305 Two Apocalypse
[BONUS]
“Stop fighting among yourselves and focus on Jibblinplip,” thundered Sebastian, as if he hadn’t killed hundreds of players with a single blow.
Everyone backed away from Ren’s group. No one could process what just happened. Even Ren was shocked to see Sebastian protecting them, although he was just probably protecting Evie. But no matter the reason, it was good news to them.
Not minding the horrified faces of the players, Sebastian then proceeded to explain, “Tendrils have now descended from Jibblinplip towards the heart of the world.” Its obsidian eyes changed into swirls of colors like the galaxy as if he could see something that others couldn’t.
“Those tendrils have snaked down through the ocean and into the ground below. Each of them carries a seed of the Ooze’s central mass, seeking to implant it into the core of the world and make it its new heart. When that happens, the world that we know of will be no more.”
Those who couldn’t understand what the centaur was saying exchanged glances with each other, thinking that Sebastian was a crazy NPC with a bug. What else would kill so many players disregarding relationship level?
However, everyone who was standing on the coastal shore, be it players on a mission or simply inhabitants minding their own business, could see the tendrils snaking into the water. They watched them bite down into the ocean floor and quake with trepidation.
‘What would become of this world now?!’ They thought in desperation.
“The exact time for the tendrils to reach their goal is unknown,” added Sebastian. “Now is the best time to enter Jibblinplip’s interior and finish it before it does irreparable damage to the world.”
“Huh? Enter it?”
“Is that possible?”
“It’s possible,” Sebastian said with a resolute voice. “If you have the amulet.”
The Generals and Princess heard Sebastian’s words loud and clear. By this time, the suspicions they had of Sebastian were less threatening than Jibblinplip, who had started to threaten the safety of the entire continent. They didn’t have spare time to check the trustworthiness of the centaur’s words when the Continental Ooze was on the brink of engulfing their world.
“Hold those minions down! Platoon 1 to 4, be ready to dive in!”
The Generals rallied an army and went into that large mass of translucent pool that was laid flat on the ground like a massive puddle. They dived into Jibblinplip’s interior, following the Princess’ lead. Inside, they were surprised to find that the once mass of jelly had turned into a dungeon.
The players who saw what happened gasped and stood frozen with gaping mouths. Among them, the ones who recovered quickly went after the army, only to find out that they couldn’t enter the Ooze’s interior.
“Without the Amulet, you can’t enter its core,” said Sebastian solemnly.
During the chaos, nobody knew whose wails were louder — the armies who were pushing the minions back or the players who were left behind and wouldn’t ever get a chance to kill the first-ever world Boss?
But that aside, was it right that they couldn’t get a fair fight with the world boss just because they didn’t have enough money to purchase an Amulet?!
Their discontent made it into the forums, catching the Developers’ ears. And as always, the Developers only replied . . . [It’s part of the game].
At that point, the players were mad and wanted to boycott COVENANT—they had promised the same thing not only when they didn’t win the Guild Wars, but also when they didn’t get what they wanted before that.
“I thought that this World Boss is the easiest to kill?” asked Ragnar to Ren. “But why are things getting more complicated?”
Ren shrugged. “It is the easiest,” he affirmed. “Didn’t you see how we just had to casually walk inside here, while the armies took care of those minions?”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about entering that Ooze’s body and killing its core. We don’t know what’s waiting for us there.”
“Relax. The armies, the Princess, and Sebastian would deal with that. All we have to do is remain vigilant for its HP while keeping ourselves alive.”
“Not hard,” muttered Evie, tone laced with sarcasm.
“Or would you rather remain here?”
There was nothing to do up here but fight with the minions. They would rake EXP and gil, but never the rewards for killing the Ooze, beating the purpose of why they were even here, to begin with.
Spasms on the ground didn’t decrease in frequency either, so they were having a hard time maintaining their balance while fending off the minions. Though for sure, it felt like the continent was about to be split apart.
Everyone was stunned when they heard a roar not far from their location. The loud cry came from the oceans, and all were petrified at the sudden appearance of a gigantic Kraken, the size of a mountain, fighting Jibblinplip’s tendrils!
Another World Boss had appeared!
“What the f*ck is that?!”
Ren was surprised as well. He hadn’t even heard of that World Boss in his past life, since he had rarely ventured into the Ocean’s floor. Besides, the Kraken had never even shown up.
Why now?
“The massive shift might have awakened something buried deep in the earth or sleeping at the bottom of the ocean,” said Sebastian, as if he could read the unspoken question in Ren’s mind.
The sudden appearance of another World Boss made Ren pause and take a trip to memory lane, but he wasn’t too affected. The appearance of another World Boss wouldn’t hinder his initial goal.
After using [Probe] on the Kraken, Ren urged the others to get inside Jibblinplip.
“What about that other World Boss?” Evie asked.
“It’s not something we can defeat right now,” answered Ren. If he had to be honest, he didn’t even know how to defeat the Kraken since he never encountered it in the past. Perhaps if Pii was here, he could. This thought suddenly gave him an idea.
“Let’s leave it alone while it’s occupied with Jibblinplip’s Tendrils.”
Ren and the others hurried inside the Ooze. While all eyes were glued to the New World Boss, he released Pii into the air and left his little friend some instructions before diving into the pool of slime.