Sebastian stood on the narrow ledge, the wind tearing at his ruined clothes. The dragon, Velkhana, was circling high above, preparing for a dive bomb that would shatter the entire cliff side.
"System," Sebastian rasped. "Active Skill: Eye of the Void God."
His vision shifted. The world of grey ice and white snow dissolved into a wireframe of mana and data. He looked at the dragon.
Usually, a boss monster was a solid mass of high-density mana. But Velkhana was different. Amidst the brilliant blue of its Cryo-core, there was a stain.
On the dragon's underbelly, just beneath the heavy scaling of the chest, there was a pulsing, violet scar. It wasn't a natural part of the creature. It looked like a tumor, a parasitic growth that was drilling tendrils of corruption into the dragon's heart.
"Void corruption," Sebastian realized. "That's why it's awake. That's why it's aggressive. The Void is trying to hijack the World Bosses."
It was a weak point. But it was also the most dangerous point. To hit it, he had to be directly underneath the dragon, inside the kill zone of its claws and breath.
"I can't shoot it," Sebastian muttered. "The scales around it are too thick. I need to get inside."
He checked his inventory. He had the materials. He had the skills.
[Skill: Engineering (Master)] + [Skill: Mana Manipulation (Divine)]
He pulled out the [Moon Reaper]—the dagger he had looted from Viper in the early game. It was useless as a weapon now, but the material was conductive. He pulled out a spool of adamantite cable. He pulled out a [Motor Engine] he had ripped from a Stryker vehicle back at the fortress.
His hands moved in a blur.
"Modify. Combine."
He didn't use a crafting table. He used his knees and his will. He stripped the engine, fusing the high-torque motor with the hilt of the dagger. He wound the adamantite cable around a makeshift spool attached to the motor. He inscribed runes of [Force] and [Adhesion] onto the blade of the dagger.
In ten seconds, he held a monstrosity. A mana-powered grappling hook gun, built from the corpse of a military vehicle and a magic weapon.
"Valerie," Sebastian spoke into the guild comms. "I need you to die."
"Excuse me?" Valerie's voice was high-pitched with panic.
"I need you to draw its aggro. Make it use its breath weapon. It can't move while channeling. That's my window. You will likely die."
"You... you bastard," Valerie choked out. "This costs me 10% EXP!"
"I'll power level you later. Do it!"
Valerie didn't hesitate. She stopped flying evasively. She hovered directly in front of the dragon, flaring her wings to their maximum brightness. She looked like a star in the twilight.
"HEY! OVER HERE! COME AND GET IT!"
Velkhana took the bait. The dragon shrieked and stalled in mid-air, opening its maw. The blue light of the breath weapon began to gather in its throat.
"Now," Sebastian whispered.
He aimed the modified grappling gun. He didn't aim at the weak point. He aimed at the dragon's shoulder.
THWUMP.
The dagger launched from the device, trailing the adamantite cable. It punched through the air, propelled by a burst of compressed mana. It struck the dragon's shoulder, the [Adhesion] runes biting deep between the scales.
Sebastian squeezed the trigger on the motor.
The machine screamed as it engaged. It didn't pull the dragon down. It pulled Sebastian up.
He was yanked off the cliff face with bone-jarring force. He flew through the air, reeling himself in toward the beast. The wind tore at his mask.
Above him, the dragon fired.
FWOOOOOOSH.
A column of absolute zero enveloped Valerie. Her mana shield shattered instantly. Her avatar froze solid in a millisecond, then shattered into a million sparkling pixels. She was gone.
Sebastian flew through the space where she had been a moment before. The residual cold bit into his skin, freezing the sweat on his back, but he didn't stop.
He slammed into the dragon's side.
"RAARGH!" Velkhana roared, feeling the parasite attach itself. It thrashed, spinning in the air to shake him off.
Sebastian dug his fingers into the gaps between the scales. He abandoned the grappling gun, letting it fall into the abyss. He climbed.
The dragon was massive, a landscape of shifting, freezing plates. Every movement of the beast threatened to crush him. He used [Shadow Step] to phase through the thrashing limbs, moving closer to the underbelly.
He reached the chest.
The Void scar was right there. It was hideous up close—a wet, throbbing mass of black veins and violet eyes that stared blindly at him. It was pumping corruption into the dragon's heart.
"Open wide," Sebastian growled.
He drew [Shadowfang] with his right hand. With his left, he grabbed the edge of the scar tissue.
The parasite sensed him. A tentacle lashed out from the wound, wrapping around Sebastian's throat. It squeezed, burning his skin with acid.
[-500 HP]
Sebastian didn't choke. He didn't struggle. He grinned behind his mask.
"You want to eat? Eat this."
He activated [Forbidden Alchemy]. But he didn't use it on an item. He used it on his own mana.
"Transmute: Mana to Volatile Plasma."
He grabbed the tentacle. He pumped raw, unstable energy directly into the parasite's biology.
The violet eyes on the scar widened in panic. The parasite tried to detach, to flee, but Sebastian held on.
"Explode."
He plunged [Shadowfang] into the center of the mass.
SPLAT.
The parasite didn't just die; it detonated. A burst of void energy and gore exploded outward. The impact blew a hole in the dragon's scales, exposing the beating, frozen heart beneath.
Velkhana screamed—a sound of pure agony that shattered the ice on the nearby peaks. The dragon's flight failed. Its wings locked up.
They began to fall.
Sebastian held onto a rib bone, covered in dragon blood and void sludge, as the world spun around him. They were plummeting toward the valley floor, terminal velocity approaching fast.
"Ride the lightning," Sebastian whispered, his eyes closing as the ground rushed up to meet them.