267 The True Ending

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The Night Thing's attention flicked from Evie to Ragnar. The latter walked out from his hiding spot. He no longer had any escape skill, but he would give Evie some time to cast her spell to hide from the Night Thing's sight.

Ragnar casted [Taunt] just to be sure that the Night Thing would indeed go after him first. The Night Thing's eyes narrowed at Ragnar, and it totally forgot about Evie.

Ragnar didn't have time to say anything when the Night Thing's hundred legs stomped hard on the ground, stampeding toward his direction.

Face to face with the monster, a crippling fear paralyzed Ragnar, and he struggled to remain upright as he lost feeling in his limbs.

Face stoic, he swallowed hard, Adam's apple bobbling up and down. "You . . . really are ugly."

RoOaArgH!

With a single chomp, the Night Thing swallowed Ragnar whole, and he burst into particles without as much as a fight.

Despite the situation, Ren burst out laughing at the side. While Evie looked away and cast [Butterfly of Deceit] on herself.

"Sorry, Ragnar," she muttered to herself. She then teleported into a safe distance behind the foliage, away from the Night Thing's line of sight.

At the same time, the Orcs didn't stop attacking the Night Thing, doubled ATP or not. They would not back out now. They would kill it this night, whatever it takes, even if they all die in the process.

With a single wiggle of the Night Thing, all Orcs who were engaged with it were flung into the air. And all who tried to attack it from behind were pushed back from the collateral damage of their weapons hitting against its thick scales.

Double defense meant that most of their skills were futile against it.

If this kept on, the Orcs were going to get wiped out before the Divine Caster could cast another Divine Magic to finish it once and for all.

Ren briefly looked at Evie, and the latter nodded in understanding.

The Night Thing went into a rampage spree before it stopped. Its vision was replaced with distorted colors, dancing and swirling in front of its eyes, giving five seconds for the Orcs to get away while giving extra time for Divine casters to cast their spells.

Sharina looked over at Evie. Even though she didn't say it, the slight loosening of her tight muscles said she was thankful for the help.

Using the last ounce of their strength and mana, the Orcs tried to reduce the Night Thing's HP to zero.

As the Chieftain, Sharina inherited an ancient power from her ancestors that lets her double her ATP for thirty seconds, but in exchange for this spell was total bedridden time the next day.

Sharina didn't dare to use that spell since she was needed every day, and she couldn't afford to be bedridden even for just a single day. But now, she didn't care if she died as long as she killed the Night Thing.

Sharina's size doubled as well as her ATP. As soon as she got a clear shot, she didn't waste time and pierced the Night Thing with her tomahawk, destroying its armor and piercing its flesh.

A loud roar escaped from Sharina's mouth while her eyes turned bloodshot as she pushed her weapon into the Night Thing and slashing it in a wide arch.

The Night Thing roared so loud from the pain. It recovered from the effect of [Phantasmal Distortion], and the first thing it did was bite off Sharina's head from her shoulders.

The Chieftain was so close to the Night Thing. It could reach Sharina within a fraction of a second, and Sharina wouldn't be able to evade it on time.

"Sharina!"

The Night Thing's gruesome, saliva and poison-coated jaws stopped just inches from Sharina's face.

The Night Thing paused, trapped inside another loop of distorted colors. It was getting dizzy from that spell, and its mind was being split into two, making it shriek in a fury.

Sharina backed away quickly, just in time for another row of Divine Magic to come clashing against the Night Thing.

The Orcs' faces lighted as the last remaining bolt of electricity shot through the monster's body. It was dead! They were sure of it!

But against all odds, a roar so loud rang in their ears as the Night Thing's HP steadied into the single digits.

[The Night Thing entered Last Stance Mode!]

[Acquired Skill, Mad Ambition!

–– the Night Thing would stop at nothing to get what it wanted, even at the cost of its life.

––The Night Thing explodes within a radius of a hundred meters, bringing everyone within it into the graves.

–– cost 500 MP]

The Night Thing's body glowed in strange hues of blinding red. It knew it was game over, but it wanted everyone to go with it in the afterlife. It wouldn't settle for anything less. Its madness was all-consuming, and the anger it felt that it didn't get what it wanted was enough to destroy an entire village.

"Everyone! Get away from it!" Sharina shouted at the others before she blinked away towards a safe distance.

Zukulum and the rest of the Divine users used their special escape spell. Some turned into animals and flew away, while some disappeared from sight and teleported into a safe distance.

The Orcs also had their special kills to escape from dangerous situations, and they didn't think twice about flickering away from the Night Thing.

Evie didn't have anything left to escape. She used up all her spells. But she wasn't worried because she knew that Ren was going to be alright since he still had one [Teleportation] left for the day.

Evie was about to close her eyes and await her death when her real body was blurred and turned into butterflies. She then found herself beside Ren, who was looking at the explosion happening not far from them.

It looked like an atomic bomb as a burst of smoke and fire sprouted from the ground. The force sent the trees, boulders, and everything hurling into the air.

Ren shielded Evie from the explosion and from the debris that was hitting them from all sides. The HP reduction was minimal, but a boulder smacking right on their faces could be fatal if they were low in HP.

After seconds of the explosion, everything went silent. The Orcs rose from their hiding spot, feeling the Night Thing, and their surrounding if there was anything strange.

When there was no growl or even the shadow of the Night Thing in sight, the Orcs' shattered the stillness with the resounding cries of their victory.

Ren helped Evie to her feet. The latter was still in a daze, and her ears were ringing from the explosion. She didn't even register the burning touch of Ren's hand on her waist. Looking at him, she was about to say her thanks, but the guy's gaze was locked on Sharina.

The Chieftain and the others all walked to the large crevice on the ground from where the Night Thing was situated.

And as they went closer to see the body of the creature, the smiles and relief on their faces disappeared. They expected the massive body of the Night Thing to dissolve into nothingness, but instead, it was the body of an Orc.

"S-Shurna?" Sharina's vision dimmed, and she struggled to clear it of the clinging murkiness seeping into the edge of the narrowing tunnel of her sight.

"Shurna!" when Sharina made sure that it was indeed her daughter, she stormed down into the crevice without a second waste. She stumbled in her haste and rolled down into her daughter's body.

Sharina held Shurna in her arms and wailed. "Shurna?! Shurna! No! Why?! Why did you do this? Why did you sell your soul to the devil?"

It was obvious. Shurna was the Night Thing. Everyone could see that.

Amidst the wound and pain, Shurna's cracked lips choked her grief, "I . . . I wanted to be Chieftain. I was groomed since young . . . and then came Draki . . . and I was forgotten. Just because he is a boy?"

Sharina clamped her mouth shut. She didn't know that her daughter thought of it that way. "W-why . . . why haven't you told me that you wanted to be one? We could have talked about this! Things should never have turned out into this!"

Sharina weakly smiled. "I tried talking . . . but you . . . you . . . ," hate crossed her eyes before they deemed, "you were just so happy you have a son . . ."

Shurna's body convulsed involuntarily at the sudden shock of the pain cursing through it. She then turned into stone before her skin cracked and disappeared with each particle of light.

A sharp pain tore through Sharina like a claw of madness, ripping away her sanity. The dull yet insistent ache spread, threatening to envelop her entire body. Tortured by the prolonged intensity of the insufferable pain, she yearned only for relief.

Sharina quickly pulled out her knife hidden in her boots, and the pointy end of the blade struck her throat.