Game of the Universe: Zenith

Arthur stared at the system message, and it was only after he read it twice that he finally lowered his outstretched hand.

They’d actually done it. They’d taken down the boss.

Letting out a breath, he was about to turn around and check on John when a confused voice came from his left,

"What happened? Is the boss down?"

Arthur turned his head in surprise. The mist around the peak was fading quickly as Pyth’s face soon came into view. His eyes were darting about warily, both hands clutching his makeshift axe until his knuckles turned white.

Arthur’s footsteps came to a halt, and he couldn’t help but blink upon seeing this.

"What’s going on? Pyth didn’t get the kill confirmation?"

But his confusion didn’t last long.

Footsteps crunched behind them as John limped towards them, one hand pressed under his ribs while the other propped his spear up like a walking stick. John raised his free hand in a half-wave, the corner of his mouth twisting with pain.

"Ah, shit. That was my bad, brother. I forgot to invite you to our party earlier! I’ve heard the kill EXP only goes to the party that lands the finishing blow and everything. I swear it was an accident, though."

Arthur saw Pyth’s expression turn blank for a moment. There was no yelling or an outburst of any kind. The man just nodded absentmindedly before turning his gaze back to the Alpha.

The giant boar had already begun fading into motes of white light, but Pyth looked like he wouldn’t believe it was dead until it completely vanished in front of his eyes.

The massive body drifted apart like ash on a breeze, and as it faded, the cracks it had spiderwebbed into the rock underneath gradually it came into view.

John limped closer and plopped down next to the disappearing corpse as he said seriously,

"This thing better drop a god-tier skillbook or something, after all I went through."

Arthur shook his head, the edge of his lips curving into a smile. His storage bag had gathered quite a few items over the day’s hunt, but after what they’d just been through, he had to admit he was also hoping for a decent drop.

After all, they’d truly come close to dying, and the 40 HP above John’s head only served to reinforce that terror.

A minute later, the boss’s corpse had vanished completely, but what was left in its place was neither a skillbook nor a weapon.

"What the hell is this?" John muttered, staring at the slab of meat left on the gravel.

Pyth looked just as stunned.

After a moment of hesitation, Arthur stepped forward and picked it up. The system notification flared in his eyes the moment his fingers touched it.

[Item: Stonehide Alpha’s Liver]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Description: The liver of the boar pack leader.]

Arthur just stared at the floating text, then at the warm thing in his hand. The heat of it bled into his palm and he couldn’t help but mutter in surprise, "A liver?"

John’s laugh cracked before turning into a cough halfway through.

"Is this damn game telling us to cook that bastard’s meat? Because I’ll do it!"

Arthur kept staring at the floating system window, but there was nothing useful to be found, regardless of how hard he looked. The description just said that this was the boss’s liver. Just a part of the Alpha’s body.

Did the game actually drop food?

"Still, if this is rated as a ’Rare’ item, it’s bound to count for something, right?" Arthur thought to himself.

...If not, there was nothing he could do, anyway.

After a moment, Arthur placed the slab of meat in his storage bag and turned to Pyth.

No matter what, they’d fought together, so Pyth deserved part of the spoils as well. The only problem was that all they’d gotten was the damn boar’s liver.

But before Arthur could say anything, Pyth stepped forward and said earnestly,

"Anyway brothers, thanks for saving me. I really owe you one."

Pyth’s gaze drifted over the broken stone where Zane had been crushed under the boar’s hoof and continued,

"If you hadn’t stepped in, that thing would have surely killed me too, just liek with Zane and Brock."

At the mention of his two dead teammates, Pyth’s expression turned into something more complicated. Their bodies had long since faded and turned into motes of light, but Pyth still stared at the spots where they’d fallen.

Arthur didn’t say anything.

He didn’t know how close Pyth had been with those two, if at all, but he could read the man’s face well enough. The look on it was a mix of relief and guilt.

John steadied himself against his spear and said seriously,

"It’s not your fault, man. That kid Zane wasn’t a leader, that’s all. If it wasn’t for Art’s plan, the three of us wouldn’t be able to take this thing down either. You can’t be hasty when you fight a boss."

John looked like he was about to say more, but Pyth beat him to it.

"Forget it. What’s done is done," he said with a wave of his hand, as if trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "Anyways, I’m heading back to the city, so... I’ll see you guys around, I hope."

Arthur nodded while John gave him a thumbs-up, as if to tell him not to be a stranger next time.

Then, with a nod of his own, Pyth turned around and started making his way down the mountain.

He didn’t ask for a party invite or a share of the loot.

He just... left.

"He’s a good man," John said as he stared at the figure vanishing into the mist.

Arthur nodded. No matter what, Pyth had also left a good impression on him.

Finally, Arthur let out a long breath and began to look around the summit, at the quickly receding plume of white that had almost faded by now.

It had been a long day, and it was about time he and John returned back to the city, but before that, there were a couple more things they had to take care of.

Zane’s spear was still intact, half-buried in the ground a few meters from where the man had died, with a small leather pouch beside it.

Without any hesitation, Arthur walked over and picked them both up before dropping them into his storage bag.

Surprisingly, Zane had gathered quite a bit of elemental stones by now. Judging from how full his pouch was, Arthur guessed there were about 400 stones inside.

"Then again, I guess it’s not that surprising for a level 8 player." Arthur thought to himself.

Brock’s tusk lay a few meters from his own pouch, right where the Alpha had stomped him. The young teen had around 300 stones inside his own pouch, which wasn’t a small amount either.

After splitting everything down the middle, Arthur tossed one pouch to John, who caught it with a laugh.

"Hahaha! Not bad, huh?"

Arthur nodded.

Honestly, he didn’t have any inhibitions about profiting off Zane’s and Brock’s passing. There was no way he was leaving their pouches behind anyway.

As for the chestpiece Zane had been wearing, Arthur didn’t even bother looking for it. He had no doubt it had been smashed to dust alongside its owner after getting hit by the Alpha.

At the same time, after calculating the stones in his new pouch, John’s mouth broke into a wide smile. Then his gaze moved to Arthur’s storage bag and he said excitedly,

"Let’s go pay the old man a visit before we log out. I wanna get one of those bags too."

Arthur nodded, and as his thoughts drifted to the old dwarf, he found himself wondering whether the man knew anything about the Stonehide Alpha’s liver they’d just gotten.

Was this thing really just food or something else?

...

The descent down the mountain was much faster than the way up. Arthur and John barely ran into any monsters, and the handful of Iron Boars and Rock Serpents unlucky enough to target them fell in a matter of seconds.

After fighting their boss, these underlings were just child’s play.

By the time they’d passed the empty safe zone and reached the foot of the mountain, Arthur could feel the weight of the day settling in his shoulders. It wasn’t nighttime in Halewick yet, but he’d spent more than ten hours inside Zenith again.

The city’s outer walls appeared in front of them before long, and Arthur and John passed through the archway.

They didn’t linger. They pushed through the endless crowd without a word, heading straight for the smithy on the other side of the plaza.

...

The steady rhythm of hammer on steel could be heard from a distance as Arthur and John approached.

When Arthur pushed open the smithy’s door, a wave of heat spilled out to greet him. As always, the dwarf stood behind his anvil, his arms rising and falling as his hammer rang out in a patient rhythm.

Even after the door opened, the man simply kept hammering, completely unbothered by the new arrivals.

Well... that was until John stepped forward and slammed a pouch of elemental stones on the counter.

"Old man! We’re here to buy!"