Chapter 61

Chunks of shattered wall rained down where Veer had been smashed in. The debris splashed into the lava below and dissolved without a trace.

Did that… actually work?

Veer, pinned into the wall, thrashed violently and let out a roar full of fury. It tore at the stone with savage swings of its arms, collapsing sections of the wall, but Blaine’s gravity spell still held it nailed in place.

“Should I drag it down to the ground?”

Everyone had been staring blankly up at Veer, but Blaine spoke. Theo, Aslan, and all the others turned toward him—but Blaine’s eyes were locked only on Theo. The question was for him alone.

Blaine’s gaze wavered with restless anticipation. His ears practically stood at attention like a dog waiting for its master’s command. For a second Theo thought, If I told him ‘sit,’ would he actually sit? But he quickly gave a nod instead.

Blaine’s lips parted the moment he saw that nod. And then, as if he had been waiting for nothing else, he slammed Veer straight down into the lava.

The impact sent molten waves spraying over the platform, but everyone had been braced for it. The shield users’ barriers were more than enough to block the splash.

The boiling surface rippled outward, then slowly stilled. Relieved at how easily they had handled the phase, everyone still kept their guard up, watching closely for Veer’s return from below.

The silence stretched—long yet short. Veer showed no signs of emerging from the lava. The longer the standoff lasted, the more draining it became for those above.

“Couldn’t you pull it up, like you did with the stepping stones earlier?”

Someone asked the question, and all eyes turned to Blaine as if in unison. He shook his head, glancing at Theo as he answered.

“To drag or lift something on that scale, I have to designate a single target, not an area. But since I can’t tell where Veer is right now, it won’t work.”

Everyone’s disappointment showed plainly. Sighs rose here and there. Blaine flinched, his body stiffening as though dozens of accusing fingers were pointed at him. His eyes froze, fear seeping in by degrees.

“It’s fine.”

A flat voice cut through the tension. The familiar tone peeled away Blaine’s fear like a discarded shell. He raised his head and saw Theo looking at him with the same calm gaze as always. Those forest-green eyes carried a suffocating relief.

“Hyung…”

“To them, you’re just a variable. Variables don’t always happen, right? You don’t have to feel responsible.”

“…”

“You’re not going to be in a party with these people forever. For them, this is the first and last time they’ll deal with a variable like you. Don’t let it get to you—just ignore it.”

“He’s right. You need to toughen up against other people’s stares,” Aslan added.

Blaine hesitated, then slowly turned to face everyone. He couldn’t meet their eyes at first. After several deep breaths, he forced himself to look up. There were so many eyes on him—but none of them accused, none held resentment. Only disappointment.

The tension in his shoulders finally eased. And he realized something: not everyone always expected or demanded something from him. This… was normal.

When Blaine turned back again, his expression was far lighter. Theo, relieved in turn, noticed the orb hovering above Blaine’s shoulder suddenly float upward.

“?”

Without thinking, Theo followed it with his eyes. Blaine also noticed, frowning as he tracked Theo’s gaze. Then he let out a small gasp and scanned the surroundings quickly.

A magic circle was forming above the lava. Gravity magic flared, and from below something was dragged up—

Veer.

Struggling, thrashing, but inevitably pulled to the surface. The auto-spell action inscribed on Blaine’s orb had triggered, automatically targeting Veer.

The unbelievable sight left everyone stunned.

But then—a blade wreathed in lightning fell upon Veer, tracing a pentagram in the air. And in that instant, everyone snapped out of it and unleashed their Tier Actions all at once.

Even Blaine had been stunned by the Auto-spell firing at such an unexpected moment. And then, just as he was about to use his Tier Action, the world slowed. Everything moved in sluggish motion.

Deadly Time.

With gravity magic layered on top, the damage from the Tier Actions became astronomical. Every single spell struck like fireworks, chains of critical hits bursting one after another, blazing so brightly they outshone the other Tier Actions until the spectacle itself was terrifying.

When the barrage finally ceased, what remained was Veer. Its head hung low in silence. The lava-scorched skin beneath its cracked hide had sloughed away, hanging in strips. The once-mighty wings were nothing but shattered roots of bone. One arm had melted off entirely, while the birdlike legs at its side dangled uselessly, broken.

Blaine thought, for a moment, that it was finished.

But then Veer raised its head. Slowly.

Its eyes were nothing but blackened pits, hollow craters that wept thick, tar-like tears. It was grotesque enough to make anyone’s stomach clench.

Veer lifted its one remaining arm high and slammed it onto the platform. Lava surged, the chain bridge shuddered violently, and everyone scrambled to keep their balance.

Veer began clawing its way up.

The sheer weight of it tilted the platform, one side shooting upward. Blaine hurriedly cast gravity magic to anchor it, clutching Theo in the process.

No one fell. Everyone clung on.

Roaring in fury, Veer shook the platform with its entire body. The chains groaned as the whole structure swung wildly. The players used the momentum to strike back, hacking and stabbing whenever the motion gave them an opening. Some daring ones even scrambled onto Veer’s body to attack it directly.

But the monster was already broken. With no wings and no arms left to defend itself, all it could do was thrash the platform like a cornered beast. Eventually, even that rage guttered out, and it collapsed in silence.

As Veer fell, the lava itself receded—bubbling, steaming, then draining away into the earth. What remained was only the ruined interior of the chapel.

The players stepped down from the half-melted platform, scanning their surroundings. Then one of them shouted, voice ringing in triumph.

“Obsidian!”

Where the lava had been, black gemstones jutted from the ground in clusters.

“Obsidian! Obsidian!”

Shouts rose as everyone pulled out pickaxes, swarming forward to mine the glittering stone.

Obsidian—rare material that could only be obtained here in Hexi’s Castle. Used in forging armor and weapons, it was notoriously difficult to gather and fetched a high price.

Having cleared the mini-boss and collected obsidian, the raiders regrouped and spread the word to the others, instructing them to gather in the main stronghold.

In the lobby of the stronghold, the raiders exchanged information, then pushed onward to the third floor—where the boss chamber awaited.

The first two floors had resembled nothing more than the crumbling ruins of an old castle. But the third floor was something else entirely.

A single straight corridor stretched ahead. Plush red carpet ran across the floor, its fibers neat and orderly. The ivory walls, carved with ornate reliefs, gleamed as though polished daily, free of even the smallest speck of dust.

Paintings in heavy gilt frames lined the walls—vintage scenes preserved without so much as a trace of age. The cleanliness itself was unsettling. The whole place exuded a sense of wrongness.

At the corridor’s end stood a massive door carved with intricate patterns, shut tight as if to flaunt its own majesty. And from behind that door drifted a faint, lilting song.

Theo and Aslan quickly briefed Blaine—who had never set foot in Hexi’s Castle before—on the basics of the strategy. Then, together, they pushed the heavy doors open.

The hall beyond was the audience chamber. Three pillars supported the high ceiling. A red carpet stretched forward, climbing stairs that led to a dais. Atop the dais sat a throne.

And upon that throne rested a woman. She wore a crimson mantle draped over a white empire dress, her eyes closed as though in repose.

The last master of Hexi’s Castle. The final boss—Lord Hexi.

As the raiders stepped into the chamber, Hexi slowly opened her eyes. They were bright gold, shining like molten ore. She was breathtakingly beautiful. But to meet her gaze was to feel that simply standing upright on two legs was itself a sin.

Breaths came strangled, choking in their throats. Knees buckled, again and again, under the crushing weight of her presence. Every heart cried out to fall prostrate, to press their bodies to the floor and beg forgiveness for sins they hadn’t even committed.

As though acknowledging that impulse, Hexi rose slowly from the throne. Her elevated gaze drove their knees even deeper toward the ground.

Once fully upright, she said nothing. She only looked down on them with regal silence, then turned. She walked to the altar at the side of the dais.

Upon that altar lay a crystal orb, a crown, and a royal scepter.

Hexi reached out and took up the scepter. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, breaking against the royal staff into dazzling shards of light. She turned, movements slow but unapproachably regal, and began descending the steps.

Bathed in radiance, crimson mantle billowing, Hexi looked divine. A figure one dared not defy.