“Decima! only use lightning slash on him, then spam normal attacks!” Said Rina as she used assault. “Make sure the wyvern’s line of fire is not directed at Nona and Ragus!”

Decima and Rina moved to each side of the wyvern, making it confused who to attack between the two of them.

Though Decima was not guarding Nona, she was actually increasing her chance of survival.

A boss can use aoe attacks, but it only targets one player. It has different ways of choosing a target but most of the time it targets the one that deals the most damage to it.

With both of them near the wyvern and dealing damage to it, they can redirect the wyvern’s attention from Nona, and by making sure Nona’s not in the line of fire, she won’t be hit by stray aoe attacks.

There are other ways of choosing a target though, like attacking the nearest, attacking the farthest, or even attacking the one with the least HP. Rina left Ragus with Nona to protect her in any case the wyvern attacks her.

“Nona! Just make sure all three of us have empower buff! Make sure you’re always full health! And only heal Decima when her HP reaches five hundred!” Said Rina as she used another assault.

The wyvern roared, paralyzing them all, and spun around, pushing both Decima and Rina away. It then flew to the sky and gathered flames on its mouth.

“W-what about you master!?” Said Nona.

“Just do as I say! I have lifesteal! if I’m low I’ll just use potions!”

Rina stared at the wyvern, accessing where it will use its breath attack. Once she knew she was the target, she waited for the wyern's attack and dodged by using weapon dash on a mob.

While the wyvern was descending, she drank an mp potion and threw one to Decima.

The moment the wyvern landed, Rina used weapon throw to return, but it was canceled as the wyvern roared.

It then flew again, but this time it went to Rina and tried to bite her. Luckily, Rina’s evasion kicked and while the wyvern was close, she used assault.

When she saw Decima wanting to throw explosion, she said. “Don’t! It uses too much MP!”

She doesn’t know how long the fight will last, so they need to conserve potions, especially now that they’re don’t have much. Rina cursed herself for not buying more.

Before the wyvern landed, it threw a fire breath to Rina, but it wasn’t enough to kill her in one shot. Since it was after Rina, she used weapon dash on a mob near Decima, to pull the boss to Decima and let her deal damage.

When the wyvern went closer to them, she just ran around, letting Decima do more damage than her, to change the wyvern’s target from her to Decima.

Once the it focused on Decima, Rina used weapon dash to get to Nona and give her mp potions. “Keep up the good work Nona!”

Before she went back, she checked the wyvern’s HP.

[table=red]Name:Desert Wyvern(Hidden Boss)Level:78HP96%[/table]

“We only dealt four percent damage after all that?” After the cooldown, Rina went to the wyvern again and spammed assault.

As she got closer again, the wyvern roared, paralyzing them all, and hitting Rina with its tail, pushing her away.

“Tsk” Rina had to run back to the wyvern, since her weapon throw was still on cooldown.

Though it was a long and risky battle, they were able to reduce the wyvern’s HP to fifty percent while keeping Nona safe.

On the whole battle, she used eight HP and thirteen MP potions, and now she only has nine HP and seven MP potions, putting them in quite a bind.

In the middle of battle, the wyvern flew and a sandstorm hit them again. Not knowing where the boss is, Decima and Rina temporarily went to Nona.

“Good job everyone.” Said Rina, to lighten up the mood.

Nona was truly happy, so she laughed like she always does. “Ehehe”

Decima had a serious expression and was observing the surroundings, but her waving tail made it obvious that she was also happy.

Ragus was a bit sad since he did nothing but stay with Nona.

“Don’t worry Ragus, you protecting Nona is good enough.” Said Rina as she patted Ragus’ head.

Moments later, they heard the wyvern’s deafening roar, clearing the sandstorm, and letting them see a wyvern with reddish scales, now emitting smoke due to the rising temperature of its body.

Rina initiated by using weapon throw and weapon dash combo, but once she appeared, the wyvern roared. It still paralyzed her like before, but now it had more effects. It inflicted a burn status and silence status on her.

The burn decreased her HP by five per second which lasted for thirty seconds, while the silence stopped her from using skills for five whole seconds.

Even with those, Rina didn’t stop. If she couldn’t use skills, then she’ll use normal attacks.

Decima arrived shortly after the Silence status on Rina faded.

“Just like before!” Said Rina, implying that they should continue like they did earlier.

Decima nodded and went to the opposite side of the wyvern and used lightning slash.

The wyvern pushed Decima away and followed with a breath attack, dealing a total of two hundred damage. It was the strongest attack it has done so far.

While Decima was away, the wyvern slammed its foot to Rina and sent a breath attack at point blank range.

Still under its foot, Rina couldn’t do anything but watch as the wyvern charged another breath attack, and this time it’ll kill her.

Before the it released its attack, Rina yelled. “Area heal!”

Immediately after that, Nona used Area heal, healing everyone except for Ragus who wasn’t in the party.

With the heal, Rina was able to tank the attack, and when she was released, Decima was back.

While they were fighting the wyvern, it flew again. It gathered flames on its mouth like earlier, but this time its target was Nona.

Rina immediately used weapon dash to a nearby mob, in an attempt to tank the attack for Nona, but she didn’t make it. Luckily, Ragus tanked it and survived. Nona healed him afterwards.

The fight continued, but now fear was building up inside Rina. Now she knows that the wyvern can also target Nona, and next time it might use a chain attack to kill Nona. There's also the fact that they don't have much potions.

Though it’s just a game, her time with her mercenaries was real. Even though they’re bots, Rina was happy being with them and she doesn’t want that to end.

As minutes passed, she started thinking. Maybe she could pay the creators to revive them, even if it’s expensive. It was possible. She had the money, so maybe she could.

But then she thought; what if she can’t? What if they do give her mercenaries back but with a different personality? No, even if they had the same personality, are they still the same?

Why was she even thinking about it? They weren’t real anyway. As her fear and confusion mixed together, her performance worsened.

[table=red]Name:Desert Wyvern(Hidden Boss)Level:78HP25%[/table]

They were able to reduce the wyvern’s HP to twenty five percent, but what can they do now that they’ve run out of potions? What do they do now that the wyvern got stronger?

They struggled to defeat the wyvern, but in the end it was useless effort. No matter how much emotions she put into her actions, inside the game, calculation is stronger than feelings.

When the wyvern flew again, she checked the other’s stats.

Name:FatesMEMBERSNAME:LEVELCLASSHP/MPMorta37Assassin126/418 HP

7/174 MPDecima29Magic Swordsman37/1020HP

7/222 MPNona29Priest170/170 HP

3/830 MP

Name:RagusType:DragonLevel:29HP118/520

It was hopeless, just one more attack and Decima will be gone. Another and everyone will be wiped out. Though she can just revive in the fairy settlement, it wasn’t the same for her mercenaries.

Decima, Nona, and even Ragus knew it was the end. They knew from the start that they were just bots, and that they’ll vanish when they die, but they were ok with it since they knew it wasn’t the end for their master.

Decima stared back at Rina, with a smile on her face to show her master she was ok with dying.

Nona’s cheerful smile was gone. It was replaced by a smile filled with sadness. She smiled to ease her master’s pain, but was sad since she’ll never see her master again.

Ragus was the most childish of the three, but now he showed resolve, to take his death like a man. At least to show his master he was brave even in the end.

It was odd, it was just a game, yet tears formed on Rina’s eyes. She can’t believe that she’s feeling sadness inside a game where she was supposed to have fun.

She didn’t want them gone, she wanted to prevent it from happening, but she knew it was meaningless. All she could do was smile back to them who were trying their best to lessen her worries.

For one last time, as the wyvern gathered more flames than ever, they walked to each other and hugged.

“I love you master.” Said Decima who tried her best to keep her smile.

“*hic**hic*master...” Said Nona who couldn’t control her sadness, and tightly held Rina’s clothes.

“Gao!” Said Ragus as he stood dignified, accepting his death.

“It was fun being with you, Decima, Nona, Ragus.” Said Rina as she closed her eyes, waiting for the wyvern to release its breath.

Soon, somewhere in Ragan desert, a large exploding sound was heard.