The roar shook the hall to its foundations.
The man with the shield—Aldric, the Paladin of Eternal Light—felt the vibration in his bones before the sound even reached his ears. He clenched his jaw and raised his shield, that sheet of blessed steel that had stopped claws, fangs, and spells for a decade of hunts.
"Formation!" he shouted, though he knew it wasn't necessary.
To his left, Kael's golden spear was already tracing circles in the air, preparing the first strike. To his right, Elara the Mage whispered words of power that made the red orb of her staff glow. Behind them, Sister Celeste prayed with her eyes closed, her warm light enveloping everyone like a protective blanket.
And at the front, always at the front, was Valerio.
The Hero of the Sacred Sword. The Chosen One. The man who carried the hope of humanity on his shoulders.
"Ready?" Valerio asked, without taking his eyes off the beast.
The beast that watched them from above.
It was enormous. Bigger than they had imagined. Its silhouette outlined against the torches seemed to absorb the light, a mass of darkness with two eyes that glowed with a crimson gleam. It didn't move. It just watched.
As if it were confused.
Aldric frowned for a moment. The reports said this creature was the origin of all dungeons, the source of the evil plaguing the world. They expected fury. They expected devastating attacks from the first second.
But the beast just... watched them.
"It doesn't matter," Valerio muttered, gripping his sword. "For humanity!"
And he charged.
Aldric followed without hesitation. Shield raised, feet pounding the marble in time with his heart. Kael flanked left, his spear already extended for the first blow. Elara hung back, preparing the spell that would immobilize the creature long enough for Valerio's sword to find its heart.
The plan was simple. It always was.
Nothing goes right in the first second of a battle.
Valerio leaped, the sword blazing with white light. Aldric braced for the counterattack, ready to shield the Hero with his own body if necessary.
But the beast didn't attack.
It moved.
It was a clumsy, strange movement. As if it were trying to take a step back and its legs didn't respond as expected. A tremor ran through the floor, a shockwave of air hit Aldric full force and slammed him against a pillar.
"Aldric!" Kael shouted, but it was too late to worry.
The golden spear found its target: the beast's side. The blade sank into the darkness—and Kael felt something was wrong. There was no resistance. No blood. It was like stabbing a spear into mist.
"Fall back!" Valerio ordered, but Kael couldn't anymore.
The beast moved again. Another clumsy step. Another tremor. This time, the air swirled around the creature, a wind so strong it ripped Kael from the ground and smashed him against the columns.
"Kael!" Elara stepped forward, the spell ready on her lips. "Roots of the earth, bind it!"
Stone chains burst from the ground, wrapping around the beast's legs.
And the beast broke them.
Without effort. Without even noticing. It simply lifted one leg and the chains shattered as if made of glass.
Elara felt the impact of the broken spell in her chest, a sharp pain that dropped her to her knees. Sister Celeste ran to her, her healing light enveloping her instantly.
"What... what is this?" Elara gasped. "It's not fighting."
Valerio saw it too. The beast wasn't attacking. It wasn't roaring with fury. It wasn't trying to crush them.
Its eyes—those red eyes—were looking at its own claws, its legs, its body. As if it didn't know what it was. As if it had just discovered it had claws.
"Doesn't matter what it is," Valerio said, gripping his sword. "It's the enemy. And enemies fall."
He charged again.
---
---
What the fuck is going on?
Thoughts raced through his mind at light speed, colliding with each other, forming a chaos he couldn't control.
This can't be happening. This CAN'T be happening.
He tried to speak again. He opened his mouth—his enormous, gigantic mouth full of fangs—and what came out was another roar that shook the walls. He saw the five heroes stagger from the impact, saw the shield guy crash into a column, and felt something he had never felt before.
Guilt.
"No, no, no!" he wanted to say, but his vocal cords—do monsters have vocal cords?—only produced more noise.
The spearman attacked him. He felt the prick in his side, like a tiny thorn, and his instinctive reaction was to move away. But he didn't know how to control his body. He didn't know how much force to use. He took a step—just one step—and the wind it generated sent the spearman flying through the air.
I'm going to kill them!
Panic seized him.
I'm the final boss. I'm the fucking final boss of Apocalypse Hour. How did I end up here? How did I end up being THIS?
He remembered the screen. The message. The pain in his eyes. The voice.
"You have been chosen."
"Chosen for what! To be crushed to death by five heroes who mistake me for absolute evil!"
The mage cast a spell. He saw the stone chains wrap around his legs and, without thinking, lifted one to free himself. The chains broke. The mage fell to her knees.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't want to hurt you.
But he couldn't say it. He couldn't communicate. He could only roar and move and cause destruction unintentionally.
The hero—the one with the sword that seemed so familiar—charged again. He recognized him. It was Valerio, the protagonist of the story. The one who, according to the game's lore, was destined to kill him.
In the game, I should be throwing fireballs and summoning minions now. Where are my skills? Where is my interface? How am I supposed to control this?
He tried to concentrate. In the game, when you controlled the final boss in special modes, there was an interface. Skills at the bottom. A health bar. Something.
There was nothing.
Just him, trapped in a body he didn't understand, with five people trying to kill him and him desperately trying not to kill them.
The hero leaped, the sword shining. Instinctively, he raised a claw to protect himself.
The blow was minimal. He barely felt the impact.
But the claw—his claw—struck the hero in the air and sent him crashing to the ground with a force he hadn't meant to use.
"Valerio!" the nun screamed, running towards him.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit!
He saw the hero slowly get up, a cut on his arm, his armor dented. But alive. Thank something, alive.
I have to do something. I have to stop this. I have to... I have to get away.
The idea came suddenly. If he couldn't fight without killing them, if he couldn't communicate, then the only thing he could do was flee.
But how did a monster that size flee?
He looked around. The hall had several doors. One, especially large, seemed to lead to a dark corridor. In the game, that was the exit to the next zone.
If I can get there... if I can get out of here... maybe I can figure out what happened. Maybe I can find a way to be human again.
The hero—Valerio—was getting up again. The others too. The five of them looked at him with hatred, with fear, with determination.
He couldn't blame them. From their perspective, he was the monster that had terrorized their world for years.
"We will not fall!" Valerio shouted. "Today the beast dies or we die!"
"I'd prefer nobody died!" he wanted to shout, but another roar came from his throat.
A different roar. Not of fury, but of frustration. Of desperation.
The heroes hesitated for a second. That roar didn't sound like the previous ones.
He didn't notice. He just saw his chance.
He took a step toward the large door. Then another. The ground trembled under his weight. The air swirled around him, hurling debris in all directions.
"It's moving!" the spearman shouted. "It's trying to escape!"
"Don't let it!" Valerio ordered.
But it was too late.
With clumsy, uncoordinated movements, the monster—the final boss, the beast of the apocalypse—ran towards the door. Not with the elegance of a predator, but with the urgency of a trapped animal.
The heroes tried to pursue, but each step of the monster generated shockwaves that kept them at bay. The wind lashed their faces. Debris rained around them.
And then, the beast disappeared through the dark corridor.
Silence.
The five heroes remained in the hall, panting, confused, staring at the empty doorway through which the creature had gone.
"What... what was that?" asked Kael, the spearman, his voice trembling.
Aldric got up, holding his side where he had hit the pillar. Elara leaned on her staff, pale. Sister Celeste kept her hands extended, the healing light still shining.
Valerio didn't answer. He just stared at the door, his sword still raised, his breath ragged.
Something didn't add up.
That beast... hadn't fought as they expected. It hadn't used its abilities. It hadn't shown the ferocity the legends spoke of.
It had acted as if...
"No," Valerio said aloud, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. It's the enemy. We have to stop it."
"Stop it?" Elara repeated. "Valerio, did you see what happened? It didn't attack us! It was just trying to flee!"
"Fleeing to regroup," Valerio insisted, but his voice didn't sound as confident as before. "Fleeing to attack when we least expect it. We have to attack it while it's still weakened," he said as his companions nodded, beginning to pursue the beast.