The Boss Wants to Die

Chapter 2

The Boss Wants to Die

Even if he had been escorted by a high-level player, it would have been impossible.

The very air of the Demon Realm inflicted poison damage, dealing continuous harm.

Even if he pushed forward dying once every second, he would just resurrect at the Temple, making the attempt utterly useless.

‘I’ve never seen a bug like this.’

While I was lost in thought, the man, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me for even a single second, suddenly drew a club.

With my equipment window already open, the stats for that insignificant-looking club cascaded before my eyes.

[Club of the Beginning.

An all-purpose tool used by the Main God to create the world, back before evil existed.

Its form alters according to the user’s affinity.

― User: Akt Hevgenia (Novice Priest)

― Form: Mace

― Enhancement: +10 (Cannot be enhanced any further.)

― Grade: Legendary]

It was even Legendary grade.

A Legendary tier, of which only two existed in the entire game!

‘Even after six years of toiling as the final boss, I’d only ever heard rumors of it…!’

It was a grade no one believed actually existed as a physical item.

I had no idea what he could have possibly used to enhance an already-perfect Legendary weapon, but it was at max enhancement.

‘W-Wait!’

Novice priest or not, the moment I saw that weapon, I sensed something was terribly wrong and corrected my stance.

‘If I mess around, my body will just kill the player on its own again.’

I hated the feeling of being puppeteered.

If I had to fight anyway, I wanted to do it of my own will.

Without hesitation, I cast a skill.

[Evil God Hellroad has summoned the Gates of Hell! Time remaining until space is consumed: 10 seconds!]

A deep, ominous hum resonated through the air.

Dark shadows began to cast gloomily across the floor.

The top of the gate breaching through the floor was adorned with demon horns, befitting the Gates of Hell.

The moment that gate was dragged entirely out from the underworld, the man would be finished.

Yet, even as he looked at the pitch-black gate meant to drag him down to hell, he showed no reaction whatsoever.

He just stood there.

Looking at me.

‘Is this not enough?’

And why on earth was he staring like that?

As if he had just reunited with a long-lost first love, his gaze felt intense enough to bore a hole straight through my face.

[A Veil of Darkness spreads above Evil God Hellroad.

Blinding the eyes of the gods, holy magic is nullified for 10 seconds.]

[Unfurling the wings of evil, Hellroad takes to the sky.]

I poured all my resolve into ending his life in a single stroke.

The man craned his neck all the way back to look up at me hovering near the high ceiling.

His thick brows were crookedly furrowed against the glare of the dazzling chandelier.

There was something chilling about his gaze.

He didn’t look like a player who had come to claim boss loot.

Like someone desperately trying to seize an unreachable sky within his own grasp, he was excessively, relentlessly fixated.

[7, 6…….]

Having glanced briefly at the Gates of Hell erupting from the ground, the man finally moved.

His fine white hair swayed as his legs carried him forward with the fluid grace of a beast.

Though built like a mountain, his towering height somehow prevented him from looking bulky or clumsy.

He glided as smoothly as if wheels were attached to his pitch-black shoes.

With a fluid motion, he drew the white rod—unmistakably blurred between a club and a mace.

Then, he lightly tapped the summoning Gates of Hell.

Tap, tap—.

It sounded just like a child’s toy.

What does he think he’s doing with that?

Hovering awkwardly in the air, I watched the absurd spectacle.

To be honest, I was just openly spectating.

Because it wasn’t the least bit threatening.

No matter how many Legendary-grade weapons he possessed, the fact that he was going to die by my hands remained unchanged.

Wouldn’t anyone agree?

I was an Evil God.

And that man was a priest, a healer.

A novice priest, at that.

A level 10 standing before the final boss—the outcome was as clear as day.

And yet.

Psssshhhh…….

Like a deflating balloon, the Gates of Hell shriveled and collapsed completely into the floor.

‘Huuuh?!’

My eyes widened so hard they felt ready to pop out of their sockets.

[The Main God’s authority restores Evil God Hellroad’s domain to the Beginning!]

[The Evil God’s authority dissipates, returning to the primordial state!]

[The Evil God’s wings lose their power!]

Whoosh, thud!

“Aaargh!”

Having floated so leisurely in the sky just moments ago, I plummeted like a shot bird.

Splayed out flat on the floor of the Grand Hall, a delayed surge of pain washed over me.

Suppressing my embarrassment, I pushed myself up.

Hot blood gushed from my nose. It had been a long time since I felt pain like this.

“Ugggh!”

As I shook my head in an effort to clear my dazed mind, I heard the sound of someone exhaling deeply right nearby.

Looking up, I saw the man staring down at me from mere inches away.

The instant I felt his warm breath brushing against my cheek, goosebumps prickled all the way to the crown of my head.

“Get your face away from me!”

Baring my fangs menacingly like a wary black panther on high alert, I recoiled backward.

The blood trickling from my nose dripped onto the floor, drop by drop.

The man watched the sight for a moment before asking:

“Are you all right?”

His voice reverberated through my body like the toll of a bell.

In his low, clear tone lay a weighty presence that was difficult to resist.

I deliberately scowled with a fierce furrow of my brows and fired back.

“What?”

“Your nosebleed.”

“What kind of…….”

“I can lend you a handkerchief.”

Before I could even grasp the situation, he reached his hand into his pocket.

I stood frozen for a while, just staring at what he was doing.

Only then did it hit me.

The fact that this man was genuinely worried about me—the final boss!

Fury boiled inside me.

“A novice priest dares to worry about me in the middle of combat? The height of arrogance!”

I narrowed my vertically slit pupils to their absolute limit.

With wide, predatory eyes like a bird of prey about to snatch its quarry, I cracked my knuckles.

Crack!

Hearing the ominous sound, the man muttered in dismay.

“I’ve gone and upset you already.”

I raised my sharp nails, coated in black lacquer.

[Evil God Hellroad has readied Light-Tearing Claws. Unarmed attack power increases by 10% for 10 minutes.]

Without delay, I slashed my claws toward him.

Swoooosh—!

A pitch-black afterimage tore through the air with a vicious sound.

I froze in disbelief.

The air?

I was supposed to tear him apart!

‘How did he dodge that?!’

He hadn’t even made a dramatic evasion.

The man had avoided it simply by tilting his head to the side.

There was no way a novice priest could dodge my attack through pure agility.

Unless he already knew all my attack patterns inside and out.

“Why don’t we stop this and talk instead? Hm?”

The man attempted to negotiate in a soft, gentle tone.

His affectionate manner of speaking was absurd enough, but talk?

I couldn’t understand why he had been acting this way toward me since the very beginning.

Staring at me so intensely, worrying over my nosebleed……

“Why should I?”

I inspected my claws under the light.

‘Is there something wrong with my claws?’

The light glinted across them, revealing an edge sharper than any blade.

They were perfectly fine.

As I thought, dodging my attack must have just been pure luck.

“You can talk all you want once you’re dead.”

I shot toward him like a bullet.

“Ugh……!”

The man barely blocked the blow with the Club of the Beginning, but the overwhelming disparity in raw power sent him skidding backward until he slammed hard into the wall.

Crrrack—!

Cracks spiderwebbed across the wall, raining down stone debris.

I had expected his breath to be cut short in an instant and send him returning to the Sanctuary, but surprisingly, he endured the strike.

Looking closely, a single-use shield artifact was protecting him.

I smirked, curling one corner of my lips upward.

“Dying in one hit would hurt a lot less, you know?”

I lightly tapped his cheek with a black-lacquered claw.

“What should I do with you? Should I stand by and watch while you play house with that cute little Legendary squeaky hammer?”

Considering how annoying he’d been, I wanted to torment him a bit longer before killing him, but for some reason, I felt I shouldn’t drag things out.

So I intended to end it right then and there.

It was supposed to be simple.

All I had to do was tear apart the pitiful player already caught in my grasp……

Clack—!

It happened in an instant.

The very moment I felt something fastening around my neck, I snapped my head down to see what it was.

A collar draped with dangling silver chains.

A loop of black lace was wrapped smoothly around my throat.

‘What is this?!’

Furious, I checked the item’s identity.

[Collar of the Beginning.

A collar used by the Main God to tame sinners. Capable of subduing the target.

― User: Akt Hevgenia (Novice Priest)

― Target: Evil God Hellroad

― Enhancement: +10 (Cannot be enhanced any further.)

― Grade: Legendary]

‘Another Legendary?!’

Before I could take any action, the collar sank into my skin like water.

Panicking, I frantically groped at my throat, but felt only bare skin.

I inspected my neck in the mirror-like polish of the Grand Hall’s floor.

Though faint, something resembling a pale pink tattoo in the shape of lace had surfaced.

It blended seamlessly into my skin, leaving no sensation of foreignness.

“What…….”

As the collar absorbed, the chains vanished along with it.

Yet when I tried to scratch away the tattoo, chains materialized right into my grasp.

It seemed designed to remain hidden normally, only for the slender silver chains to reappear whenever the target attempted to break free.

‘What on earth……!’

I yanked irritably at the translucent chains linked to the tattoo.

Imbued with the power of the Main God, the holy chains shimmered with a mystical radiance.

The man murmured with satisfaction.

“I’m glad. Neither of us had to get hurt any further.”

Regardless of whatever nonsense he was spouting, my attention was entirely consumed by the collar.

“This makes no sense. There’s no way this can withstand my power……!”

Leaping backward, I tried everything imaginable to strip the collar off, but it wouldn’t budge.

Whether I bared my claws to scratch off the tattoo or used brute force to snap the chains, it remained completely intact.

As if nullifying every single ounce of the Evil God’s authority.