To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Chapter 07-The Blind Ice Man

April 25th, 2301

"We have one more battle," Cecelia says cheerfully. "I can't believe it," Sess agrees in tired satisfaction.

The 300 players behind us are excited as well. They will be the first to witness our transformation.

We've fought this raid monster day in and day out for a miserable 16 month now. We know every attack pattern, every strategy, every defensive set up. Now it's time to do it one last time.

"Archers!" I yell. The monster hears me but it's too late. The Rangers in the rear guard have fired their bows. Every arrow sticks into its back. "Melee! Wait for the magic users!" I order. The magic users will use us as cover as they use up their magic-power to harass the giant. Mack, after several months of serious training and meditation, has mastered producing elements without their presence. He produces a giant fireball and with a grunt, heaves it at the beast. The direct hit knocks it back and heats up some of its protective ice armor with a melting debuff.

"Mille Acus!" Havanna yells. A magic circle in yellow forms, then thousands of white streaks jet out of the center and into the chest of the ice monster. It roars and falls back on its rear.

"Melee, now!" I signal.

Essej, Alo, Rachel, Pranav, Cecelia, and I lead the charge with all the other melee-based classes.

I raise my giant sword over my head and strike it down upon the legs of the beast. I retract, spin around for momentum, then slash upwards. Arms raised, I roll my wrist to swing my blade into stabbing position and jab at the shins.

Essej and Rachel are slicing furiously fast at the monster's sides. Essej's short wakizashi blade glows with magical force energy flowing through it, adding magical damage in his physical attacks. Rachel stabs the monster with several hits per second—her weak damage on par with the slow but heavy hits of the swordsmen.

Pranav and Cecelia use their magic spells and melee simultaneously—Pranav's scythe inflicting dark magical sustained wounds and Cecelia's glaive burning it with holy light. They fire orbs of their elements out of their hands to poison the monster.

The titan begins to move again. It's time to get serious.

"Berserker mode! Everyone back! Healers take the front!" I warn.

As the beast screams deafeningly, we hastily retreat. The combat healers replace us in the front guard. Since they can heal themselves, they are the only ones able to fight against the berserker mode where the blind beast goes on a dangerous rampage.

With a giant arm, the beast swings at Alo's side. He quickly pivots and blocks the attack with his shield, the force so powerful that the snow behind him is blown back and his stamina and health drain to half. Alo, however, stands his ground and heals himself. In quick response, he raises his axe over his head and sinks it into the monster's arm with a battle cry.

The combat healers continue to suppress the golem, absorbing massive blows and healing themselves and one another. After the beast calms down, the healers retract to let the archers and magicians attack. Margot switches to her rapid-fire crossbow, landing every shot to the face with precision.

As the beast swipes at its face attempting to remove the arrows, Mack concentrates his power into the ground. All of a sudden, spikes of ice erupt from the frozen rock and impale the giant.

Havanna having memorized her spell book begins incanting. "Graminis attigit detrimento!" A blue magic circle forms and then a blue streak flies from its center and into the head of the beast. All the Elementals and Spellcasters in the raid-party continue spamming magic while the archers attack from the opposing side. The blind beast has no idea where to retaliate.

Just as the magicians run out of MP again, the beast falls to its knees. "Magicians regenerate! Melee move in!" I yell. My attack-power bar is probably filled by now.

I activate my skill verbally. "Electric Aura!" My greatsword buzzes an electricity buff. Everyone with melee weapons activates their skills and we charge mercilessly.

Rachel now begins stabbing at tens of hits per seconds. Essej's short blade glows bright green and his magic power instantly regenerates. Alo activates his steel armor ability and goes in full-offense. Cecelia activates her light sphere ability and a bright yellow bubble envelops the golem's head like a helmet, then releases the full power of the holy sun. Pranav activates a crippling wound attack and stabs the giant in the chest with the point of his pitchfork. The ice begins to turn black and purple with a corruption debuff.

"Melee withdraw! Magicians! Finish it off!" I yell. My heart beats faster and faster. Almost there...

When the magicians take over, all that can be seen is a flurry of colors hitting the golem. All that can be heard are the chatter of Latin incantations and archer fire.

Margot activates her armor-piercing arrow for a giant beam of metal to pass through the golem like a spear.

It staggers back, trying to recuperate. Sess rushes in on top of his white tiger, lance in hand. He activates his skill explosive tip. The second the tip of his lance contacts the golem, it explodes.

The monster dissipates and loot drops are expelled everywhere. My menu pops up.

You have completed the Obsidian raid! I press Finish and Collect.

All eyes turn on me. My heart races. It's time.

My glossy, black Obsidian dog tag turns into a sparkling, reflective diamond. My legendary Obsidian armor falls like a snake shedding skin. New armor envelops my body. Black, shiny, metallic. I find myself holding a shield and then a black greatsword.

I am now a Berserker. I look at the stats. They are 10 times higher than all my Obsidian legendary sets, with tens of different enchantments infused into the armor pieces as well as new skills!

My friends have transformed as well and look badass. Everyone goes crazy cheering.

"We did it!" "Let's go!"

"It's real!"

It's crazy that we're Gem-rank now. Years of work, practice, failure, teamwork, stress, training, sacrifice, death, respawning, frustration, victory, learning, re-strategizing, trying, retrying—all of that led to this moment of reward and such a warm feeling of satisfaction that all of this wasn't for nothing.

***

May 3rd, 2301

We kept 90 of the best Obsidian-rank fighters and sent the 2,750 remaining home. Their jobs are to help Turquoise players get to Obsidian for recruitment. We had lost 150 people in total during the operation to get us all to Gem-rank. I feel regret that they died but I'm also thankful for their sacrifice.

Now with this new class and power boost added to our skills and abilities, we can literally solo the obsidian bosses ourselves. We went from doing one raid a day to 10. We let the 90 of them do at least one attack to give damage, and then we'd finish the Blind Ice Man off with just a few hits. Everyone would get the XP except us for two reasons: We were max-rank and higher ranks participating in a raid for lower- ranks don't receive anything. Not like we cared anyways.

We had 100 Gem-rank players in one week.