Open World Online (O.w.O)

• 1^st Person POV (MC)

-Present Time-

(“There we go...”)

Immediately I ducked underneath the rubble as I was anticipating the incoming attack.

Its raspy gritty voice laced with hatred and anger echoed in the chamber as a wave of intense black smoke spouts forward like a dam being opened.

*BAMMMMM*

The rubble shook as some of the debris fell to my clothes. I couldn’t imagine what had happened but feeling the explosive force of it...

Mr. Golem didn’t survive.

I opened the party list and indeed, as I surmised Mr. Golem wasn’t there.

“You.... Die! [Disintegrate]!!” -Arch Specter-

*BOOOOM*

I feel a cold breeze on my back as the rubble that protected me has vanished into a lump of dust.

(“That’s dangerous!”)

Turning around, I can see the boss unobstructed by the rubble. It seems the boss is an immobile type as it only stands within the magic circle. Which means I think this will be a long-range battle of magic.

*FWOOSH*

The flames on the sconces set ablaze with the usual orange hue. In turn, I can hear in the background, an ominous music befitting a battle against a powerful opponent.

The name of this boss is ‘Arch Specter (Weakened)’ as what I saw in the corner of my vision with its full HP including the fancy border.

(“I see... since I have succeeded in restoring the previous form of the boss’ HP. I got the weakened version of it at the end. Good... Good...”)

“[Holy Light]!”

A brilliant golden beam shoots out from my left hand right towards the boss. As I have seen with other ghosts, once the golden light makes contact it hisses.

“AGH!” -Arch Specter-

Its HP dropped quite significantly from a single attack of my spell. It recoils for a bit, before staring directly at me.

My back shivered, it looked so creepy with its corpse-like eyes and wrinkly dried-out body.

“You! Youuuuu!” -Arch Specter-

Its voice filled with malice as it waved its staff. Leaving behind a trail of black smoke that’s slowly condensing into black orbs.

With one push of its hand, it declares.

“[Dark Bolt]!!” -Arch Specter-

Reacting to it, I raise my left hand not wanting to get hit by the dark version of the [Elemental Bolt] spell.

“[Shield]!!”

Those black orbs launched straight at me as a blue dome formed around me.

“Huh?”

It passes through the dome as if it was nothing. It's too late for me to dodge! No!

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

I felt a dull impact from 3 points on my chest, so I didn’t pay attention to it. I need to get away first!!

In a matter of seconds, I sprinted to the rubble to take cover as I healed myself.

My eyes widened as the healing spell didn’t work as effectively as before. At a glance, I looked at my status and checked the de-buff being applied to me.

-System-

[Necrotized]

Description: Greatly reduce recovery effects received.

-System-

From here on, I can deduce several things. First thing first, the [Shield] spell only works on physical attacks. Second, different elements of [Elemental Bolt] inflict de-buff corresponding to the elements. I have never noticed it before, maybe because the ‘chance’ it would inflict de-buff is extremely low.

Thou-!

“Do... not... hide! [Disintegrate]!!” -Arch Specter-

*BLAAAAARRRR*

I felt the strong impact from what the boss cast as I turned around and saw the rubble where I hid had turned into dust.

“Tch! [Vulnerability]”

I cast the Spell while running, a sheen of multicoloured aura envelops the boss.

“[Dark Bolt]!!” -Arch Specter-

It shoots several of those dark spheres, but thankfully as I’m running it is slow enough for me to dodge it.

I heard the dull impact of that sound hitting the walls as I began casting another spell in return.

“[Light Bolt]!!”

A single arrow made from pure light shoot towards the boss and pierced its abdomen before vanishing away. Thanks to its fast casting time, I can move again before repeating the same thing.

Judging by the amount of HP loss compared to the spell [Holy Light], [Light Bolt] dealt less amount but!

I can continue to run to the side avoiding the barrage of dark bolts from the boss.

(“[Holy Light] takes too long to cast. Making me too vulnerable. Is there any offensive {Spell} that has no cast time? If so I would be glad to have one!!!”)

*BOOM*

Shoot! This is no time to have my thoughts wander around!!!

--

“Haa... Haaa...”

I’m out of breath, avoiding the dark bolts while retaliating with my light bolts. At least I managed to whittle this boss nearly half of its HP. I have eaten several stamina herbs just to keep up with dodging!

One more!

“[Light Bolt]!!”

The light arrow pierces the boss’ torso and with it, the boss’ HP fell below 50%.

“How... dare....!!! Taste our wrath!!!!!” -Arch Specter-

It screams as if thousands of people did it at the same time. I flinched back, a bit scared not knowing what was coming next...

*FWOOSH*

The black smoke condensed into its staff and what he held glowed an eerie purple light.

Oh!!! I know what this means!!!

Darting my eyes to my left and right, I hurried myself to hide behind one of the few rubble left.

I think I can deduce the pattern of this boss. Whenever I tried to hide in one rubble. It will most definitely use the spell [Disintegrate] to remove it.

There’s a limited number of rubble so if I kept on hiding. In the end, it will leave me with nothing to take cover from this attack.

“[Death Pulse]!!!” -Arch Specter-

Its hoarse creepy voice echoed in the chamber as I could feel cold chilly winds.

*BOOOM*

Surges and waves of black smoke on my left and right overwhelmed the area but I was left untouched although I was protected by the rubble behind me. I sensed something was going differently than before.

My gut feeling is telling me this and I trust it in every game I play.

“Huh?”

Once the surge of black smoke calms down, I feel my back wide open. I could not lean on the cold & hard surface of the rubble anymore as I turned around.

Every rubble has become a grain of dust. Leaving me with no way to cover myself if the boss uses that spell again.

“Persistent! Pest....” -Arch Specter-

It pointed its desiccated corpse-like finger towards me in an accusing manner.

“Tch! This is troublesome...”

In my head, I think this battle has changed into a DPS check instead of attrition like before.

At some point in time, most likely it will use that {Spell} again and it would be game over for me.

Which means!

“[Holy Light]!!!”

As the cast bar fills up, my eyes wander to check for any changes since the boss is currently doing its animation.

Firstly, the flames surrounding us have changed to their original blue colour. Although...

There’s no black smoke at all so I don’t know its purpose now.

And...

The boss is doing a far different animation from the usual [Dark Bolt] spell as it takes longer so I decided to pre-emptively cast [Holy Light].

The beam of golden light emits from my left hand towards the boss dealing a hefty chunk of its HP.

The accusing finger of the boss spouts a small bead that faintly glows in dark purple light.

“[Finger of Death]!!!” -Arch Specter-

*BLARRRRR*

A flash of dark purple lightning unleashed from its desiccated finger shooting straight at me.

“It's too quick!!!!! OUCHHH!!! That hurts!”

Far, far too fast for me to react and I felt a throbbing pain on my chest where the lightning hits. Akin to a random pulled chest muscle pain before it fades away quickly. I needed a couple of breaths in and out to organize myself.

-System-

Warning!!! Your HP is in the red zone.

-System-

I know Mr. System! You don’t need to tell me! Immediately I sprinted around as after that powerful {Spell} the boss unleashed a barrage of dark bolts.

*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp*

(“Gosh it’s hard to drink and run at the same time. Ugh....”)

Mana potions, stamina potions, and vitality potions. Including the herb variants, I drank and munched them all since the de-buff that reduces recovery effectiveness lasts incredibly long. I need to consume most of my supply to heal most of my HP, SP, and MP.

Though...

I couldn’t help but notice the blue light coming from the sconces whenever I passed. I got a buff before I ran from the area.

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

I narrowly dodged the barrage of ominous black orbs as I went to the next lightened area. As I’m retaliating with my very own light bolts.

My eyes glance to my status panel to check what buff has been applied to me within this blue light radius of these sconces.

-System-

[Sanctified]

Description: Greatly increase potency from Light elemental {Spell} and damage from Light enchanted weapons.

-System-

“I see! So that’s how it is. [Holy Light]!!”

As the cast bar fills up, it correlates with the boss’ animation of casting [Dark Bolt].

An intense golden ray of light enveloped by blue fire shoots and hits the boss. Removing a massive chunk of its HP but...

The area surrounding me darkens nearly instantaneously after I cast that spell towards the boss.

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

I got hit by three dark bolts from the boss, knowing how much damage I had done previously. This isn’t much of a worry, the ones I should be worrying about are the [Finger of Death] and [Death Pulse] attacks.

--

“[Holy Light]!!”

I shouted the {Spell} once I entered another area illuminated by the blue sconce and gave me that specific buff.

The very same thing happened, that golden beam shot with pure blue flames which dealt extremely high damage to the boss and corresponding with it the area darkened as if I had used up all the energy of these blue flames.

“I have 3 more of these left. With that massive amount of damage. I think those will be enough to finish this boss off.”

Talking to myself, I decided to dash away to the next blue sconce while avoiding the bullet hell that the boss unleashed.

“Pest! Die! Die! Die!!” -Arch Specter-

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

“Whoa! Almost!!!”

The dark bolts narrowly passed by my cheek as they landed on the wall.

It has become a blur as the battle becomes a dance of me running and trying to find a gap for me to use [Holy Light] whenever I’m near the blue sconces.

--

(“Haaa... With this, I have won!”)

“[HOLY LIGHT]!!”

Unconsciously I shouted the spell in excitement and relief as the last of the blue sconce had been snuffed out due to me using it for this {Spell}

It connects to the boss engulfing it with blue flames as its HP finally drops to 0%.

“AGHHHHHH!!!” -Arch Specter-

It groans with pain as...

*CLANG* *CLANG*

Its elegant ebony staff fell to the ground as the black smoke began to disperse. Its clothing slowly vanishes and the ‘original’ corpse's body desiccated arms reach towards me. Then… it shrieks!

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!! We’re... almost... reborn...” -Arch Specter-

The scream comes out from its throat as if it is rumbling beneath the earth. Filled with malice and hatred before finally completely gone. It goes limp to the ground.

Unpleasant darkness in the room finally disappears including the force field that barred me from returning.

Then...

*PING!*

-System-

Congratulations! You have conquered the dungeon ‘Ancient Ruins’

Calculating Rewards for Solo...

Giving experience...

Completed.

Exiting the dungeon ‘Ancient Ruins’.

-System-

In the blink of an eye, my view changed almost immediately as I needed to squint my eyes due to the bright sunlight invading my vision.

(“It's warm... I’m outside I think.”)

After adjusting to my surroundings, I am indeed outside. The sunlight pricks my skin contrary to the damp and humid ruins. Unconsciously I give a small smile of achievement.

Before sitting down on the ground letting out a huge sigh of relief.

“Haa.... I did it!!!”

Opening the System panel, it seems the dungeon gave me a ton of experience making me rise to level 10 almost instantly.

(“Hmm? What’s this?”)

In the {Status} panel, my experience bar has a red exclamation mark on the side. Tapping on it, another sub-panel appeared giving me information regarding why it was there.

-System-

You have reached Level 10 in LV 2-10 ‘Area’ as such you will not gain any experience from any creatures spawned in the ‘Area’. Loot from creatures in the ‘Area’ and ‘Dungeon’ can still be dropped.

-System-

“Oh... that’s why I still see some high-level players like the ones I found when I stumbled on the dungeon.”

(“Though... I have other things that I wanted to check! My Inventory!! I see some fade in & out in that section. I want to see!!!!!”)

Enthusiastically I opened my inventory to check what I was given from the dungeon. I hope I got something good! ... Wait... no... don’t get your hopes up, I did this solo so don’t expect anything good.