The Final Desperation

"Catch some animals to test the area," Genji ordered.

Although the coffin didn’t trigger any sense of danger, this only made Genji more cautious. There had to be a good reason why the animals avoided the area like the plague. Plus, his senses weren’t infallible and could be deceived, especially by certain traps with multiple layers.

The soldiers followed his command and caught a few lions. They hoisted the prey by the paws and carried them back. The lions’ resistance was moderate at first, but it spiked when they entered the vicinity. The lions went from struggling with all their strength to absolute desperation. Immense terror oozed from their bodies as they did everything to escape their captors' grasp.

Genji narrowed his eyes and swung his arm, signaling them to toss the lions onto the coffin. As the animals soared through the air, their bodies twisted frantically, trying to avoid the landing zone. However, gravity denied their attempts, and they all landed with a dull thud.

The lions scrambled to jump off but were forcibly teleported away before they could succeed. In the next moment, pitiful whimpers and painful howls resounded, followed by the harsh sound of flesh being torn apart.

Whipping their heads toward the sound, the team spotted the same lions crucified on wooden crosses. Their limbs were forcibly twisted into position, ignoring their anatomy. Long, bony needles pierced their skin, drawing streams of blood that stained the crosses.

As the lions bled out, they shrank in size, slowly deflating like punctured balloons. In the end, only skeletal figures wrapped in loose skin and fur remained, mere shadows of their former selves. All their life force had been drained, depriving them of vigor and strength.

At the same time, Genji noticed the girl in the coffin. Her skin became more supple, her hair glossier, and her face more radiant. It was as if she had been rejuvenated by an elixir of youth, cementing her beauty for eternity.

The crosses disappeared at this moment, dropping the lions' remains. Hoodie Guy asked a soldier to test the coffin with bows and arrows.

The selected soldier obeyed, but when the arrow bounced off the casket, the man suddenly disappeared and was replaced by the girl inside. A confused look crossed his face as he scanned his surroundings before realization hit. He kicked the lid, but it refused to budge.

Moments later, he clutched his throat, eyes bulging—there was no air in the coffin, and he was beginning to suffocate. His struggle became more frantic, but he couldn’t even find the outlines of where the lid met the casket. It was as if the coffin was a seamless piece, devoid of any opening.

It was the same as being buried alive, only without dirt. Yet this hardly made a difference, as the fear was the same. One could argue it was worse since he could see the outside world but was helpless to prevent his slow demise.

A few impulsive soldiers attacked the coffin, hoping to shatter it and free their friend, but this only worsened the situation when they, too, were teleported inside. Now, four men were crammed into a space meant for two at most.

They pushed against each other, hoping to break free from the inside, but this only resulted in minor injuries.

"Nobody move!" Edwin roared before anyone else could get involved.

At this moment, Genji had a troubling thought. 'Where did the girl go? She disappeared when the first person was teleported inside. There's no way she's still there. But if she's not... then...'

Suddenly, a voice, so pleasant it could rival the sirens of Greek mythology, sounded behind them. "Don’t you know it’s rude to desecrate someone’s grave?"

"!!!"

"!?!"

Alarm bells rang in everyone's minds as a few nearby soldiers whirled around to attack, their nerves on edge. Unfortunately, this was the worst decision. The moment their weapons touched the girl, they were teleported into the coffin as well.

What happens when you force more fruit into a container than it can hold? This was the gruesome result. Blood splattered, bones shattered, and skin compressed, turning the coffin's interior into a horrific mess.

In a single mistake, several men were lost. But for those still alive inside the coffin, the experience was worse. They had to endure the nauseating feeling of warm blood seeping into their skin while resisting the horror of mangled flesh forcing its way into their orifices. It was truly one of the worst ways to die.

Everyone froze, cautiously staring at the intruder, unsure how the zone's mechanisms worked.

"You misunderstand," Hoodie Guy responded quickly. "We were just testing the material. It looked really durable, so we wanted a sample."

"Liar!" the girl sneered. "I heard everything. You wanted to kill me!"

"Welp, guess the cat's out of the bag. It was worth a shot." Hoodie Guy shrugged lightly.

The girl lunged, swiping her hands like claws. The attack was brutish and lacked any sense of technique, but it was deadlier than any weapon. She teleported her targets into the coffin with each touch, sealing their fates.

Counterattacking only triggered the same mechanism, so the group switched to dodging. Only when they were cornered did they retaliate as a last resort.

Genji was desperately thinking of a solution when a soldier accidentally kicked a stone at the coffin as the girl overwhelmed another teammate. The stone bounced off, but the soldier remained unaffected by the teleportation. Everyone's eyes lit up—was the attack too weak to trigger the mechanism, or was it something else?

"Gamble with me," Hoodie Guy shouted and brandished his scythe at the girl. Genji felt the idea was worth testing and flashstepped toward the coffin. They timed their attacks to land simultaneously and prepared their defenses.

Solid Core formed a crystallized layer beneath Genji’s skin, while Dance of Death spawned three silhouettes around him. At the same time, Hoodie Guy enveloped his muscles in swirling black smoke.

The next moment, Genji found himself amidst broken flesh and pulverized metal, just as Hoodie Guy sliced through a teammate. The girl had swapped places with a nearby target, while Genji had been teleported inside the coffin.

Although this outcome was rather unpleasant, it provided a lot of information. For one, the teleporting mechanism could only protect one target at a time—either the coffin or the girl. Secondly, the girl and the coffin were not as invincible as they initially thought.

It was the zone principle that provided a strong defense, not their abilities. Otherwise, she wouldn't have exposed such a crucial trump card like position swap right now.

Thirdly, the zone principle (or the girl) would prioritize protecting the coffin over anything else. Finally, the position swap had a huge restriction in range or who it could target. If not, she would have swapped with Genji and easily resolved this issue.

A strong force squeezed Genji from all sides, but he escaped with his own position swap before he could sustain too much damage. Bruce cleaned the blood soaking his body, right as a layer of cutting intent minced any miscellaneous scraps of flesh.

Meanwhile, the team had retreated outside the girl's target range, leaving Hoodie Guy to block her while they prepared to attack the coffin. They noticed Genji's return and prepared to cooperate with him. Genji made a few gestures and hacked down, right as Hoodie Guy launched another offensive.

A flurry of arrows also accompanied them, bombarding both targets and covering any downtime. Large gashes ruined the girl's face, prompting a horrifying scream that induced a light headache. "HOW COULD YOU! MY FACE!?!"

Following that, she underwent a harrowing transformation. Her rosy cheeks turned gray, her skin shriveled, her hair wilted, and her manicured fingernails sharpened into deadly claws.

The girl's beauty had now faded, replaced by a wraith-like ghastliness. The coffin then turned illusionary and fused into her bony figure, boosting her aura to threatening heights.

With each passing moment, her body grew more transparent and her distorted features more pronounced. Her wounds closed and fused together, becoming almost indistinguishable from her clothes. In the end, only a ghostly being stood before them, shrieking and declaring the start of the second phase.

 

[Sleeping Banshee, Aurora]

Health: 56,879/49,250

Mana: 4,632/3,550

Con: 57

Str: 52

Dex: 46

Int: 71

Spc: 73

Skills:

- Boss (Passive): +35,000 health

- Illusionary Body (Passive): You take 95% reduced damage from physical attacks.

- Intangibility (Passive): You are unaffected by binding effects or other restrictive abilities.

- Deathly Affinity (Passive): +200 health and +40 mana for every kill within the past 24 hours (Exceeds maximum values). Spells you cast will have a deadly attribute that drains life force.

Note: No further skills can be read.

 

Hoodie Guy performed a more detailed scan, and his face immediately warped with alarm. "Everyone get back!" he shouted, his voice laced with urgency.

However, this warning was already too late. Before the troops could get anywhere, a storm of spikes shot out from the ground and impaled everyone. Genji was among the few who escaped without injuries due to his instinctual movements. The others were either dead or had sustained injuries of various degrees.

As they pried themselves off these earthly javelins, energy streams leaked from the corpses and gathered by Aurora's side. She absorbed this power, and her danger signals spiked correspondingly. By the time she finished, her health had jumped by another 15,000 and her mana by 3,000.

'Shit!' Genji mentally exclaimed. 'She is approaching high lord levels of health and mana.'

Recognizing the impending crisis, everyone on the main team brought forth their strongest states, including Genji, who activated Terror Unleashed. He couldn't afford to hide his strength anymore. If they didn’t win now, he’d be forced to gamble that there was no barrier sealing the area—an unwise risk, given his past experiences.

Genji took a deep breath and burst forward, unleashing a Stealth Dagger. His strike phased right through Aurora, but the compressed flames and cutting intent left their mark. Various other attacks bombarded her as well, yet they were similarly weakened.

Aurora screamed again and swapped into their formation, unleashing flashes of purple bolts. All the melee fighters except Edwin, who needed to protect a teammate, dodged. These bolts left corrosive marks on his shield along with an acrid odor.

As Aurora reached for Edwin's arm, a beam of scorching hot energy intercepted her and scorched her skin. This wound quickly faded like an illusion, and the onslaught continued.

A blanket of shadow flames fell on her as Genji descended from above. Meanwhile, Hoodie Guy attached a thick layer of smoke that dealt damage over time to Aurora.

Yet the most surprising was Lynn, who pulled out a glaring white lightsaber that burned the body with each slash. Lynn utilized this weapon with incredible proficiency, demonstrating a skill that rivaled Genji's Dagger Mastery. Pairing this with her ability to predict the opponent's movements and the heat's restrictive effect on ghostly beings, she quickly became the highest damage dealer.

Aurora realized this situation was massively disadvantageous and gathered her energy to break out. Her mana fluctuated wildly, and a ring of frost radiated from Aurora's feet. All the nearby fighters, except for Genji, who preemptively jumped, were caught in this wave and had their feet frozen.

Genji conjured a block beneath him and propelled himself forward. His saber cut through the chest and deposited more poison into the body. Although poison had a diminished effect on Aurora, its strange composition made it difficult to resist completely.

Genji lashed out in rapid succession, prioritizing quantity over quality of attacks. Bruce supported him by piercing the hands with blood pikes, disrupting any spell casts. Together, they overwhelmed Aurora and bought time for the team to recover.

Suddenly, Aurora grew more transparent and rushed forward recklessly. Genji swung to intercept her, but she slipped through unaffected. It was like he'd cut a mirage instead of a tangible being.

Danger signals buzzed within Genji as Aurora reached for his chest, prompting a second silhouette swap, which disintegrated instantly upon contact. Genji appeared in the distance and flashstepped again, ferociously attacking the outstretched arm. A thin streak the size of a paper cut appeared on the area, which Bruce immediately capitalized on.

Swirls of blood rushed into this wound before it could close and wreaked havoc along the veins. Aurora's movements became jerky just as another wave of attacks descended.

Genji stabbed his weapon into the ground, flaring his cutting intent to shake away the last remnants of ice holding down the others. Then another fierce assault resumed, further whittling away the extensive health bar.

Attacks flew in all directions and tossed Aurora around like a rag doll. Edwin was at the forefront, bashing her with his shield and massive amounts of energy. Hoodie Guy ramped up his black smoke and stained her transparent body, making it more corporeal. Injuries piled on like falling sand, and Aurora began to bleed.

Her ghostly body was being worn down with each moment, accentuating her mortal nature. Hastily gathering her mana, Aurora endured a massive backlash to conjure two orbs around her fists. These orbs flickered erratically and gave off a volatile sensation akin to unstable bombs.

Genji sensed the danger a split second ahead of time and dashed for escape. Aurora slammed her hands together, and a massive, blinding explosion rippled behind Genji. A huge force crashed into him, propelling him at breakneck speeds. His bones snapped from the impact and his skin burst to release gushers of blood.

He rolled several meters to dispel the impact, hopped onto his feet, and downed some potions with Bruce's assistance before charging back into battle. As the dust settled, he saw his team safely gathered behind Lynn, who had used a consumable to erect a powerful barrier.

Although they were uninjured, she had a displeased look on her face. This was an expensive item and it had directly nullified all profits she would have earned from this fight. Lynn gnashed her teeth and glared at the heavily injured Aurora.

The explosion had drained more of Aurora’s health and mana than all previous damage combined, leaving her with just 30% of her original values. Her ghostly body had weakened significantly, now only resisting 50% of the incoming damage—10 times more than before. Lynn wasn’t the only one who had paid a steep price in this exchange.

The lumberjack noticed Genji's return and leaped out of the barrier to join the charge. They both pushed their energies to their peaks and prepared to enter one last exchange.

Aurora howled hysterically and summoned a field of crosses, identical to the ones that had crucified the lions. But this time, the crosses held the skeletal remains and rotten clothes of her previous victims. The shackles holding them to the cross unlocked, sending a hoard of undead stumbling toward them.

Genji and the lumberjack carved through the crowd, but the undead's mere presence had delayed their assault. Aurora slightly stabilized her chaotic energy and prepared to conjure another attack when another beam of light burned her. Her skin melted like candle wax and slid off, exposing a gray skull.

A chilling hiss escaped her throat, and her mana bubbled with gray fumes. This was a combination of Hoodie Guy's smoke and her undead nature. The energy gathered into a sphere the size of a large watermelon before her chest and condensed inward. Her health also drained with each passing moment, indicating Aurora's willingness to risk her life. She would either kill everyone with this attack or die trying.

"OPEN THE WAY!" Genji shouted urgently as his energy violently traced a vortex. Everyone understood his intentions and used their ultimates with no regard for stamina. The lumberjack was especially active in holding off the incoming tide.

Genji rushed through, and both combatants' attacks finished charging. A destructive vortex crashed into a solid beam, igniting a minor explosion. Genji dug his feet into the ground, activated Solid Core, and pivoted with all his might.

The ground beneath him shattered like crackers, but Genji continued forward without pause. With one final exertion, his saber slashed through the beam and reached the neck. By now, his energy had mostly dissipated, but it still maintained its vortex outline.

Upon cutting into Aurora's bony frame, this energy rushed into her head, and her illusionary body collapsed into flecks of light. Compared to a physical body, her ghostly form made her more susceptible to this attack. After all, Shadow Devour had the property of specifically damaging the soul after its latest upgrade.

[You have slain: Sleeping Banshee, Aurora]

[Your maximum energy has increased by 78. You have reached your bearing capacity.]

[You have obtained: 400 realm coins.]

[You have obtained...]

Genji overlooked the loot drop because he knew he wouldn't obtain it. Lynn had contributed massively to this battle and would want to recoup her losses. After all, neither charging her lightsaber nor her other methods were cheap. Instead of fighting her over this, it would be more productive to think about his agreement with Cainance. 

Next, he focused on the mission update prompt.

[You have completed the story of: Sleeping Beauty]

[Sleeping Beauty]

Description: Don't you think she's gorgeous with her corpse lips and cold body? No? Many people thought the same, so she developed an obsession for her appearance. Yet now that you've peeled off her disguise, you must endure her wrath. After all, the most important thing to a woman is her face.

Mission Progress: 8/3