~~~

  Okay, so, Sidney might have been a bit optimistic before.

  *KLONG*

  He winced as his already heavily dented and battered shield managed to just barely deflect another blow from the dullahan.

  Sidney had known that, as a ‘defender’ he hadn’t really had any actual chance of beating all these higher ranking undead alone. But he had thought back-up would have arrived by now! With a world boss’s appearance it should have been announced to all the adventurers nearby! He’d eat his own shield before he believed anyone dumb enough to be in these woods would run from a world boss! He’d even sent his party ahead to gather the-

  *SKREEEK*

  The dullahan used its massive broadsword almost like a club. Each powerful strike denting or cutting into Sidney’s beloved shield more with each successive strike.

  A dullahan was known to materialize upon the spot of death where someone beyond anger had died. Some say it was God making a joke about someone literally ‘losing their head.’

  Based on how it occasionally turned towards a banshee being protected by some decidedly male zombies… it wasn’t hard for Sidney to piece together why this particular dullahan came to be.

  Heck, Sidney might even wager that one of those zombies showing off for her might have been what had killed them! Just another example why Sidney thought falling in love was stupid.

  Another gout of sickly turquoise flames flared over Sidney’s head as the rotting timburn seemingly tried to burn the quetzalcoatl from the sky. Yet the feathered dragon was too fast! It whipped and moved through the sky like a living whip, able to continuously dodge while knocking branches off with thunderous strikes!

  Despite that it clearly still wasn’t enough. The timburn had hundreds of branches that unwaveringly reached for the quetzalcoatl, not to mention the inferno still blazing within its trunk!

  Just as things started to feel desperate once again, an arrow impacted the dullahan’s arm hard enough for its next strike to miss Sidney altogether, slamming the massive sword into the ground next to Sidney hard enough to crater it.

  “Hey!” A gravelly voice bellowed as a figure stepped out into the clearing. It was a massive bear-kin standing at what must have been 8ft tall, decked in heavy armor and holding… a rapier? Well that was unexpected. “Did you really think you could start the party without us?!”

  The roar of the dead was met with an equally impressive cry as the edge of the clearing seemed to explode with adventures, like an ant nest had been kicked! Sidney couldn’t help but take a knee in exhausted relief as he was ignored in favor of these new attackers.

  The adventurers had formed ranks as many that came to this forest were well experienced with working as a sudden army when things like this happened. The appearance of raid bosses was decently common in this world, so a world boss was just a step up from that… or so they figured.

  A row of shields blocked the first wave of undead, the ‘defenders’ resolutely pushing back the horde. Behind them, the ‘attackers’ had been handed spears that they now thrust out through the gaps that the ‘defenders’ made for them. Above them were the flying races that did battle with the flying undead, swooping and swerving around each other as they danced between the willow-wisps. Next was the ‘supporters’ casting healing, buffs, and debuffs. And finally, behind them, was the ‘rangers’ casting spells, shooting arrows, throwing stones, one of them had somehow even created an entire catapult on the spot that they were having help with to launch bigger things!

  …Which of course meant Sidney was actually in the line of fire! He deflected a poorly(?) aimed arrow that would have gone right through his eye.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He must look like quite the sight if they had mistaken him for one of the undead! This probably sounded stupid if he said it aloud, but Sidney decided he’d have a better chance taking on the single world boss behind him than the army of adventurers that thought he was an undead.

  Keeping an eye out for more projectiles, he turned and tiredly headed toward the bigger fight.

  The massive magic circle in the sky continued to draw in a disturbing amount of magic power as it readied to cast. Thankfully, that and the quetzalcoatl it was fighting, was enough to distract In’Fern’Al from the fact that Sidney had begun to climb up it.

  As an adventurer, Sidney knew that a timburn’s weakness was the core in its trunk. If you had some way to put out the fire, or otherwise reach the core, you could do massive damage to it.

  The charred wood was surprisingly sturdy. Enough for Sidney to climb up without his handholds crumbling under his weight. He was quickly learning that it was freakishly difficult to climb a living organism, especially as it thrashed and moved in battle! Each blow the feathered dragon dealt made the whole tree shudder, threatening to dislodge him and send him plummeting down the already considerable distance he had climbed.

  Yet, it wasn’t for naught, as the raging inferno of the hole through its trunk was now directly above him. He’d had to tie his shield to his back awkwardly, so that it would catch any of the burning sap that dripped from the hole. Despite his high level and many defense buffs, he had to take a moment to prepare himself for what came next, there was no getting around the fact that this was going to hurt… a lot.

  …

  With a sigh, he pulled himself up, into the inferno. Everything immediately hurt so much more. Every spot he had been scraped, battered, bruised, or cut was now subject directly to necrotic flames.

  It wasn’t even just that, as he pushed deeper into the through-hole, he could only hear what sounded like the screams of the dead. Each crackle sounded like a bone being crushed, each sizzle, like someone’s skin being boiled. Sidney couldn’t help but wonder for a moment if he had instantly died and was now trapped in the flames of hell.

  With monumental effort, he powered through the pain and the screams of the blaze, until finally, he found what he sought. A massive hunk of what looked like black, hardened resin. This world boss’s core.

  Sidney raised his shield, using the sharp bottom edge as a spade, and with a shout rivaling the deathly blaze around him, plunged it into the core, shattering it.

  In that instant, time seemed to stop. Sidney could only watch the still world around him in startle fear. Sap, hung in midair, frozen in time, the fire around him unmoving. It was in this terrifying stillness, that a figure stepped out of the core!

  This creature was like nothing Sidney had ever seen! It was terrifying in how mundane it appeared, especially considering its current surroundings!! To put it simply, it was a fern in a business suit. Roots stuck out of well dressed black pants, hands of unknown material were hidden inside dapper, unblemished white gloves, and in place of a head, three healthy fern leaves stuck out from the neck hole, each randomly higher or lower from each other.

  Not being able to do anything else, Sidney remembered to actually try looking at this thing’s status.

  Mr. Fern

  ;)

  What the heck is this thing?! Sidney panicked, still unable to speak or move as the being reached him!

  It lifted up its gloved hand before-

  Patting him on the back?

  “Good job! You did great!”

  Its voice sounded young and noble, giving off an air of authority comparable to a prince in their teens.

  “I was really impressed with your drive to push through it all!”

  Mr. Fern finally stopped patting Sidney on the back and stood in front of him again, giving Sidney a deep bow.

  “Congratulations on completing level one! I hope to see you again!”

  And with that the being turned and walked into the unmoving flames on the other side of the shattered core and out of view.

  Level one? What did that me-

  Sidney woke up to find Saintess Bethany shaking him.

  “Sidney! Sidney!! Don’t you dare die on me! Wake up you angry oaf!!!”

  Sidney could only let out a groan of pain, but that was enough to let Bethany know he wasn’t dead yet.

  “Oh, thank heavens! I say you get launched from the timburn when its trunk exploded! That was you right?! How are you not dead?!?!”

  Too tired and in pain to answer, Sidney instead looked at the notification going off in his face.

  World boss In’ Fern’ Al defeated.

  Spell neutralized before completion.

  Assigning rewards:

  Unique skill “Undying Will” acquired

  “Undying Will”

  As long as your resolution holds, you will not die in battle.

  HP locks to a minimum of 1 while in combat.

  Titles unlocked: True Defender, Player in a Bigger Game

  True Defender: You have defended the world from a World Boss as someone of the ‘Defender’ class.

  Player in a Bigger Game: This was not an accident. Something is coming. Follow the clues, find allies, and beat Its game.

  Sidney let out one more frustrated groan before passing out.

  ~~~

  Would you like a Sidney interlude every few chapters? Just to see what he's up to?