MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

'Four more seconds,' Alex thought, slicing through the constant barrage of tree roots.

Alex's right arm was a complete mess as muscles were ripped apart, and his bone fractured at multiple locations and was on the verge of shattering.

Dryad health was down to five million, and with her life on the line, she was not holding back as she controlled tens of giant tree roots to target Alex and Nyla.

'Darkness Veil Reaper Slash'

Alex executed the skill, slicing through both of the wood serpents before returning to dealing with the tree roots and boulders raining down that were targeting Nyla.

The four seconds passed, and the first thing Alex did was look toward Nyla, who stood in her original location but now with her eyes opened and her body covered in dark and gray flames.

In the blink of an eye, draconic dark crystal-like scales started to cover her slender arms while her delicate-looking hands transformed into sharp, menacing claws.

The draconic scales cover her neck, reaching behind her ear while leaving her face untouched, while her height was pushed to 6.5ft with a slight increase to her muscle mass to perfectly fit her new physique.

When it looked like the transformation was over, as the flame started to get absorbed back into her body, two dark bat-like wings covered in scales ripped through her back, spreading wide open and showing their majesty.

"Tartarus Gate: First Realm"

A massive illusionary door of pitch darkness appeared behind Nyla, and sculpted on its surface were realistic-looking figures of screaming individuals bound by chains being burned by flames.

"Realm Of The Lost Ones"

Nyla said in her cold voice with emotionless eyes, looking toward the dryad in the distance, and, like sensing the threat, the dryad, who stopped attacking for a moment, launched a barrage of attacks.

Nyla didn't even flinch, seeing tens of think tree roots racking through the ground charging at her and the two draconic serpents ready to devourer her and calmly said few words.

Alex watched in astonishment as the wicked-looking doors swung open, releasing skin-curling heat, and what came next was a vast amount of dark flame rushing out of it.

Alex instinctively used the phantom walk as he sensed extreme danger from the rushing flames, and he didn't stop until he was hundreds of meters away from Nyla and the dark doors.

Alex watched from the distance as the dark flames completely devoured everything in their path, and the mighty-looking wood serpents and tree roots vanished into them without a trace.

The dark flames spared at astonishing speed, creating a sea of flames, and in mere moments, the flames reached the Dryad, who protected herself by creating a wood dome made from rich green tree roots covered with thick dark stones.

'The elemental concept of death these flames caries is pure enough to be placed in the range of superior mastery, which should make this skill an early stage fifth Rank at the very least.' Alex thought, shocked by the outcome, as he looked at the ground at the edge of the flame field.

The ground on the edge of the dark flame ocean was cracked and dried up, and with passing moments it was losing its color and turning sandy like every ounce of vitality making it look alive was being burned off.

Alex was shocked because he had rarely seen some individuals who could master skills requiring a higher stage of elemental concept mastery than one needed for Rank promotion, which was impossible to accomplish for even talented individuals.

A normal Fourth Rank individual needed to master one elemental concept up to the Lesser mastery (10% to 25%), with 10% being the bare minimum, and then needed to refine his body into a mana vessel using their elemental flame.

The difficulty of reaching the 10% concept mastery was such a challenging task that most individuals talented enough to reach the fourth Rank could never attain it.

So finding someone who could not only reach the 25% concept mastery but even surpass the first great chasm while staying in the fourth Rank was more than just a big deal.

'I knew she was not normal, but her performance is truly beyond my expectation,' Alex thought as he drank a healing potion to recover his arm injury while keeping his focus on the battlefield.

Alex had seen many summons in action, and it was extremely rare to find one that performed similarly to his Rank, let alone someone who could go beyond it.

Alex tried using his unique eyes to see through the dark flames, but all he saw was a small source of bright light in the corner, in a sea of pitch darkness, and with every passing moment, the light was getting dimmer.

Alex stopped using his unique eyes and used the phantom walk to appear closer to the edge of the flame field, prepared to act if needed.

The dark flame field stayed calm and stable with no disturbance for forty seconds before it started to shrink, leaving behind a colorless sandy cracked ground that reeked of death mana.

Alex looked ahead, finding no signs of the two wood draconic serpents or any massive tree roots, and even the remainder of the tree stump and the gorgeous flower that the dryad stood on were almost gone.

A small portion of the once massive tree truck remained, and on it was a decade and dead version of the once beautiful and full of life flower.

The dryad still stood tall in the center of the lifeless flower, but her lively and fairy-like appearance was gone being replaced by cracked-up and blacked-out skin with many areas having exposed gray muscle fivers and even chunks of flesh missing.

The Dryad appearance was miserable and looked like a half-decayed corpse, with her health down to the last 100K, and even though her regeneration looked to be working but her health was only recovering by a few hundred each second.

Alex waited for the dark flames to die, and after a few seconds, the flames were gone leaving behind the calamity responsible for changing the terrain.

Nyla stood at her location, still strongly gripping her spear with her appearance returning to normal, and without delay, Alex appeared beside her.

"Kill her"

Nyla said slowly, and like getting his answer, Alex vanished from his place and appeared before the dryad, who had lost the bright light in her eyes.

'I truly underestimated what a special grade World Boss is capable of,' Alex thought, as he used darkness slash to decapitate the dryad who put on no resistance.

Alex understood that without the help of Nyla, his chances of winning against the Dryad were not very favorable, just based on her ability to regenerate.

???????????

[Congratulation Player Hidden One]

[Royal Dryad [Azollae] is killed]

[Special World Boss Killed]

[EXP Gained] Level Cap Reached.

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[System Reward For Killing the Special World Boss Killed]

[310 Million Galactic Shop Coins Gained]

[Platinum Grade System Wish Gained]

[Unrestricted World Announcement Gained]

[Legendary Magic Staff (Lifebender) Gained]

???????????

Alex closed the system notifications without even checking them and used the phantom walk to appear next to Nyla to thank her and show his gratitude for his great contribution to this victory.