They said the elite monsters on this floor would be big, but this guy is just ridiculous.
Most of the students, including Reg, thought the same thing.
But the moment they saw the towering boss— over five meters tall, with the body of a kobold and wielding a massive machete— their legs gave out beneath them.
It had the head of a dog, but more accurately, it looked like a grotesque fusion of several wild beasts.
Without warning, the final boss of the third floor raised its blade and slashed straight at the raid team.
“Dodge!”
Mailun reacted in time, leading the group to circle behind the boss, trying to aggro it using the academy’s taught techniques.
Still, some were too scared to move. One student’s entire shoulder was sliced clean off, and his right arm dropped to the floor…
“Ahh! Healer! Healer!”
“On it.” Truth rushed over with her staff, completely unfazed by the boss.
The remaining eight surrounded the boss, but no one dared get close.
Only Suna and another mage were chipping away from afar with Small Meteor shots.
Up until now, all the monsters they’d faced were roughly human-sized— small enough to fight using human combat techniques.
But this five-meter beast? None of those tricks would work here. Was this really a first-tier boss?
Reg tried sneaking an attack while the boss swung its machete, but the movement gave him away.
The boss turned and slammed into him. Taking advantage of the distraction, Mailun and the others rushed forward.
Someone tried shooting arrows into the boss’s eyes but was too nervous to aim straight.
Another tried climbing up the boss’s back to strike at its neck, only to be flung off…
It was a total amateur hour.
Truth was starting to lose patience.
She had assumed this group had some real skill, but this? They weren’t drawing aggro properly, weren’t chaining attacks— what were they even doing?
Fine, she’d help. She dragged the unconscious, armless boy to safety and began casting buffs for the others:
[Skill Activated: Enhanced Perception]
“Wait… is this an enhancement skill?!”
Mailun, who had been knocked aside, suddenly felt the world slow down around him. The others who received the buff were equally stunned.
Enhancement spells were incredibly rare. Almost no first-tier priests could use them.
You usually needed to be nearly third-tier to even access this kind of ability. And Truth could already use it?
With the boost, the group redoubled their efforts against the boss.
With sheer numbers on their side, the tide began to shift— barely. Mailun, standing out among them, stole a glance at Truth.
She’s actually pretty cute. Maybe she’s from some elite noble family?
That would explain her resources. Not bad! Mailun called out to her:
“Didn’t expect it, huh? Turns out I’m actually a good match for you!”
“Sorry, I don’t date trash.”
Truth replied coolly, already tempted to revoke his buff.
Seriously, he was level 18 and still couldn’t suppress a first-tier boss? Pathetic.
“What did you just say?!”
Trash? You can call me a jerk, but calling me weak? That’s too far! Enraged, Mailun gritted his teeth, slid beneath the boss, and slashed an “X” across its legs with his dual blades.
“Roar!” the boss bellowed in fury.
“How’s that?!” Mailun shouted, turning to look at Truth. If I’m trash, what does that make the rest of you?
But as soon as he turned around, he saw the others frozen in terror. What’s going on?
Then, something wet and foul-smelling dripped onto his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the beast’s horrifying face— it was furious.
Actually, it wasn’t fury. The team had dealt enough damage. The boss was transitioning to phase two……
It struck instantly, not with a machete this time— but a punch straight to the face.
Boom!
Mailun’s brain screamed at him to dodge, but his body couldn’t keep up.
The punch sent him flying to the ground, coughing up blood.
“Help him!” Reg shouted, rushing to draw the boss’s attention while the others dragged Mailun back to Truth for healing.
Facing the boss’s frenzied punches and swings, even with the enhancement, Reg was struggling.
No one else dared step in to help, and in the end, he took a crushing blow from the hilt of the machete, slammed into a purple wall, and felt like his organs were about to burst.
“Damn cowards…” Reg muttered, blood dripping from his mouth.
“Run… just run!”
Their two strongest melee fighters had been crushed. What were the rest supposed to do?
The boss sent several more flying.
The stench of sweat and blood filled the air, overwhelming everyone’s senses. Panic spread through the group. No one could hold the boss back now.
All that awaited them… was death.
Faced with the threat of death, one of the rangers threw down his shortbow and ran, panicked, to the massive iron door behind Truth.
“Open it! Come on, open the door! Is anyone out there— somebody save us!”
“Ugh…” Truth rolled her eyes. Who exactly did he think would come save him? The wounded?
Everyone was starting to panic and run, but they had no idea where to go.
They ended up running in circles within the limited space, draining their stamina— sooner or later, the boss would pick them off one by one.
“Hey, come on— you guys need to get it together!”
Suna shouted. Now only she and one other mage were still fighting.
When another Small Meteor struck the boss’s thick muscles, it turned and began walking slowly toward them.
“Huh?”
Even Suna, who had just been trying to rally everyone, was now frozen in fear. Under the weight of that terrifying pressure, the two junior mages clung to each other, legs trembling so hard they couldn’t even walk.
“P-please help…”
The tide, which had just begun to turn, immediately flipped again.
Even with Truth’s icy Mist of Healing, everyone was still desperately trying to flee the boss.
No one dared to fight back, let alone step in to save Suna and the other mage.
Huh… so is this when I make a move? Truth touched her chin thoughtfully. The real question was, how would she explain it afterward? She could take the boss down in an instant, but then all the loot would fall on her. That’d be hard to hide.
“Miss Truth…”
Suddenly, someone tugged on the hem of her priest robe. Looking down, she saw Reg, who had somehow crawled over without anyone noticing.
“Miss Priest…”
“What is it?”
He just called me “sister.” What’s that supposed to mean? Truth knelt down and let the healing mist cover Reg’s injuries.
“The situation’s urgent, so I’ll get straight to the point. Back in the mist, I was the only one who noticed— you’re not a normal priest. I’m guessing those four adventurers who died had something to do with you, right?”
Actually, since the day they escaped the mist, Reg had felt something was off about Truth.
As a first-tier priest about the same age as him, she had barely reacted when she saw people get decapitated— like it was nothing more than a trivial event.
Back then, both Suna and Reg had been shaking from head to toe, only holding it together out of pride.
Only someone who had seen countless bloody scenes could be that numb to them.
Did that mean Truth had witnessed people getting beheaded often? Or maybe she was the one doing the beheading……
At that thought, Reg didn’t dare continue. Deep down, he had a strong gut feeling: Truth was not someone to mess with.
“Oh?”
Inside the boss arena, Truth’s voice turned cold. Reg hurried to add:
“I’m not saying any of this to threaten you. I came here to ask for help. Please, help us arrogant students get through this. I swear I’ll keep your secret. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do it!”
At this point, they were going to die anyway. Might as well take a gamble and see if they could force the hidden boss to reveal herself.
Reg was drenched in cold sweat, not daring to meet Truth’s increasingly crimson pink eyes.
“Reg, answer me,” Truth said softly.
“If I told you to die… would you?”
Reg was silent for a long while.
“Could I maybe… try not to die?”
Tftc!