Afterlife Dream

"HAHAHAHA!!!"

A burst of booming laughter resonated from the walls. It was no longer the voice of Devin Wentworth but the Dimensional Master's.

"Divine Guard! Mana Guard!" I quickly chanted the spells.

HellWitch brandished her sword and ZhaoYun ran forward with his spear. The two of them blocked the Longinus Holy Spear with all the power that they had, but the Dimensional Master was not the 150 raid boss for nothing.

Raid bosses were supposed to be defeated by a squad and not a mere party.

HellWitch and ZhaoYun not only failed to block the Dimensional Master's attack. The latter's power was so intense that it repelled both HellWitch and ZhaoYun backward. HellWitch was thrown in my direction. I barely managed to catch her. In doing so, I slid backward and my boots made screeching sounds against the hall's marble floor.

"Are you alright?" I asked HellWitch.

She was not. She had a thin trail of blood running down the corner of her mouth.

"Heal!" I quickly chanted. HellWitch's HP had dropped to half of her bar in one single attack. Although it was now replenished to the maximum, she was still shaken and so was I.

ZhaoYun on the other side sustained greater injuries. He was thrown against a pillar and he cracked at least two ribs. As soon as he fell to the ground, he spasmed and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

I quickly ran toward him to heal him up.

"Heal!!!"

As soon as I cast the spell, I had to run because the Dimensional Master came after ZhaoYun. The Longinus Holy Spear stabbed into the spot where my feet were just a second before. It hit with an immense force, causing another crack to spread. This time it was not only a crack.

Violent wisps of smoke shot out from the cracks.

"RUN!" ZhaoYun screamed at me.

I scrambled to my feet but failed to get up. ZhaoYun clicked with his tongue and dragged me away by my collars.

We barely made it.

The area exploded with an eardrum-shattering sound, sending dust and debris up into the air.

I could not see properly. My ears were also affected due to the sudden explosion.

Someone seemed to be screaming but I couldn't hear him.

"Heal," I cast with a hoarse voice. Next to me, ZhaoYun murmured something unclear.

"We have to get up," I poked at ZhaoYun's side. "Come on. We can't stay on the ground the whole time."

Staying still was a recipe for disaster in a raid.

ZhaoYun did not seem to be able to hear me. His lips moved but I was also unable to hear him.

I dragged him up and tried to put distance between us and the Dimensional Master. Wherever he was. If he stopped pursuing me and ZhaoYun, he most likely was going after the rest.

My heart was beating fast against my ribcage.

I did not know what was happening with my friends. Are they alright?

Livina, Cecilia, and Lazarus could not take a direct hit because they were ranged attackers. If HellWitch who had such high physical defense and HP bar sustained such loss after one attack, I could not imagine what would happen to them if they were hit in a similar way.

Slowly, my hearing sense returned and I was able to hear the people around me.

"GUYS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT??"

Cecilia's voice echoed in the air. She was up there, suspended in the air by her pair of Angel Wings.

"Get down!!" I screamed. "The Dimensional Master can fly!"

And if we could see her just fine, the Dimensional Master could as well.

My prediction was on point. It did not take long before the armored boss launched himself from the ground and went against Cecilia.

I clenched my jaw.

"Dispel!!!" I shouted, aiming my staff at the Dimensional Master. The spell hit the boss and caused him to lose whatever reinforcing buffs he had on himself. He still hit on Cecilia indiscriminately, but at least Cecilia would not die from one hit.

Indeed she didn't die. She lost only 25% HP, and that was unprecedented.

I squinted at her in confusion. When did Cecilia get so strong?

"Cecil!!!" HellWitch screamed.

"Get him back on the ground! We cannot help you while you are up there!"

"Oh, right!"

Cecilia evaded a stab from the Dimensional Master and headed to the ground.

The Dimensional Master followed suit. On the ground, HellWitch and ZhaoYun were ready to take him on.

Again, they were repelled with one attack, losing 50% HP in one go. I didn't get it. I grabbed Cecilia's arm and asked, "Cecil, how did you get such high physical defense? You only lost 25% when you took him on!"

Cecilia did not understand me at first, but then her eyes turned round with realization.

"GUYS!!!" Cecilia screamed at particularly ZhaoYun and HellWitch who took HP potions every time they took a hit. "Check your inventories! We all have Fried Peach Ice Cream With Cashew Nut Sprinkles!!!"

Good grief!

I could not believe that I forgot about the treats that Kitty gave us on our last night. I quickly opened my inventory and devoured the sweet item. Left and right of me, the others muttered a curse under their breaths and did the same.

"How can you remember?" I asked Cecilia. It was unbelievable. She got her memory scroll way later than we did but she remembered that little detail.

"I did not," she quipped. "I just checked my amazing inventories as soon as I remembered. It is what restaurant owners like to do," she added with a shrug.

Oh.

After taking the Fried Peach Ice Cream With Cashew Nut Sprinkles, all of our skill attributes doubled up. It definitely helped with surviving a little longer, though I was not sure for how much longer if the first attacks already overwhelmed us.

We surrounded the Dimensional Master and launched hit after hit.

As expected of the final boss, he was exceedingly agile. Most bosses would focus only on the tanks, but the Dimensional Master could suddenly get bored of the tanks and started to attack the others.

Each of us sustained at least two stabs from the Dimensional Master after only thirty minutes.

The good news was that after multiple Dispels, we can see his HP bar decreasing.

The bad news was that it was not going down fast enough.

"Poison!"

"Holy Dragon!"

I used every spell in my spell book to help bring down the Dimensional Master, including my offense skills, Apocalypse, and Holy Arrow Barrage.

Unfortunately, again, we were simply not strong enough. It even looked like he was just playing with us. Like we were some cute little mice in a cage.

"Can't do this," I informed the others. They nodded at me with gloomy faces. They had also calculated the time we needed to defeat the Dimensional Master based on the rate of HP increase.

"What will happen if we fail to defeat him?" I heard Lazarus asking.

When hearing this question, the Dimensional Master broke into laughter.

"If you fail to defeat me, you will be eliminated forever."

We were shocked.

Not because of his answer. It was because this was the first time ever that a final boss ever responded to us.

Having done so many raids before, no raid bosses ever responded to us as players did.

"Wait, you can understand us?" I asked in bewilderment.

I could not see the Dimensional Master's face, but the lips beneath the mask were pulled in a mocking sneer.

"Of course," he said haughtily. "What do you take me as? An average monster?"

But wait a second. Our situation had just deteriorated visibly thanks to this unexpected turn. Up until now, the raid participants had gotten used to strategizing according to the situation at hand. That meant that we had to talk to each other throughout the raid to make plans! How were we supposed to do that now if the Dimensional Master could hear and understand us clearly?

"What are you really?" I heard HellWitch asking. "You are not an average raid boss."

"I thought you knew," the Dimensional Master responded.

"I. Am. The. One. Who. Made. This. Game!"

With every word, he gave HellWitch a whack, ending with a stab that she could barely evade. The sharp end of the Longinus Holy Spear ended up grazing her side and blood spurted out. HellWitch had to retreat afterward to drink up some potion. ZhaoYun stepped into HellWitch's position and took over. He had a slightly better advantage because he was wielding a spear. He did not have to get too close to the Dimensional Master to tank.

"O, you mighty game creator," ZhaoYun mocked while he engaged in a spear play with the final boss. "Have you actually taken a look at this game that you created? Have you ever tried playing it yourself??"

The Dimensional Master scoffed.

"What do you think? Of course, I did. I am eager to experience everything from the player's perspective."