*Rumble, rumble.*

With the vibrations of the second named boss room cube, Chris’s raid party entered the third zone.

“Whoa, this place gives me the creeps,” said Beimerung, wrapping her arms around herself and glancing nervously at her surroundings.

The light emitted by the magic stones in the walls of the third zone was a vivid red, casting an eerie glow throughout the dungeon.

“There were only four golems, so dividing the tasks among us wasn’t too difficult,” Chris remarked.

“At first, we didn’t know how to break the barrier, so we wasted some time. Who would’ve thought we had to charge the magic blades during close combat patterns? But while we were charging our magic from the mob golems, Death handled the named boss Akan perfectly,” she added.

Death shook his head modestly. “It wasn’t that hard. The boss’s patterns were simple. As long as we used party-wide protection skills after breaking the barrier, there weren’t many external patterns to worry about.”

The timed barrier-changing mechanic involved charging magic from the mob golems with a different colored barrier than the boss, and then using that charged magic in close range to initiate a ten-second burst damage window. While the damage window was short due to the barrier regenerating quickly, the boss had relatively low HP, so it wasn’t a major problem.

*Whirr.*

Upon reaching the first cube room of the third zone, glowing red floor panels appeared, similar to the puzzle mechanics from the previous zones.

“Alright, I guess it’s my turn again,” Cherni sighed, stepping forward.

Beimerung chuckled as she watched Cherni start solving the floor panel puzzle. “Even a slug can roll, huh? You sure are good at these puzzles.”

Meanwhile, Chris was lost in thought, muttering to herself. “The first named boss's shell game mechanics… Maybe Rain could’ve seen through them. But the berserk phase due to lack of DPS… And the second named boss… Is soloing that even possible?”

Death glanced at Chris, who seemed deep in thought. “You seem to have a lot on your mind today, Chris.”

“Huh? Oh, Death, what do you think?”

“About what?” he asked.

“About soloing the second named boss, Magic Golem Akan. Could you pull it off?”

Death was taken aback and then crossed his arms in thought. “Hmm, since you're asking, I’ll consider it. But there’s a big difference between fighting a difficult boss one-on-one and fighting a simple boss two-on-one or worse.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Well, with multiple entities, it’s harder to standardize attack patterns. There are too many variables, especially when facing a named boss with ranged attacks. The projectile speed, timing for counters and blocks, and the right moment to use invincibility skills—it all changes depending on distance. Even the slightest miscalculation in positioning would throw off the timing of projectiles, leading to countless possibilities. You can’t learn those kinds of patterns just by trial and error.”

“If you’re dealing with low HP mobs, you can finish them off before they hit you. But the second named boss, Akan, has mobs with the same HP as the named boss. If you try to take down the mobs first, you’ll trigger the berserk phase due to time constraints.”

Akan’s berserk phase was a never-ending area-wide attack that would continue until the entire party was wiped out. Chris's raid group had no choice but to face the berserk phase before discovering the charging mechanic for breaking the barrier.

Death closed his eyes, simulating the battle in his mind. “Soloing Akan, huh? The biggest issue would definitely be the mob golem you’d have to leave behind you. Sure, you could use invincibility skills at the right moment, but in a virtual reality game, your field of view is limited to the front. Could you really time an invincibility skill perfectly without seeing the incoming attack?”

“If you’re soloing, you’re dealing with the named boss and three mob golems at the same time. The attacks from the rear would be the biggest threat.”

“If you turn around to block, you won’t be able to see the patterns of the other three. If you’re hit by the named boss’s magic blade and the mob golems' magic at the same time, you’ll be wiped out instantly.”

Death’s conclusion was clear: it wasn’t possible.

“To charge magic from the mobs, you only need to focus on countering from the front. But after charging, you’d have to rush to the center of the triangle formation to deal damage to the boss. You’d need to avoid AoE attacks, maintain constant damage before the barrier regenerates, and smoothly transition back to charging while handling the mobs’ attacks.”

“Is that really something you can pull off solo?”

Chris shook her head in agreement. “The more I think about it, the more impossible it seems.”

---

Chris’s raid party passed through the last corridor room and entered a large boss room.

This time, it wasn’t a cube-shaped room like before. The arena was vast and circular.

The magic stones embedded in the walls emitted alternating flashes of blue, green, and red light, matching the colors of the previous zones.

“This is the final named boss room,” Chris said, eyeing the center of the room.

“Do you think we can beat Rain’s party this time?” Beimerung asked.

“That’s up to us,” Chris replied with a grin, focusing on the center of the room.

The first two named bosses had been waiting for the party in their respective rooms. But in the third named boss room, there was no boss in sight yet.

Then, just as the entire party stepped fully into the room—

*Bang! Bang!*

A massive sword of light and a sword of darkness slammed into the ground, and from that spot, blinding light and deep darkness erupted simultaneously.

*Flash!*

As the light and darkness cleared, two figures appeared.

They were human-like, but twice the size of an average man, each with two pairs of wings. One figure had pure white wings, while the other had jet-black wings. There was an almost holy aura emanating from them.

Their faces, made of magic stone, were expressionless as they gazed down at the players.

These were also ancient golems, only modeled after angels.

The soft glow of white and black magic surrounding their bodies was powered by the magic stones they were made from.

But—

“Holy…”

Chris’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the named status interface floating before her eyes.

She had never seen anything like this.

It was a completely new boss structure for players.

There were two named bosses.

[Third Named Boss]  
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Dominion, Archangel]  
[HP 10,000,000/10,000,000]

[Third Named Boss]  
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Baliel, Fallen Angel]  
[HP 10,000,000/10,000,000]

*Flash! Boom!*

While not as adept as warriors or fighters, exorcists’ close-range counterattacks were still quite effective.

Chris raised a large talisman to block the light blade of Dominion, the Archangel, using the recoil to create some distance.

The archangel raised its hand into the air, and Chris quickly darted to her left.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

A series of small light blades rained down where Chris had just been standing, a pattern similar to Zarcan, the third named boss from *The Outpost*. The light blades fell from above, but as long as she kept moving, she could avoid being hit directly.

One of the archangel’s close-range patterns involved casting a large light field, then pausing in place. That was when the ranged DPS could unleash their attacks, before retreating when the angel started swinging its sword again, resetting the pattern.

The *Archangel Dominion* had patterns that made it easier for ranged classes to deal damage.

Chris’s skilled party quickly adapted to the basic patterns.

Chris took on tanking *Dominion*, while Death handled *Baliel*, the Fallen Angel.

Chris glanced at the HP of each boss.

[Third Named Boss]  
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Dominion, Archangel]  
[HP 8,800,547/10,000,000]

[Third Named Boss]  
[Level 45 Ancient Golem Baliel, Fallen Angel]  
[HP 9,650,419/10,000,000]

“Dominion’s HP is dropping much faster! Beimerung, focus more on Baliel!”

“Got it!”

Beimerung shifted her focus from Dominion to Baliel.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Smash!*

Baliel didn’t have any ranged attacks. If the tank moved too far away, Baliel would raise its dark sword and charge forward with a quick dash attack.

“Ugh, Baliel’s patterns are fast and powerful! Everyone else, keep your distance!”

Death was struggling to hold off Baliel’s attacks. Compared to Dominion, Baliel’s patterns made it difficult for DPS to safely engage.

Its wide, sweeping dark blade attacks had considerable range and left aftershocks. Any ranged DPS who got too close would be shredded in an instant.

Now that Chris was more comfortable handling Dominion’s basic patterns, she had time to think.

Taking down one of the angel golems first would make it easier to deal with the other. But was that really the right strategy?

Who knew what kind of trouble a lone named boss might cause if left alone.

But could they really manage to balance their damage output to kill both golems at the same time, especially when each had 10 million HP?

“Let’s keep going like this until we trigger a special pattern! Oh, wait, is it happening already?!

”

*Whirr.*

Light began to gather around Dominion’s body, a sign of an area-wide attack.

Its HP wasn’t at the usual threshold for special patterns. This must be a timed mechanic.

“Beimerung, Ice Prison!”

*Flash!*

The party was immediately encased in ice, and a powerful flash of light swept through the entire boss room.

As the area-wide attack ended, Dominion suddenly shifted its focus to Death, raising its hand toward him.

Chris shouted urgently, “Death! Dominion is targeting you!”

*Flash!*

Before she could finish her sentence, a massive light blade slammed down toward Death.

*Boom!*

With sharp reflexes, Death used his dodge skill just in time, moving out of the blade’s impact zone.

He deflected an incoming attack from Baliel and remarked casually, “Did you say something?”

“No, nothing. Great job!” Chris chuckled, focusing back on Dominion.

But she hadn’t noticed that the giant light sword embedded in the ground was still glowing faintly, not disappearing like it should have.

After the second timed special pattern, Baliel unleashed a dark blade at Chris. Having seen this pattern before, she was prepared and dodged it smoothly.

However, as she evaded the second attack, she noticed something unusual.

“Death, is the light sword on your side gone?”

“A light field has appeared around it! The area is huge!”

Death’s battlefield was shrinking, and he was struggling to keep up with Baliel’s attacks.

“Damn it.”

An ominous dark field was also forming around the dark sword embedded near Chris.

The longer the fight dragged on, the smaller their fighting area became. And the bosses still had a lot of HP left.

*Boom! Boom!*

For the third timed special pattern, two more light blades fell toward Death in quick succession.

Death tried to overlap the light fields by dodging into the existing one, but the second blade dropped before his dodge skill was off cooldown. A new light field formed around Baliel.

“Ugh! This battlefield is getting way too cramped! Ahh!” Beimerung screamed as she was sliced down by Baliel’s dark blade while trying to move between the fields. Cherni was taken out by the light field as she dodged the dark blade.

With just Chris and Death left, they fought valiantly, but it wasn’t enough.

By the time the fourth special phase hit, the entire boss room was covered in overlapping light and dark fields, making it impossible to continue the fight.