Subjugation

Inside the Helheim world of the game Yggdrasil.

A massive roar thundered through the air as two behemoths engaged in a fierce battle. Zooming in, one could see they were two enormous dragons. The sound of their collisions echoed incessantly across the sky, and brilliant magic flew everywhere. In the distance, a skeleton could be faintly seen casting spells.

Nairnils, the Wing of the End, was one of the hidden World Bosses. Possessing unparalleled defense and attack power, it would typically require a double-digit number of players to even have a hope of defeating such an existence. Even those with the rarest class, World Champion, lacked the ability to defeat it solo.

Yet, in the final moments before the game Yggdrasil was set to shut down, this World Boss—which should have been quietly awaiting the end—found itself locked in a fierce battle against two challengers.

"ROAR!!"

Accompanied by a roar, a massive magic circle manifested before Nairnils. A surge of immense energy erupted from its maw. The two challengers were no strangers to this move; as an innate magic common to all dragon-type bosses, it was known as Dragon Breath, or simply, a Roar.

The purple dragon breath surged toward the challengers, but instead of dodging, the opponent opened its own gaping maw, and a similar magic circle appeared.

[Roar of the Magic Dragon]

The magic took form, and a beam of energy even larger than the enemy's surged forth. The pitch-black dragon breath collided with the opponent's, the two massive forces canceling each other out. Just as it seemed they would remain in a stalemate, the figure in the distance, who had been busy stacking buffs on himself, finally made his move.

A brilliant magic circle appeared—the sign of a Super-Tier Magic spell being cast. Though classified as magic, it functioned more like a special skill; it consumed no MP, with its only limitation being a restricted number of uses per day. To use it again, one had to wait for the cooldown to end.

"ROAR!!"

Sensing the activation of the Super-Tier Magic, Nairnils immediately ceased its breath attack and charged toward the caster.

Super-Tier Magic had a hidden effect beyond its immense power: no matter what boss you were fighting, once you cast it, the target would prioritize you as its primary threat.

No amount of taunting could alter this primary target, which was why players originally dubbed it the ultimate aggro-pulling skill.

The massive figure lunged toward the tiny skeleton. Watching the giant dragon claw descend, the skeleton remained motionless, continuing to cast the Super-Tier Magic as if he hadn't noticed the attack hovering right above his head.

"BANG!!"

A violent explosion rang out as a blast of dragon breath struck Nairnils's body. Because its aggro had been pulled by his teammate, the dragon-form player's breath hit the boss without obstruction.

With a deafening roar, the boss's scales shattered, and precious dragon blood splattered everywhere.

As a World Boss, every scale and every drop of blood was a valuable resource. After the kill, these could be harvested as materials for various purposes, such as potions, weapons, alchemy, and more.

The boss's HP plummeted, dropping to around three percent in the blink of an eye. With just a few more hits, this boss would soon be slain.

"Momonga, now!"

His teammate's voice came through the voice chat. The magic circle surrounding the skeleton player known as Momonga flared with intense light. It was as if the sky itself were collapsing; a massive pillar of light struck the boss, who had been sent flying.

"Super-Tier Magic: [Fallen Down]"

The incantation ended. The terrifying pillar of light wantonly destroyed everything on the map, and at its center, Nairnils, the World Boss, let out a roar of agony.

The HP bar above its head was dropping rapidly.

"3%"

"2%"

"1%"

"0%"

Under the impact of the magic, as its HP dropped until it vanished completely, the giant dragon's massive form finally ceased its movements.

A thud echoed as it hit the ground. This dragon, one of Yggdrasil's strongest hidden bosses, known as Nyrnielth, the Wing of the End, had finally been defeated.

The colossal dragon corpse lay on the ground. It did not disappear; players could harvest various materials from its body, such as dragon scales, dragon blood, and even rare Dragon Crystals. The quantity of materials obtained depended on the integrity of the boss's corpse.

Points of light in various colors emerged all around—these were the rewards for defeating a World Boss. They included weapons, potions, and even a small chance of obtaining a World Item.

"It's finally over."

Looking at the fallen dragon before him, the skeleton player named Momonga let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, he hadn't been entirely certain that his spell would be able to one-shot this World Boss.

Although he had frantically stacked nearly 60 buffs on himself and consumed 10 special potions—including rare ones like Magic Enhancement, Armor Penetration Enhancement, and Dragon-Type Special Attack—bringing his magic's offensive power to a terrifying level, it was still a World Boss. Being cautious was never a mistake. He had even been prepared to use a pay-to-win item to hit it with another Fallen Down if this one hadn't killed it, and if that still didn't work, he would have used another. After all, his friends had given him quite a few of these pay-to-win items that could shorten the casting time of Super-Tier Magic.

"Nice work, Momonga. After three hours, we finally killed it."

The giant dragon in the sky slowly descended, its massive shadow blotting out the sun. Four huge horns grew from its head, three pairs of enormous wings flapped on its back, and a tail as long as its body swayed wantonly.

Its entire body was black, with dark red spots on both sides of its chest that looked like gemstones but resembled eyes. It had no feathers; its exposed skin was covered in jet-black, hard dragon scales. Its eyes glinted with ferocity, its teeth were sharp, and its dragon claws seemed capable of tearing everything apart, striking fear into the hearts of those who saw it.

The dragon's shadow slowly descended until it transformed into a figure about the same height as the skeleton before him, with dragon horns atop its head. It smiled at the other player.

"It really wasn't easy. To think the two of us actually succeeded in defeating a World Boss, and one known as the hardest dragon-type boss to take down at that."

The undead player named Momonga sighed with emotion. He knew this was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine before. If someone had told him that two people could defeat a World Boss, he would have thought they were crazy—unless, of course, they used a World Item.

"Naiyuan, this time it's all thanks to your special skill, otherwise I would have been wiped out by it long ago."

Looking at his friend before him, Momonga—or rather, Suzuki Satoru—said excitedly. This victory was largely due to his friend's special class, Dragon Slayer; otherwise, it would have been hard to say how things might have turned out.

"If you hadn't been buffing me and casting all those interference and curse spells, I wouldn't have been able to hold it off either."

Naiyuan waved his hand. Even though it looked like he was trading blows with the boss, that was just a surface-level appearance. Without Momonga's buffs and the debuffs cast on the boss, he really wouldn't have been able to win.

Even under these circumstances, he had resurrected three times; if he died again, he would have been sent back to the respawn point. While Dragon Slayer was powerful, it wasn't omnipotent.

There had been no precedent for a solo kill of a World Boss of the same level to date. The fact that they managed to kill it as a duo was already quite impressive—unless, of course, you were fighting a World Boss of a lower level than yourself, in which case, ignore what he said.

"Special Class: Dragon Slayer"

"As a Dragonkin, you have turned against the dragons, but the boy who slays the dragon will eventually become one."

"Ability 1: Dragon King Transformation"

"Having bathed in countless dragon blood, you undoubtedly possess the ability to transform into a dragon. Upon transforming into a Great Dragon, your Attack and Defense will be significantly increased."

"Ability 2: Dragon Blood Sacrifice"

"Bathing in the blood of dragons will make you even stronger. Go forth and hunt every Pure-blooded Dragon on the continent; they shall be transformed into your power. (For every certain number of Pure-blooded Dragons killed, your attributes will receive a minor increase.)"

"Ability 3: Dragon Soul Resurrection"

"The Dragon Soul never perishes. When you die, you can resurrect immediately and remove all negative effects. (Limited to three times per day.)"

"Ability 4: Dragon Dominator"

"Increases damage dealt to dragon-type creatures by 50%."

"Ability 5: Fallen Dragon Transformation"

Enter a bleeding state, losing 1% of your maximum HP every 10 seconds to increase your damage dealt by 5%.