Chapter 9: Volume 1 - Chapter 9: Elajiah's Wrath
The group had reached the area of the boss monster. The creature in front of them had shocked Aaron because it was none other than Black Annis herself. It was a creature from English mythology, not of very high level. Ugly and capable of performing magic, these creatures were known as the witches of England.
They were not that powerful themselves, of course, in cases where you knew how to fight against them. They had high-level restriction spells and enjoyed locking down users' abilities, causing them pain, and ultimately killing them. They particularly liked attacking young individuals within hunter groups and orchestrating a massacre from small to large.
Aaron knew all of this. It was an undeniable fact that he was the only one capable of fighting against the Black Annis here. The attack pattern of a Black Annis was simple because they had a set sequence of attacks. First, they would use low-level fear spells to intimidate their targets and then lock their abilities. After that, they would attempt to attack on the smallest member of the hunting group.
"Dahlia, be careful. It will attack you first," Aaron said, which surprised Dahlia. She asked, "Me? Why?"
"It's a Black Annis. A creature from our old mythology, it used to be used to scare children, so it always goes after the youngest ones first. That's why you need to be cautious," he explained.
"Okay, big brother," Dahlia replied.
"I'll take care of protecting her," Sean said, stepping forward.
"And I'll support you. I have a lot of mana, my dear. I'll cast a temporary speed spell on you, so give it your all," Valerie added, emphasizing her words.
Aaron always had a plan in mind: to protect his family. However, in order to protect them, he needed to become stronger, and he knew he couldn't become powerful quickly enough on his own. So, he decided to enhance his family's strength first.
Since his mother wouldn't be effective in close combat, he asked her to allocate points to her magic power and intelligence stats, and to focus on performing support tasks from behind.
Valerie had three spells: Temporary Speed, Minor Healing, and Water Sphere. These were all low-level spells that couldn't level up, but thanks to her mother's immense magical power, even a low-level water sphere could deal significant damage.
His father was no different from his mother. Having worked on physical strength throughout his life and being a robust man with a military background, Sean was well-suited for the role. His endurance stat was already at an impressive 47 when he received his hunter card. It might seem like a small number, but it shouldn't be overlooked considering his father only achieved C-level as a hunter. Sean had two abilities: Flesh Wall and Aura of Goodness.
At present, his family was incredibly strong. They had trained and coordinated themselves to the point where they could hold their ground against Black Annis for 10 rounds, according to their calculations and preparations during the intense 14.5-day training period. That's why Aaron had no need to worry. If his parents assured him of their support and told him not to worry about the rest, he trusted their abilities and knew their strengths well enough to follow their lead.
After his parents' brief conversation, Aaron turned his head and said, "Okay."
After taking a step into the boss monster arena, a system notification appeared:
"Aaron Light Corbyn, Sean Corbyn, Valerie Corbyn, and Dahlia Joanne have entered the boss monster zone. Does the group wish to encounter the boss monster?" After reading the message, Aaron took a deep breath and pressed the "Yes" option.
People around them were shocked. Over the past 14.5 days, they had witnessed many individuals and groups fighting against this boss and being killed. Normally, when people or groups chose the "Yes" option to fight against boss monsters, no one outside the group could see the battle. But now, it was different. A camera symbol appeared in front of everyone, as if the system wanted to show what would happen inside the arena.
Aaron and the group entered the arena while the system window was open. They were facing the boss monster now, and the real battle had begun.
Valerie had cast the Temporary Speed spell on Aaron, significantly increasing his speed. As previously mentioned, Black Annis had initially attacked Dahlia. A massive fireball was heading towards Dahlia when Sean jumped in front of it, intercepting the attack intended for Dahlia.
While all this was happening, Valerie carefully cast the Water Sphere spell. The water sphere, almost three meters in size, moved towards Black Annis. After a short while, the water sphere collided with Black Annis, reducing its health by approximately 1%.
At that moment, the system displayed a notification above Black Annis, stating:
"Black Annis - F Level Boss Monster
Health: 99%/100%"
Aaron took pride in his mother's successful attack and, empowered by the buff she had bestowed upon him, he swiftly launched his own attack. Aaron was incredibly fast, his high agility stat combined with the buff from his mother pushing his speed to its limits.
In an instant, Aaron appeared before Black Annis and leaped into the air. He knew he had approximately two minutes before Black Annis could weaken him and lock his abilities, so he had to deal as much damage as possible.
As Aaron leaped, he activated his ability called "Aura of the Goddess," plunging a 30-meter radius into darkness. Everything was engulfed in pitch black, and everyone in the group felt a surge of power coursing through them. Thanks to Aaron's ability, the group's abilities and his own were amplified twofold, surpassing the 100 threshold of human strength and granting them the power of true hunters.
While suspended in the air, Aaron drew his sword and made a decisive strike toward Black Annis, who looked on with anticipation. The strike reached its target, connecting with Black Annis.
At that moment, a scream erupted throughout the arena:
"SKREEEEEE!!!" Black Annis writhed in pain. Aaron's attack had taken one of her arms. Aaron knew that despite Black Annis not being as powerful as the creatures they had encountered in the passageways, and despite her being an F-level boss, she was still a formidable boss monster. Underestimating her powers in any way could lead to their downfall.
While assessing the damage he had inflicted, Aaron looked at Black Annis' health bar and was shocked by what he saw:
"Black Annis F-level Boss Monster
Health: 64%/100%"
Aaron had dealt a precise 35% damage, which was perhaps the highest amount of damage that could be inflicted on a boss monster of this level, even for him.
The spectators outside, watching the show through the system window, were in even greater shock. They had witnessed the people who had fought this ridiculously powerful boss monster in the past 14.5 days and no one had been able to defeat it. Rumor had it that the other three boss monsters had been defeated multiple times and had respawned. There were even groups of people who had completed this cycle several times. But this particular boss monster frightened everyone, even those who had killed the other three bosses repeatedly. That's why the other people were so astonished, as the number of deaths in these 14.5 days alone had exceeded 1,000.
Aaron was satisfied with the damage he had inflicted. He stood on the ground, expecting Black Annis to use one of her potential spells against him—electric chains. And as he expected, it happened. An electrical current formed around Black Annis and then transformed into chains, striking Dahlia first and then Aaron, who was the second smallest in the group. The boss monster's attacks were so fluid and furious that if Aaron weren't as experienced, he might not have been able to defend against them at such close range and could have been killed.
Sean managed to intercept and block the attacks aimed at Dahlia, but this time he suffered significant damage because the boss monster's spell was a high-level magic ability. With Sean's current durability, there was almost no chance of completely blocking it.
However, there was no problem because Valerie saw her husband's condition and immediately activated her Minor Healing ability. As a result, a large portion of Sean's health was restored.
Meanwhile, Black Annis finally did what Aaron had been waiting for and used the ability lock spell. As soon as Black Annis cast the spell, Aaron's ability, the Goddess's Aura, was locked, and the darkness in the arena vanished.
The spectators of the show were once again amazed because they hadn't expected such a powerful ability to be suppressed so easily. They were right to be surprised. The Goddess's Aura was an S-level ability, and on top of that, it was one of the primary abilities of a Goddess. It was hard to believe that a restriction spell cast by an F-level boss monster could easily suppress it. Aaron, knowing this, believed that the restriction on the Goddess's Aura ability would last for approximately 3 minutes.
His hatred for the boss monsters stemmed from the fact that each one of them had absurd and nonsensical abilities.
Furthermore, at that very moment, Valerie's Temporary Speed ability was locked, and Sean's Flesh Wall ability was disabled.
Aaron's speed had significantly decreased, and Dahlia was left unprotected. Just then, the cunning witch, Black Annis, who was aware of all this, utilized her boss monster ability to create a solid steel staff and swung it towards Aaron.
Despite his attempts to evade the attack, he couldn't succeed, and the steel staff reached him. The impact of the blow was so powerful that Aaron was pushed back and swiftly collided with the wall at the edge of the arena, covering a distance of approximately 50 meters. Valerie and Dahlia were left in utter astonishment.
"AARON!!"
''BROTHER!!''
Dahlia and Valerie were about to rush towards Aaron when Sean shouted at them:
"Maintain your positions!" he said with an angry expression.
"But my love! Aaron!!" Valerie shouted.
"I am well aware of that, but we have to wait for the lock imposed by the boss monster to be lifted. Valerie, when the lock is released, run to Aaron and try to heal him. Dahlia, while I tank the damage, you will inflict harm on this coward, understood!" he yelled.
''Alright, dad!'' Dahlia shouted back at Sean. Dahlia had finally gained smooth trust in Sean and was able to address him as "dad."
Until now, neither Valerie, Aaron, nor Dahlia had seen Sean this angry. Sean was so furious that his face was visibly creased, and his surrounding aura began to surge.
At that moment, two notifications appeared in front of Sean:
"Sean Corbyn, God Heracles wants to be your sponsor."
"Sean Corbyn, Goddess Freya wants to be your sponsor."
These two notifications surprised him, but did not calm his anger. As a soldier, he had received training in suppressing his emotions, and the Gods knew that. However, despite knowing that his son wouldn't die from a little damage, Sean's anger had overwhelmed him, and this sudden outburst of rage had impressed the two divine figures, resulting in Sean receiving two sponsorship offers.
Sean had previously learned about the nature of this event from Dahlia, and to be honest, he felt a bit jealous. If he had possessed that power beforehand, would it have been necessary for his only son to fight with a hundred goblins just for him and his mother, or for his son to sustain this much damage now? He blamed himself, but now was not the time to dwell on that.
Sean had made up his mind to choose the God he was familiar with from the two divine figures, and he had sent a notification selecting God Heracles.
At that moment, the pure aura surrounding Sean changed, becoming a bloody aura. Then, a notification appeared in the team notifications:
"Sean Corbyn has accepted the sponsorship of God Heracles.
Sean Corbyn has acquired the ability of Resilience from God Heracles."
Sean had a rough idea of what this ability might be, as Aaron had been pestering him with stories of world mythologies since his childhood. Aaron's fascination with them was the reason he knew almost all mythologies, and it was a subject of great interest to him.
Sean believed that this ability was just as Aaron had described it to him. In the epic battles Heracles had fought against giants, he had gained a skill called "resilience." Of course, those battles were not fought by Heracles alone, but his contributions were so significant that his abilities expanded and developed, ultimately granting him this power. This ability had bestowed upon Heracles such durability that many gods were unable to pierce through his armor.
Knowing this, Sean, after accepting the ability, immediately leaped in front of the boss monster, just as it had struck his son with the same steel staff.
"SEAN!" Valerie had shouted in fear, but after the dust settled from the fast and powerful strike, what they saw was astonishing.
Thanks to the system, the viewers of the show were once again shocked because according to the footage, Sean had simply intercepted Black Annis' steel staff with his body and seemed completely unaffected by it.
In that moment, Dahlia, taking advantage of the recoil from the strike, had moved towards the dazed boss monster and activated her abilities, Swift Intersect and Increased Critical Hit Chance, delivering a blow to the boss monster.
Her attack landed, and the boss monster's health decreased by a small amount:
"Black Annis, F-Level Boss Monster
Health: 52%/100%"
Dahlia had dealt approximately 12% damage to the monster, and then Valerie had used up all of her mana to unleash a Water Sphere attack, which also reached the monster, causing:
"Black Annis, F-Level Boss Monster
Health: 45%/100%"
Valerie had depleted 7% of the monster's health.
The attacks continued in this manner for a while, with the group relentlessly assaulting for 10 minutes. However, after being hit by those damaging attacks, Black Annis began to evade or counter their abilities and had not taken any damage within the 10-minute period.
Meanwhile, from the edge of the arena, an explosion erupted, and a young man with torn and tattered clothes emerged from the explosion. It was Aaron, and he was furious. At that very moment, a massive system notification filled his vision, filled with cracks: "Aaron Light Corbyn has unlocked the Wrath of Elajiah ability."
Aaron, with the newfound ability, suddenly woke up from his unconscious state and stood up.
His hair was blood-red, and even when the Mighty Dragon Elajiah mocked him, he had never been this enraged or cursed his own weakness. However, receiving damage from such a low-level monster had driven him to madness. The Japanese-style sword in his hand trembled incessantly, and his empty left hand began to bleed from squeezing it too tightly. The dark aura surrounding Aaron grew even darker, and his eyes turned as pale as Elajiah's skin.
This time, the spectators watching the show all exclaimed in unison:
"This young man... is furious."
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Unlocked ability's feature.
"Elajiah's Wrath (active) Level X
The user gains the aura of the Supreme Dragon Elajiah, which can take any shape as desired by the user and can be used to enhance the damage of a weapon or provide extra durability to armor.
Mana: 2500 per minute
Cooldown: None''
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone