Boss

Akira watched Haruki breeze through mission after mission without breaking a sweat. Each one was done in just a minute or two. 

Of course, Haruki always ran into mobs during his missions. But Akira never saw them pose any real threat. The kid wiped them out in no time. Every shot Haruki fired hit its mark. Not a single bullet was wasted.

Akira figured Haruki's sharp shooting skills played a huge role in his speed. In RRO, mob spawn times aren't fixed. They only spawn after the previous mob is killed. So, the faster you take them down, the quicker they reappear.

Besides having a killer aim, Akira also noticed Haruki was good at using the special abilities of his armor kit.

In one mission where Haruki had to guard supplies, dozens of mobs spawned at once. Haruki couldn't leave the area until all the waves were ended, or the mission would fail. He had to stay put even if surrounded by mobs.

Akira wondered if Haruki would use the same method for this mission. If he did, a lot of time would be wasted. No matter how good his aim was, facing dozens of mobs at once would make his character vulnerable.

In RRO, every hit a character takes causes an animation that stops them from shooting for a bit. One hit might not be a big deal, but if it adds up, it can cost you a second or two. Not to mention the health points dropping and potentially leading to death.

"You gotta try something different this time," Akira thought.

Whether Haruki somehow heard his thoughts or not, the kid stopped shooting and used an ability.

Haruki's character jumped on top of the supply robot. He pressed the "Q" key, and his character threw a small iron ball into the mob crowd. The ball hovered for a second before sucking in the mobs like a mini black hole. Then, Haruki tossed a grenade, blowing up the mobs clustered around the ball.

Seeing Haruki's decision, Akira nodded in approval.

"So, he not only has a good aim, but he gets the mechanics of the armor kit too, huh?"

Armor kits in Rex Regum Online are high-tech battle suits worn by Super Soldiers. They give characters special abilities.

Each armor kit has different abilities, depending on the modules and cores players equip. Haruki's armor kit was called Fragger, the starter kit every player gets in RRO.

Each kit has four abilities—two active, one ultimate, and one passive. So far, Haruki has only used the two active abilities from Fragger, called Grenade and Gravity Bomb. These abilities complement each other well for handling mob hordes.

Even though Fragger is the starter kit, it's pretty popular among players. One reason is its passive ability, Fortification. When HP drops to 10%, the character becomes invincible for 2 seconds. This effect can be extended with the right modules.

Akira thought Haruki would use his ultimate ability to do the supply guard mission. 

"Wohoo! This game is so easy!" Haruki cheered.

Haruki completed all 24 missions across 6 regions at an inhuman speed. He finished them in 50 minutes, with 10 minutes to spare. Now, he stood in front of the dungeon door where the boss awaited.

Akira clapped. "You're amazing. I have to admit." His praise made Haruki's head swell with pride.

"I know," Haruki said, rubbing his nose with his index finger.

"Hush, don't get cocky," Hana scolded. Though her words were stern, she was clearly proud, her smile stretching wide.

"But the first test isn't over," Akira said.

Naturally, Haruki was stunned. Confusion spread across his face.

"Didn't you say I had to complete all the missions?" Haruki asked.

"It seems you misunderstood me. I told you to complete one planet in normal mode, not every mission on Callisto."

Haruki furrowed his brows. "I don't get it."

Akira sighed deeply. He had expected this.

"Remember when you first started playing RRO?" Akira asked.

Haruki nodded like an innocent child, his mother listening closely.

"You can only access one planet at first. To unlock the next planet, you need to complete the first one by defeating the planet boss. You can't fight the boss until you finish all the missions on the planet. Do you get it now?"

"Ah, right. I remember now." Haruki scratched the back of his head as he realized his mistake. "Hehe, I forgot. It's been a while since I played PvE."

"That's your biggest mistake."

When Akira said that, Haruki squinted. The boy seemed unsure of what he meant. The same confusion was visible on Hana Ito's face.

Haruki turned back to the computer screen, continuing his test that had been interrupted by the conversation. The monitor showed a large arched door with ice carvings. Several NPC soldiers stood guard there. Haruki interacted with one of them, triggering a notification.

[Special Operation.]

[Recommended Party: 4 Players.]

[Recommended Firepower DPS: 250,000]

[Recommended DEF: 20,000]

[Recommended Ice Resistance: 10,000]

[Recommended Attribute: Fire]

[Recommended Weapon Type: LMG, Sniper]

[Rewards: Deadly Insight Module (acquisition chance: 5%), Sharp Insight Module (acquisition chance: 10%), Toxic Core Level 40 (acquisition chance: 50%), Fire Core Level 40 (acquisition chance: 50%), Devotion LMG Level 40 (acquisition chance: 100%), Magnum Sniper Level 40 (acquisition chance: 100%).]

[Press "Enter" to start and "Esc" to cancel.]

After Haruki pressed "Enter," the monitor went black, entering the loading screen.

"I'll finish this in under 10 minutes," he said confidently.

Akira just watched silently.

Soon, the loading screen ended.

The dungeon was a long, dark tunnel with icy walls, dimly lit by floating crystals scattered around. Despite the dangerous-looking dungeon, Haruki confidently navigated his character forward.

At one point, Haruki encountered a group of dungeon mobs—large lynx-like creatures with glowing blue eyes. They attacked Haruki as soon as they saw him. Of course, these mobs were no real threat. Haruki wiped them out in the blink of an eye without using any abilities.

After defeating the lynxes, Haruki continued deeper into the dungeon. He faced other mobs like packs of direwolves, a bigfoot, swarms of blood bats, and even groups of sea lions.

Some of the dungeon mobs gave Haruki a hard time, like the blood-sucking bats. Their small size and large numbers forced Haruki to repeatedly rely on his two active abilities, Grenade and Gravity Bomb. His HP was down to half after fighting them. If Haruki had been in hard mode, which doesn't provide HP and Shield recovery outside of combat, he might have struggled against the planet boss later.

After passing through the long tunnel, which took about five minutes, Haruki arrived in a large room at the end of the dungeon. In the center of the room stood the dungeon boss—a massive ice dragon with glittering scales and large wings that covered most of the ceiling. The dragon exhaled a chilling breath, freezing the air around it.

[BOSS]

[Mordred - The Ice Dragon]

[Shield: 100%]

[HP: 100%]

Haruki took a deep breath. He had only 5 minutes to defeat the enemy.

"Bring it on, you dumb dragon!" he shouted.

The battle began with the ice dragon roaring loudly and breathing icy breath from its mouth. Haruki moved his character quickly, dodging the breath that froze everything it touched.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Haruki shot at the dragon's head. Naturally, the ice dragon didn't just stand there as it was bombarded with bullets. It swung its tail at Haruki, and at the same time, he jumped into the air, shooting at it. Every time he saw an opportunity, Haruki shot at the dragon's head, dealing massive damage.

It took 1 minute and 40 seconds to deplete the ice dragon's shield. When that happened, the second phase began.

"Is that all you got," Haruki disdained.

Akira remained silent, his eyes fixed on the ice dragon, whose body started to emit a blue glow.

The ice dragon unleashed a special attack—icy breath that formed sharp crystals throughout the room, but Haruki kept shooting while running. As the dragon breathed, dozens of ice crystals shot out. Haruki managed to dodge most of the damage and continued to shoot.

However, dozens of skeletons suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They ambushed Haruki as his character was dodging the ice crystals.

"What?!"

Haruki looked shocked, especially when one of the skeletons jumped at him and exploded, freezing his character.

Click! Click! Click!

"Damn it! Where did they come from? Why did they suddenly appear right in front of me?!"

Then, other skeletons swarmed Haruki's character and exploded, causing it to stay frozen longer.

"Damn it! Move!"

Repeatedly pressing the keyboard, Haruki hoped his character would soon break free from the freezing effect. However, the ice dragon started inhaling deeply, creating an ice crystal ball in its mouth.

"Come on!"

The ice dragon breathed out the crystal ball and icy breath at Haruki, and in an instant, his character's HP and Shield dropped to zero. Then, a notification message in white and red filled the monitor screen.

[You Died!]

[Operation failed!]