[BONUS]

"Isolde. You made it here." Ren wanted to see someone else, but he also welcomed this pleasant surprise.

"Yeah, you too. I mean, not that I underestimated you. In fact, I knew that you'd make it!" Isolde was happy to see Ren, and it certainly showed through her raspy but high-pitched voice.

But as always, Ren didn't find anything wrong with her. He simply thought that she was just like him, glad to spot a friend around.

"Where's the rest of your group?" Isolde asked.

"Ragnar and Leonel are already dead, and Evie is somewhere in another room." He was sure of it. "How about you? Where's the rest of Guns and Knives?"

Isolde released a deep sigh and then displayed a helpless smile. "Gone. I'm the last one surviving. Now, the pressure is on. Everything expects me to kill the Boss. It would have been good for me to have died as well."

"Don't say that. Leonel will be sad," said Ren with a stoic face.

"Huh?" Why would Leonel be sad? Isolde wanted to add, but she didn't have a chance -- the Generals called for an emergency meeting to discuss how everyone would proceed on dealing with the final Boss.

No one had gotten within the Boss's range, so everyone could have a breather, which they decided to spend by strategizing before the final battle commenced. Going in there blindly would be suicide.

"The Heart has one annoying ability [Death from Above], which it uses to start the fight and use again whenever it is available," Sebastian started, his all-knowing eyes turning into a galaxy once more. "In other turns, it uses [Ooze Tendrils] against the characters that are close to it, and [The Madness] against long-range characters lurking in the back lines.

"But the Heart has no intelligence, so it doesn't change its tactics based on the party composition or behavior. We have an advantage over that part."

"However, the main concern here is the Primeval Antibody's [Adaptive Resistance] and [Adaptive Immunity], these skills make it increasingly dangerous for us in prolonged combat, and its [Born of Jibblinplip] allows it to retain these acquired protections even after dying and reforming. The immunity lasts for twenty-four hours."

"Another thing to note about is that, we must kill that Heart as soon as possible, or its body will just continue to revive," the Princess added.

They continued discussing their strategy, and Ren pretended to listen while secretly taking note of the players that were left. There weren't many. Eric of White Unicorn was still alive. Isolde of Guns and Knives. Members of some smaller and bigger guilds, a total of ten players out of the original fifty.

In a way, the numbers were on his side. The fewer the players left, the higher his chance to kill the Boss.

The number of soldiers from the armies was also minuscule, only more or less two hundred, not even half of their original might. Fortunately, the Princess and Sebastian were more than enough to compensate for it.

"Alright. Now that the plan is laid out . . . everyone, get into position!" a general commanded. "We'll end this menace once and for all!"

At the armies' roar, the players scattered and hid. They didn't want to engage the Boss. But Ren knew what they were thinking once the Boss was low on HP, they would reappear and go for the kill.

'Fortunately, they thought that way.' Ren mused to himself.

The moment that even a single one of them engaged the Boss, everything in this room would become its domain, and whether the players liked it or not, an automatic engage notification would appear on their screen.

Those who chose to hide during battle and not do anything were left to die. Sebastian would never aid them. The players must at least fight Jibblinplip's body and heart to acquire the honor of his help. And with the Heart releasing [Death from Above] and [Madness] whenever the skills were available, they needed the Centaur's help more than ever.

The poison could be cured with an [Antidote], but Ren doubted if they could cure [Confuse] without a healer's help.

Without wasting another second, the armies split into two groups. One led by the generals to fight the Primeval Antibody and the other led by the Princess to destroy the Heart in one hell of a finale.

In combat, the Primeval Antibody made the same action every round. It used [Pseudopod] on creatures that were threatening its fellow oozes, which poses a danger to melee characters. But if an archer or spellcaster were doing the most damage, the Primeval Antibody swiftly slip past the sturdy defenders of the army and quickly take down a character or two.

Purge was the Antibody's most dangerous ability, and it used it whenever available. It allows it to pass through a gap between armies, and drag the NPCs and players alike along with it.

The Primeval Antibody fought to the death and couldn't be bargained with. It wouldn't allow just anyone to go near the Heart.

The Princess, the generals, and some of the soldiers had high enough DEF to withstand the attack, but the Primeval Antibody could spot easily digestible prey. In summary, it favored characters with weak ATP, like the players.

Ren and Isolde helped the armies in keeping the Body occupied, so the Princess and the others could take down the Heart once and for all.

However, just like they expected, the Heart wouldn't just stand there and stare at its Body when the latter was taking damage from the armies. Dark clouds accumulated above it, expanding until the clouds had covered almost half of the ceiling space, then rained toxin onto players and NPCs alike.

Almost immediately, everyone suffered from continuous poison damage. The armies didn't mind it one bit since their ATPs were high, and they still had White Mages remaining that would heal them within seconds.

However, the Players weren't the same. The continuous poison damage dealt a huge blow to their HP. Others clamored and used [Antidotes] and [Health Potions] because they had no one to support them. Not a single player left was a White Mage, so it was everyone for themselves.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)

A/N

Please read DECEMBER Stretched Goals in Auxiliary for December goals and rewards

or read the Author's Note down below