The woman's smile slowly returned afterwards. Her face a look that meant she wasn't planning anything good afterwards.
"Then if you are so treasured... I suppose they will step out to save you," she said. Slowly, her feet left the floor and she was levitating in the centre of the domain.
Aefia stared blankly at the display, a sigh escaping her mouth as the scene unfolded inch by inch.
The sky slowly dimmed into a dark brown and orange twilight. The stars burned brighter in contrast to the sky, and the moon stole the show with its magnificent brightness and beauty.
In the meantime, Sasha slowly raised her hand towards where Nada and Helio were still tied together. Purple sparks flew, and the ropes tore themselves.
They both gripped their wrists and rushed towards where she and Aefia were standing, watching with wide eyes at the situation expanding.
"This is getting sickening," Nada muttered under her breath. "Should I say? The boss monster of this world is very powerful, unfortunately."
Helio squinted his eyes. "Wait, why is there a healthbar on top of her head? But the numbers are just till hundred and read; sanity."
Aefia blinked, then looked up at the direction he was looking.
There, if someone focused well enough, they could see the bar at the auctioneer's right-side.
The Sanity Bar.
They didn't have health bars—villains and bosses in the novel were said to have sanity levels, which zero obviously meant the villain has gone insane and it may be a bit impossible to win.
"We have that to indicate what state the boss is currently in. To secure an easy win, we need to defeat them while their sanity is above the half-way point. But I am quite certain at some points we will have a health bar." Sasha explained, pointed at the levitating woman.
"But what happens if the sanity hits zero?" He asked again.
"It means that she is about to go all in to secure victory. However possible. The same logic of what a human would do when they are desperate for something and would do tthrough even difficult measures for it." Aefia calmly replied.
Helio's breath caught in his throat. So this thing... it was all a psychological horror 'situation'. I can't even make a list of what I can call it anymore.
But if we speak of it as a brain-thing—linking it to a normal human mind... Then the more we show progress to the victory, the harder it would be to reserve the auctioneer's sanity. If the sanity hits zero, then we have no escape.
He swallowed hard, then looked around.
Lucky for me, I have three novel readers as support... Although I suppose that since I know a bit if the story and dynamics... Doesn't that make me a 'reader' too? I should have some sort of powers. I don't know my lines, but I am guessing just this much.
The ground below them slowly darkened. Beneath, untouchable water ripples bounced back and forth. The ground seemed liquid, but it clearly wasn't. As if they were standing on top of glass so clear, it was basically invisible.
"The facility has a habit of bringing fifteen special candidates into a completely different world from a stranger planet. Fro. my batch of candidates... I was the chosen one." The auctioneer suddenly said.
Wha—wait! Aefia gritted her teeth, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her forehead. "Why are you suddenly spewing nonsense like that? Aren't you supposed to be preparing for a final fight or something? Considering you know you are in the boss fight."
She smirked back at her with her own face, and with those vicious orange eyes.
"I thought I would do you some favour and inform you before hand. Later on, you will find yourself in deep need of that small fact." She answered, folding her arms.
Aefia took a step back, clenching her hands into fists at either sides. "Alright, message received. Now then," her gaze travelled to Nada and Sasha. Her eyes narrowed, "I suppose I will just buff then."
"Buff?" Helio squinted his eye.
"Aefia is a resonator. She can amplify our powers—which she currently is." Nada answered, stepping forward to grab his arm and yank him backward.
I know this is simply a skill, but I am pretty sure it will cost me something. Aefia thought bitterly to herself at first. She slowly extended her hand in front of her, a small condensation of magic swirled inward.
Slowly, she closed her fingers over it.
A sudden combustion escaped the small gaps between her fingers, and rippled outward directly towards the three people standing closest.
The magic coated their weapons and sunk into their arms and legs. A small glow of red swirled like flames at their feet.
Almost immediately, Aefia's head gave a nauseating spin. But she held back by biting her tongue, then took a step back. Her gaze swept over all of them before snapping to Helio's face.
"For the record, if you ever encounter any beast with orange eyes, they are a Trojan. They can shift their forms. If they have purple eyes, they are most likely a were-wolf mutilant or something similar and wolf-like. Mostly animalistic." She pointed out, pulling out her sword from the sheath.
He nodded, then fixed his eyes at the auctioneer levitating high off the ground. They all had to crane their necks like a small child looking up at a really tall person.
"So here... Do I fight something or what?" He asked one last time, slowly pulling his own blade out.
"You are a healer. You do fight if you need to, but you and Aefia are more like support characters. If I am right, I and Nada will be the only ones to deal with this. We need to keep the novel as it is," Sasha replied, turning her head away as she followed Nada to the centre.
Helio and Aefia both flinched, then stared at each other—shooting glares and wordless insults—before the ground began to shake.
The auctioneer smirked, then raised her hand high above her head.
Beasts tore themselves off the domain floors, clawing at the dirt as they instantly caught sight of their targets.
Firstly it was the four people standing nearest. Then the other candidates standing a safe distance away, watching the entire thing like a group of witnesses.
The funny thing about boss monsters in games—they can only deal with a few players at max. So the auctioneer has to sideline them to avoid having to overexert herself in worthless investments.
Which was a plus point for them, since it meant lesser chances of major casualties.
Nada and Sasha slowly removed their masks. Dropping them onto the ground and gripping their weapons tightly at their sides. Nada using when right hand, and Sasha with her left.
"Aefia! The beasts!" Nada shouted over her shoulder as she advanced towards the auctioneer, raising her spear above her head and leaping into the air.
Aefia swept her gaze backward to where one was headed directly for one of the candidates. She raised her hand, creating a barrier over them as the beast bounced against the glass-like surface.
She let out a sigh of relief, turning her attention away as Helio moved to tackle the stray little 'supports'.
Her gaze immediately followed over to her cousin, a bit of concern flickering at her eyes as she unconsciously bit onto her bottom lip. Her eyes narrowing at the outcomes.
Nada's attack got blocked with a simple snap of the boss's fingers. It sent her falling backwards and skidding a few feet, turning the ground below her into a frozen slate of ice.
Sasha followed immediately afterwards, using her charged attack to create a way for attack.
The sanity bar at the corner was at seventy—which meant she was getting slowly enraged with something. It was going to be hard to read, since there were already multiple things provoking her.
The battle isn't going as I had expected. Aefia thought bitterly to herself. I thought that maybe if Nada—as the protagonist—fought the auctioneer, things would advance nice and calmly. But it seems... the target is... something else.
But what or who is it?
She turned back around to see the situation behind her. It couldn't have been the reason the auctioneer was acting up a bit, and this soon.
Then, something clicked in her head.
"Don't tell me..." The plot had changed... And chose someone else as the main protagonist, and it is seeking the right person so we can advance to the next stage of the battle?
Her eyes widened in realization. But she forced it down, reaching up a hand to rub her forehead while shutting her eyes.
Nevermind... We are still too early to judge that. This is the second dungeon disguised as the first... Of course the boss monster is going to be really strong. So if we can't progress fast, it is solely because we lack the experience of facing a boss monster of easier rules previously.
Slowly, she gripped her sword tighter and turned fully around. Inches from her face was the monster who had seen her as a target.
It growled, then roared at her face.
Aefia's eyes widened, her jaw clenching shut tight that a muscle twitched. Her hand clamping tightly at her sword, even if she realized she was a mili-second too late.
This son of a—
Boom!
A sharp blade of ice shot straight through the front of the monster's heart. It let out one last roar before slumping onto the ground with a lifeless thud.
She immediately swept her head to the side. Nada shot her a warning glare before turning her head back to battle.
Right... It was clearly all my fault. Aefia thought to herself as she took off to the corners of the room.
The auctioneer's eyes narrowed down at her from high up, her irises unblinkingly tracking every step she took.
"I am curious... Why is the experiment fleeing like that?" She muttered under her breath.
Aefia's muscles locked up. What...?
Her ears perked towards the main battle as she skidded to a halt, again. I am certain I heard something.
The auctioneer raised her hand, pointing it towards her direction.
Swing!
Aefia swung her blade as hard as she could, cutting off the spike that had shot right out of the ground in front of her. Then leaped backwards to avoid another one, then another.
It turned into a repetitive cycle, and the sanity bar was slowly ticking one percent down every second—which had stayed nearly frozen still until now even as Nada and Sasha were attacking.
By the fourteenth percent, the boss stopped, lowering her hand while fully turning towards Aefia—who was knelt on one knee and trying to catch her breath—shooting a glare across the entire distance at the auctioneer.
"Hmph... Interesting," she let out a fascinated sigh. Then turned her head towards the others, "let's see if you can keep that up when your little teammates are in danger."
She flicked her fingers.
The next second, multiple sprouts of thorned veins bloomed around Helio's feet. His eyes widened in shock, but his muscles were locked up in shock. He couldn't move an inch.
Shit! She decided to go for the only healer in this area, to cut off the 'main supply' of health and corner us.
In Aefia's mind, she thought that most likely... The auctioneer would spam her ultimate and drain them to gain victory. Like any other games.
Panicked, Aefia threw her sword into the air, not even watching as it dissappeared and lunged at Helio with her arms stretched.
She pushed him out of the way in time—but as she looked down at the sprouts—they were dead and had dissolved back into the ground.
"What... Just happened?" She asked herself, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she lifted her head to where Helio was.
But what she failed to calculate...
Slick!
Aefia gasped violently, her vision blurring for a second as a tear swept down the side of her cheek. Her hand reached out to grab the thing that had burst right into her.
"I will tell you what just happened..." The auctioneer smiled, twitching the blade which was protruding out of her heart. "I had not savoured for those two to be my real opponents... But the odd one out... herself. What a poor, failed, weakling the facility had created."
Aefia managed to roll her eye backward to look at the auctioneer's thruimphant face.
The blade was pulled out from behind her as violently as it has been driven into her. She fell to her knees, clenching her wound while coughing up blood onto the ground in front of her.
She looked down at her blood-stained palm.
"Ah... Is this... how it feels like... to really... Die?" She managed to choke out. "And even one... So agonizing..."
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First draft: 15.11.2025
Rewritten: 06.10.2026