MMORPG: Rise of the Strongest Shadow God

After absorbing the magical energies of the two Royal Mages from the peculiar stones, Prince Markel, who had been utterly suppressed by Edruson until that moment, suddenly threw his head back and released a thunderous roar. A strange transformation swept through his body. His golden hair blazed with an intense, dazzling light, so bright it almost hurt to look at, and his figure slowly began to blur and thin, as though his body were dissolving into a golden phantom that existed somewhere between solid and spectral.

At the same time, two powerful currents of arcane energy surged within him. One burned with fiery red brilliance while the other carried the biting chill of deep winter. The energies swelled and twisted behind his shoulders, and from each side a phantom head gradually took shape.

One of the spectral heads possessed blazing red hair that scattered sparks of light like a raging fire. The other was its complete opposite, surrounded by frost and pale blue mist, radiating an intense cold that seemed capable of freezing the air itself. Though they appeared only as translucent projections, their presence was so eerie and imposing that anyone witnessing the scene in reality would likely freeze in terror.

For Flynn and the others, however, this was simply another stage of the boss fight.

Above each of the three heads floated its own health bar. No matter how strange the transformation looked, Prince Markel was still the enemy they had to defeat.

With the completion of his bizarre transformation, Markel’s strength surged dramatically. Edruson, who had previously held the upper hand, was suddenly sent flying backward by a single strike. His body skidded across the ground, and his health bar instantly dropped to roughly two thirds. Two more hits like that and he would almost certainly fall.

"Holy smokes... he’s gone Super Saiyan," Not-A-Bystander muttered in disbelief as he slammed his shield into Prince Markel’s central golden head.

The impact triggered a flash of bright golden light, but when the glow faded the prince’s health bar had not moved even a fraction.

"What’s going on?"

The group exchanged bewildered looks. Had he become invincible?

Before anyone could test further, Prince Markel’s three heads simultaneously began chanting long, complicated incantations. Beneath each health bar, a lengthy casting bar slowly appeared and began filling.

Edruson struggled to his feet, still shaken from the previous blow, and shouted urgently, "That’s the Trinity Stone, an artifact from the Duchy of Ceylan! He absorbed the power of two Royal Mages through it and gained a special protective shield. It will last for one minute, and ordinary attacks cannot break it!"

He pointed toward the three chanting heads, his expression grave.

"The spells they are preparing are all high tier arcane arts. If even one of them completes its casting, we will all be wiped out."

"Then what do we do?" Let-There-Be-Light asked immediately, his voice tight with urgency.

Edruson clenched his teeth and answered with a grim expression. "I’ll find a way to break his barrier. When it falls, you must kill him before their spells finish."

"Then hurry up!" Amy snapped impatiently.

In her eyes the NPC had already wasted far too much time explaining things. Nearly twenty seconds had passed since the transformation began.

Edruson reached into his robes and pulled out a slender dagger shaped like a long needle. The weapon shimmered with an intense golden light that seemed almost liquid. Without hesitation, he drove the dagger straight into Prince Markel’s body.

A sharp cracking sound rang out.

The invisible barrier surrounding the prince shattered like glass, fragmenting into countless pieces that dissolved into the air. At the same moment, the backlash from the broken shield surged outward and slammed into Edruson, stunning him in place.

Prince Markel shrieked in fury and disbelief.

"No! You cannot possess such a thing!"

"Attack together!" Let-There-Be-Light roared. "Kill him before the casting bars finish!"

No one dared hesitate. Every member of the party immediately unleashed their strongest abilities. However, with three separate heads towering above the prince’s shoulders, their hurried strikes scattered across different targets. Some attacks struck the blazing fire head while others landed on the icy one.

After delivering a quick strike, Flynn called out, "Which one do we focus?"

"The fire head," Let-There-Be-Light replied without hesitation. "All damage on the fire head first, then the ice head."

From the spell hints shown beside the casting bars, it was clear that both the fire and ice heads were preparing devastating area-of-effect spells. If either incantation completed, the entire party would be annihilated.

The golden head, Prince Markel’s original one, was chanting something called Luminous Flash, which appeared to be a Paladin healing spell. Allowing him to heal himself would be troublesome, but it was far less dangerous than a full party wipe.

While the three heads were busy chanting, they were unable to attack and could only endure the incoming damage. Seeing this opening, Let-There-Be-Light rushed forward and swung his staff at the fire head, though the strike only produced a pitiful dozen points of damage.

"Use potions if you have them," he shouted. "Drink elixirs, activate buffs, use everything!"

"Got it!"

Everyone’s eyes were glued to the fire head’s health bar as it steadily fell.

Nine tenths.

Seven tenths.

Three tenths.

Finally, with a loud crack, the bar emptied.

A burst of flame erupted from the fire head and split into several streams that rushed toward Flynn and the others. The group instinctively tensed, expecting damage, but the flames passed harmlessly into their bodies and instead left behind a strange sense of warmth.

Flynn was the first to notice the effect.

When he struck the ice head with Keen Strike, an additional damage number appeared above it.

-58.

At the same moment, a brief flicker of flame flashed across the ice head’s body.

"Is that... fire damage?" Flynn wondered aloud.

He definitely did not remember having any ability like that. Could it be coming from those flames that had entered them earlier?

One after another, the others began to notice the same phenomenon. Every time they attacked the ice head, an extra instance of fire damage triggered.

"It’s probably the effect of those flames," Let-There-Be-Light said thoughtfully as he pieced the situation together. "Defeating one head must grant us a temporary buff. Since we killed the fire head first, we gained fire damage. If we kill the ice head next, it might give us some kind of ice attribute effect."

At the moment he had the least to do in the party. No one needed healing yet, and his modest damage output of around a dozen points per hit was barely significant in the overall fight. With that breathing room, he began carefully analyzing the mechanics unfolding before them.

In truth, this kind of real-time deduction during a boss fight was something he rarely had to do in the past.

Let-There-Be-Light had participated in numerous first-clear attempts across different games, but the pressure had never been this intense. In older titles, even extremely popular ones like Dragon’s Age, it was practically impossible to gather all of the world’s best players in a single region at the same time. Studios like his own, Byance Studio, could dominate the scene and secure first clears with relatively little interference.

They usually entered raids with detailed strategies and extensive documentation prepared beforehand.

Age of Conquest was different.

The game had drawn in every type of skilled player imaginable. Famous veterans, unknown experts, and even talented grassroots players like Flynn all converged in the same world. The competition for early achievements had become brutally intense.

Studios like Byance, respectable but not among the absolute elite, felt the pressure most keenly. A few failed quests or a dry period without achievements could easily push them into obscurity and seriously damage their business.

Trying to analyze boss mechanics in the middle of combat, while the clock ticked down toward a potential party wipe, was a challenge unlike anything Let-There-Be-Light had experienced before.

Still, after quickly running the numbers in his head, he concluded that they had enough time.

His gaze shifted briefly to the damage statistics displayed for the party.

Flynn was overwhelmingly in the lead; Forty three percent. Let-There-Be-Light nearly choked when he saw the number.

In a five person party, dealing more than thirty five percent of the total damage was already considered exceptional. Tanks alone usually contributed at least ten percent, so the remaining damage was normally shared fairly evenly among the rest of the team. Only certain classes with powerful area attacks could occasionally exceed forty percent when clearing large packs of enemies.

A Rogue definitely did not belong to that category.

Flynn did not even possess any area-of-effect abilities. Unless his bombs counted.

Let-There-Be-Light stared at the focused Rogue with a quiet sigh of admiration.

’This guy really isn’t human.’

Of course, Flynn’s damage lead also came from his recent equipment upgrades. After reaching level sixteen, he was now wielding the silver-grade dagger dropped by the previous boss, while his off-hand weapon had been replaced with a level fifteen green-grade dagger.

The improvement was dramatic.

The silver dagger alone provided impressive base damage along with +17 Agility, +12 Strength, and an additional 1 percent Critical Strike Chance. Both his basic attacks and his abilities had received a substantial boost from those stats.

Meanwhile Flynn remained completely focused on the ice head’s health bar. He was quietly calculating the time in his head.

It had taken about twenty seconds to destroy the fire head. The ice head, however, was losing health even faster thanks to the additional fire damage everyone had gained.

They could definitely finish it within twenty seconds.

And they did.

Roughly fifteen seconds later, the ice head released a mournful wail before collapsing into a swirl of snowflakes. The glittering flakes drifted through the air and merged into Flynn and his companions, causing their bodies to briefly glow with alternating red and icy blue light.

"Quick, the golden head!" Flynn shouted as he lunged forward.

His dagger flashed.

Along with his normal attack and the extra fire damage, a faint burst of icy blue light also triggered from his strike. However, the golden head’s health bar did not decrease.

Flynn frowned slightly. Did the ice attribute not deal damage?

Almost immediately, Let-There-Be-Light noticed the same phenomenon.

"Everyone pay attention!" he called out. "The ice energy isn’t damaging it. It looks like it’s slowing the casting speed instead."

His experience allowed him to spot the pattern instantly. Under the influence of the icy energy, the golden head’s casting bar began to creep forward more slowly.

The effect was subtle, but unmistakable. Even a single extra second was invaluable right now.

The discovery lifted everyone’s morale. They attacked with renewed intensity, pouring every remaining skill and potion into the fight.

Finally, just as the golden head’s casting bar neared completion, its health bar emptied.

With a crisp shattering sound, the golden head burst apart into countless fragments of radiant light. The glowing particles surged into the bodies of Flynn and his teammates, filling them with an overwhelming wave of Light-attribute energy that instantly restored their health to full.

"Is it over?" Amy breathed out, finally relaxing.

Less than a minute had passed, but the concentration required during that brief window had made the fight feel far longer.

Let-There-Be-Light also smiled in relief, then his expression abruptly changed.

"Wait... we didn’t get a first-clear notification," he said slowly. "And... damn it, we’re still in combat."

"Don’t relax yet," Flynn suddenly shouted. He pointed toward Prince Markel’s body.

Everyone turned to look.

The moment they saw it, a chill ran down their spines and the hair on their arms stood up.

Amy reacted the fastest. With a small gasp, she instinctively stepped back and hid behind Let-There-Be-Light.