The remaining members of the Obsidian Phalanx—Zane, Sylva, Vara, Zathis, and Kaelan—stood broken, their faces grim. They had witnessed the meaningless deaths of Grund and Jian. They were facing WhiteTrash, the sole Player remaining. Though outnumbered five to one, WhiteTrash's power and presence utterly outclassed the Phalanx.
WhiteTrash laughed, lifting his massive greatsword, Luminus Edge, above his head. "That little Wind Dragon's skill surpassed mine, but he sacrificed himself for these little NPCs. Now what can you guys do? NPCs should follow whatever the player needs."
The Player's HP bar, astonishingly, showed a deep red: 10% remaining. The Phalanx realized Kaelus's sacrifice had not been entirely in vain—his final attack had severely crippled WhiteTrash's system health.
WhiteTrash attacked first. Kaelan Bulkhead, the immovable pillar of defense, surged forward and shielded the blow with his colossal tower shield. The resulting impact sent a tremor through the cave, but the shield held, disabling WhiteTrash's initial explosive force.
WhiteTrash scowled. He knew he needed to eliminate Kaelan's defense first. He channeled immense power into his greatsword.
"Blade Master Sword Dance: Shattering Avalanche!"
WhiteTrash brought Luminus Edge down in a massive, crushing strike. The greatsword impacted the floor with devastating kinetic force, generating a localized shockwave of pure system damage that disrupted footing and guard in a wide cone. Kaelan was instantly outbalanced, his massive frame tilting precariously. WhiteTrash followed up with a split-second thrust that found the gap. Kaelan was struck directly in the heart. His colossal body disintegrated, Kaelan Bulkhead was dead.
"Kaelaaaan!" Zane screamed, his voice raw with grief. He charged WhiteTrash, his longsword raised.
Suddenly, a massive blast of Plasma Magic erupted between Zane and WhiteTrash—Sylva's desperate effort to create distance.
"Zane, calm down and get a hold of yourself! Do you want to die?" Sylva shouted.
Zane stopped, shaking, and slapped himself hard across the face, forcing his focus back. "I'm sorry, Sylva."
Zane knew brute force wouldn't work. He initiated the duel with calculated elemental control. He channeled Gravity Magic, not onto WhiteTrash, but onto the cave floor near the Player, attempting to make his footing uneven. He augmented his longsword with Petrify and moved in, utilizing the silent, hyper-fast movements of his Sound Magic to close the gap.
WhiteTrash met the attack, his system HP bar remaining at a stubborn 10%. He was faster now, anticipating Zane's every move. He parried the Petrify-augmented blade.
Meanwhile, the support team struggled: Sylva launched rapid Plasma Blasts, and Zathis the Swift and Vara Shadowstep utilized their incredible agility, firing Typhoon and Geyser elements to interrupt WhiteTrash's movement.
The fight raged across the shattered cavern floor. Zane fought like a master, combining his elements flawlessly: Wind Magic propelled his dodge, Sound Magic masked his counter-attack, and Gravity Magic kept his strikes heavy. But WhiteTrash fought with the logic of a machine. Every time Zane scored a hit, the HP bar didn't flinch. Every time WhiteTrash struck, it was a crippling system hit.
Zane's movements grew desperate. He tried to disarm WhiteTrash, but the greatsword seemed impossibly bonded to the Player's hand.
WhiteTrash finally tired of the game. He deployed a fast-acting Movement Lock system skill—the magic was invisible, but Zane's muscles suddenly seized for a microsecond.
That was all the time the Player needed.
WhiteTrash brought Luminus Edge up, executing a savage sequence. He delivered a Gale Cleaver—a rapid, low horizontal sweep—forcing Zane to jump, followed immediately by a Thousand Cuts Flow—a continuous pattern of shallow, overlapping diagonal strikes. The blade ripped across Zane's body—his shoulder, his chest, his upper arm—in a series of devastating cuts. Zane screamed, his strength dissolving. The sheer volume of kinetic damage was too great for his 7-Star core to maintain structure.
Zane fell, heavily injured. The concentrated kinetic damage from WhiteTrash's Thousand Cuts Flow was devastating: too many ribs were broken, and his dominant sword arm was severed cleanly above the elbow. He lay bleeding onto the cold stone floor near the nexus point.
Zathis and Vara, ignoring the danger, surged toward their leader. Vara immediately began administering potent healing potions to Zane's chest, while Zathis tried to cover them. Sylva, seeing the catastrophic wound, used her Fire Element to quickly cauterize the severed stump of Zane's arm, stopping the critical bleed, her face etched in pain and fear.
WhiteTrash, his HP bar stubbornly sitting at 10%, found the interruption amusing. He turned his attention entirely to the two remaining scouts.
"You two are persistent, I'll give you that," WhiteTrash sneered, advancing slowly.
Zathis and Vara threw themselves into a desperate engagement. Vara, using her semi-long-range crossbow and remaining poison daggers, provided continuous, rapid-fire disruption. Zathis, abandoning ranged attacks, engaged in a suicidal close-range battle with his dual daggers. They moved with lightning speed, exploiting every shadow and angle, but WhiteTrash was simply too powerful.
The Player didn't even use named skills. Every casual swing of his massive greatsword, Luminus Edge, created a cone of force that tore through the air. Zathis and Vara, agile as they were, couldn't completely avoid the damage; they felt the raw kinetic force of the blade's passage, their skin splitting and bleeding from the sheer wind pressure alone. They were being beaten down methodically, but they did not stop, fighting for the precious time Sylva needed to save Zane's life.
WhiteTrash grew tired of the game. He stopped advancing, a surge of impatience crossing his face.
"ENOOOUUUGGHHH!" WhiteTrash roared, lifting Luminus Edge high above his head, channeling energy for a final, wide-sweeping attack designed to annihilate the remaining Phalanx.
The end was now certain. Sylva, having stabilized Zane's bleeding, looked up at the colossal attack descending upon them. There was no shield strong enough, no element fast enough, to stop it.
Suddenly, a massive gust of wind erupted from the cavern's large upper opening. A terrifying, massive figure, cloaked in shadow, covered the entire ceiling aperture. The sheer force of its descent drove dust and shattered crystal across the cavern floor.
With a ground-shaking impact, a colossal, red crystalline-scaled figure slammed down onto the battlefield between WhiteTrash and the Phalanx. It was a dragon!
WhiteTrash, midway through his devastating swing, stopped instantly. His eyes went wide as his system emitted a loud beep.
[System Notification: Quest Objective Changed] [New Quest: Survive the Attack of the Lava Dragon]
The Player stared at the towering, crimson creature, then screamed in utter fury and frustration. "What the—? That's not the Wind Dragon! That's a Dragon Lord! This is a cheat! I am already winning! F*ck you developers!!!"
The creature let out a primordial roar, its voice shaking the very mountain. The final phase of the battle had arrived.