Demon Lord, Does Even a Crap Game Have an Ending? - Chapter 13

─CRASH!

Viscra’s tail, swung with a whoosh, slammed into the ground.

A giant chunk of rock, propelled by the recoil, flew up and struck Liheros’s body.

“Kugh…!”

Despite the various hindrances, he quickly regained his stance, charged forward, and thrust his sword into its torso.

The blade seemed to embed slightly into its scales, but it couldn’t penetrate.

He yanked out the shallowly embedded sword and retreated.

“Hoohoo… That tickles.”

While his gaze was fixed on him, he fired five arrows at once.

It was an attack that had worked well against Chef Braga, so he hoped it would work against Viscra too.

But even that bounced off the hard scales and fell weakly, pattering to the ground. He muttered to himself in disbelief.

“Damn it, for just a tutorial area boss. Why are you so tough?”

Liheros, standing opposite me with Viscra in the center, seemed not to have heard, but Viscra, having caught it, let out a low voice that sounded like it was scratching its throat.

“Do you know of molting?”

“What?”

“To gain a larger, stronger body, we shed our skin.”

“So that’s what it was.”

“Kekeke, my master made me this way. I, Viscra, am the perfect creation.”

Master, he must mean me, right? I don’t know what the Demon King of the past was doing before falling into slumber.

Suddenly, I recalled Fractal Software’s last announcement on the day of service termination.

‘Boss <Viscra> with abnormally high stats not matching recommended combat power.’

It not only retained its serpentine characteristics but was also enhanced, making it troublesome.

Still, it’s just a fragment of data. There must be a way out.

While contemplating effective hits, Viscra performed three consecutive tail slams, then opened its mouth wide and spewed a purple, vomit-like substance everywhere.

“Kriss! Watch out for the poison puddles!”

“Got it. Don’t worry.”

Those “poison puddles” were Viscra’s basic skill and the main element of this dungeon’s strategy. Periodically, they would create zones on the floor, restricting the player’s movement, and the boss had to be defeated within that limited space.

In fact, I had already stepped on the zones a while ago, but the poison damage at this level wasn’t fatal to me. Although I hadn’t played it myself when I was in reality, recalling user trial videos, I knew Viscra’s poison stacked up to 5 times. From 2 stacks, the damage per tick doubled, and at the maximum 5 stacks, the damage was multiplied by five.

[Chat] Yo, are you kidding me? Did they even make this to be cleared?

[Chat] Viscra’s poison hits 4 stacks and you can’t even use potions before dying, how do you clear itㅠ

[Chat] Even if you clear the dungeon, the poison debuff doesn’t disappear if you don’t leave the dungeon, so you die lol. And good luck with your retry.

[Chat] Retried and doesn’t the boss feel stronger? This is hopeless;

Such posts were rampant.

‘It’s Liheros who should be more careful, I think.’

Above his head, a purple bubble-shaped icon and the text ‘x2’ floated.

At 2 stacks, it seemed bearable for now, but from 4 stacks, he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the HP drain.

─CLANG

A high metallic sound that made my nerves tingle.

A black sword, moving too fast for the eye to follow, was blocked by Viscra’s tail.

A dispersion was needed so Liheros wouldn’t have to take the aggro entirely.

I shot arrows consecutively at the back of Viscra’s head, and it let out an annoyed roar.

‘Glad I came with him.’

If it had become this tough by enduring countless battles with users and molting, I would never be able to overcome this wall after its next molt. Viscra, made twice, no, tens of times harder to clear due to a bug, was a wall of tears for users who had just left the tutorial area during the service period.

─WHOOSH

A strong wind blew in the direction the tail was swung, and Liheros flexibly dodged it, sliding towards me.

While Viscra roared and struggled to pull its tail out of the wall, he spoke to me.

“Kriss.”

“Yeah.”

“The snake’s belly seems softer than its back.”

“Ah…?”

I recalled the snake’s anatomy from my science textbook when I was a student. The belly has no bones and the scales might be much weaker compared to the back. He’s got some brains, hasn’t he? It seems he’s developed some monster analysis skills after wandering this continent for about a week.

“If that’s the case, it would be good to target the jaw area.”

“Yeah, so, help me aim precisely at that spot.”

“Understood.”

I nodded firmly, telling him to leave it to me.

In the meantime, a steel-like tail slammed down before my eyes, and I jumped up, putting a good distance between us. Liheros, now distant, relentlessly bombarded Viscra with attacks.

‘I need a rope. A long and strong one.’

Meanwhile, I took out a long rope from my pocket and folded it several times.

I tied it firmly to the tip of an arrow and shot it precisely at the cliff behind Viscra’s head, hitting the mark.

Seeing the arrow that had missed it, Viscra let out an unsettling laugh.

Even when I pulled the long, dangling rope, the firmly embedded arrow didn’t budge.

Preparation complete. Now I just had to wait for ‘that timing.’

‘The timing of three tail slams followed by a poison puddle.’

─CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!

As the three tail slams ended, Viscra opened its mouth wide like a predator about to swallow its prey.

Immediately, I climbed onto its writhing body and threw the rope into its mouth.

The rope caught like a bit, and I pulled with all my might.

With the arrow embedded in the wall and the force of my pull, Viscra’s head was suddenly thrown back.

“Gekh!”

“Liheros!”

“Haaat!”

Seizing the opportunity, Liheros instantly dove beneath its head and thrust his sword into the underside of its jaw. I saw Liheros’s sword pierce its open mouth.

“Kueeeek!”

Viscra thrashed, sending me, who was on its body, tumbling to the ground.

Not only the impact of the fall but also the sticky poison that had spread across the floor enveloped my entire body, making it difficult to get up.

Still, I felt relieved that I seemed to have landed an effective blow. If I could land a few more effective hits like this…

“K, keck, you….”

Viscra, dripping blackish blood, turned its head towards me.

“How… How could you!”

It roared, scattering blood everywhere, and lunged at me with rolling eyes. It felt less like mere hostility and more like indignant rage mixed with betrayal.

Startled by its killing intent, my concern was different. No matter how strong Viscra had become, my base HP and defense were so high that it would be nowhere near enough to inflict damage. That’s right. If I could just shrug off a bite like this, Liheros would find it strange; that was my concern. Still, I was glad he wasn’t the one getting bitten, given his save point bug.

─CRUNCH!

“Ugh…!”

“…!”

What got caught in its massive teeth wasn’t my arm.

“Liheros!”

I saw purple poison flowing from the snake’s fangs to his arm.

Groaning in pain, Liheros barely managed to raise his other hand, holding his sword, and thrust it deep into its head with all his might. The sound of it piercing through the skull echoed.

“Kueeeek!”

Only then did its tightly shut jaws open and stretch, its whole body twisting noisily before its head dropped with a thud, unable to hold itself up.

Then, without any other noise, only ragged breaths filled the space.

“Kuh… Ugh….”

It was the first time he, who never showed pain, let out a groan of agony.

He had never been this injured before, so the sight of blood flowing from his arm was unbelievable. I froze at the sight for just a moment.

More noticeable than the wound on his arm was the poison status effect above his head, which had risen to x6.

“Why…!”

Didn’t the poison stack up to 5? 6 stacks was impossible. As soon as I realized this, I embraced him as he collapsed weakly. His complexion was deathly pale. I imagined it would be similar to seeing a corpse, though I had never seen one. And his fingertips began to break apart like pixel fragments.

“Snap out of it! No…! You can’t die!”

My breathing grew ragged with fear.

‘If he dies, do I have to go back to the beginning to meet him again?’

‘If it resets, will he even remember me?’

Countless events we had gone through together flashed before my eyes. The most familiar faces came to mind: Lumi, Mag, Riki.

“…Right. Riki!”

I remembered the Antidote Herb I received when I parted ways with Riki. That’s right, I had to complete the hidden quest related to Riki and Lumi to receive the Antidote Herb that would help in clearing Viscra. I doubted anyone would have figured this out, even if <Aliento Saga> had continued service. Putting aside how commendable it was that Liheros had completed all quests, I quickly took the Antidote Herb from my bag.

[Antidote Herb]

-A medicinal herb obtained through a special path. Ingestion provides detoxification.

However, it wasn’t easy to make someone who could barely open their eyes chew on a fresh herb. I rubbed and crushed the Antidote Herb with my hands to extract its juice, but instead of juice, it just rustled and refused to wilt.

“This is insane, really.”

In haste, I put it in my mouth, chewed, and transferred the mixture directly into Liheros’s mouth. I tightly sealed our lips to avoid spilling even a single drop. After what felt like an eternity of a few seconds, I pulled away and checked inside his mouth to see if he had swallowed it all. Fortunately, the poison debuff icon above his head slowly decreased and then disappeared, and his color returned.

“Seriously… Because of you….”

My throat tightened, and my nose stung. I unconsciously gripped the hem of his clothes tightly.

Why was he so foolishly kind, trying to sacrifice himself for me? It hurt even more thinking about last night when I had hurt him. But if this keeps happening, it’s problematic. I don’t want to harbor feelings for him beyond that of a companion or party member.

“His breathing is back too.”

I touched Liheros’s cold cheek, and a warm temperature gradually returned. Yet, perhaps due to the rapid HP loss, he couldn’t open his eyes. What if he never opened his eyes again? He wasn’t in a critical state, was he? I ran through all sorts of unfortunate simulations.

“Grrr….”

Viscra, still not dead, made a gurgling sound as if its throat was full of liquid. Dark red liquid flowed out from every opening on the fallen Viscra’s face. Its mouth moved slowly and with great effort.

“My master, why do you destroy the creation you made?”

“…I apologize.”

From Viscra’s perspective, was it like being betrayed by its parent? Its voice, fading like a candle about to be extinguished, crushed my heart, which had only been worried about Liheros’s life. My selfishness, wanting to return to reality, seemed to be making everyone unhappy. Aren’t good and evil just subjective standards for each person? From the perspective of the creatures and demons created by the Demon King before I possessed him, I must look like I’m on the side of evil.

“Do not abandon those who rely on you, master.”

“No, I haven’t abandoned you.”

“Kekeke, no matter how much you blind the master’s eyes. Karmalox is watching.”

“Karmalox? Who is that?”

Viscra let out a strained laugh.

“He is our great god. Master, have you forgotten that you are but a creation?”

“You mean there’s a creator, god above me?”

There’s always an absolute evil god to expand the story, but it had never been introduced in Aliento, so I was completely unaware. I had naturally assumed the Demon King was the final boss of the evil forces.

“I can hear it. The voice of god, God knows that master is breaking the laws of this world.”

“I am merely doing something more important.”

“Hoohoo… I don’t know if god will understand the master’s will. Be careful….”

With those words, Viscra stiffened and gradually turned into smoke and disappeared. The words it left behind clung to me, refusing to leave my mind.

‘God Karmalox….’

“….”

“Liheros?”

Liheros, who was lying on my lap, stirred, and I thought he had woken up, but his face was contorted in pain, covered in cold sweat. The poison debuff had been removed, but his HP wasn’t recovering. First, I need to move Liheros to the village and take care of him.

Without delay, I recalled the alleys of Ousten and opened a portal.

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