The lines that had originally only moved along the floor and ceiling suddenly began creeping up the walls, eventually intertwining with one another.
Now, the room felt like... a cage.
Nezha, who was closest to the wall, was the first to notice the change.
He shouted in shock to Kirito and the others:
"Ki... Kirito-san! Something's happening to the walls!"
Kirito turned toward the voice and realized that trouble was brewing.
Since they didn't yet understand what was happening, the wisest move would be to have the main force fall back to the stairs to avoid any potential danger.
So he immediately gave the order:
"Team A, Team B — just like we planned, retreat from the boss room via the staircase!"
Seeing the boss's HP already down by half, Hafner spoke reluctantly:
"But…"
Standing beside him, Shivata gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Hafner finally nodded regretfully and ran toward the staircase with Shivata.
"Kirito! The face is gone!"
Just as Kirito was about to continue directing the retreat, Akimi suddenly shouted in alarm.
Kirito froze for a moment, then quickly looked up at the ceiling—
The blue lines around them were still shifting and writhing, yet Fuscus's abstract face had vanished.
A sense of dread immediately weighed down on both of them.
"Where did it go?!"
Kirito scanned the area frantically, trying to locate the face, but found nothing.
"No—!!"
Liten's scream suddenly burst from the direction of the staircase, echoing for a long time in the spacious room.
Everyone's gaze turned in that direction — the place that had been the staircase entrance was now covered by an enormous, slightly raised face.
And Shivata, who had just entered the stairway, now had only the upper half of his body still above ground — everything from the waist down was clamped inside a massive mouth.
The heavy metal armor on Shivata's body was glowing with a damaged red effect, and faint cracks had already begun to appear on its surface.
He was desperately pushing against Fuscus's black, human-sized teeth, trying to break free, but the mouth showed no signs of loosening.
Next to him, Liten crouched down, also trying to pry the mouth open, while Agil was attacking Fuscus's face with all his might — but it was having no effect.
Agil tried striking Fuscus's forehead with his twin axes, hoping to hit a weak spot and force it to retreat.
But even when he struck what should've been a weak point, the forehead, Fuscus didn't react at all — it was as if it hadn't taken any damage.
They were now caught in the same dilemma as before — unable to use high-powered sword skills.
"We can't delay any longer," Kirito gritted his teeth and shouted to Agil, "Agil! Shivata's HP is still holding strong — before his armor breaks, use your axe skill and attack the pattern!"
But Agil responded in frustration,
"But... the pattern's gone!"
"What?! That's impossible!"
Kirito's eyes widened in disbelief.
At that moment, the cracks in Shivata's armor began to spread — it was about to shatter!
"Ricchan! Get back now! The armor won't hold!"
"No!" Liten yelled,
"I won't let you die!"
And then — to everyone's shock — Liten jumped into the gaping mouth.
In the next moment, Shivata's armor let out a sharp cracking sound and then shattered completely into glowing fragments.
Before Fuscus's pitch-black teeth could bite into Shivata's body, they were suddenly stopped—caught by Liten's plate armor.
Shivata stared at Liten in disbelief.
Noticing his gaze, Liten gave him a bright smile and said firmly,
"I'm the tank—protecting my comrades is my duty!"
Her words made Shivata's body tremble as he stared at her in a daze.
The situation was dire.
If they delayed any longer, both of them would be in serious danger.
"Kirito! That pattern is basically the golem's life force—it can't just disappear! It must've moved somewhere else!"
At the critical moment, Argo suddenly called out.
Kirito immediately understood what she meant and shouted to Akimi and the others:
"We'll bait out the boss's attacks and look for the pattern—Nezha, be ready to strike at any time!"
After nodding, Akimi and the others stepped onto the glowing lines at the same time as Kirito.
In the next instant, four targeting markers appeared beneath Kirito, Akimi, Asuna, and Argo—and Fuscus's arms and legs materialized at once.
Dodging the attacks, the four quickly scanned the massive limbs, searching for Fuscus's pattern.
"Found it! It's just above the left knee!"
As the limbs began retracting, Nezha shouted excitedly, then swiftly hurled his chakrams.
"Hyah—!"
With a slicing sound tearing through the air, the chakrams struck the pattern.
After the pattern was damaged, Fuscus let out a furious roar.
In the next moment, Shivata and Liten were blown away by the shockwave carried by its voice—they crashed to the ground side by side with a loud clang.
Seeing this, everyone cheered.
Hafner and Okotan quickly rushed forward to help the two up.
Seeing that they were finally out of danger, Kirito let out a sigh of relief.
He then looked up at the massive face that had reappeared on the ceiling and said to everyone:
"Save the celebrations for after we've defeated the boss. For now, let's keep it up!"
"Ohhh—!!"
"Of course!"
Seeing everyone's spirits high, Kirito smiled as well.
Then he turned to Shivata, who was drinking a recovery potion, and said:
"Shivata, go downstairs and restore your HP first."
"Sorry, but I'll have to disobey that order," Shivata said with a wide grin, opening his equipment menu.
"I won't leave this room until the boss is completely defeated."
He then equipped a slightly lower-grade set of armor.
After giving Kirito a thumbs-up, he jumped back into the battle.
From there, they resumed the fight step by step.
When Fuscus's HP dropped to the final bar, it let out its loudest roar yet.
Its bluish-white eyes turned red, and the blue lines on the floor suddenly shot into the air, converging toward Fuscus's face.
Then, the massive face tore itself down from the ceiling, while the blue lines wrapped themselves around its limbs and torso.
As its massive feet slammed into the ground, the entire room shook violently.
When the dust it kicked up finally settled, a colossal figure over ten meters tall gradually came into view.
Its enormous body was covered in densely packed blue lines—but in the blink of an eye, those lines turned red.
Even its originally black arms now appeared to be wrapped in a blood-red hue.
"The boss has taken humanoid form! We'll fight using the original squad formations!" Kirito raised his sword and shouted,
"Team A, hold the line! Team B, attack!"
Following Kirito's command, everyone quickly got into formation.
"Let's go!" Kirito shouted, pointing his sword at Fuscus.
"Ohhh—!!"
Shivata and Liten charged ahead.
As they closed in on Fuscus, they activated their taunt skills, drawing its attention.
Then, raising their shields, they blocked a blow from Fuscus's right arm.
The force of the impact sent them both skidding back over two meters, shields still raised side by side.
As Fuscus staggered slightly at the end of its swing, Hafner seized the opening and unleashed the two-handed sword skill "Great Waterfall," slamming it hard into the arm.
Like a battle horn had been sounded, the rest of the team surged forward, their attacks crashing against Fuscus like a rising tide, shaving nearly ten percent off its final HP bar.
Even though the group dealt massive damage, the two tanks held the boss's aggro perfectly, not allowing Fuscus to turn its wrath on the DPS team.
In just ten minutes, with flawless coordination, Fuscus's HP had been whittled down to a sliver.
"Hey! Commander Dark-Hair, we're leaving the last attack to you!" Akimi called out playfully.
Shivata chimed in as well, egging him on:
"That's right! Use your strongest sword skill and finish it off in one strike!"
Kirito gave a helpless smile, then dashed toward Fuscus.
With his sword "Sword of Eventide" glowing brightly with skill energy, he slashed at the boss.
"Horizontal Square!"
As Kirito shouted, four glowing wounds appeared across Fuscus's massive body.
The boss suddenly froze in place—and a moment later, it shattered into fragments of light.
---------------
Exclusive access : 80+ch on paetron
Join now : patreon*com/DeCakraWnloverz