The battlefield was chaos incarnate.
One boss was bad enough. But two? Lian was already sweating inside the cockpit of the Black Widow Walker, its systems heating up from overdrive.
The Hollow Tyrant staggered, wounded and enraged, its golden mask now cracked in three places.
The new enemy—the Watcher of the Masked Gate—floated just above the surface, surrounded by swirling red chains. It didn't walk. It didn't roar. It simply existed, and that alone bent time around it.
---
[ New Threat Identified: Watcher of the Masked Gate – Raid-Class Enemy ]
HP: ???
Behavior: Unpredictable | Affiliation: Overseer Enforcement | Goal: Terminate anomaly (Lian)
Special Ability: Temporal Severance – Any driver hit will lose one talent permanently.
---
"Wait—what?" Lian gasped, almost losing control of the Walker.
"Did it just say permanently?" Demist yelled through the raid comms. "Bro, you need to fall back, that thing's gunning for you!"
"No chance," Lian growled, flipping three switches. "If I run now, everyone else dies later."
He checked his status screen:
> Name: Lian
Vehicle: Black Widow Walker
Health: 82%
Coins: 2,060
Talent: Coin Multiplier (Active)
Title: Wavebreaker (Bronze)
Raid Bonus: +25%
Survivors Saved: 6 / 9
Current Coin Rate: 620/hour
Not bad. But not enough. Not against a time-cutting monster that could erase his talent.
---
The Plan
Lian opened a private line to Demist and the top 3 guild drivers on the field.
"We split. You three finish freeing the last survivors. Demist, you keep the Hollow Tyrant occupied."
Demist laughed bitterly. "You're telling me to 1v1 a Tier 3 World Boss?"
"I'm telling you to distract it. You're too stubborn to die."
"And you?" Renji asked.
"I'm going to take down the Watcher," Lian said. "Alone."
A pause. Then Renji spoke. "Madness. But I'll cover you. My plasma net gun can slow that thing."
Lian smiled. "That's all I need."
---
Showdown with the Watcher
As the battlefield split, Lian activated the Stealth Veil, a one-use item he'd been saving. The Walker turned nearly invisible.
He circled the Watcher, avoiding the red aura that disintegrated the ground beneath it. The closer he got, the more time slowed—literally.
Every second felt like a minute. His systems glitched. His thoughts stuttered.
Then—strike.
[ Skill Activated: Widow Fang Lunge – Cooldown 10 minutes ]
The Walker leapt, all four legs glowing red as it pierced through the Watcher's barrier.
Direct Hit! 4% of enemy core destabilized.
But then—
[ Temporal Severance Activated – Lian targeted ]
A red thread shot forward, aiming for his core.
Time froze.
"Damn it... not my talent…"
Suddenly, a shot rang out.
Renji's plasma net crashed into the red chain, burning it away before it reached Lian.
"You owe me more than a drink, buddy," Renji muttered, smoking gun in hand.
Lian grinned. "I'll buy your whole guild dinner—if we survive this."
---
Final Wave
The last survivors were rescued. The Hollow Tyrant's HP dropped to 1.9 million. The Watcher began pulsing, destabilized.
The system chimed:
[ Fusion Protocol Initiated – Bosses merging into Final Entity: The Hollow Watcher ]
HP: 3,000,000 | All drivers required to engage within 5 minutes or receive Coin Penalty and Death Mark.
"Oh come on!" Demist yelled. "How's that fair?!"
Lian cracked his knuckles. "It's not."
He smirked, raising the Walker's final armament: a one-time-use coin cannon, charged by his accumulated wealth.
[ Ultimate Skill: Coin Erasure Cannon – Fires a beam powered by 1,000 coins ]
Lian burned every coin he had.
"Let's end this."
---
BOOM
The coin-powered beam tore through the fusion boss just as every driver unleashed hell. Cannons, missiles, even the bathtub guy's last grenade. It all landed.
The Hollow Watcher shrieked—then crumbled into sparks.
Silence fell.
---
[ Raid Complete – Reward Calculations Underway... ]
> Raid MVP: Lian
Bonus: 5,000 coins
Passive Skill Unlocked: "Overdriver's Instinct" – Doubles all vehicle stats for 10 seconds in near-death moments.
Talent Protected: Coin Multiplier
Survivors Rescued: 9
Total Earned: 9,840 coins
Lian dropped back into his seat, exhausted and grinning.
And his system blinked with a new message:
[ Overseer Remark: "Interesting. You are... not typical. Let's raise the stakes." ]
[ New Feature Unlocked: "Driver Evolution" ]
---
To Be Continued…