Boss mobs are basically ‘named entities’.
In a game, these would typically be the key conditions for clearing a stage. Unlike regular mobs, they possess unique skills or conditions.
That’s the standard.
If a boss were no different from regular mobs, introducing such a boss not in the early stages but mid-to-late game would be a fundamental flaw in game design.
For instance, a boss triggering a Monster Wave would likely have some kind of special skill.
[Fusion].
Specifically, it refers to mana, previously dispersed, reuniting in its original state.
The boss collects countless entities formed from mana released from its core and reabsorbs them into its body, combining them into a new form.
This new, merged form differs significantly from its original state.
When the core’s mana disperses outward, it retains the boss’s original mana but gradually transforms as it absorbs ambient mana, altering its attributes slightly over time.
Thus, during reabsorption, whether the mana has increased, decreased, or its attributes have changed, the boss processes it back into its own.
This is Fusion.
The Wolf Boy, who recklessly created Black Storm Wolves, is now attempting to reabsorb these wolves scattered outside and transform into a new form.
At this moment, what decision must the most skilled hunter make?
“Everyone!!”
Ludmila yelled as she leapt off the city wall.
“Bring the bags!”
As soon as her shout rang out, hunters began descending the walls in their own ways—either falling and rolling upon impact, slowly descending using levitation magic, or hopping down via scattered ice chunks floating in midair. All of them rushed beyond the city walls.
“W-what is this…?”
“Miss Yunia, don’t panic. This is the ‘proper’ procedure in such cases.”
I reassured a flustered Yunia, who was pointing towards the Wolf Boy boss.
“When a boss enters Fusion, they enter an invincible state.”
“Huh? In…invincible?”
“Yes. They can’t take any damage by any means and instead begin absorbing mana. Physical attacks won’t work because of a barrier.”
“By any means?”
“Well, there might be a way, but none have been discovered yet.”
Yunia probably realized it—
The word “invincible” isn’t used lightly.
While no solution has been identified yet, some method must exist to disrupt that Wolf Boy boss from absorbing mana and wolves into himself.
A non-attribute mana snipe.
It’s possible.
While some say attacking during transformation or fusion ruins the moment’s mystique, games often feature bosses with “Hatches in N turns!!” mechanics, where attacking them before hatching is the optimal strategy.
Still, even if possible, I didn’t intend to make Yunia do it.
“Yunia, why do you think the hunters ran off just now?”
“Why? Oh…”
Yunia gaped at the hunters rushing beyond the walls.
“Are they…farming?”
“Exactly. Farming. Everyone’s too busy picking up cores.”
Led by Ludmila, the hunters began collecting cores.
It wasn’t frantic like picking up loose change, but they created magical nets to gather cores, enclosing them within the mana nets each hunter conjured.
“Hehehe! This is all money!”
“If you’ve got time to talk nonsense, focus on gathering! You’re not keeping all of it anyway!”
“I know that! But collecting cores lets the gatherer keep 20% as commission…wait, you scoundrel! You distracted me to grab more for yourself!”
…At least it wasn’t the chaotic frenzy of greed one might expect in an opportunistic free-for-all.
“Yunia, just to clarify, there are two reasons for collecting cores like that.”
“Is it for money?”
“That’s one reason. But when a boss starts to fuse like this, time becomes critical.”
I pointed toward a core rolling across the ground.
“See that? It’s not particularly windy, but the cores are rolling on their own.”
“Wait…that direction…?”
“Exactly. Left alone, they’ll flow back to the boss. It’s absorbing them now.”
The cores rolled across the ground, gaining speed as if riding the wind, then began floating upward.
“In other words, if they don’t quickly gather the cores with mana nets…”
“The cores the hunters couldn’t retrieve would return to the boss, becoming part of its strength again…!”
“Exactly.”
Think about it: mobs you painstakingly defeated turning into additional HP for the enemy.
Wouldn’t you do everything possible—whether by looting or destroying—to stop that?
That’s the kind of gimmick this is.
“So now, we just have to sit back and watch that creature complete its fusion and transform?”
“Unfortunately, yes. For now.”
“Unbelievable…”
Yunia sighed deeply.
“Isn’t it dangerous…?”
“Even if it becomes S-rank, there are two S-ranks here.”
Instructor Esta and Marchioness Ludvecia.
“They’ll order a retreat if it gets too dangerous. But that beast—”
“Everyone, retreat!”
“Huh?”
Instructor Esta suddenly shouted at the hunters beyond the walls collecting cores.
“Marchioness! Open the gates so the hunters can bring the cores inside! Ludmila, guide everyone toward the gates! And you three—”
“Instructor Esta!”
I grabbed Instructor Esta’s shoulder with a pale face and pointed ahead.
“I don’t know what’s worrying you so much, but I can see an almost-A-rank beast stirring within that massive sphere.”
“…You can see it?”
“Yes, I can.”
Instructor Esta, who had been preparing to summon a unicorn and charge at the Wolf Boy, paused at my words and took a deep breath to calm herself.
“What does it look like? Or… can you see inside that ‘sphere’?”
“Yes. While it’s just a silhouette, I think I can make out the forming shape of the boss inside.”
“Could you possibly tell me what it is?”
Marchioness Ludvecia approached, her voice steady but with a faint edge of tension.
“Could it be… something like this?”
She pulled out a locket from her robes, opening it to reveal a photograph.
It was a family portrait—two parents, a young boy, and a girl who looked faintly familiar.
A family of four, captured in an enchanted image so lifelike it resembled a magically preserved snapshot.
It was Regif’s family.
Had she been carrying this with her all along?
Showing it to me now meant—
“Is this your family?”
“…”
“Are you worried that the monster might be a lingering spirit of one of them?”
“…Even if it is, my duty is clear.”
Ludvecia gripped her staff tightly, her gaze firm and resolute.
“If it’s a lingering spirit, I’ll personally ensure it moves on to a new life away from this land—where it won’t suffer anymore.”
“…”
“Does it resemble anyone? My husband? Perhaps… not my son?”
“Under the circumstances, it doesn’t seem like the time for jokes, but… who do you think it resembles?”
I raised my hands in a gesture of reassurance.
“I understand, Marchioness. But to answer your question—it doesn’t resemble any of them.”
“None of them…?”
“Yes.”
From my perspective, knowing the full situation, I could tell exactly what that Wolf Boy truly was and where it came from.
A false wolf.
Specifically, a cunning monster disguised as a wolf to conceal its true form.
“It may look ferocious like a wolf, but it’s more akin to… a squirrel, or maybe a chipmunk.”
“…!!”
“A massive flying squirrel-like creature is curled up, absorbing mana.”
Rattatosk.
A malicious monster everyone believed to have been annihilated ten years ago.
Apparently, it wasn’t completely destroyed, likely due to the divine interference from nearby angels at the time.
Or perhaps it managed to possess something else nearby to escape destruction and spent the last decade amassing mana to reemerge now.
“Then… why…?”
Ludvecia’s eyes trembled.
“Why is it mimicking the appearance of that boy—my late son?”
“Perhaps… it’s trying to deceive you with that form.”
Rattatosk was a notoriously cunning beast.
Even if it weren’t Rattatosk specifically, monsters that mimic humans by absorbing mana and its information aren’t unheard of.
“…Instructor Esta.”
Ludvecia’s voice was steady but carried an undeniable weight.
“This… this isn’t part of the students’ training, is it?”
“No, ma’am. The training wasn’t designed for anything as catastrophic as a monster rampage.”
“I see. Then there’s no reason to hold back on magic.”
Ludvecia aimed her staff directly at the sphere, where Rattatosk was condensing its mana and forming a body.
“Student Phoenix?”
“Yes, Marchioness.”
“Would you assist me with my mana, just as you did for Miss Yunia earlier?”
“Ah…”
“It’s fine. Just support me from behind like you did for her.”
“…”
“The moment that creature hatches, I intend to burn it to ash. Will you help me?”
Turning her back to me, Ludvecia pulled her long hair forward, revealing her exposed back as she adjusted her dress.
“If needed, you can slip your hand under the side of the dress to channel your mana.”
Her back was laid bare, her resolve unshaken.
