It had been two months since the dungeon of Black Beard shattered the will of hundreds and claimed the lives of most who dared to clear it. I skipped the second dungeon clearing until the seventh one, because I thought I was too weak for it, and thought that the first one was just pure luck.
I had become a normal player. Well... not totally 'normal.'
But honestly, I was just afraid of dying. I mean... who isn't afraid of dying?
So, I spent every day pushing to grow stronger, grinding mini-dungeons, clearing side quests, hunting attribute potions, and finding every hidden EXP route I could, until I reached level thirty. And figuring out the true nature of my class.
And the Easter Egg? Still very much an egg. A glorified paperweight, sealed tight and useless.
Not until I found the material to make it useful. The Hatcher.
I didn't know how or where it would show up.
But the answer came, with glowing red letters that tore across the sky like fire across parchment.
[WORLD EVENT]: [THE HERALD OF THE DEEP]
[LOCATION]: [TEMPEST GULF]
[BOSS]: [THE LEVIATHAN HERMIT]
[EXCLUSIVE DROP]: [EASTER EGG HATCHER]
[EVENT TIMER]: [6 HOURS]
[WARNING]: [HIGH FATALITY RATE EXPECTED!]
"I should be a little bit stronger now, considering all the potions I consumed," I said, clicking on the character attribute status on my user interface. "Hmm, let's see..."
A system window appeared in front of me.
[CHARACTER ATTRIBUTE STATUS]:
[ATTACK]: [21/50]
[RESISTANCE]: [8/40]
[SPEED]: [11/75]
[DEXTERITY]: [12/85]
[VITALITY]: [3/40]
[INTELLIGENCE]: [8/45]
I closed the user interface and stared at my spirit dagger in my hand.
"My stats will do... and I have a strong weapon anyway," I said. "And I need that drop. I think I can do it even though I'm only level thirty."
When I arrived at the coast of Tempest Gulf, hundreds of players were already gathering. There were around two hundred or more players present. Most of them looked strong, their levels were around thirty to fifty.
Then, the water near Tempest Gulf suddenly frothed violently, as if something massive stirred beneath the waves. Lightning danced across the clouds, forming a swirling vortex over the sea. At the eye of it, a rift shimmered blue and black, like a tear in reality itself.
Then it appeared and opened its massive eye.
The Leviathan Hermit.
It was a monstrous, barnacle-covered abomination erupted from beneath the waves. Its eyes glowed like sunken lighthouses beneath the dark sea. A carapace of coral and rusted iron clung to its massive form. And tentacles, so many of them, rose and coiled, each the size of a galleon's mast.
A system window appeared above its head:
[The Leviathan Hermit] — (LEVEL 60)
[HP]: [120/120]
A healer screamed, panic in his voice, "Scatter! Everyone, move!"
It was too late.
One tentacle slammed down like a falling mountain, crushing an entire squad of archers in an instant. Red mist and splintered wood sprayed into the air. The shockwave rattled the ground beneath my feet.
As I sprinted toward the Leviathan Hermit, a massive tentacle swung straight for my face. My eyes widened, and I tightened my grip around my spirit dagger's hilt, activating its skill: Intangibility.
My body shimmered, turning glass-like and weightless as the tentacle went past through me and slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, spraying sand into the air.
"Shit…" I gasped, my heart racing. "I'd be a goner if that hit me!"
I continued sprinting toward the Leviathan Hermit. Water and sand sprayed with every step as I dodged thrashing tentacles and crashing waves. Then I dove low under a swinging tentacle, feeling the wind whip past my face, and slashed at one of its massive tentacle near the shore.
The Leviathan Hermit let out a bone-chilling shriek, and a spurt of brackish water and blood from the tentacle sprayed over me.
"Huh?" I thought, eyes locked on the Leviathan Hermit's health bar as it plummeted. "It did that much damage?"
Above a jagged stone platform, mages gathered as they cast spell after spell at the Leviathan Hermit. Bolts of fire, shards of ice, and arcs of lightning streaked through the air, colliding with the creature's massive form. And below them, the sand near the shore was streaked red, trampled by players who had fallen and killed.
The male archer beside me was in the middle of casting a skill. His bowstring twang, then snapped as the Leviathan Hermit's tentacle whipped toward him. He barely had time to scream before the force sent him flying into the ocean like a skipping stone, vanishing beneath the waves.
A female healer's barrier shattered with a sound like cracking glass. She barely got out of the way before the next wave of thrashing tentacles slammed down into the ground, shaking it, spraying sand into the air like a geyser.
As I sprinted for cover, a tentacle lashed out from behind, hurling me backward in a tumbling roll. Pain shot through my shoulder as I slammed into the ground, but I scrambled up just in time to see a crumbling rock arch collapsing overhead. Reflexes kicked in.
I activated my spirit dagger's skill: Intangibility, phasing through the massive stone as it crashed to the ground, crushing two unlucky players behind me in a spray of blood, shattered gear, and flying debris.
My eyes widened, heart pounding.
"THAT WAS CLOSE!" I shouted inside my head.
A scream of frost split the air, cold enough to make the hairs on my arms stand on end.
A male Cryomancer stepped forward. Tall and fit, with tan skin, violet hair, and deep brown eyes that gleamed with focus, he moved with quiet precision. His robe was lined with frostbite-blue glyphs that shimmered as he lifted his wand, pointing it at the Leviathan Hermit.
He activated a skill: Zero Celsius. In an instant, the Leviathan Hermit was frozen solid. Ice surged upward like a tidal wave in reverse, from the base of its rotting shell to the twitching tips of its monstrous limbs. Crystalline shards erupted across its surface, locking it mid-motion. Even its massive eye, still mid-glow, was sealed behind a jagged veil of frost.
For the first time, it looked small. Not godlike. Not invincible.
"Ten seconds!" the Cryomancer shouted. "Hit it with everything you've got!"
And we did.
The sky had turned into a warzone. Fireballs, arrows, and lightning bolts streaked through the air. Warriors and Assassins stabbed at its frozen tentacles near the shore. The Leviathan Hermit trembled, powerless to fight back. It was nothing more than a punching bag.
Some players shouted in a mocking tone as they attacked the Leviathan Hermit.
"Not so strong after all, eh?!"
"Take this, you stupid squid!"
"Can't move, can ya?!"
I hurled my spirit dagger with all my strength at the Leviathan Hermit's head. The moment it struck, I activated its skill: Ownership. In an instant, I reappeared in front of its head and drove the dagger repeatedly deep into it. Ice cracked violently around the wound.
The Leviathan Hermit let out a muffled shriek as chunks of frozen flesh flew from its tentacles, scattering across the sand.
"That Cryomancer class is broken for sure," I said as I jumped away from the Leviathan Hermit and dropped to the sand.
I rested from a distance. I wasn't gonna waste energy this time. Not yet. I was waiting for the moment that counted. The kill shot. I wanted the loot.
Then, a sound like the world tearing in half entered our ears. It was the type of sound that pierced right into your mind instead of your ears.
The Leviathan shrieked.
Everyone flinched, hands covering their ears, and their spells dropped mid-cast.
A male healer covered his ears and shouted, "Is this thing supposed to be loud when it's about to die?!"
The ice around the Leviathan Hermit shattered in a blinding explosion. Cracks raced across its body like jagged lightning, and frozen shards shot outward like deadly shrapnel, piercing through the air. Then it released a shockwave that tore across the battlefield, sending most players flying.
I barely managed to dodge the frozen shards by diving behind a massive rock.
"Now what?" I thought, closing my fist.
Then, silence.
The Leviathan sank. It vanished beneath the surface without a ripple. Gone.
"I think it's over, guys!" an archer shouted, raising a fist into the air with a wide grin on his face.
For a beat, the battlefield was still. Just steam rising off the sea, the broken hush of a world holding its breath.
Then—explosion!
The water erupted as the Leviathan Hermit surged back, furious. It shot out of the sea like a missile, its cracked shell glowing with molten red veins running across its body. Dozens of rusted cannons unfolded along its back like mechanical tentacles, each one slowly rotating to face us.
"It didn't die after all those attacks?" I muttered. "You've got to be kidding me..."
A system window appeared above the Leviathan Hermit's head.
[THE LEVIATHAN HERMIT IS ENRAGED!]
"TAKE COVER, EVERYONE!!!" the Cryomancer screamed and activated a skill: Ice Bulwark, a shield made of ice to protect himself.
But it was too late. The cannons fired.
I sprinted and rolled behind the remains of a collapsed tower just in time. The explosion blasted overhead, sending parts of human bodies: an arm and a leg—then shattered into fragments as it hit the sand.
I gasped. "H-H-Holy shit!"
My health bar plummeted to forty percent as I took area of effect damage from the explosion. I consumed a health potion quickly, despite my hands shaking, and my heart throbbing from the shockwave earlier.
The battlefield was filled with smoke caused by the explosions.
When the smoke cleared, there were a dozen of us left: The Cryomancer, three healers, a party of seven players, and me.
Then, I saw it. The Leviathan's eye—its massive, milky center was glowing. Faint at first, then brighter. Growing. Vibrating. Charging.
Something big was coming.
I didn't wait. I ran, jumping over broken docks and sliding across wet rocks as lightning cracked overhead. The wind howled like it wanted me dead.
The beam started to build in the Leviathan Hermit's massive eye. I knew the timing. I knew I only had one shot at this. My dagger's Intangibility skill was up. I saved it for this exact moment.
"FALL BACK!" a female healer shouted at me, her voice trembling as she stumbled back, eyes wide with panic. "DON'T BE RECKLESS!"
I chose to ignore her and continued charging forward. I wanted to kill this monster. I wanted the item drop.
The Leviathan's massive eye snapped wide open. The beam fired.
Everything slowed as I closed in on the Leviathan Hermit. The beam surged toward me like a sun compressed into a single, blazing laser.
"NOW!" I yelled in my head, leaping toward the Leviathan Hermit's head, activating my dagger's skill: Intangibility.
The beam tore straight through me. My body flickered like smoke, weightless and untouchable. Then I dropped back into reality above its head, slamming my spirit dagger deep into its massive, glowing eye.
It hit like the end of the world.
The Leviathan Hermit screamed, this deep, gurgling wail that vibrated the bones in my chest. Black mist bled from the wound. Tentacles thrashed violently, slamming into rock and sky. The water boiled. Its shell cracked wide open. It was dying.
The Leviathan Hermit's body convulsed once. Twice. Then It collapsed, disintegrating into foam, broken steel, and pieces of itself scattered across the sea.
"H-He actually killed it..." the Cryomancer muttered. "This guy is crazy..."
The Leviathan Hermit was down.
The ocean went quiet.
We survived. Somehow.
A system message appeared across the sky in huge golden letters:
[WORLD EVENT]: [CLEARED!]
[CONGRATULATIONS PLAYERS!!!]
[PLAYER 111]: [LU RYO DEALTH THE FINAL BLOW!]
A system window appeared in front of me:
[ITEM ACQUIRED]: [EASTER EGG HATCHER] — (UNIQUE ITEM)
—Cracks an easter egg.
[ITEM ACQUIRED]: [GREATER POTION OF EXPERIENCE] — (UNIQUE ITEM)
—Grants five levels in an instant.
[ITEM ACQUIRED]: [INTELLIGENCE ATTRIBUTE POTION]
—Permanently increases intelligence by 1.
[ITEM ACQUIRED]: [RESISTANCE ATTRIBUTE POTION]
—Permanently increases resistance by 1.
The waves gently brushed against my boots.
"Lu Ryo…" I said, voice barely audible. "That's my name… I almost forgot about it..."