can cast {Spell} simply by knowing their ‘keyword’ without the need of consuming a spell book.

Instead, those spell books allowed me to unlock the ability to use higher tier {Spell} rather than ‘learning’ and ‘adding’ new spells to my spell list.

The sentence I am currently thinking of is ‘{Spell} cast this way ignores restrictions’

It doesn’t elaborate on what kind of restrictions. This is what I am betting on at this moment!

With a deep breath, Mr. Golem’s HP decreased rapidly reaching the point of the red zone. I slammed my staff down on the ground.

“[Chant of Rejuvenation]!!!”

Instead of the spell fizzling out like before, this one works. I can hear some sort of... music.

It sounded like harp strings accompanied by piano in the background. I don’t know who composes this music but it evokes the feeling of being safe and sound. It does have the cast bar but it's already full and it didn’t vanish unlike the usual. So, this is a ‘Chant or Continuous’ type of {Spell}.

Then...

A greenish hue glow radiates from where my staff made contact with the solid floor. It expands creating a ground of emerald colour covering the boss, flames of purification brazier, and my golem.

Oh!!! I need to maintain it as my MP slowly decreases.

“Haaaa.....”

I sighed in relief, seeing my gamble worked. The healing effect from my spell that should’ve only worked on living things. Also works on inanimate objects most likely due to my {Trait} description.

Wait a minute...

My eyes widened upon seeing the boss’ HP as well. Besides recovering from the blue flame brazier, it is also being healed by my spell.

The mad ghosts kept on attacking my golem yet with this chant the damage received and damage recovered cancelled out. Resulting in a stalemate of some kind.

“Good!”

In a hurry, I brought out a mana potion and drank it down since I could feel weariness beginning to take over.

--

The sounds of my iron golem clanging its fist in addition to these ghosts screeching and the background soft music of my chanting spell. These combinations created a strange scene which made me chuckle for a bit.

Nevertheless, slowly but surely the HP of the boss recovered from a sliver of the green bar to a hefty amount. From the display, I can check it is around 69% restored.

“I am so glad, I brought potions and forage mana herbs too.”

[Chant of Rejuvenation] constantly drains MP as such I need to consume them often as my MP regeneration couldn’t overcome it.

*MUNCH* *MUNCH*

“Hmmm... mana herbs have a sweet minty type of flavour. Taste pretty good actually, I can see why Gaia eats these.”

My eyes glance to the upper corner of my vision checking the boss’ HP.

97%...

98%...

99%...

100%...

*POOF*

The brazier’s fire suddenly snuffed out including the blue fire torch on my hand.

“What?”

My eyes widened in surprise as I tried to dash to the sconces around me but I also realised they too had been snuffed out.

Making this entire room pitch black.

“Shoot! The damage over time (DoT) from this black smoke will overpower my chant!”

“Maybe-!”

“HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” -Spectre-

“What’s that!??”

I cast a [Light] spell after cancelling the chant, no use of me keeping the spell up. The bright light radiating from my lamplight staff allows me to see what’s going on.

These ghost figures began to congregate rather than the usual madly dashing into the brazier.

Then...

*FWOOOOSH*

A strong gust of wind moves the black smoke towards the boss as I lean to my golem. Those ghost figures merged with the black smoke.

“AGHH! IT HURTS!!!!!” -Sacrificed-

The tied-up corpse-looking body struggles to escape, the bindings around it are too tight as the black smoke engulfs it.

My HP didn’t decrease when I made contact with that black smoke. It must be the second phase of the boss!

In a hurry, I hide behind Mr. Golem while making sure to keep watch on what’s going on.

The black smoke swirls and undulates as if it were a living being. I can see a silhouette of that tied-up body twitching and...

*SNAP*

The rope holding it together breaks as the person held by it falls to the ground whilst the smoke continues to swirl.

In shambles, it stands up while quivering as the smoke begins to condense.

It envelops its torso and lower body fully revealing the face of this boss. Apart from the usual deep sunken eyes, a lavish-looking tiara has been worn on its head.

The swirling black smoke materializes into an ebony-tattered cloak and robe. It carries an elegant sleek staff similar to my own but has more elaborate decoration and an eerie purple glow at the top of it.

“Why have you interrupted us!?” -Arch Specter-

It growls, its tone has changed into a more aggressive one. As it raises its hands above in conjunction with the staff. The original ‘Sacrificed’ has been possessed.

Shining with purple light, the black smoke condenses into a single concentrated bead. My gut feeling is telling me something is going down bad.

Looking around, I managed to find the closest rubble as it was my turn to madly sprint behind cover.

“Wait! Where’s my golem?”

I turned back to see my golem continue to make that awful clanging noise.

“Mr. Golem! Stop and Follow me!”

Shouting as loud and clear as possible, my iron golem followed suit but it was far too late as...

“[Death Pulse]!!” -Arch Specter-