As the first wave of black vines gave birth to three monsters, very soon, beneath the lava, more small black buds gradually began to bloom.
A thick vine barrier separated the lava from the monsters, and those monsters that had turned into iron balls continued to launch attacks at Viktor without stopping.
Although they couldn't cause effective damage to Viktor, they did create a lot of trouble for his continuous output.
The breeding bed gradually produced tiny monsters that flew in the air.
They were like bats, but instead of sharp teeth on their heads, they had long, straw-like mouthparts.
The black liquid that constantly swelled and contracted from their abdomen was squeezed upward and stored inside their brains.
When they couldn't endure it anymore, they would suddenly fire that black liquid like a fast arrow shooting toward Viktor.
At first, those scattered droplets of black liquid couldn't even graze Viktor, but as time passed, the bats around Druja gradually increased, and every time the black liquid shot out, it was like a sky-filling rain of arrows.
Finally, that dense liquid grazed Viktor once.
The lava coat on his body made a "szzzt" sound and released wisps of white smoke.
"What terrifying corrosive power!"
Hiding behind the floating rock, Cocotte saw this scene and instantly felt her heart being squeezed, full of worry.
Even though Viktor could spare a hand while being hit nonstop by those rolling monsters, how was he supposed to dodge that endless rain of black arrows?
Viktor was also thinking about this point.
Although the mage robe's shield could block this corrosive acid, a shield, no matter how strong, couldn't possibly take every single hit.
Restricted like this, Viktor could only keep moving and dodging, defending against the incoming spinning monsters while evading the black liquid.
He could only spare a thin strand of magic to hold back those flying monsters.
If he stopped attacking and let Druja find an opening, it would simply let it begin recovering its health again.
If that happened, all of Viktor's current progress would be wasted.
Using one spell to deal with the bat monsters made his damage to Druja slow down, even reaching a point where it matched Druja's regeneration.
In Viktor's eyes, Druja's HP was now neither increasing nor decreasing.
Before him was still a fierce battle.
In the game, dealing with this kind of powerful boss required a multi-player team. The front-line warriors would hold off the spinning monsters and corrosion attacks.
The mages in the back would take advantage of gaps to constantly heal the warriors and continuously attack the boss.
Although in Endymion only mages were allowed to enter, as the story progressed, once Druja occupied Endymion, all classes could enter the City of Mages.
Through the mages' teleportation array, they could reach the seventh-floor dungeon of the labyrinth.
But at this moment, Viktor was alone. Although there were two mages beside him, those two were completely unable to help him.
After all, they had never even seen Druja before. If they rushed in, they would only drag him down.
In his mind, there were two ways to solve the current problem, if he quickly killed all the small monsters, he could indeed reduce a large amount of pointless harassment.
While Druja hadn't summoned the second wave of monsters yet, he could launch a full-power attack on its weak spot. But this method would only drag the fight longer.
The Wood Calamity naturally specialized in dragging out fights to exhaust the players' mental strength. If he did that, he would be falling right into its trap.
The second method, however, could only be done by some high-level players.
Ignore the harassment from the small monsters and focus entirely on attacking Druja.
Because of Druja's summoning mechanics, if the first wave of small monsters wasn't cleared, or rather, not cleared below a certain number…
Druja would not summon more small monsters.
Fortunately, Viktor was exactly that kind of high-level player.
His mind flipped, and he gave up on defense.
After blasting the monsters with high-heat spells and reducing their number to two, he immediately began moving rapidly through the air to dodge the attacks of the small monsters.
In the end, only two bat-like monsters remained, flying in mid-air, attacking Viktor sparsely yet stubbornly.
But those two left alive suddenly seemed like they had been injected with steroids, the speed at which they spat the black liquid increased significantly.
Just increasing their attack speed wasn't enough to cover the whole space.
Viktor flickered through the air, moving like a dancer stepping elegantly on raindrops beneath the black rain, skillfully evading each attack.
And his hands didn't stop at all, pouring world-burning powerful spells toward Druja.
Very quickly, under Viktor's final concentrated assault, Druja, which could no longer regenerate, saw its HP drop significantly. A vast section of its seemingly endless health bar was carved away.
Now, Viktor only needed to face the final 30%.
The crow on his shoulder suddenly spoke, asking Viktor, "This guy… is he also going to unleash something like that world-destroying attack Guluton did?"
"Yes."
"And you've already prepared for it?"
"Yes."
Vega finally relaxed. Since Viktor said he was prepared, there was no problem.
Druja entered its final weakened state. The green glow on its body flickered on and off, as if it were extremely fatigued. One of its giant legs actually knelt onto the lava.
The white light in its compound eyes gradually gathered, and a strong aura of nature burst from its body.
Every Calamity had three phases, the initial phase, second phase, and final weakened phase.
But the weakened phase was often the easiest one to overturn the entire fight.
Because…
Druja's natural energy suddenly poured madly into the entire space. Just its aura alone made this pocket dimension start shaking.
The whole of Endymion felt like it had fallen into an earthquake, shaking violently.
Haim froze. He didn't understand what was happening.
Wasn't Endymion a floating sky city? How could there be an earthquake?
"Haimhorn, Cocotte."
As if reminding them of something, Viktor only said their names once and didn't speak further.
The two instantly reacted, gulping down all the mana potions Viktor had given them.
Feeling powerful mana fill their bodies, they felt like they were swelling, in unbearable pain.
Ignoring their own pain, they poured all their mana into reinforcing the massive barrier.
The barrier instantly expanded by another entire layer.
"It's coming."
The two of them had never seen a Calamity before, so they didn't know just how terrifying a Calamity truly was.
When a Calamity judged that it had met an enemy it couldn't defeat…
It would pour all of its remaining energy into releasing its final ultimate move.
[All Things of the Forest]
As six lotus flowers grew from Druja's three pairs of compound eyes, a sinister crack slowly tore open on its massive head.
The vast natural energy was instantly sucked back into its body, and its entire form swelled like a hot-air balloon, like a small floating planet in the void.
As though it had swallowed all sound and scent from the surroundings, the whole void became impossibly silent.
Standing on Viktor's shoulder, Vega saw Viktor's lips move but heard absolutely nothing.
The next second, an overwhelming surge of energy turned into seven giant serpents roaring toward Viktor. As if they intended to swallow all of Endymion whole.
Every part of the space the serpents passed seemed stripped of life. Even the emptiness alone made one feel death creeping in.
Seeing the seven massive serpents twisting toward him, Viktor raised Urust into the air.
At the same time, a thin thread connected Cocotte and Haim to Viktor.
["O foolish and bewildered god of flame, forget the prayers of mortals, grant me truth and courage..."]
["When the scorching sun opens in the heavens, let the primordial fire burn away all falsehood!"]
As Viktor chanted those strange, blasphemous words, Cocotte and Haim behind him stood frozen.
'What kind of sacrilegious chant was that!?'
They thought so in their hearts, but their hands poured even more mana into the barrier.
When Viktor shouted, the world seemed to freeze.
A tiny fireball formed in his hand, turning into a faint flame that flew between the seven giant serpents, aiming straight at Druja.
Time resumed. The serpents slammed violently against the barrier. Under the immense impact, countless tiny cracks spread across its surface.
"Viktor! Hurry! We… can't hold on!"
Cocotte shut her eyes, urging Viktor who stood motionless, her heart filled with despair.
She and Haim lost all their mana, perhaps because Viktor's spell required too much. At this moment, the two of them felt completely drained.
The ocean-like serpents, carrying death, were just one second away from swallowing Viktor whole.
But for some reason, they suddenly froze in mid-air.
"What a pity, Druja. In the end…"
"I'm still a step ahead."
The seven raging serpents were devoured by red fire starting from the heads closest to Viktor. The natural energy dissolved into the void, and the serpents transformed into a sky full of demonic flames.
They scattered completely, and those flames merged into a blazing dragon, carrying renewed hope and overwhelming might as it charged toward Druja.
The weakened Wood Calamity no longer had the strength to resist such a powerful high-tier spell.
The moment that tiny flame touched it, all the energy within its body seemed to lose its connection to nature.
Its chest burned unbearably hot for no reason. Druja froze in place, helplessly watching as the flame dragon engulfed it entirely.
[War Magic: Avatist's Divine Arrow]
BOOM!
A beam of white light shot into the heavens, breaking through the seven layers of sky, straight to the firmament.
———
Aurelian was already lying bored on the floating rock, staring up at the sky.
She had been waiting the whole time for Viktor to return.
The star-filled, beautiful night sky was captivating, like the goddess of beauty had scattered crystals across a vast canvas.
The next second, a violent white beam ripped apart that beautiful starry sky.
Aurelian jerked upright, staring at the towering white light that pierced the universe, shocked beyond words.
Little stars sparkled in her eyes as she exclaimed excitedly, "Wow!"
"So pretty!"